Lets start at the very beginning.....

Of December,  that is!

As the new year starts, the girls are shuffled off to school (hurray), Alex is up before the crack of dawn and whizzes off to work and everything is slowly starting to feel familiar again. 

December had its ups and downs.  But.....

All's well, ends well and so I'm ready to take on this New year.

December was a jam-packed, spin your head off your shoulders kind of month!
Not one but two school christmas concerts. My girls are getting so big and seeing them on stage just makes me really proud. The little mimics of Mathilde as she sang her Santa song and Olivia, all serious as she sang I saw three ships.   

Then came Mathildes 3rd birthday and all the hoopla that brought with it.
Because her birthday is so near to christmas, I always make an even bigger than big deal of it because hey, its damn hard to overshadow the excitement of christmas. She celebrated it at school with her friends and chocolate (of course) cupcakes and then again a few days later at home with her friends and family. 

That week was another one where I repeatedly asked myself 'what the hell was I thinking?' And 'thank the lawd  birthdays only come once a year!'

 But, after all the fun had been had, all the goodies eaten, all the sprinkles cleared from the floor and seeing my little Mathilde gazing at her 3 candles while we all sang Happy Birthday in English, French and now Mandarin - thank you Woodlands Pre-school and 2 close friends, just made all the madness before her special day oh so worth it. And did I soak it all up? I sure did and so did she. She had fun, loved all the attention and lets not forget all the cakes and wonderful presents!!

After that, my sister and her husband arrived from South Africa. It was so good seeing them and the girls loved spending time with them.


 I just love how effortless parenting is when you have family around. The  girls were scooped up, kept busy and felt ever so loved!!!  Seeing this, warmed my heart and made me feel a little sad knowing that having them close and being able to see and spend quality time with the girls is a rare luxury for them and us.