Good Weekend

Here is another post for this week.  I usually don't make posts so close together but we had a good weekend this weekend so I thought I would post some pics.  I was thinking just the other day that we hadn't really taken any pictures in a while.  So below is a digital scrapbook I posted.  Check it out.

Make your own free digital scrapbook

Have a great week.

Well we have been laying low for a while I guess.  No English country side or city adventures for a while.  It's been pretty yucky and damp outside though.  We had one fluke week of weather that felt like the beginning of spring and now it is gone.  However we have had pansies in our backyard blooming  and growing all winter long.  Also, we have some bulbs coming up.

Today Gwyneth said her first little sentence.  She said, "Moma look."  She has really been saying look just for a little while.  She has also been saying, "this".  She also knows when she has went to the bathroom in her diaper so I guess potty training isn't that far off.  Aurora is getting a pretty big vocabulary.  She says fragile, mystery (I'm pretty sure that's from watching Scooby Doo). She says Holy Mole Guacamole.  It cracks me up every time she says it.  

Last night Mark worked late so the girls and I watched a pretty cool movie on the Disney Channel.  It was called Avalon High.  It was about King Arthur but in todays time with a Disney twist of course.  Mark and I have always loved the King Arthur story.  In England about 5 hours away from us there is a place called Tintagel.  It's a place that looks like it is right out of a story book.  A castle right by the sea.  They think that is the place where the King Arthur story originated and they believe that he actually lived there.  Hopefully when the weather gets warmer we will be able to go there.  

Have a great week.

The Big Announcement

Well Mark and I made our big announcement this week.  We are expecting baby Gilley number 4.  I went a few days ago and had my first sonogram.  (Below is a profile pic.) No they couldn't tell what the sex of the baby will be yet but we will find out in about 6 weeks.  I hope we can hold out until then.  Most of you know that we have 3 girls already.  It would be pretty convenient to have another girl because we have all the girls stuff already but I know that Mark would really like to have a boy;  plus, he won't be alone in a house full of girls.  ha ha.  My due date is July 25th so we will see.  

So other than that things have be pretty normal around here.  Today Aurora helped me make lentil soup.  She loves to help in the kitchen.  Poor little Gwyneth was trying her best to help too but Mark was nice and held her and carried her around while Aurora and I had our mommy daughter time.  Aurora is getting so big too.  Im pretty sure that by the end of the summer she might be wearing some size 6 stuff.  She can't wear her 4t pants anymore.  

This week I tried to go through everyone's clothes and get out all the stuff that was too little or that no one was wearing.  If we do have a boy someone will be inheriting a lot of girl clothes!  

Gwyneth is growing fast too.  She is starting to talk a lot and she looks at me like I know you know what I'm saying mom.  I just talk to her like normal and pretend that I do.  She is still pinching Aurora and smiles almost every time she does it.  She has also realized as have we that she is a pretty good climber.  

Corina is doing well at her homeschool.  I love it.  I do have to say I do miss her having the little parties at school and doing all the seasonal things but we can do those at home.  Actually the other day she made a mini heart pillow.  She did a pretty good job.  She is wanting to make some more so maybe next week I will post some pics of some of those.  

Have a good week everyone.

Holidays and Beyond

I am finally posting something after the holidays.  We had a great Christmas.  However, these first two pictures were taken before Christmas.  Mark really likes to make pizza and the girls love to help.  Aurora is getting to the stage where she really


wants to help in the kitchen.  Every time I'm in there cooking she is in there wanting to help.  So here is a picture of her making her pizza.  I think that the pizza originally got a tear in it but it was all good because it turned out looking like a heart.  the girls LOVED it.  So here is Aurora putting the sauce on the heart pizza.  She looks so proud of herself.  The next picture is the finished pizza with all the toppings.

 Here is a picture of our tree on Christmas day.  It looks way better than the previous picture of our tree.  It looks better with presents around it.  These are also presents from grandma and grandpa.  Not just us.  However the more kids you have the more presents you have I guess.  We had a really good Christmas.  Corina said about 7 times that it was the best Christmas ever.  She even said it again yesterday.
The day after Christmas we went to a really nice Christmas party.  We could even bring the kids so that was a bonus for us.  Everyone had a great time.

 Next is just some pics of the kids.  This is Aurora blowing bubbles.  My girls love doing this at the sink.  I did it with my mom when I was a kid and then did it at grandma's too. The neighbor girl even came over one time and blew bubbles.  It's fun to see how many bubbles you can blow until you have a bubble mountain.
The last picture is of Corina taking a quick break to pose for the camera.  She was working on her school.  Homeschool is going really good.  We both really like it.
As for Gwyneth she is learning so much.  I know she understands a ton of what everyone is saying.  It'f pretty funny.  When Aurora was little she was a pincher and a biter. Now Gwyneth is starting to pinch.  (Mainly Aurora)  I was telling Aurora how she used to me a pincher and biter just the other day and she could hardly believe it.  I guess she is just getting her payback.

Well that is all for now.

Have a great week.

The Girls

We haven't done much this week as far as getting out. It's been really cold here. It seems like everywhere around us is getting snow but us. Maybe that is a blessing in disguise! However there does seem to be a lot going on with the girls.

The other day Corina and Aurora decided that they were going to have a slumber party that night. They worked on making a bed in Corina's bedroom floor and made a tent to go over and got all the animal set up that they were going to sleep with. They even decided what snacks they were going to have. That whole time I didn't hear any gripping or anything out of them. They were playing as sisters and friends. It was so nice to see. Yesterday the same thing happened too. Mark had bought some grapefruit and lemons. Corina decided she wanted to make some juice. So she and Aurora made their little juice concoction and tried it out and then added some more things. They were probably doing that for at least an hour and a half. They had the best time.

Gwyneth has been trying so hard to talk. Her latest thing is counting to 3. She say Eh, two, and then looks at me and smiles because she wants me to say, "three GO!" and then she jumps or runs somewhere. She thinks it's the funniest thing. Plus she knows that her sisters can count to three so she thinks she is doing something really big. (And it is).

That's what's going on this week.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas.

A week of sickness with one adventure.

This week Mark has been off.  I have to say that I feel pretty horrible because the whole family (except for him of course) has been sick.  It's the yearly cold that we always get with runny noses and coughing that you just pray will go away soon.  I knew the whole week that Mark wanted to go somewhere.  He hadn't really picked a spot but he's always up for an adventure.  So finally Thursday we decide that today is the say we are going out.  Everyone was feeling pretty good.  Armed with tissues and snacks we set out for the castle of Mark's choice, Bolsover Castle.

The castle was only and hour and a half away.  Earlier in the week it had snowed here but the snow was pretty well melting or had melted.  As we were driving North we could tell that the snow had not melted yet and there was more of it.  We reached the town of Bolsover and had to find the castle parking.  We ended up going down in a valley.  When we turned around the castle was on a hill over looking the valley that we were in.  The picture I took absolutely does not do it any justice!

We went back up the hill to go to the parking lot for the castle and we didn't want to turn into the parking lot because it had not been cleared off and was full of snow but certain driving circumstances made us have to pull in.  So we got stuck in the parking lot.  Our van was not going anywhere.  I was looking around thinking if Mark can't get us out who are we going to ask for help.  I looked out the window and Mark and could tell he was looking at something.  I turned around and another car had gotten stuck in the parking lot too.  Mark went over there to them to help them get out and guess what, they were Americans too.  So two Americans stuck in the parking lot.  I hope no one is looking.  ha ha.  We helped each other get unstuck and parked and walked up to the castle and it was closed.  AH!  The shop was open though so we looked around in there for a while and came back out and got in the van.  (I know Mark and I were about to die.  We had finally gotten everyone out and went somewhere, gotten stuck, and the place was closed.  *sigh*)  Here is my picture of the valley from above.  It was so beautiful.  We plan on going back soon so hopefully there will be better pictures.

On the way to the castle we saw a sign for the Sherwood Forest visitors center so on the way back we stopped there.  It was starting to get dark but there were some little shops there.  It was still cool being there.  In the middle of the shops they had a Robin Hood statue that they had put a Santa hat on.  We all thought that was comical.

So that was our big adventure for the week.  On a side note... When we we driving we passed a boarding school for girls aging from 3-13.  3!  Isn't that a little young to be sending you kid away to school.  I can't imagine sending Aurora away to a school with out me.  My goodness!

So the goal this week is to get better before Christmas and New Years.  I hope we can do it.

Have a great week.

Just life.

Earlier this week I posted a comment on my facebook page about our tree.  Here is what my post said...

 "Just looked at our Christmas tree and realized that there are no ornaments on the bottom half of the tree. Gwyneth keeps getting the ornaments and Corina and Aurora get them from her and move then up as high as they can so all the ornaments are packed at the top. " I just thought I would post a picture of our tree.  As you can see the bottom is totally bare with all the ornaments at the top.  There is even a yanked down string of light on the left side of the tree.  Poor tree!  It will be a good memory to put in the scrapbook.  

Thanksgiving was good this year.  We just stayed at home.  We had everything.  Turkey, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce.  We also had pumpkin pie.  I had made it the night before and we ended up eating it for breakfast.  It was so yummy.  My grandma sent us a package with all the fixings to make her pumpkin pie.  I have been waiting to make it till Mark is off.  He is off this week.  I hope it turns out just like hers.  


This last Saturday it snowed.  The girls were so excited.  I'm pretty sure they were awake for just about 10 minutes and then they were already throwing on warm clothes to go outside and play in the snow.  It snowed almost everyday last week.  When we went to church last Sunday the guy that helps guide people where to park asked if we were used to the snow.  Mark and I were like, "Oh yeah it snows where we come from.  We are used to it."  The snow here is nothing compared to the us though.  It looks like it's snowing a ton but you can still see the grass though the snow.  Here are some pictures of the girls in the snow.  The first is Gwyneth and the cats really wishing they were outside with Corina and Aurora, second is Corina catching snowflakes, third is the girls playing in the back yard.  

I hope everyone has a great week this week.  I can't believe it's December already.