The snow has arrived!

   

Ice at the Palace

It's been quite difficult adapting to the cold weather after three weeks in sunny South Africa.  The temperature has rarely risen above zero since we've been back and it keeps threatening to snow. My motto is: It's no use complaining about the cold - embrace it! So on Sunday we went ice skating at Hampton Court Palace with the Hills.  It was a memorable outing and we'll add it to our list of annual things to do.  Next time it might be a good idea to get penguins or guides because Mom and Dad were real novices too.  Afterwards we played in the palace gardens, conquered the maze and finished it all off with pizza.  All in all a fun day out!

  

The colour of the sky

One of the things I miss most about SA when I get back to UK is ...

The colour of the sky!

From Frosty England to Sunny South Africa

Top of the ladder

Can you imagine the excitement and pride in our household when Nicholas came home with a real proper trophy.  He was at the top of the chess ladder for his year group for quite a few weeks and every Friday we waited with baited breath to hear if anyone knocked him off.  What we didn't realise was that there would be such a smart trophy for the overall winner!

Big Star

Nicholas' Christmas Play was called Baa Baa Bethlehem.  The year 1 boys were the night sky, dressed up as stars, they sang their songs beautifully.  Unfortunately they didn't do any of the acting because the year 2 boys did that part.  It was still great fun watching Nick taking his role very seriously and singing wholeheartedly.  He was in the back row because he is one of the tall boys so he was hardly visible in the action shots of the group.  As you can see all the boys felt a sense of relief when it was all done!

Little Star

Daniel's Christmas Play was called Whoops A Daisy Angel.  It was so sweet watching these little tots prance and perform.  The songs were lovely and Danny spent the passed few weeks singing them at every opportunity.  At the performance he was a bit bewildered and it took him a while to warm up and get going.  By the end he was in high spirits and beamed at us as he sang and danced on stage.  We were so proud of him!

A fly on the wall

Every term Danny's nursery has an excursion and this time it they went to watch Too Many Penguins at the Polka Theatre.  His teacher asked me if I would like to be a chaperone.  This is not something I've done before and I must say I quite enjoyed it because it was like being a fly on the wall.  It was interesting getting some insight into the dynamics of managing 30-odd little kids and it was great to get a glimpse of Daniel's relationship with his peers and his teachers.  He sure is a cheerful and confident little guy!

How can it be?

That my boys beat me hands down at Monopoly on their first go ever!

Indefinite Leave to Remain

At last we have our ILR!  It's a long and complicated story that I don't really feel like going into but after many months of gathering a whole pile of documents and trying to get 4 consecutive appointments we ended up at the Home Office in Cardiff a couple of weeks ago.  The photo is from the 8th floor of our hotel room in the city centre and if you look closely you can see the Millennium Stadium in the background.  Anyway, the end result, one step closer to 'no more visas'!