December Snow

Hello! Hope that this finds you well and not too wet and windy! We had snow yesterday but it turned to snow overnight and we have had torrential rain and wind today instead! I was relieved that the snow didn't last too long, I don't like driving in it especially in my new car!

Consequently we had a day at home yesterday. We had a webcam both with Helen and Niels and Baby Sophie and with Tim's parents which was lovely! Sophie is so cute! She was awake yesterday, which was nice! Silas is very taken with his new cousin and the girls were drawing pictures of the family!

In the afternoon, I did some painting with the girls and Silas in the end! Silas joined in by mistake really but he adored it! He was smiling and laughing and making happy noises! He mostly got it on the paper but somehow not only managed to get it on himself but also on Naomi and me! Bizarrely, he managed to avoid Esther who he was next to but there you go! It was fun even though it  took a while to clean up!

The snow finally stopped at around 4pm and so the children and I went out for a very short time to build a snow man. Although there was only an inch or two we actually made a decent sized snowman as the snow was sticky; last year when we had a foot of snow we could only make a ridiculously small one as the snow was very dry! We found stones for the eyes and a carrot for the nose and were very pleased with our efforts.

Overnight the snow melted a lot so that the snowman collapsed leaving a carrot on the floor much to Esther's great amusement!

Our snow chains for the car arrived yesterday but we haven't tried them out yet. I spent some time reading the instructions but feel very nervous about them! On the one hand, having them will mean that I am not housebound for  a week like I was last year but I am not sure how easy they will be to put on and off! I don't suppose we'll use them too much but they will be useful to have.

Today we went to church this morning and then into Ballard in Seattle to try out a new restaurant and then a new coffee house that had a play area in. The restaurant was good and the coffee house was fine but Silas was not and so we left in the end. Silas did much better at church this morning although it helped that I was with him but we discovered that he prefers the older toddler room to the baby one, so hopefully he will settle in there more easily. He is really nearly walking now but once he is walking properly he will be able to move up.

As I say, Silas is nearly walking - he can manage 13 - 15 steps without falling down but he still prefers to crawl some of the time and if he falls down then he will crawl rather than try to get up again. He hasn't yet got to the stage that he wants to walk in all situations but I don't think it will be long before he is! He is very proud of himself and is clearly working at it which is good!

We had a quiet beginning of last week, which was one of the reasons that I didn't end up sending a blog out on Wednesday. We just did our usual activities but on Wednesday evening I went shopping with Melinda and wasn't home till 10:30. I bought some shoes and some pyjamas and she bought some presents for friends which was good!

On Thursday we met Ulrike in the  park in the afternoon which was good! The children had a good run around and it was dark when we left! The children still complained though but I had to explain that I could barely see them so it was time to go!

On Friday we met up with Lisa and her Mum and the twins for the afternoon and had a great time at KidsQuest museum. Silas loved the water section and got very wet! The girls made some gingerbread men which they enjoyed! The highlight for the girls though was a display of gingerbread houses that were iced and decorated that we had a good look at and then voted for at the end! It was fun and the houses are amazing! We left via Oshkosh as I wanted to buy Naomi some more vests and we also ended up with a couple more tops for the girls as the offer was too good to miss!

Esther was cheeky the other day - she put her hands in the fridge to try and make them cold and then she put them up my jumper! Thankfully her hands weren't too cold but she was still tickly!! She thinks it is hilarious!!

Anyway, that is it for now! I should be able to write on Wednesday - there are no plans for shopping this week!