Watch the birdie...

Tanya really doesn't wear make up, and nor do I generally. We actively avoid TV with adverts, fashion magazines, princess stories and many other things that we don't consider strong female role models for the supreme being. So when Mummy was caught with lipstick on the other day and suggested that Emily might like to paint her toe nails like Mummy, why on earth did Emily start to quiver with excitement? It seems no matter how hard you try, boys like guns and fighting and girls like dolls and dressing up. I give up.

Anyway, before I knew it it had turned into a full blown make up session for ALL the family. Well, if you can't beat them then you have to join them...

 Looking good

 The terrible toes that started the matter

My beautiful princesses

Emily has been out enjoying her Easter break from nursery. She's been catching up with friends and having trips out everyday. Topping the bill (pun alert) has to be albatross mask making and being on a horse again!! She's a bundle of joy at the moment with such a zest for life that we struggle to keep up with her. That zest is particularly useful when it comes to chasing pigeons off the lawn I have attempted to re-seed. She's certainly determined I'll say that - a trait more from her mother than me.

 Spot which one is the real albatross

Delighted to be back in the saddle

And some of the most exciting news at the moment is that we have lodgers in our Dutch nesting box. Over the past few days a pair of blue tits have been busily building a nest inside and so we are hoping to become surrogate parents to some blue tit chicks in the coming weeks. Emily's been pretty excited about the whole bird thing this year. She has taken to bird spotting with Daddy at the bird table, eagerly searching our bird book to find out what the birds are that come munching, whilst remembering that the only ones to chase away are our seed eating wood pigeons. I'm learning a thing or two myself which is nice, but I have to say my memory is barely half as good as a three year-old.

 There's no place like home