10/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Mahlia: Climbing trees and watching the fruit bats. She was alternating between being a tree fairy and a monkey ballerina.

Leila: We enjoy taking the dogs to the local dog park after dropping Mahlia off at Montessori. She has to collect a handful of rocks otherwise I'm in trouble!

I can't believe we're into the double digits already—where is this year going?! A few of my favourites from last week include The Golden Adventures of a very dark horse, Yellow Finch and iSophie.

Joining in with the 52 project over at Che and Fidel!

9/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Mahlia: Getting very excited at the prospect of being able to run on the new grass in the new back yard—hubby is giving it its first mow! All this rain has certainly helped it along.

Leila: Also gardening, watering the herbs and fairy garden—very serious work! I'm surprised her tongue isn't sticking out, as it does when she's concentrating or playing at being shy.

Joining in again with Jodi over at Che and Fidel.

8/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Mahlia: I put too many bubbles in the bath... well maybe you can't have too many. She was desperately trying to see the bubbles in her hair and requested I take a photo so she could see.

Leila: Practising her swimming and sliding down the side of the bath, no matter how many times I tell her not to... she has no fear this one, you can see the defiant look in her eyes.

Joining in with the lovely Jodi over at Che and Fidel.  

7/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Mahlia: We have a small playground next to our house and the girls had a blast working off the cabin fever after the rain subsided midweek.

Leila: There are only a few weeks left of summer!!! We are trying to make the most of the last of summer with as much time spent at the beach as possible! The girls aren't complaining.

Joining in with Jodi over at Che & Fidel.

Christmas Trip Part 2

Following on from part 1, where we left-off taking-off from Dubai and we are Gatwick-bound. This was only a 7-hour flight, but it seemed to take forever. To say I couldn't wait to get there was an understatement. My gorgeous sister was waiting, and it was like a scene from a movie—Mahlia went running into her arms and we were both crying. We had finally got there. I'd been eagerly anticipating this trip back home for long time. After a short trip back to my sister's house, Leila met 2 of her cousins and Mahlia reignited her love with Tom, her 9 year-old cousin. She followed him around and absolutely doted on him.

The following day, Christmas Eve, we took the 2-hour drive to my mum and dad's cottage with my sister and her family. We arrived just as it started to get dark. Another emotional reunion, again Mahlia ran into her Granny's arms, Leila gave her Grandpa a big cuddle before getting slightly overwhelmed. Thanks to Skype, Granny and Grandpa are regulars in our house, so the girls felt at home as soon as we got there. Mum had all the lights off, bar the Christmas tree lights, and had the house bathed in candle-light—it was magical. I was so relieved to be there, and felt 'Christmassy' for the first time in many years. I always have an overwhelming sense of homesickness at Christmas normally.

We spent the evening playing with childhood toys and catching up, before setting out the carrots for the reindeer and a mince pie and a cup of milk for Santa. The girls shared a room and excitedly went to bed.

Christmas morning started early (surprise, surprise!) and the girls came into our room to open their stockings. Mahlia was so excited—she totally got the whole concept of Christmas and Santa this year. Leila wasn't too fussed with her stocking, thanks to finding my phone (which she is annoyingly addicted to) but soon got into it!

Being in England, it was still pitch black outside (there was no white Christmas unfortunately), and we went to show Granny the stockings and the girls were allowed to open one present each from under the tree.

Once we were dressed, the girls in their new dresses from Santa, and after breakfast we opened our gifts to each other before the rest of the family arrived. Mahlia was wearing some of Granny's clip-on earrings—she loved them!

My sister and her family arrived not too long after, followed by my brother and his family. It was really special having everyone together again. After more presents and a scrummy Christmas lunch, some of us headed out for a walk to work off some of the food. Twister was played—hilarious, and very sore after.

So that was Christmas 2012—spent with my wonderful family who we miss so much.

Part 3 of the trip to follow (goodness knows how many parts there will be—we took thousands of photos... bored yet?!).

6/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013.

Mahlia: My beautiful butterfly... after a trip to the hardware store with daddy.

Leila: Poor little Leila was suffering from a fever yesterday. This was earlier in the week, lying on the floor with daddy reading books.

We now have a grassed back yard! The girls are itching to get out there and run under the sprinkler and can't quite understand why they have to wait a few weeks. Photos coming soon!

Joining in with Jodi over at Che and Fidel.

Current heart-melting moments

Leila

• She takes herself outside to sit at the table, or to her bedroom, to read some books, all by herself.
• Her blasé attitude towards potty training... when she's nude she trots off to the potty, does her business, flashes a coy smile and gets back on with whatever she was doing prior, regardless of the fuss we make.
• She still asks to go back on the aeroplane to Ganny and Bampa's house, every day.
• She reads books to her baby (doll), talking, pointing and laughing with it.
• She has her noo-noo (comfort teddy) touching her face when she goes to sleep.
• She will hide her face and peek out and say 'I see you'.
• She can't say her 't's or 'c's yet—'I'm coming' = 'I'm bumming'; 'Mummy, come' = 'Mummy, bum'; 'Look at my tummy' = 'Look at my bummy'

Mahlia

• This week, at Montessori, she patiently sat with her friend while he showed her how to do an activity that she already knew how to do. When the teacher asked her why, she simply said 'he wanted to teach me'.
• When she laughs really hard, she gets the hiccups.
• She gets an 'itchy' tongue when she eats something spicy.
• She mothers her little sister and has done from the moment Leila was born.
• She still can't quite get her tongue around the word 'animal'... to Mahlia it is aminals.
• Bedtime chats about her favourite parts of that day.

I love those girls x