I'm a dingle dangle scarecrow!

Hello there! Hope that you are all Ok and not too badly affected by the snow! I have been looking at the pictures on the BBC website and East Anglia is particularly badly hit! I hope that it is short lasting for you all. All we have had here is torrential rain! Seattle is certainly living up to its reputation as a rainy city this last week!

We have been making the most of the dry spells and have been out on Monday and today whilst it has been dry! This has given us a walk and the girls a few minutes at the play ground. Today we went to explore a set of trails in a new housing area called Talus which was fun although the trails are really only just being planted and it wasn’t very pretty! It was also extremely muddy under foot but we enjoyed our short walk! It was long enough with the girls anyway! Naomi and Esther did really well, actually and walked without complaining. Naomi loves to walk along the fallen trees or logs and her balance is slowly improving as she does so.

This morning Tim took Naomi to the Ophthalmologist whilst Esther and I did some shopping and then we chose Naomi some new glasses. Her prescription hasn’t changed much which is a little disappointing as we were hoping it would improve as her head grew! Still, she is so used to wearing her glasses now and looks very good in them.

Yesterday it was very wet in the morning and so we stayed at home; the girls and I did some colouring together and played with the playdough. Esther impressed me by not eating the playdough yesterday which was a real improvement on the last time we did it together!

In the afternoon we went to Ikea to buy lamps for Naomi’s and our bedrooms and to buy a few other things. Naomi is now old enough to go into the play area for an hour, which she very much enjoyed and Esther was happy playing with the toy duck that the play area had given her. It did mean that we had lots of “duck, duck” though when she inevitably dropped it! She also had a great game of posting the duck either in Tim’s top pocket or down the front of my jumper! She was happy at any rate!

On Boxing Day, Vanessa, James, his Dad and the children came round for a get together over lunch, which was great fun and then we went very briefly to Lake Sammamish State park for a walk around the bottom of the lake and splash in the puddles (the children did that bit)! Unfortunately we had only been at the playground for about 3 minutes when the heavens opened and we had to rush back to the car in torrential rain! We were all soaked!

Naomi and Esther have been enjoying playing with their toys over the last few days. Naomi has really taken to her Doctors kit and tabard that I made for them, which is fun to watch! Esther is currently being a patient patient but for how long, I don’t know! They have both enjoyed playing with the dolls house but they are not too good at sharing that for some reason! Naomi has also been playing with the dollies too – she is a very attentive mother!

As usual, the girls have been enjoying having Daddy around and have they have been playing and laughing a lot with Tim these last few days. Tim is very good at playing rough and tumble games with the girls, which they both love! Today he was kissing their armpits once they had come out of the shower and they were giggling and giggling!

Esther’s language has come on leaps and bounds this week with another person to talk to. She has been saying things like “Umper” (jumper), “tick” (stick) and “tep” (step). The funniest word that she has learnt is “dark” which we are getting a lot of. However, she hasn’t quite learnt that a light is called a light and she is calling it “dark”! It is getting quite confusing but once you know what she means, you are there!

Another word that she uses a lot is “Beast” as in the “Beauty and the Beast” and she runs up to us shouting it when she sees the book or DVD of the film! Yesterday I was telling Naomi the story of Cinderella in the car coming home from Ikea and Esther was shouting Beast in order to tell me that that was the story she wanted next! IT was funny.

This evening Esther wanted me to sing “I’m a Dingle Dangle Scarecrow”, which I did and she was so good at the actions – I will have to try and video her as it was so funny! She pretends to go to sleep for the first bit and then ‘wakes up’ with such enthusiasm when you get to the bit that says “Up jumped the Scarecrow…”! She waggles her arms, legs and head with lots of vigour! It is very funny! And guess what she says at the end? “Ain!” (again!)

Well, that is it for now! We are going away at the Weekend and so I will blog again once we return. We will be home some point on Monday so it might be next Tuesday before I blog again, sorry. So I wish you all a very Happy New Year and we are looking forward to seeing many of you in February.

A Stress free christmas!

Hello everyone and a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS to you all! We hope that you have all had a good day and that as we reflect on the coming of Jesus, our King,as a baby that we will be glad and rejoice.

We have had a wonderful day today! We feel very content and have been thankful to God for what He has given us. We had a disturbed night with Naomi (weren’t too thankful about that part!!) but despite that we have had a good day with the children! We went to our church this morning and it was lovely to be there with our friends on Christmas Day.
We came home and had a snack lunch (definitely the most stress free Christmas Lunch I have ever prepared!!) and then whilst the children slept or rested, Tim and I prepared our Christmas dinner which we had this evening!

Once Esther had woken up we opened our presents – thank you one and all for your thoughtfulness and wonderful gifts to us! Particularly a big thank you to Grandma Beads who gave the children a Doctors kit – a huge hit already! Tim and I have been prodded and examined all afternoon. You can laugh now father!!! However, I have been given a gift by a mysterious donor – it was a Braun Hand held blender – so please could someone let me know who it is from so that I can thank them!! Hannah gave us a chocolate fountain! We are looking forward to using that!

We had a little interlude for some juice during the afternoon only Esther managed to get into the room where we have our washing machine and managed to open the washing liquid! We heard her yell and found her sitting in a huge pool of the stuff so she was whisked off for a bath whilst Tim tried valiantly to mop up all the soap! I think it is going to be soapy for years to come! Esther is fine – just shocked – but I was amazed at how much mess she could cause in less than a minute! Thankfully she didn’t get any in her eyes or mouth! Honestly she is a pickle!

We had a ham for Christmas Dinner with roast potatoes and parsnips with Yorkshire puddings, stuffing, bread sauce and a cauliflower and broccoli bake. It was all very delicious and very easy! It was very stress free! I think it may become our Christmas Dinner for years to come!

The children are just in bed – a bit later tonight but hopefully they might sleep in a bit! We are going to have a lazy evening once we have cleared up! Maybe watch a film or one of our new DVD’s! Tomorrow we have some friends coming for lunch but otherwise we have no plans!

We had a busy couple of days at the end of last week – our Russians stayed in Kent but came to collect their belongings on Thursday lunch time! The girls and I went food shopping on Thursday morning which was busy but fun! The girls were fascinated by the live lobsters and crabs in the tank amongst other things! There was a loud mooing noise from a cow by the dairy section which also entertained them! In the afternoon Tim and I took the girls to see Vanessa and James which was fun, if a little noisy!

On Friday the girls and I went to Kent to see 4 different families – it really is like health visiting only with out the interpreter and with 2 children to look after! We spent some time with all the families, including the Somali family who we haven’t seen for a while! The mother in the Somali family has diabetes and has a blood sugar level that would cause you or I to be comatose but she is functioning well! I managed to get her to take her tablets and also wrapped a day’s worth of tablets to last her the next 10 days or so in the hope that that helps her to remember to take them! We will wait and see!

All the Russian families were glad to see us and I was proud of our first family who were interpreting for our last family for me! We had a good time with them all and will see them at least once before we come home!

In the afternoon Brooke came and I cleaned and then I made our Christmas cake and a trifle for today which was fun!

Yesterday, we had a very lazy morning and then went to a Christmas Carol Service for the children in the afternoon with Ulrike and Leif and Vanessa and James and the children. The service was aimed at the children and the children all enjoyed it! Esther shouted at the top of her voice at the end “APPY” (happy!) which was a good sign! Bless her!

Last night, I wrapped up the presents and we did the stockings for the children, which was fun too! I put Baby Jesus back into the stable which Naomi was pleased with too!

So that is it for now! I hope that you have all had fun too!

Until the next time ….

An Invasion...

It's Tim here, invading Louise's blog temporarily to wish you a happy Christmas. I've uploaded our Christmas letter here, in case it got caught in someone's junk mail folder by some chance. We send you our love and best wishes for a peaceful Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Russian-less?

Hi there! Hope that this finds you well! This is a very short blog just to let you know that we are all fine and hopefully Russian-less! They left to see their brother this afternoon and will probably only return to collect their belongings! I am relieved as they have been quite difficult to look after and they were desperate to be with the brother and not here! Also it means that we will be on our own for Christmas, which I am pleased about! I was very worried at the beginning of the week! The house feels quiet again – even with my two!

We haven’t done much this week except go to the park and Gymnastics really! It was difficult taking the Russians anywhere as we couldn’t all go but the girls and I got out each day! Today we went to see Fritzi, Ulrike, Leif and Felix which was lovely!

The girls were funny in the bath this evening! They put their flannels on their heads as hats and were giggling at each other! As they came out the bath, they disappeared whilst tim and I were talking. We found 2 damp girls in our bed! They thought it was very funny!

Esther has been coming out with more new words too – she was saying “dark” this evening! Naomi has been entertaining us with her talking too – it is so lovely to be able to have a proper conversation with her these days!

As this will be the last blog I write before Christmas, it just leaves me to say that I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and may you know the peace of God in 2006.

All our love…..

A mini United Nations!

Hello there! Welcome to the madhouse! It feels a bit like that today! On Wednesday night, at 10:00 pm, I had a phone call from the lady who coordinates the host families for the refugees to ask if we could host another family on Thursday for a few days! As they were really desparate, we agreed, although it was really short notice and we hope that they will have an appartment of their own before christmas! So far our children have been playing well together - there is a 19 yr old boy, a 16 yr old girl and a 10 yr old boy, which is a different dynamic to our previous families! The little boy seems quite happy but the older children seem to find it more difficult to entertain themselves!

However, because it was such short notice, I was unwilling to cancel our original plans for Thursday afternoon - that was to have a craft afternoon with Maddie and Fritzi! Although the first hour was incredibly hectic, I was glad that I hadn't cancelled it as we all had a great time! The family arrived along with the man's brother, his wife, a friend, an interpreter and Carla! Thankfully only the five family members stayed! The family were shattered and after eating something, went to bed! That left just Vanessa, Maddie, Alex, Ulrike, Fritzi, Felix and her parents as well as Naomi, Esther and me!! We all had a lovely afternoon and the children were very good at making their snowflakes, cards and santa's that we had prepared! It was fun!! The girls were really good! We will have to do it again sometime!

On Friday, I took some of the family to the supermarket and to the book store to buy the famous Russian / english dictionary which I cannot do without! We were not given one this time, but it really does make life so much easier! After lunch, Brooke came and played with my girls and the family slept!

Yesterday, Tim took some of the family and our girls out for a bit and at lunch time, Paromita, her husband and their son came for lunch! We were amused as there can't be too many households in the world where you could find an English, Russian and Indian child playing happily together! They all seem to like trains!! We took the little boy to the park yesterday when we went as the rest of the family didn't want to go! He thought it was great! We had a lovely afternoon with Paromita and Saptak and it was great to have a little more time then we usually do!

Today Tim was playing the piano for the children to do a little performance at church; this meant that I needed to stay at home with the family but I was really keen to go to a church myself! I ended up going to St. Michael and All Angels church, Issaquah (yes, seriously!!) and it was an interesting experience! It was very high church but the people were friendly and it was fun to be in an Anglican church again with the Anglican service! I missed going to Quest but I was pleased that I had been able to go somewhere! Tim then took the children when I came home and it all went well, although I think it was a bit frantic at times!

I took the family to the Space Needle and we had a brilliant day for viewing up there! The sun was shining and the sky was as clear as it could be! We could see from Mt. Baker to Mt. Rainier as well as the Cascades and the Olympics. The family were very impressed at how pretty it all is! All 3 families have commented on how nice it looks here (it does) and I get the impression that where they have come from is not a pleasant looking place! There must also be quite a lot of violence and alcoholism there too, from what I can gather! I went up the Space Needle in 2001 when we were here to visit and so it was great for me to be able to see the city now that I live here! It was great! After this, we went into Downtown Seattle and to the sea front where we met Tim for lunch. After lunch we took them to see one of the Christmas Window displays in Macy's. As this was a train set, it proved a big hit! Naomi and the little boy also went on the Carousel! Big smilies all round!!

The family were exhausted after our day out and have already been in bed a while! They came home and collapsed, too! We didn't walk that far! Ah well, I hope they have recovered by the morning! Tomorrow I am taking the girls to Gym class - I don't know what the family will do!

Our children have tolerated the family being here well and enjoy chattering away to them all! Naomi made me laugh yesterday as she happily ate all the Turkish meal that the family had made and yet makes a fuss about good English food sometimes! Honestly! Esther has a new word today - "appy" and said it continually for about 10 minutes this evening! She is funny! Naomi enjoys her little jokes every now and again and told me yesterday that I shouldn't queue in all the traffic but that I should drive across the grass! She knows she is being silly!

I am unable to access my email at present and I am not sure how long it will take to get sorted; hopefully, Tim can fix it soon but until then, I will not be able to read or respond to your emails - I am sorry! IF you need to contact me then either email Tim but make it clear that it is for me or phone me! Sorry about the inconvenience - I am very cross about it!!

I am sure I will remember all sorts of things when I have posted this, but I will end it here! Will write on Wednesday I hope!

Take care!

Certainly!

Hello there! I am delighted to report that we are all on the mend and that we are almost back to fully fit! I hope that it stays this way for a few weeks now! What a month! We hope that this finds you all fit too and not feeling under the weather or stressed out with Christmas preparations!

We have had our last Mom’s group for this year today and had a party! Well, a little one anyway! We brought food (Naomi and I made some mince pies yesterday for the occasion in out ‘together time’!) and we all brought a gift from home to give to someone. I was amazed at the gifts we all received – we all picked something that we all loved! I have a lovely shiny sparkly scarf which is just gorgeous and that Esther and I enjoy wearing!

The children had an off morning today despite Mum’s group, which was a shame because they had been as good as gold Monday and Tuesday! They were really grumpy and I ended up having a quick lunch out as they were both starving when we left church and I didn’t want them eating crackers on the way home and then not eating their lunch! Naomi had woken up at 6 this morning to go to the toilet and hadn’t gone back to sleep, so she was tired and then they both fell asleep in the car but only for about 20 – 30 minutes so Esther was tired too! Still, we had a better afternoon, mainly because I decided that I wouldn’t try and do anything else today! We stayed at home and played together! It was good fun and the girls’ behaviour improved! Tim got home nice and early too, which helped! The girls enjoyed seeing him!

Yesterday, Naomi was at school in the morning and Esther and I went to music group! We had a lovely time and enjoyed our singing! The mums and the children are so nice – it is such a lovely group! I am sure I get as much out of it as Esther does! The children are all Esther’s age too which is nice! I must pluck up the courage to ask one or two of them to come round and play! I’ll try that in the New Year!

After music class, Esther and I did some shopping before picking up Naomi and in the afternoon we met up with Jo and Zoë at the park. We can’t stay long at the park at present because the girls get cold very quickly but we were there 40 minutes or so and then went to buy a drink! We had a lovely afternoon!

On Monday we had gym class in the morning and then had a busy afternoon doing lots of little jobs, including the girls having their hair cut! They were very good and Esther is now looking very stylish although no curls!! My poor girlie! She looks good though and so does Naomi!

Naomi came out with a good word today “certainly, mummy” she said at one point which was the first time I had heard her say it! It was funny! She has got very good at writing her name recently but gets so cross if she can’t do a nice “N” as she puts it! She keeps trying though and usually gets there! She has generally been eating better too since we implemented Mum’s idea of the timer – if nothing else it shortens the time it takes for her to not eat it!! However, we have seen some improvement, which is good! Esther is eating really well and loves being in her new chair!

Esther loves singing along to the CD that accompanies her music class and is beginning to sing recognizable words. Surprisingly these are not necessarily words that she then uses in the day - like “good” or “sea” etc but they are definitely words that she sings! It is an interesting observation!

So most of our activities finish this week and so next week we will be a bit freer! I have nearly finished the tabards that I am making for the 4 little girls! The red crosses are proving a bit of a challenge as the ribbon is slippery to sew! Still, I am sure they will do the job!

Anyway, had better go and tackle the ironing! Bye for now!

Christmas decorations!

Good evening! Hope this finds you well! We were shocked to hear this morning of the huge explosion in Hemel Hempstead (not as shocked as you all were I expect!) and very relieved that no-one seems to have been killed, which is a bit of a miracle I think!

We continue to suffer from coughs and colds here – Esther has been the latest victim but she has been better today! She and I didn’t go to church this morning as she had had a high temperature over the last few days and I didn’t want to risk giving it to anyone else! In herself, she has been fine and she has still been eating well, which is a relief!

As a result, we didn’t spend our Sunday afternoon in Seattle as we often do but went to Bellevue to see their Christmas lights and small musical show! There were drummers lining the street and a huge Christmas tree, which was all quite pretty! It was short and sweet!

We have had a Christmassy weekend really as Tim and the girls put up the Christmas Tree yesterday and I put up the other decorations last night! The girls thoroughly enjoyed putting up the tree with Tim! Esther was full of “Oh Wow!” and into everything! Last year she was too little to appreciate it all but this year she was fascinated by it! We had some small tree ornaments that were square boxes that were wrapped in shiny paper and Esther loved them! Tim found her unwrapping several of them at one point! The tree looks very colourful and the girls love looking at it!

I put the finishing touches on a door wreath that I had bought earlier on in the week and now that is on the front door and I also managed to decorate the fireplace in the lounge! I must take a photo for you all to see! It looks quite pretty downstairs now!

Esther is also delighted at all the houses that have Christmas lights up (most houses have them - ours looks very dark!) and alternatively shouts "ouse" or "oh wow!" Suddenly I find that I don't mind them quite so much when I realise how much pleasure Esther gets from them!

Yesterday was also Naomi’s Gym class performance which was over lunch time! She was a snowflake and did a ribbon dance and a forward roll down a slope! She was very good and did what she was supposed to do! It was short too but nice to see her participate in it! We were supposed to be hosting another refugee family but they were hosted elsewhere in the end! We had had hardly any notice of their arrival this time and only 20 minutes notice that they weren’t coming! Still it was fine!

After Esther had had her nap yesterday, we met up with Vanessa and James and the children to go to the small zoo near to us for the Reindeer Festival. Well, we are all members of the zoo (which then allows us in for free!) but discovered when we arrived that members do not get in for free for the Reindeer festival! They don’t even get a discount! We were furious! Especially when we realized that half of the zoo wasn’t even open!

To compensate, we did everything that we could do! So we sat in the sleigh, had a story time, saw the Reindeer and Father Christmas and made a Reindeer ornament! The girls enjoyed themselves although they would have been as happy in the park! Never mind! We can say we have been!

On Friday the girls and I did some shopping in the morning and went to the park as I knew that our trip to the dietitian in the afternoon would not allow us to do anything else! I feel it was a bit of a fruitless trip! She was grasping at straws really but suggested that I cut down the amount of juice given and to give Esther more choices! Well, I can try and at least I can say I have been!

On Thursday Esther and I had fun playing at home when Naomi was at school and in the afternoon we met up with Maddie and Fritzi in Redmond Town Center. We had hoped to ride on the Christmas Train but unfortunately it was not running! Instead, the girls played on the little play area and then we went for a cup of coffee! There were rather a lot of us as Tim, Paromita (our Indian lady!), her husband and son also met us there! Given that Ulrike’s parents were there too, we rather took over the shop!

All 3 older girls were looking very well coordinated on Thursday – probably the one and only time! Naomi was all in purple, Maddie was all in turquoise and Fritzi was all in blue! We thought they were worthy of a catalogue somewhere!!

Esther was funny this week! She has become very particular about which clothes she wears! Ideally, she would wear her lilac pyjamas with her red wellie boots but failing that she would prefer to wear a top with a dog on or the one with the fairies on! She gets quite stroppy about it all too! It does not bode well for the future!

Esther has been coming out with new words this week too – we have had “day” – for today, “ander” for Calendar (the advent variety!) and the best one “dude!!!!” – as in Nemo! I have an American daughter!

All week, Esther has been puzzling me and I finally worked it out on Thursday morning! We have a picture of baby Felix, (Ulrike’s new baby) on the mantle piece and like all new babies he is asleep with his hands closed up by his head. Well, all week, Esther has been looking at this picture and going “raah” and making a monster expression with her hands and I have kept saying “no, that’s not a monster, it is baby Felix” Anyway, I finally realized what it was! She thinks that Felix is being a monster and going “raah” with his hands! I had to tell Ulrike! It was so sweet!

Naomi too, made us laugh this week! We bought the girls a Nativity scene this week and put it up, but didn’t put baby Jesus in it (he isn’t here until the 25th!!) Anyway, we overheard Naomi saying to Esther that Jesus wasn’t here yet as he was hiding!! That wasn’t quite the explanation I had in mind!!

We’ll that is about it, except to say that Tim has managed to revamp the Sneath.org site and it is looking very jolly – as you should realize through reading the blog!! Take a look and see what you think! I think there are some snowy pictures too!

That is it for now!

Entertaining!

Hello from us all in Issaquah! We are still suffering from coughs and colds but hopefully we will be on the mend soon!

We have still managed to continue with our usual activities this week and we have also enjoyed seeing friends.

On Monday afternoon we went to Kent to celebrate with a 2nd birthday with our 2nd refugee family! We had a wonderful afternoon with them! It was a privilege to be included as part of their vast extended family! They have a lot more family here now then when they first came and they were all at the party! The girls and I were introduced to so many people! The children were very good and played well together all afternoon which was lovely!

In the evening Tim and I hosted Tim’s manager for supper, which went well. I had to prove that English food is not all bland and tasteless, which seems to be the general misconception here! This fact infuriates us as we still struggle to buy food any where near as good as the quality found in Sainsbury’s unless you go to an expensive and select store! Still, dinner was not bland on Monday!

Yesterday we went to see Maddie, Vanessa and Alex in the afternoon and it was fine enough to go to the park, which was great as we were all in need of some fresh air! Today we went to Seattle in the morning and then did a bit of shopping for Christmas decorations in the afternoon.

Hopefully I will be feeling better tomorrow as we are planning on taking the children (Frtizi, Maddie and my 2) to see Father Christmas and to ride on the Christmas Train in Redmond Town Center tomorrow! It should be fun!

That is about it for now! Will write again at the weekend.

Snow!

Hello there! Hope this finds you all well. Unfortunately Tim is still unwell and so someone has been unwell for the last 3 weeks! IT is getting a bit tiresome! Tim has lost his voice and has a cold but is otherwise OK.

We have had snow this week! It snowed on Thursday as I went to pick Naomi up from school and it snowed and snowed! I am not keen on driving in the snow if I can help it and so we didn’t go anywhere on Thursday afternoon. Instead we sat upstairs and looked at old photos! I showed the girls our wedding photos, photos of when I was a child and then some of them when they were babies! They were fascinated and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon together! In the early evening we dressed up warmly and went for a walk in the snow to see the Christmas lights! The girls enjoyed that too!

On Friday morning it was too snowy to get to the hospital for Esther’s skin appointment and so we went into the garden and made a snowman! We also threw snowballs and the children enjoyed making footprints in the snow too! It was Esther’s first experience of snow since she had been walking and she was a little unsure at first but soon was confident to walk on her own!

In one of Naomi’s films, one of the princesses lies in the snow and waves her arms to make an imprint. When she stands up it looks as if she has made angels wings! Anyway Naomi wanted to do this too and so she was trying to do it but not very successfully! She was too light to make an impact in the snow really! Esther just wanted me to draw Nemo!!

Esther was funny with the snow man! She was quite attached to it and didn’t want to go indoors at first! She was saying ‘hello’ and ‘bye’ as we left it! She has enjoyed looking at it through the window! Funny girl!

We didn’t do too much on Friday apart from a little bit of shopping and then Brooke came in the afternoon!

Yesterday we did lots of shopping in the morning and were quite successful! In the afternoon we made some cookies to take with us to Kent tomorrow. It is one of the children’s birthdays and I wanted to make something that Esther could eat. The girls enjoyed cooking with me and especially rolling out and cutting out the biscuits! We decorated them today and they look very jolly although not very professional!

Today we all made it to church which was good and then we went to Melinda and Chad’s for dinner! There was also another couple there, which was lovely! I was very proud of the girls as they were very well behaved and ate their dinner well and played nicely! They were good children and I made sure that I told them so!

Naomi has been coming out with the word “Hey” a lot this week; in fact most of her sentences seem to start “Hey Mummy” for example! Esther has been copying too which is funny! I don’t know where she gets it from – therefore I will blame school!

Since I last wrote, Naomi has been eating better and we have been using the alarm clock to encourage her to eat within the time frame! She has had a better couple of nights, which is good, but the real test will be when it is something she is not too keen on! She is however, so like Tim and instead of eating at the start of the 20 minutes, she waits until she has 10 or 5 minutes left before she starts! Very unlike me!

Esther has really developed her sense of self this week and refers to herself as “Edda”! She was funny when we were looking at the photos as there were some of my cousins, Ian and Emma as babies. She kept on pointing at them and saying “Edda” which was funny!

In the evenings I have started to make dressing up nurse / doctor outfits for the girls and for Maddie and Fritzi. They are simple tabards with a red cross on and a matching hat! They are working out OK but don’t look too closely at the sewing! They will be fine for the children and it is fun to do! I do have a pattern of sorts but the neck has had to be altered and I am making up the hats! I am edging them with blue bias binding and getting through yards of the stuff, so I hope that they look OK when I have finished! I need to get sewing though to have all 4 made by Christmas!

Well, that is about all the news for now!