So glad it's Friday

This week has been the kind of week that would test even the most patient mummy. Harry has been somewhat testing to say the least with his current favourite words being 'I want it' and 'NO!'. So we have had more quiet time at home as the thought of toddler groups or visiting friends are not very appealing when you have to bring the little menace with you. However, to make the best of a bad situation I have been keeping him calm and entertained with some christmas craft activities, making cards, gift tags and decorations. Salt dough hearts to hang on the tree have been the best so far and it is so cheap to make you can make loads and loads of little shapes and will keep you busy all afternoon.

We found that 2 cups plain flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup cold water resulted in the best mixture. Create your shapes then put them on baking paper in a very hot oven or microwave until they harden, if you use the oven place a sheet of silver foil over the top and this will help them harden but not bake too brown.

Given Harrys current 'frame of mind' I dont think I will be using my precious decorations on the tree, instead it will probably be just fairylights and lots and lots of salt dough shapes.

14 days to go!

The Little Leaf

My vintage Esme earrings

Just want to let you know that I have decided to sell a few of  the little things that I have been creating recently. I have been busy making earrings and other bits of jewellery mainly using vintage Japanese celluloid flowers.

You can visit my flickr site to see some of the things I have been making:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelittleleaf/

I am currently in the process of setting up a shop on Etsy but if you are interested in any of these iteams please email me thelittleleaf@yahoo.com.

Hope you like my creations x

Little Donkey

(Harry is  wearing a grey outfit and a crown with a donkey face drawn on it)

We had a lovely Christmassy afternoon at Harry's nursery nativity today were he played the important role of the donkey. It was all very chaotic with children dressed as farm animals running about throwing the hay from the manger at each other, a little sheep that danced around the stage for the entire nativity and a couple of crying cows but it was all very sweet. Especially when they sang twinkle, twinkle little star complete with all the actions, something Harry had been showing us for the last couple of weeks. After that it all become abit too much for Harry and he started to cry for his muzzy so I had to make a quick entrance on to the stage and he watched the rest from my lap at the back of the hall. It was the perfect start to December.

 Plus our neighbour has put up their Christmas lights which look fantastic and include a big flashing sign that counts down the days till Christmas ... 24 days to go!

Happy Birthday

Uncle Matt!!!

Had a great time seeing you on Saturday and we hope you are having a great Birthday.

Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.

xxx

The Truck

Harry really loves his truck

And where ever Harry goes the truck goes with him.

He could have taken to one of his nice wooden toys or a little metal car, but no Harry loves his massive, orange, plastic, £3.99 truck from Sainsburys!

Balloons

This afternoon I had to take the boys out to do some boring erands with me. After queing in the post office, supermarket and camera shop (where I had to decide which of my 900 photos I should print and which ones to have enlarged for the photo wall, which took a very long time) I decided that they should have a little treat for being so patient. Rather than buying Harry a sugary biscuit I bought them both balloons. Harry got to choose them and after much consideration he decided on a pepa pig one for himself and a Thomas one for Ollie. They both love them and it kept them entertained while I rushed about making dinner in the early evening. Even though Ollie is only five months old he really enjoyed the balloon and sat in his bouncy chair for ages watching it bob up and down.

Ollie's first food

Today I decided to give Ollie his first real taste of food, well baby rice if you can call that food. It was a very different experience to when I gave Harry his first baby rice. With Harry I read all the books on weaning in preparation, brought many different bowls, spoons etc, sterilised everything in sight and even got my Mum to come over and assist with the whole process (in case you are interested this book is the one I found most useful). However, with Ollie I have been far more relaxed and just bought some baby rice a few days ago and decided at lunch time to go for it, so mixed some up in a little bowl and off we went. Ollie thought it was hilarious and laughed the whole time letting the rice fall out of his mouth as he did, I don’t think he actually ate any of the rice but we had lots of fun. Tonight I am making us a big roast dinner so will prepare some extra vegetables, steam them and freeze them into ice cube trays, so I should have a freezer full of little multicoloured ice cubes by tomorrow.

Harry having his first taste of food, check out his mowhawk!