Emma and Cake

Emma with some pretty things in her hair

The giant cupcake for Anna McNeish's birthday

Emma puts in some light reading on her daily commute from the kitchen to the living room

More pretty things in her hair

Whoopee Pies!

Emma and Jacob Freed discussing Sarah and Colette's parenting styles

Emma in a bouncy castle at the Stake Summer Fete in Linlithgow

Mother and Daughter illustrate their fundamental disagreement about the purpose of meal times

It's been frantic as usual here with Michael and Emma. I'm still not happy with my status as 'parenting consultant' due to me being not well, but I'm getting to do more with Michael and Emma which is great.

Emma's started throwing tantrums, which are kind of funny, but at the same time are very frustrating. She was pretty bad a couple of weeks ago, but seems to have calmed down a little. Michael seems to be pretty tired out by being at school. In saying that, he was totally hyper tonight before bedtime, but he did get some chocolate ice cream as a snack before going to bed. I don't think Sarah will be doing that again in a hurry.

Critically, both were very well behaved this weekend during Stake Conference (big church meetings in Edinburgh), allowing Sarah to play the piano. She was going to play anyway, but Emma not screaming from the back of the chapel made it a more pleasant experience for everyone. I was very proud of them for being well behaved, and look forward to being back up to speed enough to be able to help out for things like that.

Michael's back at school after having the week off, and was excited to tell me that he learned the letter 'j' (pronounced by Michael as 'juh'). Sarah's already warned me not to get him to pronounce it as some, but not all in Scotland do ('jie' - rhymes with pie). When he's old enough, he can make his own decision.

The sleepover wasn't a complete success. I went to bed just after midnight, and met Joseph on the stairs who said he had a sore leg. I checked he was ok, then helped him back into bed. Sarah told me the next morning that he woke her up about 2am saying the he had a sore leg and wanted to go home, so she bundled him and Emma into the car and was the first person to be able to wish Anna a happy birthday (at 2am).