Warming up...

Hello! I hope that this finds you all well and enjoying  the spring! We are fine here and have been enjoying slightly warmer weather these last 2 days. We have even seen the sun which was good!

The children have had a lovely afternoon today playing with their friends at the park. I was watching them all (Naomi, Esther, Silas, Fritzi, Felix, Caitlin and Cameron) and was smiling at how well they were all playing and the fact that when we all first knew each other there was only Naomi, Esther, Fritzi and Caitlin and Esther was smaller than Silas is now! It is good to remember sometimes how far we have come and certainly all our boys are a good, if mischievous, addition to the group!

Esther and Caitlin invented a mad game this afternoon whereby they would sit on the towel together and then they whizzed down at such speed that they flew off the end onto the bark! It was drying and polishing the slide all at the same time!

We also went to the park yesterday after swimming and the girls took their bikes to Tibbetts Valley at the bottom of the hill. It was a little difficult trying to keep Silas and the girls going at the same time but we managed for a short time. The girls were a bit nervous as they hadn't ridden their new bikes for some time and they are both bigger bikes than the ones they were riding in England but they did manage sort of! I think I will try to go with Tim as a general rule but as the girls get more confident then it will be possible for me to take them on my own. I will get good at Bike DIY I think as Esther's handlebars needed tightening and so did Naomi's stabilisers!

The girls enjoyed their swimming yesterday too and Naomi got to jump in which she likes the most!! There are only a few in the pool at a time with one teacher and they have to stand fairly still until it is their turn to do something, then the teacher will hold them. Esther gets so cold in the half an hour that she can barely walk to the end of the pool to get dried off but she is soon under the shower and in dry clothes so it is not too bad. Hopefully when she starts to swim more on her own she will be warmer or I will have to investigate her wearing a wet suit! So far she seems to enjoy it though but I will keep checking that she does. I can always cancel the next session if she wants me too.

In the mornings this week, Silas and I have walked a couple of times, this morning with Ulrike and yesterday we all went to Costco which was good! Silas and Esther do quite well in Costco because there is so much to see and lots of "trying food" for them too, so it works quite well!

This morning the insurance man came and assessed the  work that needed to be done as a result of our leakage whilst we were away. I was astonished that he then left me a cheque there and then and told me that he would reimburse us if there were any more expenses! Now we have to find someone to do the work although we also need to wait a few weeks to let it dry out fully!

On Monday evening Tim went to a meeting for parents whose children are starting Kindergarten, which was useful and we were also delighted to hear that Naomi will be going to Kindergarten for the full day in September. I was so pleased!

The children are struggling a bit this week! I think the novelty of being at home has worn off and they are finding it hard to readjust; never  mind, they will be fine! Naomi has been finding it hard when she gets thwarted or frustrated and Silas has been a right pain at the dinner table and throwing food on the floor. Esther has her moments as usual!!

On the positive side, Esther and I had some lovely stories today, including My Naughty Little Sister, and Naomi has had fun with me starting to make a bag that Aunty Hannah bought her when we were in England. Silas has also been funny with the new words and has been shouting them out when he hears them on the Cd in the car!! So we had lots of "BA" (bear) and "poo" (pooh) this afternoon when we were listening to Winnie the Pooh. We also had "bee" as well and so he was very happy!

Anyway, that is all for now! Will write on Sunday again!