The social event of the season!

 Tristan's 4th birthday party with the unusual combination of pirate and magic!

We hired a hall for the first time and it certainly made it easier for clearing up - although things like forgetting milk and sugar until we offered everyone tea wouldn't have been such an issue!

This was the cake.Tristan loved it but during the early making stages kept saying "when will it look more like a pirate ship" ( I tried to explain that a treasure chest being squarer was much more within mummy's capabilities!

...and Tristan blowing our the candles.

 We had a magician which kept the pressure off us for Sam looking after and sorting out food (and the aforementioned cups of tea!).

Tristan loved being the centre of attention and 'breaking' all the wands

and playing games with his friends.

Ice skating

A cold Friday afternoon at Millets farm....

...Torvil and Dean watch out!  Tristan (and large orange seal to hold himself upright) is coming...

Manu was surprisingly good at it - I tried and relied on the seal (or Tristan's head) to steady myself, hardly a picture of elegance especially when it came to stopping/ crashing!

Crawling (/hoovering)

Sam's very first attempts at crawling - at just over 6 months. He's after a toy shop bag (to eat the bags rather than the contents).

Now at 7 months he's still commando style but getting quick and unfortunately this extends to hoovering up everything from the carpet still (stickers are the thing I most often find hanging out of his mouth)..

(he's after a mince pie tin here!)

Ensuite

Our latest project has been trying to sort out our ensuite. We nicked some room from Tristan's bedroom (before he's old enough to complain!) when we first moved in but I couldn't really visualise it until it was done. So this is the before - the loo was at the end of the corridor with a door on it and  the opening on the right was the original entrance into Tristan's room:

We built the stud wall and used it as a computer 'room' for the first year!

 A builder took out the wall, built a storage areas above the entrance to the future ensuite and this is it plastered:

 ...and onto Manu for the tiling...

...and the finished resuts (minus architrave and skirting boards but who needs them?!):

Buoyed by the success of this we have stripped out the disgusting pink main bathroom (so the ensuite is communal at the mo.) so there will be plenty more opportunity to hone our tiling and grouting skills unfortunately!

Sam - 6 months

Sam turned 6 (months) on the 1st. We don't know where the time has gone. He's getting blonder but otherwise everyone says (although we don't see it) is very similar to Tristan.

He loves banging things - people as well as toys...

 He's turning into a real boy and is desperate to join in with some proper toys.

... but we still control his clothes so get to embarrass him and dress him up as a cute bear whenever we like!