Homemade Advent Calendar

So very simple... the hard part is thinking of things for the kids to do each day. We have things like, pajamas and Christmas movies, go for a winter walk, hot chocolate by candlelight and reading by fairy light (school room ceiling has fairy lights). There are also some very simple things like colour a Christmas picture.

For this project I used:

Maybe 5m/15' ribbon (at a guess)

Pegs (I used small coloured ones but you could use normal ones)

Holographic Card (very cheap at the pound shop)

Markers

And that's about it! Except I did put a small bow on the 24th instead of ribbon.

All I did was cut bits of card in half, then each half into four roughly equal strips (cutting across the shorter length). Of course I counted 24 out. Then I folded them over so that the two ends met at the back side of the 'gift'. Inside I wrote a special thing to do for the day. Then I wrapped a ribbon around it, wrote the number on it in marker, and pegged it to the line.

I think the kids are really going to love it. I can't wait to see their faces when I put it up!

Helping in the library

Where Do I Start?

I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote here. Does time slip through your fingers, too? It does mine. We have done so many fun things in the last 2 months. I wish I had remembered to chronicle them, because I seem to be forgetting. Luckily I have pictures of many of them, that I will upload when my camera battery is charged. Some of the things I remember:

-sliding down a hallway, on the polished wooden floor, in socks... at our librarian's house (and Cora falling and banging her chin!)

-taking the visiting "Flat Stanley" (which we renamed Flat Hamish) and Prince the Sock Monkey to several cool places, including the ancient Deer Abbey

-saying goodbye to a dear friend who has now moved to New Zealand

-taking a special shopping trip out to buy hats, scarves, and gloves after a very cold spell!

-a wonderful week long family vacation. I should make a whole new post about that, we had a fantastic time.

The School Room

Ever since we started home schooling, I've lusted after a school room. I just thought it would be nice to have an area where the school stuff can be contained, and somewhere for them to have a quiet place to concentrate.

A month or so ago Cora announced that she wanted to move into Calvin's room so we could have a school room. So we gave it a trial and it seems to be working out so far. The school room is still a work in progress - there's only so much we can do because we can't decorate. But I've got a couch to go in there, that's currently in the conservatory, and once that's in we can put things in their final place and I'll share some pictures. We made a family tree to go up on the wall, and there are posters that can be used with whiteboard markers. I want to collect more of those because the kids love them! They each have a desk as well. It feels all a bit cluttered and messy at the moment but I want to spend a day just organising and sorting it out. Then the couch can go into it.

If you have a school room, what's your favourite feature about it? If you could change something, what would it be?

The library

We use our local library a lot. Our cards are often full. We've made friends with the librarian too. She's lovely and the kids will miss her when she leaves later in the year.

Maia begs to go to this place... she always asks to colour and loves to sit and doodle. Her favourite shape is a triangle and she draws them a lot.

Cora loves to sit and read books there. I honestly think she would spend all day there if I let her.

Calvin likes to draw or go on the computer there. He's always drawing pictures for them to put on the walls.

This is what happened when I talked to the librarian for a minute as we were leaving. I love how happy they are here. If they ever cut our library we will have three devastated kids.

Planes and Helicopters

Earlier this week Calvin and I discovered a little road behind Aberdeen airport. It's a dead end, separated from the runway by only a fence. We parked and got out and watched for a while. We saw several helicopters land and take off, and several planes take off too. He was enthralled! He now says he wants to be a pilot when he grows up. But he hopes he doesn't get travel sick like he does now. :)