Beach!

Hi all! Hope that you are all well and have enjoyed the first couple of days of the bank holiday weekend! Surprisingly we have a bank holiday here too, which is rather nice - we haven't had one since Christmas! We have had a lovely weekend so far but have not yet made plans for tomorrow. 2 things seem similar here - the weather has broken and it has been cloudy and grey today and apparently the roads are really congested! You see - Bank holiday weekends are the same the world over!

The big news here is that Naomi is out of nappies - Hooray!! She has only been wearing them either to have a rest in or at bedtime - I am not confident enough yet to know that she won't wet the bed! However, we are really proud of her as she has only had a couple of accidents and otherwise has been doing really well. She takes herself off to the potty on her own at home although she does like to know that you are around and she has managed to go when we have been out and about! So all in all she is doing splendidly and nearly has enough stickers to buy a new train!!

It has been so hot here we really haven't done much apart from sit in the garden on Thursday and Friday afternoons. Thursday morning we managed to have a quick run in the park before we went to the library and on Friday morning we went over to see Maddie and Vanessa.

Yesterday morning I took Naomi shopping to buy her some sandals for the summer as I didn't want her to have to wear her shoes when we were in the garden or at the beach. WE went to the beach yesterday afternoon with some friends from church and we had a great afternoon. We went to a beach in Kirkland and it had a lovely sandy area for the children to play in and part of the lake was enclosed for swimming or paddling. The children all had a lovely time - Naomi really gained in confidence splashing in the water which was great and Esther loved the sand! She is such a tactile child that sand and water made a great substance to play in!

We were all filthy when we arrived home and so after tea we had a family bath which the children thought was great fun. However it looked as if we had brought half the sand home with us at the end!! It was lovely to be able to reach the lake so quickly and easily and certainly having easy access to sand and water is one of the things that I love about living here. It is such a contrast to Nottingham!

After church this afternoon we went to the University Village complex for some lunch and a browse in the Barnes and Noble book shop. Esther made us laugh as she was gesticulating impatiently at the red tortilla crisps that had come with Naomi's meal. I said to her "You want this do you?" and she nodded her head!! It was so funny and unexpected as we hadn't seen her do it before! Who could resist such a plea? Certainly not me!!

Will write soon!

Tim home!

Hello there! It is scorchingly hot here today and likely to remain so for a while yet. Tim has gone on a mission to find some new fans as the children are struggling to sleep and we are trying to cool them off with one fan between all of us!! I am sorry I didn't get to write yesterday but I had such a mammoth pile of ironing to do that it was impossible to do both! However, hopefully this will make up for it a bit!

We were delighted on Sunday to see Tim again. Naomi ran to him and gave him a gigantic hug the moment he came off the escalator and Esther was really smiley and not shy as we had both feared. We hadn't really done much on Sunday apart from go to church and grab something to eat before heading to the airport. We were there early but the weather had been wet on and off all day and so we didn't have the opportunity to do much else!

Tim was off on Monday and Tuesday which was lovely. He took Naomi to the gym class on Monday morning and then took the girls to the park in the afternoon. I was suffering quite badly from a stiff neck and shoulder and wanted to see an Chiropractor. Unfortunately the one I picked was a new-age practitioner which I didn't realise until it was too late. He was far more interested in the bad energy stored up in my back rather than treating me and I left feeling no better. Thankfully I found someone else who I saw on Tuesday who actually did something and I am feeling a bit better and go back again tomorrow! I was so mad with the first guy as he didn't do anything and I felt that he had really wasted my time!

On Tuesday we all went into Seattle and visited the International District. There is a fabulous Asian supermarket there which fascinated us all for a good hour or so! We then went for some very tasty chinese food! Naomi and Esther had some too, although Esther reacted to something, which was worrying as we don't know what it was that she reacted to. We were really careful at getting the restaurant to check that she could eat it and it was only chicken and noodles! Anyway she soon picked up again and she wasn't too bothered by it! I think I was more bothered than she was!

Our guide book described a nice park in the district which we found but it was hopeless and so instead we walked down to the Magic Mouse Toy shop which was great fun! We then took a tram part of the way back to the car which Naomi was very excited by!

Yesterday we went to Redmond Community Centre for our last group session, which was sad and then went to Marymoor Park with a group in the afternoon. Today I had to go for an xray of my back so that I can see the Chiropractor again tomorrow and then we spent the afternoon in the garden with Maddie and Vanessa, which was fun! She had brought some strawberries which Esther loves and she was so messy! She enjoyed them so much though!

Esther was making us laugh on Tuesday morning. I had picked her up and put her on our bed when she woke up and she was delighted to see Tim and was giving him lots of kisses. She then went on to play a game of "dropping the monkey!" and was holding her hands to say "all gone" after she had done so. This was quickly followed by impatient noises as she wanted Mummy to pick up the monkey again so that she could play again!

Last night I was saying that I had a pile of ironing this big (and stretched out my hands) which Naomi thought was very funny and so she and Esther were joining in! We all ended up saying "my ironing pile is this big" and stretching out our hands which caused much merriment!

Esther has started to play a game that we well remember Naomi playing - that of hiding in the cupboard and saying boo (or "bo" in Esther's case)! This is a great game and keeps her occupied whilst I am sorting Naomi out in the mornings!

We have had excellent success these last 2 days in getting Naomi out of nappies and I am cautiously optimistic that apart from rest time and night time, Naomi may not need them any more. I have been taking the potty around with me but she hasn't yet needed it when we have been out. I am really proud of her as she has done very well and it would be great not to have to change quite so many nappies!

Anyway, that is all for now!

a long blog!!

Hello and welcome from a wet Seattle. We have had down pours followed by warm sunshine several times a day this week and it has been hard to predict what it is going to be at any one time! However, we have not been too badly house bound and have either run out for an hour when the sun comes out or have sheltered from the rain! It is Saturday evening here and I am writing this before I go and tackle the clearing up! I thought I would write today as Tim comes home tomorrow (hooray!) and also we have had such a busy few days that I have more than enough to say already!

We went to see our Somali ladies on Thursday morning this week as we had a trip booked on Friday morning. When we arrived, Safia had her coat on and wanted to go out so we took her to the Somali Store in central Kent. We were fortunate to be able to meet a Somali / AMerican lady who could help us all understand what was going on and we were able to collect the necessary forms that we needed. When we got back to their appartment I was able to complete the forms and hopefully they have been sent off! With all the to-ing and fro-ing we were there a good 2 hours and so it was late when we got home for lunch.

Thankfully the children seem to be quiet happy when we are there - the older of the 2 ladies loves seeing them. she looked very happy holding Naomi's hand on Thursday when we were out and about! I think she thought I was going to leave Esther in the car at one point as I had set Naomi down with her and, as I went round the car to collect Esther, she was shouting at me!! As if I would! After we had met the Somali / AMerican lady we followed her in our car to another place and Safia went with her. Gemana, the older lady came with me and I thought it was because she knew where we were going and to direct me. Anyway, I saw somewhere that looked as if it might be the place and so I pointed and said "Are we going there?" To this she replied with a shrug that would have made a French man proud!! We both laughed at this point! It was the right place!!

In the afternoon, we were due to meet VAnessa and Maddie and Ulrike and Fritzi at the park but just as we were about to leave, there was a tremendous storm and so they came to us. After a little while, the sun came out again and so we walked the girls up to the little park in our neighbourhood. They managed to find the largest, muddiest puddle in the park and they were all splashing in the puddle and having a great time. Thankfully they all had their wellies on but wellies only help so far and I think we had the 3 muddiest girls in Washington on Thursday afternoon. NAomi decided to go swimming in one of the puddles and they all ended up with very muddy clothes! We walked them back to our house and stripped them on our front doorstep! I managed to find clothes for them to go home in! They had had fun and we had had fun too!

On thursday evening our friend Melinda was kind enough to come round and help bath the children and for a meal. As her husband is studying for exams and as she works not far from here, she stayed the night, which was lovely - we were up till midnight chatting which was a real luxuary! It was lovely to have her!!

Yesterday we had a long chat to Tim on the webcam which was great! He comes home tomorrow, Hooray - did I mention that?!! Then we went to Snoqualmie village to catch the train for our train ride. Our train was due to leave at 12:30 and was supposed to go for 25 mins, stop for 30 mins and then come back. Well, soon after we arrived it started to pour with rain and so we all (120 people!) sheltered underneath a largish gazebo. At 12:30 when we were expecting to board the train the man came and said that it was running a bit late and we would go and visit the museum for an hour first (A bit late?? - sounded like a lot late to me!). At this point, the children hadn't had any lunch and were getting hungry and were not going to last an hour in a museum! I said to Ulrike, that I wasn't going to go and just have our lunch under the gazebo and let Naomi play under there for a while. As Fritzi was also hungry, she thought this was a great idea and so the 2 of us stayed with the children whilst the others went. It was a great idea as the girls enjoyed eating their picnic together and had a great time running under the gazebo until the sun came out again. We were ready for our train ride when it finally was our turn but not to the point of despair as a lot of the mothers were! The train ride was fun - Esther loved it and was laughing and laughing! Naomi enjoyed seeing the conductor and the driver and going over the bridge!

We came home and did a quick shop and got home just in time for Brooke arriving for me to do my housework!

Today we went to a place called Remlinger Farms and we had a fabulous day! We arrived at 11 and left at 3pm! WE saw some baby chicks, some rabbits and some goats but the animals were really quite disappointing. However, what was great fun were the rides that were in the farm. We had a train ride, an antique car ride and a very long boat ride! The children declined a pony ride though! The boats were in a long, narrow loop that was very shallow and that I was able to walk round, so we put Esther in Naomi's boat and she had a fabulous ride!! She loved the water and I was there to stop the boat if she moved too far! The children were impressed with the steam train and old cars too! We also went to a short music show by a man who we have seen before which we enjoyed! It was a good day! We went with Ulrike and Fritzi which made it much more fun than if we had just been on our own and they were kind enough to let us go back to their house for tea, which was great!

The children were exhausted and are asleep although Esther seems unsettled for some reason. Apart from that they are fine and looking forward to seeing Tim tomorrow. Tim made the mistake of saying to Naomi that Granny had bought her a chocolate Thomas and so she is very keen to eat this!! We were going through what our middle names looked like the other day and Naomi was delighted to hear that DAddy's middle name is the same as James - one of her favourite engines!!! Her face lit up!! It was very funny!

Naomi has an imaginary friend I think, which is very sweet! It seems to be a boy and a girl and seems to be called Ally! It is funny to hear her talk about it! She amazed me the other day by pretending to talk on an early telephone - one where you have a separate ear and mouth piece. We had seen one about a month ago when we went to the little Issaquah museum with Pam and Ken and we explained what it was and how it worked. We haven't reinforced it in any way and yet she had remembered and was holding her playdough pots and talking just like we had shown her. I was amazed!

I said the other week that she was a real Cartographer and this was brought home to me last week! I was in autopilot mode going to her gym class and instead of going to her gym class I went in completely the wrong direction and was heading for Seattle. Naomi was in the back shouting "go this way, go this way" and I was not really paying attention until I got onto the I90 going the wrong way and thought "blow me down, she is right!!!!" I told you it wouldn't be long before Tim gives up on giving the me the map to give him directions and gives it to Naomi instead!

Esther enjoys singing very much and loves to bop around to a tune. she has really taken to Aunty Hannah's toy this week and loves to bop to that. She was making her hands 'twinkle' to "twinkle, twinkle, little star" the other day which was lovely! Esther is copying lots of noises too at the minute and her favourite one is "leeeeeee" in exactly the same tone that Naomi says "pleeeeease" when I ask her too! It is funny!!

Anyway, I had better go now and I will write some time next week. Hope that you are all well!

Girlie chats!!

Hi there! Just a quick note tonight as it is late. Sorry! My friend Vanessa came round this evening and we have been chatting and then realised it had got to 10:45! Still, we had a lovely evening chatting about living here and the children! SHe is expecting her 2nd child soon and is going home to deliver it in a couple of weeks time! We shall miss her and Maddie!

We have been a bit under the weather the last few days although I am feeling much better and I think that Esther is too! I think we just picked up a virus but it meant that we didn't get to our Mum's group yesterday at church, which was a shame but I didn't wan tEsther to give it to any of the other children and I didn't feel much like driving into Seattle!

Other than that we are fine and looking forward to Tim coming home on sunday! He is now in London which is good so he is on his last leg of the trip, having been to France and Germany already! He is a little confused about Time zones and so am I! However, at least he is now in the same time zone as the rest of you so that helps!! The children have been missing him a lot, especially Naomi who was given a stamp on her hand this morning and said that she would save it and show Daddy! I think it may have washed off after 4 days and I certainly hope so!!

We went to Naomi's gym class on Monday morning which was fine except for the fact that Esther wanted to be carried and so one of the teachers held her for me for a bit which was nice! The teachers are so much nicer on a Monday than on a Friday and I need to make sure that I find out which sessions they are doing next year before I book the children in! It makes the time so much more pleasant for everyone!! Naomi did lots of bouncing and rolling and throwing the ball into the hoop, so she enjoyed herself!! Both children enjoyed the parachute game!!

In the afternoon we went to see Maddie and Vanessa in Kirkland and had a lovely afternoon playing in their house. WE had a slow old journey there but sailed home in 20 minutes, partly because the traffic was going the other direction and partly because i was in the High Occupancy Vehicle lane! THere is some discussion amongst us here whether or not children count in the high occupancy quota - I say they do! It certainly works in our favour!!

Yesterday was a bit of a wash out but we had fun playing with the toys and reading stories and we did manage to go to the park. It was an early night for all of us and I felt better today!

Today we went to our group in Redmond this morning and it is the last one next week, which is a shame. I don't think we will go next year for a variety of reasons and our current teacher is not doing it again she says. It has been a good session and the children have enjoyed going! THis afternoon we went to the park with our friend Jo and got a little damp as there was a huge storm that blew up soon after we got to the park! We sheltered under a barn for about 45 minutes - Naomi enjoyed jumping in the puddles and riding her bike and Esther practiced her walking and losing her shoe - again!!! Despite a wet time we all enjoyed ourselves!! It was nice to get some fresh air! The storm stopped the traffic lights though and so it caused chaos for people coming home. Thankfully we didn't get too stuck!

Tomorrow we are off to see our Somali ladies and then will go to the park in the afternoon although I am not sure what we will do if the weather is bad!

Naomi is getting on very well without her nappies this week and I think next week I may try going to places without her nappy on! I will have to be brave! She has been so good when we have been at home though, that I think it is worth a try! She was confused by a mysterious arm yesterday that was hanging out of a car window, didn't appear to be attached to a body and yet seemed to be able to drive a car!!! We had lots of comments about it!! She was most perturbed!!

Esther is fine and very good at giving unsolicited kisses at the minute!!she loves other children and babies and had a great time looking through my parents magazine the other morning! She loves the little monkey that she takes to bed and loves the new toy that Aunty Hannah sent for her birthday. She is getting on well with her walking and is getting stronger each day!

anyway, definitely bed time now - both parents have signed in whilst I have been writing this so if they are up it must be bedtime here!!

Lots of love!

Tim away!

Hello everyone! Hope you are well! We are fine although we are missing Tim a lot! Esther in particular has been very clingy and isn't eating anything! Poor girlie, I hope she isn't going down with anything! She seems fine in herself!


We have had a quiet weekend. We had to take Tim to the airport yesterday and then we went onto the park on our way home which was nice and the children enjoyed themselves. After church today we grabbed something to eat and then found a new park in Bellevue called Robinswood Park, which was great for all ages of children. They certainly make nice children's play areas here and the thing is that they are usually empty! I get quite cross if there is any one else when we go because so often we have them to ourselves!!! Anyway, I am sure we will go back to this one with Fritzi soon!

The children and I had a wonderful day on Thursday! We had an unexpected free day and so went into SEattle for the International Children's Festival and had a great time. The children were exhausted at the end!! WEmade a hat and a kite and 'caught' a duck in a lucky fishing game! We saw lovely streamers and the fountain and even managed to go on a flying Elephant!! ( it was a merry go round!) It was all free too!! We had some lunch in the food court and then went to play in the special room designed for toddlers. It was empty and if it had not been for the fact that the children were weary we could have spent ages there alone! We came home via the Redmond Park, initially intending to meet Fritzi there but they were unable to make it in the end. However the children enjoy that park. Naomi calls it the "helloing" park as it has a phone! She likes to ring people. Last week she had a long chat to Grandma Beads!!! It is also good for Esther as there are seperate areas for different aged children which is good!

On Friday we had a non exiting day and just went shopping in the morning and then Brooke came in the afternoon. She did some painting with Naomi in the garden which was nice! I did a bit of toy rotation and then cleared out the understairs cupboard which was useful!

Naomi has been very successful today in not wearing her nappies. All the books say, 'don't try and do it when there is change in the family' but when does Naomi decide to do it - when Tim is away!! Typical!! However she did really well today and I hope that we can be out of them by the end of the month! That is my aim!!! I wasn't brave enough to send her to church without a nappy on - maybe next week!

Esther is fine and enjoying her new toys. So is Naomi! Naomi said to me this morning that we needed to buy a new one of the Weeble town sets that Hannah bought for Esther because Esther wasn't playing with it properly and Naomi wanted to play with it too!!! I had thrown some baby advertising pamphlets away the other day and Naomi found them in the bin and said to me "mummy, you throw these away by accident. Please don't throw them away!" Everything is about a billy goat at the moment - no idea why!!

Esther may not be walking yet but she is a shocker at climbing!! I left her in the lounge the other day as I was in and out clearing the dining room table. I had only been gone a few seconds and I came back in to find her standing on the settee and trying to get to the top of it! Honestly! What do I do with her!!

Anyway, had better go and clear up and sort out the ironing! There is always the ironing!! Hope that you are all Ok! Our phone line seems better so I hope to speak to some of you this week!

Esther is 1!

Hi there all! Firstly I need to start with an explanation! Our computer has been poorly and is slowly being mended but this has meant that I have had very limited access to email this week and so I have not been able to send any. What has made matters worse is that our telephone system has been playing up very badly so I have not been able to make any phone calls! I have tried on several different days to ring various people and have not been able to get through. so if you were expecting or hoping for a call, then I am really sorry and I will try and phone you as soon as I can! Please don't think that i don't want to talk to you, believe me, nothing could be further from the truth! Please be patient whilst we set up our computer and whilst we either give up on our current phone system and try something else or they fix the system.

Anyway, despite the fact that I seem to be living in some remote part of the world that has not yet heard of technology, we are fine!! We have had a quiet couple of days which has been refreshing and we have had a couple of good nights' sleep which is always helpful. I had a bad night on Sunday with Naomi, she was just whingeing and moaning and at one point, called "Mummy, Mummy, Mummy" just to tell me that " I am a little bit tired, Mummy"! Amazingly, even though this was after 2 hours of moaning etc, I just about had enough sense of humour left to laugh at that!

We didn't do much at all on Monday, only going to Naomi's gym class! We celebrated Esther's first birthday in the evening and opened her presents and cards! A big thank you to all those who sent her either a present, a card or both! She loved opening them and has enjoyed playing with those we have opened for her! (We will put a couple away for later on in the year!) She particularly likes her baby dolly and the very noisy car! It is the same one that Barnabas has, Ruth, so you can have the last laugh!!

Yesterday we went into Seattle for our church group which was good and then went onto the park after it had finished. We hada lovely hour or so in the park and met a little girl who was about the same age as Naomi. She and Naomi played at shopping quite happily for a while! Esther enjoyed the swing and playing with the pieces of bark that are on the floor! She loves to be on two feet at the minute and is gradually able to walk with one finger, although she still prefers two! Funnily enough, though she cannot yet stand unaided so she is not going to walk on her own just yet!

Today we went back to our Redmond group, which was good. for a variety of reasons we haven't been for about 6 weeks and it was nice to go back! There are only 2 more of the year as they close for the summer. We shall miss going I think! This afternoon we went back to Marymoor Park in Redmond to meet Fritzi and Ulrike. The girls shared and played really well this afternoon, which was great and they both enjoyed each other's company. Esther was very tired but still enjoyed the slide and climbing up the steps!

As we have an empty day in our diary tomorrow - a rare occurance! - we are going to go into SEattle and see the International Children's festival that has a dragon! Naomi saw the dragon in the paper on Saturday and has been desperate to go ever since! We will go for a bit tomorrow and hopefully that will please her! Next week, we are on our own as Tim is in Europe - France, Germany and England! A whirlwind tour!! he is not sure what his English plans are as yet! We have activities planned for everyday so I hope we will keep ourselves busy until he comes home!

Anyway, will end it here! Hope you are OK! Lots of love!

A Couple of Photos

Esther's Birthday Party

Hi there! Greetings from weary Mummy! We have had Esther's first birthday party today and it has been a lovely but exhausting day! I have been very busy most of this week preparing for it in one way or another and so we have had a few late nights which hasn't helped. Poor Naomi slept badly last night too! I will send a very short blog I think tonight! I am struggling to stay awake! Although we have enjoyed today, we have been sad that our families and our friends could not also be here to share today with us. you have been very much in our thoughts!!

The party was lovely - we had a few of our church friends over for a buffet lunch and a few party games, but mostly the children enjoyed playing in the garden, with the sand, the slide and the balls and with each other! Naomi and Esther both enjoyed having thier friends at our house, which was good! People came back to our house after church this morning and most people left around 5pm. It worked well - the weather was kind, it didn't rain until later, which was good! - and the house accommodates lots of people quite well! I had made a meat and a vegetable chilli and there was a quiche, ham, cheese and puddings!! There was food left over, but not so much that we will be eating chilli for the rest of the month!

I had made Esther a cake in the shape of a dog's face, which was recognisable to most people apart from Esther who insisted on roaring at it! I promise it didn't look anything like a lion! One of the little boys who was at the party thought it was real because he was patting it!! Esther did slightly redeem her self this morning by pointing to the cake when we were talking about a dog in a story book, but then roared at it later! I did feel a little mortified and it did serve me right because I was quite proud of it!! THey say pride comes before a fall - the person must have had children who devised that saying!! The cake tasted good too!

We are going to have a quite day tomorrow and just open Esther's presents when Tim comes home. She had some wonderful and thoughtful gifts today from her party and was just about getting the hang of opening them, although she had help from various sources!! She was so tired tonight that she fell asleep without any fuss - here's hoping for a good night! She has got noticably stronger on her legs in the last day or so and can now walk holding onto just one hand at times! I bought her first pair of shoes yesterday; htey were a pair of sandles. Last week we ruined 2 pairs of her little shoes by going outside in them! At least now she will be a bit sturdier when she is at the park! Unbelievably she still has managed to pull them off but it does take her a little longer than before! She has also started to try and do a head over heels, something that Naomi also started to do at the same age! she does look funny as she goes head first onto the floor and rolls onto her back!! She thinks she is clever and grins and grins!

We had a good clothes shopping day yesterday in Bellevue Square and the children were able to have a good play on the boat, which they both enjoyed! Tim bought lots of new clothes - his annual shop and I bought a few shirts! We are set up for the summer now!

On thursday morning we went to the little zoo near to us with Maddie and Vanessa. THey have been several times before and it was small but good for the very little ones. We did have a few scary moments though when the lemurs all started to shriek at the tops of thier voices! Naomi and MAddie both ran for cover but it had made me jump! We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon!

On Friday we went to visit Safia and Gemana, our Somali ladies and we were working on the parts of the body! We were home earlier than usual on friday and managed to get to the park for an hour before Brooke came. It was a lovely day on Friday and we spent some of the afternoon in the garden!

Naomi is fine, apart from these unpleasant dreams - she has had 2 this week, poor love. She said on Thursday morning that her naughty dream was under her bed and she wasn't going to get it out. I hope that she sleeps better tonight - she was on the go all day today! she is a budding cartographer which is a bit of a joke considering her Mother's inability to map read well! It won't be long before Tim gives her the map to read when we go on a journey I feel. She is fascinated by maps and is always looking at them! She makes up little stories and directions too! I made up a story yesterday toward the end of our shopping day which had her and Esther in it, which she thoroughly enjoyed - she wanted Tim to tell it too her again this evening, which would have been difficult since he was shopping at the time! I think he made up another one tonight instead!

Anyway, That is all for now - I will email again in the week! Take care!

Funny tasting toothpaste mummy!

Hi there! Finally Esther is asleep and I can write this!! It has taken about 45 mins this evening - she must know i want to do something else!

Anyway, hope that you are all well and have been good citizens and gone and voted in the general election! We will probably find out the result at the same sort of time as you, which is strange due to the time difference!

We are fine here and almost rid of our coughs although Esther still has a runny nose. Hopefully it will soon go! We have had a pleasant couple of days. The weather has been mixed but we have been out everyday which is good!

On Monday we spent the morning at home and then went to Naomi's gym class. She was bouncing on the trampoline really well and confidently this week, which was fun! She also likes doing forward and backward rolls off a block! Esther waits reasonably patiently until towards the end and then I get her out to join in with the parachute game. However, she is hard to contain - she is off!!

On Monday afternoon I took the girls to the park so that Naomi could ride her bike and Esther could push her walker along the path. This worked OK for the few minutes that Esther could do this but was hard work trying to carry Esther, the walker and push Naomi on her bike!! However, Esther really enjoyed being able to walk outside and it will get better as Esther gets stronger at walking and Naomi gets better at peddling!! We tried to feed the ducks but they weren't very interested which was a shame!

Yesterday we went to the zoo with a lady who is from Arizona and still finding her feet here in Seattle. she doesn't know many people and her daughter has just turned 3. Naomi and Macey (this little girl) had a lovely time together and spent much of the time holding hands! We saw loads of animals in an hour and a half - everything from the giraffes, the zebras, the elephants and the lions. Esther spent all morning going "raar" or "oo oo" accompanied by vigourous bouncing!!She loves the animals too!

We just about made it to Mum's group - we were a bit late but that was partly because I went a very convoluted way! The girls had a good time playing and the Mums were listening to Pastor Eugene talking to us about the proposed move to a different venue. We were out for ages yesterday and finally made it home about 4:30pm!

Today we went shopping this morning in preparation for Esther's party things! We will be having about 40 people, including children, I think! This afternoon we met Frizi in the park and even though it was a bit damp all the girls enjoyed being outside and running or walking around! Even Esther although she was walking holding onto 2 fingers!!

We will be having Esther's party on Sunday and we will be quite busy the next few days. I will write and tell you all about the party when I next have a chance, although I can't promise it will be sunday!

Just a funny story to end! Naomi loves cleaning her teeth at the minute and loves to play with the toothpaste and gets very cross with me for removing out of her reach. Anyway, this evening, I left her cleaning her teeth with toothpaste that I had put on the brush and went downstairs to put the washing on. Tim was upstairs playing with Esther and suddenly he heard a "yuk, yuk," noise coming from Naomi. She had sucked off all her toothpaste and decided that she wanted some more. Since I had removed the toothpaste out of her reach, she had found something else white and creamy looking, although it didn't taste quite as nice! She had only gone and found the zinc ointment for nappy rash!!! I am not surprised she said yuk!!

Will write soon! Bye for now!

Carkeek Park

Good Evening! Hope you are all well and are enjoying your May Day Bank Holiday! It doesn't seem possible that this time last year I was 3 days over due with Esther and we spent the afternoon at Elvaston Castle as I didn't want to go too far away from a hospital just in case!! We, of course, don't get a bank holiday here and so Tim is back at work as normal tomorrow!

We have had a lovely and sunny day today and found a new and lovely park to go to north of Seattle. It has easy access to the beach and a lovely play area for the younger children. We went there after church and had a great couple of hours there, firstly down on the beach and then on the play area. It was busy but not so crowded that you couldn't enjoy yourself.

Yesterday, I was feeling very washed out and in fact had a sleep in the afternoon which was wonderful and helped me to feel much better! Esther slept too and so Tim and Naomi enjoyed playing in the garden! In the morning we had gone to the farmers market, which was a little disappointing as there were only a few vegetable and fruit stalls selling either leeks, asparagus or apples. We didn't buy much and were not there long. We also visited a couple of Garage sales - a national pasttime and the first ones we had been to. In theory you can buy great bargains there although we were not so lucky yesterday! It was fun to look though!

From 5:30 pm last night there was a church shared supper (or potluck supper as it is known here). We took the children and had a wonderful time at the supper, staying until nearly 8:30! We all enjoyed ourselves and though it was very late when the children got to bed, it was good for Tim and I to do it! THe girls have been a little grumpy today but not too bad and hopefully they will sleep well tonight and we will have a quiet day tomorrow! What is always nice about these shared church activities is that everybody shares the responsibility of looking after the children, which makes life so much easier and makes it more of a family feel. All the more important when so many of us are a long way apart from our own families!

Friday afternoon was best forgotten really! Or at least the 3 hours from 3pm onwards. I was extremely tired and the girls were hard work and in the end I resorted to watching a "Bug's Life" with them! Brooke came round for a short time and I just about motivated myself to do a little bit of housework, but I was really struggling. Once Tim got in, he was able to take over and bathed the children whilst I had some time off! I have learnt that the best thing to do is to go out for a short time after rest time and before Brooke arrives as I think we would all function better!It was a shame really as we had had a lovely day until then, we had gone shopping in the morning and we had had lots of fun playing with the farm, the trains and doing lots of dancing! But it did go all pear shaped!

On thursday we had Tim working from home which was nice and we had done some jobs in the morning and had gone to the library and to the park in the afternoon. I met a lovely family in the park on Thursday - they were English and were staying with their friend who lives up the road from me here. The American lady gave me her email address and I must email her to say hello! It was good!

On thursday evening our friend Melinda came round for supper and to help with the chaos of bathtime etc! We had a lovely evening and it was lovely to get to know her better!

One fun thing this week has been a huge book that Fritzi lent us. It is called a picture tableau and is about 2.5m in length and just slightly taller than Naomi. It is full of fascinating pictures - on one side there is a jungle / safari scene and on the other there is a more urban scene. Both girls have been really enjoying looking at it. Esther was looking at it on Friday morning going "moooooo" and she could see the cows that were in the truck! Naomi likes looking at it but also likes to fold it around as her house! In fact on Friday, she had a house and a school made from my clothes airer and a few towels!! She has a good imagination!

Esther this week has taken to wanting to help feed herself. For all those who know how much mess she makes normally this is a scary thought! And a very very very messy business!!! Tonight she wanted to feed herself tomato soup - I said "No" to that!! She is becoming more and more verbal and was making train noises today!

anyway, had better end this here - will write again later on in the week! Take care and hope you are all well!