New Years Eve

I am superstitious. I don't mean to be but when I hear those silly little snippets that will give you good or bad luck I always mind them. I try not to, really I do but once that seed of information has been planted I cannot make it go away. Maybe it's the OCD in me.

Someone once told me that whatever you do, feel, have, on New Years Eve will follow you into the upcoming year. You have no idea the lengths I go to not to get a migraine on New Years Eve. I have to have a clean and orderly home, have to feel good about myself, have this ridiculous urge to dress really nicely, wear my favourite things etc.etc. From the second the girls open their eyes I instruct them to be nice, kind, friendly, polite and happy and not to bicker! If anything breaks today or goes wrong I hit the freak out button instantly. Insane......I wish I could remember who it was that filled my head with this nonsense because I would return the favour.

Today Lily had a pedi appointment. If she makes Principals Honour Roll Jacob rewards her with something of her choice. (within reason) This time around she chose a pedicure and wanted it today. I made the appointment for first thing and afterwards she wanted to walk around the mall. She purchased Rosie a gift with her own money and generally was on a cloud. She didn't want to go home so we went to Starb*cks for hot chocolate and a sweet treat for them. It was a really lovely morning thus next year should be a lovely one. Let's hope so.

We came home for lunch and then I suggested that they both take a nap as they are going to bed very late tonight. They are still napping 2 hours later.

Tonight we will bring in the New Year at home, together. Once the ball drops we will all eat 12 grapes, throw a bucket of water out the front door, throw something into the garden that is broken and put an envelope of money under the doormat. All these things bring good luck in some shape or form into your life, or so I am told, for the upcoming year. Each year the list gets a bit longer cos I am darned sure I am not about to get jinxed on the first day of a new year that looks as if it could be my best one yet by not doing something on this silly, silly list!

Happy New Year.

May 2011 bring you all that you dream of and a happy, healthy and carefree life.

The teenage years will be very high maintenance.

She looks so relaxed
ORANGE? Egads, is it bright enough?
A little pick me up
My girly girl and the other one. LOL

Since the girls are still sleeping I had better make sure I have NOTHING at all on my to do list cos I don't fancy starting a new year with a list of things I need to get done.

Playdates......another name for Mummy fun.

Play dates are something that I strive to offer the girls at least once a week. Why, you ask? It's simple, play dates are another term for fun times for Mummy. When the children are all together playing the Mummy's are able to chit-chat, eat naughty snacks, tell grown up jokes and generally have grown up time for a couple of hours. Oh and of course playing together is an important social skill required during childhood...yes, that's it. It's about them, not me.

Lori, Mummy to the DD invited a few of us over to her house for a play date. I haven't seen these ladies for ages, we live about an hour apart but I have never let distance stop me before and I wasn't about to now. We had fun. Laughing, talking, eating.......the kids were all playing!

Of course Lori had her camera close by and was snapping shots left and right. Beautiful shots.

Rosie's shy face. I absolutely love this shot.

But this one is my favourite. Even with all those freaking laugh lines! Don't you dare call them wrinkles!


Rosie took a few minutes to warm up but once she felt comfortable she was gone and playing with a water toy with her new friend Mia. Lily and Erin became fast friends again and I use the word fast because that best describes them. LOL
Rosie played so hard in the water that he had to borrow some clothes for the ride home because hers got a little moist (read dripping wet.)

Miss Photo Queen extraordinaire had some fabulous ideas for group shots of the kidlets. Of course when you put little friends together they have their own ideas.

Mia, Erin, Katie Starr, Lily, Rosie and the boy the myth the legend, Ethan.

I think that they conspire in voices that parents cannot hear. They arrange to all look in different directions just to make it impossible to take a good shot of all of them.

Rosie looking dashing in her new threads. Half way home she realised they were boys clothes and panicked!
It was a fabulous afternoon spent with wonderful friends, Grace, Tammie, Shannon and the hostess herself, Lori.

His Feminine Side.

When you live your life surrounded by females you will find your feminine side. If by chance you don't find it yourself one of the girls that you live with will help you find it.

Rosie painting Jacob's toenails
She also painted his toes.
I told him not to worry cos it washes off with water.

It didn't wash off with water nor did it come off with nail varnish remover. Jacob and Rosie both have pinky/purple toes. It's wearing itself off. Good thing he is a manly man at heart.

Christmas Day

Last night I intended to write this post but we had such a fabulous day that the idea of sitting down at the computer did not appeal to me. At all. One bit. All I wanted to do was lay back and bask in the joy of being the Mummy of 2 little girls on Christmas day (not that it was a first).

Rosie woke up first and as she toddled off to the loo she was chanting, "hasSantabeen, hasSantabeen?" We informed her that we thought he had at which time her squeals of delight awoke her sister. Lily immediately noticed that Santa had left their stockings in their rooms and grabbed them both leapt onto our bed and the day officially began. After the shrieks of delight over the stockings we headed downstairs and the girls both nearly exploded.

When they went to bed on Christmas eve our tree was void of gifts but that had magically changed overnight. The gifts were really hidden so it didn't look like as if there were as many as there were but it took over 2 hours to open them.


This is how they looked when they spotted it.


And that is pretty much where the photos end because I was so wrapped up in watching them unwrap their gifts and ohh and ahh over everything that I barely took any photos at all.

I was so touched when Lily handed me a gift and said that she bought it herself with her money. I carefully unwrapped it and found 2 gorgeous beads for my bracelet. She beamed with pride when she saw how much I loved them. I still cannot believe that she did it.

Both girls received these beautiful pearl and diamond bracelets from a client of mine. They are so dainty and gorgeous and they love them.

Both of them also received Pill0w Pets. Not sure at all what the attraction is to these things but they have been begging for them for ages.



Once we were done I rounded the girls into the kitchen for breakfast and for one more hidden gift. It is Rosie's but she needed a lot of help. Luckily she has a big sister who was more than happy to do just that.

All I can say is DO NOT let your children drive in the house!

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We could barely get them out of there fast enough. Jacob grabbed his new toy and in what now appears to be a tradition on Christmas morning we headed outside in our P.J.'s

Olivia came too.

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My other child!

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After a morning of undeniable fun that nearly left me paralysed following a few games of Tw1ster with 2 very flexible kids we sat down for lunch. As is a tradition in the U.K. we had Christmas crackers and all wore the silly hats. Some of us had them on a little bit, UPSIDE DOWN! I told you we laughed a lot.




The day progressed and before we knew it we had to kiss Daddy bye bye because, as he puts it, "airplanes have to fly on Christmas day". Yes they do but we don't have to like it!

The girls continued playing all day and I finally rounded them up for a bath after I had taken complete advantage of them playing so well and sorted out all the new toys, cleared out Rosie's closet and generally tidied up. All that fru fru stuff can make an OCD person like myself twitch a bit. They went to bed later than usual and both fell aleep with the biggest smiles on their little faces.

One thing was missing this year as it always is....my family. That part hurts and always will.

This morning when Rosie woke up she wanted to know if Santa had come again?

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve, it is without a day my favourite day of the year. The girls are so excited, we have friends over for a huge meal, we act silly, we giggle and we play games. As the hours pass the excitement becomes palpable. This year was the same for all those reasons however there is one big difference this year: Lily no longer believes....gasp, sputter, cry. A kid in her class told all of them that Santa was not real. With that information planted in her head she pieced the rest together and came straight out and asked. I fluffed my way through the answer the first time but she become more persistent with her questioning and in the end I asked her exactly what she wanted to know and she told me. She said that Santa would have to be magic, reindeers cannot fly and no one can fly around the world in one night even with all the time zones. ( kidlet is too smart for her own good!)
So we sat and talked and she asked and I answered. I ended the conversation by telling her that somethings are just so much more fun if you make believe and that most grown ups still believe. She is skeptical that you can believe in something that you know isn't real.

This year Lily passed all the duties to her sister. She helped her and they even wrote notes together. Rosie picked the cookies and put some carrots outside for the Reindeer cos we don't want them coming inside cos they might poop. Then before we marched upstairs to bed we read Santa Mouse and The Night Before Christmas. Then I tucked one very sleepy girl into her bed and she was concerned that Santa might come upstairs. I told her he never does that. Lily told her to hurry up and go to sleep so that Santa could come. We had been tracking him all day on N0rad and knew he was getting close. They were thrilled when he went to Grandpa's house and we were able to see it on N0rad and saw the front of the house as if we were there.

So now the believers and the non-believers alike are sleeping and I need to get busy stuffing stockings and the like. Oh I love this day so much and tomorrow when they come down stairs it is I who nearly bursts from excitement.

Rosie and Caro playing earlier today. Rosie loves Carolina so much.

They are both inside the same shirt.

Dinner time
Santa's cookies
Lily's notes, one for the reindeer and one for the big guy himself.
Rosie's note, she even signed it at the bottom.


Merry Christmas everyone. I hope your day is your every dream come true.

Full Of Christmas Cheer ?

Yesterday was Rosie's Christmas party. (I am a day behind with my posts as usual) Most children cannot wait for a good party with lots of junk food and silly games, gift exchanges and lots of noise but not Rose. The idea of lots of people and ear piercing shrieks pushes her over the edge. We were quite sure that Rosie would miss the last day of school before winter break but Ms. maria begged us to bring her and ourselves as well. We made a deal that we would show up at 11am instead of 8.45 when school starts to lessen the intensity for Rosie. We talked it up all morning with her and she was excited. Excited to give her wonderful teachers a gift and excited at the thought that Daddy and I would both be at school all day with her. The excitement was short lived.

Just a few seconds after we arrived Rosie looked like this.

I hate seeing her like this but sometimes we have to do things we don't like to help her move through.

Even being attached to Daddy didn't help. (this is a big step because usually I am her only comfort zone
but she is shifting towards Daddy as well for comfort)

Even though she sat next to her BFF it didn't help and as everyone started to party and eat Rosie was like a "Deer in the Headlights".

Wishing she was safely in her house and not about to eat.

Wait, what is that we see, could it be a smile.
It's a big smile

Things got much better from this point on but she still had to be attached to one of us. I had to stand right behind her or make sure I was touching her.


When it was time for the gift exchange I had to glue her onto her seat because she didn't want to stay alone.

BFF, looking very happy

Rosie looking, well actually I am not sure how she looks!
All the kiddies waiting anxiously for their gifts.

The wonderful Ms. Maria receiving her gift. This lady has set us up for the rest of our lives. I just don't think there will ever be another teacher as amazing as her.

Jimmy was Rosie's secret Santa, As we were celebrating at the party his Mum and Dad were at the hospital awaiting the arrival of Jimmy's little brother.
Rosie loved her gift Jimmy, thank you.


This is my favourite photo of the morning. Rosie always has the biggest smile and hug and kiss for Ms. Maria.


Recently when I have arrived at school to take Rosie home she has told me she isn't ready. Today was not one of those days. She was very happy to leave. Since she has been doing better that was one of the reasons why I didn't want to take her to the party because we just don't need another set back.

Centre Stage

As I was in the kitchen making breakfast today my morning quiet was disrupted by this incredible din.


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Me thinks that a certain little girl actually likes being in the lime light.

Rosie's First Christmas Show

Today was the day for Rosie's much anticipated Christmas Show. Her teachers and I have been working really hard to get her ready for it. Last night she didn't fall asleep for ages and was restless all flipping night long. Not 2 seconds after she had opened her eyes she asked, "Do I have to go to school today?" When I told her yes because it was her Christmas show and she was finally going to sing for Me, Daddy, Goo Goo and Jakie, she burst into tears.

I was asked to go in early and help dress the children. That worked for 2 reasons, Ms. Ria needed help and I was able to stay with Rosie. Daddy went and saved a seat as close to the front as he could and he was able to greet Goo Goo and Jakie when they arrived. Things went okay but not fabulously and Rosie got very teary eyed a few times.

When nobody was cheering her along this is how she looked.....sad huh?

OK, I'll smile and say cheeeeese

Santa

Ho Ho Ho

Finally they were ready to hit the stage. Rosie freaked out. Miss Ria grabbed my scarf and tied it around Rosies neck so that she could have a piece of me with her on stage. I headed for my seat in the Fellowship Hall and left an unsure Rosie with her class.

Introductions were made by the director of the school and then the kids started their procession onto the stage. I truly believed, as did her teacher that if she could see us she would be OK. Ms. Ria kept stressing that we had to get in the front row. That would have been OK if parents had not shown up at 7am to place jackets on seats to reserve them and then drive back home and reappear when school started. But my hubby makes his presence known, especially where his kids are concerned ~snort. Second Row, first row was reserved for parents to sit whilst there kids were on stage and then they returned to their original seats and the next set of parents moved forward. That school thinks of everything.

This video is long but Rosie appears at 48 seconds

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She did it. She didn't run off of the stage in tears nor did she freeze.

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There she is, wearing my scarf but never mind you can't realy notice it.

Song number 2.....she appears to given up singing here and failed to bow.

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When it was all over and done she got a big hug from Mummy

Daddy and I had a present that we had to unwrap....look who was inside

Bravo Rosie,you did it. Frankly little Peanut, you rocked it!