Some more visitors

We had some more visitors on Esther's birthday and it's the last time we might see them for some time... boo hoo.... The Thiriots who have been family friends for 23 years or so are moving back to the US! They stopped by for a flying visit so we could say goodbye - they spent more time travelling to see us than they could stay but we certainly appreciated their effort. I didn't take any good pictures because it literally was a flying visit but we will miss them. I know some people who will be pleased to have them closer to home....unforunate for us but fortunate for them!

Birthday girl

I'm not sure how this happened but somehow 5 years has passed since we welcomed Esther into out family. In some ways I can't remember what it was like before she was here! The night before her birthday we travelled up to my parents house. In the morning Esther woke up to rooms full of balloons and waffles with lots of different topping for breakfast. Auntie Bex and Uncle Joel were there too. She opened her cards and presents- she had asked for a baby Annabell doll so that's what the big box is. In the afternoon Uncle Dan and Auntie Natalie came with their 2 year old niece. Then in the evening my Uncle Sid and Auntie Jean had a Caileidh for their 40th Wedding Anniversary. The girls LOVED the dancing and Esther and Eliza got to play with my cousins children plus everyone sang happy birthday to Esther so she thought it was a party for her! We had a birthday party for Esther today, it was only going to be a small affair - Esther invited 6 girls from school but it turned out smaller than planned as 2 didn't turn up! Esther didn't even seem to notice and had a great time anyway! Here is she with her friends having happy birthday sung to her!

Blowing out the candles:

The cake - Ben and I decorated it last night and I think it turned out pretty good!

Here's a bit about Esther:

She likes to colour and draw, loves playing out and riding her bike, especially since she can do it without stablisers. She is really good at making new friends but is also a mummy's girl. She is usually pretty good at sharing and loves to help out with Alice and play with her. She is trustworthy and super helpful plus alot of fun! She loves to wrestle too. Esther is a good example to her younger sisters and WE LOVE HER!

Too funny

The other day Esther was talking to my mum on the phone and was telling her how Alice can crawl and that she has teeth now. My mum asks how many teeth Alice has and Esther replies 'I think about 120.'!! I silently laughed my head off and thought no more of it until I was telling someone else about Alice's teeth and Esther inisits that I am wrong when I say she has only 2 teeth, she really has lots more, about 120. How many teeth does Esther think she has then if Alice has 120! She can count pretty well so it suprised me that this is logical to her. I'm really enjoying seeing her make judgements on time, number, age etc so funny the things she comes up with.

Eliza on the other hand is being pretty cute too. She asks me at random times during the tay 'Mummy did you miss me?' She asks me when I'm putting her in the car after we've been shopping or when we are playing in the house -I'm not sure she realises that mostly you miss someone when you haven't seen them for a period of time! Since we have to pass Esther's school to get to most places she always tells me we forgot to get Esther when we pass by, she misses her!

Playing in the Rock Pools

One of the days on our holiday we set off in search of a beach on the south coast of cornwall. We wanted somewhere not too far from where we were staying as we had a doctors appointment for Alice (she had an infected nappy rash poor thing). We decided to go to a little coastal town called Looe 13 miles away which in Corwall takes as long as 30 miles anywhere else, teeny, indirect roads.When we got there we were initially a bit dissappointed to find no sandy beach but a rock beach. Actually, a beach full of rock pool and seaweed makes pretty interesting discovery time for both kids and parents! We had some nets, buckets and spades and the kids had a great time investigating the contents of the rock pool finding crabs, shrimps, lots of limpets etc. They also got a few war wounds slipping on the rocks and seaweed. Unfortunately this type of beach is no good for a baby. It was the middle of the day and actually pretty hot, there was no way of getting the pushchair down to the beach and nowhere flat or slightly soft to lie a baby down or even change a nappy and there wasn't even really a comfortable place for anyone to sit! It'll be a great place to go when the girls are just that bit bigger.
Here's Alice and Daddy enjoying a comfy seat on the beach: Esther (wearing Eliza's sun hat!) with Looe island in the background:

Eliza looking good in her funky pink outfit:

That nice warm feeling during church

Usually the nice warm feeling I get during church is the Spirit confirming truth or testifying to me but a couple of weeks ago I got a different kind of warm feeling... on my leg... Huggies had failed me .... big time... Alice got away relatively unscathed but I decided it would be best for me to go home and change. Luckily I had a bar of Zote soap at hand to get that nasty stain out and my skirt has survived as good as new! That's the first time this had happened to me but I don't know if it started an unpleasant ball rolling because this week Eliza had an accident on me too (luckily not the same type as Alice!). I think I'm going to have to start taking around a spare change of clothes for me as well as the kids! Thanks girls!

Camera

I thought we had broken our camera and had been looking for the recipt to return it to the shop to make a complaint. It would turn on for 1/2 second then swich straight back offand had turned off with the lens out. Then I thought maybe I should try the helpline. I'm glad I didn't go to complain since then they would have known I was a dunce! Turns out there are 2 types of AA batteries (is it only me that doesn't know that??)- alkaline and zinc - as it happens, zinc AA batteries aren't powerful enough to run your camera! I told the guy the make of the batteries and he googled it to find out if they were zinc! What would we do without google?! So thank you google and thank you Mr Helpline - we should have more photo's soon!