More Halloween Pictures

A few more pictures from Friday nights Halloween Party.

Halloween 2006

Lauren went as a friendly witch and had her painted as a butterfly so she wouldn't scare the little ones.











Here's our Hannah after having her face painted at the tiny treasures party friday night. She'd dressed up as a modern day witch, high heeled boots and all!!

Our little Jess went to the party as a cat and also had her face painted, she sat very still whilst Mandy painted her face for her.

Kazia also went as a cat and had her face painted to match.

Another busy couple of weeks

Well another busy couple of weeks here in Antigua again!

First Jessica and her swimming lessons, swapping to the Wednesday morning seems to have worked. although we still have a few little tears she appears to be having fun in the water again. She is swimming on her own, diving for sinkers and jumping in. We have even got her wearing her back pack which is designed to help them learn to float, a bit like arm bands, but they are floats which we tie onto her back.
Hannah and Lauren are enjoying their swimming lessons as well, especially Hannah who is also doing the lifesaving class.

All this week and into next week is Antigua's independance week. We are celebrating 25 years of independance from British Rule and they appear to be doing it in style. All of St.Johns is covered in banners, flags and buntin and wherever you go cars are all supporting the event by flying flags.
School has been busy this week as well with it's own independance programme and various fundrasing events. Thursday saw a pot luck lunch being dished up at school and to put it mildly it was disasterous. So many parents didn't make any dishes which of course meant that there wasn't enough food to go around, i don't think i'll be volunteering to help out at that event next year!!!!!

Friday was the school's independance programme and each grade had a little show to perform about Antigua's history, even the tiny tots who had made their own hats, they looked so sweet. Hannah and Lauren have both commented that the have learnt so much more here about Antiguan history and the National Symbols than they ever learnt about Britain's history, the flag and national symbols, what can i say other than it's very true. I aim to have them learn a bit about Britains history though over the next few days as they are off school.

Friday also saw the fundraising bake sale again at school and this one was even better than the last one, we raised just over EC$900 and we are hoping to donate half of this to the PTA for urgently needed road repairs, those who have been to the school will know what i mean!!!!

Puerto Rico and Christmas

Well another busy week here in Antigua. On Tuesday me and Kath ventured off to Puerto Rico for an overnight stay to complete our christmas shopping. We had an amazing time and it was mainly due to the fact we were childless for 24 hours. No children complaining about being tired and hungry and no-one to think about but ourselves, sound selfish, all i can say is that it doesn't hurt to be sefish once in a while. Scott and Roman did a fantastic job lookng after the children and we retuned to children and houses all safe and in one piece.

Friday me and Scott were childless again as Kath and Roman offered overnight babysitting (never to be turned down) whilst we went out for my birthday. We went to Coconut Grove and had a fantastic meal, made all the beter knowing we didn't have to rush back. Having said that we had booked a table for 7.00pm and were therefore back home by 9.30pm. 9.30pm i hear you shout!!! an overnight babysitter you have, but we were quite content to pop open another bottle of wine and catch up with 24. We managed 3 episodes before turning in, knowing that no children would be waking us up at 7.00am. Absolute heaven!!!!!!!

Saturday dawned and i met up with Kath and the children at the pool as it was Jessica's swimming lessons. Now as you remember Jess was really coming along with her swimming and was jumping in on her own and not bothering too much about being underwater. Well not any more. With her having been so ill we hadn't taken her to the pool in a while and my did it show. We are back to square one, she was fine before her lesson, but as soon as the lesson began the waterworks and screaming began and boy was she on top form, to the point that even i felt sorry for her. I kept her going to the end of her lesson but then had to talk to Zoe (swimmng teacher) about this as i wasn't happy. We came to the conclusion that Jessica got out of the habit of swimming so wasn't very happy and also that as she was so used to crying during her lesson that it was normal for her to do this. The outcome, we are going to move her back to Wednesday lessons which are quieter and see if this makes a difference, if not then we will see this 10 week set of lessons through and miss the next set, but keep her coming to the pol so that she can get used to things again. I will keep you updated about how things go, but please all cross your fingers for a quiet lesson on Wednesday.

Saturday afternoon saw the begining preparations for the Christmas pudding and cake. All the ingredients were mixed together and left in the fridge overnight for the alcohol to absorb into all the fruit. Hannah and Lauren had a great time helping out, especially with the Christmas Pudding as they needed to help stir and make a wish. Saturday evening was spent at Kath and Roman's as they had invited us to a BBQ and once again a great time was had by all.

Sunday saw the Christmas pudding go on to steam for a grand total of 8 hours and the Christmas cake being finished and baked for 4 hours. Nikita came around for a playdate at 12.00pm and the girls had a fantastic time watching Bratz Rock Angels and playing in the pool. Jessica thankfully went for a sleep this afternoon as she is totally shattered and hopefully she won't wake up till about 4.00pm.

What a day!

We are now really back into the swing of things.

It's my turn on the lift share this week so after i'd dropped all the kids off at school i headed back to Jolly Harbour with Jess. Jess doesn't go into school on Wednesdays as there is a coffee morning held in Jolly Harbour for all resident mums and small children (kinda like a toddler group), each week a different mum hosts the morning and this week it was my turn. I was supposed to have done it last week but with Jess being so ill i couldn't.

Before i could get ready for that i needed to organise dinner, nothing special, pork casserole, but it had to be able to be easy enough to serve straight away as Hannah and Laurens swimming lessons started again today (or so i thought) and we need to eat as soon as they get back or it knocks the whole night time routine out of synch.

Once that was done and in the oven with potaoes peeled ready for mashing, it was time to get the toys out ready for everyone to arrive at 10.00am. It was a really good turn out today, about 9 children altogether. A couple of new mums have arrived on the Island and it's always nice to get to know a few more faces.

After a fairly quiet, considering the number of children, couple of hours everyone had gone and we had tidied up. It was time for Jess's lunch and then her afternon nap, which she had today thankfully. It was at this point that i tried to get hold of the swimming instructors as i was told the lessons started next week and not today! After having no luck at all i figured i'd better just head for the pool for 3.30pm just to be on the safe side, and if there were no lessons this week, then at least it would be a dry run for next week.

Kath was picking up the girls from school as Jess was sleeping so when they arrived it was a mad 20 minute in which they had to get as much homework done as possible because there might be swimming lessons! Then there was another mad 10 minutes trying to get them ready to go swimming (not too difficult by my thinking, take off clothes and put on swimsuit, grab towel and goggles, ready to go...) only Hannah and Lauren could turn this into a three ring circus act, it didn't help that i was also trying to convince Jessica that yes she really did want to wake up now as we had to leave and go swimming......well that did it, the dreade 's' word, she howled all the way to pool "no like wimmin, no like pool". Upon arriving at the pool there were no swimming instructors and seeing as it was 3.30pm definately no lessons. I found out on my return home, via email, that they had only landed back on the Island at 3.00pm, definately no swimming!!!!! LOL

We stayed in the pool for about an hour the same as we would have done on a normal week and caught up with some of the other mums and children, whilst listening to little Jess shouting out every so often "no like pool home me now!!!" For those that know Jess this is normal and is ignored, for those who don't know Jess, and her aversion to getting her head wet, i am 'the evil mother, from the planet you must hate your child'. But at the end of the day we live with the sea on our back patio, a marina on the front and a pool in the middle. Therefore she will learn to swim! Give it a few weeks of getting used to the water again and she'll be fine......i hope!!!

After that home for dinner, finishing homework, showers/baths and then finally bed! All of them in and settled by 7.25pm.

Thank-god they only do one after school activity if todays antics are anything to go by! On the bright side i know that next week we can be at the pool by 3.30pm, get homework done and still have the children in bed on time. All is well with the world!!

Guess what.........more photos!!!!!!!!!!

OK last lot for now i promise!!!!!!



All the gang at the picnic in Heaton Park, the day before we left. Yes it's true the sun was shining in Manchester, and we all had a great time. It was fun catching up with everyone and all the kids had a ball.








Jessica's birthday spread, please note the homemade birthday cake at the front courtesy of MOI!!!!!!
It was even edible!!!







Jess with one of the dolls she got for her birthday.







Hope you have all enjoyed the picture updates.

It is now my mission to take more photos which i can hopefully upload at the same time as they happen.

photos again

More photos!!


Back in the UK Max sharing his ice-cream with Jess.










Lauren, Molly and Amy. They played as they'd never been apart.









Jess sunbathing in the pool. Not a bad life eh?








View from our back patio.

More photos!

More photos!

Photo update

I am finally able to upload photos again. These are a mix of Jessica's party, their first day back at school and any others i can upload. Enjoy!!!!!!

Finally pictures!!

All is well again.

Well all is well again in the Brown household. Jess finally seems to be OK and was back in school today, we had the usual tears when i was leaving, but as usual they had gone by the time i drove the car past her classroom....kids!!!!

I am now hooked up to msn messenger, just another excuse to spend more time on the computer but hey at least i done it and i can see me becoming hooked!!

Scott arrived in Florida safe and sound on Saturday and has already done about 3 hours worth of flying, so not bad going. I hope the weather stays good so that he can get in the 20 hours he wants to. It is so much easier with him being over there as there is no time difference which means the girls can talk to him more.

We have had a fairly quiet weekend, Saturday was spent doing as little as possible. I did the really boring stuff like the washing and the ironing and cooked up a storm in the kitchen. Hannah, Lauren and Jess chilled out and watched some DVD's and played quite happily together.

Sunday Hannah and Lauren went over to Nikita's house for a play date. The timing couldn't have been more pefect, by the time me and Jess got back home it was time for her lunch and afternoon nap. This left me time to do those niggly little jobs that always seem to get left. You know the ones, tiddying the bookshelves of kids clutter; sorting out closet shelves and basically just putting things back in their proper place. The house heaved a huge sigh of relief once i'd finished i can tell you.

I finished just in time to go and pick up the girls, we then headed for the woods centre to do some shopping, came home had dinner and crashed for the night.