Thanks Ruth. That's the last of the guest entries from Ruth, hope you enjoyed them.

Samwise Gamgee. Tom "looks like Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings" Reeves arrives tomorrow to join the merriment. He says he's only bringing speedos and sunglasses which is a scary thought. That, and enough money to stay holed up in the eat all you can carvery.... Tom made a name for himself as a lover of red meat the last time he was in Brazil (2003). And, various members of Rachel's family still think his real name is Sam Wise.

Nelson's progress. Nelson has managed to learn how to say "yes" and "no". With a serious look on his face, a shake of the head and a stern "no" he replies to questions such as "would you like to brush your teeth?" in the negative. And a Brazilian "eeehhhh" with cheeky smile is what he gives for yes. The problem is when we try to make him do the opposite of what he has already expressed an opinion about, he gets quite frustrated. In fact, sometimes I think he's read the dictionary and is trying his best to demonstrate the definition for "tantrum". On the plus side, Nels is now big enough to give a football a good wack after a run-up, hold his hands up and say "goooaaalllll". Now if that's not progress, I don't know what is.