How did the 3 Wise Men find Baby Jesus?

A conversation with Charlie this morning!

Me: Who's birthday is it on Christmas Day?
Charlie: It's Baby Jesus's
Me: and who are his Mummy and Daddy?
Charlie: Mary and Joseph.
Me: who were the men who visited Jesus with gifts, the 3.....
Charlie: wise men.
Me: What did they follow to find Baby Jesus?
Charlie:..........a map!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!

at least he didn't say a SatNav!!

Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve

The teacher's at Charlie's school are striking today therefore the school is closed. (It was terribly bad timing as today was supposed to be my first day back at work after my year off but thankfully I managed to change my day and started back yesterday and nursery were able to change Courtney's day too) It did mean though that we had a bonus day off with Charlie! it's a lovely day today so I was trying to think of a nice outdoor activity, something different. I had thought about Ingleton caves but they are closed in the winter. I googled activities in the Carnforth area as I was planning on seeing Elizabeth and wondered if we could coincide the visit with a trip out. That was when I came across Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve. It's a few years since I have been as I was taken there a few times when I was younger by my parents and grandparents. It's in Silverdale so just outside Carnforth and proved to be ideal! We parked up at the main site and then walked down to the public causeway, Charlie holding my hand and Courtney holding Elizabeth's! Once on the causeway we walked around 400 metres to the hide. We were on our own in there, there were glass slatted windows that we could open to have a good look at the birds. We saw a number of different species but I certainly couldn't name them, LOL! Charlie and Courtney were enjoying watching the ducks swimming and bathing in front of us. The view was beautiful and when the sun caught the edges of the mountains and reeds it was just stunning! We spent quite a while in the hide and then made our way back up to the reserve building where we enjoyed a drink and snack. We then had a look around the gift shop, Charlie and Courtney chose a bird each that makes bird sounds when you press their tummy. I chose a hedgehog for my craft room and so Daddy didn't miss out we bought him some special biscuits, Kendal mint cake and a pen! As you turn right out of the reserve (we came in from the left) there is a bumpy road, the sort of road which as you go over the peak of the bump your tummy flips, this road was one of the highlights of my childhood! Dad and Grandad would drive a long them then we'd have to turn around and go back! I wanted to share this road with Charlie and Courtney, they laughed just as I had as a child, it just filled my heart that they were enjoying the 'bumps' as much as I had as a child! We must take Mark there one day too!

Mummy's new toy?

Yesterday I got a new toy! (It is actually for Christmas but Santa came early!!) When I went away last weekend I had a play on Tree's IPad, I had been tempted by one but after having a play on hers I decided, I definitely wanted one! Apple were holding a Black Friday event last week, apparently this is the only time in the year Apple reduce their products. Tesco price matched them and as I work for Tesco I also got my staff discount off it so it would have been rude not to buy it then! I went to collect it from store yesterday and had a play last night, I've downloaded a few apps and have got very addicted to playing Angry Birds, LOL! I wondered what the hype was about this game and now I know! I also downloaded a couple of apps for Charlie and Courtney, a drawing one and a piano one. As you can see they also really like Mummy's new Ipad, I wonder who will play on it more? LOL!

School Fair

....was very busy but fun!

Gingerbread Man Giant!

Yesterday Mark brought home a new friend! Both Charlie and Courtney like a gingerbread man and we've always had a joke with them that that gingerbread man says 'please don't eat my head' That of course, to them, is funny and the head always gets eaten first! So apparently the gingerbread man sent his big brother home to sort them out!! LOL! Have you ever seen a gingerbread man this big??? He's yummy too!
This afternoon we're heading to the school Christmas fair, we had to make a decoration for the tree in the hall. We decided to make one for home too. Inspired by the giant gingerbread man Charlie and I set to and found a gingerbread man picture we liked on the internet and I used the print and cut feature again on the craft robo to cut him out. We then went into the craft room to 'ice' them! I originally intended to just get Charlie to draw with the white sharpie but he didn't have enough pressure to make it show up so we got icing powder out (embossing powder) and he used an embossing pen to make his details, tipped the powder off and heat embossed it with my heat tool! They look great and Charlie has super fun making them!

Children in Need

The pressure was on! a letter came home from school about Children in Need and the children were all to wear spots! Boys don't so spots, do they! I originally went looking for a spotty tie for him or even some official Children in Need merchandise but after scouring several shops I made the decision to have a go at making something! Charlie had the plain white top already so I set to with my Craft Robo, downloaded the picture of Pudsey bear and cut him out using the print and cut feature, I then created several circles and infilled them using the dropper to pick out the colours in Pudsey's eye patch and cut them out. I then adhered them to the top using my Xyron, Pudsey and those spots aren't going anywhere, LOL!!

Just like Daddy!

Courtney and I went to see Daddy at Carpet Right this morning, Mark is a carpet fitter and was preparing the carpets for his jobs, Courtney was helping to roll a carpet!


It's a treat to see Daddy at work, Courtney's visit reminded me of Charlie visit from last year! See here!

Assembly video

Whilst we were walking home from school Charlie was singing one of the songs from assembly, I asked him if I could video him at home, enjoy!♥

About our senses assembly

We got a letter home from school last week that the Reception and Year 1 children were doing the school assembly on the theme of senses. There was no way I could miss it! The assembly was this morning and I VERY proudly watched my son joining in all the songs and he presented his 'feely' picture. The assembly was so well put together and there were funny bits in it too where the headteacher had to put his hand inside a box and guess what he was touching, it was baked beans!!! For posterity I have to note that I filled up as soon as he started to sing and tears tricked down my cheeks, I've waited so long to enjoy these moments, I can't describe how I felt at that moment, just total joy and pride.
The funny thing is I'd decided to leave my handbag at home but at the last moment thought to take my camera just in case! I never really thought there would be opportunity to take a pic but knew I'd regret not taking it if there was! At the beginning of the assemble the head teacher announced that no photography was allowed during the assembly but we may take photos of our own children after! So here's Charlie with his 'feely' picture♥

Snow much fun!!

We've had a really good day! We'd booked a Christmas experience at Chill Factore in Manchester primarily to try and capture the Christmas card photo but also so Charlie and Courtney could have a play in snow! They also got an early visit to Father Christmas!
It was quite busy when we arrived but most people were skiing, having lessons or one of the other activities. I'd say the snow play area had just about the right number in. The whole experience thing is VERY good, the play area had several things, a house, a slide, climbing things, a little slope for sliding down with inflatables and a couple of staff who were playing with the children. There wasn't really enough snow though to build a snowman as Charlie had hoped but that didn't matter. For the first 10 minutes or so they both played really nicely but Charlie had a little slip and it frightened him and his confidence dwindled. We tried and the staff tried to encourage him but I think he'd had enough then. Courtney was also getting ready to leave. We had a little break and had bought some headbands earlier in the week to accessorise the Christmas photo and they did provide a good distraction for a few minutes but there was little, or in truth no posing to be had as you can see from the top left photo, little monkeys! We had another quick play and then left the play area and changed from our groovy snow boots back into our own shoes and made our way over to Father Christmas's grotto! Before we went into the grotto area Peppa Pig paid a visit! Charlie went straight up to her but Courtney wasn't so keen. She did go up after a little persuasion and happily had her photo taken with her.
I think the grotto area was great, the best I've seen! They'd set 3 little tables up in the middle of a queuing area for the children to be entertained whilst the adults queued, the staff did activities with them and when it was our turn we just had to call the children up. Charlie was very good with Father Christmas and told him he'd like a new bendy bus for Christmas as his has broken (I'm sure that can be arranged) Courtney was a little reluctant again but did go up to him with me. We had a family photo with Father Christmas which is very good and that now is going to be the Christmas card photo so I can't share it! To finish off our adventure we had a Costa treat!
We then went to Salford to pick Maddie up from Uni and went to the Lowry shopping place, I really liked it in there and we got a couple of Christmas pressies. After that we walked over to Media City and Charlie had his photo taken with a big Pudsey sticker, the BBC building is all decorated up ready for Children in Need next week! I'm going to print the photo off for him to take to school on Friday. We went to a dinosaur exhibition thing, it was a bit basic but Charlie liked it and that's the main thing! There was an area that had giant IPads set into tables, they were fun, we all played on the drawing app!
I was surprised Charlie and Courtney didn't sleep on the way home, I was shattered, LOL! Courtney did have a little nap but no more than 10 minutes! They both went straight to sleep at bedtime though!

Lest we forget. 11.11.11

On my hoop!

I don't think I've shared my current cross stitch WIP (work in progress.) To be honest I don't normally stitch Christmassy things, I truly love Christmas and even more so now we can share it with Charlie and Courtney, they make it magical! I've kind of felt like it was a lot of work to only be displayed for a short time each year BUT I realise now that was silly! I came across a gorgeous 'Fizzy Moon' design in my cross stitch magazine and immediately it jumped out at me as being Charlie and Courtney! I decided there and then I was going to stitch it! I bought some really nice fabric last year, it's ecru with a gold sparkle, I thought it would be perfect for this project but when I put the bear colour threads on it I thought they'd be lost, so I rang 'Sew and Sew' to see if there was a white fabric with silver sparkle and there was so I ordered it up! I started stitching it on Saturday (the 29th) and it's coming along nicely! I had a mini frustration yesterday, I thought I was a stitch out, there's nothing more frustrating than one pesky stitch out but whilst stitching today I realised my mistake, I'd actually only missed a red stripe on the scarf! Phew! Easily rectified! So this is my piece so far...... (you can just about see the sparkle on the fabric at the bottom where the flash has caught it)

.....and this is what it'll look like finished! I'm saying it's Courtney on the left and Charlie on the right!!

Happy Anniversary Courtney!

♥Today is a year since we met our sweet, precious little girl!♥
Trust me, Courtney is smiling, for some reason this is the face she pulls when we do a self timer photo!! Charlie used to have a similar smile face! Don't you just love the Wotsit stained faces, bless them! We realised and tried to take more pics but this was the best of the bunch, LOL!!