Lydia

A couple of nice videos of Lydia to brighten your day!

First - she's nearly crawling. She can certainly go where she wants to now.

Second - some excellent clapping skills! We have naturally been scientific about this and tested other songs: she only claps with this one. Most pleasing.

Briarlands

One of the great things about my job is that it's quite flexible. A few Mondays back the nursery was closed, so I was able to take the day off and we went to Briarlands farm for the afternoon. The girls always have fun there and while there are some animals the main attraction are the various outdoor toys.

Some context for the Farmer Naomi picture from a few weeks ago...

Play

A nice selection of the girls at play. It's really great seeing all the sisters enjoying each others' company :-)

The wooden trains remain particularly popular - especially with Miriam.

Of course, we frequently have "mummy and baby" type play at the moment...

Given that none of us have been there for at least a couple of months now, I'm not sure what prompted the girls to have a go at playing "dentists" while in the bath recently...

All three of them chilling out before bedtime...

Naomi still enjoys her craft. I really liked the happy face that she'd made here.

"I know what you're up to"

Naomi, Miriam and I went to the park last weekend. Here's Naomi, who has now figured out how to run and jump onto the spinning cup so she can spin herself.

Finally, here they are playing hide and seek, with some proper childlike hiding.

Profiteroles

Sandy and I have been baking again, it's a favourite activity for us on date night and probably largely responsible for our not-shrinking waist lines.

The latest attempt was profiteroles, I can confirm they were delicious and can also confirm that adding Baileys to the cream on the inside is delicious!

Look, they actually look like profiteroles!

Yum!

They were really delicious, although might have benefited from an extra 2 minutes in the oven

Variety is the spice of life

So here is a selection of various things going on in our life

Most days Naomi walks home from nursery with me (obviously) and one or two of her friends. Quite often the children run into our back garden and seem to think by plonking themselves on the top of the climbing frame we won't be able to make them go home! We do arrange quite a few play dates but sometimes we need to do things on our own, so far we have never been unable to get them down!

Making themselves comfy, they're in this for the long haul!

I am a little concerned, with the summer holidays only a few days away that someone forgot to tell the weather, it could be a long old 7 weeks if we don't get a bit more sun than this!

bath time hilarity

Naomi didn't want to smile

Doesn't every house have a potty with a cat in it on the bed?

Naomi had a "trial lunch" at her new primary school where I went too, we had "aheetas" for lunch (Fajhitas) and got to find out how everything works, like where to queue and where to put your tray when you are finished.

At a different time she went to school for two whole days! Here she is looking far too grown up!

Ready to go!

Big girl hair

Miriam has a go bouncing on Naomi's friend's trampoline

We have a new abacus in the garden, it's never too early to learn some maths!!

And finally, for now, Naomi has been running with Mummy a bit, here she is at the end of a 2 kilometre run (1.2 miles for those who prefer it in old money)

Birthday Parties

Neither Sandy nor I know how this has come about, having never been one ourselves, but Naomi seems to be one of the "popular" kids! She has lots of friends and as such we have just had a wee run of birthday parties to enjoy. I don't have photos of them all but here are a few

Party number 1, sporting beautiful hair

Ready to go with present and card in hand

By the end of party number 2 she had beautiful face paints!

Party number 3 saw Miriam and Lydia being allowed to go too (which made Miriam happy, I think she was getting sad to be left behind while Naomi went to something fun!)  - it was an "Alice in Wonderland" theme and very well done!

This is actually a cat costume (Miriam was being the Cheshire Cat, although ironically I couldn't get her to smile for the camera!)

Lydia went as the white rabbit!

In the background of lunch you can see a very impressive Mad Hatter (otherwise known as the birthday girl's Uncle!)

An impressive spread for lunch

Some of the best party bags ever, they contained clocks with pictures the children had coloured in.  Their bedroom is now overloaded with TIME!!!

And for some shameless parental bragging, look how good Naomi has got at writing birthday cards!

Lydia

Lydia is turning into a beautifully contented, wonderful wee soul, here are some pictures of our goings on...

Note to self: always strap the baby in!

Lydia is very much a fan of food, here she is enjoying some lunch

Lydia is almost on the move, she can wriggle herself into most places she wants to go...

Enjoying being outside

Bath time is a treat for Lydia too, she loves to play with that little whale thing on the side of the bath

sometimes though life is tough being a baby...

...and you have to just admit that it's all got too much!

Ballet

Naomi has been going to a dance class for the last year or so, it's mainly ballet but with other bits thrown in for good measure.  Last week was a class where the parents get to come and watch, it was the first time I have seen the class and I was very impressed by how much Naomi could do, she was clearly having lots of fun and was happy to get a certificate to say she had been going (as she gets older she will be able to do exams). I was also thoroughly impressed by the teacher being able to control 10 or so 3-5 year olds as they danced around the room!!

We weren't allowed to take photos or videos as the class was taking place but here is Naomi with her certificate

And a cheeky photo with one of her best friends, Bailey.

End of nursery

Well, I blinked, and just like that it is time for Naomi to finish nursery and instead go to school! It only feels like a couple of weeks ago that she started going to nursery at all.  One week left of term before the summer holidays and so we've had a few wee events for Naomi to mark the occasion. 

Nursery put on an event for the children to show what they have been doing to prepare for school, they've been learning about getting dressed, crossing the road, how to deal with being worried and of course all the practicalities about where the class room is, how to find the toilets and where to go to get lunch!

The whole theme for transition has been built round the theme of "The Rescuers" (a film that I watched as a child, in fact I am fairly sure I had it on VHS!)  Here are the children singing their song, talking about being brave.

Here is Naomi receiving a certificate and some examples of the work she has done in nursery.

The person who is giving Naomi her certificate is Christine who was Naomi's keyworker, she has been really good for Naomi and I have always felt she does her job very well. As it happens she has gone to a new job and although we wish her well I am sad she isn't still in the nursery, I had hoped she might be Miriam's keyworker when the time came.  Here is Naomi making a card to say thank you for being such a good keyworker (Miriam joined in too).

Next week sees a trip to a farm and a party so there's still plenty of fun to fit into those last few days, I am ready for the holidays though, I am looking forward to not having to get everyone out the door by 8.35am!

Button Jar treats!

It's that time again, the girls had filled their button jars and because they did it at the same time we decided to do something a bit bigger, so we went to a restaurant for lunch after church.  Although it was a treat we were really impressed by how well behaved the girls were especially as the place we chose didn't open till 2.30 so they got their food much later than we had expected.

Naomi looking ever so grown up with a big girl goblet of water too!

Excited!

It wouldn't be a treat without pudding!!

Sometimes treats can be a bit exhausting!

A pretty dress is what makes these occasions!

And mainly to prove I also photograph my husband!