December 2nd

 For our advent activity we made tissue paper lanterns by decorating jam jars with tissue paper, sequins and a tealight. We used PVA glue to stick the things on and then I also coated the outside with glue to make it shiny. The girls loved them and we ate tea to candlelight.

 We read this story. It is from a traditional Swedish story retold by Astrid Lindgren (of Pippi Longstocking fame). It is about a Tomten (like a gnome) who creeps round when humans are asleep talking to animals. It has lovely simple pictures and a repeating rhyme.

For snack I and E make pepparkakor (a yummy ginger Christmas biscuit in Scandinavia).

For the biscuits
60g (2oz) butter
75g (2¾oz) soft light-brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tbsp black treacle
2-4 tbsp milk
225g (8oz) plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer. Add the spices, orange zest and treacle and beat again, then add 2 tbsp of the milk. With the beater on a low speed add the flour and bicarb. Now scrape the dough off your beaters and, using your hands, bring the dough together into a ball, using more milk if you need to; don't let the dough become sticky. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for an hour.

Lightly flour your surface and roll out the dough 3mm thick. Cut out your shapes and put them on to two lightly buttered baking-sheets. Gather the remaining dough into a ball, roll out again and keep cutting until it has all been used. Put the sheets in the fridge for about 45 minutes and heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Cook the biscuits for 12 minutes. They should start to feel hard round the edges as they cool and eventually become really hard – they need to have a nice 'snap'.  (recipe from the telegraph)

We decorated with simple icing.

Dec 1st - lights

 Today's story was the Tale of Three Trees - a story that links the birth, life and death of Jesus and also teaches that God's plan may be different to our own!

Then we took the girls to the Winter Lights at Anglesey Abbey - although I completely forgot how to shot in the dark :(. It was amazing - with trees light up with different coloured spot lights and magical candles on trees that reminded me of a fairy grotto. It is bookable so well worth looking at whether they have tickets left (NT members also need to pay).

Ready for advent.

We are all ready for Christmas. Playmobile advent calendar ready, 2 normal calendars ready, activity advent calendar ready and G made one at Brownies too full of things like lay the table and give someone a cuddle - fab!

Books too are wrapped which (slightly) tie in with the activities. G and I have a separate pile.

Roald Dahl themed 8th birthday party

Today was G's party. We hired a room and I planned activities for weeks.

To invite the children I bought chocolate bars and re-wraped them with a gold ticket in the inside containing the party details.

Then today when they arrived they had a selection of different activities to do.

(1) They made chocolate lollipops and decorated them with sprinkles.

(2) They tested different chocolate.

(3) They made Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker sweets (using sugar dough)

(4) They caught dreams like the BFG (they painted jam jars with glow in the dark paints)

(5) They made Mr Twit's beard by sticking on felt and cornflakes to fake beards I bought from Amazon. They also put red and yellow paint.

(6) They made enormous crocodile bookmarks from green foam.

Then we played some games:
(1) Pass the parcel
(2) The chocolate eating game where if you throw a 6 you don scarf, hat and gloves and then using a knife and fork eat as much chocolate as you can.
(3) Helped the Fantastic Foxes escape Boggis, Bunce and Bean by passing balloons under and over each other.
(4) Had a quiz on the books.
(5) Played musical statues (as the foxes escaping the farmers)

And then we fed the kids lots of sweets and cake :).

 All in all it was a success! Although some of the stuff was hard to transport home as it didn't really have time to dry/set! Never mind!!!

Apple Printing

P enjoyed printing with apples today. We cut one in half that we found in our garden. She enjoyed painting on it and pressing it on the paper. It was also good for learning about texture.  We talked about colours and patterns.

Magic Chocolate

In preparation for a birthday party we are hosting next week I thought I would try some magic chocolate so see if could be of any use for the party. I bought a pack from HobbyCraft and let E and G try some.

It was a disaster. It wasn't easy to mould with the warmth of hands. I had to warm it up slightly in the microwave and even with that it was hard to mould.

When the girls had made something with their bits I let them eat it. It tasted horrid! It didn't taste or feel like chocolate.

We are not going to use it!

Today you are 8 G

Today lovely G you are 8. You enjoyed a day out with Daddy and Miss I at Grafham water (http://www.grafham-water-centre.co.uk/activity-courses/family-courses/family-day) where you tried lots of different sports. You didn't like climbing but you did like all the water things including driving a powerboat. 

At home you opened your presents. You got Skylanders, Harry Potter Lego castle, a remote control car and a science set.  Although, you didn't get any of your birthday cake Amy made for you because you got too tired and stropped off :).

You are so competitive - you like to the be the best at everything and can be quite grumpy if you get beaten! Your favourite subject at school is Numeracy and you have just started learning the piano. You are still very much a Tomboy and don’t' like dresses and pink. You are very fussy about clothes and have about 2 things you wear all the time :). You love P and would do anything for her, although you find E an annoying little sister. You are so good with the chickens and in fact love all animals. You would love a dog. You enjoy going for walks and often find creepy crawlies. Your favourite story is The Hobbit. You make us laugh so much and you are kind, generous and have the most infectious laugh!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G

Here are the cakes you took to school as I have failed to take any other photos: