Graduation

We can't believe its been year but it has. LAst Year Greg (Uncle Greg to Emily) graduated with his MA and this year it was the turn of Uncle Andrew and Tim. (Check back to October 14th last year, wow has she grown!)

No I wasn't graduating, just saving my hair from the drizzle!

Gid, Tim (who graduated with a BA in Theology) and J ...say nothing about height!

Once Grandpa took his hat off smiles of recognition arrived.

Andrew (Uncle Andrew to Emily) graduated with distinction in his MA.

All smiles, what a lovely day.

Photo post of our day.

Ducks, walks and playing.

Ball or ballllll in Emily speak.

A little fuzzy action shot.The long and winding road

The collection of the day, leaves
Mmmmmm

Emily and I had a great day, the weather was great and it was fab to be outdoors.

Sadly our friend lost his battle with cancer today. I am not sure what to write, we didn't know him amazingly well, but well enough to know that he was a great guy and he will be missed by many.

All better, nearly

Emily really is on the mend now and life it getting back to it's usual form of mayhem and busyness. (is that an i or y or will it be business!)We have been to Dunham Massey to kick the leaves that are falling, o..... it is such a beautiful place and especially at this time of year. We didn't do much leaf kicking but we had lots of fun!Today for those month counters is Emily's 15 month birthday. We can't believe how quickly time has flown by and how quickly Emily is learning new things. Jamie has been working very hard trying to teach her to drink her milk by herself. What do you think of her progress?

Her personality is really starting to show. She is great at head shaking to tell us no and she has a real guffaw, chuckle and impish streak. (Like Mummy or Daddy?) She has also learnt to say tea and duck. If you ask her what sound an elephant makes she makes blowing sounds! When we tell her we are going in the car she makes brum brum noises. This age is so good!

Today she fell and hit her mouth on the edge of our bed and split her lip. Oh dear.

Mum and Dad are back from Alaska, we hope to see them when we go to visit Belfast at half term (wow 2 weeks away!!!!!!) Mum and Dad Mc are in Turkey for a conference. Our parents have such wonderful opportunities with their work and church.

Well, another installment is done, it is off to bed for me; doesn't she look peaceful?!

Getting better, thanks be to God.

Getting better. The 3rd type of antibiotics are working and Emily seems to be picking up. We have been to the dr's four times and to the hospital once to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. The dr even phoned me yesterday to see if we needed a house call. (what a great dr, we aren't even his patients and we live out of area!)

This week has been really hard. I can't imagine how difficult it is to deal with a sick child on your own. The health care has been great, as has been the support of family and friends. Jamie has had a nightmare week with me being away last weekend with school, then an LA inspection for 2 days and anOpen Evening last night. Oh well it is nearly the weekend, I am going to try to take Emily to Rhythm and Rhyme ( she may not be up to it). Well that's what we are up to. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts.

Please can we ask you to pray for one of our friends who had been diagnosed with cancer of the stomach and bowel. He is in his 30's and has been told this is inoperable and terminal. (he only felt unwell slightly over a month ago). Thanks

Chest Infection 2

Emily has yet another chest infection. She is pretty miserable with it but can still manage smiles. My parents are far away in Seattle at the mo. Mum and Dad... these are for you to prove that she is ok and hopefully the medicines will kick in soon to relieve her discomfort.

I am back from our school residential. We had a great time; I am shattered and brain tired. It's good to be home. Oh our washer drier arrived too!!!!!!

Walking

Yes we have finally got to that stage. Yipee!

Still a little wobbly but growing in confidence. 14 months old and walking: it's all very exciting in the McCulloch household.

Piccies for the Grandparents

Just a load of piccies for our parents to coo over. Does she still look like J?

Happy Birthday Delwyn, Happy Birthday Lily.

My Brother, Delwyn celebrates his birthday today. Happy Birthday Bro. We hope you have a great day and enjoy the gifts you recieve.

Also happy 3rd Birthday Lily Knights. We hope that Mummy, Daddy, Lucy and Jamie spoil you and the sun shines on your birthday.

Still toddling, not quite walking

A little wobbly with lots to say. She was collecting leaves in the buggy as we went up and down the street.

Feeding the ducks

Look at me, walking all by myself.

On the way there with our bread.

More pigeons than ducks in this picture!

A visit to the play park on the way home

When I was little one of my favourite things to do was to visit a forest park near my village called Drum Manor. The really cool thing about visiting there was the huge duck pond. In my parent's photos albums there are countless photos of me feeding ducks.

We took Emily this weekend to our local park on Fog Lane to feed the ducks to see if she would like them. (She goes to Heaton Mersey duck pond regularly with her grandmum and we are told loves to feed them) Well, does she like feeding ducks? She pulled on the railings, threw her bread, talked to the pigeons and ducks and had a fun time. Wow, Emily might be more like me than I realised!

Happy Grandparents Day to Emily's Grandparents.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Happy Birthday Jamie

Today Jamie celebrated his 32nd Birthday. We went out last night for dinner at The Lime Tree. It is one of our favourite restaurants, one that we only go to to celebrate something. We had a fabulous meal, Emily was a little out of sorts but the food was great and we had a fun time. Today Jamie received lots of gifts, (great timing E + E it arrived yesterday!) then we went to collect his pressie. Any monies he recieved he put towards a new coffee machine. Exhibit A below!He has been practising tonight and tells me he made a mean Latte ( I don't drink coffee so I will just nod in agreement)

We enjoyed sticky chocolate pudding whilst drinking coffee and juice, what a end to a great birthday.

One small step

Emily is slowly gaining in confidence to walk. We have had a few steps as she lunges between J and I. We look forward to the independance that will bring for her and us.

Back to school

Well, tomorrow I meet my new class. I am not quite sure how I feel about it, but the main thing is I will have a class. I will share it with a great colleague as we are both working 0.5 but it will feel like they are our class. I will have a place to hang my coat and bag. I know it is not important where you hang your coat but having a term without a place to leave my things was frustrating. Anyway... I am excited and now exhausted after 2 days of inservice training, so off to the shower and bed I go.

End of summer project and fun with Granny and Granda

Well it is the end of the summer holidays and my parents came to visit us for a few days before they head off to Alaska and Seattle to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary (last year) and my mum's 50th birthday and we go back to work. Whilst they were here they helped us with our end of summer project. We play barked our side garden and with the generous donation from Emily's Uncle Delwyn and the joy of a Toy R Us sale we bought a climbing frame, sandpit and trampet for our play area. It is very big and probably a little too big for our small side garden but we are living in hope that one day soon our little house will sell. We have even got the outdoor suit (thanks Cath, Rob, Alice and Millie,) for Emily to wear through the winter. (maybe we will need one too!) So I have included some piccies of the new play area and of the fun times Emily had with her Granny and Granda.

Back online and from our hols.

Yes, we are back on line after a month of hassle with our internet provider!

Also we are back from our holidays in Brittany, France, it was wet, wet, wet! It rained every day that we were there apart from the 2 days it took us to get there and the two days it took to come back!

I will post a few piccies now and will try to fill in the details over the next few weeks.

On the way there from Dover to Calais

A stop in Honfleur on the way to our Gite.Emily tasting the sand before the rain clouds arrived.

Our one and only meal outside:(

Note the fleecey coat, it was cold there too! (Emily didn't want to share the popcorn with the animals, she wanted it for herself.)
A visit to Le Mont St Michel

School starts back on Monday. This summer has zoomed by so quickly. Hi to you all, we have not forgotten about you, we have just been away from the internet waves.

(Big congrats to Greg, Sara and Soren. Baby Katherine Jayne arrived on July 31st)