New biking skills
Eli has now advanced to riding freely around the circle on his bike. Once he figures out how to get going (which he can nearly do on a downhill), he will be independent on his bike!
First bubble bath
Adam had his first bubble bath today…and didn’t like it at all. Eli was the same when he was little, and there is clearly something about the bubble bath that freaks Adam out. So it is going to be a while before we try again.
When Eli sat down in the bath he said, “My willy’s disappeared!” with great glee.
Calling Grace, and peek-a-boo
Adam has a call for Grace, his particular sound that he makes when he wants to call her. It is the “A” of her name and he often calls out, “A…..A” when looking for her.
Merry Christmas Eli!
Eli celebrated his birthday with a Christmas party. He has been talking about Christmas since last Christmas, so this was the way he wanted to work out his never ceasing Christmas spirit.
Handing decorations on the tree
Christmas Eli
Finn & Oli join team Santa
Decorating gingerbread men
Taking in the Christmas spirit (which was helped along with continuous Christmas tunes playing)
Rudolf cake (with his flaming ears)
Mr Christmas after blowing out the candles
Preparing for the treasure hunt – Santa’s sleigh has crashed and the children need to help find all the presents!
The girl team was definitely more organised than the boys, mostly because they actually checked their map
Christmas Eli and his helper handing out the presents that they found
Heather, channelling her inner reindeer
Say, “Ho, ho, ho”
The Clayton girls
The pond is always a hit with the boys
Grace also decided to organise an activity – making paper Christmas trees. It might have been a little too trick for the younger crowd, but the adults seemed to have fun helping.
Opening (and playing with) presents after the party
And finally, the party food, starting with flying reindeer pizza
Fruit & cheese Christmas tree
Frosty the cream cheese snowman….or penguin.
Brownie Christmas trees
Santa hats
Quiche stars
Meringue Christmas trees
Cotton ball snowflakes
Shiver me timbers!
We enjoyed Eli’s party and afterwards Eli opened his gifts and got some wonderful dress up clothes from the van der Zee’s…..and then the two of them ran around shouting, “Shiver me timbers!”
Party pics on the ‘morrow
11 months of Adam
Adam was 11 months yesterday, just one more month and he has survived his first year of life
Adam versus the dog
Ukumi waited and waited for Adam to throw the ball, but alas, the baby was busy with the ball and out waited the dog.
Our couches have now moved upstairs due to the addition of some overflow couches from my parents, so Grace & Eli tested out their new playroom couch. I can see many a book being consumed on this couch.
Eli turns 4
Today was Eli’s birthday!
The day started early with birthday present opening. He took much joy in telling everyone exactly what he got today: a train track, a toolbox, a saw, and a book (What the ladybird heard next), as well as the woodworking station we made over the weekend.
With saw in hand, off he went to do some sawing at his woodwork bench
We had his birthday circle at school
Walking around the sun, once for each year of his life
Gingerbread men for his birthday circle
He wanted to go for a hike in the nature reserve, so we spent the afternoon having a lovely walk together.
For supper we had his favourite meal, wraps with chilli, and then finished it off with some ice cream.
A great day celebrating the life of our amazing Eli.