50/52 - a cosy + crafty kind of christmas

Lily

Sometimes, you just need a cosy home day!

With a number of Christmas events on lately, things were getting busy and the kids were just getting the 'end-of-year tireds'... it's been a big year for Lily in Preschool especially (don't even mention what full-time Kindy will be like next year!!). There was also some fun activities I wanted to do with the kids, but no gaps in our days big enough to do them in a relaxed manner. (I have discovered over time that doing these activities in a wide time window is the key to Mama not stressing out!). 

So, after checking with her teachers that school was winding down and no major activities were going on, I decided to just keep her home last Friday. She had been saying how tired she was and she wanted to stay home, so it just seemed right. Yay for Executive Decisions ;)  So, we designated it a cosy Pyjama Day. Lily nestled herself up under the Christmas tree that morning, reading the growing collection of books from our Christmas Book advent. Later, we all baked gingerbread cookies together while Christmas carols played in the background. 

It was the chilled-out, fun, and creative kinda day we all love, and it felt oh-so-good to enjoy a quiet day all together, just pottering around in the midst of this busy, social season. The longer I get into this SAHM gig, the more I enjoy just nesting at home with my littles, with no other agenda. There was a time when I sometimes felt anxious about how to fill the long days at home, but now it seems to happen easily? It was just one of those 'good days' - nourishing and rather precious, I must say. Perhaps the thought of full-time school next year makes these days seem all the more fleeting! (sniff)

Ahhhhh, can you smell the gingerbread baking?! :)

Eli

Helping Daddy with drilling. 

He is so keen to 'get on the tools' since he helped me make a bedhead, and I let him hold the drill with me. Then at Papa's house a couple weeks ago, Papa let him drill through planks of woods on his own with a full sized drill. (!!!!) Thankfully, I was not there to witness this event!

This drill is a little battery one with the battery mostly dead, it only turns veeeery slowly and no longer even impacts the wood at all. So, I assure you, he is not in harm's way! He was 'pre-drilling' the holes for Dad with great intention. And a few extra holes, just for good measure ;)

Miles

'Just give me an apple and 30 minutes in peace, thanks Mum'

Seriously, hand this kid an apple and he is a happy chappy :) He can devour the whole thing right down to the core (which I then have to prise out of his little paws!).

Project 52: A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.

More highlights from the week that was...

Watching the real thing, itching to give it a go.

Not just a handy-man, but a crafty-man too! Making Christmas garlands :)

I am so spoilt being dear friends with an early-childhood teacher!! Amber passed
on her extras from this garland activity and it was a winner :)

The kids (and I!) made salt-dough ornaments for the first time, it was really fun and so easy!!

Would you like an '8' stamped into your salt-dough Christmas ornament? If so, it's your lucky day :)

If I can't find Lily, she is probably here, cosied up under the Christmas tree,
wearing a Santa hat and staring up at the lights... in this case also sucking on
a lemon!!

Practising 'bokeh' :)

Lily's Preschool Christmas Concert. 

A huge night for this little lady. She was so very excited, nervous, serious about it all. The repertoire was kept tighyly under cloak by her until the big night. She took her teacher's missives to be 'sensible' very seriously indeed - she wouldn't even wear her favourite hairclip in case it fell out and distracted her mid-performance!! LOL!

I expected the group of almost 40 preschoolers (two classes) to sing 3 or 4 giggly songs but instead, they all stood and sang for almost 30 minutes - must have been a dozen songs at least! They all did so well! A third were Christmas songs, a third in Japanese, a third various favourites. It was adorable. And perhaps my 'mother ears' are finely tuned, but my daughter's voice seemed to ring clear through the cacophony of voices, as she eagerly and animatedly sang every tune, and did every action with pride and joy. It was gorgeous, and our whole clan (yes, grandparents came along too!) grinned madly and proudly through every minute... along with the family of all the other sweet kids packed in the classroom too!

Afterwards, all the families picnicked together on the school grounds - a lovely way to celebrate a wonderful year of Preschool and see our kiddos off to Kindy...

Lily of course chose her debut concert dress very seriously... then
went through Eli's clothes and asked if he could wear this little shirt and
vest because she wanted him 'to look handsome'. A touch over
dressed but very dapper indeed :)

Can't get enough of his apple munching face!

  

This boy is getting everywhere and into everything. And because I can't always monitor whether he is putting
the laptop cable in his mouth (!!) in this big ol' house, we helped him set 'safe and assuring boundaries' (eg pulled out the old school playpen!).

  

Love finding these happy scenes. The kids reading together, Miles making plans to hijack the tree. Btw, it's really warm
but they have a current obsession with wearing their dressing gowns!

Sharing a book-related giggle..

Gingerbread making together - so fun! I kept it simple by using kits (from Aldi, woohoo!) and the kids loooved decorating.

Oh, Eli!

The end result of some of our activity - gingerbread decorated by Eli and packaged to give to little friends. Um, yes,
a gingerbread man only a mother could love?! ;) So cute! (Lily was in on it too but declined to be photographed!)

We were very happy with our Salt Dough ornaments :) A little twine and a bell finished them off nicely!

After a visit to Harper's house, Lily informed me that our mud kitchen really needed a 'proper sign' like they had. Haha - only five and already keeping up with the Jones' ;) (not their surname!). Well, I had a plank of plywood left from my bedhead making project, so I outlined the letters and Lily and I painted them in together. Mark and Eli hung it up so now we are officially in business ;) She also painted 'restaurant' on another piece of ply, gotta get that up too!
(And as you can see from the chaos of the kitchen area, she is rather a messy cook - even works on the floor!!)