Christmas Time

Just before Christmas, we spent our time at home eating snowflake tortillas and having picnics on the floor:

Monty the cat often joins us when we have cereal for breakfast and tries to sneak a lick of the milk from Isla and Evie's bowls.

We had a few walks around and about:

Isla spotted a rhino shape on the pavement:

Isla and Evie loved having their cousins to play with on Saturday:

On Sunday we went to Granny Margaret and Grandad David's house. Isla and Evie were lucky to receive their Christmas presents and open them up early. They also enjoyed eating chocolates from the Christmas tree and running about in the garden.

We visited the animals and park at the garden centre. Evie made friends with a friendly cockerel and Isla liked the slide.

We spotted a train coming as we were on the railway bridge. The train driver spotted us too and waved back at Isla which was very exciting!

We headed across to Granny Ilene, Grandpa Alan and Uncle Peter's house to continue our festivities after a brief stop at home to open some of the presents from Uncle Ian and Aunty Lucy.

On Christmas Eve we helped Grandpa pick up the turkey from the shop and then went to the best park in the world.

Granny, Andrew and Isla put together the gingerbread house. Then we sat down and ate it!

Isla and Evie put out a glass of sherry, some shortbread and a carrot for Santa and his reindeer and then went up for some sleep. The next morning it was Christmas!! Evie and I were up first. Then Isla, Andrew and Peter woke up and we all went to see the presents under the tree. Isla and Evie were very excited to see what Santa had brought them and that the sherry and shortbread had gone, but a little bit of carrot remained. They opened up their presents together with Isla helping Evie to open hers quite a bit!

Getting a bit Christmassy

We have been doing lots of Christmassy things this week, as well  as meeting up with granny Margaret and grandad David. At pre-school, Isla has been practicing for her nativity play where she plays an angel. She has been singing all of the songs at home, such as 'We wish you a merry Christmas' and 'When Santa got stuck up the chimney' and 'Christmas pudding' with lots of cute actions. She was also practicing bowing today!

Evie got to meet Father Christmas this week at the toddler group party. She wasn't too fussed, and was more interested in getting back to riding in the toy cars after she had met him. We decorated a candle holder together at the party and she played with some play dough too.

Isla and I made a Christmas tree counting game and a Christmas tree matching game as well as some cut out snowflakes and paper chains at home. Evie has been enjoying playing with happyland, doing her animal puzzles and her shape sorting bus when she hasn't been rolling around with Isla on the floor or chasing her around the living room!

Here are Isla and Evie decorating the tree at the weekend:

I made some Christmassy play dough with glitter and peppermint in it using a recipe on the nurture store website. We made some Christmas trees with it and Isla wanted to make some squirrels too to live in the forest. Evie is starting to enjoy using play dough like her sister. She pulls little bits off and puts them inside other things or piles up little pieces into big mounds. Isla has also been using her play dough dentist set this week too. She has been full of energy and play dough has been good for occupying her in this exciting Christmassy season.

We went to look at the Christmas lights at the garden centre. They were really impressive although this photo only shows a slightly spooky looking Cinderella mannequin! We had a look at some reindeer, donkeys and goats and then headed for the main attraction of the tractors and playpark in the rain. 

A first trip to London

So we went to London for a few days as a sightseeing trip for Isla and Evie to see the capital. But before that....

Here is a picture Isla did of a cricket pitch "with the holes you put the sticks in"

While Isla was at preschool I got the paints out for Evie to do some finger painting. I cut a potato too, so that we could do some potato print Christmas tree shapes but Evie preferred to actually paint the potato instead!

Going to London

We took the train to London, which was VERY exciting for Isla and Evie, especially going so fast and wiggling around a lot as well as looking at stuff out the window on the way.

We found a play park just round the corner from the apartment we were staying in near Earl's Court. The apartment had bunk beds so Isla was thrilled. However I forgot to pack any cuddly toys so Andrew had to make one out of a towel for bedtime. A cuddly triceratops and pterodactyl came home with us the next day though, along with a bucketful of plastic dinosaurs.

Treated ourselves to a Wagamamas take away dinner, so we all got to use chop sticks. 

At the Natural History Museum

I was sooooo excited to be taking Isla and Evie to the Natural History Museum. Isla was very excited too, as she wanted to see the dinosaurs, and octopuses too.

Isla spotted a triceratops! She was pointing at everything, asking a billion questions about the exhibits.

Inside the cocoon at the Darwin Centre, where I could show Isla the labs and point out some of the equipment. And Evie enjoyed doing some funky walking about.

Our second mode of transport of the trip: a London bus. We ended up doing lots of bus journeys as this was pretty straightforward with the buggy, and we got to look at the Christmas lights outside. When we were walking about the streets, Evie kept pointing out all the buses she saw. A lot of pointing took place.

Take away pizza! Evie is in her pod chair that clips to the table and is really useful and very sweet. 

Winter Wonderland

The next day, we took the bus to Hyde Park via Oxford Street and went to the Winter Wonderland fairground. It is very big with loads of rides, Christmas stalls and food outlets in a German Christmas market theme. We decided to go on the ferris wheel all together, and then Isla and Andrew went on the helter skelter and a funhouse.

Diana Memorial Playground

It was lovely to go to the peaceful surroundings near Kensington palace after the hustle and bustle of the theme park. The Diana Memorial playground has to be the best play park we've ever been to as it had many different areas including a pirate ship, swings, slides and a seesaw that we could all fit on. There was also a cafe that did brilliant blueberry and white chocolate muffins as well as ice cream.

Another Wagamamas!

The Tower of London

We got the tube towards the Tower of London and then walked along by the Thames before crossing Tower Bridge. I had my first view of the Shard, which was pretty impressive. Isla enjoyed going on the underground through the tunnels and looking down along the long snaking train. She liked looking at the underground map and the different colours of the lines. People were really helpful on the tube, helping with the buggy on the stairs and offering to give up their seats to Isla.

At the Tower of London we saw ravens, beefeaters (although apparently they preferred being called yeoman warders) and lots of animal sculptures showing the different pets of the kings (polar bears, elephants, lions and monkeys). Isla asked "is there going to be real blood in the bloody tower?" much to the amusement of a passerby. Evie got a bit fed up at the Crown Jewels, although when we actually got through the crowd she enjoyed pointing to the different sparkly crowns and gold plates. She much preferred walking around outside in the different towers. Evie signed "elephant" when she saw the elephant sculpture and Isla did her monkey dance when we saw the monkey sculptures.

We took a boat to Embankment from the Tower of London, so we had tried out all the modes of transport. The light was really striking as we went towards the London Eye and Big Ben. Evie was asleep on the whole boat trip so doesn't know about that bit.

We walked across to St James' Park and had a look at the geese, pelicans and tourists trying to stroke squirrels. Isla and Evie enjoyed the play park which had a nice view of Buckingham Palace behind it. We took the bus home past some beautiful Christmas lights at Duke of York Square and stopped off on the Kings Road for pizza.

Going home

We had a nice train journey home on the tube and the train. I can't believe how much we have done in the last few days. Since coming back we have starting putting up our Christmas decorations and finding our advent train and a new advent calendar too, all ready for December. Evie has had a big back tooth pop through so now is the owner of six shiny white chompers!