Paddle time.

Willow is a huge fan of sleep overs. With me in tow, she's slept over at Ethan's once, Tabitha's twice, and Amber's once, and amber has slept over here once. Weirdly, she's not too keen on actually *sharing a room* with any of her friends at this stage. At Amber's, she preferred to sleep in Amber's mum's room (I had the couch in the living room, so it wasn't a comfort thing) and at Ethan's, she wanted to sleep in baby Annabella's room (to look after her) rather than in with Ethan.
The last time we slept over at Tabitha's, Tabi went to bed a LOT sooner than willow did. Then she woke crying for her mother, who was at work, so tabi asked for willow to lie down with her. Willow had come into tabi's room with me when the crying started and attempted to comfort tabi by patting her and asking her what was wrong, but then got bored and wandered off to play in the living room.
I walked out and asked willow to lie down with tabi and willow looked horrified.
"But I'm not ready for bed yet!" She protested. I explained it was only until tabi fell asleep, so willow sighed and climbed into Tabitha's bed.

About 5 minutes later tabi was quiet.
"Mummy, can I go play now?" Willow whispered.
"Sure willow, if you think tabi is sleeping. If she wakes you'll have to come back," I whispered back.
Willow slowly slid off the bed and began to creep towards the door... And well, tabi woke and willow sighed and climbed back into her bed.

I'm so enchanted to see the growing up, responsible side of willow. Willow won't donate her toys to kids with no toys ("they can come here and share my toys") but she will happily give away toys she's outgrown to Annabella.  She wants a baby sister, and says her baby sister can share her room, and when she wakes in the night she will put her back to sleep. She not only knows the house rules, but she will enforce them when her friends come over.

Of course, sometimes she does really silly things- like she somehow did a somersault and fell off Ethan's swing, head first in the dirt, while Ethan's mother and I gasped in horror. She slowly climbed to her feet, rubbed her head, and shouted "I'm ok!" Ethan cracked up laughing, so willow proceeded to do several more head first tumbles off the swing for his amusement.

Anyways. The picture below is of willow hanging out in Amber's paddling pool during the latest heatwave.

Its not obvious in this photo, but willow told amber she only wanted blue toys... So amber ran off to find every blue water safe toy she could for willow.

Dinosaur hair.

This is willows "dinosaur hair" where she has a line of pony tails keeping her hair all together. (inspired by a stegosaurous?)

Friends.

Happiness.

Happiness for Willow is time with friends. Lots of time with friends. Especially sleep overs and swimming and playing in the bath tub and long bus rides with a friend. 
Happiness in adulthood is a little more complicated. But I think we are happy, very happy. Do I dare to say it? That this is as good as it gets? Oh yes. 2013 was hard work. But enjoyable hard work. We made friends, we settled in, our garden grew. We learnt to be a family, for each of us to deal with the others, and we are all learning, and happy to learn. At the end of the month, m and I will have marked two years together. That's not a lot of time, unless you are willow. It would be arrogant to make any sweeping statements about our relationship, wouldn't it? They have been a happy time, the happiest of times, especially recently. Willow is such a joy to parent, and m makes my heart sing. Both of them put a smile on my face.

We have wonderful friends. We have our tiny wonderful family. We have laughter and joy, and our two well loved guinea pigs, and our (less adored, since they are not cuddly) budgies. We have our house, which is very comfortable and cosy, despite being barely bigger than a shoe box, but we are getting better and better at making that work for us. We have our health. Maybe this year we will buy a house. (fingers crossed).

I don't want to say this is happily ever after, because this isn't the end. There is so much future in front of us to look forward to.

Happy 2014!

Oh this thing?

Oh yeah, this thing? Had it for ages. Willow is insanely fond of it and went through a period of asking me to marry her so she could get a ring. I will love you until all the leaves fall off the trees, she promises. She wants a wedding with lot of flowers. Eventually, M gave her a ring- one of those $2 ones, from the vending machine- and she's just so, so happy. She likes to tell people how M gave her a ring in the fish and chip shop, and she's so happy. But anyways, that is old news.

Engagement FAQS:
WHEN IS THE WEDDING?
I don't know. Eventually. Maybe. After we save up and buy a house.

WHEN DID YOU GET ENGAGED WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?
Back in may, and sorry. I expected social media and word of mouth to spread the word.

Have you picked a dress?
Yes and no. I've eyeballed some dresses I like, but I haven't purchased anything. I've also eyeballed some vintage dress designs.

Where will you have the reception?
At all you can eat pizza hut.

(As a little boy M told his mother "if I ever get married, I want to have the reception at all you can eat Pizza Hut." His mum told me the story and I laughed, because M totally still does want to have it there. I have fond memories of childhood birthday parties spent there too, so... hey, why not? Plus, we're both pigs, who can eat our body weight in melted cheese. We've agreed that if we elope, we will go there afterwards.)

While M and I are both really talkative, we are also both hideously shy. We both like the idea of "getting married" but is it possible to get married with no one watching you? And do we really have to sit up there on a table all by ourselves? And do we have to DANCE in front of everyone? Do I really have to walk down the aisle while everyone stares at me? Do I have to EAT sitting on a stage in front of everyone? Oh god please no.

We're thinking a backyard wedding, with BBQ after. Or we might elope. There's definitely that.

Are you going to elope?/ Why don't you two elope?
Mark is convinced that my parents will kill him, and he doesn't want to disappoint his mother. Also, I don't see the point of dressing up fancy if no one is going to see me, so we might as well go to the registry office.... and if we go to the registry office, it's still like $500 to get married. So in our minds, we might as well spend a grand or two on getting married at home.

Did he get down on bended knee?
No.

Did M pick the ring?
No, I did. Because we're romantic like that. Also, it was the worst shopping experience of our lives, because I was all "I want a relativity cheap ring, because I'm hardly going to wear it since I have to take it off for most jobs and activities, and once I get married I'll probably just wear that band. I hate wearing two rings on the same finger and I hate the look, plus I don't see the point in an expensive ring," while M was all "I already purchased her an expensive phone. And I pay for all her stuff. Also, she looses a lot of crap."

Jewelers and their staff are a really judgmental bunch. One jeweler memorably told M "Oh, she'll LOVE this ring! It's a ring she'll be really proud to show off to her friends."

No. That's not who I am. 

How much did it cost?
I'm not going to tell you. Oh, I'm not ashamed of what we (ok, M) paid, but it's more the uncomfortable feeling of bragging. Or worse, the thinly veiled look of pity. What the hell guys? Why is there is idea that M needs to spend $5000 on a ring to prove his love to me?
Especially since I stated that I wanted a cheap ring, and everyone has a different idea of what cheap is. So yeah.

How did he propose?
Romantically.

Were you surprised?
Nope. Because months ago, M was all "I wanted to propose to you in the first week you were down here, but I didn't want to seem too keen."
Also, I knew it was going to happen in my first week down here, because M isn't subtle.

Can I be your bridesmaid?
Maybe. Unless you expect me to pay for you dress, than no.

What does Willow think? How does she feel about M in her life?
She's three. Mark buys her fun stuff and sneaks her lollies and takes her to the movies. She adores him and worships the ground he walks on and cries when he goes away. She mimics him so much, and I think my heart might explode from the cuteness and love I have for both of them.