Slippershod!

Lily has taken to fetching my slippers for me. I keep them by the side of my bed and for the past two mornings she has walked over to them, put them on and then shuffled to the other side of the room to admire herself in the full length mirror. She then shuffles over to wherever I'm standing and steps out of the slippers before picking them up and putting them on my feet. I'm amazed at how adept she is at walking in my size fours and she looks really cute. I'm desperate to take a photo of her in them! Naturally, the camera is never nearby when you need it. I will try and remember to take it upstairs tonight in case she fetches my slippers again tomorrow.

"Shag dog" by Bambi Papais

Random Pictures presents...

Ring a ring o' roses,

A pocketful of posies.

Ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo...

We all fall down!

A family night out

Last night was something of a first for our family...we went to a party together. I've always been something of a stickler for a regular bedtime routine for our children and it has always worked very well for us. I have tried to keep the Podlings to a regular bedtime right from the start, so we never went out at night with them even when they were tiny. Last night was a treat for us all though as we had the pleasure of attending the evening reception of a good friend of ours who married recently (Mark and I attended the wedding, which was held on the beautiful Amalfi coast in Italy last week. I'll post some pictures soon).

We arrived at the party at about 8.30pm and the Podlings were both in high spirits. Tom quickly honed in on the balloon table centrepieces and immediately took possession of a gold star balloon which he then held on to for the entire night. As you can see from the picture below, Mark couldn't see much of what was going on for much of the night! In addition to which, flush from the success of blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, Tom was going from table to table trying to blow out all the tea lights!

Unfortunately, we left the camera in the car and by the time there was an opportunity to go and get it, Tom was getting tired. The only picture I have of him in his party finery is the one below. He'd been asking to go home for some time before this photo was taken! At about the same time, however, Lily was just getting into her stride! They didn't start the disco until about 10.15pm, but Lily was up and dancing like there was no tomorrow. She was spinning and stomping and twirling away and basically having a great time! I think I know which of my children will be the party animal!

We had a lovely time and left at about eleven, which is about two hours later than we thought the Podlings would last! We put them in their pajamas before we left and then carried them straight up to bed when we got home 50 minutes later. You would think we'd have had a nice lie-in this morning, but sadly they both woke up at more or less their usual times. Oh well...you can't have it all!

FYI, I will be posting some pictures of Tom's third birthday later this week.

Time flies...

A conversation with Tom last Monday:

Mummy: It's your birthday this week. How old will you be on your birthday?
Tom: I gonna be 3 minutes

Random Pictures presents...

This photo was taken last month in the park near our house. The only time I relax when I take the Podlings to the park on my own is when they are both safely contained in the swings. Lily loves to follow her brother everywhere and is so adventurous that I am constantly afraid she is going to fall off something, walk into something, or find some other way to give me heart failure! So far she hasn't injured herself, but I don't know how much of that is down to luck and how much to skill! At least when they are in the swings I know she is safe...till she learns to climb out!

A penchant for paint

Today saw a return to the typical British weather of rain, rain and more rain, so we turned once again to the delights of painting to while away our afternoon. This is an activity that both the Podlings love, and is guaranteed to keep them out of mischief for at least an hour...normally! Today I got to experience the relative delights of keeping two children from smearing paint all over the kitchen when your mum calls you in the middle of the painting session. Well Mum, here are the pictures....!During a momentary lapse in concentration (mine, not hers), Lily decided to sample the culinary delight of blue poster paint. Beautiful shade of lipstick she has on there, really brings out her eyes! She then decided that her paper was looking a bit full, so proceeded to paint the wall next to her chair. You can see the result in the above photo. Hmmm, I hadn't considered green walls in the kitchen, but maybe I should! Shortly after this, I had to stop her trying to drink the green paint, which I had foolishly mixed in a spare plastic cup. She picked it up by the handle and appeared to know exactly how to use it...probably preparing for elegant tea parties with her dolls. I stopped it as it reached her lips.

Tom, meanwhile, had been mostly content and was quietly painting away. He had tried to get down a couple of times, but I managed to persuade him to stay in his seat with the promise of clean paper and some fresh paint. Then he got bored. He was off his chair and gone before you could say 'Tom don't touch anything!'. I decided that this was a prudent point to end the telephone conversation with my mum. I set off after him and caught him before he left the kitchen, but you wouldn't believe the mess he made in the less than a minute he was out of his chair. Here, for my mum's amusement, is the list of things I had to clean at the end of the painting session:

1. Three of the kitchen walls
2. The door frame
3. My chest freezer
4. Both of the Podlings' chairs (and obviously the table, but you'd expect that)
5. The kitchen floor, in three places
6. Five cupboard doors and two drawer fronts
7. Two very messy children!

Below is a picture of Lily washing her hands at the end of painting session (apologies for the blurry photo), posted mainly because you can see some of the mess I had to clean in the background (and I'd already cleared most of the table by this point). I only buy washable paint, but I have to say that my walls do appear to have a faint green tinge to them now! Ironically, green is my mum's favourite colour. Thanks mum!

Random Pictures presents...

This rather adorable picture, taken about four weeks ago, shows the Podlings enjoying snacktime on the step to 'The Library'. This is the rather grand term I use to describe a small corridor between the utility room and lounge that we have had shelved (thanks again to Mum and Dad P. and Uncle Keith for this). Mark and I have hundreds of books, most of which are now kept in 'The Library', but we still have about five other bookcases round the house with our books, plus one in the family room for the Podlings' books. You'd be right in thinking we are all fond of reading!