The children got some animal cards from Granny. Sam is loving them and learning everything by heart that Papa reads to him. He is struggling with the difference of kilograms and grams (e.g. why is this little animal heavier than this big one? because the weight of the little one is in grams) and carries them round with him all the time (while I pick them up from the floor everywhere and constantly).

He has taken to copying them too. The drawing and the writing. I had to make a little book for him so he can make his own animal book. This is the covering page of book no.2:

On Friday about 5pm the doorbell rang. It was an old school-friend of mine who wanted to know if we had water in the basement. And there was! Plenty of it.

The water was rushing through the workship, into the corridor and through to little room with a drain. And I mean rushing! No idea where it came in. No idea how “seeping” can be so quick.

The reason for so much water was a burst mains waterpipe. And we are talking about a modern pipe here with pressure that allows us to run 5 taps and shower in the house without noticing a drop in pressure!

The power of the water was phenomenal. It burst out of walls, it lifted the tarmac of the pavement as it shot out from between the curb stones and it covered the whole street in sheet ice within minutes.

With so much water in the basement and the sheet ice spreading at a rate of several square meters per second, Swiss efficiency is most appreciated. I was so relieved to see them so competent and quick. Very quickly everyone was there from the firebrigade to the police officers, the road workers, the people from the grid to the journalists (! who later reported that no cellars had been affectd). They stopped the leak and restored water to almost all households within five minutes of getting there.

We witnessed all this in the freezing darkness of a February evening. Sam’s eyes seemed to get bigger by the minute. Amy wouldn’t come in for ages. Tate got a bit scared. Then the firemen suggested they took a look at our basement and two minutes later they started pumping off water. Two hours later someone brought a dehumidifier and four days later almost everything is pretty much back to normal.

…we went to a country pub for lunch. It was a cold and sunny day with quite a bit of snow.

This Saturday we went back there, had another nice lunch, took silly pictures inside and played in the snow outside afterwards. Not for long because it was minus 15 but it was nice to go back and remember… In the evening we looked at the photo album of those distant times. Tate was a baby, I carried him in the sling all the time, I was still breast-feeding. Sam was a tiny wee little boy, incredibly sweet on pictures but also full of tantrums as far as I can remember. Amy is Amy just a little shorter and with teeth - it is obvious that she changed least as she was already four and a half at the time.

Anyway, here some pictures:

us in the pub

Tate

and here he is three years ago!

and this is a paper cut-out that hung right by my side. I couldn't stop looking at it...

We then went outside…

writing Sam in the unspoilt snow

and here we are three years ago!

Tate in the snow

I took exactly the same picture three years ago - only that there was a hot air baloon in the distance.

Patricia left a comment saying that they (the Sleeman Johnstons, I assume) need to know whether the object reflecting in Amy’s drawing was an iceberg. I put the question to the artist who frowned, thought about it for a little while and then delivered her answer: no, it isn’t. It is a rocky island and can you ask Alex how many teeth he has lost?

the girl with not many teeth left - another one is hanging by a tread by now.

grey and lots and lots of snow

postauto landscape (taken through the window of another postauto)

almost sunny

Tate ready to go! He and Dave had a sledging holiday.

Amy, Sam and me were having a skiing holiday. Together with our neighbours, whose children were even more excited than Amy and Sam. The five children skied as much as they possibly could. The first morning I was on the slope outside the house with them before 7am. That was the level of excitement! They were fearless and unstoppable… I often held my breath! They fell over and picked themselves up, covered in snow and not a tear. They rushed and sped, they did the occasional turn and lots of straight down the mountain!

Sun at last! We went up up up up to find it and it was glorious. Sam in typical skiing posture in front of the Wetterhorn.

And here, the same shot with Amy.

The gang sledging (CLICK TO ANIMATE) Corinne & Sam, Valentine, Amy & Amelie, Fabian and finally Sebastian... and then all over again...

There are few things as boring as making curtains but last weekend I made myself do it. Or start it. Two of six curtains for the dining room are up. One day I might even do the bottom hem…

new look dining room - I like it and my strive to make the room more homely and comfy may have finally come to an end.

Friday and there is no school, no kindergarten, just staff training at Steiner school.

After a leisurely morning spent playing/sorting out banking stuff, we went upstairs to get dressed. As we realised that we were all wearing our favourite new thing, we decided to take some pictures. Here they are.

Sam wearing his new fur waistcoat (made by godmother Michèle for his Christmas present - made from scraps of fur from an old coat) - it sorts out Sam's problem of not liking to wear layers.

Amy wearing her new wool dress - made from the same material as Caoimhe's and Annette's Christmas present, soft, stretchy wool material, so warm.

Tate wearing his brand new bangladeshi shirt - a present from my parents, who got back from a three week trip to Bangladesh this week.

the four of us, using self-timer

It was Sunday afternoon and Sam and Amy were playing, singing, dancing around the living room having a laugh. Then Amy had an idea. There was lots of whispering, the announcement of a performance and a short rehearsal, which I overheard from the kitchen. Jingle Bells was clearly going to play a role in this show.

Then Amy and Sam set about preparing the backdrop to their stage production. They wrote some signs and made some tickets, they decorated and then impatiently waited for Papa to return so the performance could begin. Dave and me got the best seats in the house, front row, comfy upholstered seats, personalised tickets and we got to see a riveting show during which they sang Jingle Bells many times over, most of it without the lyrics, which they couldn’t remember. But it was all about the twists and turns, so missing words harldy mattered.

something completely new from Amy…