Christmas Joy

Here's a little progress shot of our nativity scene. We have undercoated the pieces, but from these close up shots they need some more. Then we need to add simple faces, headbands and belts. We have Mary and Joseph, baby jesus in the manger, the three shephards complete with sheep (which obviously need some detail) Finally the three kings. They are painted in metallic paint, but I think I will add some crystal jewels and more paint to make them look richer. Finally the manger needs more work and we plan to paint the north star visibly on the inside.
These decorations (below) were another project Alexander and I were working on.

The beads were all left over from other projects - including my wedding dress! The frames were a recent purchase from Theos. They come in a pack of 5 in two sizes. These are the small ones and there are larger ones. One of their suggestions is to put two together to make a double - amost 3D version. To end you simple turn the ends under with pliers. Now they just need some ribbon to hang on the tree or a card for a present.

See Ya!

One of Alexander's school friend was leaving today as she was moving to the other side of town. The teacher organised a little party and we gave away our first buttons. The clips are upside down in this picture that Alexander coloured in for her. He took a plate of cookies to share and surprisingly none of them came home!

grumpy

Today I am grumpy. I am not planning to work through all of the dwarfs, just stuck at grumpy. Sick of hearing people bitching and moaning, expecting me to jump and do things for them, that they are missing out and all the bad things are always happening to them. If they want to wallow then fine - don't bring me down with you. Things aren't really that bad, just have been building up for a while, a slow constant simmer that is now a good boil. I am just cross that my time and goals are so much less important than everyone elses. (don't worry its not you!) To top it off the kids are tired and cranky and it ends up being one of those days - Spencer was on the toilet and Benji wet his pants. While cleaning that up Spencer went off and proceeded to poo in his. Basically from here it can only get better!! Maybe tomorrow I will be happy - but more likely sleepy. Looking forward to knitting tonight!

Play

My little leftie learning to play cricket- and decide which way to hold the bat!

Sew

Finally got some sewing done. They are all basic and variations on the same pattern but we now have 4 new PJ shorts, 2 new shorts and two to finish and a pair of fireman sam tracksuit pants. With two toilet training, we go through a number of outfits, but have found things need to be really easy for them to get off - hence everything having lose elastic waists. Using a basic kwiksew pattern, the overlocker and behaving children, these were easily whipped up.

Hair Cut

Recently I cut both the big Squirrel and Alexander's hair. This seems to have inspired Alexander to take matters into his own hands. He pulled up a chair to get to the scissors - safely hidden in this high cupboard....

And cut a chunk of hair out of the front of Benjis hair. It had to be centre front!!

So then Benji got a proper haircut too. A little more severe than I had intended, but it is even and is much cooler as we go into summer. He just looks like such a bruiser! Where has the baby gone?

Giving

As we head quickly into the festive season, I think it is really important to focus on the art of giving - especially for the kids. Christmas is becoming more and more commercial and Santa just seems to be this free for all that you can get whatever you want from him because its christmas. I don't want my kids thinking like that.
The other day I saw this great little coffee table on the side of the road, which was designed to have tiles on top, but all had been removed. I picked it up and took it home for Alexander. We had a discussion and he is really excited to rejuvinate it and give it to Benji and Spencer for their birthday. We had fun at Bunnings, walking the isle collecting tiles in their favorite colours. Once home we had fun arranging them into a pattern which filled the table. This project has been both fun and a learning experience.

Next step os tp decide how to treat the wood.