The Year that was......

 Colouring..........in many guises and media- favourite definately felt tip at the moment.

 Lego, lego, lego.......

And more lego.....

And even PINK lego (christened 'Barbie lego'- by the girl who posesses no Barbies!)

Not an easy year- on many fronts- sometimes a feeling of stagnation and wallowing- sometimes a feeling of desperation

but actually coming to a realisation that things have to change
.....if you always do what you've always done....then you'll always get what you already have......

Time to start a clean sheet......

A quiet last few days

 Trying to calm down over the madness of a week of Christmas parties, a City Centre Pantomime and generalised busyness!!
Doing normal things like Jigsaws- including this beauty picked up from the charity shop- for a certain Tinkerbell fan.....

Legoing (is that a verb??- definately soo in my household).....and Bear Grylls- this is Bear Grylls train- complete with his camera crew on way to one of his survival specials ( a great favourrite on DVD at the moment- especially when Daddy then takes them out of a Bear day- loose survival/backswoods skilss!)

And then Christmas came   and went    - wont go down in history as the worlds best but equally wasnt horrendous.....lessons to be learnt- probably principally by me! Have spent quite a lot of time considering this over last day or so- and realised that it is probably my baggage leading to it and thus things need to change.... with think on doing the thing you want/need/ wear/read approach next year and pare back.........

Anyway then we get to the period between Christmas and New Year- dont know why but I see it as a dark period.....but also a time for contemplation and introspection- looking both forward and back and thinking how I/we want 2013 to look for this household.

Christmas Activity Calendar

 This year I finally put my foot down and said no more chocolate calendars from us- they do get one from  their grandparents and one is enough!! For the last couple of years I have done an activity pocket calendar - with a new activity each day- and this has been far more popular. A mixture of crafty kits, baking, the odd DVD, decoration making and colouring our own Christmas cards to family. The above Hama Beads are a real success- they have always like the Hama but these represent a real move on for all of them in complexity- and they do really enjoy them too! The yellow star in the liddle is TPs contribution (4!) The big Santa and tree are SJs and the angel heart from FI.

 Christmas Snap bracelets- from Baker Ross. Fun but not desperately sturdy- but still fun!

Lovely colouring in Christmas Cards from Usbourne- really nice- will buy these again- really nice quality card and print- with some colour already on them- all three have enjoyed doing these. Lots of handwriting practice going inside too!

Otherwise we are getting into the manically busy party week- three Christmas parties on Wednesday, one on Thursday, Pantomime on Thursday.
Took the eldest two to see the Nutcracker last week- live at the Royal Opera House- but beamed to our local cinema- SJ had the option and chose to come along. Was really beautiful and they both did really well as it was still going at 10pm. The average age of the audience was over 50s- and I go a few compliments!

Latest Projects

 Trying to get into good blogging habits again!

The foodie photos are a recent mini project on good food v. occasional food ( I try to talk as occasional food rather than 'bad' food- as everything is about balance. I don't want them to think they cant ever have a burger- a quality one that is!). The one above is SJs 'occasionals' one- love the shaping and the presence of the alcohol - which he had fairly balanced views on.

 

 This one is FIs good food- of course I questioned the 'burger' on the good side- but when I looked closer it was a huge field mushroom- yum!

SJ is into his paperfolding crafts in a big way- just wish they werent so bulky and delicate- very hard with a rampant four year old in the house!

One of the reasons I am not blogging so- is that I have recommenced study.......a Masters in Neonataology....stretching the brain but hard on the life balance......means that when I am at the main PC (where I prefer to blog) I am dealing with the guilt of not working my way through the mass of articles I need to be reading...

More Important Activities

 Another insidious creeping slow phenomenon that has slowly crept into the house this year has been Scouting......am not sure why I am surprised as it was a big part of my life when I grew up...
FI attended her first Beaver Sleepover this weekend and had a fabulous time- lots of activities and crafting.... a very late night... a visit from Santa- and almost falling asleep on her fathers chest on return (our little sling babe)

Rudolph cupcakes

And in the meantime I got a lovely 24 hours with SJ- as Nanny had swept TP off to her palce for the weekend.....
So SJ and I went to the cinema (Rise of the Guardians- very good), did a little shopping, planned and cooked a special meal together, had a bath with a bath bomb (height of extravagance and luxury!!) and snuggled on the sofa- very decadent and what I wish I could offer each child individually on a regular basis!
We are currently working our way through 'Children on the Oregon Trail'- lovely story but the chapters are really long....FI has fallen by the wayside but SJ is enjoying it. Am thinking of moving onto a Laura Ingall-Wilder next- perhaps the Little House in Big Woods as Christmas is approaching?