Beauty and the Beast

Hello! Happy Thanksgiving! We have had a lovely long weekend this weekend and I am very sad that Tim has to go back to work tomorrow! Still the girls have only 3 more weeks of school before they break up for Christmas, which will go very fast I am sure.

We spent Thanksgiving (Thursday) with Victoria and James, their children and Victoria's parents. We had a delicious dinner which Victoria and family had cooked followed by pear crumble and pumpkin pie which I made. When I made the pear crumble I thought we would be eating it all week but it almost all went, which was a good sign! It was very tasty. The pumpkin pie was nice too, a bit like an egg custard in flavour, but I suppose that is the nutmeg.

We had fun playing silly games like 'stick the tail on the turkey' and the chocolate game, where you have to throw a six, get dressed up and eat a bar of chocolate with a knife and fork! Naomi really got into the swing of that game although she hadn't played it before and was giggling as she saw the funny side of it! Esther ate some chocolate and then gave up! I spent the game trying hard to stop Silas from just picking up the whole bar and munching away!!

Later on we played picture consequences where you draw a section and then pass the paper onto the next person for them to continue the drawing. Again, it was interesting to see Naomi's development as she was able to realise that the fun in that game was to draw silly heads and bodies and things which was what she was doing. That game is fun though because even Esther can join in and participate as well as the adults, so that is good.

Reluctantly, we left at around 7:45 and got the children into bed quickly. They had all done so well and we had had such a lovely time but Silas in particular was tired and we knew that we were wanting to go out on Friday night too.

We had a quiet morning on Friday morning (in fact all our mornings except today were quiet and at home, which was good) and in the afternoon drove over to Melinda and Chad's house. We then all caught the bus into Seattle to watch the lighting of the Christmas Tree, the lighting of the Macy's star and fireworks off the top of the Macy's store roof. It was cold and very busy but we had a good time although i was glad that the children were all small enough still to be transported in some way. Silas was in the buggy of course, Esther was on Tim's shoulders and Naomi rode on Chad's knee on his scooter which she really enjoyed!!

There was singing prior to the lighting of the tree and star and guest appearances by celebrities which was completely lost on us of course! A celebrity is only a celebrity if you have the foggiest idea of who they are!! The adults enjoyed the fireworks more than the children but that was mainly because they produced quite a lot of soot that fell into our eyes.

After this we walked slowly up to another of the malls to watch a 'snow fall' at 6pm, which the children were amazed by! Then we went to get something to eat. By this time it was very late and I was trying hard not to look at the time! Eventually we caught the bus back and then drove home. The children were finally in bed by about 9:20! Melinda and Chad came home and stayed with us and it was good to catch up with them.

Yesterday afternoon we met up with some other friends, Gordon and Stacy with their son Desmond, at the Cougar Mountain Zoo. They live in Issaquah too and Desmond is only three months older than Silas (although smaller!!). We had a lovely time with them; they came back home with us for dinner which was fun - I was amazed at Desmond's appetite for a small boy! He ate 2 plates of spaghetti bolognaise!

Today we had church in the morning. I was due to be doing nursery but it was very quiet and only Silas would have been in nursery, so I decided to take him upstairs with me. He was very entertaining and alternatively tried to crawl down to see Pastor Eugene at teh front or would stand and bang on the glass door to get people's attention! In the end I gave up trying to participate and went downstairs where he could cause less mischief!

After church we went straight to teh Bellevue Youth Theater to watch a play of Beauty and the Beast. The girls loved it but were very curious to know if the people were real! They were so funny! I think what was upsetting them was that the beast and one of the men fight with fencing swords and they look as if they are stabbing each other which upset the girls as they thought that they were really hurt! They all (even Silas) sat and watched it with great attention and were delighted to go and speak to Belle at the end!

On the way home, Tim took them to the park for half an hour or so and I had a little bit of time on my own to read my book which was very nice! Tim started to put up the outdoor Christmas lights this evening and certainly the neighbourhood is looking very twinkly!

Well, that is about it for now. I hope that this finds you all well.

Silas' first steps.

Hello! This is really a bonus blog as I didn't think I would get written tonight. However, the girls are finding it really hard to get to sleep, Esther in particular, and so I am sitting outside their door to make sure that there isn't any talking or getting out of bed. Therefore, I thought I would write this!

Today is the day prior to Thanksgiving which is very similar to Christmas Eve in many ways. Work is very quiet for Tim and so he has been working from home today but has not had much to do even then. Some of the children are off school too (although not our children) and the shops are ridiculously busy. I went into the Liquour store to buy a present for the Clarke's (where we are going for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow) and the queue was terribly long - I think it took me 20 minutes to get to the till! After that I went to QFC just to pick up some milk and bread to last us over the weekend but I was surprised how many people were doing all their Thanksgiving Dinner shopping then!

However, Thanksgiving is fun and we enjoy the fact that it is a long weekend, which is lovely! It is not too long till Christmas then afterwards - all the Christmas decorations will go up this weekend (although probably not ours!) which the children will enjoy, Silas especially, this year.

Tim and I were delighted this morning to watch Silas take his first few steps! He was standing next to the dining room table and then let go of the wall and waited a few minutes to get his balance and then walked 3 or 4 steps all on his own before plopping down. He did it once more but I have not seen him do it again today. He has been standing more on his own though! I was on the phone to Mum which was nice as I was able to tell her as it was happening! It was very exciting!

We  had a fun day today, apart from all the queuing in my case, as this morning, I met Ulrike for a long and gorgeous walk around and through teh State park first of all. At some point whilst I was out, James and Robert had come round to play on Tim's new game: Rock Band. For those of you who have seen the game "Guitar Hero" it is similar to this but with a drum kit, another guitar, a  bass guitar and a microphone. Anyway it is hard to explain how it works but think karaoke with instruments and you are about there.

As they were all very keen to play the game, James and Robert came round to play with Tim whilst Victoria, Harriet and Victoria's parents went to Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah. When I arrived home with the children we then decided to meet up all together at Panera Bread for lunch which we did; it was great fun and a great lunch!

I watched them all play in their 'band' before we went to lunch and was relieved to see that they are all awful; at least none of them will be wanting to leave their families to start touring the rock music destinations for some time yet!

Yesterday, Naomi had school in the morning and then in the afternoon the girls and I had time together whilst the other was in ballet. Naomi and I went to a cafe and Naomi drew some pictures and Esther and I went to the library to read some stories.

Anyway, that is it for now and hope that this finds you all well.

Sophie Jane Anne

Hello! Sophie Jane Anne is our little niece who arrived into this world on Sunday morning (UK time) to Helen and Niels. Sophie is doing fine and is gorgeous but poor Helen (and Niels) has had a rough time with both an emergency 'C' section and then a serious post 'C' section bleed. Thankfully Helen is now on the mend but it has been a worrying few days.

Apart from that, we are fine here and have had a busy weekend. I honestly can't remember much about the end of last week - I think we met up with Ulrike, Fritzi and Felix on Thursday but it is a long time ago! On Friday I know that we made some fairy cakes with very bright pink icing and sprinkles on top but other than that I really can't remember!

However, i can remember that on Saturday we had a very productive day! We set out on Saturday morning to take the old car to the cleaning service and they did a brilliant job. We were going to try and do it ourselves but I felt that the carpets would come up better if they were done using a powerful professional machine rather than either one that you can hire or our own. The car actually looks really good and it was worth the money. Now we can sell it looking like a really smart old car rather than the tatty thing that it used to look like!

Once we had dropped this off we went to a little furniture shop in Issaquah that I had past to look for some dining room chairs. We were in there a while but we found and bought 6 chairs that will be stained to match our table and we like them very much. Now we will have enough chairs for our guests and for our children, which is good!

After that we then went swimming and although we couldn't get in the lovely warm pool, we had a great time and managed very well with the children! After this we came home for some lunch and a quiet afternoon!

Yesterday we woke up to the news about Helen and then went to church. In the afternoon we met up with our friends from Nottingham who now also live in Seattle. Dan is working at the Children's hospital and Hannah is at home with their boys. WE had a great afternoon, it was lovely to see them! The children got on very well and Naomi said afterwards that she had enjoyed making new friends.  It was funny watching the children interact with each other! Hopefully we will see them again before not too long!

Today we had school this morning and Silas finally had his 12 month check up although I still ended up going straight to school to collect the girls despite it being a 10 am appointment! This afternoon, the girls and I did some craft together and then we did a bit of shopping which was fun!

Silas has been full of mischief today and emptied Tim's cereal all over the floor before I could tie it up! Yesterday it was the caraway seeds that we had everywhere and he liked those very much as they made a great mess and looked a bit like little ants! We also have discovered that he has a very mature sense of humour and likes "The News Quiz" on BBC Radio 4 as he was laughing and clapping along with the audience! It was very funny!

He has also been very affectionate and has given us a lot of hugs and kisses which is very sweet and makes up a little bit for when he tries to bite you as he is teething! He enjoyed seeing photos of his new baby cousin this morning as did the girls. I can imagine Sophie and Silas being up to real mischief in the next year or so! We had better watch out!

Well, that is it for now, I won't write on Wednesday as I will be cooking pies for Thursday's Thanksgiving meal but I will write sometime over the next few days.

Until then take care and love to you all.

UP

Hello! There is a Dr. Suess book that we read occasionally called "UP" and as it is Silas' favourite word at the minute, I thought it would be a fitting title for the blog!

I am amazed at how such a simple word can mean so much! It can mean, "I am done with my dinner, I want to get down" or it can mean "I need a hug" or it can mean "I want to have a story" or it can mean "I want to go and have a bath now". It can also mean that "I want to climb up Naomi's ladder" or that "I am climbing up the stairs, Mummy" both of which are not such good meanings of the word "UP"! He is very funny and very mischievous but with a winning smile - just like his Daddy!

Silas is also cutting another tooth - one of the front bottom ones and so he has been very clingy this after noon although he cheered up after tea and, when the girls were watching television, I gave him his dummy which helped a bit!

Tim has been off work and not well this week with a nasty cold with flu like symptoms; poor love he has been very spaced out for the last couple of days and has been at home. We are all enjoying having Daddy around even though he is sick though. The children like to watch him play the guitar game on the XBOX from time to time and Naomi even had a go this afternoon! Silas also had a go this afternoon and was jigging up and down and waving the handle as a true rocker! If my son becomes a punk rocker and tries to earn his living through such dubious means I shall know exactly who to blame!!!

It was Veterans Day on Monday which meant that the children were off school. As it meant that we had a free day, I took the children up to Everett to teh Children's museum there as the girls had been desperate to go again ever since we went in the summer. We had a great time and were there for a good few hours. It was much easier this time as Silas is more mobile and is able to walk a little bit with one finger; this meant that I didn't have to carry him as much which was great! (You are not allowed to take the stroller in). We went in the restaurant bit, the vets bit, the farm bit and also watched a puppet show which was truly awful but the children enjoyed it! Silas had a great time playing on the small soft play area and with the trains; we were in both of those for a while.

It took about an hour to get home and so we weren't in until about 4:30 but Tim was already home. I went out again in the evening for a Housing Association Board meeting leaving Tim and the children at home which was a mistake as they took advantage of Daddy not being well and played up whilst he was asleep I think, which was naughty of them and they were tired and grumpy yesterday.

Yesterday Naomi went to school in the morning and then in the afternoon she and I went to the library whilst Esther was in dancing and read some stories and then Esther, Silas and I went to Target whilst Naomi was dancing, so that was good.

Today the girls had school in the morning whilst I walked with Ulrike and then we had a quiet afternoon at home. I read stories to Silas for a while and sorted a few things out. Tomorrow we will see Ulrike and the children in the afternoon; I am not sure if Tim is going to go to work or not.

I had a very argumentative day on Monday! It wasn't really my fault though! The first argument I had was when we were at the Children's museum. In the soft play area the children are only allowed in if they are 3 or under, which is fine but doesn't help much if you have a group of children of different ages. For the majority of the time whilst Silas was on the soft play, the girls were in the vets area which I could see. But after a while, they came into the area to talk with me about where we were going to go next. As they were both too big to go on the structure, I wouldn't let either of them go on it and so they were standing talking to me whilst I was standing with Silas. One of the ladies who works there came along and said "they are too big to be in here". So I agreed and explained that they were with me, having a conversation and that I wasn't letting them on the structure. Well the lady still didn't like it and wanted me to send them out but i refused as I was still having a conversation with the children! This went back and forth 3 times before she walked off in disgust and a few minutes later we all left the area anyway as we had made our decision where we were going next!

After the puppet show, we were sitting in the rest area, having a snack and this same lady came over and apologized if she had offended me. I explained to her that I totally understood the need to ensure that the older children were not on the structure but felt that it was unrealistic to expect families to not allow their older children to even enter the area! In the end, she agreed and was going to talk to the supervisor about being more flexible about the arrangement to stop it happening again!

Later the same day, at the meeting, I had a right barney with the rest of them about their strong desire to be so particular about the rules and regulations. Heigh Ho! I keep threatening to resign but don't like giving up and I am not sure that, just because the others are so pro the rules and regulations, that that means that the rest of the neighborhood is. I will stick with it until the spring but will decide then what to do next year!

Anyway, that is enough of my rants, so I will end this here! Take care and I hope that you are all well.

Monday Morning

Good morning and I hope that this finds you well. Sorry for the delay in the blog but hopefully all will become clear as we go on! It is early in the morning here and the children are still asleep. Tim had to get up early and although I didn't have to I thought I would get up and write this in some peace and quiet. I will post whatever I have written when I need to stop!

We had a fairly quiet week last week all round really, which was nice in some ways. We went to see Rosie, Caitlin and Cameron on Thursday afternoon with Ulrike and her children which was great fun for everyone. The children all played extremely well and even Silas was quite happy being in a place he didn't know which meant that Rosie, Ulrike and I had a very peaceful afternoon and were even able to have a conversation! It took us ages to get home though so that was a pain but at least it was a Thursday and we only had one more day of school before the weekend.

On Friday, whilst Naomi and Esther were in school, Silas and I went to music class and did the shopping. Silas really enjoyed the music class but was very cross with the teacher for taking away his shakers and the drums! He was pointing and pointing and saying "ankoo" to the box of them on the side! he was very sweet! I am not sure what he will do in the spring - I wanted him to do a gymnastics class as he would enjoy all the climbing etc but the times are awful and I don't think we can make it. If I joined him up for another music class then he would be in the older group which was were Esther was last year so that be better I think.

In the afternoon the girls and I had some time as Silas was asleep which was fun! Naomi wanted to play at Doctors and I was the patient. She was very funny as she had obviously taken in everything that the doctor had told her on her check up on Tuesday and was repeating them to me. She asked if I ate good fruits and vegetables and if I did some running around to make my heart beat faster as it was good to make my heart beat faster! She was a very thorough doctor and she enjoyed the game!

When Silas had woken up and we finally were out the door, we went to the park and then to the library. We had a good time at the park  and the girls showed me the walk loop that they had done when Grandma and Grandad were here. They were very proud to show me! We had a short half an hour at the park but it was getting cold and dark and so we moved onto the library. Unfortunately, Silas wanted to come out the buggy but I didn't want him to as we were only going to be in the library a short time and so he shrieked and shrieked. In the end we only managed to get 8 books and had to abandon it fast! In fact we went on Saturday instead with Tim and were a lot more successful!

We had a quiet Saturday morning at home and then went back to the park and the library just like the day before in the afternoon. This time though we were there longer as Silas was up earlier and everyone had great fun! Silas walked holding onto one finger all the way across the playground which was great! I don't think he is that far away from walking.

On Saturday evening I removed the blue high chair and made Naomi's wooden chair into the right size for Silas! He looks very grown up sitting at the proper table now! The dining room looks so much bigger without the blue monstrosity there!

Yesterday we had church in the morning and then we went to Redmond for lunch. After lunch, Mummy had a quick shop in Eddie Bauer and successfully bought a new outfit for Thanksgiving. Still no shoes or coat yet, but an outfit at least! It looks very nice!

Then we went onto Fritzi's birthday party which was great fun before coming home to a late tea and bedtime. In the evening I spent a long time speaking to a friend of mine as I wanted to set up a service to deliver food for the family. I then did this which took a while but I am really hoping works well and helps them at this time. Then I went to bed!

Naomi made me laugh this week! She came home on Tuesday and told me about a friend at school who had a frog. Well, at some point this week this friend brought the frog in for sharing and when i picked her up she told me that she had seen it. "But I didn't like it mummy" she said, I asked why not thinking perhaps she didn't like the colour or it had bulbous eyes or something like that but she said "it wasn't arranged nicely"! I was very confused at first until she explained that the frog was in a glass tank and it had grass, rocks and water in it but it was just all thrown in and wasn't arranged nicely! This was obviously very disappointing to Naomi! It was very funny and very Naomi!

Silas is just comical all round really! His was laughing the other day when we were talking about our family and mentioned Aunty Helen's bump,  a word which he can both understand and say, and so he was laughing and repeating "bub" over and over again! One night this week he was slapping his hand on his head and saying "bub" and laughing and laughing! He is very silly but clever too to understand the word!

Well, amazingly that is about it and Silas is just stirring so that is good timing! I shall end it here and will write on Wednesday. Take care!

A Delay....

Hello! I am so sorry to all of you who eagerly tune in on a Monday morning to read the latest news but today I am afraid I must disappoint you. We've had a really busy day and this evening, by the time we had the children in bed and had our own tea it was already 9:30pm. After this, I had to sort out something important to help a friend of mine who is in need and so the evening has passed.

We are fine however and have had a pleasant weekend. I am out tomorrow night at a meeting but will try and write the blog when I come home. If I don't however then I will definitely write it on Tuesday, so I promise that you will hear from me soon.

Sorry once again! Love to you all!

Satsuma's

Hello! Hope that you are well; we are fine here and enjoying the short season of Satsuma's. For those of you who don't know this, I adore Satsuma but hate clemencies (and yes, there really is a difference) and so for a few weeks of every year, I have at least two satsuma a day. This year all my children have also been eating satsuma sometimes even without removing the skin, like Silas did today! He had got into my cupboard where I keep them and was playing quite happily I thought, investigating what was in there. However when I turned around there he was with a huge piece of Satsuma peel in his mouth and he was pulling a funny face! I took it off him to unwrap it for him to finish only in the 2 seconds that this took, he had found another one and had sunk his teeth into that one. Then, when I was clearing them up I found a third with teeth marks in too! He likes fruit a lot, as you can tell!

Esther has also been eating satsuma only for her it is an imaginary play tool as she carefully takes off the peel and separates all teh segments and then plays with the segments before eating them. Sometimes she even puts them to bed in the peel for a while before she eats them. She obviously has not qualms in eating a 'friend' which is a good thing but I wish she could just eat them without having to play with them first!

Both the girls love to look for "Babies" and will separate out teh segments and see which are smaller than the others; these are the babies, or teh teenagers or the 2 year olds, just depending on the size of the segment. how they differentiate is beyond me, but they do this each lunch time quite happily! Funny pair!

We have had a quieter week this week, which has been good. We have been busy in the mornings but we have had at home afternoons which has been great! On Monday morning I had a very frustrating morning, not getting any thing done much. Silas was due to have his one year check up on Monday and so I parked the car and went for  a walk around the doctors rather than going to a pleasant walking place, to ensure that I arrived on time. Anyway, I waited at teh doctor for over 30 minutes before anyone called us through to see the nurse and in the end I said that I would have to change the appointment as I didn't have time to complete it before I had to go and fetch the girls. They were happy to do this, but I was frustrated that I had made my whole morning revolve around a doctor's appointment that didn't happen!

Silas did however, have some of his vaccinations on Tuesday when I took Naomi in for her 5 year check, which they were very happy about.

After I collected the girls from school on Monday I took Silas to make up his music class that he had missed when he was sick. The girls were great and watched the DVD quietly whilst I was busy with Silas and didn't disturb anyone. The teacher also frustrated me though as she didn't acknowledge Esther at all and Esther was looking forward to seeing her again. I was cross and thought it was rude. Despite checking before hand, the teacher was not happy about Naomi and Esther being there although she changed her tune once she had seen them on Monday.

We stayed at home on Monday afternoon and played as well as today. yesterday morning,  Naomi had her 5 year check up before school and then the children had dancing class in the afternoon.Naomi is enjoying being in her older girl class and Esther is enjoying being with other 3 year olds.

Today we had school this morning whilst Ulrike and I went for a long walk which was hard work! It was good exercise though!

I thought I would quickly tell you a little about the funny incidence that happened to me this week. We have had some sightings of bears in the neighborhood as well as evidence and mess from them, which has caused a good number of homeowners to be concerned. Yesterday, I phoned the Dept of Fisheries and Wildlife to ask their advice and they stated that we needed to remove all food sources to stop them from coming in. She also said hat they would have to kill the bear if it became aggressive as it was too close to move it into another habitation.

Well, I wrote to the Homeowners to tell them this and most of the replies I have received have been positive except for 2. Both of these have suggested how awful it would be to kill the bear and how we are at fault for coming into their territory. Certainly the first email could come across as a little threatening but the second one less so. I have had to draft pleasant and diplomatic answers to these people in the hope that they understand that killing the bear is the last thing I wish to do! I don't know, talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill and overreacting to a situation! I am fed up oft these bears - I hope that they hibernate soon!

Well, that is it for now! Take care@

Leafy Louise

Hello! Hope you are well. We are fine here and have a quiet but very pleasant weekend and end of last week.

On Thursday, whilst Naomi was at school, Esther, Silas and I did some shopping and then we came home for  a quick lunch as we were meeting our friends at the KidsQuest museum. We had a good couple of hours at KidsQuest with Marie and Caitlin and it was fun to watch Silas enjoy himself too. He was able to crawl around and have fun with the girls. He enjoyed the truck and the water activities but was also just happy in the under 4 section just exploring around.

After we left there we went to see the animals in teh pet shop and the called into the chiropractor before coming home. We then had  a couple of hours to play and read stories before dinner which was good.

On Friday, Ulrike and I met for a walk at the Lake Sammamish state park which was great fun and very good exercise because I suddenly realised where we were and we had to quickly double back on ourselves as we could not complete the loop we were hoping too. Maybe next time it would be a good idea to study a map rather than trusting to chance! In the afternoon we had a lovely time in teh park with Elisabeth and Amy who we hadn't seen for ages so it was good fun!

Yesterday morning I was awake with Silas before anyone else was up and so we were having some reading story time, which he loves. I was showing him a book with animals in (a great favourite) and was showing him an Elephant. I was trumpeting and raising my arm up as a trunk (as you do, you know!!) which Silas thought was very funny. He then started to join in and make a similar sound and wave his arm which was very funny. He also wanted me to keep doing it too and so for  a few minutes we were both pretending to be elephants!

He still makes an 'ack-ack' sound for most animals but will now smack his lips together for a fish when he sees one (like at the pet shop) or when you talk about fish at home. He is also starting to realise that a dog says woof and a cat meow but not every time. He is so good at making his needs known though, even with so few words. The trouble is though that you can't always explain to him for him to understand!

He has been hungry the last couple of days and yesterday lunch time ate a whole piece of bread with soft cheese, a babybel cheese, a  whole slice of chicken, followed by a whole banana and a yoghurt. He was still hungry and wanting more and in particular wanting the chocolate brownie that Tim and the girls were eating. Anyway i gave him a little piece which he ate very happily and when he finished it, he was pointing and pointing to the box and was very vocal in his desire to get another one but I said no. I went to get a flannel to wash him up with (a hose is a better choice, usually but yesterday wasn't too bad!) and returned a few seconds later to find Silas holding an enormous piece of chocolate brownie and looking extremely pleased with himself!!

I was stunned and asked who had given it to him only to find that it was Esther as she had realised that he wanted one and hadn't thought to ask me before hand if it was OK. i quickly explained the importance of that as you can understand! It was funny! Anyway, I removed the chocolate brownie with great difficulty!

In the morning, Silas had had a little sleep whilst the girls had done some painting, which they enjoyed and did a good job with. They have used the stencils and sponges for printing very well and have made some nice pictures.

Silas spent the morning trying to climb, up the chairs and onto the dining room table and onto the blue table where the children do their drawing. At one point, Esther complained that Silas was in her way only for Tim to find him sitting on the table on top of her work! He is a shocker! The funny thing to watch though is when Silas wants to climb onto the little blue chair that Esther is on. As he doesn't weigh ,much less than Esther he just climbs up and pushes her off, which she doesn't like too much but it is funny!

In the afternoon we went to Crossroads Mall as i had read that there was a cultural afternoon on. We had a good time there and we saw some belly dancing (pretty awful) and then some Irish dancing which had the girls transfixed! There were also music acts and glass cases with Dolls on display, all of which entertained the children. There were also stalls selling ethnic clothing, hats and bags and things from teh countries involved and one of the stalls had some bizarre hats. They were made out of thick felt I think and had tentacles on all over, about  20 of them I should think and they looked very odd! We stopped by this stall and were watching a lady buying one of these hats and she saw our surprised looks. The lady running the stall made me try one on, which everyone thought was very funny! Tim looked really silly in it and the girls flatly refused to try it on at all! Silas just wanted to feel the tentacles!! Enough said!

Today we went to church this morning and then tried a new restaurant for lunch which was not much good. After lunch we washed my new car and then went onto the Arboretum park which was great fun. We drove past some very nice houses in the city which Naomi called "exquisite" or "squizit" but we were impressed that she knew the word at all!

 We had a great time scrunching in the leaves and then the girls realised that the leaves were sticking to my cardigan. Well, you can imagine what happened next - Mummy got well and truly covered in dried leaves, which they thought was hilarious especially when Mummy also buried them under the leaves too. It was good fun although dried leaves down one's front is not very comfortable and it took about 10 minutes to pick all the leaf bits off - or at least as many as I could. I hadn't had the cardigan on long again when we walked back passed the leaves we had been playing in earlier and the girls started all over again, this time chasing me to cover me in leaves! When asked what their favourite part of the day was they both replied "covering mummy with leaves!"

Well, that is all our news for now! I hope that this finds you well and I will write on Wednesday. I have a large pile of ironing to tackle right now!!