Ada's Last Day of School!

Hooray for Ada on her first year at school - older, wiser, quite a bit taller, and still smiling!

Ada's 5th Birthday

First birthday party, at Nanny Kate's:

Arthur got a reward present for completing his first potty training sticker chart:

Meanwhile, Ada got to open a couple of presents before school on her actual birthday:

Then we had dinner at the pub (her choice) with ice cream to finish. I did actually put a candle in the ice cream for her to blow out, but it was impossible to hold the cone, balance the candle (which was too heavy to stay upright in the ice cream) and take a picture. So that, sadly, is lost to posterity.

Another round of presents from a couple of school friends (that's Rosie, our next door neighbor, who is a year older than Ada):

A birthday trip to Puxton Park with Nanny and Daddy, while I got the house ready for yet another party:

This is what happens if you send Ada and Mark out together:

And the rest of the 'home' presents were opened:

  

And then party number three, a 'flamingo' party:

Ada and I both wanted a Costco cake (it's the only way to get an American style birthday cake over here, so the best I could do is stick some flamingos into it):

And there were flamingo-themed games (like pin the beak on the flamingo).

The party was all a bit hectic so we didn't get many pictures, but the kids had fun.

Finally Ada had a climbing party with all her school friends. She had no problems reaching the holds...

Happy birthday Ada Mae!

Vallentine Christmas 2016

Arthur picked out this ornament himself at our trip to Hamleys when we were in London for our US passport renewal.

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Ada was a mouse in her school's Christmas nativity play, which this year was actually not a nativity play, but a production based on the story of how the carol 'Silent Night' came to be written. The Reception class (UK equivalent of kindergarten) didn't have their own song, but they were all mice and had a small "dance" number

The cousins from the Vallentine side were over visting from Nepal so we went to Weston Super Mare pier with them. I thought it was a good time for Ada to practice her skee ball. (I mostly just waited for her to get bored so I could practice my skee ball.)

On Christmas Eve, Ada took part in the local church's family Christmas Eve service. All the kids that wanted to could play a role. Ada's friend Grace was 'Angel #2. Ada was unnumbered, in the general "band of angels."

We made a gingerbread house, badly. But Ada did a good job decorating.

This is Christmas Eve, hanging their stockings up (and before we went upstairs for bath and getting into their new Christmas pjs). 

  

Arthur refused to be in the Christmas morning matching pjs photograph. 

Ada got a violin from Santa (it was on her list to him).

Arthur got a car transporter.

Arthur also got a lot of train stuff to fill in Ada's preexisting track collection.

Like mother, like son.

We persevered with getting a matching pjs shot. I was determined!
I love pjs.

Yay, Christmas!

Jessica's Birthday!

Geocaching treasures

Larkin' at the Park