Photos of Toby

Here's the boy...

Straight out of the womb, as they cleaned him...

6lb 8.3oz

The amazing Lizzy - they broke her waters at 5pm and at 910 he was here; only 2 pushes and out he came - with no pain relief!!! The shiny stuff on his face is the eye drops they gave him.

The proud big sisters. Lucy was enthralled with him...

Lizzy had a amazing nurse called Mary Ellen who goes to our church, and filled in all the paper work for us, so we could get home - a huge blessing. She also had this Christmas outfit they put on him to go home in!!

Toby Wesley Robinson

Lizzy gave birth last night to a beautiful baby boy - Toby Welsey - who came out at 6lb8oz and both mum & baby are doing great. Photos coming soon...

Pregnant Lizzy!

We know there aren't very many photos of Lizzy pregnant so here's a recent one taken by our lovely friend Kandi. Doesn't Lizzy look beautiful? (Not that I'm biased...)

Officially there are about 3 weeks to go, though judging by various contractions and other goings-on it may be here sooner rather than later...

Daisy's Ideal House

Last night we went to see the movie 'Charlotte's Web' - Lucy's first time in a cinema. It's a great movie, and we had lots of fun together. This morning Daisy was playing with her doll's house and had set it up so beautifully we thought we should take a photo.

This, apparently, is her ideal house, with a cinema on the top floor with Granny & Grandpa there to watch movies with! (though we don't know why there is a bath in the cinema and we've not tried making popcorn with a saucepan on a lamp...!) We're loving Daisy's imagination at the moment and her amazing creative play, so we thought we'd share it with you...

Granny and Grandpa do look very relaxed!

 

Christmas is here (well, nearly...)

Like we mentioned in our Thanksgiving post, the Christmas season here starts the next day. So we've gotten into the spirit of things and got our tree up and our other Christmas decorations...

And of course we've put lights outside our house, too.

And this week we had Breakfast with Santa at Daisy's preschool. We posted both pictures so you could see how Lucy warmed to him...

At least Santa looks happy!

 

Thanksgiving!

Another month, another festival!

November's excuse to eat a lot is called Thanksgiving. Joking aside, we love this festival because there's nothing to it other than gathering as family and thanking God for all that He has provided in the previous year. And eating!

Lizzy's mum and dad came for a week on their way to New Zealand and it was lovely to see them again. Not least because Anne cooked and baked for us lots, and they sent us away for a night whilst they looked after the kids. On the day itself we roasted a turkey with all the trimmings and Anne made a Pumpkin Pie - a very traditional Thanksgiving dessert, from a recipe found in our Sainsbury's cookbook. Heather and Chad thought it was the best they've ever tasted!

We also made a gingerbread house, another Christmas tradition (the Christmas season here starts the day after Thanksgiving). Perfectionists Lizzy and David went to it and sometimes even allowed Daisy and Lucy to do some of it. We've been told that you're meant to keep them and buld up a collection (our neighbours have one that's 7 years old. Yes, 7.)

Lizzy's dad has recently retired from working as a paedatrician in Nottingham. Here's proof - still in pyjamas at 10am!!

Aaaah.

Our Halloween Alternative...

It might look a lot like a normal Halloween (for our US readers, anyway!) but this was our way of doing it alternatively... 'Trick or Treat' here is code for 'let me grab as much candy from you as I can possibly get.'

So our alternative?

Halloween is about giving!!

That's right folks. We and our neighbours parked our 4-and-under year olds in front of the candy table with strict instructions to give but one piece of candy per person. Halloween, after all, is about giving, right?!! (It's either that or wait for 2 kids to come along and having to hide for the rest of the night in darkness as 'trick or treaters' come knocking)

Which is what we found Mike and Sally doing when we went to see them. We had to break into their house just to say hello!!! They were hiding upstairs watching TV in the dark!!

We also gave out Starbucks coffee and a roaring fire to those willing to risk resting for a moment!

Here are the photos...

Daisy (Cinderella), Lucy (Nemo), Hollen (Ladybug), Hannah (Bee), Scotty (Bob [or Barb, as they say here] the Builder)

Ready for action.

Chad and Heather joined us. It's our driveway, but their fake grass, just to clear that up.

Lizzy demonstrating the spirit of generosity. Heather wondering how she ended up with a neighbour like this.

Notice the youg children in the front line of duty. Starbucks anyone?

Mommy & Me Halloween Alternative

Lizzy set up a mums & toddlers group at church in February which has kind of exploded. Loads of mums have connected to the church through it and the week of Halloween they had a fancy dress party...

Our beautiful God-daughter Tia Saxton rose to the occasion!

The amazing Heather (our next door neighbour) with her twins Hannah and Hollen.