A Houseful!

Yesterday evening was just amazing.
6 children and me for dinner and so wonderful.
Other peoples children are just so handy. They are always well-behaved, never talk back and they do what you say all the time.
Everyone helped with setting tables, pouring drinks, blowing on food for littler ones, clearing the tables.
It really makes you appreciate just how important siblings are. Everytime we discuss having another baby, the pure horror of my pregnancy with Charlotte and the subsequent horrific birth just flashes in to my head. But after seeing how much being a sibling in a larger family improves a childs character so much, it makes me want to reconsider for the greater good.
Hannah and Charlotte just had each other in stitches all the way through dinner - they sat at the little drawing table on the Ikea chairs together - Charlotte was putting cups on her head and spearing her pasta with the wrong end of her fork. Hannah was chattering away at a 100 words a minute. They both had a shower together and I kept peeking in on them and catching Hannah wiping Charlotte's hair out of her eyes so gently. Charlotte was soaping up Hannah's back. They were sharing toothpaste and laughing, laughing, laughing.

Ella and Bethany were in their PJs in about 2 seconds flat and then hid underneath the quilt in Ella's room with torches chattering and giggling. Sophie just wandered about happily.......

Oooh, and I just had to include the photo of Ella during her girly rite of passage! Going to sleep with a head full of wet plaits and waking up with poodle hair :)
She was so precious walking around with her head so still so the 'curls won't fall out'.
Gold.

And - tah dah - I finished a sequin leaf last night, eleven more to go....

Mum and Dad you will get to see Ella's concert video live as her concert is the Saturday before you come home (2/12) and I don't think they will have the DVDs available immediately. But we will certainly work on it for Adam and Eva to see.