New Years' Eve

Mick was at work today so Rebecca and I made two trifles (one Mick-proof without the custard or cream, and one normal one). She enjoyed placing the swirly cake around the outside and eating the final piece. She was really good, spooning the pears and apricots in really carefully.

My friend Ruth had bought Rebecca a baking set for Christmas, so we used her little mixing bowl, spoons and cutters to make cheddar cheese biscuits. They were delish, and her favourite cutter was the angel (no surprises there). She loved brushing them all with egg and sprinkling on the sesame seeds.

We popped in to see Teresa & Mike this afternoon for an hour or so for Rebecca and Ollie to play together. It was lovely to see them, and Ollie has not been well over Christmas either, which meant we hadn't met up over the holiday. Ollie was gazing up at Rebecca - it was so sweet. Rebecca, in turn, was bossing him about!

Chris came over for New Year, and we intended to order take out pizza as a treat. However, they were closed and we ended up with a mish mash of a curry for Mick, chips from the Indian for me and Chris and a pizza out of the freezer! Ah well. We played Take Two and card games til nearly 1.30am. I ate Jelly Beans until I felt sick...

A visit from Auntie Nessa

Rebecca was very excited when I told her this morning that Aunty Nessa was coming round to see us. “Are you going somewhere Mummy?” she then asked, slightly concerned that I was off to work, but relieved when I told her that we would all be staying in together.

Aunty Nessa stayed for lunch and Rebecca was excited to show her the new bedroom.
They had a lovely cuddle on the sofa. It always makes me smile when I see them together :)

Changing Rooms

Today, Mick started the complicated puzzle of furniture moving upstairs. Emptying the “spare” room into our room, Rebecca’s room into the spare room, and all the rubbish that was left into Rebecca’s old room!

After all the furniture changes, I did the “girly stuff” putting book onto shelves, toys away, and arranging things in an aesthetic manner. It looks lovely and Rebecca was so excited when we finally showed it to her.

She said “Wow! Well done!” – this made us laugh as it is what we say when we are pleased with her. She was really good and said “Thank you for my new bedroom”. Rebecca chose the border and lampshade and we already had the Disney Princess toybox (ebay bargain). The soft pink has really warmed the room and she was so excited to go to bed…

Devilish Prunes

I have discovered Devils on Horseback.

I read some Nigella recipes for these ages ago and as I have an excess of Prunes (since making Pickled Prunes for Jacqui for Christmas) I felt inspired to use them. I stuffed each one with a tiny piece of Goats Cheese and then wrapped them with a small strip of Parma Ham. OMG they were so yummy. I am not a huge fan of the prune but these were so good – sharp cheese, sweet fruit, salty ham – yum.

Presents

Today I took my annual photo of Rebecca with all her Christmas Presents. It was a little more tricky this year as she wanted to know exactly what I was doing and why, and kept moving things as I put them out. I had to take 14 photographs to get one where she was looking vaguely in the direction of the camera and wasn’t picking something else up from the “display”….

Chris was round for the day again and helped Mick move some furniture so he could finish painting Rebecca’s new bedroom and put the border up.

Amy and Adam joined us in the evening with the Xbox and Guitar Hero and Lips, so we did a bit of singing and guitar playing. Rebecca was scarily good with the guitar! I had a go (Guns and Roses - Welcome to the Jungle) but I felt a bit old (!) as I didn’t know many of the tracks listed… photo’s of that event will NOT be posted ;)

We were all subjected to games of EleFun after lunch – but even the “big kids” enjoy it! It was all a bit much for Rebecca and she had a long sleep – in the most uncomfortable looking position!

I finally made the Buche de Noel – it was yummy, but as usual I’d spent time “testing” the icing, and “disposing of” the off-cuts, so didn’t really fancy a slice when it came to the official eating time…

Amy, Adam and Chris stayed for the rest of the day and we had our famous “moist-maker” Friends sandwiches and played Trivial Pursuit until Amy was too sleepy.

Boxing Day

Rebecca was back to her usual self today (just a bit tired) and it was great to see her excited, chatting and eventually eating!

Chris came round mid-morning, followed by Jamie and Carly, Amy and Adam, and Jake. Rebecca wore her Christmas outfit and enjoyed opening more presents (a Minnie Mouse from Carly and some Minnie socks from Jamie).

I made a casserole, a curry and did a pot of roast potatoes and a pot of rice for lunch. Everyone helped themselves and it was really relaxed. Rebecca enjoyed chatting to Jake at the table.

Uncle Hobbes had wrapped everything in black paper this year and then glued the names on and covered them in glitter. Looked fab, but GLITTER NIGHTMARE! I did eventually get the hoover out as it was driving me mad! Rebecca was very cuddly with Uncle Hobbes today and spent time snuggled up watching TV, playing "talkies" and giving him an especially big hug at bedtime - it is so lovely to watch.

Chris, Mick and I spent the evening playing Scene It Music game and Nostalgia. Mick, as usual, blamed the questions when he lost!

Amy, Adam and Jake arrived and when Rebecca woke we opened some presents. Rebecca was excited to receive Pudsey Bear (another requested item on the letter to Santa) and a Mickey Mouse.

Micks’ Mum and Dad came for lunch and Rebecca laid on the sofa (by now in PJs) while we ate. She said she was hungry, but couldn’t really face anything, even a spoon of icecream. By 5pm she was full of energy, ripping open the presents and playing with Uncle Hobbes. She had also insisted on dressing up in a Christmas Dress (an old 18-24 months dress!) over her pyjamas.

She was interested in the big presents first (of course) and particularly intrigued by a huge gift bag from Auntie Jacqui (a doll’s high chair). She was also very “helpful” offering to assist people with their present opening.

Christmas Day

Rebecca seemed to have perked up this morning and was very excited about opening her stocking and found the longed for “toy cat with a white face, yellow nose and a bow” (Hello Kitty) and even ate a croissant for breakfast plus some Cheerios much to our surprise. We had Peppa Pig crackers with stickers in and then waited for Uncle Hobbes to arrive. By this time, Rebecca was weak and tired so fell asleep on the sofa and slept for an hour.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was not as we had planned! I had intended to make Christmas Cookies with Rebecca, get last bits of wrapping done, make the Buche de Noel, deliver Christmas cards etc, but instead we sat on the sofa watching endless episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Rebecca stayed in PJs all day and finally stopped being sick at 7pm. She asked for drink after drink but was such a good girl, very brave. I think she was quite proud of herself actually.

We had to laugh when she was being sick, but between “spits” telling Mick to get out of the way because she couldn’t see Mickey Mouse on TV!

We still put the mince pie and carrot out for Santa and Rudolph, plus pink juice and a white raisin (yoghurt covered raisin) at Rebecca’s request although she was not really in the right frame of mind at all. We gave her Christmas PJs to unwrap (Minnie Mouse) but she asked me to open the gift as she had no energy. I felt so sorry for her after the long build up to Christmas.

Spent a long time getting the house ready for Santa’s imminent visit, while taking turns with Mick to lay next to Rebecca on the fold out bed. It does look lovely though… Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night x

Ready for the holiday

Last day at work today and seems everyone had decided to take the afternoon off. I did the same (just to fit in ;) ) and was glad I did! Got all the last Christmas Shopping done in town and because I wasn’t pressured to get it done in my lunch hour I could relax and take my time. This also meant I could observe people elbowing their way around the shops and being horrible to their co-shoppers – Christmas really does bring out the best and worst in people.

Did the Tesco shop straight after and got all of the food for Christmas. Had to phone Mick to meet me there as it wouldn’t all fit in the car! Then we collected Rebecca from nursery together which was nice as it was the last one before Christmas and they'd had Christmas dinner.

At bedtime Rebecca was really sick, so we spent the night ferrying bowls and towels from bedroom to bathroom and taking turns to sleep on her bedroom floor. Fun!

Icicle, Icicle, Where are you going?

Today I balanced on the windowsill and leant out of our bedroom window to take photos of icicles. Only a scrapper would do this. I kept thinking of my friend who takes photos of her children’s dental work and hospital photos (you know who you are!) and then I didn’t feel quite so mad :)

Anyway, I love icicles and am really pleased with these photos (although I appreciate that I am no photographer!!!). Only problem is that I now have “Icicle” song by Tori Amos in my head and it won’t go away.

Icicle icicle, Where are you going?, I have a hiding place, When spring marches in, Will you keep watch for me, I hear them calling, Gonna lay down, Gonna lay down...

Braved driving today. Car battery was flat and after I’d scraped all the snow off I had to come indoors for a hot water, so we started out a little later than planned. Took my Mother-in-Law to Capture the Magic craft shop in Soham. It was a long drive and a bit slippy on the little roads, but a good trip. We had a lovely long chat about her days in the RAF packing parachutes – I didn’t realise what a complex and responsible job it was.

Mastered the Cuttlebug

Today Rebecca made her Christmas cards to Daddy, Amy, Carly, Jake and Uncle Hobbes. Each one had a photo of her in the snow with her snowman. After showing her the Cuttlebug just twice, she was churning out her own cards with no problem!! Don't think I'll ever need a cuttlekids set :) She then chose some stickers and coloured her cards too!

Christmas Preparations...

Oh dear, what happened to the last 10 months...oh well, that'll be something to add to the New Year's Resolutions :)

Christmas is coming, and Rebecca is really aware of everything going on this year. She is very excited about Father Christmas / Santa and all the Christmas lights and decorations.
Last weekend we made the Christmas Cake (the fruit had been soaking for a week already) and here is the little video of Rebecca helping me. She didn't like the noise from the mixer, so had to keep going out everytime we turned it on!

I'm really enjoying doing all the traditional things with Rebecca in the lead up to Christmas: advent calendars, decorating the tree, making gingerbread men, writing to Santa. And of course, making a wish when we stir the Christmas Cake. I don't know what Rebecca wished for, but it took a loooooong time :)

She is wearing a Brownie t-shirt in this video, as we had been to Christingle with the Brownies earlier that day, and of course she wanted to wear a uniform top (and then wouldn't take it off). Rebecca was asked to light the 2nd Advent candle which was lovely for her and she looked all proud of herself! She stood by herself to sing the hymns, holding the song words and singing along (her own little versions I'm sure). Afterwards she said "I singed with the Brownies didn't I mummy?"...

Snow Day

Thick snow fell overnight Thursday (17th) and Rebecca woke up to her first experience of real snow. She wanted to make a snowman but was off to Auntie Nessa's for the day as I was working from home and Mick was at work. So we got out of bed and built her first snowman at 8am so that we could all do it together.

Rebecca was a bit disappointed that he didn't move or want to come in the house like the one James builds in The Snowman :) I went through my button box for the eyes and buttons and as we didn't have a tangerine (like in the book) Rebecca settled for half a carrot...