Life from the back of the pack : Christmas!!

So the months of planning and making were followed by weeks of sorting and packing, these were followed with days of unpacking, putting away, rearranging the put away stuff and wondering how much easier life would be if all our books were on kindle rather than on the 12 bookshelves !! But now it's here, it's Chhhhrristmasss!

We had an early start to get to church on time, a one hour commute on Christmas morning is slightly challenging but we made it and enjoyed sharing the service with our friends at Camrose. Then back in the car for another hour track to my sisters where we spent a fun filled day, yummy food, presents, party games and general madness!!

Watch out Auntie Andrea this shop is run by a shrewd shopkeeper who charges you on you card and then asks for the cash as well, Daddy got stung for £ 180 for a box of frosties! A one portion box at that!!

Working out how our bodies work!

Disco dancing!

For some reason this is fun!!

Then a yummy Christmas dinner -

A great day!

 

 

 

Life from the back of the pack: It's beginning to look a lot like .... Home!

So we're finally here, and after an exhausting day some semblance of order is beginning to emerge from the stacks of boxes and jumble of furniture.

And our friends here were just amazing, not only bringing us food, but assembling furniture and unpacking boxes, it was fun getting to know people as we tried to work out just were everything was going to go! And as a result we have a liveable space and all three girls have a bed to sleep in!

Right now as we try to get the girls calm enough to sleep we have a few moments just to enjoy our home!

Tomorrow it's back to boxes and unpacking - hoping to get as much as we can sorted before Christmas!

Been lent a dongle so can finally post this!

 

Life from the back of the pack : What makes a house a home?

So after weeks of planning and sorting, packing and trashing the van arrived to transport our belongings to our new home.

Just as I was taking the girls in for their last day at school, they watched dvd's and partied whilst Keith and I hoovered and swept and cleaned the rapidly emptying rooms.

By the time I picked the girls up most of our stuff was in the back of the lorry. The girls were great, just accepting this transition , saying goodbye and moving on.

 

Life from the back of the pack... : Advent

Doing any kind of bible devotions with our children has always been a struggle - we have tried a few books which worked well, we have read them stories and try to pray with them each night but the reality is that it is a struggle and to be honest more often than not just doesn't happen, mornings involve the mayhem that is getting ready for school, and by bedtime we are ready to collapse in a heap so when I read about Never 2 Young Family Advent by Bea Brigham I decided we would give it a go that despite the chaos of Christmas and moving we would try to make space to think about the story of Christmas. It appealed because it was simple, a short reading, a sign to learn and a few things to think about and fun with a simple activity to do.
So two weeks in how has it been?

The truth is it's been tough, grumpy kids, grumpy parents, and we missed some days when I decided that this just wasn't going to happen! But the kids wanted to do it, they asked to do it and so here we are still going and it's getting better! And we are making time as a family to read the bible and pray together which is great.
So now my thought is come Christmas what next......

 

Crafting for Christmas - Baby Ivy

Now just to clarify baby Ivy is actually a year old, but as the youngest of my children's cousins she may keep the title baby for years to come - on the other side of the family my brothers little girl is three and yep she is still baby Lucy.
So Josh and Rachel - no peaking! You have to wait till December the 25th!!
For everyone else here's a sneak peak of Ivy's present!!

NO PEAKING!!




Really! You have to wait to Christmas!!

Crafting for small children I'd great fun and for a while I've been quite taken with the idea of handmade quiet books - they feature often on Pinterest and seem to be popular in America, so I decided to come up with my own version. Having run several ideas through I decided to do the first verse of a song called the lion roars and illustrate each line.

I was really pleased as it came together, and Keith's suggestion of adding the cd was a great idea - though I guess that now makes it a noisy book - still great fun though!

Crafting for Christmas : Teachers gifts

If you read my blog regularly you will know two important pieces of information.
1) I like to give teachers a handmade gift (actually if time allowed I would like to give all homemade gifts but the kids have to eat and housework has to be kept at bay!!)
2) I am moving house 4 days before Christmas!
So with these two factors in mind I am trying to get things done early! Now the issue with posting gift ideas on here is that the recipient may just get a sneak peak - so if you fall into the gift category listed I am trusting you not to peak!! (I should clarify -when it says teachers that would not be all teachers only those actually teaching my children!)
I came across these beautiful baubles on Pinterest (great site but a definite enemy of housework!)

There is a great tutorial on beadandcord.com so I thought I'd give it a go.
The supplies all came from hobbycraft which is not the cheapest option but with time short it was the most convenient. Being an American site the measurements are in inches, a 3" ball is covered in 3" squares of fabric. The balls I purchased were in cm so slightly smaller but as long as the squares are cut to the same size as the diameter of the ball it works fine.

It has been a little bit of trial and error getting the shape and size of the star right but generally I am happy with the result!

So teachers gifts done onto the girls year books - oh and some packing I suppose!!

 

It's on it's way!

Christmas? The big move? Both probably but on this occasion it's the story sack. Having spent a week at a school it will now tour families in the church allowing them a few days to explore the Christmas story -starting with us!

Teaching her class!

 

Life from the back of the pack: Sorting school!

One of the key things we need to sort out for the move is schooling for the girls. In an ideal world this would simply mean sending them to the village school 10 min walk from home and so after we had told them about the move, we took them to look round the school.

So far so good only Rebecca didn't have a place, so we considered the possibility of home schooling her and waiting lists and prayed ....... then Sophie's place was also filled and official confirmation arrived to say that only Annie would have a place here but all three could have places in the nearby church school.
So we were faced with several choices, do we appeal and risk having the children in separate schools, do I homeschool both children in hope of a place becoming available or do we accept the places offered.
As I spent time thinking it through and praying lots! I found God giving me if not an answer at least a way forward in the form of a question - Is the village school best for the girls or best for us as adults? And a statement - Don't underestimate your girls.
As I thought it through I saw that actually the village school was best for me but that didn't mean it was the best for the girls. What I knew was best for the girls was being at a school being part of a school community.
So yesterday evening over a glass if milk in a cafe we broke the news to the girls and told them we would need to visit a new school - and you know only one person knows my kids better than me - God knew, He knew they would handle this, He knew they would take it in their stride and they did!

So today we went to visit Barton Church of England School a tiny four class school about 10 mins drive from our new home. It is a lovely school but more than that it has a good SEN provision which is great as we consider the best way forward for Rebecca, the joint class will allow Rebecca to work more to her own pace. The conclusion God knew , He had already made provision for the girls we just needed to catch up!

Crafting for Christmas : Cards

When Annie played Mary in her play group nativity last year I knew that I just had to use this image in my cards this year. I played around with various effects but decided on a sepia finish which worked well with a pack of Christmas papers I had picked up from a craft fair.

With approx 200 cards to make I kept the basic designs simple to make the most of the papers.

So now to get them all written and posted!!

Life from the back of the pack: Bertie Bear comes to stay.

Sometimes little decisions make life just that bit more complicated - like the decision to only use half the boot for our trip to Devon this half term. Using half the boot means none of the children need to be in kicking distance of each other - a good thing on what will end up a 6 hour trip leaving on a Friday evening at the start of half term.
So feeling reasonably pleased with my packing having fitted in everything I arrive at school to hear that Annie has done so well this week that she gets to take Bertie Bear home for the holidays!

I tried to be pleased and excited - no really I did but Bertie has a suitcase!

So back to the car to try to fit in school bags and coat not accounted for in the packing, Sophie's lost and now found extra jumper and wellies plus Bertie and his bag!!
So somehow we got everyone and their belongings in the car and I was proud of her honest! And Bertie got to come to Devon.

On the tea stop we catch up with Bertie's adventures so far!

And Bertie got his own babycinno
I was surprised at how quickly Bertie has become part of the family and yes I anticipate tears when he returns to school next week!
So here are some of our highlights!

Bertie getting ready for bed!

Time for bed Bertie!

Bertie joined in the bowling!

He tried hard - but Nanny won! Keith was not impressed!!

Trying out the drums at church

We had a great time at the beach

We explored the sand dunes .....

....and got more than a little wet!

We headed home Thursday to allow the girls to attend a light party -a great alternative to Halloween.

Bertie wasn't allowed to pick pumpkins on Saturday -far too muddy for a little teddy!

But he did manage to sneak in lunch at Mac Donald's and a trip to the farm before it was time to go back to school for a well earned rest!

 

Ready for school in his new school uniform!