SnapHappy Saturday - Steps and Stairs

These 'the grandchildren'.

FIVE girls - my parents only grandchildren after THREE girls of their own.
These FIVE girls only are from top to bottom only 3 years, 6 month and 1 week apart and in age.
THREE of these five girls were born only 13 days apart.
FOUR of these girls birthdays are in a two week date range.

Here they are, eldest to youngest
Eloise (5y3m)Maya(3y9m)Olivia(3y9m)Laura(3y9m) and Eva(1y9m)

Beautiful huh!?

Flashback Friday

Not only do my girls have someone in their house who is the same age to play with, they also have a cousin who is less than two weeks older...

Here they are (Olivia, Laura and Maya) at 9 weeks 6 days  and 11 weeks 5 days respectively:

And here they are at 3 years, 8 months and 16 days and 3 years, 9 months and 7 days respectively

Awww cute.

SnapHappySaturday: Three times Three

Laura and Olivia are lucky that they always have someone on tap their age that they can play with - but it goes one step further - their cousin, Maya is 13 days older than them.  They are so lucky, I didn't grow up with siblings or cousins my own age - so moments like this I think are beautiful.

Comfort and Joy

Mothers' day yesterday was rather a laid-back affair - my Nan came over for lunch and my hubby made Gourmet Steak Sandwiches and chips for all - they were delicious. I set the table in my Mum's honour (who lives interstate) with a tablecloth she bought me a good 15 years ago - in fact it was the first tablecloth I ever owned. It would be considered quite fashionable these days... but to me it's more sentimental value. I also put the iodised aluminum cups my grandmother gave me ages ago on the table for my girls... Hubby picked some flowers from the front garden which looked lovely.

We then had my sisters' chilli jam or my homemade chunky barbeque sauce to put on the steak sambos. How is that for homeliness? We all enjoyed them very much!

I was much looking forward to my sister and her tribe arriving for afternoon tea - haven't seen in almost two months! I had pre-made some things like Ms Butterfly's Banana Cake - which I simply took out of the freezer yesterday and iced this morning. I had also some cookie dough left over, so took that out of the freezer and made jam drops with both the peach jam I made a few weeks ago and the new batch of strawberry jam I made last weekend. I made lemon pistacchio biscotti yesterday and after lunch today knocked up some quick dairy-free choc muffins keeping in mind my neice has a dairy intolerance and my sisters' family tries to follow vegan practices as much as possible.

So without too much effort, had quite an afternoon tea spread too! It was lovely to see the cousins together - with 5 girls within 3.5 years age gap it's an excitable environment!

Eva and Maya have grown so much! Since we hadn't seen them in song Eva has developed into a full-blown toddler and Maya has shed any trace of baby-ness that was left... a real little girl there.

Eva and Maya loved Dougall and the feeling was mutual, definitely where Eva was concerned. Here they are waving off Nanny at the front screen door!

Summer days..

Well it was HOT today. Which I don't mind as long as it only is moderately humid.. today was positively tropical though. The girls had a lovely day with their cousins Maya and Eva.

Water-play was definitely a great plan, they had a wonderful time in the wading pool - even watering poor Aunty Becky's feet to see if they would grow (how did they know she only takes a size 7?!) I got a few waterings myself and it was quite nice actually!

The girls are so lucky to have cousins living nearby again and even luckier that they are in such a close age range - something that I didn't experience myself. I was the eldest in my family by 8.5 years and then my cousins were 14&16&19 years younger than me.

Maya in fact is only 13 days older than Laura and Olivia. Eloise is 18 months older than the three of them and Eva is 2 years younger than Maya. (4 of my parents 5 grandchildren's birthdays fall within a 2 week timeframe) So top-to-bottom only 3.5 years and 5 GIRLS. That's a lot of Grease and Barbie we have to get through!

It's amazing how much you can love your nieces and nephews. I just think they are amazing... I love getting to know them, which I feel I'm doing. It's wonderful to think I'm going to know them for a lot of their lives. I'm going to see them grow up and have adventures of their own one day.

Maya is so articulate, so inquisitive, so determined. I know she's going to do great things with her life. Can't explain why, just can. Eva is developing into a little larrikin, she's seemingly turned from a baby into toddler overnight and I was just saying today it's like she's always been here. She gives me the giggles. I love, love LOVE those chubby legs of hers - I so miss that with my own girls. Bless!

The afternoon was a little less enjoyable as everyone was a little overtired and irritable due to the heat - I was just praying for a hour of quiet to have a cat-nap myself (stayed up to watch the US presidential inauguration - yawning as I type!). Eventually this happened.

Laziness rules now as southerly blows in accompanied with some rain - with much gratitude from us and the garden!

The lovely Maya - she looks like an angel here.Watering Shennanigans here

Enjoying the pool and the cool water. (Cool look too Auntie Becky!)

Lovely times make lovely memories

Flying visit or not, it's lovely to catch up with family. When we got home from Farmgate Trail adventures quickly made my salad (Sweet potato and bean - always a winner) and tried some new recipes for nibblies.

Babaganouj - Eggplant dip, Warm Bean Dip and Mild Mexican Salsa. All delicious - I'll share these recipes this week... (I'll re-make and show the pics)

A little behind schedule, luckily Nan came to the rescue by arriving a little early and helping me out in the kitchen - bless! A lovely afternoon watching the kids play in the garden and the trampoline - poor little Eva, 13 months was DESPERATE to go on it, and quite disgusted with us that we allowed her three-year-old sister Maya go on with her cousins. It must be tough being the baby of the family...!

My hubby took some lovely pics - I'm sure we'll look back at these in years to come with much fondness.