Erin is 3!

It is Erin's birthday! Time has flown and I cannot believe she is 3 already. Last night I wrapped presents and staged them in our bedroom ready for her this morning. She was very happy with the set up and with the help of Owen set about opening all her gifts. She got plastic glasses for her kitchen and a Hello Kitty outfit from Owen and from Brendon and I she got a picnic hamper with fabric food and drinks. She was very pleased with her presents and took them all on the school run!

Erin the "creator"

Erin is very pleased to be out of nursery and home with me again. We have a lot of fun in the mornings once we drop Owen off at school. She loves being able to play with the toys in his class for a few minutes before we say goodbye and head off. She has also been accepted into Nursery at Parkhouse English School after the summer. I am sure that she will be more than ready to get down to some serious play with her classmates some of which I already know. I have requested that she be in Mrs. Bexon's class as Owen was with her and he still he misses her, Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Baker.

Our daily routine: The deal is that when we are at home the dishwasher has to be unloaded and repacked and the washing loaded and hung first before anything else happens. If this is not done then we live in a perpetual state of chaos. Otherwise it is just "our time". Our days are filled with structured playdates at other peoples compounds, play dough, drawing, painting, music time, creative kitchen time, making lunch together before we fetch Owen, grocery shopping and the odd errand.

Potty training is very successful for no.1 but I do insist on her wearing a nappy on school runs as the traffic is unpredictable and one never knows when one has to wait on the motorway for an extended period. She dislikes this but I have no other choice at this stage of the training.

She has a mind of her own and is sharp as a tack often with a hidden meaning behind her questions. Her talking has come along well and she can form a sentence with up to 10 words sometimes. She counts to 13, knows all her shapes but colours according to Erin are all pink!

Erin's Nursery Concert

It was Apple Tree's Holiday Concert today. Erin has been singing her Santa Song the past few weeks with actions and today it was action time. The parents sat on little chairs armed with cameras, iPhones and iPads. It was a little too daunting for some who went hysterical. Erin could see me sitting in front of her but went into a trance like state at the overwhelming Paparazzi! She was mute during her group singing but perked up in the car and decided that is when she would sing. A lovely effort by the nursery though. 

Expressions of Erin

A productive day with the Mommy

After having to spend time with a sick Owen, Erin was very pleased to spend some quality time with me after dropping Owen at school. We baked 24 cupcakes which were to be decorated later that afternoon with Owen. Then it was painting time. Erin is very keen on cats and so lots of them had to be drawn and painted. Then Erin demanded I draw her in her pretty dress. I thought it was a tall order seeing as I am not an artist in the natural, but what got produced was beyond my normal ability and totally surprising to me! In actual fact I have copy righted it and this afternoon will be photocopying it so that the cherubs can colour in my work of art. The original will be stored in the memories box to be looked at in a few years time. You see before Owen was born I was a career girl. Just give me some numbers and a spreadsheet and I could analyse and pie-graph just about anything you asked me. I could hardly cook, didn't draw and found cleaning and ironing an arduous chore. Once Owen arrived I thought I had better get myself sorted or else he would only be breast-feed for the rest of his life. Now I have most domestic things mastered, except for face painting. And at this point I will admit defeat on it. Any way, back to Erin. So after nap time we went to pick Owen up from school. Erin thought it would be a good time to learn how to apply make-up, which is my usual morning routine in the school car park. In the afternoon the cherubs decorated, iced and ate the cupcakes and then played nicely together until, like every afternoon, Owen had to endure a beating from his sister. I look forward to tomorrow :-)

The clown of our family!

Circus time at Apple Tree Nursery

Today Erin went to nursery dressed up as the ring mistress. The little "Apples" have been learning about the circus and animals and had a morning of activities prepared for them. Erin was very happy with her outfit and "skating shoes" that Granny and Grandpa brought over from the UK with them. I was able to convince her to wear more sensible shoes and that her hair should be brushed and put in 2 pony tails to go with the theme.