My birthday and a garden frame

We're back to Monday and the men are back in so here's an update for you all. Let's start with the weekend.

Rosie chasing the bubbles

About to burst the bubble with her mouth

Making stickle bricks cars and houses

Usmivka calming Rosie

I think these first pictures are actually from Saturday and I can't really remember Friday other than I wasn't that well and I was very busy. Saturday I was a lot better and got to play with Rosie (Angela was making big bubbles with her while I watched and laughed and later on I did them a bit as well though not as good as Angela). We also got to go to the neighbours for the first time for ages. Rosie banged her head and got cuddles from Usmivka and finally cheered up a lot. We also did some sticklebrick making which was a lot of fun.

This was such a cool sight to wake up to

Thelma and Xena tearing up the wrapping paper

Camping stuff is in the crawl space

Rosie showing off her new glasses (still in the packing)

Riding on the lawnmower together

Birthday cake pleasures

Moon and stars at night

Sunday was my birthday; I was up just in time to capture a picture of the pretty cool sunrise; it faded very quickly afterwards. I received some lovely presents, and the puppies had all the fun with the wrapping paper. Angela and Rosie headed to the shops and I did a task I've been waiting to do for a while; I tidied and organised all the camping gear and the Christmas gear into the crawl space and there is LOADS of room! Finally in the afternoon I pulled the mower out and mowed all the lawns that I possibly could with it which was a great success. My birthday cake was lovely after dinner and just before bed I caught the moon rise which was also lovely.

Bekir grinding the rebar

Starting to weld the frame

One of the frames takes shape

Bekir is welding while thunder rumbles and rain falls

And so today. Halil was working on his flat in town so it was only Bekir today; we set him to a new short task to make some frames for climbing plants in the garden. They need to be movable so he used some rebar and welded it all together, with the steel mesh as walls for the plants to use. He was at it all day and built two of them, which is what we want. Tomorrow he has a little more to do on the bottom of the feet and then they can be put in place before Angela leaves on her holiday.

So there it is; another day done and we'll be back to it tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Rosie's Birthday Weekend

What a weekend, what a lovely time we've had, but how tired I am now! I'm going to try and get this update done and out so I can then go and sleep. It's been awesome and worth it though. Let's get to it.

Very excited for Party Day

The sun peeks over the hills

Shredding to be done

Rosie helps split up oranges

Lovely and warm sat on the patio

Lots of fun being had on the balcony

Rosie cutting the cake

With her birthday cake

So much mess, so much fun

Opening some presents

Saturday was Party Day and it started with excitement and dancing with me and Rosie before Angela and Grandma were up. The sunrise was lovely and then when everyone else was around I headed off to do the rest of my tidying and chores, including shredding all this cardboard and then hoovering the stairs. In the kitchen Rosie was helping Angela to prepare the party food and being a really big help. I then took her for some hobby time while the final preparation was done. Soon enough it was time for the party to start and the guests started arriving. I took up station on the patio to open gates and guide people in and it was a glorious day to be sat outside. By the time everyone had arrived the party was in full swing and the kids were having a great time playing loads on the balcony while the parents sat and chatted in the lounge. Towards the end of the party Angela brought the cake up and Rosie blew out the candles before helping to do the first slice. She was having such a great day, and her friends were enjoying themselves also.  As the party wound down the playing continued but then it was time for everyone to head off and for us to recover and relax. We allowed Rosie to open a few of her presents but kept most of them for Sunday and Monday.

Rosie copies out her Cyrillic alphabet

New cones make a great race track

Up a tree with Grandma

Solid lump of ice

Playing at Parkaza

Sunday was another lovely day; the present Rosie opened first was a magnetic whiteboard with Bulgarian letters and she put them all out and then was copying and writing them on the whiteboard. She then asked to play with her police car so we got the present from Grandma which was some new cones and they worked really well. Even when the wind picked up later in the day the cones did not get blown. We also did some hide and seek, climbed into the tree house and Rosie climbed into another tree for a short while as well (though she asked to get down almost straight away). Angela was working a lot in the garden as the lack of snow is now starting to be a problem so she was watering the garden. I also went to check the chicken's water and found the water tray frozen completely solid! I accidentally left the tap (which was also frozen) on after checking it and it was only as I drove out later with Grandma and Rosie to go to Parkaza that I saw it had defrosted and the chicken house was flooded. I quickly shut it off then, after a really lovely time at the restaurant, went in and swept the water out before shutting them away for the night.

Rosie with her presents this morning

Diva pose with her presents

Grumpy Xena is grumpy

Ready to head to school

This morning Rosie was up early and her first words were "Am I four!?" which of course today she was. We allowed her to open the rest of the presents from us which were a stereo and a karaoke microphone and we had a nice sing along before school. The grimacing Xena was her telling Thelma to back off, not that Thelma paid any attention. Rosie was off to school today and had a lovely time with being the centre of attention.

Bekir gets started in the corner

Fitting battens to secure the plasterboard to

This part is now finished

All around the chimney is done

We had the men in today and while I didn't get up to take pictures as often as I like, there wasn't all that much really to photograph. They spent all day putting up plasterboard and it really is a fiddly annoying job in this roof. Lots of "playing" as they say, however the progress is good and they're getting through it steadily.

Rosie with her new coat and toy

A new dolly, called "Baby Rosie"

Sat in the restaurant having a lovely meal

Rosie getting stuck into her food

Space for ice cream

After school Rosie opened the rest of her presents that she received from her friends at her party, including this awesome coat which she insisted on wearing when we went out for her birthday meal. We went to the really nice restaurant where we had taken her on her first birthday and it was, as always, superb. Rosie had burger and chips and ate the lot then followed it up with ice cream. Awesome.

So there it is; a long and awesome weekend of birthday fun. Thanks for reading, and back tomorrow.

A birthday weekend

We had no workmen today as Bekir had things to do at home but that means my update can be focused as I want on Rosie's birthday weekend. It was marvellous!

A beautiful purple dawn greets us

Rosie helping me with balloons

Taking balloons to tie on the front fence

Rosie holding the helium balloons

Before the party, dressed to have fun

A full balcony of fun and noise

Quiet drawing time with her best friend

Chocolate cake mush

After the party with Xena

Saturday was party day and we were up bright and early and with lots of chores to complete before the guests started arriving. First of all Rosie and I blew more balloons up and tied them together into pairs before heading outside to attach them along the front fence so people could find us easily. Angela was out at this time collecting helium balloons and some more food and when she got back with the helium balloons Rosie was over the moon. It was a busy time but passed very quickly and then we all got dressed into our party clothes and the first people arrived. To see Rosie's face as the first guest climbed the stairs into the living room was so precious to me and the day just kept getting better and better. We had about eleven kids and their mothers, all the neighbours and also our other british friends from down the road and it was just a magical time indeed. Rosie didn't stop playing and smiling and laughing and all the kids had a lovely time. Probably my favourite thing of the whole day was catching sight of Rosie with her best friend sat quietly drawing together on the table outside the new house. Perfect. Suddenly it was time for cake and everyone sang to Rosie and she blew the candles out then sat with Grandma to eat some. Everyone headed off over a period of a few minutes and then it was time for relaxation, a bit of play, then sleep. All in all it was a super busy day but just lovely.

Rosie starts to open her gifts, with help from the girls

Rosie playing with her gift from Grandma

Rosie dancing in her fairy wings

Playing with her toys with Grandma

Dragon gift surprise

Playtime at the end of the day

Sunday was another lovely day and we started with opening presents from the family, with Thelma and Louise in attendance helping her unwrap. It was a lovely way to start the day and she had a lot of fun with her gifts, including some walkie talkies that she has all the fun talking to us through around the house. They work really well from Room 13 down to the kitchen. Mum and I went out to view a house late morning which took far longer than planned but we got back in time to spend time with Rosie before nap time, and to have a call with my sister. After the nap we opened all the gifts she had received during the party and then sat playing with them until dinner time. Just before bed time I gave her the dragon I had printed and painted for her, which she liked very much, and then it was bed and time for the puppies to have a play.

And there you have it. What a wonderful weekend. Thanks for reading, and hopefully back tomorrow.