Half Term Week Round-up

This week has been half term and boy have we had a lot to celebrate.

Sunday was Chinese New Year - The year of the Snake.

As is tradition in China, I ordered some red envelopes and gave the children one each, filled with money (2 pound each, an odd number would have been considered bad luck along with the number 8, Chinese believe the number 4 is lucky)

To celebrate, Erin and I learnt to say Hello in Chinese Ni-Hao (Nee-How). We also learnt about how children live in China using our new book.

We made some Lanterns out of some patterned paper which we coloured in.

Erin tried her hand at writing the Chinese symbols used instead of numbers. She also wrote Snake in Chinese.

Lastly, she drew the Chinese flag and wrote a little something about the day.

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday and of course we celebrated with homemade pancakes for breakfast. Damian and I ate our plain while of course, Erin had to be different, so she decorated hers with strawberry sauce and sprinkles. We all agreed that homemade pancakes for breakfast was definitely something we had to do more often. I wont share any pictures on how messy my kitchen got when making the pancakes.

Yesterday was St Valentine's Day. I helped Erin make some cards for each of her Grandparents and her Auntie Katie, although I forgot to take a picture of them before we handed them out. We also made some Lovebugs.

Erin made 2 Lovebugs for her best friend Lucy and her baby sister Phoebe who are coming to visit today. I made some Lovebugs and cards for my 2 biggest loves...My children.

I pinched the idea for the Lovebugs from this wonderful site and tweaked it to make them ours.
www.spoonful.com/crafts/love-ly-ladybugs


Today will be spent with our friends. Erin and Lucy have been friends since they were at nursery and while they now go to different schools, we always make it a rule to keep in touch.

So that pretty much wraps up our half term week. Tomorrow we will go shopping for packed lunch food for going back to school and Sunday will be spent with my dad and stepmum like we do every Sunday.

Snow Fun Insta-dump

Seeing as all signs of snow have now passed and everything is green once more, I thought this would be a better time than any to have an Insta-dump of all our fun in the snow.

Although we loved the snow when it first came and we sure had a lot of fun playing in it, we were so glad when the rain came and it melted overnight.

Now bring on the Spring xx

Happy New Year

Personally, I'm so glad to see the back of 2012, it hasn't been a very good year for me, so I'm really looking forward to making 2013 out year.

Last night, I made Erin and I some Cinderella mocktails and they were a hit. Damian wasn't too fussed with them so he had some fizzy orange instead.

Recipe:

• Pineapple juice
• Orange juice
• Soda water
• Grenadine (to colour)

They were quite tasty and could be converted to a proper cocktail by adding Peach snapps (maybe use this for a later time)

Cheers to the New Year everyone xx

Erin's Questions

I got this idea from my beloved Pinterest. I think the idea of doing this every year on Erin's birthday then making a folder for them as a keepsake when she is an adult, is a lovely thing to do. If she is anything like her mother then I know she will love it.

1. What is your favourite colour? Orange
2. What is your favourite toy? Chocolate coin maker
3. What is your favourite fruit? Plum
4. What is your favourite TV Show? Dora The Explorer
5. What is your favourite snack? Raisins
6. What is your favourite animal? Chicks
7. What is your favourite song? Lullaby
8. What is your favourite book? Colouring book
9. Who is your best friend? Lucy
10. What is your favourite thing to do outside? Roll in the grass when it's a sunny day
11. What is your favourite drink? Blackcurrant juice
12. Which is your favourite holiday? Easter
13. Who is your favourite person in the world? Mummy and Damian
14.  What do you want to be when you grow up? Car driver
15. What is your favourite thing to do at school? Write on the big board at Choosing Time
16. Who is your favourite cartoon character? Dora
17. Give 3 words to describe you brother? Happy, proud of me, sometimes mean
18. Give 3 words to describe your family? Lovely, special, funny
19. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do? Get all the food and eat it all
20. Give 3 words to describe yourself? Happy, caring, friendly

She needed a bit of help with choosing words to describe, but other than that, these are her answers. It will be lovely to look back and see which answers change and which stay the same.

This would have been nice to do with Damian, but seeing as he'll be 10 on his birthday, I'm going to change the questions, I know he wont be as fussed as Erin with having this but it'll be nice for me to keep.

Erin's 5th Birthday

I can't believe my baby is now 5, it doesn't seem so long ago that I brought her home from the hospital all brand new.

She certainly is a bundle of sweetness mixed with a dash of mischievousness, but I wouldn't change her for the world.

Happy Birthday Princess, we love you so much xx

Silly cats

I love cats, period!!

They are so funny. My mum has 7 of the beggars and each one of them has their own individual personality.

The cat wearing the santa hat and beard is Snowball, my mum took him home thinking he was a girl, it wasn't until she took them to be spayed and they discovered Snowball was a boy cat and was therefore neutured, we now call him No-Balls. This cat is the most laidback cat you can find, he didn't move a whisker when we were putting the hat and beard on him.

The black and white cat is Harvey, he is a beast of a Tom-cat but is a total wuss.

The other cats are: Diglet, Smudge, Cornflake, Buttons and Minnie. I will take pics and blog about them another time, but I will leave you with some very funny cats.....

Stay and Play morning at Erin's school

So this morning, I spent the best part of an hour doing crafts with Erin and I have to admit, I still love it and I think Erin is going to take after me.