The Lobambolas come to stay

Sarah, Marley and Madison came to stay a couple of weeks ago, at the conclusion of their Australian sojourn.  We were over the holiday jet lag, but still didn't really have the wherewithal to take many photos so not many good ones to share.

When we had got over the initial hurdle of Alice throwing a tantrum at the fact that there were unfamiliar children sitting next to her in the car, the visit went very well.  Madison gamely explored Alice's toys and Alice gamely followed her about.  They bonded on the last night over Dora the Explorer in french and sat on Stu holding hands (did not manage to capture that in a photo!).  On the final morning, they even got as far as learning each others' names, with Madison finally referring to Alice as something other than, "That girl" and Alice learning that actually only one of the three guests was called "Marley", rather than all of them.  As soon as Madison had departed, Alice began to miss her desperately and I still haven't been allowed to move the booster seat out of the car, so that Alice can, "See Madison now?" 

Madison's main bonding, however, was with Little Clifford.  Thank goodness she (LC) had her feet up during that visit as I spent most of the weekend with her little hands attached to my belly in case the baby kicked. 

Since their departure, Alice has become obsessed with which country everyone lives in.  Madison has been found to live in France, Nanna in "Ling-land" and most importantly "the boobies" (whose popularity was reignited by Madison's regular requests for updates as to whether they had milk in them yet), which live "in Australia with Mummy".