Ella Margaret Ward

That smile says it all! I know someone who is really smitten. Katya turned to me today and just said, "Mommy I really love Ella!". It is very sweet!

Just behold that chub!!!

The legs are very munchable!!! 10lbs 3oz 20.5 inches.

He is pretty sweet with her too. He worries when she cries and is a bit afraid to hold her, thank heavens. We are encouraging softness.

So the short of it is...being induced is not wonderful. Labour was still short at 1 1/2 hours, but it was so intense and painful. I will share the whole birth story at a later date, but for today we are glad to be home, safe, and well!

The Malvern HIlls with Daddy!

Daddy was kind to Mommy and took the kids along on the Aaronic Priesthood commemorative walk early this morning. I had the morning and afternoon off and it was LOVELY! It looks like they all had fun too! Here's Ollie getting a little help from some friends.

He doesn't look so sure!

Hold on!

She walked the whole 2 hours with NO help. Go 5 year old power! She also got her 25 meter swimming badge this week!

This face describes Oliver Cormac Ward's attitude to life about now! He is such a funny monkey!

Spring happenings!

I laugh when I notice the lack of blog updates this year! It is so indicative of a pregnant belly and feeling so tired all the time. But besides that I have been feeling good. We have had many exciting happenings in the Ward household. The weather has been quite lovely recently so we have had many adventures in the outdoors. I am sure that once Wardy #3 appears on the scene we will have many more and hopefully more frequent updates for all of you!


This was Katya's choice for dressing up for National Book Day. She and 3 of her friends dressed up like Dalmations. She made a mighty cute puppy!

The pictures got a bit mixed up, but this is one of many photos from Katya's party. We had gorgeous weather and luckily it could all be in the garden. I love how most of the photos the children are yelling and screaming!

Katya and Ollie preparing for a Sunday afternoon spring wellie walk with Daddy!

They had 5 minutes to decorate one of their team members as a mummy. Katya was quite pleased with the wrapping she received. Next to her is one of her best friends, Aleeha.

Oliver, unable to stay on his feet, in the giant silly trousers. They loved this dress-up relay!

More silly dress up antics!

More screaming group shots!

The other mummy!

Katya playing dress up on a day out with Daddy to the university botanical gardens.

I don't recognize these 2 do you?

Looking sweet, especially Katya's graffiti hat that she insisted on wearing. But still sweet!


The last of the daffodils, and Oliver's tongue!


Katya looks way too grown up in this picture. We made her M&M rainbow cake together. She was very proud of it. She blew her candles out halfway through the song. She had a great day!

Serious Catch-up!!!

It seems every year around this time of year I realize I haven't posted since before Christmas. But I made a few minutes to give you all a photo catch-up. I will try to write a brief caption for each photo and let you all know what we are up to!!! This is Katya and one of her good friends from Reception Aliha and her little sister, Aliza. Their family moved here from Pakistan last May and were excited to spend their first christian Christmas in England, so we invited them to our house for Christmas Eve celebrations!

Many of you will understand the significance of this picture. Finally the Spiderman suit was acquired. There was much happiness that Christmas morn!!! Nice that the kids slept in until 8:00 am. We couldn't believe it!

Katya on her snazzy purple bike! Thanks Father Christmas! She has ridden it about 3 times. The weather has been too cold and snowy/rainy. Can't wait for some better weather!

Katya loved it but Ollie was really not sure! He just doesn't like being cold so it never lasted longer than 5 minutes for him. While Katya would go for hours!

Mush Mush Daddy!

Not too impressed. We have some video footage of Katya's wild rides! She loved it!

We were lucky enough to have Uncle Tommy come and stay with us shortly after the New Year! We all went to Warwick castle. It was fun for everyone! Despite being bitterly cold.

Sometimes I might really enjoy some of these in my own backyard, but alas I think social services would have something to say about it!

Ollie loved crazy Uncle Tommy! He talked about him for days after he left and still asks when he will come again!

The old sword in the stone!

Ollie's birthday was fun, but difficult to photograph. I find 3 year olds impossible to get to stand still for more than 3 seconds. We have an old digital camera that you have to hold the button down for like 5 seconds before it takes the picture so you can imagine the difficulty! The cake was not one of my finest, but I had limited supplies!

I'm pretty sure he was singing Happy Birthday to himself!

Opening presents with cousins and friends, oh and Katya too!

This picture is the epitome of Oliver Ward. Martin call him a Coo-coo!!

This was on his actual birthday morning with his hand me down plastic, sort of broken castle, but he LOVES it. Can't wait to Grandma brings him his real birthday castle when she comes in June!

At least now you all know that we haven't forgotten to photograph our children and will try to be better about posting! I can't imagine it will be easier when number 3 comes along!

Let it snow!!!

We got almost 10 inches in 6 hours...

Can you see something in the snow?

Making snow angels, when suddenly attacked by the Daddy snow monster and suddenly burried.

Through the livingroom window so blurry, but ready for fun. This is the only picture that proves that Ollie did go out in the snow for about 5 minutes. He doesn't like the cold very much. But Katya was that way last year, so I'm sure Daddy's infectious excitement will catch him in the near future.

Can you believe that fell in 6 hours?

Christmas catch-up!

So this is a quick catch up... just short captions to make sense of the pictures since October!!!! Ahh this new baby is taking the oomph out of me!! Here we are on the really cool model steam engine train to see Santa in the woods. It was REALLY fun!!!
They all look sufficiently awkward!! Santa included...
Grandma, we got a little confused who the outfit was for? We just thought it was great that it fit her too!
Here come the awkward smiles. But they look great don't they. Thanks grandma!!

On the way to town to see the Christmas market. Somehow it was too busy to take pictures in the actual market...
Sleepover pancake morning. I really love Katya's face!!!!
I'm loving these little Halloween dickens!!!
Arg!!!
Too cute to be scary


Does this child have enough Spidermans? Plus he really wants to wear a school uniform!
Everyone sleepy after a hard day at school...
This is from the summer when we were watching Abby. I love how they are all asleep and looking oh so comfortable!