Christmas 2010

Our christmas began with a walk around our neighbourhood to see the christmas lights on christmas eve. Hannah loves seeing the lights and gets really excited by all the brightly flashing flashiness of it all !!!


(i do not even want to imagine what it's like living inside this house at christmas lol)

Then later on christmas eve we went to the Children's Nativity and Christingle at the church.
And finally it was time to sleep so Santa could come!!
Here is Hannah on christmas morning, she was so excited she was literally trembling while she opened her gifts!


And later on, she and my mum surprised Dean and I with a filled stocking from Hannah Santa :-)
Daddy cooked christmas lunch in his funky Rudolf apron, cheered on by Hannah!
And on christmas night Hannah and her doll Lanie wore matching nightgowns to bed, a gift from Hannah's best (and very much missed) friend Sydney (who now lives back in the USA).
Boxing day saw Hannah dressed in her new christmas gift clothes and ready for a trip to the park for some fresh air with Grammy.
and then back to play with her new christmas presents - this is her favourite puzzle, a riding stables scene :-)


It has been a lovely christmas, and we are looking forward to a peaceful new year.
Happy New Year to you all!!

Merry Christmas!!

It's Christmas Eve !!! Wishing everyone in blogland a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year, and thank you all for following our blog this year.

With love and best wishes from us all xxxxx

Homeschool Group's Christmas Party!

We have had a really fun afternoon! It was our homeschooling group's christmas party. One family kindly volunteered their home for the event, and another mum organised party games. We all took a plate of food and a secret santa gift, and a lovely time was had by everyone.

Our group has really taken off this year, with lots of new members and fun activities over the year, and it was really lovely to finish the year with a proper party :-)



There were balloons,
Singing Games,
A Blur of Musical Bumps,


And turning each other into toilet paper snowmen!

Not to mention the yummy food and lovely friends :-)

A Visit To Santa and A Party

We'd had another light covering of snow when we woke up this morning, and it seemed like the perfect day to pay a visit to Santa! The Santa in our local department store was really lovely, jolly and friendly - just like a Santa should be! Hannah was really excited to meet him, and very happy with the beautiful book she received from him.




The shops were hot and busy, and Hannah was feeling a little unwell (i think she has a cold coming) so we went out onto the common for some fresh air. She soon perked up when she saw snow!

Then it was home for a sit down before going to her Sunday School Christmas party.

and on the way home we walked (actually we slid on black ice most of the way) around the side roads looking for christmas lights.
One more week 'til Christmas :-)

Ice Skating

Hannah and i have had the best day today! We went to Gunwharf Quays which is a shopping and entertainment complex in Old Portsmouth where they have laid an ice rink for christmas. Hannah had never skated before and really wanted to give it a try so we went along to see what it was like.
Well, she loved it!!!! She started off using one of the little penguins to help her, and then started skating on her own! I've always been really nervous of her skating, it seems so scary (hence making her wear her helmet- i am that mother lol), but i'm so pleased i took her, she had such a good time.


First time on the ice.
Penguin Power!

Skating by herself.

Of course Lanie had to skate too!
After skating we wandered around the christmas displays.

And then went to Starbucks for hot chocolate and eggnog lattes.......yum!
We did manage a little shopping, well Hannah did, she got a new winter coat in Gap, before rushing home in the dark to put the chickens to bed!

Natural History Museum

On wednesday we had some friends over for the day, and after a chilly walk around Canoe Lake, and a warming hot chocolate, we all went to the Natural History Museum.
Our friends had never been before, and Hannah loves it there so she had a wonderful time showing them around all her favourite parts.




It was really nice day, and it had been a while since we had last visited the museum so it was good to go back again.

An Early Christmas Present - and Homeschool Group!

Yesterday Hannah's cousin Frinny came to visit. She has just come back from New York and brought Hannah the most exciting christmas present (which she was allowed to open early!). Frinny had remembered how much Hannah has longed for an American Girl doll, particularly Lanie (the doll of the year 2010) and with the year almost over she was so kind as to buy the doll for Hannah for christmas. How lovely and generous - Hannah was so, so, so excited - i don't think i've ever seen her so happy with a gift, her little face shone and she just squealed with happiness!!

I did manage to get a picture of Frinny, Lanie and Hannah after Hannah had calmed down to just above fever pitch ;-)
Frinny also brought her adorable new puppy Jenson to visit - he is the tiniest, cutest ball of fluff ever!!
And of course Hannah couldn't go to bed without a picture of Lanie's first night at home ( Hannah sleeps under a rainbow canopy with a bed guard to keep all 27 soft toys from falling out of bed, which is why we are all cramped into a tiny space!)
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Today was our last homeschooling group meeting at the playground before christmas and we had a really fun session for the children. First they learned how to make paper Poinsettia's and then weaved 'God's Eye' snowflakes (sorry, forgot to take pictures - oops!), and then in keeping with the Mexican christmas theme, they had a snowman shaped Pinata!




Eventually they managed to break the pinata down and shared out the goodies inside - Hannah pronounced it 'really cool' and wants one for her birthday :-)

Then it was time for free play before going home. Of course Hannah brought Lanie with her to show her friends and lots of little girls poured over the American Girl catalogue before taking Lanie out to play on the swings - there is something so sweet about little girls playing dolls! I'm so glad i have a girly girl and can relive a bit of my childhood - i LOVED my dolls and secretly, i'm almost as excited about the AG catalogue as Hannah and her friends are!!!

Little House On The Prairie and other things !

We were recently given this lovely boxed set of Little House On The Prairie books, and as i loved them so much as a child i couldn't wait to read them to Hannah. Luckily she was just as keen and it turns out that she loves them EVEN more than me (if that is even possible!!)!


We have read the first two (Big Woods and On The Prairie) and are almost finished with Plum Creek and Hannah has been living and breathing pioneer times since we started reading!

Over this weekend she was working busily by herself for hours, she asked for sticky tape and help with cutting out a few tricky bits, and other than than she created this totally by herself -

Laura's Wagon with Ma, Pa, Mary, Laura and Carrie.




The we printed out a wagon template on to card and she assembled it and painted it to look as near as she could get it to a pioneer wagon.
Laura's wagon with all the children following behind!
We looked on our map to see how far they travelled to get to Plum Creek - Hannah was especially interested because we read that the Ingalls' dog Jack walked the whole way behind the wagon.
We are going to start a lapbook after christmas based on Little House In The Big Woods as Hannah has especially asked if we can after seeing one on Hands Of A Child


Hannah has also worked hard on her Penmanship book and finished the whole book, she was really pleased with herself - well done Hannah !
She celebrated with some hot christmassy apple cider (of the non-alcoholic variety).
On Saturday Hannah made a Christingle Candle for our table - she remembered making them in church last year and thought it would be a nice addition to the dinner table.
and finally on Sunday she went to Sunday school and had her picture chosen for the display board.

It has been a really good week for us :-)