Merry Xmas - it won't be white, but it was close!

Merry Christmas everyone. We hope you're all having a happy and festive day - we know we will be. To kick us off for our Christmas edition, we thought we'd share some of the usual antics going on at ours in the lead up to the big day.


Given the girls didn't manage to get out of their 'jamies, this photo was deemed unfit for the yearly family Christmas Card (which we forgot to send again this year). But nevertheless, they did do a good job with their hand-made Christmas Hats.


The tree


For the School Nativity Play this year, Lucy got the role of Camel No. 1 - and yes, it was her usual Oscar winning stuff.


And of course it was Caiti's first Nativity Play, where she was part of the Twinkly Star chorus. From all reports her singing voice is not only superb, but she rules the mic like Shirley Bassey.

Well, it doesn't look like it will be a White Christmas this year in Woodham, although we have had a few nice blankets of snow over the last week or two - but unfortunately it's all melted away over the last couple of days. Not to worry cause we managed to take dozens of photos (as we do) to capture all the excitement.


Snow at school - it doesn't get any better than this!


Actually the only thing better is when school gets cancelled because of the snow - no luck this time.



Yep, it's all smiles for snow at school.



Actually standing around smiling does start to get a bit chilly after a while.


Snow at home - it doesn't get any better than this.


There's only one thing for it: snowball fight.


Don't ever turn your back during a snowball fight.


Keezee has been working in Scotland, and enjoying the snow up there (mainly from the airport window, whilst waiting hours for his flight....) so his snow man building skills could not be utilised on this occasion. Not to worry, the girls had a go all on their own and didn't do a bad job really [cough, cough].


Carrot nose eater: caught in the act (again).

So that's it from us - love to all and we hope you enjoyed the pics and have a wonderful Christmas Day.

Caiti's started school! (or 'sool' as she calls it)

We can't believe it either, but Caiti's started at school. All good so far - learning, making friends, doing her homework, blitzing computer studies (applying her advanced internet gaming skills) and finishing at midday each day, cause she's a "summer born".

Anyway, there's a big demand to see some photos, so here's some Nanna Julie took when she was here. Caiti started a few days after Lucy, and Nanna actually left the weekend before Caiti's first day, so we did a special dress up for the cameras in our new backyard!









And here's Lucy on her first day back at school - all fired up for another big year!

Caitlin's Graduation

As you may have heard, Caiti's off to big school in September (no we can't believe it either) and today she had a special graduation ceremony at her nursery/pre-school. The photos were so cute we had to show them....

Out and about with Lucy

Today we have a special posting updating all of Lucy's friends and fans on what she's been up to lately.

We begin with a bit of indoor tennis: The Brits are starting to take this Wimbledon thing seriously and now all school children learn tennis for 3 hours every day. It seems like a good plan, but I get the feeling there's something missing - a tennis ball and court perhaps:


Not sure what's going on in this next one. Looks as if it must have been "frog hat" day at school:


Here she is as The Wicked Witch of the West (Byfleet) - scary eh?:


Striking a pose at ballet class:



All that ballet training paid off at the school summer BBQ (which was an absolute screamer, by the way) when she and her ballet class danced in front of a huge crowd. We captured some of the performance on (low quality) video for your enjoyment:

Merry Christmas Everybody!

We just wanted to wish everybody a very Happy Christmas.

This is now our second Christmas in the UK and we certainly miss everybody back home at this time of year - the cold and dark doesn't help. Nonetheless, it is a fun time of year here with all the Christmas lights, Christmas markets, the endless soundtrack of "classic Christmas songs" on radio and TV (many of which we'd never heard before), not to mention the offer of mince pies and mulled wine everywhere you go.

Our trip to Paris forced us to download the pictures off the camera, and we've got lots to share. So we thought we might share a couple of Christmassy and otherwise non-classifiable snaps.


Christmas Tree 1: Our tree, with assorted mess for good measure.


Christmas Tree 2: This was the tree at the hotel we stayed in Paris.


The girls looking cute at Wisley Gardens (or Wisley Gardener, as Caiti calls it).



A nice shady tree at Wisley Gardener.

A wild Panda at Wisley Gardener.

Big Red Tractor.



A couple of snaps of us enjoying the autumn sun in Windsor Great Park.

Halt, who goes there.


Caiti loves her football.


Lucy was quite proud of the gingerbread man she made.


Lucy and Caiti earlier this month, on the occasion of Lucy's 6th birthday.


The Birthday Cake - that's six candles.


Here's the girls at Lucy's school Book Parade Dress-up day. Princesses were popular dress-up that day apparently.


Lucy performing in her school production of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Lucy had the role of spoilt brat Veruka Salt - and was very good according to a number of critics.


Here's Lucy soon after her school Nativity play. Lucy was one of King Herod's soldiers and sang a rousing ditty called "Herod the Great, he's the ruler of us all".