december 8-12

(1) building our gingerbread house

(2) the finished product!

(3) munching candy canes

(4) painting fabric for some homemade presents

(and since little sister painted her legs,

this was followed by a splash in the pool)

(5) devouring the gingerbread house 

(this occurred without prior approval from me!)

(6) a pile of freshly wrapped presents

december 1-7

(1) our advent calendar, 

filled with jesse tree magnets and treats

(2) a mini-wreath, made from branches and leaves 

found by the girls in pake and beppe's yard 

(it smells deliciously like lemon gum!)

(3) our wreath of hands, 

a favourite activity from last year's advent season

(4) chocolate letters for sinterklaas

 - next year i'll try holding the piping bag in my right-hand!

(5) sinterklaas stockings, 

which we hung on wednesday night for st. nicholas to fill...

(6) my little card-making helper, 

who is super generous with the glue!

(7) big sister playing with the girls' early Christmas present

 from husband and i - a converted cupboard dollhouse

(8) salt-dough ornaments, 

made with our mums' group friends

(9) our magnetic jesse tree, sparkly stars made at creche, 

and our st. nicholas book

(10) big sister rocking out to colin's christmas album, 

with a present from st. nick

2 weekends

top 1+2: fun at the playgroup church fete

middle 3: little sister's first scone! 

(the cream went in her nostrils...)

 

middle 4: behold the rare sighting of little sister in a hat!

bottom 5+6: strawberry deliciousness at the night market

from the back log

top: girls jumping in puddles, peppa pig-style

(today big sister has been calling me "mummy pig,"

little sister "george" and won't respond unless

i refer to her as "peppa."  sigh...)

middle: girls in their summery shirts,

brought back from greece by nana

bottom: some baby birds in their nest,

in a tree at the back of nana and pa's house.

(the day after i took this photo, i went back

to check on the birds, expecting to see 4 little beaks, 

only to find the mummy bird perched on the nest -

she frightened the life out of me!)

painting

yesterday, for the first time,

little sister did some painting.

she loved it, her preferred method

being to keep the paint carton

on top of her canvas while she worked.

as you can see by the second last photo,

she was devastated when i took the brush away.

big sister has started experimenting with colours

and was describing what was happening

when she mixed certain colours together.

her current preference if for no white bits

to be left on her canvas at all.

when we'd finished,

the girls were so filthy with paint

that i decided to send them outside

for some water-play in the afternoon sun -

and when i came back 10 minutes later,

their hands were all clean! hooray!

big sister, 2 ways

thanks for the amazing cardigan, beppe

we love it - great buttons!

weekending

making playdough trees

hunting treasures at a birthday party

watching chickens

performing daring feats on our friend's slide

looking after our little housemates

a lovely weekend with friends!

keeping busy

big sister has been enjoying her generous new supply of art goodies

while little sister has been becoming increasingly dexterous -

feeding herself breakfast with a spoon

and dipping the bubble wand all by herself

(and sometimes her blowing even makes actual bubbles!)

27 degrees

birthday shoes

clapping from on high

painting with water til soaked through

(and with three bouts of tears and "she tipped my water out!")

happy birthday, big sister!

a purple cow cake

a party with lots of friends

hide and seek and other games

painting cow pictures

a ballerina dress

amongst the many gifts...

happy 3rd birthday, big sister!