Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum!

On Saturday, Leila went to her second ballet class. My beautiful ballerina! I peeked through the class door during her class and saw her flitting about with the other girls, giggling the whole time. Her ballet instructors then tried to gather the girls into a circle but Leila insisted on dancing in the centre of the circle. I think she's destined for a principal role! 

She calls her dance friends the 'ballet gels', haha! If her dance career fails, there's always a role in Downton Abbey! 

We wanted to do something fun for Father's Day and so, this morning we took the babies down to the Natural History Museum. This week's letter was 'd' and we've been reading all about dinosaurs so Leila was excited to see them. The museum did not disappoint! 

An extinct giant sloth!

We got there just after opening so there weren't too many people in the dinosaur exhibit. Leila liked the skeletons but she loved the mechanical dinosaurs. She had no idea they were supposed to be scary and would wave cheerily, 'hi dinosaur' whenever she saw one. 

These T-Rex teeth were nearly as big as my face!

Harry was the best boy! He was just laughing and smiling the whole way round. I think the dinosaurs were a little beyond him but he loved the animals. Harry with a hippo! 

I am so proud of London's museums. There is so much to see at them and the fact that they are free is incredible. If we'd paid to go to the museum today, I'd have felt oblige to drag the babies around until we got our moneys' worth and we'd have left with grumpy, exhausted babies! Instead, we just spent a fun hour and a half enjoying the exhibits. They've been left wanting more and not buying tickets meant that we could spend money on a nice lunch afterwards. The babies, therefore, have wonderful memories of the museum and are already asking to return!

 We hope Sam had a wonderful day. He is the most wonderful daddy to my babies and we all love him so very much. Happy Father's Day to my lovely father and father-in-law, too! As part of his father's day treat, Leila and Harry filled in a questionnaire about Sam (I served as scribe), I videoed some of it so that Sam could hear their answers. I could watch it all day just to laugh at Harry's baffled face in response to every question. 

The life-cycle of a balloon and other stories

I think we have a mountaineer on our hands. Harry has always preferred attempting to go up the slide than down it, but the other day he climbed all the way to the top. He still isn't walking but he can climb the slide so quickly like this. He waits at the top, holding the handles, until I turn him round. He goes down the slide and then starts his climb all over again. It keeps him entertained for ages!

On Saturday Leila had her first ballet class! Here she is all ready to go, isn't she so cute? She was SO excited! We've never left her anywhere before and so Sam wasn't sure how she'd feel when he left the class but she waved goodbye and ran off to join the others without hesitation. We have ordered her uniform and signed her up for the term! 

After the party at the weekend, I was so tired. I'd been up painting the dining room until midnight during the week and cooking/baking the day before, so I was not in the mood to make dinner. We ended up going to Likya for dinner, Sam loves this restaurant as their meat portions are huge! It was a later dinner than normal for the babies but they were on such a post-party high! 

The babies and I have been working on a few 'top secret' project for Sunday/Father's Day and on one, Leila wrote her name completely by herself! We practiced writing the necessary letters and then I asked her to sign. Look how well she did! It looks more like Leia but then, she is 2.5yo, so I'll let it slide this time :)

Unfortunately the weather in London has taken a pretty serious turn for the worse. Highs of 16 degrees, drizzle and cloud every day. So depressing. Luckily Margaret sent through these pictures of the babies playing in the Madrid sunshine. Harry's smile in these pictures is so gorgeous! 

Margaret also got these pictures of Leila playing with a balloon. They are the funniest series, she starts off so happy...

...until the balloon bursts!

Poor Leila! Luckily Daddy was there to console her! Sam's actually working from home today so I'm going to see if I can persuade him to join me for a quick cup of coffee!

Hip-hippo-ray! Harry's Hippo Birthday!

On Saturday, we had Harry's first birthday party! We invited less people than for Leila's but it worked perfectly, there was such a friendly atmosphere and I think different friendship groups mingled so well this time. Normally Harry is quite the mummy's boy so I wondered how he'd handle the large crowd but he had an absolute ball. I hardly saw him at all! 

The party was held 10am-1pm so we offered a few light snacks and then some pasta salad for lunch. The afternoon before the party, I had the sudden idea to make cake pops. Never again! They were hard work and I think they contained your sugar requirements for an entire year. 

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I used Pinterest to get some 'Hippo party' ideas and then just made it up from there. I am so annoyed with myself because I bought 24 small pizzas and then completely forgot to cook and serve them so a) nobody got to eat pizza and b) we will be eating pizzas daily for the next month. Not that Leila and Harry will mind! I did separate food tables for the babies and adults, I tried to keep healthier snacks on the baby table but they soon sniffed out the chocolate treats!

I was really hoping for sunny weather and we were gifted with the most beautiful day. It was the perfect temperature for everyone to mingle outside while the children played. We put most of the toys outside, including some fun bubbles, so that there was plenty for everyone to do. I printed out a few hippo colouring pages, which the older children loved and ALL the children were great at taking turns on the toys. 

We had no idea how much cake to order and we ended up getting a huge cake. I think it will be joining pizzas on our daily menu for months (healthy!!). We tried a new bakery (risky) but it was amazing. I don't think I've ever had such soft sponge. People were queuing for seconds so I think it was well-received!

Harry thought birthday cake was the best thing ever. 

I loved having my best girls there too. Amanda came around so early in the morning to help set up and happily entertained Harry while I got dressed-without her I'd have been greeting guests in my pyjamas! Jade and James have made both babies' parties-it was his birthday this weekend too and we were so touched that he was happy to come and be used as a human climbing frame/free entertainer! Sunil and Emma managed to come as well and they were adopted by children almost instantly, Sunil spent a good majority of the time in the sandpit and Emma was befriended by little Natalia! They are only a month away from their wedding and have so much to do for it-I am so happy they made it and stayed for so long. 

Gorgeous girl was such a great hostess-she was always happy to help point out the food table and even help sample some of the treats. She had just come from her first ballet class and so she was flitting about, pointing her toes for everyone. Isn't she wearing the most gorgeous dress, we put her in the red dress but when she saw the pink one that Jade bought her in Hawaii-she insisted on wearing that over top. 

My favourite picture from the party below-handsome, happy boy and his beautiful big sister. 

Speaking of dresses, the husband bought me this one to wear for the party! Isn't it beautiful? He felt bad for not picking me up something from Chicago (impossible with stolen bank cards) and so he bought this on Friday night for me to wear the next day. 

This handsome man was such a star. Literally the minute he landed from Chicago I had him running around, buying patio furniture and blowing up balloons. 

We had such a great time and once the families had gone home, we put Harry down for a nap and all the survivors remaining adults cracked open a bottle of bubbly. Perfect way to relax after a busy day!! I am so grateful to everyone who came and who made it such a wonderful afternoon! As the babies get older and have their own classes, preschool and social lives it gets harder to meet up with old friends and even friends from our antenatal groups. It was so lovely to catch-up with everyone, hear their news and even see new baby bumps! 

  

Most importantly, Harry had a lovely time. He just shuffled around from person to person, being fussed over, fed and cuddled. We were in two minds as to whether to have this party, with Sam's busy work schedule and our recent holiday, but I am so glad we did. The next morning, when I went to get Harry, he was naked in his cot, jumping up and down with excitement. I think it is safe to say he enjoyed himself. 

Happy birthday, Harry Hippo! 

PS. A huge thank you to Margaret for these stunning pictures. I didn't take a single photo all day and without her we'd have no pictures at all. Thank you so much! 

Just the three of us

Phew! Is it only Tuesday? Sam caught a connecting flight to the USA for a conference on our return from Madrid so I have been single-parenting for the past five days. I always find the return from holiday depressing-the piles of laundry, the dusty house, the empty fridge-but coming home without Sam has made it doubly depressing! The other night, we were all moping about, missing Sam, so I decided it was time to go out and do something fun.  We ended up going out for a pizza dinner and it was so much fun. I used to take the babies out for lunch regularly when Harry was younger as Leila and I could eat while he dozed in the pram but its been a while since we had meal out just the three of us. The babies were so well-behaved and kept me entertained. Harry played peekaboo with a waiter and Leila was such a big girl, sitting in her chair and tucking in. She LOVES pizza!

Yesterday morning, we received an exciting delivery in the post. Leila is so excited to be starting ballet this weekend and was so upset when her ballet book was taken in Madrid. Grandma had sent us this ballet book all the way from France! Leila honestly did not stop playing with it all morning. It came through the post at 9am and I think it was about 3pm before I persuaded her to put it down and come play. I think she's used and re-used each sticker about ten times already! Thank you so much, mum!

I am so thrilled about seeing Sam again tonight. I hate when he works away, especially over weekends. Although he has worked away plenty of times before, this trip is probably his longest so far. Leila has missed her daddy so much too and has been asking for him constantly. Only eight hours until we see him...hurrah!

M for Madrid

On Harry's birthday, we left Barcelona and headed over to Madrid! I wasn't sure how a three hour train journey would work with two young children but the Spanish train system was so efficient and it was a fun, easy trip! I even got to sneak some cuddles with the birthday boy when he fell asleep on my lap, worn out by all the fuss from the elderly Spanish passengers! Sam's parents met us at Madrid's main train station and the babies were so excited to meet up with Nan and Pops! Unfortunately, whilst at the station we had our bag stolen (containing our passports and bank cards) so I would definitely advise all visitors to Spain to be extra-extra vigilant with their luggage!! We were SO lucky that we were staying in Sam's parents apartment as we had a base on the first day to leave the babies while we phoned our banks and contacted the police and embassy.  

Once things were relatively sorted we could get on with enjoying our time with Nan and Pops and exploring Madrid! We also made sure to continue this little man's birthday celebrate with a cake for breakfast the next day. He was so cross with me for not letting him touch the candle! 

The unofficial theme to Madrid was 'food' and over the week we had some incredible meals. We went to a wonderful Basque restaurant, a traditional Spanish taberna for some incredible patatas and of course, some churros at San Gines. We also went for tapas at the Mercado San Miguel, which was amazing, especially for the meat-eaters!!

Although we had been forecast awful weather for the time we were in Spain, we were so lucky to have so much sunshine. It is apparently much cooler than usual though and we were constantly being urged to wrap up warmer by the concierge! 

Madrid was such a busy city-lots of cars on the roads, people rushing to work, crowded restaurants. Sam and I met up with my best friend Jade who was in Madrid for work and we did everything 'Spanish style'. We met for tapas at drinks at 9pm and then moved onto the restaurant at around half ten. Even as we were leaving the restaurant after midnight, people were coming in to eat. At 1am, the streets were as busy as at 10pm in London. It was so much fun to experience! I loved the location of our hotel too, facing the beautiful Prado Museum and Retiro park on one side and with all the restaurants and tapas bars behind. 

The babies loved their time in Madrid-they got to spend special time with Nan and Pops and there was always something to look at or someone fussing over them. On one bus journey, Harry crawled onto some elderly man's lap and sat on his lap, gazing at him lovingly while the old man crooned 'miho...miho' at him. Nan and Pops had so many playgrounds near their apartment as well as the best ice cream parlour in the world (not exaggerating at all, check out La Romana if you ever see one in Italy or Spain). 

Nan and Pops were such great hosts and tour guides-we saw so much of Madrid! Thank you for having us! We flew home on Friday and this weekend has been dedicated to getting all our bank cards sorted and applying for new passports! Luckily, England has been kind to us and broken us in with some sunshine and relative warmth. I am definitely missing Spain though-all the good food, beautiful architecture, beaches...Fortunately we have this little man's birthday party to distract from the post-holiday blues-time to get organised!