Icing the cake

 With a toddler, it is my guess that it is just about as much fun making the "Happy Birthday Cake" (yes, that is what she calls it) as eating it. 

So, Ana was involved in the decorating of this yummy carrot cake. Rose didn't help much. 

Grampa and Rosebud

 I think our girls' grandparents are rather partial to holding and playing with them. 

But then, come to think of it, so are we! They are just such fun. Tiring sometime, perhaps, but such delights. 

Ana's Second Birthday

"What's inside?"

A phrase perfected by Ana over the Christmas and birthday period. And, inside this orange parcel was lots of paint!

Such fun - sticky, gooy, squishy-between-your-fingers fun.

Mes Frères

 Well, here we are again. Daniel, Me, Simon. Lovely.

Piano

 It was great having all the Farewells together over New Year. Here are Daniel and Esme playing a duet... so inspiring... particularly for Ana. One of the cutest moments of Ana's life so far has to have been shortly after this when Ana got down from the table, and started playing the piano and signing in the most wonderful way, completely oblivious the the rest of us in the room. We didn't get a picture of that - it was too perfect a moment to enjoy from behind a camera.

New Gloves

 Gran and Grampa gave Ana some new gloves for Christmas - and she seemed pretty happy with them!

Now eat up your dinner, Sophie

 It is, quite often, a bit of a struggle to get Ana to eat her supper. 

But she has no trouble what so ever feeding Sophie Dolly. What a good little eater she is.

Peak-a-boo with Daddy

 A bit of festive peak-a-boo from half way up Nana and Papa's staircase...

Playing teasets

 Ana and Rose received a present that keeps Ana amused for hours on end... the wondrous spotty teaset.

Here is Rose partaking of a particularly delicious cuppa, meticulously brewed and poured out by her caring sister.

One lump or two?

The new bobble hat of warmness

 Warmness? Should that be warmth? Possibly. Anyway, with this spell of exceptionally cold weather (for England) this hat has so come in handy. Lara troops up and down the highstreet (and most backstreets, sidestreets and to the park) with the girls, all togged up in the pushchair, so warm clothing has been rather essential. 

Hairclips

 Why wear one hairclip when you can wear six? And these are all the way from Australia - via her stocking.

Happy Christmas Mummy!

 Our bright and chirpy little Rosebud on Christmas morning. Such a happy little girl! 

Ana and Daddy were up WAY before the crack of dawn, and we had to wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait untill everyone else decided they might get up... and open presents!

Oh Mummy, you're so funny

 So Lara might look calm and reserved here, but let's just say Ana thought Mummy pulling faces was very funny indeed!

Christmas Eve

So, Christmas Eve - yes, blogged in mid January. But what a fun day that was. Here are Ana and Lara enjoying a last cuddle before bathtime. After the now traditional reading of T'was the Night Before Christmas of course.

Baby carrying

 Here is Rose tied up in a very long and useful piece of material - a wonderful invention that leaves hands free to play with Ana and means Rose can be carried around at all the various toddler groups - marvellous!

Can I play too?

 Ana adores Rose, and consequently whenever Rose is lying on her playmat, Ana must be too.  This does lead to the occassional squishing of Rose, but thankfully she doesn't seem to mind too much!

Rose on the play-mat

Here is Rose having a good bash of some soft toys suspended above her little head... and being being distracted by the camera.

Making Mince Pies

So... as an indication of the craziness of life over the last few weeks, we're going back to the pre-Christmas season here... (mid December)

Ana (and of course Rose, too) really enjoyed making mince pies this year. We also made jam-tarts ("jam-hearts") and also a new addition to the Christmas repertoire... banofee tarts!

The pipe of shame

In our fun preparations for Christmas we clearly did not have enough to do.

Therefore, to add to the excitement, we've had to deal with a water leak from our upstairs basin (this pooled on the kitchen ceiling and leaked through into a food cupboard) and a punctured gas supply pipe (upsettingly drilled through while relaying the floorboards after fixing the leaking water pipe!).

It felt rather like when we moved in!

Stocking filler

The girl's personalised stockings arrived last week, and they are so big (or Rose is so small!) that she could fit inside hers - what a cutie!

The family photo with all of us in!!!

It has finally arrived : )

"Ana NEEDS it!"

This is Ana's new phrase, coined no doubt from Mummy trying to get her to give back Rose's bib when she runs off with it etc. It comes out whenever Ana would like something, and Christmas lights are no exception.

Here she is enjoying the twinkle lights before they got put way out of reach on our little tree (currently duck-taped to the top of the television!).

Happy Rose

Ana loves playing with Rose and here, caught on camera, is Rose expressing some of the same enjoyment. Rose is remarkably tolerant of the rough play that comes with having a sister who is 'awmost twoo'.

Extended Family Photo

When Uncle Nelson and Auntie Val came to visit, we took a number of photos of us all. Even during the photos, it seems Uncle Nelson could hardly take his eyes off of little baby Rose... ah well.

Relatives and Chocolate Cookies...

It is great having a new baby. Apart from having a tiny little person around, you also get lovely visitors!

And in this case, there were chocolate cookies to consume as well! You will see that Lara is making the most of the opportunity presented by Auntie Val holding Rose to surripticiously help herself. Sensible really, as it seems when she is at home looking after both Rose and Ana by herself, eating is not something that is so easy to find time to do!

Sunrise

One of the pleasures of getting up early is that you can witness some lovely sky-painting. On this morning, the mist had not yet risen and so we had a stunning view of the church from the back window.

The Last Few Drops

The spoon is rather ineffective at getting the last little bit of milk. This has got to be the best way.