Our Christmas 2016

The month of December has been filled with illness after illness i had a stomach bug then a cold then a stomach bug and we had one child a week ill with the sickness thats been doing the rounds. But luckily we were all ok over Christmas.

We made mince pies and drank hot choccie

We loved our tree which was a bargain at £11.99!!

Next to our Santa you can see the Reindeer that Paul made us of a fallen branch we found round the corner, which is wonderful and he did a fantastic job,next year he has said he is going to make more so we can have a display in the garden,.

I found this tree hat for 59p in a charity shop and despite the look, he would not take it off!

He is definitely a Christmas Cutie and this year he knew all about it and had no problems with opening his presents and with all the Christmas party's and festivity's at nursery has really started enjoying it, he runs up to the door and presses the bell himself,which is great to see as Fred cried and fought every day he was there, which was such a shame as its a wonderful nursery, that all of the kids have gone to , although Alex is going to a different building as they have opened one near me,but some of the same staff are there so they know our family from all the years we have been going.

Santa and his sleigh passed the house!!

This is organised by the local Rotary club and goings round all the local streets,unfortunately i was ill and the kids were at my mums and they missed it by 10 minutes, but i went out and put some money in the box.

This year instead of our annual Gingerbread house competition, we did a ginger bread tree which turned out perfectly!I made the dough and Paul did this with them while i was preparing the food on Christmas Eve

We used it as a table decoration 

They were so exited but after a late night on Christmas eve we managed to stay in bed till 7.10 am!!!!the lastest time yet i think!

The lounge was chaos but they all got what they wanted, apart from Fred who had asked for a kitchen, my parents bought him a gorgeous wooden kitchen and after inspecting it asked where the tablet was!! turns out he had wanted on from the telly which you could put your tablet on the front for cooking noises!! Think really it was just the tablet he wanted, but we fixed it by putting Pauls phone on the front with a cooking app and that made him happy. They have all played with it lot, its so cute .

I made the same dinner as last year Lamb stuffed with a cranberry stuffing and slow roasted in port and cranberrys

Everyone enjoyed it apart from Ewan who whined on and on about not liking the gravy and it being different, but it was made out of the port, stock and juices, it was delicious!

They got matching minion onesies, i think they looked really cute

Overall this Christmas was really relaxing, i had made lots in advance and made a scheduale over the month for various jobs and stuck to it,which meant that most things were done ready for the day ahead of time. so after all was done i could sit and relax with a bacardi and some Gingerbread cake!

Hope you all had a great  Christmas too 

11 sleeps till Christmas

Only 11 sleeps till Christmas eeek ! As usually right before Christmas the winter bug has been making it's way through the house, just when I started work as well, so Paul has had to take time off and stay at home with them all on separate occasions as well. I am hoping that's the last of it. I am spending lots of my evenings and even break times at work desperately trying to finish the blanket I am making for my mum for Christmas, it's going to be a really close call to get it finished. Everything else has been done really, just waiting for a couple of last minute presents to arrive and wrap. Paul will be having his works outing so I have said that the older kids can have a super late night and we will stay up playing games or somthing fun this weekend.

I have been busy cooking this weekend making some of the Christmas dinner already. I made the festive red cabbage as it takes 3 hours to make so it's done now and I'm the freezer along with stuffing baubles that I have made in advance. I am making the same dinner that I did last year so just trying to save some time on the day and the evening before.

  That's me for today I am so tired night all x

Getting organized

So I have completed my first week in my new job after being at home with the kids for a few years. Firstly I noticed how quiet it is without the kids and you get to drink full cups of tea! Alex always had to pick up my cup and drink the rest of my tea if I dared to put it down for a minute .  I have really missed little Alex and feel awfully guilty that he is at nursery but at least it's only for 3 days and the other 2 he is with my mum. I am feeling really relived that I have hopefully managed to sort out my hours so that I can pick the children up from school for a 3 days and my mum will the other 2 as you can do flexi time at work. Which is great as I had run out of childcare options for 2 of the kids in the evening as everywhere was fully booked. But all sorted now i think and it will work out better as I have missed picking the kids up this week.

I am starting to feel super organised. This first week went really well and everything ran smoothly. I think having started getting everyone into a routine a few weeks ago has really paid off and I am using my diary more than ever planning and making lists of what we will be doing and what I need to do is want to get done, I need more space though so might treat myself to a new planner.

We put the tree up this weekend and as usual I got a real tree and it was a bargain at £11.99! It's not as wide as we usually get but it's still great and as we saved a bit of money a bought a couple of extra bits. It was a bitvsad that Ewan wanted to play out with his friends rather than decorate it but he is getting to that are I think. The rest of us enjoy it and there is noting like that first night when it's all twinkly,  Molly and I made some mince pies and we drank got choc with the works . I think it will be a great Christmas this year! ☺

We got to Switch on the local Christmas lights!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago now, the Cleveleys Christmas lights got switched on and we got picked to press the button! yay, the kids were super super excited,we allputour hands on the button and pressed at the same time (apart from little Alex who was at nursery)

When we got home we saw it had been filmed , the kids couldn't stop watching it. Ewan is convinced we are now celebrity's haha, but its not everyday you get an opportunity like that

Click HERE to see the video

Now we have our tree up to, its starting to get very very christmassy around here xx

Its Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

The last few weeks i have been busy getting ready for Christmas ahead of starting work (not that we have a tree yet) but we have been doing lots of craft and put a few bits up here and their.

We made Stained Glass Biscuits, we made a pile of these, the kids favorite part was smashing up the boiled sweets!

We made Salt Dough decorations and painted them the next week one they were baked

Molly and Alex did the Santa hand prints and Fred did the Snowman foot, then each of us put out thumb print on the last one, Ewan was out with his friends, although he still likes making things i think he has got to the stage where he is not as keen as he was, he did make a spiderman thing out of the dough and we got him to put his print down

This has to be one of my favorite makes, i walked all the way into Cleveleys just to but plastic cups so we could do this once the kids got home, instead of fairy lights we put a colour changing spot light of Molly's in it. It is rather fragile though so i have it last at least a bit longer, but at the moment its making the lounge feel Christmasy till we get the tree at the weekend

I had bought a few new lights from a charity shop so i bought a bow and some baubles and we made a bit of a display

and in the morning ELFY GUY WAS BACK!!!!!

With a new jumper we bought him as a welcome back pressie, to make those nightly trips back to the north pole warmer

I got the kids the Snowman & Snowdog DVD for the big screen

I made a Gingerbread house at one of the groups i attend and when the kids got home they picked all the sweets off it! 

I am loving the frosty morning we are starting to get, really really hoping for a white Christmas this year

Finally we made these mason jars as presents for the kids teachers, we have a couple more to make yet but i think they are fab!

My new brushed cotton bedding, all i can say is it is absolute bliss! and looks great too!

Hope to put the tree up this weekend x

Little Nordic Jumper

The little Nordic Jumper for Fred is finally finished and it looks so cute and cosy and cuddly on him.

Its suits his personality somehow, hes like a little elf!

It was a free Drops pattern, that should have been made using DK yarn however i went and bought Aran for some reason so i though i would try knitting a size smaller and generally winging it and it worked! the perfect size

I really do like the way these are worked from the top down on circular needles, seems to make it workup quicker and when its finished its finished no making up to do just a few stitches under the arms. 

Fred loved his little photoshoot!

Hes such a character, we love him!!!

Big Changes

I have been lucky enough to have not worked the last couple of years since the littlest was born, Its not been easy we have been on a very limited budget and had to work at making it all fit together, but on the whole its been a great experience for me and i have had the opportunity to be there for the kids and do some vol entry work as well. But we decided now that Fred is at school that we really need for me to go back to work. I have been lucky and got the first job i applied for ,i did apply for others after it , but its been a long, long process, with various tests and interview but i was offered the job a couple of weeks ago and will be starting in another week. Its a full time job and i will have my two college courses on top of that so i have had to give up some of my volunteering posts which in all honesty has been harder than i imagined it would be. On Friday i attended my last Advisory board meeting for the Childrens Centre and was presented with some flowers and thats when it hit me really hard that i was going to miss it so so much, also i have had to stop running Craft & Chat and also my placement at the Young parents group. The feedback and comments i have had have been amazing and i know that i must keep on with my college course so i can eventually become a support worker and then a Social Worker, which is what my work at the Childrens Centre has inspired me to do. But for now i have this new job which is not my dream job but it will bring in the money and its a good employer for family's as they offer flexi time and hopefully next year i can cut my hours once i start my degree.

So i have been very busy the last few weeks, organizing things and making lists. I have been completely turning the house upside down sorting cupboards and getting rid of stuff and trying to bring some order to the house before i start work. I always have a big sort out before Christmas anyway, its just a bit earlier this time. I have started some chore charts for the kids and they have been doing them for a few weeks now and Molly and Fred are really into it and doing well, Ewan is struggling and keeps trying to opt out! but unfortunately for him, he can't! Everyone will have to pitch in now and its not like i am asking too much, just making beds and putting there own stuff away etc

I have been making the most of these last days at home with Alex as a stay at home mum, cuddling up and watching tv while i crochet,i am going to miss these times so much

This is another part of a Christmas Pressie

After the last advisory board meeting i got off the bus and saw this hat on a post..... clearly Fred had dropped it,thank god someone put it out to be found.

These are the flowers i was given, still feeling so sad to be leaving, but heres to the next chapter x

Rainbow Unicorn Cake & Knitted Poncho

A neighbor asked if i could make a cake for her daughters birthday,but it had to be unicorn related, so this was the cake that i made. In the past i have made rainbow cakes but they have been quite pale so i treated myself to some color pastes and wow what a difference the colors really pop!

I took the core out of the cake and filled it with skittles

It went down a storm and i have requests for other cakes now!

I have to say i think this is one of the best cakes i have made and Molly is after one for her birthday

I finished this a few weeks ago, i made the pattern up myself after seeing quite a few on Ravelry. The yarn is Style Craft brush strokes and i think its discontinued now but i had lots in as i was going to make myself a poncho but never got round to it, but this really suits Molly and she has been wearing it out with a big jumper underneath.