Kid's Tree

The decorations are all up now and we are all starting to feel very Christmassy!
Along with the proper tree, I made a felt tree last year for the boys to decorate and change as they please. Eden really loved it this year!

Elf on The Shelf - What he's been up to these last few days!

Starry day

This was actually a couple of weeks ago but as I packed away the big box 'rocket ship to make way for the Christmas tree I was reminded that I hadn't posted it yet.

These were both ideas I had seen separately on Pinterest and seemed to work well together for a themed starry day!

We started by making a starry sky in a jar! An old jam jar filled with blue glitter, warm water and a little glue. (I actually used pva which was a mistake as I should have gone for clear glue. The glue thickens the water and makes the glitter take longer to settle after shaken, however pva is cloudy wheras the clear doesn't show. I later made another one with silver glitter and glitter glue which uses clear glue. This was a lot clearer). The boys had the most fun mixing it all up - Joplin loves an experiment! Eden loved stirring it all up. When we were finished we gave it a good shake and then watched the glitter swirling around for a good couple of minutes before it settled. They were most impressed and the word 'Wow' was certainly uttered!

 We then found all the cardboard boxes we could to put them all together with half a roll of gaffer tape to make a 'rocket ship'! The best part about this rocket ship though was the  'sky'! A string of fairy lights poking through the top made a starry night sky to look up at! Joplin loved chilling out in it!

A very starry day!

Busy 2 year old!

Eden is really great at entertaining himself - a lot better than his brother! I love watching him play. Lately his favourite toys is the train set including remarkably the crane which I never thought would bet any use! He is fascinated with the way the magnet picks up the blocks and how he can manover them into position. The concentration is intense!

 He also absolutely loves jigsaws and is very logical about his method of solving them. He especially loves a set given to him by his Nannah and Grandad, and a Fireman Sam Large one that Joplin was given for his birthday. He completes the Fireman Sam one in a specific order - Nee Nah first then Sam then helicoptor etc! The smaller ones he completes one at a time starting with Rocket Ship, Car, Train then Bus! I think he is even better at jigsaws than his older brother!

 We also had a fun kitchen activity the other day when I let him hammer golf tees into a melon! The potty made a good balancing place and juice catcher! He really enjoyed his 'work'! The golf tees have been a great toy actually. He can put them into order of colours, and Joplin works on patterns with them. They do get thrown around the kitchen though a bit but again picking them up and putting back is a task that Eden can manage and is usually pleased to help with.

Elf on the Shelf Day 5

Oliver the Elf was in a cuddly mood today as he snuggled up with our cheese grater!

Elf on the Shelf Day 4

Joplin was most put out this morning when he saw the elf helping himself to the 'special occasion sweets'!!

Christmas sweetie wreath

This is a habit I've adopted from Dan's sister Lisa in New Zealand - a  sweetie wreath (or should I say lolly wreath ay!) It is lovely to be able to offer a sweet to visitors at this time of year and looks great on the door! 

I just wrap a wire coat hanger with material (I used fleece a coule of years ago and the whole base  gets reused each year and stored with the decorations). I then sew on all the sweets - a stich for each sweet then an stitch into the fabric - they do need to be paper wrapped sweets. Finish with a bow! 

So make sure you get one if you pop around for a visit! 

Elf on the shelf day Three!

Our cheeky elf actually had a name and sex change over night from day one and is now a boy elf named Oliver! He was found this morning helping himself to a juice in the kitchen!

Elf on The Shelf Day Two

He found a good vantage point today to survey the naughty or nice behaviour! I bet he had a few stories to report back to the North Pole tonight!

Snowman outfit finished!!

Both boys have been told they need to be a snowman for their separate Christmas productions at Nursery and School - result! Only one costume to make that they can share! Fortunately the productions are a few days apart with Joplin's first, so I will have a weekend to make adjustments and probably need to take it up for Eden.
The boys can be reluctant when it comes to dressing up in public so I wanted to make it as near to normal clothes as I could. I found some great fur fleece fabric in white with a bit of stretch and so I dug out my favourite pattern for some seriously fluffy trousers! I have used this pattern so many times right from newborn sizes and I think there's still a couple of years left yet. Actually I have very tempted to scale it up for my size - they always seem so comfy looking! Anyway the pattern can be found here. I used the extra large pattern with the large on the waistband and added a bit of elastic for the waistband - the waist is generous on the pattern as it is meant to go over cloth nappies. I made them a little long with a large hem - hopefully this can serve as a turn up for Eden, and also maybe give a couple more years use!
For the top I made a pattern from a waistcoat / gillet that fitted Joplin and made it slightly more generous at the sides so it could fasten in the middle. As the fabric doesn't fray and is so fluffy I didn't even need to hem it. I fastened it on the tummy with a strip of velcro then sewed on two felt 'buttons'.
Add a white t-shirt underneath, and a scarf and hat and Ta-da! - one complete snowman costume! I can't wait to see the boys in it in their productions!!

Your comments make my day! Do let me know what you think!

Our Elf on the shelf shows up!

With the first of December, a letter and a visitor came to our home today.
This letter arrived on the mat:-

 And after a bit of searching the boys found the elf! Joplin has decided to call her(!) Pippa. I will keep you updated with what she gets up to!

Advent calendar

The advent calendar is now finished and up and the first chocolate eaten this morning! I love all the old socks hanging up and hopefully when the boys are in big teenage shoe sizes it will be a nice reminder every year of their little baby feet! As for now, it's great to clear out the odd sock basket! 

(Thanks to the girls for the few extras too to complete the project!)

A visit from Auntie Jill and Uncle Derrick and a magic tree!

We had a lovely visit from Auntie Jill and Uncle Derrick on Thursday. It was really nice to see them as ever.

 They bought the boys a present of a 'Magic Tree"! This is the picture from the website of the shop it originally came from (with the crazy price of £8! - Savvy Auntie Jill found it in a charity shop still in perfect new condition at an 8th of the price). It is supposed to turn from a Christmas tree into a small then large Santa over 3 days. Anyway, Joplin had great fun pouring in the water and  we all watched the tree fizzle away and begin to change into something different.

However we must have the truly magical version as this is what appeared in ours:-

 Most definitely a snowman!! It is very cool and just as fun, but double the fun as Joplin really doesn't get it, and despite me explaining that we must have the snowman and not Santa version he still keeps telling everyone it is going to turn into Santa!! Very funny!

Words

It occurred to me today that although I am proud of the way Joplin's language is developing, there are some wrongly pronounced words that I will miss so much when he looses them.
The main ones that sprang to mind today:-
Amliance (Ambulance)
Serventry (Conservatory)
my personal favourite:-
Teasure-mape (Tape Measure)
Tyre Monster (his current favourite song 'Alternative Ulster')

I'm sure there are more - will update if any come to mind!

Eden is talking loads more too. I find it very funny that his first very clear sentence is "Naughty Joplin!" He is great on beginnings and endings of words and sentences but does a very cute "blululula" in the middle, so Mike the Knight becomes "Mike blulula knight".
He is managing a very clear "Joplin" now as well as a very cute Mummy and Daddy ("tank Mummy" melts my heart each time!) but Nannah and Grandad are still Na and Gra. Love you lots is just "Lots". He is really making himself understood though and is coming out with so many more each day. I think he may even turn into a chatterbox in the end!

A day in London!

We all had a day out in London this week to see the sights! The plan was to head first to Kensington Park before taking on the museums but the rain changed our plans a little. The roads were flooded on the way to the station and we found out that after a bit of puddle paddling Joplin's boot's weren't waterproof! After wringing out his socks on the train a new pair of boots was the only real option, so we headed first to Oxford Street and found a pair of crocodile wellies which went down a treat! 

As we were in the area he had to stop at Hamleys. First stop Lego Floor! I was very impressed with the Lego Queen, but Joplin and Eden just adored the Lego full sized red telephone box complete with Lego phone and talking voices!

 There was lots that the boys could do - remote cars, scalextric,  and reindeer on roller skates to walk!

 We headed back to the tube, passing a life sized statue of the World's tallest man on the way!

 Then arrived at my favourite London building The Natural History Museum. The boys were impressed with the dinosaurs - particularly the T Rex exhibit (that moves).

 After a couple of hours we headed next door to the Science museum to see the vehicles and press buttons!

 The Launch Pad was a massive hit.

 Eden was great at the block building! Joplin was quite happy to watch this one!

 Eden even managed to rope in some help when he couldn't stack any higher. I wish I could have captured it on film when it all tumbled down!

 Finally our tummy's told us it was time to leave and so we headed back on the tube to find dinner. 

 We went to Wagamama's as it seemed something we would all enjoy. Eden did amazingly with the child chopsticks and ate most of his dinner with them!

 Yummy food and a great family day out!