Jemma Turns One

The youngest member of the family turned one at the weekend, so I thought some pictures of the first year of her life would be a nice way to celebrate the occasion. As always all photos are from my Flickr Photostream.



The first thing Jemma learned was how much her big sister loved her...



... even though she would try to steal her bed...



... but she actually preferred her own Moses Basket.



The girls continued to be best of friends...



... while Jemma became more adventurous...



... and enjoyed the ballpit she got for her first birthday.

A Belated Summer Summary

Just a quick run-down on our summer, which I'll argue as being fitting as British Summer Time only ended last Sunday (of course as I pointed out to someone on Sunday morning, British Summer Time really ended about eight weeks ago).

Summer holiday: We did something different this year and went down to the Ayrshire coast. The good part? We took Cookie with us. The bad part? Well besides being in a smaller than usual bed with a tipping mattress that threatened to throw me out every night, let's just say the argument of certain places having a benefit of "Once you're there everything's paid for" is a bit of a joke. Swimming is paid for. Everything else? Not so much.

On the plus side, at least Chloe had fun, eating ice cream with money given to her by her Gran and drawing away when the weather wasn't so nice. Meanwhile I struggled to get any kind of 3g signal or find a petrol station within ten minutes of us. I went a bit stir crazy.

Also, somewhat randomly during our holiday, Chloe told me, "Dad, you change your mind, like a girl changes clothes." I thought I'd heard that before somewhere. Turns out I had.

Elsewhere: Honestly, it seems like I do nothing other than work and commute lately. I can't really recall anything else I did over the summer which I would class as really fun or memorable, except for...

The Dog's Trust Open Day in Hamilton. Always a blast, so much fun to take Cookie to and give him a day where he's the centre of attention. You have to love that dog (who's been with us for seven years, to this very day).

N.B. As always, all photos are from my Flickr photostream.

One Of Those Brief Updates

I look at my last posts shows it has been far too long since I last posted anything. As a matter of fact there's nothing I particularly feel the need to comment on, but to show I haven't dropped off the face of the earth I thought I'd post a few posters that go along with a few things

Probably the most exciting thing I've done since my last post was to visit Sheffield for the first weekend of the World Snooker Championship. It was something I had never been to before and I'm really glad I did it. However first and foremost I'm glad I did it because it gave me a chance to catch up with three of my best friends at once.

Anyway, I was somewhat surprised at how small and intimate the Crucible Theatre is. I'm not sure how well this photo shows that but I thought it may be interesting to show.



Two weeks after that I had another Sheffield sporting event, only this time it was Sheffield United visiting Selhurst Park for Palace's last game of the season.

The weather was beautiful, but the game was a bit of a let down. Although United were going for promotion Palace had nothing to play for and it wasn't a particularly great game. It finished as a scoreless draw, which now means I haven't seen Palace score for over two years. Ouch.



Besides that? I've not been up to much, just a whole lot of working, helping my wife with the garden and taking Chloe swimming. Days are just flying by.

N.B. As always, all photos are from my Flickr photostream.

2008 Review In Pictures

I thought it might be nice to do something a little bit different here, and so with the help of inspiration of blogs like The Big Picture I thought a pictoral review of last year might be fun.

As always, all photos can be found in my Flickr photostream.



Our big girl is now a big three. Chloe is walking, talking and still bringing more smiles and fun to the house than I would have ever thought possible.



Our dog Cookie is slightly older, but still just as loved. His age is showing a bit now, as the white on his chest is spreading subtly, leaving shades of grey even in his face. I still love him to bits, even if he's a big Mummy's Boy. This picture was taken on the freezing cold Saturday after Christmas, when I knew the park would be quiet and I could take him off his lead safely and let him have a run around. Well worth bearing the cold for.



The Mrs is still the Mrs, and she still loves me (thankfully). This past summer she was the bridesmaid at her brother's wedding, and here can be seen with Chloe after the service.



One of my favourite blogs ran the question "What Are Your Biggest Accomplishments of 2008?" After the initial guilty/panic-stricken blank thoughts I did think of some things, but best of all had to be appearing on - and winning - a TV gameshow. Something which started as a "Why not give it a go?" thought turned out to be something well worth doing on so many levels. The medal is actually given to each day's Going For Gold runner-up, which I was on my second day on the show, and isn't as large as it appears on the show (blame the camera angle they use for that, I guess). Still a nice memento though.