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…

…with lots of rain, lots of grey, lots of Christmas presents, lots of friends, some absent friends, when we walked the streets of Hackney endlessly and took lots of buses too.

posing with Granny

Amy is too quick for the camera

Sam too

photo art by Sam (the blue smudge is me)

Tate and Sam reading a book on Granny's chair

more reading of books

Steve and Anna are visiting and Dave is totally unperturbed by a paper crown hanging over his eye

Tate pulling a funny face

Sam pulling a funny face while posing on the bus (upstairs, front seats, the best seats in the house!)

more posing on the bus, Hackney Central

Hackney, towards Bethnal Green

walking at dusk

three happy children in front of a beautifully green tree trunk - the things you discover when walking!

and last but not least: the stomp rocket! great fun!

Sam has been making labels for some sweets we made for their teachers. I had to take a picture of them. I love them.

they are rainbow crystals, yep! cut out almost entirely by Sam on his own! he is well chuffed with them!

It has been snowing on and off ever since the weekend and snow always makes me want to walk. Not just because of safety fears - although I did have a near accident because some driver unfamiliar with a junction did not see the markings, which I take for granted - but just because it is so much fun. So yesterday I picked up Sam and Tate from kindergarten/playgroup on foot and we slowly walked home in swirling snow.

Tate not looking so sure... he still isn

along the road

To my great relief, the snow is due to stop and even melt on Friday - so we should be able to drive in safety to the airport on Saturday morning. We’ll have to leave home at 4am… I’ll be very glad when this journey is over and we are safely at Granny’s.

In November I took Amy and Sam ice skating as they offered a very informal little course four children and parents. As Sam had missed one lesson, the teacher had invited us back for one more session. We went this Monday and I finally managed not to leave the camera at home.

the ice rink just up the road from our house - home to a second division ice hockey club

Amy was very quick at learning, very careful and controlled, she can even go backwards and is quite good skating on one leg.

Sam on the other hand… his skating style is very similar to his skiing style: he is a reckless maverick wild sort of skater. The main thing is to go fast and to slow down he throws himself onto the ice. He explained his technique to me at great lenth - so what may look wild and uncontrolled is actually very deliberate, he was trying to say. I don’t buy it! It was wild and uncontrolled but a lot of fun, that was clearly visible. I loved seeing him rush around the rink this week because back in November he had really struggled and found it very hard, but somehow four weeks of not going has made a huge change. As opposed to the pictures I took of Amy, Sam always looks very dynamic and there are many many I could have put up. I chose this one because of his smile.

After a week of wintry wet storms, we finally got some snow.