Easter

The girls were very excited on Easter Sunday to see that the Easter bunny had been and had left them an Easter egg hunt. They put on their Easter bonnets (for about 5 minutes!) and started looking for clues.

Their first basket contained some Easter masks, which they shared out nicely

Then, after finding some more Easter bits and pieces, it was onlt the serious business of finding the chocolate!

Their last basket contained a book about garden wildlife and a bug hotel, as I didn't want Easter to be completely about chocolate eggs (which was a bit lost on them at the time but they love now it's up in the garden!)

A lovely start to a lovely family day together

A walk in the woods

The sun was shining and Grapie and I went for a little walk in the woods the other day. Well, not the woods exactly but a little copse close to our house. We were on our way back from dropping princess off at preschool, and Grapie was in a good mood (she's usually ready for her nap when we get back, thanks to getting up sooooooo early!)

We are very lucky to have a lovely green area so close to our house but it's been so boggy recently that it's been impossible to go in with the buggy. It's dried out a bit now so I took the opportunity to show Grapie some nature.

She loved being free to explore and touch things. We talked about how things felt and Grapie learnt lots of new words, like rough and hard, and it was lovely to have some quality one on one time with her, as often, even though she is with me all the time, we spend our time rushing from one thing to the next before it's time to pick Princess up again! 

It was short and sweet and simple but we had a really lovely time!

Birthday Traditions

Princess turned 4 this week, and this year I was keen to start some birthday traditions that we will continue on the girls birthdays throughout their childhoods. I want their birthdays to be a special day when we celebrate them and not just an influx of toys (especially as Princess's birthday is 3 weeks after Christmas so she has just had an influx of toys!)

These are the things we did this year to make her day special, that we hope to continue each birthday:

• One of her presents is a special outing, just her and mummy and daddy- this year it will be to the cinema and out for pizza, but for each birthday it will be a special treat that is just about the birthday girl

• Cake for breakfast, served on a special birthday plate! - I made some breakfast muffins and decorated them (as 4 year olds are excited enough on their birthdays without being pumped with sugar at 7.30) so she could blow out her candles in the morning too! 

• Gift wrap her lunch! Princess went to preschool on her birthday so to make sure she felt special all day I wrapped her lunch up in birthday wrapping paper! She loved this and was so surprised! (As were her teachers! Not sure what they made of it!)

• Birthday bath- I love this idea from Growing a Jeweled Rose about turning bath time into a little party! Ours involved a banner and balloons and Princess chose a bath bomb to go in it

Do you have any birthday traditions in your family? Or ways to make your child feel extra special on their big day? I would love to hear about them.

Pyjama day and den building

Time is precious. And time goes so quickly. Princess goes back to preschool tomorrow, so I wanted her to have a nice last day of holidays (and she's got a little cold) so I let her have a pyjama day today. This is a real treat dor her as she hates getting changed with a passion and we have a daily battle over getting dressed. So when I said she could keep her pyjamas on today she was very impressed!

And she was allowed a biscuit before lunch (which never happens!)

This afternoon we did some den building with the sofa cushions and blankets, and Princess sat inside playing happily for ages, with her torch. She had her snacks in the den. Even the cat got involved!

Poor Grapie didn't quite get it! She didn't want to go in so played with her toys next to the den! And of course when she did decide to go in, Princess had claimed it for her own and didn't want to share. 

We had a lovely last day of the holidays, it feels like time is flying at the moment and P will be at big school before I know it, so I'm really trying to make an effort to make the most of having her at home when I can!

Christmas Elf

We are getting ready to welcome a very special guest to our home next week. Her name is Jingles and she is one of Santa's elves who has been sent out from Santa's workshop to stay with us to make sure that we are all being good.

It's a tradition that we started last Christmas, and that I think we will continue for many more Christmases to come. It is based on the Elf on the Shelf idea that has become so popular, but with fewer rules. Our elf is allowed to be touched and played with, and quite often is found doing funny things in the morning (because everybody knows toys only move when no one is around!)  

She is sometimes a bit naughty, last year she turned the milk green and wrapped the Christmas tree up in toilet paper. Sometimes she will bring treats like an advent calendar, a Christmas cd or book, or set up crafts or baking with a Christmas theme. This year she is planning on bringing Christmas jumpers all round!

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Last year, Jingles went down so well that we also had a summer elf to stay as well. It is so much fun to do and adds so much magic to the whole build up of Christmas, that it also has the added bonus of making Christmas about much more than just the presents. Here's some of the things that Jingles got up to last year.

If you are thinking of giving it a go this uear, I would definitely recommend it, we had lots of fun every evening planning where to put Jingles, my other half got really into it too, and Princess enjoyed it so much. Hopefully this year will be as much fun, I have some things planned and Pintrest is full of inspiration too.

Do you have an elf visitor coming this December? Have you got any ideas of some mischief  that she can get up to? Please let me know, I would love to hear from other elf hosts!