Louis

There are few things in life that bring as much pleasure as seeing Emily and Phoebe playing with the children of our oldest and dearest friends, so seeing Russell, Fiona and Louis at Christmas was a very special experience indeed.

Thanks to Russell for the photos.

Under the weather

Emily is feeling a bit off-colour, so I keep her off school for the day and read her A Necklace of Raindrops (than which there is no better tonic).

Later: "I feel much better, Daddy, thank you!"

Happy Birthday Kaiti!

For her birthday, Kaiti invited us (& Marios) to her place so the girls could make homemade pizza and pasta with Costis.

Batman

When last we saw our hooded hero, he was trapped in the lair of deadly shepherdess Little Bo Peep. Surely this time its curtains for the caped crusader! But wait! Who is this come to rescue him?

It's his friends in the Legion of Superchums (including Spiderman, a couple of Power Rangers and Zorro)! Hurrah! But wait! Bo Peep has escaped!

And what dastardly plan has she hatched? A bomb strapped to Batman's chest that must be defused or Gotham City will be blown sky high. "Superman, can you deactivate it with your laser vision?" "Er, hold on a minute there Batman, I'm not at all sure about that. Why don't I just step over here while you defuse the bomb."

"Phew, that was a close shave! Now what?"

"Well done, Dark Knight! And listen, because I have good news! Bo Peep has been captured by SuperFop!"

"SuperFop!?! Good man! Let us race to his secret crushed velvet hideaway and finally bring an end to her antics!"

"Tell me everything, SuperFop! Where is Bo Peep?"

"I'm sorry Batman! There was nothing I could do! She broke through my filigree force field, incapacitating my ward, Dirk (say hello, Dirk) and rendering me helpless with a piece of brocade (against which, as you know, I am powerless)! You're the only one who can stop her now, Batman!"

"Yes! Along with my good pal Spiderman!"

"Spidey, tell me again why we decided to reveal our secret identities to the world?"

"It was just too hot to wear a mask, Batman. Honestly, it must be twenty-five degrees out there and this nylon costume is just killing me!"

Batman looked on in dismay at the sea of pink tulle. Bo Peep was nowhere to be seen. And nor was there any sign of her deadly robotic sheep...

But suddenly, there she was! Tune in next week to see if the Caped Crusader will escape the clutches of the evil Bo Peep...

Carnival

These are the girls' costumes this year. Emily and her friend Amalia are dressing as Native American Indians (she seems to have some kind of martial arts thing going on here...)





While Phoebe has decided that she is (THWOK!!! KA-POW!!!) Batman!


Complete with Batwellies.

And Batscooter!

By the shore of Gitche Gumee...

Phoebe's class dressed up as little Native American Indians today

Getting the giggles

It is two o'clock in the morning and I am lying in bed when suddenly I hear a noise coming from the girls' bedroom.

What was that? It sounded like a -

"Hehehehehe!" There it is again. Someone's giggling!

"Girls?"

Nothing.

"Hehehehehe!" And there it is for a third time!

I'm not getting out of bed to check, but I reckon the sleepgiggler must be Emily (who has a history of sitting bolt upright in bed and spouting unintelligible nonsense before slumping back onto her pillow).

As for what is amusing her, I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that Nevi is sleeping very deeply. And snoring. Very loudly.*

I give Nevi a gentle nudge and she rolls over. The snoring stops. There is no more giggling.


* In the interests of balanced reporting, I note Nevi's categorical denial that she could possibly have been snoring ("I don't snore!!!") or that she has ever been involved in any snoring-related activity. (Not that I live in fear of reprisals, or anything...)

Skirt

Emily has gone to school today wearing a skirt (the skirt, her only skirt). Obviously, I couldn't let this event go by without marking it in some way. After all, this will be just the second time in her school career that she has gone to school dressed as a gurl (the other was for half an hour on her first day in the First Years, at the school blessing).

She assures me, however, that I should read no significance into this, that she has no plans to make a habit of it and that she simply wants her friends to see how she looked at the wedding.

Phew! For a moment there I was worried!