Parties, Prices and Bargains

  

 Today was the Little Thriver's Christmas party.  There was a little bouncy castle to play on and party hats to make while the parents were treated to hot chocolate and fudge. 

Then we had a lovely meal of party food favourites and a visit from Father Christmas himself. The two smallest each recieved a book and a little packet of Christmas sweets. 

DD3 won the "guess the name" competition for the green elf. His name is Peppermint and she hasn't put him down since she was awarded him. He made an excellent pillow for the post party nap. 

We all won prizes on the Christmas raffle which was lovely. One if them is a family ticket to a local soft play which will be a nice treat on a rainy post Christmas day. 

On the way home I took a peek at the bargain table outside Help the Aged. The embroidery kit caught my eye for 49p along with a few of the 29p books to replace a few I've read recently. When I got home I looked the kit up on the V&A Web page. They cost £16 new! Quire the bargain!

X x X

Reasons

 

 There's good reason why Gman is undefeated at Battleships, but I can't decide if it's genius or cheating! 

🤣🤣🤣

We made it!

 

 It truly feels like a Christmas miracle! We have officially watched Gman's school nativity. 

No photos for obvious reasons but I'm sure you can picture it. There were stumbling angels, a VERY enthusiastic Holy star, a shepherd with a runny nose, narrators who whispered and those that SHOUTED their lines in a style that would make Brian Blessed proud. 

It was utterly and wonderfully perfect.

If nothing else goes quite right this year thanks to Covid or some other random disaster I can at least remind myself that I got to have this 🥰

After school Gman was allowed to pick a treat for his wonderful performance. He picked an egg shaped bath fizzer with a  toy dinosaur inside. After enjoy a particularly long and noisy bathtime (because dinosaurs have to roar a lot!) he came out with this lovely nugget of thoughtfulness.

"Mum? D'you think Jesus wanted dinosaur baths instead of Murr and Frankie-says?"

I told him that I didn't think they had a Home Bargains back then in Bethlehem 🤣

X x X

Tuesday's happenings

Tuesday mornings are back to being playgroup mornings which I am very grateful for. The group hasn't long started running again and for a while there was a big fear that it wouldn't return from it's Covid hiatus. 

Today, as you can tell, we made Christmas baubles. There was a lovely selection of letters, sequins, gems, stickers, feathers and all sorts of lovely things to use. It was crafting heaven for children and adults alike. 

Except for one poor little boy sat next to us. He heard me gushing over DD3's and Baby C's creations while he sat making his own. He looked at his mum stood behind him and said "Can we put mine on our tree?" His mum barely glanced up from her phone and replied "You ain't putting that on my tree!" The little boy looked at his bauble, lay it on the table and walked away to another play area that had been set up. "Urgh, he never finishes anything like this!" Complained his mum and followed off after him.

All I could think was Why would he? After she left the table there was a lot of tutting between the assembled parents. We decided if the little boy attends next week we're going to make sure he hears lots of praise from us to make up for the lack elsewhere.

Honestly it was heartbreaking.

X x X 

Never a dull moment

It's all been a bit epic! 

Poor DD3 took a tumble getting ready to leave preschool and gave herself a fairly impressive head injury. I arrived to collect her from preschool just a few minutes after it happened. Luckily my parents were with me on the school run so Nanny was able to take charge of the other 4 children while Grandad popped me and DD3 straight up to the walk in centre.

I'd only been there 2 weeks ago as Gman broke his finger at school! I'm very much hoping to avoid a third visit any time soon! 

DD3's visit took us less than 3 hours and she was soon checked for a concussion and superglued back together again. It's amazing how small the wound looks once it's all cleaned up and glued! Only time will tell if there will be a black eye or bruising tagging along with it. 

 DD3 was her usual impossibly cute self and so so brave throughout. DH insisted on getting her a Happy meal on our way home from the hospital as a special treat so naturally she's quite pleased about that. As long as it doesn't give her any ideas 🤣

You can call us many things but we certainly aren't boring are we? 

X X X

This may take a while...

 

 

 It's that time of year again! The Christmas card lists have started arriving home. Today was DD3's turn to write out her cards for preschool.

Me; Can you write your name in this card please?

DD3; Yes, mama

Me; And this one?

DD3; I'm having a rest now.

Me; But we've only done one!

DD3; *Yawns* so tired mama

🤣🤣🤣

Wednesday's adventures

I have spent a happy and productive morning in the kitchen. I had a large pile, or should I say small mountain, of vegetables that needed using up and a rapidly aging collection of banana. 

I roasted the vegetables in the oven whilst filling any extra space with the banana cupcakes. Once cooked, cooled and blended the vegetables became a very tasty sauce which I will freeze in portions for various dinners in the near future. We ate some this evening with pasta and a little cheese which went down well with everyone. 

 On a Wednesday afternoon DD3 goes to preschool and I meet with my parents for a coffee and charity shop mooch around the town centre.

Today's bargain hunting found an ugly Christmas jumper (50p) for DD1 who has a Christmas jumper day coming up at school. She was very pleased with it when I showed her 😊. 

I also found this pretty dress for DD2 for 50p. The colours are very pretty and I'm hoping it'll make a nice outfit for the spring. Knowing Dd2 though she'll wear it as and when she feels like 🤣

I also picked up a selection of books for the two eldest girls and Gman to enjoy. DD1 needs an almost constant stream of new books to keep her happy. It's quite rare to find her without a book in her hand or beside her. It's a lovely habit to have I think 😁

Tonight I will be reading my next few chapters of my book which is now starting to grow on me. 

 I might bust out something crafty to do or I might just get lost on Reddit and Pinterest for a while. We will see what happens 😂

X x X

P.s; Still no cancellations from the school but there has been an email with lots of new rules for attendees. I'm crossing fingers and toes in hope we make it.