And still it snows!

Hello and Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you enjoyed seeing the New Year Celebrations around near you; we were pleased to see that the Seattle Space Needle Fireworks went off this year rather than the pathetic fizz that occurred last year when they went wrong!!

We have had a lovely week this week full of fun things! After a busy weekend we had a quiet day on Monday; we went to the library and for a hair cut on Monday afternoon. We were all delighted that Silas had a smart cut without tears and yelling! Dad had his first and about half way through, Silas said “gandad no cry” and then firmly about himself “no cry” and he didn’t! We were very proud of him! The girls did well too as they had their hair washed before they had it cut and it worked out well.

In the evening, Dad and Tim went to Frys – the big electrical store and Mum and I settled down to watch “Mamma Mia”. I loved it! it was such fun! i will definitely watch it again and again (when Tim is out!!).

On Tuesday morning Mum and Dad were kind enough to take the children to the park so that I could have some time to write some emails which was great and then in the afternoon we met Tim at work in the afternoon and then drove for a while to see the houses that had the Christmas lights that flash on and off in time to music. It was a long drive but worth it to see the different houses! The children were quickly in bed that evening.

On Wednesday we met up with Naomi’s friend Anna in Seattle; they were members of the Odyssey Maritime museum that closed to the public from the 1st January and they wanted to use up their guest passes so invited us to come along. We had a fun few hours there, it was a good museum with boats to play in, a great water table  as well as learning about the history of the dock yards in Seattle. Dad’s favourite part was trying to steer the big tankers into the docks and load up the tankers with the cargo using the big cranes; we don’t think that he will be embarking on this as a new career any time soon!!

We finished there reasonably early as we had met them at 10am and so did a bit of shopping after we came home. In the evening we were playing games on the XBox and watched a bit of the film “Hairspray” before seeing the new year in!

On Thursday very little was open so we spent the morning cooking a turkey and ham pie for lunch that day and a fish pie for the following day. After lunch, we went to Bellevue Square for a bit to do a bit of shopping – I bought a lovely warm coat – and then we went to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens to see the Garden d’ Lights. The Lights were fun! This year there was a hunt for the children to find animals made out of lights so there was a crocodile, a parrot and a monkey! We were glad that we found them all, especially the monkey as Silas was desperately looking for it and for a while we couldn’t see it! Mum and Dad loved them and took lots of photos and we enjoyed seeing them again!

On Friday we went down to Tacoma to the Washington State Museum and had a great ‘train day’ there! There were some special model train exhibits on which all the children but especially Silas enjoyed. There was a wonderful Lego train model and then some Lego track and trains for the children to make and play with and we were there a while! Eventually we had a quick look at the rest of the museum and then came home. WE had had a good day!

Yesterday we all left in the morning to take the bus into Seattle. WE had lunch all together in the Seattle Center and then Tim and I left Mum and Dad to take the Children to the Science Center and he and I went into Seattle on our own. WE had last night in the Sheraton in Seattle which was very pleasant!! We spent some time in the Bookstore and then sat and read for a while before going to the Wild Ginger Restaurant. Hannah had very kindly bought us a gift card for there last Christmas and we hadn’t had the chance to use it but we enjoyed it last night! The dinner was great – we had a lovely satay as a starter which was great!!

This morning Tim and I had a leisurely morning and had an early lunch in Pike Place Market, which was fun! We had a great meander round there and I bought a new handbag which was good. WE then caught the bus home and were home just after lunch. Mum and I popped out with Silas and Esther this afternoon and then got the children hair washed and into bed at a reasonable hour this evening. Just before tea it started to snow again which we were very upset about as School is supposed to start tomorrow and the girls were upset at the thought that they might not go or might start late! We are hoping that it will clear before the morning!!

So our Christmas holidays are over! We have had a fun time and it has been wonderful that Mum and Dad have been here to enjoy it! It has been a special family time together. However the new year is here and a new term must start sometime soon so it will be back to early morning starts and rushes out the door again before I know it! We have very little holiday now between now and the middle of June when we finish for the long summer break; we have the odd day and a week in April but that is it. However, the weather should start to improve in the next couple of months, which will be good!

Well, that is it for now; I will write on Wednesday as usual I should think. Lots of love from all of us here!

A White Christmas 2008!

Happy Christmas! I hope that you all had a good few days and that you are ready to work for a few days this week before celebrating the new year! We are fine here and thankfully are now free of snow, ice and freezing rain; we are now back to the usual wet weather!!

We didn’t do too much at the beginning of this week; we went sledging on Monday as the snow was still bad enough to prevent most people getting to work although Tim did work from home. In the evening I had an extremely long HOA meeting! I was not impressed especially as it should have only been an hour in length!

On Tuesday the roads were good enough for Dad to be able to drive us to the shops so that we could buy our food for Christmas dinner, which was good! The children were very good and were sustained by treats throughout rather a lot of shops, it has to be said! We came home for a very late lunch and then stayed at home for the rest of the day.

On Wednesday, Tim was off and the roads were pretty good round about so we headed off to Factoria Mall so that the children could have a play at KidsQuest children’s museum. They had fun but the adults found it difficult to be entertained especially as the shops didn’t have much in to look at either! We then went for a late lunch before coming home and finding another Covenant Church in Issaquah for us to attend their Christmas Eve service in the late afternoon.

On Thursday we woke up to more snow but it was warmer and so it didn’t settle too much, which was good. We watched the children open their stockings which was fun and then most of the morning we spent talking to various people back in Europe to wish them a very happy Christmas whilst Dinner was cooking. The oven was having a hard time and it didn’t heat up very well so dinner was a little later than planned but we ate in the end and it was all very yummy! After we finished dinner we opened the presents! The children were very good and watched each other open their presents patiently! They were all very delighted with their presents, so thank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

on Friday, Tim, the children and I went to see some friends for Boxing Day. Mum and Dad had been at home but Dad was feeling a little under the weather so he stayed at home. He was feeling better by the evening and is fine now. We had a lovely day with James and Victoria. James’ Dad was also visiting for Christmas and we had a lovely turkey pie for lunch. Silas loved it so much he had 3 spoonfuls of it!! Definitely compliments to the chef!!

After lunch we played some silly games and then played a new computer game for the X-Box. It was great and all the children had great fun playing together – it was a game that Esther (4) and Robert (12) could play without a problem with the age gap so that was good! Basically, each of you in turn plays an interactive game on the television so you might have to run on the spot very fast or pretend to swat wasps etc. All of your movements is recorded by a small cameral – a bit like a webcam camera. At the end of each round, a different participant has to act in a certain way in front of the camera and then at the end of all the rounds, the game plays back the little movie that you have made with the recordings of you running or acting. It was very good and very funny to watch and play. The children did it twice and the second time, Naomi was much better than the first so I was glad that they had had more than one go!

Yesterday we did our “Christmas in Seattle” Day, where we saw the Seattle Center’s Christmas train, decorations and dancing. Then we moved to see the train at the Macy’s store, which was good before we then went to see the Gingerbread Houses in the Sheraton Hotel. We spent a long time there looking at the houses, which was very cleverly done! Finally we did a bit of shopping before the children had a ride on the carousel and then we came home.

Today we finally made it to church!! Hooray! All the services over Christmas had been cancelled due to the weather so it was really good to be able to see our church family today and to wish them a very happy Christmas! We had a picnic in church afterwards and then went to the Panto (Cinderella)  in Freemont! It was good fun! Very silly and without any fancy props, special effects or scenery but very well done! We took Melinda and Chad to experience their first British Panto and I think they enjoyed it!! We all certainly did although it was a bit beyond Silas! The girls were shouting, booing, hissing and cheering very well and loved it when they danced with Cinderella at the end! The cast come off the stage to dance in the audience at the end which is a nice touch and the girls happened to be in the group with Cinderella!!

We think that the bad weather is behind us now, which is good. Tomorrow we are going to have a quieter day so that Silas can have a nap and we are going to have a family hair cut which should be fun! Not sure about the rest of the week!

Anyway, will end it here! Hope that this finds you all well! Love to you all!

Grandad, you have got to sing nicely!

Hello! Welcome from a cold and extremely snowy Issaquah! The Seattle region is experiencing its worse snow in 18 years; we have had very low temperatures – of 17 – 18F overnight and it is still snowing heavily. We are however, thankful that the ferocious winds that were forecast yesterday didn’t effect us here and that we still have warmth and power, certainly for the time being. The forecast is not promising for the following week, with snow being predicted up until Tuesday and then it is unlikely to go before next weekend! Food wise, we are OK thankfully, but I would like if possible to go and buy my turkey, ham and other Christmas bits before Thursday! Who knows?

So, we are making our own entertainment!! All the lovely Christmassy things that I had hoped to do with Mum and Dad here like seeing Seattle, going to the Garden d’Lights, seeing the wonderful Christmas houses have all gone out the window and all we are seeing are the lights in our neighborhood and the snow laden trees! We have been having fun though, it just isn’t what I was wanting to do!

We have managed to go sledging a couple of mornings this week, which has been excellent and great fun for us all! On Friday morning, we went to the park in the neighborhood and sled down a tiny hill that led into the basket ball court which was good as it was a barrier to stop the children rolling down the road. The bigger children were sledding down Everwood Close which was treacherous – just a sheet of ice – which ended up into the road but there was no way I was going to let the children down that one!! We all enjoyed the little hill though and came back very satisfied with our morning fun!

Today however, there was so much snow that the hill between Everwood and Datewood Drive was safe to sled down which was brilliant fun. My only complaint that with one sledge the adults don’t get too much of a look in but we did all have one go at least! Silas did marvellously this morning as we borrowed a friend’s little sledge that was just his size and too small for her  children so we let him use it exclusively. He had such fun and laughed and laughed even when I pushed him in the wrong direction and he ended up underneath a bush!! We hope to do the same again tomorrow, too as there is even more snow now! We had to come home this morning in the end partly because the snow was coming down so heavily that it was hard to see and it hasn’t stopped since all day; we must have about a foot I think.

On Thursday afternoon Tim, Dad and I managed to get the chains on the car which they took out to Safeway to do a bit of shopping, which was good! They did OK going down but the chains were problematic on the way up as there wasn’t much in the way of snow depth on the main road that day and they ended up having to remove the chains to get up the hill, which was silly!

On Friday afternoon Mum and I went to Costco, to make sure we were well stocked and to Michaels so that Mum could buy some knitting needles. We had a good journey out and although there was snow and ice, the roads were pretty clear and we didn’t have any problems. Yesterday the roads were really good and we went out in the morning to Gilman Village and then to have something to eat. They were predicting snow and a large wind storm similar to the one we had 2 years ago that took out the power for 4 days and we wanted to make sure we had been out for a good bit and had had a hot meal just in case we were without power later. We got home just as the first snow flakes fell and were thankful that the wind missed us! Places like North Bend (a bit further along the I90) and Kent ( south of here) did have gales but we were sheltered by the mountain that we live on and didn’t have any problems.

Yesterday afternoon we assembled and decorated the Gingerbread house which was fun. The children enjoyed that very much! This afternoon the girls put on a show for us with singing, dancing and a piano solo by Naomi. We were all singing “away in a manager” when Esther said to Dad “Grandad you have got to sing nicely”. Poor Dad said “I am”, to which Esther replied, “No you have to sing it properly”. We all laughed as she wasn’t being rude or cheeky, she really did think that Dad wasn’t trying hard enough to sing nicely! Poor Dad!!!

We have been doing a lot of craft with the children this week and playing a lot of board games, which has been fun! Thankfully we have a wide variety of craft books, materials and some good games to play! Goodness knows what we will be doing if the snow is still here on Wednesday – we might be going a bit stir crazy by then but so far we are doing well!

I realise that I haven’t mentioned the beginning of the week. well there isn’t much to tell really! Naomi went into school late on Monday, went on time on Tuesday and not at all the rest of the week. The fact that she missed Wednesday was annoying as the weather was fine but it meant that we were able to get out and play at Bellevue Square for a while which was fun! Mum and Dad arrived on Wednesday evening which was good and they had had a good journey although it was a bit delayed. I was pleased that we had arranged for them to come here via Shuttle Express as this meant that we were not waiting around for them or having to face the traffic home.

Well, that is it for now! I hope that this finds you all well and keeping warm and dry! I hope that you have a very merry Christmas and enjoy being with family and friends over this time; God bless at this Christmas time!

A weekend in Portland – just for Louise!

Hello! How are you? I hope that this finds you well! We are fine here but cold! The temperature this morning when I woke up was only 20f which is cold!! Mind you it is colder that this in Iowa; yesterday they only reached a grand total of 1 degree Fahrenheit which is very cold indeed! School started a couple of hours late this morning although we are not quite sure why but is scheduled to start on time tomorrow. I wouldn’t be surprised though if Thursday and Friday were disrupted, but we will have to wait and see!

Thankfully the weather didn’t spoil my trip to Portland this weekend. Helen collected me about mid morning on Saturday which gave me the chance to do the girls’ hair. They were relieved!! Helen and I had a brilliant journey down to Portland, chatting all the way. We arrived in a quaint little district and had some lunch and a little later Melinda and Young came to join us. We spent a great afternoon walking round the shops; there are a lot of antique shops there and they were fun to browse in especially when there were no children to worry about touching anything! Most of the owners were friendly and as it was a quiet afternoon for them, they enjoyed our shopping. We all bought something, which was nice but I claim the best bargain! I found a small china tea set for $3; it contained 8 cups and saucers, 8 plates, a tea pot, a milk jug, a sugar bowl and a little vase with a holder! I can’t wait to give it to the girls for Christmas!! I couldn’t resist it at that price as it is in such good condition.

When it got too dark to enjoy shopping we went to the hotel and checked in briefly before collecting Katy, who was the last of our party from the station. From there we went onto Powell's book store which was great and then onto find some dinner. The only problem that we have had all weekend really was that Portlanders have no idea about giving directions!! We spent ages wandering around the city trying in vain trying to find the restaurants that the shop assistants had suggested. Similarly we had no luck trying to find a bank machine and a star bucks for breakfast.  Hopeless!!

Eventually we came back to the hotel and chatted, drank wine and applied face masks until very late, but at least I didn’t have to wake up to Silas in the morning!! I didn’t really wake up until after 9 and then read until 10 when I finally decided I should get up. When we had pulled the curtains in the morning we discovered that it had snowed over night and although there wasn’t much of it, it had fallen originally as quite wet snow and then had frozen as the temperatures had dropped so it was seriously unpleasant out. The others had all gone to the Craft show early so that they could get their free bag of goodies but I had decided not to join them as I really wasn’t that bothered and wanted a lie in and a leisurely morning instead. It was lovely!

I did make it to the Craft show and enjoyed wandering around the stalls, some were OK but there were some that I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to buy it or what anyone would want to do with it! There were some lovely jewellry stalls and hat stalls but the only thing  I bought were some hair bands for the girls and me.

Once we had finished our shopping we came back to the hotel to check out and to get going home. We really didn’t know what sort of journey it was going to be as the snow had not melted at all in Portland even on the I5; thankfully Melinda has a 4x4 car which meant that we had more grip and breaking power than most. We did a little test run before we set out and as that went well we thought we would set out; we were glad that we did as once we got over the bridge into Washington the road was as clear as it is normally and we had a good journey home. We stopped for a late lunch / early supper which was very yummy and were home in time for me to see the children before they were in bed, so that was good!

It was a great weekend – I felt very relaxed coming home and it was great to get away! Tim and the children had had a good time; they had found some snow on Saturday afternoon and had fun playing and making snow men. They had also iced the gingerbread men on Saturday morning and had played snakes and ladders for a while too. In the late afternoon they had watched the film Wall-E which they had all enjoyed very much. I heard a lot about it today! Yesterday they had been to church in the morning and then had gone to the Children’s Museum in the afternoon, so Tim had really tired them out!

Silas and I had a funny incident on Thursday morning; we had been to see our friend Jo in the morning as she had a baby in November and I hadn’t seen her or met Holly. We spent a fun hour there – Silas and Zoe had had fun playing together and I had had a long cuddle with Holly. We had left them about 10:20 and had just enough time to pop to Safeway to do the shopping, as I knew I didn’t need too much, before we had to collect Esther. As I pulled into the car park, an elderly gentleman asked me if I knew where 38th Street was, which threw me as most Issaquah streets are names and not numbers and I couldn’t think of where he could mean. Eventually I persuaded him that I had a map in the car and that if we went into Safeway, we could look at it and I could try and find it for him, which we did. As we were in Safeway, I realised that he was trying to get to a hearing aid center and that he had the number of the centre on the paper he was holding, so I phoned them and established that he was due to be there for 10:00 and that it was hard to find so that they had dispatched an assistant to meet him outside Safeway in Factoria to take him to the centre.

Well, I explained that he had ended up in the Safeway in Issaquah and agreed that, as they could still see him, I would try and give him directions to get to the other Safeway. AS we were talking I asked him where he had come from that morning and was rather alarmed when initially he couldn’t tell me, saying that he knew he had lived there a long time but he couldn’t remember where it was! As I was trying miserably to give him directions, my phone went and it was the assistant who was supposed to be meeting him who said that if I could ask him to stay put, she would come and collect him and he could follow her in the car.

AS the man and I were chatting, I discovered that he was 92, that he came from just outside Hull, that his wife had died in February and he had 3 children (although he only knew the whereabouts of 2 of them)! By this point, time has gone on and I realised that I didn’t have time to do the shopping but thought that I might just pop to the bank to take some money out; just as I was trying to leave, the man said “who am I meeting again?” and so I gave up any hope of doing anything useful and said “let’s go and have a cup of coffee and wait for the lady together”, which is what we did!! So, eventually he went away with the lady and I went to collect Esther. Poor Silas was not too impressed at having to return to Safeway once we had collected Esther to actually do the shopping! I kept my head down during the shop because I wanted to get home!!

Later that afternoon I phoned the man to check that he had got home OK; he had but had no recollection of meeting me that morning. I phoned the hearing center to voice my concerns but otherwise will have to leave it at that and hope that he is OK,  poor man!

On Friday morning, the children were all very sweet and were sitting in our bed snuggled against Tim as he was showing them the video of the Space Shuttle being flown from California to Florida on top of a ‘big plane’! One of the videos Tim found was of the inside of the space shuttle during take off and Tim was trying to explain the g – force which was why the men were shaking. He said that it was like a roller coaster and Silas started going “whoa” which is what he says when he remembers going on the roller coaster in Disney! It was funny!

Silas and I met up with Felix and Ulrike on Friday but it was a terrible day, it was absolutely chucking it down as only Seattle knows how all day. Instead of walking, we meandered through Crossroads mall letting the boys have a go on the 25c rides. They were good value when both boys could fit in and they had lots of go’s on things! They enjoyed it and it was lovely to see Ulrike before she goes to Germany in the morning for Christmas.

Esther was doing her best to brighten up the day though! She was wearing: a white, multi coloured heart patterned, tee shirt as a vest, a red top over that and a bright pink polka dot cotton top on top of that. On her legs she had on a stripy pair of tights, the stripy trousers that go with the polka dot top and then had a white stripy cardigan to finish it off! She did look funny! I should have taken a photo really, but didn’t get round to it! At least it did mostly tone, rather than being migraine – inducing like it often is!!

Naomi is fine and looking forward to the end of term this week; she has settled down well at school and is doing well I think; she is reading words in her bedtime chapter books and is making a good attempt at reading the words she doesn’t know! Sometimes she reads Silas stories, which is a real bonus when Tim is away!

Well, I think this is long enough for now! Mum and Dad arrive on Wednesday so I will probably not write again until the weekend this week, I don’t suppose we will be going too far so we won’t be doing too much anyway! Hope that this finds you all well! Lots of love from us here!

A splinter in my foot!

Hello! Yes, this was an unpleasant part of my week that I was glad to get rid of but it took ages!! After the party on Saturday night, I had a sore foot and it felt that something was in it but I couldn’t see anything! Anyway, I thought it would go away after a shower but it still persisted so I started putting on some germolene to see if that would help it but still no luck! After a couple of days of it I thought I would have a go yesterday with a needle to see if I could get it out but I couldn’t, although I was frustratingly close! So today I bought some tweezers and managed to pull it out! Finally! It was nearly a centimeter in length! Can you believe it! No wonder my foot was sore! It was like a piece of nylon and soft rather than a hard splinter but it is certainly more comfortable this evening! I was glad that it happened to me and not the children!

Apart from trying to pull splinters out of my foot, we have had a week of Christmas preparations. On Monday Esther went to school and then was collected by her friend Brooke’s Mum as she was going to go to her house for lunch and a playtime. It was a big deal for both the girls – they had been looking forward to it all weekend and Esther was very excited! She was very good and they had had a great time! Brooke will come here after the Christmas holidays, I think, one day as the arrangement worked very well!

I collected Esther and then Naomi and then took Esther to her speech therapy; she continues to do well. Naomi, Silas and I went to the library which was fun for Naomi as we were looking at various books for her to read to us and for us to read to her. We didn’t do at all well for books for her to read to us but we only had a short time but we did find a few for us to read to her, so that was good.

Yesterday, I took Esther to school and then went into Seattle for a meeting at church. I was astonished that it only took me 35 minutes to get into Seattle from the Highlands and I was there really early for my meeting! It was good though as I was able to catch up with a couple of other people before hand, including Pastor Leah who was the lady who came to us in hospital; she was in a car accident on Sunday morning (someone ran into her) and she was feeling uncomfortable. I wanted to see how she was though so I was glad that I could see her.

The meeting went well and Silas and I then sailed home, collecting Esther bright and early from school. If only trips to Seattle could be relied upon to be so smooth and straightforward, I would be more prepared to do it more often! Yesterday afternoon, Naomi finished her homework – no more until after Christmas now! – and the children played and watched television for a while.

Today I took Silas to Gym class which he enjoyed and then did a bit of Christmas shopping. Tomorrow is the last day for posting before Christmas so I wanted to get the last couple of bits today. Today, Naomi’s friend Peyton came home here for a play date, but nearly didn’t as the mummies got it wrong! If the children are not on their bus but going home with a friend then they need a bus pass, which we knew but neither Peyton’s Mum or me realised that Peyton would need a bus pass to get off the bus at Naomi’s stop. I suppose we should have thought about it really as it makes sense but it doesn’t actually specify this in the information and as neither Peyton or Naomi have done it before, we didn’t know! Grumpy bus driver didn’t help but he was right to check I suppose! He radioed somewhere and they phoned me and it was all sorted! Woops!! I refrained from pointing out to him that last week he was happy to let Naomi off the bus without an adult present when he had been extra early but I didn’t!!

Peyton left early afternoon as planned and then we went into Bellevue Square to the lovely new play area at the top of the mall! It was fabulous! there is a large play area with plenty of equipment to play on and thankfully only one exit / entrance so the children can’t escape!! The children all loved it and we shall go again, although I don’t know how much longer Naomi will be allowed in! We met Fritzi and Felix there as it was the last time that the girls will be together before F and F go to Germany! Ulrike, the boys and I shall meet on Friday but it was good that the girls could have a play today! They are itching to go back!

So that is it for now! I am going away on Saturday all being well (with some friends!) and so I think it will be unlikely that I write on Sunday night. I will plan to write on Monday! Hope that you keep well!

Why?

Hello! I hope that this finds you well; we are fine here and have had a lovely weekend! Silas has a cold but otherwise we are all healthy, which is good.

We have seen a lot of friends this weekend, which has been fun. Yesterday we caught up with James and Victoria for lunch which was great as we haven’t seen them for a very long time. They came for lunch here and we had just about enough time to clear up before going out again to our church small group’s Christmas party. It was a lovely gathering of the families that go and we were able to spend a little more time getting to know one another better which was good! Melinda invited me to join her and some other friends on an overnight trip to Portland next week, which I am seriously considering! It sounds fun! The children had a fairly late night for them and after they were in bed, Tim and I just watched TV for a bit – I was really tired last night!

Today we had our small group before church which was good; all the children including Naomi were in the nursery which worked out Ok for them but I just want to check that the staff were happy with Naomi being there! The cut off point is 5 and we did ask before hand but I just want to check!

After the service we spent some time in the cafe where they had a small Christmas market selling some wonderful hand made things. Some are made by families here and others are made by (mostly) women in Africa or Burma. THey were all beautiful and I bought some Christmas decorations for Christmas presents for the children’s teachers. I will probably buy something else for the schools too but at least the teachers will get a little something individually!

We then went to find a little Thai restaurant in Ballard which was lovely! The children had rice and chicken and Tim and I had something a little more spicy! We all enjoyed it – even the children so we will be returning!! We came home after that.

On Friday,Silas had an extra Gym class which he thought was great! It was very funny though because I met a Scottish mother there (married to a Canadian but living here) that I knew from a couple of years ago when Esther was in the parent and toddler class. This lady has 2 daughters, one who was 2 in June and the other daughter is 5 in April; when we were doing Gym class with the older girls, Silas and her youngest daughter would be in the car seat or in the slings so they would smile at each other! Now the little ones are old enough to be doing the same class so it was very funny to meet her again and see how the little babies had grown! We then went for a walk at the State Park which was very muddy but very beautiful as it was a sunny but cold day! We went to collect Esther after that as she was not staying for lunch and then we came home.

After we had collected Naomi from school we went to Factoria Mall as there was an exhibition of small Gingerbread houses outside the KidsQuest Children’s museum. We didn’t go into the museum as we didn’t have the Prime card (daddy still had it from last week) but we didn’t actually miss it! We spent a long time looking at the houses and choosing our favourites to vote for; the children were very funny as none of them seemed to understand the concept of choosing one! Naomi had a list of 4 down on her piece of paper and Silas just walked down the line saying “Good” at all of them!! Eventually we did all manage to put one number down on the papers and post them into the box!

We then went into the Pet Shop and spent quite a long time looking at the ferrets, the guinea pigs and the fish. Naomi didn’t like the ferrets and can’t see why anyone would want them as a pet which I have to agree with! She did however realise that the mice were only $2:49 so she was very keen to buy one of them – or a fish would have done at 99 cents! It was fun as normally we don’t get much time to look at the animals so it was a great cheap way to fill the afternoon!

On Thursday Silas and I went to the Community Center to play for a while – he had fun on the bumpy slide thing and the trucks! Later on we went to Trader Joes and did a quick shop; we were at home in the afternoon once Naomi came home.

Silas has entered the “Why” stage this week! Today he was ripping one of our books when he was in the car and so Tim said “stop” to which Silas replied “Why?”. He is definitely 2! Naomi is doing very well with her reading this week and is writing more words properly and less phonetically, which makes reading the reams that she writes easier!! Esther has been doing some adding up at school! I was impressed!

Anyway, that is all – I will write on Wednesday!

Nummies

Hello! Hope that this finds you well; we are OK although our colds are still lingering! We don’t have too much longer before term ends now so that is good! A couple of weeks off will be most welcome!

WE have had a quiet week so far, which has been good! We have had our usual activities and that has been about it! Naomi, Silas and I went for a play in Starbucks on Monday afternoon whilst Esther was in Speech Therapy which was good and it worked well; Naomi was much more relaxed! Silas spent the time poking his cars down the vent of the fridge which I had to then retrieve carefully! He did it twice, I was not amused! Esther is doing very well in her Speech therapy; she is really connecting that an ‘R’ sound is not a “w’ even in everyday speech so we are very proud and pleased with her! The funny thing is though that she is now a bit confused as to what is an ‘r’ and what is a ‘w’ so she was trying to say ‘rhy’ for ‘’why’ this morning!! I explained that not every word had to be replaced by an R! We are hopeless at going through the word lists each day but we are very good at picking it up in everyday speech which I think must be as good!

Silas has been funny this week with the Christmas Tree! Each day he has sat on the arm of the chair and hung various decorations on the branches that he can reach, then he sits back and says ‘nice’ in a very contented fashion! In the mornings when I have been carrying him down for his milk, he has caught sight of the outdoor small Christmas Tree lights that have been on and he has gasped in delight and said ‘pretty!’. He is very sweet! Yesterday when he was sitting on the arm of the chair he suddenly said “Mummy, neigh” and bounced up and down so he obviously thinks that he is on a horse! HE was doing it today too! This evening at tea time he was saying “train, whoa” and it took us a while to work out what he was saying but he was remembering going on the roller coaster at Disney! He has a good memory! Unfortunately he was a shocker last night at sleeping so we are hoping that he is better tonight!

Yesterday evening Esther was helping me cook dinner as on Monday night she had disgraced herself and not eaten any of it even though it was just pureed tomatoes with turkey and no ‘meat’ at all. By that I mean no onion, herbs or vegetables of any kind!! She hadn’t even eaten the pasta as the sauce was touching it!! Anyway, in desperation I said that she needed to help me yesterday so that she knows what goes into the dinner so that she will eat it! She really enjoyed helping and then Naomi helped today and it has been a good time to spend with them! I am going to try and keep doing it- you never know, it may must make both of them start eating more adventurously! We made some cakes this afternoon and finished making a couple of Christmas presents so we had a good time! The children all enjoyed making the cakes – they were pink with purple icing!! Naomi dropped an egg today and was very apologetic but as I said, it was the first egg to be broken in all the years I have been cooking with the children so I was more surprised that it hadn’t happened before!!


Silas has a new word this week “nummies”, which means dummies! I am so glad that he has a word for them now. In the past he would just cry and hit his mouth but at least we now know what he wants! He doesn’t always get them but it is a start!


Naomi is doing well with her reading! She is beginning to read confidently and has sailed through the early learning books that I bought her for her birthday. She is beginning to read signs and words on a page in a chapter book and this evening read the beginning of a sentence in the Children’s bible brilliantly. She stopped though and said, “Mummy these are long words, will you help me?”, only for me to realize that she was trying to read “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!!!!” I thought that was quite a reasonable request don’t you!!

It was funny in Gym Class this morning. There is an extremely pregnant Australian lady who brings her daughter and we were asking her when she was due, when her mum was coming that sort of thing! She was saying that she was going to be joining in the Gym class enthusiastically (well as enthusiastically as you can be at 39 weeks pregnant!) so that the baby would come. The Teacher then announced that today's lesson was called "Tummy Tricks" and all the parents laughed! As we said - giving birth in the Little Gym would be some tummy trick!!! She didn't I might add! I remember doing Gym class when I was 39 + weeks pregnant with Silas - I think Mum came that afternoon - and it was no fun!


Anyway, there really isn’t any more news so I will stop it here! Take care and I will write on Sunday!