What a big hit it was to surprise my sister and her 2 young daughters with the pleasures of the Skills Exchange!
Maria's brownies were delicious, they did not last long... we had them on arrival from the airport and the last ones we took to the felting workshop at Catherine's later that day.
The time at Catherine was lovely, whole stories have been written to take home on 'how to felt' Michaella has been proudly walking about with her piece of felt, which she is going to use in her dolls house. The cards they made were lovey too and will be presented to grandad on his 75th birthday next month.

Then on return from the craft workshop we were greeted by Christa who made a wonderful oven dish that went down extremely well.

Tuesday Carol made a nutloaf which actually last for two meals so I have the whole week off!

Wednesday was again very special as the girls were able to meet some english friends of their own age. although Michaella and Emma were shy at first, once Sally got the pizza and toppings ready to start the cooking they were off in no time and let those creative touches lose on decorating the fairy cakes that Sally had baked earlier. The loved it! Whilst all that was going on my sister Gwen had a hotstone massage from Mike, who was only around the corner so a perfect way to finish off the day. We walked down the hill in almost a trance. Gwen still sleepy from a wonderful treatment and the girls holding on to their boxes with cakes and a little bit left over pizza for mum to taste (as they ate all theirs at Sally's) As it was the big energy switch off that day, Thomas organised a lantern making workshop so that in the evening we could play games by candle light, they could not wait until it got dark to light their pieces of art.

And then to top it all Katya earned her first Gem by dropping off a delicious still hot shephards pie. What a treat, no cooking at all this week and lots more gems have gone into circulation. I hope you enjoy spending them as much as we have.

Three days full of activities and loads of time to enjoy spending time with my sister.
Giving us some time together without doing the housework was blissful.

Thank you all so much for contributing all in your own ways to a fantastic experience.

Much love from us all

Karina, Gwen, Emma and Michaela