And the little one said roll over!

Hello all! Hope that this finds you well! We have coughs and colds here but otherwise are fine! We are not having a healthy fortnight are we?! Still, none of us feel too bad!

We have returned to our normal activities this week, thank goodness and have enjoyed seeing friends old and an new! We met baby Felix today – Ulrike’s baby – which was lovely! He is about half of Esther’s weight but still looks really tiny and has that new born look! I haven’t had a cuddle yet but my name is on the list! It finally stopped raining today and so we had a good hour or so at the park with Fritzi, Felix and Ulrike!

This morning we went to church for our Mum’s group and whilst the Mum’s enjoyed their discussion the children enjoyed playing and in Esther and Eli’s case, kissing! Becky was changing Eli’s nappy and Esther was standing over the top of his head giving him kisses! Eli was not complaining!!!

Esther unusually came into our bed this morning before we got up and we spent a funny 20 minutes or so with her! She was first so pleased to see us that she gave us big hugs and kisses and then was rolling on us! Then she and Tim were pretending to be animals – Esther was a giraffe and Tim was an elephant! She was also a fish at some point! I also learnt where the inspiration for the song “There were 10 in the bed” came from as she snuggled into the bed next to me when Tim got up for a shower and then was rolling my head away as she wanted me to get out too! Talk about “and the little one said roll over”!

When it was my turn to have a shower, Esther came running to me shouting “hat, Hat” and pointing to my shower cap! I explained that I didn’t need it today as I was going to wash my hair and so she then brought me a flannel! She was so lovely and I really like this age when you can see them beginning to think for themselves (and when it isn’t in direct conflict to you of course!!) She is even beginning to dress herself and is getting quite good at putting on shoes, boots and trousers!

Naomi on the other hand has had a tiresome afternoon where everything has required a discussion or a battle! However we did have a nice time doing some painting and she has painted a wonderful picture of a goat, her face, Spencer’s orange house and a nativity scene! She is getting very good at writing her name although the ‘a’ is not quite there yet and so it looks a bit like Noomi, which is quite endearing in itself! Naomi is really not eating her supper at the minute and I am at a loss to know what to try next! I am going to buy a timer to see if that will help and take some of the pressure off; teatimes are not a pleasant occasion in the Sneath household at the minute!!

Yesterday we went shopping to Bellevue Square in the afternoon after school and music class and after we had finished the shopping we met Maddie at the boat, which was fun! Music class was fun! The children are obviously getting to know each other and were copying each other yesterday! They were funny! We were singing a song where we have to walk round in the circle, only the children decided that they were not going to walk but to pick there legs up and be carried! They thought it was very funny!!

On Monday we went to Gym class and then met our Indian lady and her son in the afternoon.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Snoqualmie Town Center where there are some old trains. The girls enjoyed seeing the trains and the wander around the town. It is cold and snowy round about now and so Snoqualmie was set amongst the snowy mountains which made it look very pretty!

That’s about it for now! Will blog again at the weekend!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! We have had a busy few days here and hope to have a quiet one tomorrow! Unfortunately the children and I have not been all that well, which has put the dampers on things somewhat and has meant that it has been harder than it might have been. Poor Tim has had to look after us all which he has done splendidly but I don’t think we are very easy patients! Me especially!

I didn’t write on Wednesday mainly as we had done very little this week. We were not able to go to Gym class on Monday as Naomi was still not well enough and we also had to cancel our visit to our Indian family. Naomi missed school on Tuesday but was better and so we were able to go shopping for the weekend which was useful. On Wednesday Lauren came to look after the children initially so that I could do the housework but in the end she was looking after them whilst Tim did the housework and I sat and felt miserable!

Naomi and I spent some time making things this week as it was a good indoor activity and so we made kites on Monday to fly in the park that afternoon and then made a carriage for Cinderella over the next couple of days! The kites were simple, just lollipop sticks with tissue paper covering them but they did the job and the children enjoyed running with them in the park on Monday afternoon. We saw a little boy there too who also made friends with Naomi mainly to play with the kites I think!

Cinderella’s carriage was fun to make! Naomi painted a paper plate and some smaller circles blue on one day and then we stuck it together to make a carriage the next. We also cut out a door and found a picture of some horses that would pull the carriage! Naomi likes to put it over the Cinderella that Mum made and with the doors open it looks as if she is inside going to the ball! Naomi likes it!!

On Wednesday morning the children faced the issue of life and death! Just as we were about to leave the house we heard a tremendous thud on the window and I realized that a bird had flown into the window and was lying on the floor. The children came to look and I expected it to pick itself up and fly off again a moment or two later! Sadly it didn’t but turned up its claws and died as we were watching it! Naomi was curious to know why it didn’t move and when I explained that I thought it had died Esther was then saying “Bird, dead”! It was one of those moments!

Naomi and Esther have been enjoying watching “Mary Poppins” in the evenings this week and have enjoyed all the singing and dancing! Naomi suddenly said to me one lunch time “How did that lady get all those big things in that little bag?” without any hint at what she was talking about! After a little while, I worked it out that she was talking about Mary Poppins and was able to answer but it took some thought! It always amazes me what they take in! Esther was concerned about the father banging his head (lots of ‘Man, bang”) but what really surprised me was that later on in the film when the father reappears she was still saying “Man, bang” even though we were watching it a day or so later!

Naomi made me giggle the other day! As we were leaving the supermarket, she announced that she needed to go to the toilet but we didn’t quite make it in time! As she had a dress and as we were walking out the door, I didn’t bother to put the spare pair of knickers on but was then horrified when Naomi pulls up her dress and announces “mummy, I haven’t any knickers on!” I don’t think the store really wanted to see Naomi’s bottom!! Ah well, my fault I suppose!

Thursday was Thanksgiving and so our friends arrived with a traditional American Thanksgiving feast! The food was delicious but unusual for us! We had turkey (obviously!) with stuffing, which was very nice and very easy to make, mashed potatoes, which I didn’t realize was a Thanksgiving treat! Our friends were amazed when I said that I make mashed potatoes all the time and that the especially go well with sausages! We also had scalloped corn which was sweetcorn in a white sauce really and then sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top! This was quite tasty but very sweet and very different to have with a main meal! We had an interlude before we had pudding – pumpkin pie or trifle!

The children played well together and Naomi enjoyed having someone older than her to follow around! Both Ian and Naomi enjoy Thomas the Tank engine which was a point of contact! We had a nice time altogether which was great!

Unfortunately Naomi had tummy ache on Thursday night and was quite disturbed. We are not sure what caused it except for the fact that it still is probably related to the illness she had last week. I spent much of the night in the bed with her, poor girl but she was better yesterday and today!

Yesterday it was very wet and so our original plan to go to Redmond Town Center to see Father Christmas arriving and the tree lights being turned on with Vanessa, James, Maddie and Alex was cancelled and so they came to see us instead to enable the girls to play!

We went shopping yesterday morning and Esther was very grown up and pushed the trolley around PCC (nice supermarket) whilst Tim took Naomi to buy some felt tip pens! Esther was very funny and although able to push the trolley where I wanted her to go was also able to fill up the trolley with things we didn’t want! So just as fast as I was putting things back on the shelves, she was a step ahead of me putting something else in the trolley! Eventually we did our little bit of shopping and were able to get to the checkout where she very helpfully unloaded everything for me! She was a very happy girl!

Esther has got very clever at putting on clothes and shoes and things recently but made me laugh when she put on a pair of Tim’s boxer shorts and was wandering around holding them up! Naomi is very clever at being able to do up and undo her buttons and is now able to dress herself, when she feels like it!

In the evening our friends Melinda and Chad came to stay the night; we haven’t seen them in ages so we had a great time with them! Unfortunately, Esther wasn’t very well in the night and had a very disturbed night. She and I eventually slept in the Bonus room on the futon. She kept on asking where Naomi and Daddy were and was not happy when I kept saying they were asleep! The only amusing part of this tale is that when she and I went into the bonus room, which is where we have the computer, she hopefully said “Memo?” as that is where we go to look at Nemo clips during the day sometimes!

Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep last night and so have functioned today on adrenaline! Our Russian friends arrived at lunch time and we had an interesting meal with Turkish salad, Turkish bread, American stuffing and cranberry sauce and English roast potatoes and parsnips and of course lots of bread sauce for Tim!!! It was wonderful to be able to share today with them and despite 3 of the children being unwell (one from each family!!) we had a good time!! Melinda and Chad were both stars in the preparation and the clearing up and Melinda is going to try to make Bubble and Squeak with her leftovers!

All being well, we are at church in the morning and then will have a quiet afternoon! But for now, I think that is it and I am off to bed!

"I love you, I like you and I adore you"

Hello there! Hope that this blog finds you all well! Happy Birthday Gran! We hope you had a good day with all the family! And we also hope that you all got home safely with the cold weather!

We have not been so well this weekend. Naomi and Tim were very unwell yesterday and although they were both a bit better today, neither of them was back to normal, Naomi especially. We won’t be going to Gym class tomorrow, I think! Poor Naomi, she was really not herself yesterday at all.

Consequently we have had a quiet weekend! We went to the library yesterday morning (before Naomi went downhill) and we went to Bellevue Square today for a wander round and that was about it! I did a lot of cooking this morning, which was useful and this afternoon the girls and I slept for 2 hours! We felt a lot better after that! I am fine, just tired!

On Friday we went to Kent to see our Russian friends! It was funny! Naomi and Esther were watching a popular Russian cartoon with one of the families and whilst Esther was sitting there entranced and shouting “head” or “hat” at it, Naomi was a little more nervous about it and preferred to stay close to me! She finds cartoons too nerve racking!!

Esther has been funny today too; she loves listening to music but it has to be music with a good beat! She is a rock and roll girl and strongly dislikes classical music! She shouts “no, no” when it comes on but listens quite happily to music with a good beat and will clap, tap or nod in time to it! We were listening to a track of Tim’s in the car this afternoon by a group called the Killers and she was really having a good time! She even cheered when it finished (her sign of it being a good tune!)! She is a funny old stick!

On the one hand Esther is the more confident of the 2 of them at times and then at others she is attached to either Tim or my leg limpet style and you cannot shake her off! She gets so upset too if I put her down sometimes even if I am getting her some juice or lunch! She is still posting food down her sleeve at meal times – I found a chunk of bread and some ham at lunch time and several pieces of pasta and about a dessert spoonful of peas and sweet corn at tea time!! She just thinks it is funny!

She is still hiding in the castle whilst getting dressed but I have learnt that this is helpful as when I sit in the door way, she can't escape and so is contained!! She was hiding in there this evening and I said " Oh where is Esther, I can't see her anywhere". She called from the castle "here"! She hasn't quite learnt the rules of hide and seek I see!

Naomi has been saying to us recently “I love you, I like you and I adore you!” She is very sweet and then wants us to say it to her, which of course we do! She still likes to do “all the things” at bed time but you have to just leave her at the end otherwise she would talk all night!

I think that is about it for now! Have a good start to the week – we only have a 3 day week this week as it is Thanksgiving on Thursday! We have a busy weekend ahead of us next weekend and so I am glad that we have had a quiet one this weekend!

Bye for now!

Callerpittas

Hello there! Hope that this finds you all well and not too cross with me for not writing last night! Our friend's little boy was sleeping in the bonus room and I didn't get a chance to use the computer!

The girls and I are fine here but Tim has been feeling a bit under the weather this week, although he was back to work in Redmond today. We have had a busy week doing our normal activities and seeing friends but this weekend is looking quieter! Next week is Thanksgiving and so Tim is only working 3 days next week, which will be lovely!

Naomi had ribbons to dance with on Monday in Gym class! She enjoyed it I think! There is a display in December for the Gym class children and they are learning their routines I think! Esther will not be in one, just Naomi! Esther still likes to jump-jump and was swinging from the rings on Monday with great delight! She has a very strong upper body and will swing anywhere she can - even in the doctor's toilets!

On Monday afternoon we met an Indian lady and her son whose husband is one of Tim's colleagues. They moved here from Bangalore 2 weeks ago and they must be finding it very strange. To make matters worse, the lady doesn't drive and so she is reliant on the buses (not too bad) and where she can walk to (no where useful!). We took them to one of our favourite parks and although it was cold, the children enjoyed being outside and by the lake. I took them for a quick drive around to help her at least see what the area was like and hope that she has managed to work out the buses this week. I will see her again on Monday. My heart goes out to them and cannot imagine what they must be going through right now! I hope we can be of some help to them anyway!

On Tuesday Esther and I went singing whilst Naomi was at school and in the afternoon the girls had an appointment to for their well health child checks and latest immunizations. They are Ok except for the fact that Esther refuses to grow much! She is eating well and very active and doesn't appear to be ill so we hope that it is just a phase. I am taking her to see the doctor who specialises in paediatrics on Tuesday just to make sure that there aren't any underlying problems but I am not expecting him to find anything! She seems fine in all other aspects!

In the evening I went shopping with Vanessa to Bellevue Square and had a very successful couple of hours! I found some nice clothes and it was so lovely to go without the children!

Yesterday we had Mum's group in the morning and then saw Jo and Zoe in the afternoon! Today it was school as normal and then we saw Maddie, Alex and Vanessa in the afternoon!

The children have been very entertaining this week! I have been reading a Thanksgiving story to the children to help them (and me!) understand what it is that we are celebrating next week. Naomi has been truly delighted to learn that the Pilgrims were English and is convinced that they were like us! I think that she assumes that they came on a big plane! It is very funny!

Esther is trying really hard to communicate with words at the moment and sometimes comes out with long sentances made up of a variety of sounds that it is obvious that she is trying to tell us something! It is wonderful watching her try so hard to talk but so frustrating when we have no idea what it is she is saying. Sometimes if you get a key word then she is happy but that is not always possible! On Monday she was saying "Belle" and wanted the Beauty and the Beast book that Naomi had and when it took ages to make out what she was trying to say, mainly because it was not a word she had said before! Clever girl! I understood in the end!

Another new word for her this week has been "arrow" which was learnt at Fritzi's party last week when we were following the arrows during the treasure hunt!

Since Naomi now has her trampoline in her bedroom, we have moved the pink castle into Esther's room which has caused madness and mayhem all round! Esther is so happy that it is in there that she wants to be in it all the time! And so now we have resorted to getting her dressed in the castle and ready for bed in there! She thinks it is hilarious and it is quite funny to see Tim's bottom half sticking out of the castle door! It is working however and she is not quite as desparate to run away as she was before! Naomi of course also wants to get in on the act and so is also getting dressed in there on some mornings! IT is getting a little crowded!

Esther loves to play hide and seek in the castle too and giggles and giggles when you peek at her through the window or pop your head through the door! She likes to hide in Naomi's cupboard too! I often loose both of them somewhere! There are so many good hiding places in our house too that it could take a day to find them!! May be I should try that ....! A peaceful day for a change!!

Both my children like strange bed fellows at the moment! Naomi likes to take her bedtime stories to bed with her but we have at least stopped her from putting hard backed books underneath her pillow! Esther on the other hand is still really keen to take the ceramic Nemo that I painted to bed with her each night! I have taken to propping it up so she can see it as a compromise! Naomi loves the Cinderella money box that Mum made, too and enjoys putting silver coins in it each day! She is going to be richer than me!

Naomi was in school mode on Tuesday night and was playing at teacher! She was distributing the party hats left over from her party and was asking Tim and I to raise our hand if we wanted a hat! She got very cross with Tim for not keeping his hat on and told him to put the string under his chin! When he asked her why she didn't have a hat she said that she gave out the hats
and didn't wear them! She was very funny!! She was having fun too!

She and I have been playing with the playdough this week during our together time at lunch time and we have been making Caterpillas out of the dough! Naomi can't quite get all the syllables in the right order and calls them "callerpittas", which is such a lovely word that I then have trouble remembering that they are in fact "caterpillas"! You try it and see!

Anyway that is all for now!

Lantern Walks

Hello there! Hope this finds you all well. Poor Esther has gone down with a cold this weekend, but we are otherwise OK. Naomi is finally better from hers.

We have had a busy week last week and this next week is equally hectic, if not more so! Still, it means that the weeks pass quickly and it is all good fun! The children enjoy their scheduled activities and also enjoy seeing their friends! However, I think I need to build some space into the week too!

On Thursday this week, Naomi went to school in the morning and took some long seed pods to show her teacher that we had found in the park on Monday. Unfortunately I have no idea what the tree was as there were no leaves around to identify it and it was not an English native tree! Naomi's school have a sharing time on a Thursday where they can take in items of nature and so it was a good opportunity for Naomi to share what we had found. The children were fascinated by the seed pods - they were long and thin and the outer casing was hard but felt downy to touch. I don't think Naomi had to say anything about them, I think the teacher did the talking!

After we had picked Naomi up we came home and webcammed Mum and Dad briefly on the computer. After lunch Esther slept and then we went to see Tim in his new office. He is now the proud occupant of a window office which means that he gets to see daylight! We were impressed at how nicely he had layed out his new office and the girls enjoyed drawing on his white board!

We had arranged to meet Ulrike, Fritzi and Leif at one of the parks close to Microsoft as we were joining them for a lantern walk. This is apparently a German Tradition which is held every year on St. Marks day and involves a small march with music lit by lanterns! It was very wet but good to enable the children to experience another country's tradition!

On Friday it was still raining hard but we were brave and hardy souls and still went to the little zoo that is close to us with Maddie, Vanessa and Alex! The children enjoyed seeing the animals and we will probably go back again in December as they have a Reindeer festival where the children can meet with Father Christmas! We think that the children will enjoy that! It was a good place to go for a short time and then they came home for some lunch!

In the afternoon, Brooke came round which enabled me to do some housework and in the evening, Tim and I just did nothing! We have both had disturbed nights with Esther this week and so it was good to do nothing and have an early night! We have slept better the last 2 nights and I am feeling a lot less tired today! Thank goodness! Esther is still waking up but is not taking as long to go back to sleep which means that I am not awake for as long each time!

On Saturday the girls and Tim webcammed his family whilst I did some housework and then we went to Target to buy some new towels for us all! Ours are looking a bit thread bare!
Unfortuntely, the washing machine is rather brutal and things do not last as long! I still miss my old front loading washing machine even after 13 months of living here!

Yesterday afternoon it was Fritzi's birthday party and so I took the girls there! They had made a treasure hunt for the children which they all enjoyed doing! It even stopped raining for it too! After the party, the girls and I went to collect the painted pottery that Mum and I had made the other week and they both look great! Esther really liked her Nemo fish and wanted to take it to bed with her last night! NAomi has fallen in love with the Cinderella money figure that Mum made that she has put her little stool in her bedroom right in front of the chest of drawers so that she can look at it! She keeps wanting to hold it and touch it and put money in it! I think I may have to find somewhere higher to keep it! So they have both been a big hit!!

Today we were at church and I was doing the nursery. AFter church we went to the Coffee house that the children like - It has lots of toys and a Thomas track! - for some lunch. We were disappointed today as it was very quiet and badly run - on a wet Sunday afternoon you would expect it to be busy! I think its days are numbered!

So that has been the end of our week! Hope that this finds you all well and I will write again soon!

Esther's sleeves!

Good evening from Seattle! Hope that this finds you all well!
We are fine here and have almost got back into the swing of things after Mum and Dad have gone home! We have had our normal activities to go to this week which has helped us get used to the fact that mum and Dad are no longer here.

It finally stopped raining on Sunday and we had a cold but dry day! We went to church in the morning and then stayed on at church to discuss a new group that we hope will be successful. It is going to be a monthly family group to allow families to spend time getting to know each other better. It is especially important for the Dads as they find it harder to get to know each other as they are all working during the week! We are excited about it! After this had finished we went to Green Lake park and had a great time there! It was chilly and we were not there too long!

For reasons unknown, we had a terrible night with Esther and I ended up sleeping with her in the spare bed on Sunday night! She has been terrible all week but Sunday was the worst! Consequently she has been a bit ratty all week!

However, on Monday the girls were excited to go back to Gym class and Naomi was doing things with ribbons and sticks which looked like fun! Esther just likes the jump jump on the trampoline though! In the afternoon, after a nap for Esther and me (Naomi read stories in bed with me!) we went to the park and had it all to ourselves which was good!

Yesterday Naomi had school in the morning and Esther and I had our music class! We came home and had an early lunch so that Esther could sleep before I had to go to the doctor; I went to see an ENT doctor in the hope that they could do something about the tinnitus (they can't)! It was funny though as I was in the audiology booth having a hearing test and I had to leave the girls outside with the lady! At some point the lady spoke to me through the head phones and I could hear Naomi chatting away merrily to the lady!! Bless her!

Once we finished there we went to a new park in Bellevue next to the shopping mall! It was a wonderful park and attracted a very posh clientel which was funny! One boy (only about 5 yrs I would say) had one of these motorised cars that he was driving around! I was not too keen as he didn't seem to have too much road sense and I was worried he was going to run us over! The mothers all had boots and posh jeans on and siblings had matching clothes too! It was quite funny! But a good park!

Today we had Mum's group at church in the morning and then Maddie, Vanessa and Alex came round in the afternoon! We went to the park with them too and then came back early so that Naomi would be ready to take Tim to school for the Dad's night! They had a good time!

Esther has slept a little better last night and I think I have stopped her from undoing her nappy which was some of the problem! She is now under a duvet which she enjoys! She was a pickle at tea time though! She has taken to posting things down her sleeve! Tonight she posted pasta tubes and grape halves! The other night it was green beans! You pick her up and all this stuff falls out! Honestly!

Naomi is fine and is enjoying the "together time" that she and I have at lunch times! she likes to choose the things that we are going to do as we are having lunch and has enjoyed looking at my houses and the russian dollies this week! She is going to go to school in the morning which she loves!

ANyway it is late and I must go to bed!

Bye for now!

Wet week!

Hello there! Hope that this finds you all well and not as wet as we are here! The weather has been very wet all week and consequently we have not been anywhere outside much!

We have taken Mum and Dad to the airport today and we were very sad to say Goodbye as we have all had a lovely time together. Next time we see them will be after Christmas when we come back to England for our visit, which is a nice thought, but still, goodbyes’ are hard!

Mum and Dad have been working hard on a few odd jobs for us as well as a big job for us – painting Esther’s bedroom! It is now a gorgeous blue colour and we like it very much! They had to paint it from red to white first and so it has been a 2 day job! We are very grateful to them for doing it and it looks so much better than before!

On Monday, we went to one of the nearby farms that we had been to in the summer for a pumpkin farm tour. Unfortunately we were disappointed with our day as the farm was closing that afternoon for the winter. Consequently the shop was almost empty and there was very little that was open. It was also quite wet! However the children enjoyed seeing the animals and riding on the train! We went in to the little concert with Eric Ode singing and he was as good as ever – we’ve seen him a few times now. All the children were absorbed by him – Mum has some nice photos of the girls!

We had lunch at the farm and then went to see Tim in his office for the Halloween party! Naomi was a princess and Esther was a little white mouse, complete with whiskers and a tail! She looked very cute and Naomi looked like a beautiful princess! I was amused as really the Halloween party was really an excuse for the Daddies to show off their children to their colleagues! It was fun and I bumped into a lady that I had met before, which was good!

Mum and I brought the children home after a short time at the office and Tim and Dad went to the Microsoft store. Whether it was because it was the first night that people had had to drive home from work in the dark, the rain or Halloween, we are not sure but we both had bad journeys home, Tim especially! It took him and Dad nearly 90 minutes to get home! Mum and I were laughing at Esther when we got home because she hadn’t seen herself in the mirror until we got home. Mum picked her up to show her and at first she looked mystified and then broke into this huge surprised / happy grin as she realized it was herself! She then spent the next hour or so running up to Mum and saying “ee” as she wanted to see herself again!

Halloween was an interesting experience here! It was much more pleasant than I have memories of at home but I had not expected the hordes of people that would knock on the door! We had been led to believe that if you turned your porch light off then no-one would bother you, but that was not the case here. We had some small bottles of bubbles (wedding size) to give away but we didn’t have any where near enough of them! We think we must have seen about 90 children that evening! Eventually I wrote a note explaining that the children were asleep and would people mind not disturbing us! This worked!

I was extremely surprised by the numbers of children knocking on the door but also by the fact that I didn’t know any of them! I expected it to be the neighbourhood children but I didn’t see any of them!! I was also amazed that we had so many children despite the torrential rain that we had on Monday night! It was quite an experience!

Naomi went to school on Tuesday morning and Esther and I went to our music class and then did a bit of shopping! Esther and the other children were disappointed this week that they had a different story to the Wishy washy one that has been so popular since we started! She will soon get used to the new one but she missed singing “dub dub” on Tuesday! We only have to get in the car for her to start shouting “dub dub’ these days and she yells all journey if she doesn’t get her way which can be a little trying! The song is only a minute in length and so it gets repeated a lot! Apparently Mum was singing it to Dad when they were painting on Tuesday – I hope for the sake of their fellow passengers that they don’t sing it all the way home as we were listening to it on the way to the airport!!

On Tuesday afternoon, Mum did some painting with Naomi whilst Esther was sleeping and then the girls and I went to a new play group that is part of our Eastside Mothers group. We had a good time and look forward to the next one we can attend!

On Wednesday, we all went shopping and I bought a few things for the girls and a few presents, which was good! The children behaved themselves reasonably well although we were fortunate that we were shopping at places that had some entertainment for them! Esther did not sleep at all and so she was shattered by the evening! Poor Esther seems doomed to sleep in cupboards as she was sleeping in our closet for a few nights this week whilst her room was being painted! She slept well, funnily enough – better than when she went back into her room last night! I always said that our closet would make another bedroom and now it has!!

Mum and I went out on Wednesday night to a ceramic painting shop in Redmond! We had a great time and I painted a Nemo fish for Esther and Mum painted a Cinderella piggy bank for Naomi! I discovered whilst we were there that I went to school with one of the ladies who organizes the meetings!! Her parents live round the corner from our old house in St.albans and they knew some of the people that Mum knows!! BIZARRE! What is even more weird is that her husbands family live in Beeston! The other mothers were teasing us and saying that it only goes to perpetuate the myth that England is such a small place that we all know each other!!!!

On Thursday Esther and I did some shopping whilst Naomi was at school and in the afternoon we went to visit our Russians as this was a good opportunity whilst Mum and Dad were finishing off the painting! We had a good time in Kent even though everyone wanted to feed us!!!! In the evening, Tim and I went to the Cinema to see Wallace and Grommit – absolutely great fun if you are thinking of going yourself!! It was great to watch something so British!!

On Friday we went to Bellevue Square shopping mall as I desparately needed some new bras and a present for Helen! I managaed to get both! Mum and Dad stayed on in the Square for a couple of hours or so to look around the stores whilst I took the girls home. The girls and I went for a walk later on in the afternoon and met Mum and Dad coming home from the bus station which was funny!

Today Mum and Dad wanted to buy some things to take home – Dad is addicted t o the sugar free Maple syrup! We had lunch and then went to the airport, really! Once we had dropped them off we went to church to celebrate its 4th birthday, which gave us an opportunity to catch up with a few people before coming home and putting the girls to bed!

So that is us in a nutshell! I hope that you are all well and I hope to write again on Wednesday as usual! Until then, take care!