Jake recently went on a toy run with his Grandpa Hubie. Grandpa has a Gold wing that he had modified into a tricycle a while back. He's had surgery on his spine and getting on and off a motorbike was just getting too difficult. The trike gives him his freedom to ride in comfort, without the inconvenience of hopping on and off. This year, he asked Jake to join him on the toy run, which was loads of fun. Obviously I could only take pictures of them leaving the house, but it was a special morning for both of them...
Jake's a nervous guy by nature and has always been nervous to go on the bike, but I think he really enjoyed the toy run...
And off they go! The Gold wing's like a car...
We are all starting to get a little into the festive spirit. There's no doubt that it's been tough this year, but we are hoping to make it a happy occasion, especially for the kiddies..
Jo came through with her kiddies on Sunday morning and Rosie popped in with Rylee, so we decided it would be fun to have the whole family (minus husbands) there to put up the tree. We got the actual tree up before they arrived...
Jake is as tall as my dad now...
And he's got a very deep voice and super hairy legs, but he still acts like a clown...
All the boys working together to make our tree beautiful - it's so full of memories...
Dad adding some touches...
Rylee was super excited to help, especially with all his cousins there...
While all the boys were busy decorating the tree, Princess Stinky was standing in the corner crying because she got purple slime in her hair. Poor girl had a planter's wart burnt off the side of her foot and it's formed a huge blood blister, that's about the size and colour of a black fruit pastille...
Precious Corky...
Dad always puts the fairy on top of the tree and she's always the last decoration to go on. She's a total drunken fairy (fitting for our house) - her head is separate from her body and we always have to look for both parts...
And she's up and ready to watch over us all this festive season...
A hug for the tree...
It's been a tough year for us as a family. My dad's health hasn't been great. The short version is that he needs to have both his legs amputated, mid-calf. He has no circulation below his ankles. He's already had a toe removed, but it just isn't healing. It's a terrifying thought for all of us, Dad most of all and we have more questions than answers. Dad's seeing the surgeon on Friday and we'll hopefully get some more answers to our many questions then. At the moment, it's all very much up in the air and they haven't even set a date for the surgery yet. News like this puts your mind in a spin and we are all constantly thinking about how this is going to impact life for all of us. We are hopeful that this will only happen in 2019. For now, we are all working hard at keeping spirits up and enjoying the holidays with the kids and Dad. Thankfully, we are strong as a family and we have a ridiculously childish way of finding stupid things to laugh about.
Sending love,
Sue XXX
