Snow day!

Yes here in Kent the world was brought to a standstill for approx. 2 nches of snow. Both of the children's schools have shut for the day so we had no choice but to stay home and play.

we made snow angels

and a snowman

we went to the park sledging.
Then once we got back and warmed up I did some of the jobs around the house which have been waiting for months for me to do. I made;

1. Stephanie's new dressing gown, she is very pleased with it.
2. sorted through a bag of clothes I was given for Stephanie
3. I tacked down the edging of the laminate floor
4. I hung my mirror on the wall
5. and i made this:

Yep, my very own draft excluder. It is made from left over fleece and is stuffed with old pillow innards and scraps of fleece. So not only is it eco helping to keep the drafts out, it is recycled too. Not bag huh?

Ok I know its far from the prettiest draft excluder you ever will find, but it does the job and cost me nothing!

homemade Christmas

Ok so our christmas won't be totoally homemade, but I am trying to make it so as far as possible. In this spirit we have been making some decorations today, here have a peak;

to go on the tree

Stephanie's first real sewing

The pro in action

the finished products

making chains

Did you notice Stephanie getting right into the spirit in her santa dress??

Not long now. I have looked through my hidy places and Stephanie has 5 presents, Dylan has one. I also have a few knick knacks for each of them. I had every intention of cutting back our christmas shopping this year and my dire financial situation due to a string of recent unfortunate events means that I am absolutely broke and so the christmas cut backs are now enforced cutbacks!

Chistmas is coming.......

Today I have been and got Stephanie the christmas present which she has been asking for for months! So am looking forward to a very happy girl come christmas morning. :-)

We visited the library this morning and got some christmas inspired books. I found some craft ones, am feeling rather inspired by this one christmas decorating. it has lots of fab ideas for making wreaths and table decorations. We will be going for a Sunday walk tomorrow to see what items we can find to use. I really want to make a traditional christmas wreath, so according to the book I need to find some;

1. pine spruce
2. twigs
3. fir cones
4. sweet chestnuts

I know we found sweet chestnuts on the ground in September so am not feeling very optimistic about inding any tomorrow- or do they have a very long season? (I suspect not!)
Even if we find all the things I do not think that my attempt at making a wreath will look anything near as gorgeous as the one in the book, but miracles do happen- right??

Stephanie and I spent some time this afternoon making christmas crafts. We made these;

aren't they great? My Nanna taught me to make these snowmen many years ago, so it seems only right that I continue with her teachign and ensure that my children knwo how to make them. Dylan was lucky enough to make them with my nanna when he was young, unfortunately this is not something Stephanie has been able to do. Both children have agreed we should leave one at my grandparents grave so that it is christmassy there. So anoher reason to visit the churchyard tomorrow, or Nanna's garden as my neice has renamed it.
Keep watchign fo rmore christmas crafts over the next few weeks.
I also need to make Stephanie a new dressing gown as we seem to have totally lost her NEW one. I have some fleece which will be perfect for a dressing gown, very snuggly and warm. The difficulty is that the pattern I have is for a 7 year old, and Stephanie is in 3-4 year old clothing. I measured her this evening and she is waaaaaaaaaayyyyy too small for the pattern. So the evening has been spent searching the internet to see if I can find a free pattern with no luck.
That leaves one option I need to work out how to alter the pattern I have so that it fits her. That will be my mission for tomorrow when she is up and about and able to be measured against. unless anyone knows a pattern I can download- or has simple instructions for altering the existing pattern?

Answers in a postcard please? (or a blog comment will help!)

sorry!

have you noticed that the blog has been rather neglected lately?
There are a couple of reasons for this, the not so sad one, I have been spending all my time lesson planning. Am starting to get into the swing of it now and its not taking quite as long.

The very sad reason is that my wonderful Nanna was taken ill last month and sadly died on the 5th november. For a few days before she died until yesterday I have a had 2 of my sisters and their families staying here, so things have been manic/ sad and very emotional for the best part of 3 weeks.

My nannas  funeral was last wednesday, and my sisters have now gone home so I am going to try and bring back some normality to our lives. I have begun by cleaning my house today. It took me all afternoon but it is finally straight now. I am planning on picking up my hexagon quilt i started in the sumer and actually getting it finished BEFORE christmas- wish me luck!