Breakfast Picnic in the lounge

Picnics are fun - even inside and at breakfast time.

When was the last time you ate your breakfast on a blanket on the lounge floor?

Putting on a show

Both girls love music, and here they are putting on a performance for us from the platform on their climbing frame. I can hardly wait to see what shows are produced as they grow older.

Summer BBQs!

This has been a great summer for BBQs. Dad and Mum kindly gave us this Canadian BBQ (made in my old home town!) to celebrate 'completion-of-the-PhD'. We've been experimenting with cooking random things on it, the most popular of which has been apples.

Ana's artwork

Here is a drawing of Ana's she produced a month or so ago.

The creature in the top left corner is a spider, and the other figures are various people (you may well be one of them) and Humpty Dumpty. If you look in the lower right corner, you will see Ana's name at least once...

Bouncing on the bed

We now have a spare room (Hooray!) The kids like it too. The mattress on the spare bed is extra boingy, and makes a suitable alternative to the trampolines at baby-gym!

Rose Petal Tea

We have a vibrant pink rose at the bottom of the garden, which gave its petals for a higher cause - to be made into a delicately flavoured tea by two enthusiastic tea makers.

DIY from a young age

We took the bathroom doors off and put them on the other way around so that they opened outwards, rather than into the bathrooms. The girls were desparate to help, and here they are helping switch the orientation of the latch. Ana actually got the hang of the screwdriver, and Rose was not far behind.

"Look, I'm a Piggy!"

We have these great tiny silicon cup cake things. Ana thought that this one made an excellent pig's nose.

Why we have to bath the girls every night

Rose loves her food. Most (by which we mean, greater than 50%) of her food goes into her belly, with appreciated sounds. The rest of the food is squashed, splattered and spread all around her face, hair, the table, chairs and the wider room.

Rose was demonstrating the actions to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with hands covered in yoghurt. This was a little messy.

Drawing!

Ana has inherited some of her parents' love of drawing, and she is now beginning to draw some really great (by which we mean, recognisable) things - here is one of her first drawings of a heart (on one of those magnetic drawing things...)

This is her showing her work to Mummy.

The swing!

We promised the girls a swing in the new garden, and here it is.

Due to the inherant bendiness of the birch-tree branch from which it hangs, the swing has a rather unusual, swaying, off-centre, rotating action, but I'm hoping that just adds to the fun. The girls seem to love it anyway, and have now taken to moving the chairs so they can climb into it themselves.

I found Ana today, like a monkey, swinging holding on to it from underneath with both her hands and feet. So funny!

Cake!

Thanks to Mom, we had a delicious, celebratory cake! Yummy!

The pink gown of DESTINY

The main factor putting me off finishing my PhD was this gown.

I mean come on... hot pink??? Who came up with that? Deary, deary me...

At least I tone well with Lara's top.

Preparing the new house

Long after dark, the sound of sanding could be heard eminating from our new house.

Who was the night-sander?

Some say he can fix just about anything that has four wheels. Some say he can be dropped blindfolded anywhere in Britain, with no map or compass, and still be home in time for dinner. All we know is... he's called the Father-in-law!

(You Canadians may not get that... Look up "The Stig")

One of the last gatherings in our last house

Daniel, Esme and Leia came to visit us shortly before we moved.

Since the move, "feeding time at the zoo" is slightly less of a worry, as we now have our table in the kitchen, with a wooden floor - no more scrubbing spaghetti sauce off carpets!

Us, Uncle Dom?

Speaking of mischief, here is some of the related mischief they were up to... cousin-tackling!

They would let Nathan have a head start, then chase after him as quickly as possible, before lunging and smothering him in cuddles (or were they headlocks?)

This picture was taken just before Uncle Dom had to rescue his little one from their clutches.

During the speeches

During the speeches, our girls got a little bit restless, so we went outside to play. They had such a fantastic time, running around, throwing stones (then running away from me) and generally making mischief...

Family Portrait May 2010

Here we all are at Wes and Victoria's wedding. It was a lovely hot day!

Aunty Crystal's Hat

At Wes and Victoria's Wedding, Ana borrowed Aunty Crystal's Hat.

She was, of course, the model of decorum!

Oh yes, I do love orange juice...

... particularly when I get to drink it from a big-girl glass.

Notice how clean she is!

Hide and seek - Lara's tactics for winning

I think Lara had an unfair advantage in the game of hide and seek.

She sensibly dressed herself in classic muted tones, to blend in with the architecture and formal gardens of Castle Ashby, while dressing the girls in their hot-pink puddle suits!

Our new house

So we thought we would post a picture of our new house.

But this is a nicer picture. We don't live here ( I know you are shocked) but we LOVE our new house. More room, and a private garden. It is wonderful!

Protective wear for banana eating

Well, Hello there!

Many apologies to you faithful blog followers for the long gap between posts. We have been busy packing to move house, unpacking in our new house, and waiting, and waiting and waiting for our phone and internet to be connected! Now it is, and we have a number of photos to catch up with.

This is Rose, back in March. It's now July... doesn't time fly?

Anyway, Rose is a messy eater. Generally, she is an appreciative eater, gracing us with "um num um yum num"s throughout the meal if she approves, but she is messy none the less. Lara's latest attempt to reduce the food encrustation of the clothing is this all in one plastic shirt bib. How long will it take for Rose to work that one out? (Not long - she already knows how to take it off.)

The artist

Tim doesn't get much time to use his artistic skills nowadays, but clearly could not help himself when preparing a dippy egg one morning. I think we should have saved it for the Tate rather than eaten it, but, as stated previously, this blog is rather biased...

Playing with Grampa

Yes, that dark figure on the sofa is Vern. He was wearing a hooded jumper and the girls discovered that this had string going through the hood - they thought this was great! The more they pulled, the smaller the hole for Grampa's face became, great fun when you're 3 and 18 months old! Ana actually pulled so hard that the whole jumper came off!