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!!