Scene Selection.....

Hi there! Hope that this finds you well and looking forward to 2008. AT the moment, all I can think of is having to return to waking up in the dark so that the girls can get to school on time! I'm still waking up in the dark with Silas in the mornings, the difference is that, at the minute, we can come downstairs and read stories and have a nice time together whereas from Wednesday onwards it will be the mad rush again!

We have had some very enjoyable days this week; the children are behaving very well at the minute and are fun to be with, which has made it all the more enjoyable. It is also special having Pam and Ken here and so both have combined in some great outings.

On Thursday and Saturday morning, we were at home and on Thursday afternoon we went to Redmond to do some shopping, to have a read in the Borders and for the children to play in the covered play area for a short time.

Once we had finished this and had had a drink, we set off to find some houses that have light displays. These are when the Christmas lights come on and off in time to music, resulting in a great performance and lots of "wows" from us all. The first one was good but the second had over 54,000 lights and was amazing. We all enjoyed it very much! You can see this one on line at http://woodinvillewonderland.com/ if you are interested.

On Friday morning we went to Crossroads mall, where I did some shopping and where Tim, the girls and Pam and Ken went to the park. In the afternoon we went to the Bellevue Art museum which was very good. It is small enough to be enjoyed in about an hour which meant that the children were not bored. Silas enjoyed watching the cars from the upstairs window and the girls spent a long time looking at the photos in the "memories" exhibition, so it was good. We also went to have a quick look at the Chihuly glass sculpture in Lincoln Square as we had seen some of his work in the museum and wanted to show Pam a really good example of his work!

In the evening, Tim and I had a great night out with my friend Lisa and her husband, John. It was the first time we had all met and it was such fun - we all had a great time!

Yesterday afternoon we went into Bellevue again and did some shopping; Pam bought a jacket, Tim spent his Eddie Bauer voucher from Mum and Dad and I bought some make up (also from Mum and Dad, so thank you!!!). The children had a good time on the boat and then we went to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens to see the Garden d' lights show there. We went last year with Hannah and it is such fun! The lights are all twisted around wire to make them look like flowers of all kinds and they are so realistic! It is a visually stunning display and i was so inspired I signed up for a light/flower class in the spring with the idea to go along and make some for next years display! I will let you know how I get on!

Today we had church this morning and then went to the Seattle Center in the afternoon. We watched the train for a while and then walked to see the fountains and the lights for a bit. When we came back to the center we saw that there was a dancing school putting on a display which the girls were entranced by; we were not so impressed as the girls were dancing in a very sexualised way and wearing very provocative costumes, which, we felt was totally inappropriate for a place that is known to attract people from all walks of life. I wouldn't want my children to be part of it!

Naomi has been making us laugh this week! She has learnt that DVD's have something called "scene selection" which (as you all know!) allows you to navigate to the exact place in a movie. Anyway, all of a sudden, she is obsessed with "scene selection" and asks every time we watch a new DVD if it has scene selection and, when we came home later last night and they were able to watch the very end of Peter Pan, she said "it is OK mummy, we can just go to scene selection!" She is funny! It helps of course that she can now navigate herself using the remote control!

Yesterday in the car, she was asking us all questions, just like a proper quiz master and made sure that we all knew the rules and that we paid attention! (Daddy didn't and got into trouble!) She asked some brilliant questions like "how does a car move" and "why do we have months" to give a couple of examples!

Tim and his Dad have been enjoying playing the Rockband game on the XBOX this week and all the children love to join in. Esther can do a marvellous copy of Sting singing "Roxanne" which is very funny and much better than Daddy!

Anyway, going to end it here, will write on Wednesday, all being well!

Christmas 2007

Happy Christmas! We hope that you have had a wonderful few days. We had a lovely day yesterday but Silas was shocking last night and was awake between 1am and 4am, mostly shrieking, so this has dampened our spirits somewhat as we are all shattered! I am hoping for a better night tonight!

We had a fun start to our Christmas celebrations on Monday as we went into Seattle to see the Carousel, the Macy's train and the Gingerbread houses. We took the car into Seattle but parked near the new tram line terminus and so we caught the tram into the centre, which worked well. It was quite fun and much easier with the buggy than the bus.

The children all liked the train, which we saw first and then we went and had some lunch. After lunch, the children and I went on the carousel and then we went to find the Gingerbread Houses. Each year there is a competition to see who can make the most elaborate house / shape out of Gingerbread and sweets. This year there was a world, a Chinese dragon as well as the Kremlin and  a couple of others. This year, the display was in the Sheraton Hotel which was disappointing as we had to wait about 20 mins to see the houses; last year it was in a shopping centre and we could just wander round and find them all at our leisure.

However, the creations were amazing especially when you consider what they are made from and everyone was impressed with them.

After having a drink, we came home and after tea, we wrapped up presents. Next year I am not leaving it all till the last minute; in fact all my Christmas shopping will be started in November! It was very late before we were in bed on Monday night and morning was here all too quickly!

On Christmas Day, the girls were up early for them but not too early and they were delighted to see the presents under the tree and their new stockings filled by Father Christmas. We opened their stockings together, which they were excited by and then they looked longingly at the presents! In the morning though, they played with some of their stocking toys and then watched the DVD of the Snowman that Grandma had sent them which they enjoyed. We also were delighted to speak to all of our families either by phone or webcam.

The dinner was cooked on time and we ate and cleared up before opening the presents. The girls enjoyed distributing the presents and Silas just wanted to carry all of them off. I stopped  him from opening one at one point, only for him to pick it up and walk off with it! He was a bit over awed by Christmas Day and all the presents and was much happier when I opened his tractor, his guitar and his hoover! He  has been hoovering a lot for me since then and I am sorry that the hoover doesn't really pick up anything!

The girls enjoyed their presents too and look very cozy in their new pyjamas! They have started to watch both "the Cat in the hat" DVD and "peterpan" DVD and have enjoyed their new toys and stories. They loved the capes that I made them and Esther wanted to wear hers on a walk this afternoon!

I was delighted with my new docking station and speakers for my Zune and Tim liked the guitar stand and microphone stand that I had bought him! It was all fun!

In the evening we watched the film "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", which if you can keep going through the odd bits is well worth it and I actually really enjoyed it! Last night, as i said, Silas was shocking so I hope it is a one off and not a phase!

Today we were at home this morning and Tim and I went to wash my car. This afternoon we went for a walk along some very well maintained paths and it was half of a route that Ulrike and I have done a couple of times. WE all enjoyed it and it was good to have some fresh air. Tomorrow we hope to be able to go further afield, but we'll see!

Unfortunately, Tim has been diagnosed with a kidney stone and, until it has been passed, he is not supposed to drive as he is on some tablets to help get rid  of it that can cause dizziness and fainting. So far, he has not been in too much pain (apart from Saturday night when it all started) which is good. Our plans are a bit vague as a result!

The children are enjoying having lots of people around! Tim, the girls and I played a new game from Granny and Grandad today which was fun. It is called "Crazy Chefs" and is a bit like a memory game with a twist! It is quite fun! During our walk this afternoon, we walked through the wood that looked a little bit like the Enchanted Wood where the faraway Tree is and we were pretending to run away from Dame Washalot's washing water and eat pop biscuits!

Silas is a pickle, there is no other word for it! He just loves to climb and his favourite place is on top of the dining room table at the minute! He also likes to press buttons and has discovered that the Carbon Monoxide Alarm makes a great noise! I don't know!

Anyway, that is it for now! Hope that you are all well!

The run up to Christmas

Hello! Happy Christmas! This will be the last blog before Christmas so I hope that you will all have a pleasant and meaningful Christmastime.

Our Christmas preparations have been ongoing all week. We have shopped and cooked a lot this week getting things sorted before Pam and Ken arrived. Pam and Ken arrived on Friday and we met them and were home in good time.

On Monday the girls had their hair cut and then we met up with Tim for lunch. The girls were having a bad day on Monday for some reason and I was glad to get them into bed on Monday night! They were fine the rest of the week!

Tim came home on Monday night bearing a large parcel that he had been sent. A few weeks ago he and a colleague had done some last minute work for Microsoft UK and, as a thank you, they had sent the pair of them an enormous Fortnum and Mason Hamper full of delicious and very expensive goodies! My mouth was open as we sat and opened all the things that were included and I was glad that Pam and Ken were coming to help us eat them all, particularly as it inculded things that Tim and I would not choose to eat (like glacee fruits!). The hamper included an enormous Christmas pudding and 2 two pound jars of marmalade! I had better start to like marmalade I think!

On Tuesday we did some of the shopping and then went to ballet and gym in hte afternoon. I was looking for some small Christmas cake decorations on Tuesday afternoon but they don't sell them here! I fancied a little tree and a father Christmas but they were not to be found! It is so funny what you can and can't buy here; self raising flour is known as a speciality flour which is bizarre to me!

On Wednesday we met up with Marie and her children at the bouncy place which was great fun and in the afternoon we met up with Amy and Elisabeth at the Bellevue Arts Museum who were holding a craft session - always popular with my girls! We had fun and it was good to catch up with them all before Christmas.

On Thursday it was Tim's last day at work and we saw Naomi's school friend and her brother and sister at their house for an hour in the morning, which was very nice. In the afternoon we did the food shopping and then went to a party for the families who work at the church in some way. It was a great time adn fun to be with a lovely crowd of people.

On Friday it was a day of clearing up and getting ready really for our visitors and then I finished off the capes that I had been making for the girls for Christmas. They look good if you don't look too closely! They are not well made! I don't suppose the girls will be too bothered!

Yesterday we spent the morning decorating the Christmas cake and then in the afternoon we went to Kirkland to look for a picture for Tim and I from Pam and Ken. We had no success though. We also went to a bookshop that advetised itself as having a walk through the faraway Tree into the Childrens section. IT was a complete load of rubbish and had  a branch painted on the side of the wall and over ahead! Naomi was very disappointed!

Today we went to church this morning adn were watching teh girls in a Christmas pageant, which they were very excited about. Naomi was very good and stood at the front and said all the words and remembered all the actions. Esther could also remember the words but she was very excited about being on stage adn was a bit bouncy! We then had lunch out and then came home; it has been very wet today and not condusive to going anywhere at all!

Silas is walking properly now and waddles along looking half drunk! He has also learnt how to use the water dispenser in the fridge and will now collect a pot and toddle to the dispenser and push it. IF we have forgotten to turn the dispenser off, water pours onto the floor but this doesn't seem to stop him! He was very excited about hte Christmas tree this morning at church and almost went to join the girls on the stage at one point!

The girls are very excited about Christmas and keep asking when it is; they are pleased they only have 2 days left to wait! Tim has been a bit under the weather the last few days and so we are hoping that he is fully better before Christmas.

Well, that is it for now, have a lovely Christmas and I will blog next week to tell you about ours.

New Chairs.

Hello! Hope that you are are well and are ready for Christmas next week! We are going to be busy this week but thankfully most of our shopping is done, only the food left!

We have had a fairly quiet weekend which has been nice! Yesterday I went to collect our new chairs in the morning and so we now have lovely new wooden chairs that are very comfortable! In the afternoon we went to the Quest Christmas Party which was great fun, especially the gift exchange! We all took a gift of something that we had enjoyed and then exchanged it for another one. The children participated too and ended up with something that they liked.

The adults exchanged gifts but could also 'steal' gifts from each other if we wished. Naomi was fascinated by the stealing and was very persuasive in getting Tim and I to 'steal' something from the group, much to her delight! It was a lot of fun!

Today we went to church this morning and then came home afterwards. Silas was shattered as he had a late night last night but after waking up after a short nap in the car, he refused to go back to sleep again. Somehow he managed to keep going this afternoon and then I put him to bed early and he went straight to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow he will have a better nap.

This afternoon we went out for a walk to see the Christmas lights with Tim and went a different way so that we could see some others. Silas really loves it and makes lots of happy noises when we walk around. The girls enjoy it too and comment loudly on the ones that they like or dislike! I only hope the owners don't hear!

Silas was a pickle yesterday as he got hold of Naomi's chocolate advent calendar and managed to get a door open. Tim came down the stairs to find him grinning with a mouthful of chocolate! Luckily it was only one bit but it will teach me to make sure he has his own calendar next year!!

I thought I would give you an insight into our bedtimes with Silas. It starts with me running the bath and setting off the bubble machine which Silas likes and makes lots of 'ooh' noises to. Then, if I have forgotten to remove the ladder from Naomi's bed, I have to usually rescue him from half way up the ladder only to then have him remove clothing from Esther's drawer or for him to be putting back the clothes that she is laying out for the morning.

Then I will go and start to undress him, which is hard work as he is so wriggly but eventually I will get him undressed. By this time he is usually out the bedroom door and heading into the office to play the drums. So I go and retrieve him and put him into the bath. Then he takes great delight in making mummy soaked by either emptying out the water that is left in his wind-up duck over me or, tonight's trick, throwing the sodden flannel over me! Once I have finally got him washed, I get him out and take him into the bedroom and manage to distract him long enough to get  his nappy on. Once his nappy is on though he is up and moving around and so I usually try and stand him up to apply the aveeno cream. Often though, like tonight, he escapes and I grab him by the leg to get him to sit still long enough to do each arm, leg etc.

Once he is finally creamed up, he is out the door with me chasing him to put his vest and babygro on and sometimes like tonight, he is down the stairs giggling before I can catch up with him if I have been clearing things away for example.

Finally, he is ready for bed and i take him downstairs for the nightly stories and refusing to drink the milk routine, but eventually he gets into bed, has his grobag and noise machine on and two dummies and then he is pretty much out for the night! He is probably shattered after the evenings entertainment - I know I am!

Well, that is it for now and I will probably not write on Wednesday as I will have things to do but I will write on Sunday! Until then, bye for now!

Nearly the holidays!

Hello! I am so glad that the holidays are  only 2 days away! The girls are so tired and are ready for just over 2 weeks off. We are looking forward to Pam and Ken coming next week and Tim being off too.

We haven't done too much this week; it has been our usual routine really. On Monday afternoon we stayed at home until it got dark and then went for a walk around the neighborhood to see the lights, which the children all enjoyed. We were pleased to see that the figures of the nativity scene were back in the garden too.

Yesterday Esther, Silas and i were at home in the morning and then we had dancing and gym class in the afternoons which was good. Naomi and I posted some parcels to the UK in the afternoon and so I am hoping that they arrive before Christmas.

Today after school we went to the park with Jo and Zoe, which was great fun and then they came back here for a cup of tea and a play. It was nice to see them as it had been ages!

Silas is almost walking and gets more upright every day! He is such a pickle though as he has taken to climbing Naomi's ladder and I found him on Monday morning on the second rung down from the top banging the mattress! I had only been out the room a minute or so! Now I take the ladder off and lay it on Naomi's bed during the day which stops him from climbing up.Tim was hanging the last of the lights on the Christmas Tree yesterday and i had to come and retrieve Silas from that ladder too! Poor Tim was a bit stuck otherwise!

Silas also has become very efficient at sliding down the stairs on his tummy and is like a bullet once he gets started. Last night, he went downstairs whilst I was sorting out his room before I put him to bed and he slid down so fast I couldn't catch him and had to wait until he was at the bottom and then I could go and collect him! he does it all with such a cheeky grin as well!

The girls are fine and Naomi is fully better. No-one else was sick too thank goodness! We have a quiet day planned for tomorrow but on Friday I might take the girls to a special show at Factoria Mall to celebrate the end of term! We'll see how it goes!

The girls have had both their school photos and their 'reports' this last week and both are lovely. The photos of them are really good and the teachers are happy with their progress at school. Esther seems to have settled down well and enjoys circle time and Naomi is enjoying learning about the body. She has also started reading some books this week she says too which is good!

Anyway, going to end it here! Night night!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Ah yes, the time for enormous Christmas Trees is upon us again! Next year we will get it perfect! We went yesterday to a church in Issaquah that sells Christmas Trees of all shapes and sizes and uses the profits to build houses in Africa and Mexico so at least we felt that our money was going to a good cause.

We remembered that last year we had had a tree that was about 11' and we thought that was a good size and so we asked if they had any that large. The men were very excited for us and even showed us a newly arrived tree - so at least we knew it was fresh! - and we agreed that it looked about the right size. Well, something happens to the trees when you get them home as this one definitely grew about a foot by the time we had got in indoors and had got it upright on its stand. However it is quite sturdy and less likely to get pulled over by Silas than a smaller one we feel.

The other mistake we made was to keep the netting surrounding the tree on until after it was upright. We thought that we were being clever as it was definitely easier to move with the netting on but getting the netting off the top of a 12 - 13' tree is quite a challenge that involved Tim standing ontop of the ladder with me holding it tightly at the bottom.

Still, it looks magnificent and Tim is putting the lights on as we speak and it will look splendid when the decorations are up. We know that it is one of these things that we can't ever have in England and so we are making the most of it whilst we are  here!

Silas has been a little amazed by the tree and was very confused that there was a tree indoors rather than out. He kept on saying "tee" and looking out of the window  a little mystified as to why there is one in his lounge. The girls were intrigued that there were wriggling worms on the floor from the tree whereas I was just relieved that a bird didn't fly out of it when we got it up as I had seen little birds flying in and out of them in the tree lot! The tree is shedding a lot of needles at the minute but we hope that it will settle down. It is very thirsty and is drinking a lot of water too but I remember that that too settled down as the weeks went on last year.

We had a good day today too. We went to church this morning and I met someone from St. Albans who attended the same Guides as I did at more or less the same time as me; she is more Helen's age but I forgot to ask her if she remembered Helen. She has moved here from Ohio and has lived in the States for 8 years but only the last 2 months in Seattle. What a small world!

After Church, Chad came with us for lunch and then onto the Nordic Heritage museum as I had seen that it had a Christmas event on. Unfortunately it was almost over by the time we arrived but we saw Father Christmas and the girls made a cracker before coming home. We called into Target on the way home to buy some more lights for the tree but still not enough!

We had a peculiar day on Thursday, however. Esther and Silas and I did the shopping in the morning whilst Naomi was at school and then we went to the library in the afternoon. WE had had a good afternoon and I was pleased that we were back early enough as I was expecting my book group at our house in the evening. Tim was coming home from work early so that he could help get the children into bed before people arrived and then he too was off to a meeting.

All was going well until the children were about to eat their tea when Naomi suddenly started to cough and complain that she didn't feel too well. She really wasn't well and I thought she was going to be sick but after a while she calmed down and had a honey sandwich and went to bed fine. I put it down to the fact that she was all bunged up with a cold and that was why she was feeling funny. Anyway, around 9pm she was suddenly sick everywhere - being in a top bunk is really not helpful when you are sick, let me tell you - and I had to leave my guests and go and sort her out.

The guests left soon after and Naomi was sick again but after that she was fine, she fell asleep on the futon in our room and slept well until morning. She woke up and was fine and although I kept them off school, by mid morning she was eating as normal. We went to the park, to the bookshop and to the pet shop in the afternoon and had a lovely time. So now i am waiting to see if anyone else gets it!

So that has been our week really! Silas still isn't walking although some days i really think he is going to! He is very affectionate though and loves to sit on my knee and read stories. He is even starting to bring me a book if I am reading one to the girls or if I sit down to fold up the washing which is really sweet! He was laughing and laughing this evening as the girls were in the bathroom with the door shut as the bath was running and he was poking his finger underneath the door and they were poking their fingers back at him. It was causing much merriment!

I hope that this finds you all well and I will write again soon!

Silas the rock star!

Hello! How are you? I hope that this finds you well. We all have a bit of a cold here but are otherwise well. We break up from school next week and I can't wait! The children are so tired. Naomi and Esther are sleeping well into the morning and are struggling to get up although they are not going to sleep any later and Silas today slept for a 2hrs and 50 minutes at lunch time. Mind you he woke up very happy!

We have had a couple of busy days this week but the next couple are quieter and next week will be quieter too, which is good. I have been leaving the girls in school for an extra hour this week so that I can go and do some Christmas shopping, which has been productive and then on Monday afternoon we went to the Dentist. The girls were very good and Naomi is delighted to discover that she has 2 wobbly front bottom teeth. Amazingly she hasn't started to wobble them yet but they are definitely wobbly!

Yesterday afternoon the girls had their ballet and gym classes and Naomi and I went to Target as Naomi had taken some money out of her money box to spend in the dollar section. After much deliberation she finally chose a DVD - for a $1 and was very pleased with herself. When it was Esther's turn she also chose a DVD! the girls had the DVD that Esther bought on last night and it worked fine - they are both very short and very old stories; one is Rapunzel and the other is Sleeping Beauty. There are 3 or 4 derivatives from different countries which is quite interesting. WE tried watching Sleeping Beauty on the car DVD this evening but all we could get was sound!

This afternoon we met up with Rosie, Caitlin and Cameron and Ulrike, Fritzi and Felix at the boat in Bellevue Square for an hour or so and then went to Nordstrom for dinner altogether. I was impressed! We had a decent meal for good value and the children were very good; they had been a bit mad getting there but once their dinner came they all sat and ate in a very focused fashion! Esther amazed me as she ate all her dinner and finished first! I don't think this has ever happened!!!! They were all hungry i think!

We got home a bit later than I hoped so we just put them straight to bed so in fact they were in bed at the right time, which was good!

Silas has been enjoying playing on Tim's Rockband game and loves it! He is so funny! He goes to the television when Tim is playing the drums and picks up the guitar and starts to strum and sing along and this morning he was standing up on his own holding the microphone and singing away! When the song finishes, he looks reproachfully at Tim as if to say, come on Daddy I need a song to sing! I shall have to try and get some video of it because it is so funny!

I want to tell you a funny story before I finish! Last week when we were at the park, Naomi jumped off the wall and landed in the soft bark but unfortunately she put her hand on a helicopter seed that had prickly bits on it. Well, we had removed these from Esther's hand about a couple of months ago and so we knew that we needed to use a plaster to remove them. However it was so nearly dark that it was hard to see these tiny splinters; Silas was playing with his keys set, which has a tiny light on and so we took it from him to shine on Naomi's hand! He was not too impressed and even less impressed when we had to remove it again as there was still one hiding there! We got them all out and then Silas could have his keys back!

That is it for now. Bye!

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!