We got back from the first of two weekends away seeing grandparents, and so I kept the washing machine busy this morning catching up. Then this afternoon Em & Soph decided to create even more washing than usual - first we went in the garden for half an hour to let me hang out the washing to dry while they investigated the garden and played in the rather wet sandpit. Sophie started crying in the playhouse and I found her and an equally petrified frog backing away from each other! We back onto a flooded old section of disused railway and so have an abundance of frogs (all of which are harmless, except when they petrify small children or startle mummy by jumping up as she bends down to smell a flower near them)! They both ended up with very muddy trousers, Soph by falling down and Em by paddling in a puddle on the lawn until the mud splattered up her legs!

Then off we went to a friends house to have lunch and play with her kids. Lunch having been eaten, the two big kids went outside and found some water and soil and were splashing in the mud when we went to investigate what such lovely quiet children could possibly be doing! Then later, to my horror both Em and Sophie did awful poos simultaneously. Only when I thought back did I realise that they both had a lot (1/2 a glass) of neat orange juice to drink with their restaurant meal last night - usually I dilute it because I know how sensitive Em is to it. So off came Em's knickers, Sophs vest and trousers, and on went spares. On a visit to the park later on, Em couldnt get down off a high climbing frame quickly enough and a wet set of clothes ensued. Naughty mummy didnt have a second spare pair of Emma knickers with her, nor clean trousers, so she had to sit on a cloth nappy in the car on the journey home. Do I really need to take their entire wardrobes with them when we go out to play for 5 hours?!

But how much worse would life be without automatic washing machines.....?

We were away this weekend - my excuse for missing Friday AGAIN!

Sophie is into climbing everything at the moment. So far she hasnt wrecked Emma's dolly buggy climbing into it, but Emma is mad at her every time she sees her getting onto it! She would kill me if she realised I'd stopped to take a photo before removing her LOL! Poor squashed dolly!

We went to my parents for the weekend and then went over to my brothers house most of Saturday. Bro has a son almost the same age as Em who has FINALLY got into drawing (Emma has been into drawing since she could hold a crayon) which is a relief for his dad who is a talented amateur artist. Above is the three of them sat down drawing, and below is my brothers picture of Sophie. Aparently he started it as a caricature and changed his mind to do a straight picture later on! Emma says it is like a photo, and as his proud big sister Im inclined to agree! He did a picture of the two big kids when they were babies as a present for my parents and Soph is mesmerised by it!

Now for a couple of gardening pics: below is my new wormery, set up outside the kitchen door. I can start feeding it in 2 weeks time, and Em & Soph are doing their best to provide lots of leftover food for it! I got it off ebay, in case you're interested. I'll try to let you know how it gets on!

And here are my vegetables germinating in guttering, which Im trying for the first time. The idea is, keep them away from the slugs etc which want to eat them, and from the cold weather, and when they're bigger, the weather is nicer and the roots fill the soil, slide the whole lot out onto the prepared soil of the veggie patch and off they go! My veggie patch is still full of weeds and the deer are still visiting to eat the sprouts and leeks.

Late again! Here are some photos taken on Easter Sunday. The snow didnt last, and was only 1cm, which isnt much on Canadian scales, but was enough to delight Emma! I hadnt realised how tired Sophie looked til I uploaded this pic. She's got that "uhoh, mummy with a camera" look!

We are still battling the squirrels - just off the third picture is a sonic pest scarer. Squirrels are still visiting us!  Dont know if they're staying so long or just eating between beeps.... Also on the wildlife front, I have ordered a wormery to eat my kids leftovers. I already have a cone bin and that's too full, so I thought I could put the easier stuff in a wormery which Em would enjoy looking at more! I want my wheelie bin to starve LOL! Saturday I counted 11 magnificent magpies in one tree behind my garden. Better watch out in case it takes my sparkly stuff! And today a sparrowhawk was watching my bird table. Fortunately it didnt eat any of my garden birds. But it is beautiful!

We have just started sponsoring a 5 year old in Tanzania to go to school. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, and having Emma start school has been the ideal time. So we asked for a girl of a similar age to Emma, and as our church is involved in supporting churches in Tanzania it seemed sensible to build on this link. I dont want Emma to take her advantages in England for granted, and certainly not her free education. So now we are paying for Elizabeth to go to school. We received our first letter from her last week. She wrote that she had porridge and sardines for Christmas dinner and then went to play with her friends! There are several reputable charities that organise sponsorships, but we are with Compassion, which a number of our family and friends have been with for years.

We got off to a slow start today. Emma crept in and sat at the foot of the bed til I acknowledged her (yesterday she gave up in disgust at 4am and 7am as I didnt notice!) then she burrowed her way up the duvet and cuddled up while Sophie finished feeding and DH slept on aparently oblivious. We eventually got up about 8 as she was getting too rough. About 10 after a leisurely breakfast a Freecycler arrived for a bag of clothes for his jumble sale (Ive been sorting out all Sophs 6-9 & 9-12s and am just storing my most favourites til I get more ruthless). During the morning we had a few flurries of snow but nothing settled. Em kept getting all togged up and rushing out, only for it to all be over! About 11 Soph was losing it so we loaded the car with recycling and drove to the newly refurbished and reopened town Tip. I had expected Soph to fall asleep en route but she was having none of it! Just as we arrived home she finally drifted off, after the engine had stopped! So we sat quietly to make sure she wasnt distracted - well, Al & I did - the snow had come back and Em was out and running about in it joyfully! It was a big shower of snow, all sizes of flakes from small balls to big feather-like flakes. Through sheer volume they settled a few times but our temperatures hovered above zero so they all melted pretty soon. Soph fell asleep about 1230. This, in the car seat on our quiet driveway, usually gets us 2 hours naptime these days. To our amazement, she managed almost 4! Poor dear must be as tired as me! We ate lunch, chatted, then Em wanted to play. We played all those games baby sisters get in the way for - Uno, Ludo, Snakes & Ladders and Pit (an old card game involving lots of LOUD shouting!). When Em was winning she was in heaven, when she lost she was not all that good a loser! She tries to cheat, but by & large can follow the rules if forced to. She's pretty numerate, which helps (Uno is supposed to be for 7+). This is the kind of thing I've been looking forward to doing "as a family" - one of those things you picture yourself doing while you're in a pregnant daydream! Like baking together! Did that Thursday/yesterday - choc muffins didnt get mixed through very well by Em and have floury specks all the way through LOL! But we dont let that stop us getting our fix of chocolate! We rolled marzipan eggs and then I melted dark chocolate and we used it to glue the eggs on the top. Happily Em was happy to stick while I controlled the chocolate! We found that a jug was the best way of filling the cake cases - spoons are way too messy to and fromthe bowl! Just as I was putting Soph to bed I started getting another headache - Ive had too many recently but I just cant catch my sleep up. Trouble is, Im putting off going to bed right now as I cant lie down til it stops thumping - catch 22! Well, Im gonna try, DH is starting to nag!

Sophie and Emma both have colds, and it's making both of them cough a lot. Its making Em a bit wheezy, which will be interesting to discuss when she has her meds review with the asthma nurse in aweek or so. Soph is off her food and her sleep is disturbed. She has a streaming nose and one of her eyes is getting a bit sticky. Al has been knocked for six today but that may just be the last stressful week at work catching up with him. Gotta go, Soph is crying!

The gales hit on Monday and the chairs and toys flew around the garden. Then last night they hit again and now I have two (at last count) broken windows in my greenhouse. The wind's still blowing, so I daren't go too close. Oh well, the roof's still on the house, that's more important than my beloved greenhouse (I think I believe that)!

Last night Sophie didnt fall asleep quickly so I heard the National Anthem play on the radio (think that's 12.45am). Then at 5.30am, after at least one more feed, Sophie woke up again. And then Emma came in, which is unheard of. DH is working away all week, so I whispered, "hop in, I know the wind sounds scarey" as Id been lying there praying the tiles wouldnt blow off, coz it sounded like they were about to. We dozed and Soph sporadically fed until 6.20am, when Soph was all done and I had a tiredness headache kicking off so needed to be up & about (my head thumps worst when I lie down - catch22). We dressed to the accompaniment of Cbeebies, got to school early (!) where Em pushed Soph into a muddy puddle , then tried to climb a fence , slipped and grazed her tummy  just as the bell rang. Then I dropped a screaming Sophie off to her childminder. I've tried to sleep, but my head wont let me. So Im Minti-ing instead! Time to pick Soph up shortly, and to take another Ibuprofen!

Well, I needed a vent. And to say "hello, is there anyone there?"

Well, I meant to do Foto Friday but as usual I wasnt ready in time! But I thought "better late than never" so here are some latest pics, esp of the girls, but also a confusing one at the end for the Nature Buddies to ponder - I'd love to know why it was "meditating" for 30-45 minutes!

The blue thing was a freebie silicon finger cover for applying teething gel. She bites me too hard for me to risk wearing it any more, so I let her hold it now!!!

Emma had to get into "fancy dress" for a party. She's not greatly into fancy dress so I let her put on her tutu over normal clothes and then we got embellishing it! I told her she was "The Cool Fairy" and she seemed to like that! Sophie was rather bewildered by the new look though!!!

I have no idea what was up with this robin, but it sat almost motionless on my patio last week for 30+ minutes - even while I walked up and pushed this saucer up in front of it! Then it finally hopped around and ate a bit of food then flew off in alarm the second time I opened the patio door! Perhaps it was cold? Perhaps it was stunned after a window-collision? I was sure a cat would get it or that the cold wind would blow it over (nearly did!) and it would fall into the saucer & die!

Although Mothering Sunday was cold here, it was bright so I couldnt resist going out into the garden for a bit of natural daylight. The girls couldnt resist outside too, though Alan is more of an indoor bod! Sophie had been very clingy all day - probably still feeling those 4 moving teeth that have cut in the last 10 days, so after some serious play and some good falls she finally fell asleep in her daddy's arms. So I got a little bit of digging done - hurray!

Got to go, Sophie awake, dont expect daddy-magic will sedate her this time!