Festive candy necklaces!!!

We did this nice little craft this afternoon!  Candy necklaces with Christmas lights :)  Super cute!!!  The kids had fun :)  So did I :)  

Happy Hanukkah!!

We aren't Jewish, but one of our favourite things to do over the Holidays is play Dreidel.  I always buy a big bag of gold coins (gelt) especially to play this game.  

If you've never played this game before, then it is really easy to play - you can easily find the instructions online and dreidels can be purchased in many places at this time of year.  I have one special decorative dreidel that Chris got from a friend at school a couple of years ago for me, and then several fairly plain dreidels that I bought at a dollar store last year or the year before.  I have also made dreidels in the past from cardboard!!

have fun!!

funny adverts - last minute gift ideas????

This mornings story time :)

Such great books!!!  :)

Seeing an old friend again...and meeting new ones :)

Today was such a wonderful happy day :)  

We were invited to KQ today to see a special little friend of ours!!  Isaiah!!  Such a special day!!  So wonderful that I can even write his name here AND post pictures!!  He is now adopted and happily settled with his lovely new family.  his Mom is sooooo nice too and he is loved sooo much!  We couldn't have wished for a better end to his story :)  A true 'happy ever after'...especially as Val and her family can now be in his life too :)  Just perfect!  And it was so amazing to get to see him today and see him playing with Abby and sam just like old days...hearing him calling their names just like he had never been away from them :)  

At the end he asked me if we could go again in January - and I said yes I would love that - now I just need to arrange it with his Mom and Val :)  lol!!!

Gingerbread house decorating!!

This year I made and decorated a house too :)  it only stayed together long enough to get a picture though!!  Then the roof slid off!!  But I had fun decorating it!!!  We had Christmas music blasting and were singing along as we decorated....it was a fun evening!!

Snapshots from today :)

Girls day out...

Susannah was desperate to go to Coras after hearing that I had taken Abigail and sam the other day - she hadn't been there since June when Nigel was here, and she loves it there, so as we were up so early this morning to get Laurence to work, and as a thank you for her help today, I took her there as a treat!

It was fairly quiet when we got there, and we were shown straight to a table, which was ideal!  When we were leaving, the line of people waiting for tables was out the door and we had to fight our way through it to get out!!!

As always the food was fabulous and despite how busy they were, the service was great :)  I could only eat a quarter of my waffle today - maybe because it was so early.....but their portions are soooooo BIG and the fresh fruit is piled on sooooo HIGH!!!  YUM!!  :)  

:)

First day of work...

Laurence started work today...well, today was orientation, and he starts officially on Tuesday.  Last night we had to go and get him steel toed boots ready for today.  Not cheap!!  But we got good ones for him in case things fall on him in the warehouse - and outside ones for when he has to work in the garden centre or outside getting shopping carts.  

All of a sudden in the last couple of months he has really grown up :)  He used to be so nervous and unconfident but now suddenly he's happy to do things on his own - job interviews, bank appointments etc etc!!  It's great seeing these changes :)  

He has been so helpful over the last couple of years!  So much I couldn't have done without him!!

xxx

Friday fill-ins....

So...here we go! 

1. Sleigh bells ring and the children get excited to put some money in the Salvation Army pot and get a candy cane.

2. It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees always makes me think of the scene from You've Got Mail where she's talking about missing her Mom while she hangs ornaments on the tree! 

3. You're a mean one Mr Thorpe - I can't believe what kind of Father you have turned in to.  It is so sad to think that you have become the person you always said you never wanted to be.  Thank goodness the children have better male role models in their lives.  

4. Father Christmas is coming next week and the children's excitement levels are getting ridiculous :)   

5. Silent night is what I had last night - no little boy tiptoeing in at 1am....I missed him :(

6. All I want for Christmas is some tarot cards as I would really like to learn to read my own from the book I have!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to get Laurence's work boots with him then coming home to watch Just Friends with Susannah and Rosie, tomorrow my plans include taking Laurence to his first day of work, taking Susannah to breakfast and then doing some volunteer work before deciding how to spend the rest of our day and Sunday, I want to go and help Nicole celebrate her birthday BUT it depends on Laurence's work shifts etc!

Snapshots from the last few days......

Christmas brunch out!!

This morning we headed to Cora's to meet some friends for a lovely brunch :)  We took a box of crackers to make the morning festive and fun and had a great time chatting and playing and cooing over the gorgeous little girl Val had with her :)  It was lovely seeing Val and Tara and so great to see Tina again who I haven't seen in soooooo LONG!!!!

Such a great morning and service in Cora's was fabulous as they coped amazingly with us I thought!!  

:)  

This afternoon Laurence went to open his bank account...it is so odd now that he is old enough to go in and do things on his own and doesn't need me for things like that...he has always wanted me with him, but now it's almost easier without me because of Sam and Abby...so he shakes the girls hand and off he goes and handles it all fine and comes out so proud of himself that he did it all by himself :)  

Go Laurence :)  

So, he is driving, he got himself his SIN number and now he opened his own account on his own...sniff sniff my job is almost done :(  

xxx

Moi

6 weeks until I hit the big 4-0  

:)