A Great Christmas

Another Christmas flashes by and its been lovely. The children took part as angels in the church nativity service which was typically cute and wonderfully performed as only children can.
The Christmas day service was fantastic and Elizabeth read out loud and was brilliant so much so she got a round of applause.
Denise produced another wonderful christmas cake which I have been busy working my way through and its delicious. I promise I'll work it all of in the new year.
Denise's toddler group made a lovely nativity scene-very creative and on display in the church hall for all to see.
The girls got some lovely presents and particularly loved the dolls houses they got.

And it keeps coming-SNOW!

More heavy falls of snow . We now have a foot of the lovely stuff and it is forecast for more tonight and tomorrow. The girls have been taking full advantage of the weather in their new snow suits sent by Auntie Mandy all the way from Canada. Many thanks -our need is greater than yours if it's +12 and raining out there. We also had a little visitor to the garden brought down by the snow. Can you spot him?

The snow has really built up. Day time temperatures on Fri 3rd Dec was -5.5 at mid day and we had well over 2ft of snow by the time it had finished snowing here yesterday. Very cold and our wood burning stove has been great ,we've had it going 24/7.

More snow glorious snow

For the second time this year it snowed heavily. -8 last night and more snow but it gave us a day off school and as always I spent it constructively with a colleague/friend from work (Tom) and the girls. Tom though got his seasons mixed up and seemed to think it was Summer!!!!

Aarons 21st

We all celebrated Aarons 21st Birthday, early, today it's really Tuesday but what the heck!!! Denise made an Appropriate birthday cake - ARMY STYLE to make him feel at home!

A Hectic Autumn

Hello to everyone. Its been a very busy Autumn term so far and it isn't over yet. Never got down South to see anybody over the half term as we simply had so much to do up here. Denise and myself have been helping out more with church based activities; I'm helping out on an Alpha course at the vicarage every Thursday evening;Denise goes to a ladies only,Wednesday evening, church group and we both do a Bible study group every other Tuesday at our house and a friends (alternate weeks) , along with all our school activities and toddler groups we are flat out. On the final weekend of half term my very good friend Benn Mugisha from Kware in Kenya and a new friend Bronnie came to stay with us for a few days to visit my school and children to thank them for the money they raised for his charity St Thomas Handshake to Kware (£1000). www.handshaketokware.co.uk (check out the web site).
It was great to see Benn after three years and to be updated on all the latest news and work that is going on out in Kware. I'm going to add the pictures of how we raised the money later( left my pen drive at school!!!). Needless to say it involved pain(leg waxing), ritual humiliation(dressing up and parading down a cat walk in rubbish-'A Trashion Show') and a great deal of fun and laughter. The children are fired up and want to raise loads more for Kware. And we want to go out there and see everthing and meet the wonderful people and children for ourselves.
We finished this week with a fantastic bonfire and fiework display down in the park in Selby. A lovely crisp cold night, a tray of chips and all the family together enjoying the entertainment-the big children Eren and Aaron still enjoy a sparkler and a firework display not to mention Denise's Pea and ham soup before we set off which totally stuffed Aaron and myself.
10.11.10- now got my pen drive so enjoy the pictures above.

All grown up and ready for school

Maisy had her first day at nursery school on Monday in Mrs Jones class and looked all very grown up in her school uniform. The novelty had slightly warn off by Wednesday with a few tears but still thoroughly enjoyed her morning. They had a great dinosaur story and she loves playing in the sand and water trays. Today she stayed for lunch and took in her Maisy Mouse lunch box and enjoyed dinner with her little friends and the head teacher Mr Taylor popped in to say hello. Maisy enjoyed showing him her binoculars which she let him try, very honoured!! Unfortunately she is as yet unaware how many more years lie ahead!!!

Summer Fun

A great two days out was had by all, one of Which ( a trip to Sundown Adventure park) was thanks to our lovely friends Rachel, Ian , Erin and Ava who bought us a family ticket as a thankyou. It was a wonderful day out and the weather was great. The girls really enjoyed themselves. The park is designed for families with children under 10 so they are able to go on all the rides. We tried them all. The water barrels, farm tractors(Maisys favourite), Robin Hood adventure, Rocky Railway, Christmas Sleigh Ride (early I know but it was there so we went on it) and the huge indoor soft play with slides and ball pits. It was six and half hours of fun. Not to mention a lovely picnic and ice cream on the green.
Day two saw us shooting off to Runswick bay (Cornwall look a like) beautiful. Sandy beach one side of the Bay and rock pools the other, once the tide starts to go out. We spent the morning and lunch in the sand and enjoying the water then paused for an ice-cream (again) before exploring the little hamlet of Runswick and the rockpools. Didn't manage to catch anything this time but found some great fossils much to Elizabeths joy. Hope to go back again next week if we get another nice day.

Summer Holidays

Hello everybody. Well its a typical British summer holiday-sunshine and showers but it hasn't stopped the Robinson's getting out and about. We spent the first week of the holidays involved in the churches summer club 'Rockys Plaice' which isn't a spelling mistake but based in a cafe setting. It was great fun and the girls loved it. We were in Sizzling Sausages group and I played the part of Peter each day meeting a new character from the Bible as well as a character called Deep Fat Fryer who reads out children's jokes and shows their pictures. Denise was also involved in catering to provide thirty children with refreshments during the break. Lots of fun.
Week two and we were off down south again to visit family and friends. It's always lovely to see everybody and catch up on all the news. We also managed to have a day visiting Romsey Water gardens, the Adder pits in the forest and a picnic at Boulder Wood. If we didn't manage to see you this trip down we will certainly try our best to catch up next time we are down.
On our return home we found our cat missing. We eventually tracked him down to a vets in Goole. It turned out 24 hours before we arrived home he'd been hit by a car. Thankfully the driver stopped and rushed him to the RSPCA centre. No bones broken but due to sever bruising around the spine he's unable to use his back legs at the moment. As swelling reduces he should get more feeling back and be up on his feet again. Even in this last week we have seen loads of progress.
This third week we have also been sorting out the girls Wendy house which came with the house at the end of the garden. Me and my friend Tom from work re felted the roof and then Denise and the girls started to paint it-pink on the inside and yellow and white on the outside. We have also put a new floor onto of the existing floor to provide a better surface. It's looking really good and I'll add a picture when its all finished.
well that's the summer so far. We are hoping to go off to Hornsey, Sun-Down children's park and rock pooling before the summer ends and with any luck fit in another BBQ for some of our friends up here- any excuse for food and drink.
Hope you are all enjoying your summer holiday and our love to all.

On the Move

Hello everybody, the Robinsons are on the move again if you haven't already heard. We are just moving a couple of miles down the road to a lovely 1950's three bedroom semi. Big garden and larger rooms with beautiful conservatory and wood burning stove in the living room. Will e-mail everybody with our new address ,hope to keep the telephone number but will be changing my broadband provider and therefore e-mail over to O2. This may take a little time and I will make contact once its up and running. We hope to move on Friday 14th but anything could happen yet. Hope you like the pictures of the new house.

A link with the ancestors

What a fab day at school again today as year 5/6 became real Victorians for the day. Boy did we look the part. I was born in the wrong century. I was meant to wear these clothes!!!!!

Elizabeth 6 years old!!!!!

Elizabeth had a whirl wind birthday week-end with presents on Saturday and coming to an end on Sunday with her disco party. There was a massive hug for Maisy as she handed her present over of two Go Go pets. Elizabeth had a lovely time with her friends dancing and playing games for two hours.There was a brief stop for food and then all go again. Mummy and Daddy now need a rest but probably wont get it!!! It was a unique mothers day for Denise.

The MIGHTY ZULU NATION

What a fantastic day Elizabeth and myself had at school today when the 'Mighty Zulu Nation' came to our school. They performed for the whole school with song and dance and then carried out workshops with years 5 and 6. They truly were MIGHTY. Five individuals brought the magic of their culture to our doorstep and the children thoroughly enjoyed the day and I don't think any of us will forget the experience.

http://www.mightyzulunation.com/

Happy Birthday Maisy

Maisy is now 3 and the 4inches of snow which fell didn't stop the fun of her party at the Wishing Well.

The Peppa Pig cake was beautifully made by Denise. Maisy had great fun with all her friends climbing and scrambling. The face painting transformed angels into butterflies ,tigers, lions and dogs.

Happy Chilly New Year 2010

Well it's been a while since I up dated the blog so I thought I should get an entry in quick in 2010, so a very Happy New Year to one and all. You didn't miss much over the Autumn. Lots of hard work and I passed my thresh-hold three at work(for all the non teachers- a little promotion and a little more money). The autumn seemed to whiz past like a flash. It was great to see Jim who came up and spent some time with us, then went back to Brighton for a rest.

We had a really good Christmas and although technically not a white one we did have snow on the ground which fell Christmas Eve-so I was very happy. Christmas morning the girls were even happier as they got everything they could imagine especially their scooters -a three wheeler for Maisy and a two wheeler for Elizabeth. Mummy and Daddy exchanged slippers and now are benefitting from their warmth. Denise cooked a wonderful Christmas lunch topped with homemade Christmas pudding.

The snow never left us and nor did the sub zero temperatures, we entered the New Year with more snow and then today another 6inches fell. I'm sure British Gas are rubbing their hands with glee as we pump up the heating and spend a small fortune to keep warm.

Our school was the only one open in the district this morning but we closed due to the weather this afternoon so me and Elizabeth have the day off tomorrow and this could extend to the week-end due to bad weather and more snow forecast.

Well I hope you all enjoy the snow we sent down to the south.

And a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE from all of us.