Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I don't like to start any Christmas activity's etc with the boys until the 1st of December, as if we start any earlier we are board of Christmas before it gets here! Having said that I like to get the majority of my present shopping done before December! So the boys wrote their letters to Santa a couple of weeks ago to give him time to make & wrap their presents :-)

We sent our letters to Royal Mail who provide a free reply service for Santa to use, unlike many company's charging over £5! Santa will also be sending the boys an e-mail video message via the Portable North Pole (also free) in the next few days which proved a big hit last year.

The boys advent gifts, inc Xmas t-shirts & PJ's.

In the last few years we have accumulated a whole box of "Xmas Kids Stuff" toys,  books, DVDs etc. After seeing several different advent ideas on Pintrest I decided rather than letting the boys loose with a whole box of books & toys at the beginning of December I would space it out and wrap 1 or 2 items for each day which they could take turns in opening after breakfast. As I sat down to wrap everything I realised that I would need to carefully plan what would be opened on each day as a book for bedtime would be more useful on a day that the boys were at nursery all day than a colouring book!

 

So the boys got to open the first present which was a chalk count down to Christmas sign, along with the standard chocolate advent calender. We started on our salt dough decorations which i will put in another post when they are done. After lunch we went to a local Christmas Market & party, where we got to watch a magic show, meet some owls, go on a bouncy castle & listen to Santa read a story. We managed to win a giant Rodolph & a large jar of sweets! A bit gutted we didn't win the mini ipad, but oh well...

On Sunday the boys opened the second advent present which was a book called Shhh! By Julie Sykes & a Christmas Carols For Children CD. They both enjoyed the book which we read again at bed time & they listened to the 1st couple of songs, but mummy wasn't allowed to sing! They lost some interest in the music after that but it made a nice background while they played with Rodolph!

Here are some links to some of the books & DVDs the boys will be receiving:

UK Shhh!, Morris's Disappearing Bag (my copy I loved as a child), The Mr. Men Save Christmas, Woodland Tales: Wake Up Little Rabbit, Little penguin's good idea, LazyTown - Surprise Santa & Other Stories [DVD], Rugrats Christmas [DVD], The Wiggles - Santa's Rockin' [DVD]

x Jo x

Tube Slide

I had a spare cardboard wrapping paper tube to hand (yes I have been wrapping already) & was wondering what it could be used for that wouldn't become a sward or hitting device! With 2 boys this is often the case, even though I have so far avoided buying anything sward or gun related, Joseph (4) has made a gun out of Duplo & started pointing it & shouting "kill kill kill"

Anyway... Daniel (2.5) is a fan of making slides from things either for himself or toys. He even quite often will stand his spoon against his breakfast bowl & say "made slide mummy". 

So I made him a slide for his toys by cutting up each side of a wrapping paper tube, then stapled them together to make it a double slide. I then attached it onto a table with some sticky tape - don't do this on your best table!

We found some figures (Duplo but others would work just as well), bob the builder & a fireman had lots of fun on the slide. I did try suggesting to Daniel that some small cars could use the slide but apparently it was a silly idea!

Daniel played with this for nearly 30 mins & then re-visited on and off throughout the afternoon, until Joseph came back from pre-school pulled it off & started to use it as a sward!

If you fancy making a ball run with your wrapping paper tubes take a look here a happy wanderer & if you cant resist making a sward take a look here ikat bag.

x Jo x

Pasta Threading

We have a pair of really cute pet rats called Charlie & Lola (both girls) which the boys love to bits. I know rats aren't to every ones tastes however they have so much personality & intelligence its really hard not to fall for them! 

We decided to make some treats for the girls by threading pasta shapes (tubes & wheels) & some cheerios on to pipe cleaners. I threaded 1 cheerio on & then hooked the pipe cleaner around to stop it all falling off. 

 In the past the only threading we have done is with shoe laces, the boys found the pipe cleaners much easier to handle. Joseph (4) enjoyed this but wasn't interested in making a second one, but Daniel (2.5) couldn't get enough of it & ended up making 2. However I think we would have had a whole collection had lunch not been ready! 

Bad Mummy Moment - Yes the boys are in there PJ's at lunchtime (except Daniels trousers, as he'd had an accident) I'm sometimes lazy when know we are going out until the afternoon & want them to be tidy, i dress them after they have eaten!

When the boys had almost filled up there pipe cleaner I twisted it in to a circle. This then made them easy to hang up in the rat cage to nibble on.

Yes rats like to eat dried pasta, but they LOVE cheerios! I know cheerios aren't the best rat food it really is only a treat & they only had a few :-)

I have left all the pieces for this activity in the storage tubs & we will re-visit it soon & might even send some to some rescue rats for Christmas if we make enough :-)

My rats even have their own Facebook page & be sure to check out my Ratties Pintrest Board

Our first small world box

Until I came accross some pins on Pintrest of small world boxes, I hadn't come across the idea. Other than the standard Fisher Price or Happyland sets, and it reminded me of the miniature gardens I made for a local flower show as a child.

I was inspired by some posts on a couple of  my favourite blogs:
The Imagination Tree
Growing A Jeweled Rose

So i went out & bought a 32L under bed storage box from a local shop, it makes a great box for this project as its big enough for both boys to use & the lid means it can easily be put away for another day.

We used some shiny blue wrapping paper stuck to the base for the sea & some cloud dough for the sand, I was going to use yellow food colouring but i could only get the gel kind locally which I didn't think would work so i ended up using a teaspoon of turmeric, which worked really well & you cant smell it over the baby oil!

I love the look of concentration on Josephs face here

We then added some fish, an old plastic aquarium plant as seaweed, a couple of boats, shells, stones, windmills, cocktail umbrellas, some people (duplo) & a dog.

The boys helped me assemble the box which is why I don't have a pic of it looking tidy. They both enjoyed playing with the box, we did get the usual squabbles about who was playing with what etc. we have since had it out when the boys have been on there own & its been lovely to watch how they use there imagination with out interruption. It also highlighted to me that even though Daniel is 18 months younger he still has a much longer attention span for this type of play than his brother.

I'm not a huge fan of sand & like it to stay at the beech, I seam to find it weeks later even if it was just a visit to a park with a sand pit! Cloud dough makes a very good sand replacement, the boys did get some on the floor but was easy to sweep up, it made more of a mess on the boys clothes but brushing them down & a change of socks was all it took.

I'm currently torn between keeping the beach theme box & changing it out for something new as I have lots of other ideas pinned!

x Jo x

Welcome

Well I've finally decided to create a blog. Mainly inspired by my love of Pintrest and the amazing blogs I have discovered through pins. I'm a busy mum of 2 boys Joseph (4) & Daniel (2.5), I can't say that only an 18 month age gap was one of my best ideas! But more recently things have got easier as they are able to enjoy the same activity & they are starting to communicate with each other.

When Joseph was a baby I started my own craft business - Le Baby Bakery. Making nappy cakes & baby gifts, which were received very well locally. Then after Daniel was born I discovered bandanna dribble bibs & after buying a few decided that I could make them my self. So having not sewn since school, I bought a sewing machine & soon discovered how much I enjoyed creating & sewing for the boys. It was a natural progression to start selling these bibs which then progressed to dresses, trousers, shorts & applique t-shirts.

So I'm hoping to blog about all sorts of things sewing, crafting, crafting with the boys & our day to day life. I hope that you enjoy my posts & my journey in to the world of blogging!

x Jo x