Author Archives: HHaricot

Hmm! I think these pressies were for smaller children

boysontoys

we are christmas

you know, it is jan 3rd, and I am about to backdate this christmas post. we read the guardian, and there was an excellent article in there by a chap, who pointed out that for his family, christmas was the family, the talking over games and the being there. i agree wholeheartedly. whatever the little niggles, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone not to have been there.

we played loads of games – mum found tellme which we used to play at little nanny’s as children [though then it was metal not plastic!] pass the bomb, taste testing, SB’s jumnior monopoly and BB’s shopping trolley. jigsaws, reading to children and general being there with the people we love.

Yep, for chris and I it was hard work, with th main helpers of mine and his mum out of action. And we would hav liked to see more of our children, and we would have prefered full health in all of our guests for xmas and the new year. And doing crafts on boxing day whilst making a roast dinner did stretch my multitasking!
but… It was great, just look at our flickr photos and you will see!! I love my family, so I love christmas

NORAD tracks santa!!

don’t forget!!

santa1

and a full house

sister and family, little nanny ad for a brief while my cousin and wife. so v lovely. i am going to work toorrow and determned to return with xmas spirit!

the lasagne were delicious, the salads and artichoke filo also. room looks lovely. and breathe!

Happy Xmas everyone

Not as planned

We did a very good job of cleaning the front room, and put a smidgeon of floor polish on. SB helpful and delightful.

We decorated beer glasses for FIL

my parents arrived, put down new rug in front room, and ran after daughters screeching chase me, and MIL has a colles fracture. So off to A and E. she is still in a fair amount of pain, thinks things swelling up loads and now painful again. I’m trying to work out if she means painful enough to go back to a and e, but she has gone off to bed.

I feel truly dreadful and totally lost Xmas spirit

And that’s a wrap

well, nearly. we have a couple of gifts outstanding, which may be twelfth night gifts if don’t make it in time! And we have the FC gifts to wrap and the main one each for the girls – needs chris to carry downstairs, and the others need diferent wrapping paper.

So I guess with no more baking possible, and wrapping done, that makes tomorrow a tidying day for me. I wonder what the girls can be getting on with?

finally hosanna in excelsis

SB seems to have given up on the salmon cheese and chelsea version :roll: and that reminds me, she can now roll her eyes perfectly – a key life skill in this family, and one that HE particularly is suitable for imparting!!

So today has been crazy and noisy. we needed a bit of a rest day after yesterdays multi-jauntings, and BB was ‘wired’ throughout – always restful! SB – bless her – has been an angel [well nearly].

We started with making boxes for the sweeties we made last night – papier mache with tissue paper and PVA around margarine tubs. They are looking fab. Both girls had great fun doing them, and I drank lots of fluids to try and chase away a migraine. We then did a bit of a tidy up – just in time as Sainsbury’s delivered a huge order [all bar veg, bread and milk]. We were also massively organised to put all away, and our pantry looks like a dream come true. I love a pantry that can see us through a month in case of avian flu, snow drifts etc etc!! SB played shops for a bitm, and both girls helped.

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Sb has also done some more piano practice, and is concert ready for good king wenceslas – even BB and I singing didn’t put her off! And she has done some maths, and BB some ‘match and sort‘ – some wipe clean books we got ages and ages ago from the book people, she was practicing writing – v cute. i have read 3 different versions of the nativity story - while the bear sleeps, usborne first nativity and a ladybird version. Obviously with added carols. The girls have spent ages playing with the farm and Bob the Builder duplo – the farm is obviously now part of the set! Shame I haven’t managed to get a duplo muck. Never mind – something to get at a later date. Both girls were also playing with a cheap not quite spirograph set. i have played scrabulous – Tim is pretty much unbeatable i think!!

We also did some fimo-ing, to make coasters as Christmas presents. SB’s got more and more elaborate. BB’s is much simpler. I am sure they will be well received. Both girls now having bath, and Chris doing it as I had reached my BB tolerance limit. Baggy poo poo being her favourite saying for anything she doesn’t like or want to do – charming!

As mentioned below, am at a bit of a loss as no room to put more baking or food in the freezer, and still have some to do. A wack of it will have come out by sun, so will prob do some baking then. Def getting excited, but can’t imagine where the time has gone?

No room at the inn

or pantry to be more precise! We look like a shop – in fact girls been playing shops. All our food apart from veg, milk and bread now safely harvested in!

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unfortunately, our freezer and fridge also completely full. We need to squeeze the milk in when mum arrives tomorrow! And also, it means I can’t do the baking for the freezer – no freezer! Nor the linda mccartney base [luckilly that is quick to cook anyway].

But have definite confirmation – sort of – that all other guests coming sun in time for lunch. woohoo!!!

Mum giving me last minute instructions – ie have the house perfect, no plastic bags for windows etc – unlikely!!!

BB-isms

Of course I love SB. I wish I hadn’t scratched her now…

well, we weren’t late for *everything*

But nearly!!

We started off being late for latin group. It is sort of latin plus craft plus science. Katy did a fab latin lesson – but we’ve lost our minimums textbook, and I have forgotten bits of it! I then – rather foolishly – decided to revisit the wreath craft!Katy’s house now full of clippings from my garden, and 3 very creditable wreaths were made – though one of those played with so much it has a bedraggled air now! What I hadn’t realised was that there would be a dearth of knot tying ability. If I had had more wire thingies, it would have been easier. [will remember that for the future! Anyway, those that did it seemed happy enough. there was also some mince pie, jam ‘heart’ and bread roll making. [oh, we were late!]

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We skedaddled off to bowling at a not-so-local venue! We were early – hooray!!! We really enjoyed it, and were only 4 littlies in our lane, so nicely organised that they didn’t feel that they were under pressure! Actually with the lane bars up and the rolling down thingy, it was quite straightforward. Mind you, that didn’t stop us having to get SB’s ball rescued once, that A’s lane didn’t clear and we called an SOS. The piece de resistance goes to A and her mum though, for playing boules to knock recalcitrant stopped balls the final few metres. On the first occasion, the second ball knocked the first through, and then slowly carried on downwards to end up going through just as the barrier thing lifted – so 2 throws as one as it were. But the killer one was when the first ball went through, and the second one was flipped back by the barrier thing as it lifted, leaving us able to catch it back at our end once it had rolled all the way back. What skill!

IMG_2078 IMG_2076 Oh dear!!!!

The we dashed back for the rainbows party [late]. SB enjoyed it a lot though, so that’s good, and BB played with her new farm. When SB came back we had tea and then made sweeties for christmas pressies. The girls were very adept at dipping the ingredients into the chocolate. We will sort out the boxes tomorrow.