Cornwall Part Two... Another little video...

Our second week in Cornwall and the siblings and co left and my Aunt and Uncle from Northern Ireland arrived... another fabulous week with lots of fun which thankfully wipes our memories of the ten and a half hour journey it took us to get home yesterday!! (thank goodness our kids are pretty good travellers!)

We are still reeling in the memories, and suffering a little with the post-holiday blues, but a few more days and we head off to Norway, so really, we can't be too upset!

So here's a little video of our second week in beautiful Cornwall...

Cornwall Part One: A Little Video...

We have had a lovely trip to Cornwall these past two weeks... the weather has been changeable, but it hasn't dampened our mood, or our ability to enjoy all that our South-West coast has to offer. We have seen some truly beautiful places, eaten some delicious food, and enjoyed spending time with our wider family. I think Jonas has packed more into his little life than most 7-week-old babies, but he has been a dream and has been adaptable and, as always, smothered in adoration and love by his big sisters.

I have had fun videoing little snippets here and there of our holiday... and have put it all together in a little video for us holiday-makers to remember all the fun we've had... and I figured you lovely people might like a little look-in too.

So over the next couple of days, I'll just be posting a couple of little videos of our Cornish adventures...

Enjoy!

Advent Day 17: A Plastic Christmas

I stumbled across this little video earlier this week and was humbled and challenged by it...

It's easy to talk the right talk, to say the right things... But this challenges what is really going on under the surface of our Christmas preparations.

Prepare to be challenged!

A Birthday Video!

Today is my birthday and we are all in recovery mode. After almost a month of fjord life, we are back to the big smoke... or at least the suburbs.

So here I am, one year away from the big 3-0 cherishing a summer full of fabulous memories, thankful to the Lord for his goodness to us this past year - in the good and the hard - and ultimately in the Saviour, and looking forward to the last year of my twenties!!

Eeek!

I don't normally do videos on the blog, but I wanted to remember all the fun we've had this summer, and thought I would share this little family video with you all!

Enjoy!

The Debut...

Nearly a whole week since we trekked the streets of London raising money for Sport Relief... 15 miles, 25 bloggers, a few kiddos, Mr Monopoly himself and a mini-camera crew. The rain poured, the wind blew, but we were a determined bunch and trekked through it all, covering London's Monopoly board by foot, scooter, buggy and a bus! It was crazy... but it was crazy fun!

Here's the debut of "Honkopoly, the movie" Huge thanks to Alex Robinson from Victory Media Productions for doing the entire trek with us, filming and editing. You are a star!

Enjoy! This is a 3 minute summary of a 9 hour trek!

Can you spot me and my Scottie??!

If you'd like to still support us, and donate to Sport Relief, please click here.

The first ever Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games take place from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March 2014. The public can join the fun and games by running, swimming or cycling their way to raising cash at over a thousand venues around the country, including the landmark events at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

As one of the biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active raise cash and change lives. The money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief to help transform the lives of some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people both at home in the UK and across the world.

Something to think about...

This week's been one of those weeks... the ones where every single conversation/chance meeting/youtube clip that lands on your facebook page is all pointing like a big sign with flashing lights at one particular theme...

The topic that seems to have been thrown without warning onto our agenda this week?

Adoption.

This Sunday is Adoption Sunday.

We are so privileged to have family and good friends who have modelled to us the beauty of fostering and adoption. It is hard. It is exhausting. It is a rollercoaster of emotions. It is a wonderful, beautiful, life-changing, earth-shattering, incredible thing. And that's just what I've seen from the outside.

So this Sunday, as it's Adoption Sunday, here's something for us all to think about.

The house is alive, with the sound of music...

I am quickly learning that I need to keep up with my daughter's love of all things Swiss/Austrian and mountainous. The past few months have been filled with her love of all things "Heidi" - we have had to play at eating goats cheese and drinking goats milk... we have had to listen to the theme tune to "Heidi" on repeat... we've even had to go and meet some real goats!

And now, at last, it seems my daughter has a new love!

Yup... she's gone and fallen in love with "The Sound of Music..."

It is no exaggeration to say she knows the full lyrics to the entire soundtrack. Leave her alone for a few moments and she'll burst into song...

"What will this day be like?" *dramatic pause...* "I wonder..."

Similarly, you might find her dancing round the room singing "When you know the notes to sing..." or marching on her knees to "Doe, a deer"

On her birthday, when asked how old she was, she honestly answered with no prompting...
"Sixteen going on Seventeen"

Slightly obsessive?

Her mother's daughter...

So here, for your entertainment and enjoyment, is one of Ava's renditions... (this was on our way to Northern Ireland a couple of weeks ago. Excuse the ultra cool sunglasses...!)

Copycat...

Watching Ava with Heidi is a little bit like seeing yourself... the good, the bad and the ugly. Sometimes I cringe when I realise she's picked something up from me... the bad thing about bringing up your child multilingual is that there is no denying who's to blame when she says something shocking. If it comes out in German, I can't deny being the culprit, and if it comes out in Norwegian, Dave gets daggers!

But sometimes that mimicking is very sweet, and I love watching Ava's caring side as she dotes on her baby sister. I caught this clip on camera just after both girls had woken from their naps and it just made me smile. For the non-German speakers among you, Ava asks Heidi if she slept well, then asks her if she's awake, before turning to me and telling me that Heidi is shy. For me, the clip just shows so clearly the special bond these two girls are forming, and it warms my heart.

I'm so glad to have caught it on camera!