Christmas 2012

 

This Christmas the weather outside really was frightful. It rained and then it rained some more!  Although we did not have a winter wonderland the Pilgrim's all gathered at Granny and Grandpar's with plenty of Christmas spirit!

Olive was super excited to hang out with Granny and her cousins (or more importantly Charlotte!) and so let the cheeky antics commence...!

Mum and Dad decked out the house and laid on a fantastic spread. Everyone bought  presents and soon the tree was surrounded by a huge mass of gifts! Olive now 3 1/2 was super excited and you can see the enchantment of Christams is really starting to take hold and work its magic. 

Even the B-bot who was not feeling his best and spent most of the day drooling all over his neckerchief had himself a marvelous time bopping around and opening his fist Christmas presents!

The family together eating and drinking too much, plenty of joy and merriment what else is Christmas about!...and yes, dad and mummy got themselves rather nice crimbo jumpers!

Happy Christmas!

Baxters 1st Birthday

Our little man has turned 1!  

His first year has passed literally in the blink of an eye -and we thought Olive was growing up fast -now, with  Number 2 alreay one and already walking it is impossible to describe how quickly time is passing and how much our little beauties have changed and grown.

mummy daddy olive baxter (...small interlude here as Olive wanted to spell out all our names on the computer!) 

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Now, back to Baxter! All over to Granny and Grandpar's for a little family bash and as you can see we marked the big occasion with an appropriately big silver ballon of which Baxter almost immediately  got all tangled up with!

Naturally Mummy was on baking duty again and knocked up one of her lovely cakes and let the girls decorate if for Baxter for something to keep them entertained.  They expertly placed the sweeties in the icing and mummy added the final touches...

What a sweetie!

And then after cake it was present time which amounted to Baxter bouncing on top of his presents whilst the girls unwrapped everything as if the presents was theirs! Sorry B-bot better get used to it your outnumbered! Happy birthday my boy.

Yes, you can do it...you can walk!

Just about 3 weeks behind on this installment but nonetheless, such a serious milestone will not be overlooked or left out! Our little Baxter at 10 months old is officially walking! Around 3 months ahead of our Olive (only for the record), it has been momentous watching him get confident on those two chubby leggies of his and of course now that he can walk properly that is all that he wants to do! Get him outside and he's away! And quite a bit more independently than i remember Olive being he is just so curios and confident he will just wonder off and then go eat some dead leaves -that's boys they say! 

Baxters Perch!

Baxter likes to have a good look out of the bedroom window in the mornings...

He will wonder over to the window climb up and perch on the gas pipe latches onto the window sill and have himself a good look at whats going on outside! That little man! When he's done -or when I take a picture -he let's himself down has a look at what your up to and gives you a big cheeky smile!
And then, the other significant thing about this little activity is that his elder sister used to do exactly the same thing around the same age!

So adorable it hurts!!!

Hever Castle

If there is a picture in your mind of a medieval Castle I would bet it looks something like this:

Turrets with arrow slits, a moat, a drawbridge and portcullis, a maze, Hever castle has got the lot and essentially it is just a historic family home! Hever is the home and birthplace of Anne Boleyn (born c. 1501), 2nd wife of Henry VIII and queen of England for a brief 3 years (1533-36) after which she was abruptly beheaded! The castle is so completely charming, quaint and romantic. Steeped in British history and in such unbelievable good condition I felt I had to give these pictures a bit of the antique feel to accentuate the romance and beauty of the architecture...

What an inspiring place, we had a great day touring the castle and grounds absorbing some quality culture and history. Olive and Baxter had a good time although Olive got scared in the castle but you couldn't get her out of the maze! Unfortunately for dad 'have-a-go archery' where on their lunch break but there was a really picturesque Shepherd Neame coaching-inn which was almost worth the visit itself, that is to say, at least for me!

I also managed to catch a decent picture of my two little beauties being affectionate together which is no easy task, particularly on camera!


And our little Baxter was being particularly adorable that little man!

What a truly lovely place and what a lovely day!