Leavenworth

Hello! I thought I would write today instead of leaving it until tomorrow! We have had a fun weekend that probably will take some time to tell you about!

We had a good couple of days at the end of last week. On Thursday, the girls went swimming and then we met up with our friends Lisa and the twins at a very pretty pond behind the Barnes and Noble book store. It is the site of the Costco headquarters and it is a lovely peaceful area in the middle of an otherwise very busy business park. We had a lovely time with the twins and Lisa; we saw a duck with several larger ducklings underneath her sitting by the side of the path, which the children enjoyed seeing. There was also a bridge to cross and a space to run around in; it was a great place to go to on a dull and damp day - we'll definitely go back!

On Friday, Tim was off and so he took the girls to school before he and I spent some time looking at the different types of cabinets that we could have. It was lovely for Silas to have some time just with Mummy and Daddy on his own - a rare occurrence for him, poor love!! He enjoyed sitting on Tim's knee and looking at funny things on the computer as well as me making the bus jigsaw puzzle with him! When it was time to collect the girls we then went down to North Bend to do a bit of shopping in the sales and to buy the girls new sandals, which they were very excited about!

After Silas had slept we went down to South Seattle to look at cabinets that we had been recommended to see. It was a useful trip and then we came home via Lowe's to see about appliances for the kitchen. We think we have made the decision about which appliances we would like but we are still not quite sure what to do about the cabinets. We have decided thought that we would like the kitchen redone in the first week of August so we are working toward that date.

On Friday evening Tim and I spent it making further investigations about kitchens and then we went to bed. Unfortunately, I was feeling sick and had a headache, which was unpleasant and not helped by a disturbed night's sleep.

On Saturday morning we got up and packed up to go away for a couple of nights. We went to Leavenworth with Ulrike, Leif and the children and we had a good couple of days away. We were quite busy on Saturday morning packing up, which was not helped by this persistent headache and I slept much of the second half of the journey there. I woke up in this 'false German' town which was a bit surreal! We had a wonder through the town that afternoon and went down to the river for a while before having proper German sausage for dinner!

Our first night's hotel was a bit unpleasant although it served an astonishingly good breakfast! Silas slept really badly and the girls were awake really early too so we were all tired on Sunday but we still had a lovely day. We visited a great museum in the morning that had Native American artifacts and an old town laid out with the sorts of houses and shops that you would have found a 100 + years ago. The children loved looking inside the buildings and completing the treasure hunt that the museum gave them! It was really good!

After lunch we drove to a dam, which was also really interesting although we laughed when we got there! The signs underneath the museum on the road all said "enhanced security" and so we were expecting some sort of tough questioning when we arrived. However we were met by this incredibly old man (who must have been in his 80's) whose first words to me were "Why do people always arrive when I set off to go to the bathroom?!" He was very shaky and goodness knows what he would have done if we were there with violence in our minds! The other funny thing was that we were not allowed to bring a diaper bag in, which puzzled Naomi (and us!) but Naomi was quite happy when we said that sometimes Silas nappies were a bit smelly!!

The dam was very interesting - there is a fish tunnel to allow the salmon to swim downstream and a ladder to allow them to return up river to spawn. There were also models of the hydroelectric generators and you could see the dam as well.

We returned to Leavenworth to our new hotel and dinner that evening and were most relieved to have all the children sleep well that night! Yesterday we drove over a pass called Blewitts Pass which was very pretty and then tried to stop off in Ellensburg for lunch but everywhere was closed! En-route though we had stopped off at a very unfriendly place called Liberty that had signs on the gates saying "No trespassing, Go away!!" You wouldn't want to anyway!!

However, from the road you could see a beaver dam in the river and you could see where the beavers had gnawed the trees which was interesting and certainly something I have never seen before.

We had a slow journey over the pass but eventually stopped off at a lake called Rattlesnake lake for an hour or so before coming home. It was lovely there - the children all had fun in different ways. Silas enjoyed throwing sticks and stones in the lake (and learning 2 new words in the process) and the girls enjoyed digging and climbing on the tree trunks!

Today we have had a quiet day; my headache still persists and so I went to the doctor who then sent me for a scan, which is normal, thankfully but it took all morning!! This afternoon we had swimming and then we were in the garden, which was fun!

Naomi is very excited tonight as she has lost her first tooth and it is under her pillow! She actually lost it on Saturday morning but we have saved it until now so that the fairy could find it! She has read the Charlie and Lola story about the lost tooth so she knows all about it!

Anyway, that is it for now! Hope that you have enjoyed reading such a long blog and I will write on Sunday! Love to you all!

A Quiet few days

Hi there! Things have been much calmer since I last wrote, which has allowed us a bit of breathing space. Poor Esther has had a virus with a high temperature and a headache but quickly recovered thank goodness! Still, it meant that we haven't done our usual things and have had 2 afternoons at home yesterday and today.

On Monday Silas and I went for a walk in a pretty wetland area not far from here, which was different! It wasn't very big so we did a couple of laps but it made a change to our normal places; there were ducks there for Silas to look at which was nice for him! In the afternoon we met a lady called Jaimi and her daughter Ayla who lives in our neighbourhood at the park behind the police station and we had a very disjointed afternoon as the girls all needed to go to the toilet and Silas kept on running off! We also saw Grania, Hugo and Aoife there (family from Utah) and when Silas saw Hugo he shouted "duck duck" as Hugo had come to see our duck on Friday! He was funny!

Yesterday we had a new furnace installed, which  was good except for the fact that it initially didn't work! Eventually a senior man came to sort it out and solved the problem and now we have heating and air conditioning again! Lovely!!

Whilst the man was working on the furnace, I was clearing out the children's craft area and was 'having a sort out' as I explained to Naomi. She said "does having a sort out mean throw away the pictures we don't want mummy?" I had to laugh! She is so quick that nothing passes her! She did condescend to let me throw away a couple of her drawings but a few more did reach the bin later!

This morning, I sent out an email to all the homeowners reporting a lost cockatoo only for the owner to reply rather crossly that it was not a cockatoo that was missing but a cockapoo, which turned out to be a dog!!! I laughed and laughed!! What a ridiculous name for a breed and how silly of the lady not to tell me it was a dog! Am I supposed to know every silly dog breed name? I ask you!!! I thought she had made a typing error!!! Ah well, you live and learn.

This evening we have embarked on our kitchen remodelling process! We have a lot to do in a week!! We are hoping that it will be done at the beginning of August, so fingers crossed!

Will write next week! That is all for now!

A hot weekend

Hello! Hope that this finds you well; we are hot here!! Although not for much longer as the weather turns chilly again on Tuesday. It has been really bizarre as we had record high temperatures yesterday and yet it has been a really cold May and on Tuesday it is expected to return to the high 50's again! Weird!!

Anyway, we have made the most of what could be our summer!! We saw three lots of friends this weekend which is unusual but for several reasons it was either this weekend or not for ages and ages so we decided that we would just go for it!

Yesterday during the day we went to a beautiful place called St. Edward State park and had a lovely picnic with our friends Victoria and James and their children. The men took the 4 oldest children down to the lake but Victoria and I stayed up with Silas as I was hoping that he would fall asleep  and the trail was not suitable for buggies. He didn't fall asleep but I tried very hard and then just let him have a rest for a bit before we took him to the playground. The playground is a larger version of the one in Kirkland that we call the Castle Playground and all the children loved it; it was a great one for multiple ages. The children have already asked to go again and I think we will in the summer.

After this we came home and soon after Melinda and Chad arrived for the evening which was great! We put the children to bed and then ate chicken salad as it was such a hot day! I had cooked the chicken in the slow cooker, which worked out ok although it was very well cooked and fell off the bone! I will have to try and adjust the timing next time, but I was worried that we would all get salmonella!

Today we had church this morning and then went to Volunteer park with Jeff, Jen and Ian which was good fun! It was cooler today but the park was well shaded anyway and the children had a good time. To our surprise a tiny ice-cream van came round selling ice cream out of a freezer (no Mr. Whippy!) which was  a big hit with everyone! I bought a lovely strawberry ice lolly with real strawberries in only for it to go to Esther and for Esther's ice cream to go to Naomi as she dropped hers! Ah well! Silas enjoyed his rocket lolly and got very sticky! Sign of a good time I suppose!

Our little duck family left us yesterday and we hope that they will find some water and will live happily ever after! It is a bit funny not knowing what will happen to them! On Friday the mother duck wandered round and round the garden with the ducklings trying to find a way out and so i left the gate open and she left yesterday morning. I rather miss her! And the ducklings were so gorgeous!

It is a bit odd though as I tried on Friday to get help from a couple of animal welfare organisations but with no success. It appears that although it is illegal to try and move the nest, to remove the ducks or feed them or give them water, you are allowed to 'let nature take its course' by letting them get run over by a car or die of starvation through lack of food and water (although thankfully we haven't seen any sign of this!). It seems odd that both extremes can be held at the same time! On the one hand, I want to say "It's a duck,  not a rare bird" in response to being told it is illegal to touch the nest or them and then on the other hand to say "have a heart and remove them please"! Ah well, they are gone now! Silas is still missing them though and looks hopefully out of the window and says 'duck' during the day!

Silas was funny this evening; he was watching Balamory today which he likes and he started to sing the tune when it was on! Then at bedtime, we could hear him singing through the monitor for ages! Funny boy! The girls have enjoyed the weekend - they paddled yesterday in the lake which they enjoyed and had fun at the park today too. This week I have said that we will write a book about our duck which they are excited about. WE were going to do it last week but we make pink cupcakes instead. These are rapidly becoming known as Aunty Helen's cupcakes as it was Aunty Helen who originally wanted them to be really pink! They are garish and very sprinkled!

On Friday we had a lovely afternoon in the park with Grania (friend from Utah), Ulrike and Ulrike's friend Zilly and all the children. It was warm and pleasant and all the children played well. There are 3 17 - 19 month boys and they were all standing in a line throwing dirt around.  They were so mucky! Zilly's little boy only speaks German but it really didn't matter! Language is not needed at that age when all you want to do is throw dirt anyway!

We are around on Wednesday but we are away next weekend as it is our bank holiday weekend, so there won't be a blog next Sunday. Just an advance warning! I should be able to write on Wednesday though! Bye for now!

Ducklings!!

Yes! They are here! They have hatched today and they are so cute! We think that we have about 6 (although it is hard to count as they keep hiding and moving around!) and they are currently sitting under their mother, keeping warm.

This morning, when I looked at the mother, I noticed that she was a lot more restless than normal but couldn't see anything! Anyway, a bit later, my friend came and we were chatting and I said to her "come and see my duck" and whilst we were sitting there, this little duckling head popped out from underneath the mother! We were so delighted and the girls have been so excited! They have been very good and quiet though which is good!

As the day has gone on we have seen more of them and they have been coming out from underneath the mother and walking around in the immediate area. I left them out a small amount of water (in a tray sledge thing) but they haven't used it yet. I will probably buy some food tomorrow but I am also going to ring animal control and see what they say! Now I am worried that they will get eaten!! Or die of exposure and lack of food. The responsibility!!

We have watched them for ages today and I have even put a little stool for Silas to be able to stand and watch when he wants to, too. We will wait and see how long they are with us for! At one point today the egg(s) that hadn't hatched were kicked out the nest but they seem to have gone now. Maybe the duck ate them? I don't know!

Apart from watching ducklings we have been swimming and to the park today, which was good. I met a lady from Northern Ireland at the park and her daughter is in the Kindergarten class at the same school as Naomi will be going to. She was very happy with the school and felt that her daughter had done well this year and had had a lovely teacher. It was lovely to talk to her!

Yesterday I am afraid i didn't get round to writing a blog because I had a pile of ironing to do and then Esther fell out of bed and was quite distressed for a while. By the time she was asleep again and I had finished the ironing, it was a bit late to start. Sorry! But you have at least had the hot news about the ducklings this way!

Tim kindly took Naomi to school this morning, which was lovely as Esther was able to sleep and sleep and she didn't wake up until 9am! Mind you, she didn't remember falling out of bed at all! I was telling her and she was laughing as if i was telling her a wonderful story!

The girls have been whispering things to each other this week, usually things like "shall we go and ding dong on the door bell and then go and hide?" which they find very funny but it is not as funny as Silas then copying them and whispering sounds to me in my ear! It is very ticklish!

Esther this week has adopted the habit of shortening every thing so we have "Naim" for Naomi, "Mom" for me, "knicks" for her knickers and so on! I don't know where she has got it from but it is very odd! Silas has often been "Siley" anyway, which is not too bad but Naim is awful and I told her so!!

Silas is very proud of the fact that he can do a head over heels, with some help and he has been practicing all day! He really thinks it is funny!

Esther turns 4!

Hello! I hope that this finds you all well; we are fine here and feeling more rested after a busy week! We have had a good weekend and had a special day on Friday celebrating Esther's birthday, which was lovely! She is very proud of the fact that she is now 4! I am just amazed! More on that later.

On Thursday, Esther, Silas and I went to the drop in play at the Issaquah community center, which they enjoyed, Silas especially and then we went to do the food shopping. We collected Naomi from school and then came home so that I could cook dinner for us all. In the afternoon we went to swimming class but then had Esther's song-fest in the evening which meant that the girls had to have their hair washed before they could go. The song-fest was lovely, Esther was really nervous at first and was eating her dress but soon became more confident and was swaying and singing loudly by the end!

When Esther woke up on Friday morning, the first thing she said to me was "Am I 4 now?"! She was very excited  about the whole day, especially about the birthday circle at school. Silas and I walked for a while and then went to school for just before 10:30. Esther had to walk around the sun 4 times and tell the children a little bit about herself at the age, which mummy was there to help with of course! She obviously thought that the teacher was talking too much at one point though because she said to her "come on, we need to sing it again"! I despaired!

Naomi came into the class room too and did a great job at handing out the napkins for them all. Once the snacks had been distributed and Esther was eating hers, the teacher read them a story and then they sang a song; it was fun to be part of the school day! After her circle time, Esther went out to play whilst Naomi went back into her classroom and the school were kind enough to let me take Silas out to play too, which he enjoyed! We didn't have time to do much else so I was very pleased!

In the afternoon, Tim came home and we opened Esther's presents! Soon after that, Lisa and the twins came to play and to stay for tea as she was going to be on her own with them. The afternoon was lovely and we played out in the garden for a bit before bringing the children in as we cooked tea. I had made Esther a sorbet cake for pudding out of the mold that I have. It looked great but had one slight problem in that I had pureed some strawberries that I had put in the middle but they were so hard! We could hardy eat them! The sorbet worked well but the strawberry puree was a bad idea! Esther was happy though!

We bathed all the children together in our big bath and the the twins went home and ours went to bed! They were all happy!

Yesterday, Tim had a meeting from early in the morning until mid afternoon, whilst the children and I had a play to attend! There was a professional children's theater company performing Cinderella which was too good to miss and so I took the children to see it. They loved it and it was just the right length as Silas was just getting fidgety when it ended! We stayed to have our programme signed and then went to have lunch out at a cafe! After this we went up to Woodinville where the Hanna Andersson Outlet store was having a sale and I bought some bargains for all the children for the summer, which was good! The girls are set up now! If we have any summer of course!!

Last night, Tim and I had a romantic evening at home to celebrate our wedding anniversary which was lovely too!

Today we went to church this morning and it was Mother's Day here so all the Mums received tulips! We had a picnic in a park and a play at the play ground before coming home to catch up on things a bit before tomorrow comes! I am looking forward to a quieter week!

The girls received their reports this week and both of them had excellent reports. I was amused by the fact that they have consistently showed themselves to be co-operative at school at any rate and wonder why I haven't noticed it at home!! Esther is described as "quite the little singer" and Naomi will be missed by her teachers next year! Naomi had a hard day on Thursday but has been excellent over Friday and the weekend. She made me laugh on Friday as she said that she needed to find "something appropriate for the twins to watch" when it came to TV time! She was lovely to think of them and I was impressed that she could use the word "appropriate" appropriately!!!

Silas has enjoyed this week too and was excited to have a new ball to play with on Friday. He was good in the class room on Friday and loved climbing on the school's play equipment. He even gave the teacher a hug!! Tim took some lovely photos too so hopefully you will get to see them soon!

Well, that is it for now! Take care!

Chilly May Days!

Hi! Hope that this finds you well; we are having some bedtime issues with all the children at present so I am sitting outside the doors! Silas is screaming for some daft reason and the girls are probably talking! I am keeping a close check on the girls because they get so tired when they take nearly an hour to go to sleep! It is very frustrating! I have no idea what has got into Silas recently but it is just a phase!!

Other than that, we are fine; we have had a busy couple of days but Sunday will be a quiet day which will be good! On Monday the girls had school in the morning and I met up with my friend Jen for a coffee. We walked down to a little park where Silas could have a good play which was nice for him! After I collected the girls we went to the park on the way home as it was a gorgeous day and I knew that we were going to be at home in the afternoon. We had a good time before coming home for lunch.

In the afternoon we met up with a lady who lives in the neighborhood who has a 4 year old daughter and a baby son. It was lovely to meet her; the girls played very well together although they made rather a lot of mess!

Yesterday Esther, Silas and I had a bit of a bothersome morning as I was trying to sort out and print all the letters for the Homeowners Vote to increase the dues. We did it eventually but not before Mummy had a very frustrating morning! Once we collected Naomi we came home and later went swimming. After that we went to the park again, mainly for Silas to have a run but it was cold yesterday and today and so we weren't there all that long.

Today, Silas and I walked with Ulrike and Felix (well, I walked!) whilst the girls were at school and then we met them at the park this afternoon. We were very late to go to the park as I am trying to get the girls used to clearing up when I ask them too without me having to get cross and nag them. It took them an hour to get out the door but we did get there for a short time! If they take that long tomorrow, swimming will have finished but then maybe they will learn!

We had brought a piece of birthday cake for everyone, so we ate it and sang happy birthday to Esther, which she thought was very funny! She laughed and laughed! It was nice to share it though!

The children are playing very well together at present. Silas and Naomi were playing at being cats yesterday and crawling on the floor together! The downside of this is that there are now 3 of them to gang up against Mummy! This evening in the bath, the girls were tickling me and Silas made as if to cry; I stopped the girls because I said that we were upsetting Silas but as it turned out, he was only upset because he wanted to join in and once he could also tickle me, he was fine! Cheeky lot!! They are funny though!

Well, we have got a busy couple of days with Esther's birthday on Friday and her songfest for school tomorrow. On Saturday the children and I are going to see Cinderella but unfortunately Tim will be out most of the day at a church meeting. Never mind, I plan on taking the children to the play and then on to do a bit of summer shopping for them so that will be fun!

Esther's 4th Birthday party.

I can't believe that Esther has had a birthday party because she is turning 4. It doesn't seem 5 minutes since I was at the park with some friends on the bank holiday weekend in 2004 over pregnant with Esther! And now, here we are, living in Issaquah, with an articulate, funny, cheeky and sometimes very difficult 4 year old. Ah well, she is lovely and although at times I would love to change her, I wouldn't at the same time if you know what I mean!!

We had a busy day yesterday, as you can imagine with 11 children and their parents for a couple of hours. The party was good though and certainly our children had a good time! It was harder work than I had hoped because it rained and so we couldn't play outside at all but that was fine, we had lots of games instead as well as making paper hats and a short time to play downstairs too. We played all the usual games, which needed explaining to the guests as most of them hadn't played them before!!

Our girls were very good hosts, I have to say, even if I am a little biased! They welcomed everyone and Esther was good at saying thank you for her presents and saying goodbye to everyone at the end. They both were good at not wanting to win at the games and were happy when others did. I was very proud of them; it is great when they can have a fun time too.

Silas was funny and was trying to join in with the games at his level so he was stomping around when they were playing a game where they have to move to a mat, he was trying to help the girls pin the tail on the donkey and he was so eager to pass the parcel that poor Katie barely got a look in. However when Katie did then win a small packet of sweets, Silas promptly took them off her! Poor girl! We quickly found him some too and that kept him occupied for a while!

We had birthday tea and the people admired the cake. The cake was a mermaid (Melodie) sitting on a rock and it looked good! Esther and I were pleased with it, which was what mattered. IT took a while to make on Friday night but it was fun! It impressed the parents yesterday too! One of the mums even took a photo of it!

This evening we went to see some friends in Redmond for dinner. Tim works with the Dad and I used to see the mum regularly but not very often these days so it was lovely to be able to have dinner together. The children all played very well together which was good too! The family have 2 boys, a similar age to our girls.

Our duck is still with us, although I thought it would have given up on Friday as the children went to play out in the garden and Silas gave the duck a fright when he went to investigate! To be fair to the duck, the duck gave as good as she got as Silas was also scared when the duck took off suddenly! Anyway, she did return and in some ways it was a good thing that the children didn't play out yesterday as it would have been a bit too much for her I think! I am feeling very responsible for this duck, which is ridiculous I know but I can't help it!!

Silas is rather fascinated by the duck and likes to look out the window at it after each meal time. He was also rather fascinated by the cake and I found him in the nick of time yesterday as he had dragged over one of the little blue chairs to the side and I found him poking the candle holder into the rock / cake! I stopped him from doing any more damage just in time!!

The girls were entertaining this week and performed a rendition of Sleeping Beauty for me one lunch time. They took it very seriously and had costumes, props and a rehearsal! It was very funny and they did a good job!

On Thursday evening I was browsing the Seattle Times newspaper on-line and there was an advert for the Cirque Du Soleil on the site that had a short video of the show. Well, Naomi and Esther were rather fascinated by this and wanted to see more of it and so I found some more videos on the Internet of it all. In the video I found the man was walking in and on a large hamster cage which concerned Naomi greatly as he didn't have anything underneath him. I explained that he would have rehearsed just like she rehearsed her Sleeping Beauty play and she said "yes, but he must have had a sheet underneath him in case he fell when he was rehearsing!" It was very sweet and good logic! Esther was watching another couple in the show with great interest and thought that they looked very beautiful (they were wearing silver costumes and had lots of silver make up on). It wasn't long before she had them married off, with lots of children too!

Well, that is about all our news here. I am looking forward to a slightly quieter week in some ways but also to celebrating Esther's birthday on Friday. Bye for now!