Making Santa bags

We are having a Christmas craft day today. We have started off by making Santa bags! I must say that I do like craft packs that come with everything you need already cut out! The boys both enjoyed making the bags and all I needed to find was the PVA.
The boys were very careful with the glue, making sure that they only glued the outside of each of the shapes.
Sorry, but the pics have come out in a funny order!

Using our Christmas baking leftovers!

Being the boys first Christmas at school, I had to come up with something for the teachers Christmas presents. We decided to do some baking for them. We made rolo melts, mince pies, gingerbread biscuits and white chocolate and cranberry fudge. Having made all that I then had to come up with something to do with the leftover pastry and mincemeat. Unfortunately I didn't have enough mincemeat left for making mince pies for us! I decided to just spread the mincemeat onto the last pastry sheet and roll it up, then cut into smaller rounds. I then baked these for about 20 mins. They were yummy and meant that I didn't have to bin anything!

Douglas's day with Billy Bear

On Thursday Douglas came home with Billy bear. His day was very different from Harry's. The boys had a couple of friends come round to play, so it was an extra exciting evening. After their friends had gone they played on their little computer for a bit before they decided to use it to practise writing their tricky words. (Tricky words are words that cannot be sounded out e.g. the, no, he etc). I was very impressed with their writing.
Here is a picture of Douglas showing his writing in Billy Bear's book. He drew a picture of their little computer and then wrote 'little computer' using his sounds all by himself

Harry's day with Billy Bear

The other day Harry came home with the class teddy, Billy bear. I asked Harry what he would like to do at home. He chose to make apple muffins!
Here are some pics of our day.

Harry was really sweet and held Billy's hand to the whisk so that he was able to help with the mixing! The following morning Harry asked if he could take some of the cakes into school for his teachers. Harry really enjoyed bringing Billy Bear home from school.

Superhero day

For children in need the boys school had a superhero fundraiser. I got the boys the children in need capes to wear. They then spent the day at school doing things about hero's, both the super and the local kind. Here's a couple of pics.

     
The school managed to raise just over £162. I think this is a brilliant amount, as there is a maximum of 180 pupils in the school. The teachers also dressed up as superheros.

Sweet bonfires

For bonfire night we made sweet bonfires. We put a chocolate bourbon biscuit at the bottom, and then stuck on matchmakers using icing. We then used strawberry laces to make a bit of fire. I also gave them other small sweets, laces and writing icing to make some fireworks.


                                         My demo!

                                       

                                         Douglas's

                                         Harry's

They seemed to have more fun making them than they did eating them! I must have the only children who are not that big on sweets!

Little wizards

The boys had a fancy dress party today and went as two little wizards. One of the dads kept calling Douglas Harry Potter! Douglas seemed to quite like this and I think that this is the only time he hasn't got cross at someone calling him Harry!
I must admit that I hadn't thought of that. When I got the costumes I was just pleased to find something that wasn't Halloween or a superhero that the boys haven't heard of!
Here's some pics of the boy wizards:

Harry came up with an ingenious idea of how to carry a wand (he's obviously listened to mad-eye moody about loosing a buttock!)

Learning to knit!

Having had lots of knitted jumpers from granma Harry set me the challenge of learning to knit. Well I decided I would. I started off finding a local wool shop and asking their advice of best things to get to get started. I came out with a pair of needles, some wool and a getting started advice sheet.

I then made the boys a scarf each. Nice and easy! I then started on a jumper for my self (more on that when its finished!). Granma came to stay for the start of half term and taught me how to sew together prices and then teach me how to cable knit. So I have made Douglas a pom pom hat. Granma made Harry's!

Here's photos of Douglas hat

                                                A close up of the cable knitting

                                                Douglas modelling my handiwork

messy play!

I decided that the boys needed to do something specific rather than just running round the house! I go out some paint, glue, wool, beads, a j-cloth and a load of paper.
Rather than giving them paintbrushes I gave them bits of wool in varying lengths, cut up a new j-cloth and put the paint on plates. The only 'tools' I gave them were glue spreaders. After the initial 'no paintbrushes' moment they really got into it.

As you can see they had great fun and I wasn't left with much cleaning up to do!

Sewing with mummy part 2

Continuing on from the boys helping me with my sewing, I dug out their plastic Aida, large needle and some wool and taught the boys to cross stitch on their own. I had to show them which holes to put the needle through, but it didn't take long for them to get the hang of it. Here are pics of their finished rows. Douglas's is the pink and Harry's the yellow.

Having Children

From when you first tell people you are pregnant you are given lots of advice, both useful and not! This continues as they grow. I remember being told things like sleep when your baby sleeps - hello, I've got twins, would you mind telling them to sleep at the same time!
However there is so much I have had to discover for myself.
My boys have just started school, and to be honest its great! I can now go to the toilet in peace, and on my own! I never realised how much I would enjoy this, no one shouting muuuuummy upstairs repeatedly. I can now hoover my living room and it stays looking like its been hoovered for more than 2 minutes! Don't get me wrong I love my boys dearly, but I am enjoying the novelty of the above.
Why is it that nobody ever tells you things like that!

Sewing with mummy

The boys were having quiet time watching a Thomas the tank engine film, so I decided I would get some sewing done. Cue boys suddenly not interested in their film and wanting to help mummy! Here's some pictures of them 'helping'.

                                                They thought it was great fun!

Button mosaics

This afternoon we have been doing a craft. I purchased this in the works.

I explained to the boys what they had to do, stick the right colour button on the correct size hole. They were able to do this independently, occasionally checking they had the right size. I was impressed with them using language like medium sized.

Both boys were pleased with the finished results, asking me to take photos of them.

Unfortunately there was an orange button missing. Harry is pointing to it in the top photo.

Overall I was very impressed by this activity. The boys were able to do it by themselves. We were able to talk about what they were doing and they stayed interested the whole time. I think this was because it gave them an instant result. Personally I really liked the fact that the buttons were self adhesive, so no mess. Mind you anything that keeps the boys quiet for 5 minutes is a hit in my opinion!

Edit to say we have now found the missing button!