There is still a duck in my garden!

Hello! Hope that this finds you well! We are fine here; Esther and Naomi are getting excited about Esther's forthcoming birthday party this weekend. I am hoping that it all goes well and that I don't forget to do anything crucial like make the cake!!

We have had a good couple of days here. The weather, although cold in the mornings has been good and so we have managed to get to the park each afternoon which has been lovely. I was surprised to still see snow on top of Tiger mountain this morning though! It is the end of April! And they were doing avalanche control at Snoqualmie Pass today!

On Monday, Silas had his 18 month check up which was fine, and then he and I went for a walk and a quick play at the community center, which was nice for him! In the afternoon we met Elisabeth and Amy at the park and had a great hour so playing there before it did actually start to rain and we came home!

Yesterday we did some shopping for Esther's birthday party whilst Naomi was in school and then the girls had swimming in the afternoon. After swimming we went to the park for half an hour, for Silas really as otherwise it is not much fun for him! In the evening, there was a vote for the Homeowners to increase our dues and so I was there helping at that for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, there weren't enough people so we have to re-do it again in a month. We were expecting that though!

Today, I met up with Ulrike this morning for a long walk and then we went over to her house in the afternoon for a play, which all the children enjoyed. The journey home was terrible and I was glad that we had taken a DVD for the car and that dinner was in the slow cooker ready to eat as soon as we returned home!

The children have been watching the duck sitting on her nest with great interest and we have discovered that we can see it from the dining room window which is good as we can observe it with out it being scared. I am still hoping that she survives each night and will be seriously amazed if these eggs hatch in about 3 weeks time! Silas is very funny and wanders over to the window and shouts 'ack-ack' loudly at it from time to time and Naomi goes and checks it first thing in the morning and when we come home from school or the park! I have ordered a couple of books from the library that I hope we can read and learn a bit more about it! There is nothing like having an experience on your doorstep to aid learning!! We shall see! It has certainly proved to be a talking point this week, although mostly people look at me as if I am daft!!

Anyway, that is it for now! Hopefully I will have enough energy on Sunday night to write and tell you about Esther's party!! Love to you all!