A ballerina, a pumpkin and a zebra

Happy Halloween as we have been saying all night! We can't quite seem to get this Halloween thing right. The last 2 years we have been short of goodies and so this year I thought I had it sorted only to find that we have had the quietest year since we have lived here! I think the fact that our clocks don't turn back until next weekend (I think!) and the fact that it is a day when the children finish school early has made a huge difference.

We went to see Tim in costumes like we have done for the last 2 years. They all looked very cute and were very good collecting candy and remembering to say thank you! Silas would have happily crawled around but then he would have got squashed so we carried him! The girls knew what to expect and were very happy! We even managed to bring home a princess Halloween balloon , which as you can imagine has made the children all very happy!

This morning Silas and I went to Renton to finish sorting out my new car and collect the licence plates. We did very well and arrived both at the garage and at school early, which was good. The garage were very good too and realised that doing the job would be easier than giving me the hire car that they were going to give me which meant that I was able to bring my car home again and I won't have to go back which is good!

Yesterday we had to take Mum and Dad to the airport in the morning, which was not fun! We have had a great time with them and it was lovely having so much help for such a long time! They won't be back until March so we have a long time until we next see them, which is a shame!

In the afternoon Naomi and Esther had dance and gym class. Naomi has moved up to the next class which means that i now have an hour or so each week with each of the girls independently which is great. yesterday I took Naomi for a walk and then a drink in the cafe and then Esther and I popped to the same shop that I went in last year to buy the Halloween costumes. This year she saw a pumpkin and decided to buy that - she looked very sweet!  I am looking forward to spending some time with each of them on their own, especially Naomi as she doesn't get much on her own otherwise. I know that we still have Silas but he is a bit easier some how!

On Monday, with Mum and Dad still here, we went swimming which was fun although we were worried at the start. The lovely warm little pool was closed off just as we arrived for cleaning and so we ended up in the big pool, which was quite chilly I thought! We were in there for  a while but just as we were leaving, we were able to go into the little pool again which was a great way to warm up! Silas surprised us at enjoying it and Naomi and Esther were doing really well with their swimming.

All the children have mastered something new in the last few weeks. Naomi has learnt the skill of blowing her nose, which is very helpful! Esther has learnt to peddle her bike and Silas is learning how to clap! He did it a couple of times this afternoon in the car, which is good! He is funny though as he usually starts to pat his knees if you clap for him!

That is all for now! I hope that this finds you all well! 

Bananas!

Hello! Hope that this finds you well! We are thankfully all fine here this weekend and all the children are asleep! Mum, Dad, Tim and I have had a lovely Chinese meal this evening and a glass of wine - you will therefore have to excuse this blog!

We have been enjoying the sunshine these last few days especially as really we don't know how long it will last for. I know that it can rain and rain here and so we have got the children outside at every available opportunity! On Thursday after school, we went for another picnic this time at Discovery Park in Seattle and although we couldn't get down to the beach, we found a lovely place to have a picnic, a few games and a walk. Afterwards we went to Q cafe at church for a drink and then came home. The children had a great time playing with the toys and in the house at the cafe and Silas voiced his objection to leaving!

We had taken some bananas with us for our picnic on Thursday as they needed eating and, once we had finished our sandwiches, Dad asked Naomi whether she would like a "banana, a banana or even a banana". She is able to get a joke and thought this was very funny and was very happy to eat a banana! I had also taken with me some of the cookies that I had made for Silas' birthday which were a big success. Silas loved them and would sit happily eating his "ack-acks." I will have to make some more sometime!

Dad took Silas for  a walk to try and get him to go to sleep after lunch whilst Mum and I played tag and other silly games with the girls. There were men fixing the roof of the nearby chapel and they must have thought we were very silly!

In the evening on Thursday, Mum and I went for a pedicure which Mum enjoyed very much and came home with lovely shiny toenails! She is already planning her next trip when she comes again I think! We also tried to do a bit of shopping but were out of time unfortunately!

On Friday the girls went to school whilst Dad and I went shopping and Mum took Silas to music class. I had been awake with Silas since 5:45 am and was very tired, so after a very quick lunch, I went to sleep which was lovely! In the afternoon we went to the park for a short time and then I went out in the evening with Melinda to see the play "To Kill a Mockingbird", which was truly brilliant. The children who take the lead roles were amazing and the father, Atticus,  was just how I had imagined him to be. The play received a standing ovation at the end which was very deserved and we both enjoyed it very much.

Yesterday, Tim and Dad went to see the University [American] football team play which they enjoyed whilst Mum and I took the children to the park in the morning. In the afternoon we all met up at Melinda and Chad's house for a Harvest Party which was fun. The children wore their fancy dress costumes and Silas looked adorable in his zebra outfit that he is going to wear to Tim's work on Wednesday for Halloween.

The party was fun - the girls decorated small pumpkins and we watched a couple of large pumpkins being decorated. Naomi also made a brilliant scarecrow out of wood sticks and leaves and  Silas walked round the table eating peoples' chocolate cake!

Today we went to church this morning and then this afternoon Tim and I took the children to a farm to go pumpkin picking. We had a ride on the tractor which was great fun although very bumpy and chose a magnificent pumpkin! We also saw pigs and turkeys (lots of ack-acks!) which we all enjoyed.

Tomorrow the plan is to go swimming after school and maybe go shopping but we will see!

Silas has lots of new sounds that he likes to say. He says "B" for bump and a noise that sounds like Silas. He understands so much and will follow simple directions such as "put the pot on your head". He has enjoyed and got the hang of opening his birthday presents (thankyou!) and we finished opening them today! He loves his cars, trains and the cube that Tim and I bought him. It is fun to watch him play!

Well, that is it for now - I will write on Wednesday.

Silas is 1!

Hello! We have had a busy couple of days enjoying Naomi's and Silas' birthdays! It has been great fun and we have enjoyed watching the children open their presents and cards. Thank you!

We have had 2 extremely different days in terms of weather here and it is hard to believe that today's rain could have followed the warm sunshine that we had yesterday but it has! Yesterday was so beautiful tat Dad took the girls out for a ride on their bikes and a play in the playground first thing and then we had a picnic lunch! It was amazing to be outside having a picnic at the end of October but it was lovely to be in the sun! We also went to do some shopping at Oshkosh for all the children which was fun and then the girls went to dancing and gym class. I took Silas to the park then and he had a great time playing and climbing the stairs. he is not too keen on the slide at the moment though!

Naomi was very patient and opened her presents when Tim came home in the evening. She has had loads of playmobile and I am impressed that none  of it has been duplicated! She is very excited about playing with it all and I know without doubt that all of it will be played and played with. It is one toy that I feel sure that is worth its money!

We had a birthday tea and then once the children were in bed I made Silas' duck biscuits for today. I gave up on teh idea of making a cake as we hadn't eaten much of Naomi's as we had all been ill. However, Mum made a pond and i decorated the pond with weed (!) and we put the ducks on. Silas was happy and said "ack-ack" so that was the main thing!

Tim and Dad went out last night to buy a new microwave as ours had gone bang in the morning! When they returned they sorted out the new car with teh children's car seats so that we could use the new car today. It took them a while as there were a lot of different options but we finally settled on one to try for a few weeks. Silas was very excited about finally sitting in a forward facing car seat and enjoyed being able to look about him.

I enjoyed driving the car (although I made Dad come with me to school this morning!) but i can't work out all the buttons. Even Naomi and Esther's teacher said to me this morning "new van?" as I struggled to open the remote controlled doors and windows. Apparently all Mums struggle with eh buttons in a new car! At least it isn't just me!

this morning Mum and I went into school to participate in Naomi's birthday circle. I was not aware of Birthday circle until this year but it is actually quite sweet. The teacher laid out a piece of material that had stars and moons on and said that this was the universe and then she laid a sun on that. Then she put the months of the year out and Naomi held a globe that she then carried around the sun for the time it took to sing this little song 5 times! At the end of each time she had to say something that she had done when she was 1,2,3, and 4. She then distributed her snack (we had taken organic fruit leather things as the school is particular about snacks!) and then they all ate it, whilst Mrs Susarla read them a story. They sand a couple of songs and then it was time to go home! It was all very fun and it was good as Mum and Esther could join in too. The funny thing was though that Mrs Susarla (who is extremely good in lots of ways!) got muddled with how many weeks there are in the year - apparently there are 54! But apart from that, all was fine!

After school we popped to Costco and then came home and had lunch. We went to Bellevue Square this afternoon but I was not successful in buying anything! A cheap day! I am after some shoes but ones that don't let in the rain!

This evening we had tea and then opened a few of Silas' presents. He was quite over awed by it all and so we are going to stagger the present opening over a few days. he opened his toy trains (from Grandma Beads) and his toy cars (from Granny and Grandad) both of which were big hits! he loves putting the little person in the car! We also opened the bubble machine (from Aunty Chum and Uncle Geoff) so that we could play with it in the bath; he enjoyed that very much! Thank you to you all!

Once Silas was in bed it was back off to school for Naomi, Mum and me for Naomi's Mum's night. Naomi showed us how she did her work and where she had to sit and we met her friend Aislin and her mother, which was good! The girls were quickly asleep after we returned home and then we have been emailing or watching TV since then.

That is about all our news for now! hope that this finds you all well and that we continue to recover!

Mixed days.

Hello. hope that this finds you well and that you are feeling better than we are. Silas was sick on Friday and then last night Mum and Naomi were very sick with Dad, Tim and I feeling unwell. This morning sees Naomi feeling much better and Mum asleep. Dad and I are feeling a bit iffy and Silas has diarrhoea unfortunately too; Tim is fine I think this morning. Heigh ho!! We have no idea where it came from and hope that it goes speedily! Poor Naomi was really badly affected and was so brave through it all!

It was such a shame because we had otherwise had a lovely weekend with a successful party on Saturday for Naomi and her friends. Naomi really enjoyed it and I hope that her friends did too. We played the usual pass the parcel and pin the tail on the donkey as well as Grandmother's footsteps and What's the time Mr Wolf. We started off making little bags for the girls to take home their goodies and they worked hard on this for a while - longer than we expected.

The cake that Mum and I made was fabulous and helped set the princess theme! We made Princess Aurora on Friday night and it took a while but it looked lovely. I made the flowers whilst Mum arranged them beautifully on the skirt and dress. We sat Princess Aurora on a green base with flowers on the edge.

Dad and Tim went to watch teh rugby on Saturday lunch time at a friends house and were disappointed with the result! Mum and the children and I finished getting ready for the party and were very organised. The girls were very good at waiting patiently for the party to start and were brilliant during the party. They were great hostesses and very good at being generous with their friends. It was great!

Yesterday we went to church in the morning and Mum and Dad went into Seattle. We had lunch and then went to University Village to do some shopping but only Tim was successful in buying anything. I need some shoes that don't let in the rain! No luck though!

On Thursday we went to the Kidzbounce in Preston and had a great time! The girls really enjoyed the inflatables and Silas loved crawling round after the balls and climbing on the entrance mats. Even Mum and Dad had a go on the big slide!

On Friday our plans changed when Silas woke up having been sick and so Mum and Dad went shopping whilst the girls were at school. In the afternoon Dad and I took the girls out for a wet walk and a splash in teh puddles. It was good to get to get some air after being indoors all day.

Silas was funny on Saturday morning as he learnt how to play tiddlywinks with his cheerios! He thought it was great fun! He also has loved to see the balloons that we put up for the party although he calls them "ees" (trees). He is starting to say "lll" for the balloons though.

We hope that we are all improved by tomorrow so that we can enjoy Naomi's birthday and that Silas is well enough to enjoy his birthday on Wednesday. Hoping too that no-one else gets any worse!

That is it for now! Hope to bring you better news on Wednesday!

Kind girls!

Hello! Hope you are well. Sorry to hear about the postal strike and hope that you are not missing too much in the way of post! Parcels keep arriving for the children so it doesn't seem to have effected that too much. Thank you!

We are fine here and have had a wet but good couple of days. Yesterday we did a lot of shopping in the morning and went to ToysRUs to buy Naomi's party things for Saturday. She was very excited and we had fun choosing the plates and things. After lunch the girls had dancing and gym class and then after that Ulrike came round with the children for dinner. Leif is away this week and so she was going to be on her own with the children; as she had been so kind to invite me to hers for dinner, i wanted to do the same for her. It was good to see her and fun to bath all the children together in our big bath! Silas even did quite well as Mum had the brilliant idea of using bubbles (that you blow!) in the bath which was really helpful.

Once our children were asleep and Ulrike had gone, Mum and I left Dad with them and we headed out to the material shop to buy some material to make dressing up capes for the girls. We had hoped to make them for Halloween but I am conscious that we are running out of evenings and so am not too sure! They might end up as Christmas presents! I also need to make a dancing bag for Esther so I am really going to have to work hard!

Today, Mum and Dad caught the bus to Everett to see the Boeing Tour at the Boeing Factory. I think they felt that it was a long way for not a lot, which was a shame. We had school this morning, Silas and I went for a walk and then this afternoon we saw Lisa and the twins here at home as it was so wet! Mum and Dad got soaked coming up the hill! We had a great time this afternoon and it was great to see them.

Silas' speech has been coming on in leaps and bounds this last week and is really starting to say sounds for proper words. He was saying "ankoo" for 'thank you' and 'cheese' for 'trees' the other day! He knows when to wave bye and was very vocal this afternoon when he felt that he hadn't got the chance to wave to the twins when they were leaving! He slaps his lips together for food and points to things that he wants now, although it is not always easy to work out what he is pointing to. At lunch time today he was pointing to the shells that the girls had been playing with and, so, when I finally worked out what he wanted of course he couldn't have it! He also is good at kisses and was even trying to blow a kiss this evening!

I was amazed today though at what Silas had obviously remembered. Ulrike and I were walking in Kelsey Creek Park where Mum and Dad had taken the children on Saturday. AS we were walking across the park, before we came to any of the animals, Silas started to shout 'ack-ack' and so he must have remembered that this was where he had seen the animals before! Clever boy!

I was really tired at lunch time today and nearly fell asleep reading the girls some stories. When I had read 3 I decided that I would take a nap on the settee whilst Silas was asleep, so I laid down and closed my eyes. A few minutes later, Esther was standing there, shoving a pillow underneath my head and a few minutes after that, Naomi was using her dressing up sheets to cover me very gently and made sure that my shoulders weren't cold! I was very impressed at how kind and caring they were and I had a good nap on the settee and woke up feeling much better!

Well, that is all our news here. Take care!

A weekend Away!

Hello! Hope that you are all well; we are fine here and we have all had either a wonderful time away or a great time at home.  Tim and I returned last night in the end in time to see the children before they went to bed which was nice! We were missing them! Silas was funny; despite being fine all weekend he clung onto me once we returned home and has been very reluctant to let me out of his sight today! He spent ages yesterday alternatively giving Mum, Tim and me kisses! he was very sweet! Esther and Naomi were keen to show us the things they had made too.

So Tim and I left on Friday morning after Mum and Dad had taken Silas to music class for us. We had lunch in Olympia but struggled to find somewhere to eat, which surprised us but we found a nice restaurant in the end, by the water front. We arrived at Lake Quinault Lodge at check in time and were very surprised by the queue to register. It turned out that there was a wedding at the Lodge on Saturday and there were a lot of guests.

I was disappointed in the Lodge; it looked so nice from the website and when we had seen it and had such a beautiful view that I was expecting better things. Firstly they bumped us out of the room that we had booked in preference for the wedding but we ended up in a nicer room in the end. Secondly the service from the front desk to the restaurant was awful and it was quite pricey for what was given. However, we didn't let any of that spoil our weekend and we had such sunny weather that we were able to walk and explore the area a bit, which was great fun.

Yesterday we left early and drove to Seattle where we spent the day. We went to the Seattle Library which is a wonderful building and very different to what i was expecting. It is light and airy and very unusual. After this we had a late lunch and then went to the Book store, where we spent a happy hour browsing the books. Then we went to the Toy shop before coming home.

In our absence the children and Mum and Dad had been to the park a couple of times and had visited a Harvest Festival at Kelsey Creek Park. They had obviously all had a good time there and came home with different things that they had made, including 2 very special candles for us. Silas had enjoyed all the animals too which was good. Yesterday they went to the Little Zoo where they had seen the Tigers and the parrots, which was fun too.

Today we had school this morning and then went shopping to Hanna Andersson in the afternoon. The girls ended up with some new tops and skirts which was good! Silas didn't get anything but we will try again in Oshkosh in a day or two!

Silas is getting very good at trying to say other words and nearly says "moo" and 'woof'! he even said "tree" this evening! Naomi has been very helpful to Mum and has been able to tell Mum how things work when she has asked! Esther is her usual self!!

This week we have Naomi's birthday party at teh end of it, which will be fun! Mum and I will be making a birthday cake on Friday night I think!

That is it for now! Will write on Wednesday I think.

Old friends pop up in surprising places!

Hello! Hope this finds you well! We are fine here although I wasn't very well at the start of this week. Mum and Dad delayed the start of their trip to look after the children as I was only fit for bed! I am much better now though, which is good and Mum and Dad set off yesterday for their trip. They left a message last night to say that they were in Ellensburg in Eastern Washington but had seen a load en-route!

I had a lovely surprise today! I had an email from the Facebook team to say that someone had sent me an email. For those of you who don't know, Facebook is a website that lets you link up your friends and send messages to each other as well as see what they are up to. It is quicker than emailing and, as the entries are short, you can find out what a lot of people are doing very quickly. It also lets you see the friends of your friends, if you see what I mean, and the person who had written to me had seen Tim on someone else's profile. I think I have made it sound more complicated than it is!  Sorry!

Anyway, this person, Hannah, is a doctor who I knew years ago in Nottingham; she and her husband  (Dan) used to attend Cornerstone Church but I also worked with them both at Derby when I was a nurse and then, later, I worked with Dan when I was a Health Visitor. Well, it would have been fun and nice enough to have heard from her but what was even more fun was that they are living in Seattle this year as Dan is working at the Children's Hospital! I was so amazed! We are trying to arrange a day to meet but no date yet! I will let you know!

Apart from corresponding with an old friend, we have also been to see Rosie and the children this afternoon as we haven't seen them in ages! We had a lovely time and the children played well together. Silas is getting very daring and even stood completely on his own for a few seconds whilst we were there as well as came down a step backwards. He is definitely preferring to be upright at the minute and is cruising a lot more. He still sags his knees when you hold his hands and try to walk but he did try walking between Dad and I the other day! It was a start!

Silas has been a shocker this evening and was awake and screaming for nearly 2 hours. I took Esther out to her school open night for Mummy's this evening but Silas was in bed before we left. He woke up when we came in and then screamed and screamed. I tried everything but he was even crying and squirming when I was rocking him, which drives me nuts! Eventually, I gave him some calpol and a drink and he has finally gone off to sleep! Bad boy!

It was a shame that he was so bad because he put the dampers on an otherwise nice evening out with Esther. She was very proud to show me her work and what she does at school and it was fun to listen to her singing and participating in circle time! She has learnt a 'b' this week! Well done school!! When we came out, she was disappointed that she hadn't had recess, which is funny as I remember Naomi saying the same thing the first time we went!

They both had a good morning at school and Esther has been doing some different work; this morning she came home with teh alphabet that she had drawn round. she is starting to write her own name and although it is not very legible, you can recognise it if you know what she is writing.

Naomi is getting good at remembering how to write words and wrote "Boo" all by herself today in a picture she drew. She told me that she had been helping a little boy at school today and I can imagine that she would be a good helper! Yesterday they had their first dance/gym class at the new time and they were both praised by the teacher for being good role models, Naomi especially. I was watching Naomi yesterday take a good run up to the springboard and jump on it with both feet and land on the mat, I was super impressed!

Yesterday morning, Mum and Dad looked after Esther and Silas whilst I took Naomi to school and then left a little later, once they worked out how to let the foot brake off! Actually it was an odd one and the foot brake only came off when you were in drive and then it let go automatically! This explained why neither Dad nor I could get the peddle up even though we were pushing and pushing!! Hopefully they are OK now!

On Monday Mum and Dad looked after the children and also collected their car. We will collect them tomorrow afternoon. Tim and I are off on Friday to Lake Quinault and are not currently sure when we will return, so there may not be a blog on Sunday!

Anyway, that is all for now! Take care!

A New Car!

Hello! We have a new addition to the family! A brand new Honda Odyssey! We went to see it  and brought it home all in the afternoon and so we were very productive. It must be said at this point that Mum and Dad kindly had the children for us, which made the whole procedure much easier! We had been looking on and off but hadn't really expected to drive one home this afternoon! We are very excited about it and are determined that the children keep it clean! Tim's current idea is that we keep the old one to tow behind with teh children in it! Tim and I will take it with us next weekend to give it a good run and then we will start to use it properly after that.

This morning, Naomi, Esther ADN Tim and I all went to church, leaving Silas at home asleep with Mum and Dad; he had a good sleep and then had a good time whilst we were out. This afternoon they all went to Target which was about all they could do in the pouring rain.

WE had a great but very busy day yesterday as it was teh Salmon Day's parade followed by our party. The parade was good but a bit damp and then afterwards we found something to eat before going to see the Salmon. They were in a surprisingly good condition which was good - they can be a bit smelly when they start to fall apart! In the afternoon some of our friends came back to our house for a meal and a chat and I think a good time was had by all - we all certainly enjoyed it and it was great to that Mum and Dad could meet so many of our friends.

On Friday the girls had school in the morning and Silas and I had dub dub. After this we went to PCC to do some shopping and got back to the school just in time to collect the girls! In the afternoon I went to school to see Naomi and Esther's teachers whilst the children were at the park. I was satisfied with the meeting with Naomi's teacher; I feel that she has already got the measure of Naomi and will help her to reach our aim of getting her to be able to read and write this year. Mrs Susarla was good at giving me some pointers to work on with Naomi which we shall start to do. Esther's teacher said that she is the kindest girl in teh class which was lovely; Naomi was the best artist!!

On Thursday the girls were very excited about seeing Daddy and Grandma and Grandad, although Silas was a bit overwhelmed at first! In the morning Naomi went to school whist Mum unpacked and in the afternoon we met up with Fritzi, Felix and Ulrike at the park. We made Elf Houses from an idea in a book that Pam had given me which captivated the children and worked very well. Thank you Pam!

Esther made me laugh this week; she came down on her own on Wednesday night and was wailing that she was on her own. Naomi told her that she wasn't alone but that God was with her; Esther replied "No, he wasn't, he was upstairs with you!" I couldn't help laughing!

Silas has been learning to say 'moo', 'bar' and 'brmm brmm' this week although everything is really "ack- ack'. He is good at waving , saying Hiya and Dadda and getting good at standing on his own for a few seconds!

Naomi is asking lots of good questions at the minute, often about impossible things like "why is there jam in a traffic jam?" or "bare is a funny word, mummy, where does it come from?". The funniest thing was that I had been explaining to her the other week about question marks (she had asked a question that I could answer!) and last week she said to me"i am explaining question marks to Esther as she doesn't know about them yet!" She is a good big sister!

That is it for now, I will write on Wednesday. Hope that this finds you all well.

It's raining again...

Hello! How are you? Just to let you know that Mum and Dad and Tim have all landed safely and are on their way home! Hooray!!

We are fine here and have had a good 4 days despite Tim not being here! On Monday we had school and dancing and i am so glad that we are switching to an earlier class! On Tuesday we did a lot of shopping and then Naomi's friend Hailey came round to play in the afternoon. Today the girls had school this morning and then we went for tea at Ulrike's house; the children had a bath there and then we came home. We were very late but they all went to sleep quickly!

That is it for now! I will write more on Sunday!