Happy us

Family photo shoot

Lara won a competition to have a family photo shoot! Here is one of the resulting images.

Cuddles on the sofa

On the weekend, Gran and Grampa came to celebrate Rose's birthday. Here they are happily ensconced with the girls and their juice on the sofa.

The motley crew

Here we are above the treetops enjoying the amazing view...

Happy Rose-bud!

Old friends

Back in November some friends from Durham came for a weekend of fun and frolics. Here we are at Salcey Forest with Ana doing a wonderful hop!

Second Birthday Cake

Rose had a lovely carrot cake (covered in smarties, of course) for her party. Yummy!

Rose's Birthday Party

Rose had a number of friends join her for her birthday. Here she is looking around at all the lovely people.

Ana helping the birthday girl to dress

Here is Ana helping Rose to put on her birthday gloves, and birthday hat (which is actually a bag...)

Rose is two!

Yes we are still blogging from October last year!

Here she is all tousled on her birthday morning playing with balloons in bed.

Cheeky!

Early morning on Rose's second birthday and Ana is clearly up to something!

A wardrobe can be a train carriage

If you have a bit of imagination, a wardrobe, in the process of being painted, can be an excellent train carriage.

Thankfully, the paint had dried before this game commmenced!

And here we all are...

Hold my hand, Leia!

Leia was just starting to walk when we saw them, and everyone was keen to help her, to hold her hand. Rose was no different!

Hugs all around

Lots of love, here.

Hey, look! It is one of US!

Astonishing - a photo of us both! I take on average about 10,000 photos a year (no kidding) and these type of shots are rare indeed!

Ha Ha

Ha has are such a wonderful invention - and great fun for playing in with uncles as well!

Gran and Leia

Walking together...

Boo!

Daniel leapt up from his hiding place... and note Leia's delight!

Such fun!

Leia was dancing around this fountain, with help from her Daddy. Such fun!

We all met up for a day in a National Trust garden, central to us all - though still hours away from each. There are days when you wish that someone had managed to invent a star trek transporter.

After blackberrys...

In August we went blackberrying, afterwhich Ana found a nice patch of long grass in which to hide.

First Steam Train Ride

We had a day out at the Leighton Buzzard steam railway. Ana loved it, but Rose was not so sure about the loud noises associated with ye-olde methods of transport. It is quite an interesting little rail line. It runs most of the way through what was once beautiful countryside, and is now a 1980's housing development! I wonder how the residents find the whistling at every road crossing!

Rose in the Orangery

In the Orangery at Castle Ashby, there is the (very deep) fishpond. Rose and Ana both love watching the fish, whilst us parents anxiously stand close behind them (or take photos...)

Cuddles with Papa

Sometimes, after a fair amount of running, a carry and cuddle is required.

Ana among the daisies

Way back in the summer... we had an afternoon at the gardens of Castle Ashby. Here is Ana by the orangery. She was pleased to see so many of 'her' flowers.

Cushion jumping, bouldering, leaping?

So here we are, still in mid-August... Now that we have a bigger house (thank you God) we have enough room for two sofas, which, importantly, means double the number of sofa cushions for bouncing on!

Here is Ana mid leap.