Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, enjoy and happy and relaxing Christmas.

I for one am feeling very tired and a little emotional (?) after all the Christmas celebrations and am looking forward to relaxing with my mum and sister tomorrow with a glass of wine or two (child free!). 

Christmas Lights

So excited in her car seat about to leave...in her pj's.

I took S out tonight to see Christmas lights for the very first time. She was the perfect age to go. The excitement of waiting up until it neared darkness. Knowing that her little sister was tucked up fast asleep as we "snuck" out of the house and drove out of the driveway towards our little adventure.

As we approached the street that I planned to visit she could see houses lit up along the way. All I could hear were exclamations of happiness from the back seat. I had the biggest grin on my face and a lump in my throat as she said "Look mum! A Santa on the roof", "oh mummy, thank you, thank you for bringing me to see the lights", "those lights...they're so...so...gracious!" (I have no idea where she gets this stuff from, but I love it).

The pictures tell the rest. Definitely worth the drive and a great lead up to Christmas. Something we'll be doing again next year. x

No more dummy

She must have been ready. I told her I had a surprise for her in the morning if she went to bed without a dummy.

One catch though (isn't there always?) - you can't have the dummy back. It's gone for good.

And just like that S ditched the dummy for her surprise and was wrapped with it when she woke up this morning (at 6.30am). Mum's pretty impressed too! Unbelievably painless. x

Second chance

These pics will be going into the grandparents Christmas cards. Hope they like them. I broke out in a sweat getting them. A couple of nice ones out of over a hundred shots people...

Thanks Nonna for your help. x

A blooper...but so cute.

If at first you don't succeed...

This was my first attempt at getting a festive pic of S to go in the grandparents Christmas cards. Is was asleep and S was surprisingly compliant about putting on a pretty dress and letting me do her hair. It seemed like it was going to be easy...

The actual "photo shoot"? She wasn't that interested from the start. It's not as easy as photographers make it look. Right facial expression, bad light. Great light, she's won't look. Subject will. not. stand. still. Subject is 3 and is having way too much fun mucking around. Subject is bored and is leaving the room.

Lets just say there'll be a second attempt once I gather more courage. x

Vases

Since spring we have been breeding vases with flower heads precariously sitting on top.

I've tried explaining to S the virtues of enjoying the flowers in the garden, where they're happiest.

I've even gone the route of asking that if she must pick the flowers, perhaps pulling further down their stem would be best so I don't have to fill the vases to the top just so the poor, wilted flower head can drink some water. There has been limited success with this notion.

Either way, you're pretty much guaranteed around our house that there will be little vases of flowers striving to bloom after being plucked, played with and eventually brought inside to live out what life they may have left in them.

Bless her. x

Advent

Here we are at December already...yikes!

Just as I was talking myself into being ok that I completely forgot to make an advent calendar like I'd planned to...I stumbled upon this post (yes, Tracey saved the day again), directing me to this freebie.

A paper advent calendar. Fancy paper bags, no less. I was beyond chuffed and motivated to give it a go, even if it was last minute.

So, while S was at kinder for too two brief hours, I printed off, cut out and hung the first 10 days on our fireplace. Instead of a chocolate every day I planned on writing little notes that outlined little activities we could do every day, getting us ready for Christmas. 

When I arrived at kinder to pick S up I was all excited that I'd made the beginnings of the calendar in the nick of time. All prepared to show her a little surprise when she got home, S pipped me at the post and had a little surprise of her own for me...in the form of a pale face, a towel and a bucket.

Fast forward to her lying on the couch (in front of the fireplace) after emptying the contents of her stomach in the car...without any interest in my pride and joy advent calendar hanging there awaiting her attention.

By 5.30pm I'd long since  given up on the notion that we'd be implementing today's activity - putting up the Christmas tree. But alas - ever the unpredictable 3 year old - she rallied, expressed interest, read the note and was dancing around me as I was putting the tree together getting both of us caught up in the string of beads she was wrapping around us.

By 5.45pm she'd lost interest and I continued until 8pm when at last it was completed.

And so it was that the celebration of Advent for this year had begun. x