Christmas craft and beach

Harry finished sewing his Christmas tree decoration this morning. He likes this type of pre-punched sewing kit. 

Peter made a cut-out window decoration and a Lego/jam jar snowstorm. Harry did this a few weeks ago and Peter wanted to make a matching one. The glue-gun glue in Harry's had unstuck too so we used superglue this time on the jar lids. 

We met friends at the beach today too, which was quite mild for December and the boys had a great dig, followed by lunch at the cafe on the beach. We went back to our friend's house and all the children played minecraft together. Harry really likes joining the same world as his friends and helping each other. 

Playing games, craft and swimming

We were all very tired this morning after being away at the weekend. We also had friends over to play yesterday, a bike ride and the Beavers Christmas disco, which was a later night than usual.

We spent a lovely, relaxed morning at home. We played our new snakes and ladders game, which has numbers to 100. I had some tesco clubcard vouchers to use and bought a few new games for us from there. Snakes and ladders has always been popular with Harry and Peter from a young age.

And we played our new favourite game - Uno. Both boys love this and Harry would play for ages but Peter gets bored after a few rounds. 

We also did some sticker and glitter pictures and Harry started sewing a felt Christmas tree decoration. I read aloud too and Peter had a bath, so we were ready to go to Harry's last swimming lesson of the term this afternoon. 

Panto!

We had a trip to Harrogate today, so Harry and Peter could go to the panto with my mum. They had a great time and brought flashing spinners home! My sister and I (along with sleeping baby) had a lovely lunch and did some Christmas shopping.

They were also pleased to see baby cousin Jacob again. My mum with her grandsons....

End of term music concert

It was Harry's Christmas music concert today. All the children in his year (he is year two of three) played a solo or duet piece and he also played in the ensemble concert. He really enjoyed it all and played very well. 

He was pleased that his concert even had its own special tickets! 

I had a haircut this afternoon so Stuart and the boys went swimming and had great fun. 

Art, theatre and Christmas giving

We had a very busy day yesterday! Harry finished his gingerbread man at the last art class of term. 

We went to a Christmas theatre performance called I've Seen Santa with friends. It was very interactive and we all enjoyed it.

We dropped off our donation for a local homeless charity called Making Winter Warmer for Those Without. They were collecting shoebox gifts for homeless people so we made one up including warm socks, a scarf, toiletries and chocolates. We usually make a donation of this kind at Christmas and I think it's really important for the children to consider others less fortunate than themselves at this time of giving. 

Harry also had his last enjoy a ball class of term and they had a great time playing lots of their favourite games. 

We are not often out for the whole day and we were pretty tired when we got back for tea. 

Christmas crafts

We played some board games this morning before going to post some cards and presents then joining some friends for Christmas crafts. 

The boys made baubles. We used plastic clear baubles that opened to fill with tinsel and they coloured the outside with sharpie pens. We also made them from strips of shiny card fastened at the top and bottom with split pins then fanned out. 

Peter also made a snowman and Harry coloured a stained glass window style decoration.

They had a good play with their friends too.

Mince pies and soft play

We finished off some more Christmas cards this morning then made our first batch of mince pies. Harry loves this job and actually did most of it himself. We made the mincemeat several weeks ago and made pastry for the pies this morning. 

After lunch we met some friends at soft play, which was a great energy burner for two hours! 

We've been reading Christmas themed books at home, both our own and library books and we watched a Mr Men Christmas DVD this afternoon. 

Making Christmas cards

We've been making Christmas cards this morning! Peter is getting quite good at writing his name and was determined he would write it in each card! 

It's good writing practise for Harry too and he doesn't complain about this as much as other styles of writing! 

We made some by using double sided tape to create a vague Christmas tree shape, then peeling off the top strip and adding glitter.

I also printed small copies of Harry's snowman picture from art class and we added these to some of the cards.

Harry has been working on the chance section of Conquer Maths and Peter has been doing Reading Eggs. Harry also had his swimming lesson this afternoon and we left in the icy rain, which I think might give us an indication of the weather for the rest of this week! 

Christmas music and Beavers activities

We've had a musical and festive weekend! Harry and Peter went to their music classes on Saturday then we met friends to go to a children's concert called Warming Songs for Winter Days. This was really nice and included songs such as Let it Snow and Carol of the Bells with participation for the children.

We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday. It is a very colourful creation with lots of home made decorations and the boys love it!

Harry and I also went to the Panto (Cinderella) with his Beavers group, which was fun.

Harry took part in his Beavers show last night. They made Beavers masks and sang a song to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer called Beavie the Beaver Mascot. He really enjoyed it.

He also had his last speech therapy group yesterday and we have several games to play at home to keep practising his problem sounds. He has improved lots this year and I think the group has been really helpful. 

Playdough, park and art

We made play dough on Thursday and the boys played with it all morning! They made sweets, monsters and vehicles for Lego men.

We went to the park with friends in the afternoon which was very wintery, so we had nice rosy cheeks! I even joined in playing football to keep warm!

Harry finished his Winter themed picture at art yesterday using watercolours and then the boys both had haircuts.

Harry also had his enjoy a ball class, where they practised basketball skills. 

In between these activities he has been playing minecraft. He bought himself the handbook and has been reading it constantly to learn how to do new things!

We've also been talking about maths a lot. I am trying to establish if we need to do any more year 2 in the Conquer Maths programme so I am asking him questions to check he has remembered the more complex points, such as angles, fractions, shape and measurement. Harry has also been using the Mr Thorne maths universe app to practise adding, subtracting and dividing.

The Nutcracker and library

We read the story of The Nutcracker this morning from this lovely book we borrowed from the library. 

We also watched the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on YouTube and Harry wanted to see Darcey Bussell as he knows her from Strictly, so we found some of her dances to watch too.

Harry played cello and we all played some board games before going on the bus to the city library. I love that Harry has to take a book everywhere with him now to read on the way! 

We are going to be reading Peter Pan aloud next and Harry borrowed a Jeremy Strong Christmas themed book to read himself. Harry also bought the minecraft beginner handbook as he has just started playing it. He has been reading it all evening and filling me in on all the things he is going to try next! 

They have both been using the Lego movie maker app to create Lego videos this afternoon. This was one of the scenes, showing new creative machines that will appear in Harry's version of The Lego Movie 2.