Swoot-swoo--Gorgeous You

 This was the face painting from open day at Kilgraston....it started a trend...

 Someone is 4 months old now and we've been trying him with rice and porridge....he prefers porridge.

 Mom went looking for someone the other day and found her under the office desk....complete with lollipop.....silently enjoying herself and SO proud of her "sneeky-ness"

 Our Grand adventure to the Inner Hebrides....the ferry...

 We got off the ferry, but by that point had been on the road awhile and Fergus needed fed, so we found this little park where Erin played with the girls while mom fed Fergus.

 Weeman, his eye-scratches (we've since cut his nails REALLY short) and his new patriotic bib.

 The white sand of Iona....these warm days are rare, but the beaches are amazing! (even if the water is baltic)

 Duart Castle, Mull.....Ailsa being upset about "her turn"....

 The amazing views on the island..

 Love on the ferry

 The Scare-crow family in the commune's garden.

 Fergus and Tobermory

 Isla, so proud of herself for coming all the way to "Balamory" (a kids' BBC show that uses Tobermory as their "home"....we had to explain a million times that it's only a show and she couldn't go meet Miss Hooly....She was pretty gutted...

 After driving 2 hours on a route that was supposed to take half that, we arrived at Calgary Beach. The girls had begged all day to go to a beach for a long time (not just the one in Iona next to the ferry dock), to fly their kite...when we arrived, they were both asleep!!!  It was so late and we knew we had to get back for the ferry (at 7:30 we thought), that we had to just keep driving....it was a sad moment, because mum was looking forward to a driving break and some white sand....as it was, the ferry was actually at 7 and we only realised that at 6:45....(and you're supposed to be there 30 minutes before)...it was the last ferry of the day too!  We made the ferry, but sort of a blessing, because if we'd stopped at the beach, we'd surely have missed it and had to get a hotel on the island.

 The roads around the island are all these one-lane ones with passing places (and wandering sheep) so it's hard to go more than 30 mph, despite the speed limit being 60...(and unfortunately the sat nav assuming you can go 60 the whole way).

 HILARIOUS to Isla (as read to her by Auntie Erin).

 Our great climber discovering barnacles.

 A crazy dog (a border collie...so not a mystery!) that LOVED Isla. It would jump if anything (rocks, sand) was thrown and do flips and such. She thought it was great. Mum was a bit nervous...

Auntie Erin came up to visit us after her trip to Ghana and we made the most of the amazing weather we've been having. She arrived in Wednesday afternoon and bright and early Thursday morning we put the kids in the car and headed off for Oban to catch the ferry to Mull. It was a LONG day, but great fun.

Little Man

Lazy Sunday afternoons

My turn

Ailsa kept insisting it was 'her turn' to get her facepainted at the local highland games and sat remarkably still for her 'dog'.

Runnin' with the 4 year olds

More face painting

Our big girl

She wants to do everything Isla does...

Lovin the water

River sandals rock!

Fishing fun

A girl and her dog

Buckets o fun

Summer sun

These will be in the wrong order, but to update things--Auntie Erin came on Wednesday as a stopover from her trip to Ghana and she seems to have brought FABULOUS weather with her...high 70s and bright sunshine. We took advantage of it, threw the kids in the car and spent yesterday driving to the Isle of Mull and Iona. We took 2 ferries, drove lots of miles and saw some amazing white sandy beaches (unfortunately the best being Calgary Beach--but the kids were all sleeping so we didn't stop!). Today, after 11 hours in the car yesterday we opted to stay home, but went and played in the burn, which was a bigger hit with the kids. Fergus can now roll onto his stomach--although then he panics as he doesn't know what to do.

The godfather of teething

No longer secure..

Loving the 100 year old tree in our garden

Keepin their icelollies out of the sun

Cassie keeping an eye on the laundry

My newest laundry helper

Biking sisters

Everyone had a 'special' sister on a tricycle....or atleast felt that way.

To all my 'hermana' friends.

Starting her early. Even gave her a lesson on how to avoid getting your polleda stuck in the wheel so you don't wipe out.

Another move

Someone has outgrown his crib and moved to the cot...daddy has gotten pretty good at moving this cot from room to room and raising and lowering the mattress...we figure it's the 6th assembly.

Tummy time

We've finally got some dog-less, sister-less time to lay on the carpet and work on rolling.

The terrible threesome

Ouch

We've cut his nails, put on mitts but he still goes for his eyes :(

Our clever beaver

Another place at the table

School perks

This weekend we took the girls to visit a friend of Alisdair's from university who had twins in October..so between our 2 families we had 6 children under the age of 4.
Sunday we went to church with grannie and again the kids were really well behaved, but we've also decided the 'back of the cathdral crowd' is much more friendly (and tolerant of kids). Despite Ailsa saying (in a loud voice after every hymn) 'ALLL Done!' No one got upset or changed their seat.

After a quick stop at Grannie's and some fun with glow sticks from Uncle Michael we headed off to a local private school's 'open day'. They had a bouncy castle, mini railway, petting zoo (girls could bring their pets as long as it wasn't a dog or cat and was in a cage), and face painting. Every time we find a face painting place Isla gets a bit braver. She was SOOOOO proud of this effort though. She admired herself in the mirror all the way home and refused to get her face wet at bathtime. She was so happy with herself that she'd sat still, closed her eyes, not sucked her thumb, got glittery stars and neon pink lipstick and was 'brave'...it was really cute. Now we just have to convince her that wouldn't happen every day if she goes to school there. She was most impressed on the school's brochure that they have a pool and horses though!

Fergus is 4 months old now and loves to be where the action is. We had great plans to put him in the crib, but Ailsa got wind of the idea and has reclaimed the crib, after a whole 7 days in her big girl bed. She's also showing more interest in being potty trained. Hoorah. Her language gets better everyday and she is a funny girl---albeit VERY stubborn.

Super windy and rainy here. It sure doesn't feel like May. We've had the fire going all week to stay warm.

Monkey see...

He watches EVERYTHING!

Basking in the sun

Fergus enjoys his activity centres and sitting in the sun (when it's out!)

Sisters

Our very own Pippie Longstockings...