Happy New Year Everyone

Happy New Year - we hope you have a wonderful 2011!

Steve joins us in this greeting, just not in the photo - he's not much for having his pic on the blog!

Happy Christmas!

A little late posting this - just can't seem to find enough quiet time to get it done. We had a great Christmas, quite quiet but very nice. Both the kids seem to be full of germs and Beth particularly is fighting off some bug. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on her ability to open presents!

Toby had no particular requests for Santa but Beth was very hopeful for a Barbie doll. Thankfully Santa had read her letter and listened to her requests and she got one along with lots of clothes. Toby was more than happy with his Buzz from Santa, complimented with a Woody from Gran and Grandad.

We had been rather mean this year with presents as they already have so much but everyone else was very generous and they both ended the day with lots of fabulous presents. Toby was very happy with his wizard outfit complete with authentic Harry Potter broom from the film set! Both loved decorating their own wellie boots (thanks J & A) and Toby seemed to be having some interesting thoughts about what he could do with his chainsaw!

Before I forget, I sadly can't steal the compliments for the cake, that was courtesy of Grandma. Thank you to everyone for all our lovely pressies, thank you cards will follow at some point . . .

As a little break from Christmas celebrations, we did go for a visit to the National Space Centre in Leicester with Auntie Jane. Most of the information was way above the kids comprehension but they loved some of the experiments and the film we watched. Toby was obviously very taken with it and has been talking ever since about the rocket blasting off. :)

Christingle

On Wednesday 15th there was the Christingle service at church combined with the school nativity play. Beth was an angel and looked very good in her costume (along with about four others in the same one, courtesy of the local supermarket!). Beth didn't have any lines, just singing and she did very well - she has been singing the songs for the last few weeks and I think I could probably have joined in with most of them.

The nativity was a slight variation from normal as it was called Angels and Aliens and was about a spaceship that landed near a school where the children were practicing for their nativity play. The school children tell the aliens the story of Christmas. I suspect it's just a way of creating more characters as you can only have so many angels and shepherds! It went very well and I don't think anyone forgot their lines though one of the kings got stage fright and one was off ill.

All the children were given christingles, yes, even Toby!! Amazingly he seemed to appreciate the responsibility and was really careful with with it. Beth was mesmerised by hers - you can see her (fifth angel down) just gazing at it. The church looked fab lit by just the candles and it was a lovely evening.

Happy Birthday GG Harry

December 4th was Great Grandpa Harry's 90th birthday over in Northern Ireland. So, on Thursday (2nd) we dug our way out of the street through a foot of snow and headed over to Liverpool to catch the night ferry to Belfast.

Strangely, once we got out of our village the weather wasn't too bad and the snow gradually disappeared. Of course the kids were very excited about the ferry and loved the bunk beds. The crossing wasn't too bad though given the choice I may choose to go first class by plane!

On Friday (and again on Sunday) we spent some time on the beach. It wasn't quite beach weather so we hadn't taken our buckets and spades, but the kids had a great time splashing in the puddles and lobbing stones into the water. Toby of course fell over at least once but thankfully, for once, it wasn't straight into the water.

On Saturday it was the party for GG Harry. The house was filled with family and friends, there to wish him Happy Birthday and ply him with chocolates and sweets (he has something of a sweet tooth!). The kids loved running around, meeting new people and getting a lot of attention too.

Sunday evening we caught the ferry back home all ready for school on Monday morning. We all hope you had a very Happy 90th Birthday Great Grandpa Harry!

Pretty Snow (again)

We woke up yesterday morning to four inches of snow, very pretty! Toby obviously couldn't remember snow from earlier this year as he looked amazed and rather confused by it. Beth definitely could and wanted to get straight out in it. So, before 7:30am we were all wrapped up and ready to slide . . .

The snow's too icy to build a snowman - it just sticks to your gloves or crumbles away so instead we got the sledge and headed off round the village. It was very picturesque though a bit chilly. Toby was very happy to be pulled along, quite a change from January when he would not sit on the sledge for anything and we had to endure painfully slow walks to get anywhere.

We had a few runs down a hill in the village - probably not the best one since it was a road (though hardly any cars) and that satisfied the kids. We'll have to look for a better hill in one of the fields.

The snow's still here today and is likely to be around for a while so we'll be able to get a bit more fun out of it though not so much with Beth being in school and it getting dark by about 4pm. I'm sure it'll be enough as the temperature here this morning was -7c/20f.

Bonfire Night 2010

Bonfire night this year was on a Friday. We weren't celebrating until the Saturday so Friday night we decided to 'gatecrash' and enjoy other people's fireworks by going on a walk around the village to see what we could see. There were quite a few around but still not enough for Beth who needed a revolving head!

On Saturday we went to a friend's do for their bonfire and fireworks. It was a fun, relaxed evening with hot dogs, burgers, sparklers and a smidgen of wine. Not much else to say about a lovely evening, except for Toby who wee'd in his wellies and got very cold feet. :)

Half Term and Halloween

Last week was half term here so both kids were rattling round the house. At the beginning of the week we went to visit grandma and grandpa. Grandma had been carefully cultivating pumpkins all summer so we would have something to carve! She had done a great job and Beth immediately adopted the largest pumpkin and laid into it with a big black marker. Her design was pretty good - it's the one in the middle, right. Toby wasn't in the slightest bit fussed so I had a go with his - middle, left. The other two pumpkins were ones I picked up for Steve and I to have a go on. It turned into a bit of a carve-off with no winner declared - Steve's looked amazing with the light on and mine had a slight edge when lit at night.

Beth also planted her daffodil bulb that she was given at school. It came with very specific instructions for planting, watering and general care. It is intended that all the kids bring their daffodil into school one week next year and they all be in flower at the same time . . . a little hopeful I'm thinking! Grandma mentioned the idea of planting a few back-ups; probably not a bad thought. ;) Although Toby didn't get too interested in the planting activity, he was on hand ready to water.

Back at home we spent one day over at Clumber Park. They had a pumpkin trail set up around the walled garden. Beth was very excited to follow it - she's getting to the point where you can't fob her off and do your own thing - she figures things out far too quick. Toby wasn't bothered and he just wanted to run round and do his own thing. We followed the clues and found all the pumpkins - the photo is from pumpkin number six. The cauldron beside them is filled with witches snot and spiders (lovely), disgusting as it was, it did promote much discussion over what they could have used to make it (Beth's final thoughts were either jelly or glue).

For the last few days of the holiday grandma and grandad came to stay with us. Toby showed off his dance moves - both he and Beth love one of the dance games on the wii and can use up a tremendous amount of energy bopping to the beat. Beth did a great job, with a little help from grandma, decorating cakes for the Halloween party. Toby did not want to wear a costume so he went as 'Toby' but Beth of course wanted to be a princess fairy witch. They had a really good time chasing round the village hall, eating sausages and cake and generally causing havoc! Beth was really excited to see her school friends and thankfully had no encounters with dead arms!