Ellen's Begins Nursery

Our big girl Ellen started nursery/preschool on Monday. She has been looking forward to "school" since the Autumn and every time we'd pass her school, she'd point at it and say, "That's my school".  She's had two two-hour induction days the past couple of weeks and has loved it.  When I picked her up on Monday, she ran up and exclaimed, "I'm a happy girl!"

Ellen is in the "Rainbow Room" and attends 11 hours a week: Monday and Friday 9am-12pm and Wednesday 9am-2pm.  She was so excited to get to take her Peppa Pig lunch box with her today.  It was actually rather strange packing her lunch yesterday - that was a first for me.  

Brenna also started Musical Steps on Monday.  It's similar to Rhythm Time with singing, bouncing, dancing and instruments, but near us in Telford, as opposed to Shrewsbury.

I attempted to take a picture of the girls together before our walk to "school".

This is Ellen's nursery/preschool.

Brenna after her first Musical Steps class on Monday.

Yesterday afternoon was an absolutely beautiful day.  The girls and I had a tea party in the garden - our "tea" was just water, but that meant Ellen could pour it in the cups for me and Brenna.  This picture of perfection only lasted 5, maybe 10, minutes... then we needed to take a walk up to the park.  Actually we walked to a new (to us) park with swings that I found out about over the weekend... it's only a 20-minute walk uphill to get there.

Brenna WOULD NOT keep her hat on despite my putting it on her head over and over.... and we lost it on our walk up to the park... grrr....

 It really was lovely having a tea party with the girls... we even had a bit of real cake.

Happy Easter

Brenna's 1st Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday to our beautiful Brenna.

Many more pictures to come when I'm not so tired ;o)

Granny and Grandad Time

On Sunday, Granny showed Ellen how to bake Fruit Soda Bread.  Ellen loves to help in the kitchen, so baking with Granny was extra special.

Fruit Soda Bread

475g Soda Bread Flour (or plain flour with 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda)

65g Sugar

1tsp. Salt

1 medium Egg, lightly beaten

450ml Buttermilk (we used 300ml thick buttermilk with 150ml milk)

110g Sultanas or Raisins

1. Preheat oven to 160C

2. Grease a 2lb loaf tin

3. Combine the flour, sugar, dried fruit and salt. Blend the egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to     the flour mixture.

4. Pour into the prepared bread tin.

5 Cut a slice half way through the dough as this will help the bread to rise evenly and flour the top of the            dough.

6. Bake for approximately one hour or until a skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean. (Ours took 90     minutes).

7. The base of the loaf should sound hollow when you tap it. Turn on to a wire rack to cool. 

Ellen and Grandad spent some time painting on Monday.  Ellen's picture is for Daddy.

My sleeping princesses

Helping Granny

Granny and Grandad Bolton have already been here a week to help me with the girls while Jeff is in Saudi Arabia for work. The girls have been proving their helpfulness, too.

Dr. Ellen is making sure Granny is fit and healthy, but her finger needs a plaster/Band-Aid.  Of course, a surgeon's mask is required to put on a plaster!

Brenna wanted to "help" Granny unload the dishwasher.  She loves to move the bottom rack back and forth.

 

 "Look Granny, I've helped to take this spoon out!  I'll just drop it on the floor like the other one."

Brenna is 11 Months Old

Brenna is 11 months old.  As you can tell by her smile, she is such a cheeky monkey.  Her personality is really shining through now.  She loves to make us laugh, joins along when we sing and is very determined.  I took a total of four pictures before she was off towards the camera and there was no way to convince her to stay in place to take any more.  Oh, yes, she is an expert crawler now, too... and into everything.  And, boy, are the stairs interesting!  She's crawled up the first step a couple of times before I have swiftly removed her... I really must get the stair gates up.  She stood up on her own for the first time the other evening... in the bath of all places!  Now she can stand up anywhere she wants: in her bed, on the play kitchen, on the shower door.... the world is her oyster!  I predict Brenna will walk unaided over the next month. She can walk quite steadily only grasping on to a single finger for support.

Now that she's able to crawl, she can entertain herself by getting out the toys she wants to play with. She simply crawls over to the toy shelf and pulls out the baskets her toys are in.  She squeals with delight when Ellen plays with her, too. Ellen enjoys playing choo-choo train and hide-and-seek with Brenna now that she is mobile.  However, the downside of Brenna being able to crawl, is that she is also able to bother Ellen whenever she wants.

Granny and Grandad are visiting to help me look after the girls and to keep me company while Jeff is away on business in Saudi Arabia for 12 days.  I'm really loving watching the interaction between the girls and their grandparents.  Ellen enjoys cuddling with Grandad and taking his hand on walks, and Brenna squeals when Granny walks in the room.

 .Distracted by Grandad

 My gorgeous almost-three-year-old

Such a big girl

Two Performances - "Let It Go"

Ellen was beautifully singing Frozen's "Let It Go" Friday morning as we were finishing breakfast, and luckily she was willing to sing her rendition again for the camera. Brenna was on the kitchen floor occupying herself with containers from the recycling bin during Ellen's performance, when she crawled for real for the first time! I couldn't believe I got it on camera!  Now, two days later, she's crawling around the room, making little stops to sit every few feet.