Guinnea Pigs Ahoy!

We would like to introduce the two newest members of our family, Upsy Daisy and Iggle Piggle Ward-Giles. Ward-Giles because we are pet sharing with our good friends across the road so we have them one week on and one week off. We can watch over them during our holidays and when things are crowded at one house we can pass things over. We got them from Katya and Ollie's nursery and the kids LOVE them. Oliver wants to pull their hair out, poke their eyes in, and in general squeeze the air out of them. Katya is gentle and lovely with them. She and Harriet, the other little girl in the photos, are very sweet with them. We want the kids to have pets, but its hard when we go away for the entire summer, so this seems to be a good solution. I don't feel too bad leaving guinea pigs, where as it would be hard to leave a dog. So those of you who have seen our house know we have plenty of room for a 4 x 2 foot cage, hahaha! But small is small and they can be outside most of the time as long as it isn't too cold! Hope you enjoy the the scruffy little critters!

Oliver Cormac Ward 1 year on

We can't believe it, but Oliver is now officially 1! He had a fun family birthday on Sunday night. Nanny and Grandad, Uncle Matty, Trudy, Callum, and Teigan came to celebrate with us. We had presents galore and the favorite one by far was the bouncy trampoline with the handy handle for him to hold on to, he LOVES it, thanks Nanny and Grandad. He boings on it first thing and last thing of everyday and lots of times in between! He also enjoys making far too much noise with his drum, maraccas, jingle stick, and super loud clacker, thanks Grandma and Bampa!! Then we all enjoyed a big piece of carrot cake, and Oliver mostly smeared his all over everything and licked the frosting a bit. We were sad that all of Oliver's american family couldn't be here, but we are looking forward to our trip this summer and also looking forward to the cousin un-birthday party to celebrate all together the birthdays we miss being so far away from each other!

Katya the artist

We can't believe it! Katya has drawn this picture in 10 minutes, just before she is banished to bed. She sat by herself with her 'new pens' and created it.
The people in the picture are: large blue - daddy, smaller blue - mummy, brown - ollie, red - nanny and pink - Katya. The remaining characters are unknown - they may children we are yet to have! Who knows?

We hope you like it.

Ward family

Hindu Temple in Dudley?

We have been meaning to visit this Hindu temple since it was completed a few years ago. Its in the Black Country about 10 miles from where we live. It is the biggest Hindu temple in the UK. One of the largest outside India. We were definitely in the minority here! It was very interesting and cultural and cold! Katya liked the elephants everywhere!

Cold Weather!

So since New Year's Eve it hasn't gotten much above freezing and been spending most of its time far below! We've had hoar frost and have spent lots of our time cuddling up and watching movies. Except for this morning we decided to boldly face the cold and went for a walk in the Clent Hills, Katya calls them mountains, silly British baby, she'll die when she goes to Utah! Sadly we are back to work and school and the old routine Monday. But it has been a wonderful, restful, and much to our pleasant surprise, healthy break!