Happy Birthday Daisy!

Presents! Zach's eager to lend a hand.

Daisy's present from me and Andy was a restocking of her dress up box. This is outfit # 1

Outfit #2 - Mermaid

Outfit #3

Outfit #4

Cake! We eat a lot of cake in January.

The birthday girl with Daddy...

...and Mummy.

Daisy has not been able to wait to turn four....and her big day is finally here, Happy Birthday Daisy! She was thrilled with all her presents and very sweetly told me that she 'loved all her beautiful presents, she really really did.'

She had a class trip to Nad al Sheba park today which she enjoyed and she took cupcakes to school and her class sung Happy Birthday, very exciting.

Daisy has grown up so much this year. She's caring, thoughtful and very loving. She loves learning new things, is great at writing words and gets better every day. She's also a wonderful big sister and can't wait to have another little brother to look after. She still has her odd moments of feistiness though, go Daisy!

Bx

Happy Birthday Zach!

The birthday boy!

Ripping in to the presents.

Breakfast!

The wooden cake was a big hit.

As was the plasma car, which Daisy quickly commandeered...

...until Zach enacted the 'not having to share new toys on your birthday' rule.

Zach's favourite dinner, sausages and potatoes. Mmm.

Daisy even managed to put a dress on for the occasion.

A happy sausage smile.

Can I eat it all?

Our gorgeous little man turned two today! We started the day with presents which was very exciting then he headed off to playgroup where there was a little party for him. Andy was able to make it home for a birthday dinner and the all important cake, hurrah!

It didn't take Zach long to work out that it was a special day for him and he could eat what he wanted didn't have to share his new toys with Daisy if he didn't want to. Boy did he take advantage of that...

It's been a wonderful first two years with Zach. He's happy and cuddly and a lot of fun. He's also smart and funny and a really good singer. We're looking forward to another fun year with him and hope the terrible twos aren't too terrible!

Bx

Happy Birthday to me!

Daisy made me this card. She's getting really good at writing.

Cake! Three candles for 33.

I've had a really nice birthday. Andy took the day off work and we went out for breakfast, without the kids! Daisy was at school and Zach was at playgroup so we headed off to Raffles at Wafi. We never go out during the day without them so it was quite exciting. As an extra birthday bonus, I had a call on Monday to say I'd won the Wafi Christmas prize draw and the presentation was today. A family trip to Austria, woohoo! It includes flights for the family to Vienna, 3 nights in the plush looking Sacher hotel, Vienna and a tour of a chocolate factory. Mmm.

Bx

Glorious!

Painting is always a winner

Andy kicks back.

Can I seeeeeeeee? Zach is always desperate to check out the photo.

Watering the plants probably doesn't help Zach's potty training.

Daisy cleans up after her brother.

Serious playing.

Not so serious see sawing.

Daisy lines up to catch the rugby ball.

The weather here at the moment is perfect. Warm sunny days, cool evenings and enough rain to keep the air sparkling. We are spending most of our time in the garden, Daisy and Zach have plenty of things to do out there hence I spend lovely afternoons lying on the couch under the gazebo occasionally getting up to kick a ball round. Being a stay at home mum is great.

Bx

Al Ain Zoo

Pumas. There was an impressive amount of big cats.

Checking out the Pumas.

Icecream stop.

Daisy hones her photography skills.

Then hones her posing skills on the other side of the camera.

Another Daisy effort. Her photography skills are better than mine.

We had a great afternoon at Al Ain Zoo yesterday. It's a really impressive place with a huge range of animals. Daisy LOVED all the animals and wanted to stay FOREVER and Zach had an excellent time roaring at all the lions and making monkey sounds.

Bx

New Year

The sandpit becomes a swamp.

Ankle deep, woo!

We spent New Year at home this year. Tara, Dajon, Sanna, Elleke and Tara's mum Kay stayed over which was fun. Daisy was beside herself with excitment about Sanna staying in her room and the girls managed to stay awake up there until after 11pm. Zach passed out exhausted at about 10pm, lightweight. Everyone but me (again) was on the champers and Andy and Dajon had a great time murdering Singstar and Metallica Guitar Hero until the small hours. I headed to bed at about the same time as 'Lady in Red' got it's second airing. We spent the next morning in the garden then enjoyed about 20 minutes of pelting rain in the late afternoon. It proper bucketed down, very exciting. I forgot to take NYE photos but got a couple of the downpour.

Bx

Christmas Day

Stockings, thanks Santa!

The obligatory chocolate Santa.

Finger puppets!


Waiting very patiently.

A Thomas book!

Penguin puppet!

Zach flexes his muscles to play Santa.

First try on the new scooters.

Sticker time.

Look what Santa left.

Zach copies mummy's pose...

...while Daisy gives Daddy a cuddle.

We had a very quiet Christmas day which was really nice. The kids loved all their presents and had a lot of fun playing with them. Daisy particulary loves her scooter and wants to scoot everywhere, she's pretty speedy. Zach is a bit young for the whole Santa thing but it's the first year that Daisy has really 'gotten it' which was lovely. She came flying in to our room at 6.30am with eyes like saucers, clutching her stocking and saying 'I didn't see him (santa), I was sleeping'. Santa may have gone over Zach's head but presents sure didn't, he spent a lot of the day saying 'presents, presents, yay, yay!'

Bx