Christmas Joy 2013*

Christmas is so special to me. I remember the years as a child being so incredibly excited in anticipation for being spoilt rotten not only by my amazing parents but my grandparents. As a child it was all about the gifts, I loved of course the Christmas treats, food & our huge family being together. Playing North south east west in my nannys kitchen with my sissys. Getting given an argos book to circle all the toys id like before the big day. Being brought a beautiful Christmas outfit. No doubt about it we were very lucky & spoilt. That word meaning in a luxurious, grateful, happy way not with the bratty connotations!! Im blessed with the most incredible family. Two sisters, one being my twinny boo & two brothers. My gorgeous mama & silly as a kid Pops. My grandparents have all sadly passed apart from Nanny Molly (still a spring chicken, going to her clubs, stil driving, out & about always bless her). The memories alive every Christmas day fill me with so much happiness but I definatly do have a lil prayer & quiet moment too. These were blessed times that I will recreate for my own children. And my mum as a Nanna now is the double of her mama. Incredible Nanna, so loving, so emotional. She calls Jasper her sunbeam, just melts my heart!! Anyhow, Christmas hehe. We had a wonderful few days. Christmas is never just one day for us. We celebrate for as long as possible. Spending heaps of time together & us four stayed at my mums for a few days. We had Ducky Christmas eve until Christmas morning. Then picked her up Boxing day morning & have had her bar one day since. We now have her over New Years. Its been amazing us as a family for so much time. Stealing cuddles all throughout the day. They have been playing so brilliantly & sharing all their new toys & books. They have the Guess who game & Darcey is trying to teach Jaspey how to play. They are currently running around in their Thor & Spiderman outifts. They have had moments were the craziness of Christmas & being given so much became excessive & they behaved a bit naughty, more so Jasper, but tiredness & lack of routine definatly contributed. It was just such a great festive time. Gary was off more than he has ever been over Christmas, we played cards, cluedo & battleships & I beat him on all at least once hehe, we drank wine & ate too much, cuddling in the snuggle chair. Love him too much*. The gift of family is the greatest blessing this year. Im so so grateful for how wonderful my family is & how brilliant they are to my darlings* 143

Santa Claus

So Jasper has seen an array of Father Christmas characters this fortnight. He had a wonderful treat trip to Drusillas with Darcey on Sunday with my brother Sam & his girly Katy (so so grateful & in awe of how loved & cherished my little angels are by my family!!) They were so very spoilt in such a loving enviroment & adventures galore even though the sun didnt shine for them & most of the animals were hiding from the cold. They saw real Huskys & stroked them, cuddling up for photos. Darcey adored them & it reminded Jaspey how much he wants a pet pooch called Monty for our home. They both asked Santa for a Husky dog & the incredible thing was Santas offering was a Husky teddy dog that they both adore. Darcey had called hers Holly but today told me he is actually a boy doggy & is called Rudolf. Jasper called his Monty straight away. Daddy & I make up tales some evenings for their bedtime stories & a while back I includd a super hero dog called Monty. Hence the obsession studley has now. I do hope in the new year we will add a small pooch to our family as I do just adore having a dog in the home. Ive grown up always having a companion or three. we had a lot of rescue dogs in our home & I adored them all. Jaspers bestest ever friend is his girly Roxy.

Anyhow back to Santa Claus. Darcey has told us of visits she has had with her mama & again with her aunt & Nanna & she also saw Santa Claus the Musical at our local theatre. Jasper enjoyed Jack & the Beanstalk panto with Nanna & Jojo last week. Today Jasper had his preschool nd of term Christmas party & my gosh he made me & Daddy so so proud. He was very kind & thankful to Santa who came to watch him & his friends sing carols which wow, he sang so confidently & happily. Literally melted my heart seeing him hold hands with his buddys for circle time then stand listening to his teachers well & obeying their actions & words to create a brilliant service for us mummys & daddys. Al the children were great actually & at one point I had a burst of giggles as Jaspey was singing Jingle Bells so high pitched all you ould hear was him. Bloody brilliant. Darcey was a camel in her play which due to work schedules we couldnt attend which was guttting but luckily her mum sent us pics & videos. So very hard though to explain to Ducky that we couldnt come even though she explained she didnt enjoy her play & being in it so wasnt upset we werent there. Kind of easier I guess* Although by any standards in her videos she sang along well & happily so I dont think she really disliked it :) We saw Santa again dancing to the Rotary club band in town & he was a dancing jolly Father Christmas & had Jaspey staring in awe. I gave bubba pennys to put in Santa's pot & they had a cuddle & so I took a pic of course. Jasper just kept hugging him & then had a little dance with him. Literally too cute!! He adores this festive excitement & I just smile inside watching my sweet boy so imspired by all the cheer & excitement Christmas brings. Just such magical times!!* 143

Merry Christmas wishes & New year dreams & love***

My nativity scene

I assisted alot with our reindeer family made from toilet rolls that Jasper painted & stickered last week & this week I made a nativity scene to surprise him & Ducky with. It did actually take me quite a few hours but I am pretty proud of my efforts, the characters are too cute. My twin sissy is such a great artist & Ive always shyed away as Im so clumsy & heavy handed so never really get very good results. It was certainally worth the effort though. I again used toilet rolls & included materials of old clothing, felt, glitter paper, sequins, jewels, patterned card & crepe paper. Pva glue was not cutting it for this so I used a stapler which worked perfectly to pin each material to the toilet rolls. I spent my whole day off sat at the table designing these lil beauts & cutting & sticking, then replanning my design & using a stapler & superglue as pva & sellotape were not at all useful. It took alot of effort actually but I loved it. I really loved the end result & waking to see my darling boy jumping around excitedly in delight was just incredible. I uploaded photos to my instagram & facebook with pride & have had them pinned, shared & liked by friends & strangers telling me how adorable our set is so Im feeling rather chuffed with my lil project. Jasper adores the baby Jesus & we read his new lift the flap Nativity book & tell the story with the nativity scene I made. So much fun & Im so in love with how much Jasper likes me creations aswell as his own art. I saw the idea on Happy hooligans facebook page in November so a bit late in designing my own. But worth the wait so the weekend before Christmas we have a fab new role play game & Jasper feels like Christmas has come early. Ducky hasnt seen them yet although we did get to pick her up from school for hot chocolate today, perfect afternoon with my cherubs!!* 

ps-Darcey lost her fourth tooth yesterday. Her bugs bunny front top right, my lil gummy bear. Too cute ducky xx 143

Christmas crafting

I cant say I have been too organised this year with Christmas. I started with ideas & searching gifts out from October so thought I was doing well but after a month of sickness on & off in November I lost my stride.I have however shopped for my lil cherubs for all my family as they have pointed out so many ideas so just easier this way, we spent an hour in Waterstones one day & seeing the range of books Darcey & Stud enjoyed was great for ideas for my nan to spoil them with. Such lucky boos. 

We have however kept on top of our art fun at home. We also do a lot each week with my great friend Helen & her cheebies Eddie & Lilly. Helen is a friend I just adore as a mummy. Shes fun, playful, so loving & such a super mummy regarding activities, art & craft ideas for her kiddy winks to have fun each day. We are constantly messaging ideas & links to each other for new activities each week we want to try out. Happy hooligans & Nurturestore are favourites. Eddie & Lills have a fantastic art wall space in their home too & its just as full as my cherubs art wall in their bedroom. I adore that they look at their work each day & Jasper always talks to me about his name being displayed & his Transformer picture in a scribble that I cant understand but to him it is a full picture that he will describe with such details. I have posted about the advent calender I (& Jingle & Dec) made for the bubbas. They just love everyday popping through the tissue paper to gain their xmas themed treat & note. Darcey of course has only had a few mornings of waking to be able to do this & she showed such excitement. Jasper has told all of his lil buddys, aunts & uncles. I love that they are happy with it. 

He brought home some gorgeous makings from pre school & was so excited to see that Jingle & Dec (hehe) had hung his work in the hallway as Christmas decor. He is so proud of himself at the moment. He knows he is a good boy & knows Santa seeks to give gifts to all the good boys which excites him so much, he expects he will recieve thousands of gifts (his words lol.) 

Jasper has shown his left hand cutting skills are brilliant so we have attempted snowflake cut outs & we are painting doilies to make a paper chain (We ended up painting the tables then dipping the doilies in as bubba was sad he was quite heavy handed & breaking the edging & it actually became a great idea for marble effect painting!!) He actually does really enjoy cutting & is really skilled considering he is left handed although making his Christmas wreath he assisted my cuttings out & cut all the fingers off for ease on his hand prints to cut. They still have been added to his wreath though & that is the bit he points to when showing it off haha!! For his wreath he especially loved me painting his feet, tiggling his toes in the bright red paint so he could stomp across the paper layed out on the kitchen floor.  He really loved this activity & kept saying to me "Thank you mummy, I just love this!!" Bless him. Too cute a loot cherub bum.

We also followed an idea I saw along while ago but didnt have the materials to craft with. We made a Christmas collage this week. I cant tell you the right name for the laminating sticky paper we used but I taped this down sticky side up in a rectangleA3 sized. Jasper had cut up some old Christmas cards & we had lots of Christmas themed bits to stick down. He spent a good half hour neatly placing all his pictures, sequins, stickers & bows. When he was ready I placed A3 card over the back & folded the sticky edging round. Just like that his picture was created so easilly & mess free, no pva glue wont stick nightmares & a very happy lil Studley. The result was so brilliant & again being displayed for our festive decor for all to enjoy. Such a great week of art fun. 143 sweet angel*

Just cant even...

This photo I took of Darcey this weekend just is too much. She came home beaming with pride about her new short hair like mine. Oh so cute* Such a tomboy, she says she wants it as short as Jaspeys haha. But this is beautiful & makes her look so cute & grown up. She also has her top front tooth hanging on but even as I type I know it may even be hiding under her pillow tonight, it was so loose. She has lost three teeth now & this will be her 4th with more wobbling in her gums. My lil gummy bear! I adore these photos of the cherubs. My heart just thuds with pride that these darlings are mine to cherish. They are such a blessing to us, such a blessing to all our large family. Adored by so many* 143

Merlin & Jaspey*

My auntie Juli has the most darling lil pooch Merlin, Merly to Jasper. So to surprise bubba from pre school Juli brought Merly up to pick him up him dressed as a santas helper, velvet red neckacheif & reindeer ears, so so cute. He was very happy & loved showing off his lil buddy to his school friends then it was off for a picnic in the park. Well two parks & the beach actually. We ran, skipped & chucked the ball around my favourite Beach House Gardens.As usual stopping to talk about the huge trees & marvel that the pansys are still blooming even in this cold. We then heading for coffee & a croissant at Coast cafe on the seafront & let Merly pupp have his first experience of the beach & seafront by Splashpoint. Jasper climbed so Merlin climbed, Jasper jumped & Merlin followed. Far too cute & even my auntie was acting like a hilarious kiddy by doing somersaults over the bike rack, so I had to have a go too. We all just revelled in being stupid & having such fun. Jasper was such a babe & looking through his 'binoculars' to view the sun & pier. He amazed us by splashing his hands in a puddle on the rocks & marked his handprint all over the black stone in the fountain area. Such an artiste :) The day was amazing, cold but so sunny we needed sunglasses. Perfect photo weather & as usual I snapped away gettin some gorgeous shots of these lil munchkins. I live in such a picturesque area Im very lucky but I think five years ago I wouldnt have appreciated the views as much, I am such a nature lover now & love how mesmerized Studley is by all the scenes of his home town. After coffee I looked after Merlin whilst Juli & Jaspey went to play in the pirate park making a sand Christmas cake & gettin all the ingrediants together from across the park. We were out for a few hours before Jasper showed he was tired. After a busy morning at school then so much fun with Merly it was bath, dinns & early night. Yet another great afternoon with amazing company, good giggles & two gorgee studs :) So very blessed* 143

ps-on the walk home we went past a favourite tree of Jasper & Darceys in B.H Gardens. Im not sure what tree it is, I must find out but wow, the change in season has marked itself truly on this tree. It looked so sad & haunted & Jasper actually said "Oh mummy my tree has no leaves, has it died." It really does look so sad & the branches have lowered so far so that Jasper could touch them where as in the summer him & Ducky enjoyed jumping to reach them. Such beauty in nature & such a contrast to show just how the weather effects it. Jasper is learning so much in such little time with all his senses heightened when were out, wanting to know every detail of life. So incredible my lil sponge brain boo xxx

Christmas tree is up :)

Such a special simple day. Oh i love Christmas. Today we have Darcey home for a sleepover after school as her mum had an event to attend. We have her until the morning before school, so all evening me & daddy have been in stealing snuggly, sleepy kisses. Shes so darn cute. Any how as promised from the weekend we decorated the Christmas tree. It was done within ten minutes with the bubbas doing all the hanging, so excited looking at all their 'favourite friends' from our tree last year. Jasper really remembers his snowman, so sweet as he was only two* They each have a beautiful decoration each, Jaspers snowman & Ducky has Santa which she didnt want to hang on the tree just yet hehe. They are from Accessorize & quite pricey but I want to get one each again this year as they are so gorgeous & can be a tradition for us for a few years until we have a full nativity style scene hehe. The pictures are blurry & awful quality but just the BEST!!! I love them. My childrens hearts singing such happiness & smiles like a cheshire cat. Its all so exciting. The whole month of December is so special. The cherubs have fully encaptured my tales of Jingle & Dec the elves & adore Santa of course. They truly believe Jingle & Dec helped make them their advent which they get so happy about popping through the tissue paper to see whats in store for them :):) And today they ate off their Christmas plates so they thanked Jingle & Dec out 

loud :) 

We went to library today & got Christmas books. Darcey read a stage three Usbourne learning book about Perry the penguin staying warm with such ease. She is incredible. She bores easily of her reading as she does a heap at school but after me reading a few books it was her turn to show off & wow, she impresses me & hubbs just so much that we felt overwhelming ,tearful pride. Such a clever lil brain bug :):) They are so adorable together, yes they have their arguements, about who gets Wolverine in a game usually!! But they are so loving to each other. At the library Darcey sought books for Jasper to enjoy (Superman easy read & Tree top tom-which she then read to him) & Jasper holds her hand everywhere. I just love them so incredibly. Jaspey is so funny too, he loves the moving, spin doors at the library & right at the end of going through them he dropped his glove. He stopped to pick it up & bonk, the door pushed his lil tush & he fell forward giggling so much. It was so cute & hilarious all in one haha xx 143 sweet angels*

my November ( a tad late)

Christmas crafts in November :)

This post should have been written a couple of weeks back but Ive been ill & out of sorts so havent given myself time to enjoy my blog. But im back with such excitement for Christmas. Along with my dear good friend Helen & her darlings Eddie & Lilly we have been super mamas crafting alot with our autumn bucket lists & now a new Winter one. Well our house has just a Christmas one as we have so much to enjoy this month in the festive lead up to the amazing fun family holiday that we all adore here. We are so alike in wanting art, learning, exploring, adventure & fun & play to be a huge part of every day for our angels. I follow a great blogger on Nuturestore that has fab craft ideas daily that me & Jasper have set too. Im just so in love with living life through this wonderful boy & my sweet heartbeat Ducky when she is with me. I adore his way of seeing life, i adore his seeking & exploring of the littlest kinds & so enjoy the slow, steady days full of heaps of activities. We had a great afternoon with Helen & Jaspeys buddys making homeade pizza & us mamas made these amazing cheese, blueberry & grape penguins. I just love them & will be making them & hopefully more food animals this month. Jaspey & i were poorly last week also so we had a few days in doing puzzles, painting, making leaf prints with playdough & reading alot. He has a new learning book & the first few pages are just learning pen grip & as my little stud is a lefty he does struggle a little with tracing dotted letters & numbers bless him. But he goes so slow & is so patient & has such a motivated, persevering character. He knows all his alphabet & is slowly starting to spell out his name. He loves finding his name letters in books & Im so encouraged to teach more & more every time he shines with pride because he has again worked hard & shown such wisdoms for a three year old :):) Im such a proud mummy. There is too much to detail daily that makes my heart sing with my sweet studley. Just today he collected me from work with Grampy to see the Santas grotto we have set up & my darling boy was so confident & polite to all my dears I care for & they just adored him. He overwhelmed one sweety Joan with a cuddle & made her cry. What a babe. Such a great character & sweetheart through & through. 
As mummy I want to give simply everything to my children, of course. I have enjoyed so much learning new art ideas & techniques myself & seeing so many fab bloggers that I follow create their cherubs homemade advent calenders I decided I would give it a go. My advent tree made from 25 loo rolls, huge amounts of paint, glue & tisses paper & filled with treats (that hubbs & I ate & had to shop for again) is a leaning Christmas tree advent made with pure love & an exciting tale. Each night Jasper & Darcey knew that two happy elves Jingle & Dec were spending time with me to help build the a suprise to start the festive month with. When I revealed it to them, their smiles just beamed such excitement. And not just for the treats inside, for the story behind it & the unique look so different from what they know an advent to look like. I just love them* Such angels. Ducky got to open December 1st which she was over joyed with & they each have a treat in, altho at first she pulled just one item & was so ready to half it with her lil bro :) too cute. Jasper was so accepting of Darcey gettin to open the first also knowing she wont be able to open many being at her mummys so much more, I am so very proud of him, as a three year old he is so aware & so wise. Happiness, happy nest :) 143*

Winter beach day

We had such a great time this weekend. Hubby was off work all weekend & we had darling Ducky & a day with the bro in law & our niece Skye who is Darceys most favourite girl bud ever. We decided after the fun of our last beach adventure that we would head to town for essentials, a coffee & snack (babychino for the angels) & see when the tide was far out to walk on the sand. We got lucky & had the most amazing hour running through the seas puddles (wonder if they actually have a scientific type name) & searching under the Worthing pier where we found beaut shells & the babys excitedly squelled how they had found fish, crabs & a Christmas elf swimming. All gone far too quickly for me & daddy to see haha!! Jasper may aswell of run through in his socks as his wellies filled up when he ran through a deeper puddle haha. We again poured out an ocean from his boots after we got back to the promenade. The photos I took are stunning, it was such a sunny day with a cold, crisp air & so picturesque. I'll let the photos do the talking. They made my heart sing, capturing such adventures & precious moments with my loves. 143**

ps-loving my new phone photo app 'A beautiful mess <3'