December ~ come and gone!

So, Christmas came... and went! It seems I've barely had time to catch my breath this month and when I did I couldn't always face sitting at the PC in the evenings. So, yet another long post awaits! I'll stick mostly to pictures because they tell the story, but suffice to say we had a lovely family Christmas. It was crazy-busy and we felt like we had about 5000 people through our door over the holidays, but we were glad to have everyone and spend time with friends and family.

Happy Birthday Chip
December 21st ~ my baby boy turned five! It hardly seems like yesterday we were eagerly awaiting his arrival and praying he would come before Christmas. He kept us on tenter-hooks and came with just 4 days to spare!

New ~ just hours old

  

One & Two

   

Three & Four

  

Hello Big FIVE!

  

He is a bright and intelligent little man, who loves nothing better than a snuggle and a 'chat' - with whoever is willing to engage with him. He is at that lovely 'sponge' stage where everything is exciting and interesting. He's quite the little thinker and my friend likes to call him 'little philosopher.' He has an answer for every problem - even if he has to take reality into the realms of fantasy to find it :D. He is my only child to have an imaginary friend. 'Steve' has been around a long time now and still features strongly in games and conversations. He is friendly and kind and, although he has a tendency toward shyness in groups, he is increasingly confident around all ages of people and will strangers into conversation if he can grab their attention! Slowly he is engaging more and more with children outside of his family, although it's taken a while to get to this point, and even has a little 'girlfriend' at church! He is a well behaved and happy child, with a strong sense of his own person. He may be the 'baby' of the family, and likes to play on that at times, but there's no pushing him around or manipulating him. God has blessed him with an iron will & determination ;D. On the whole this is a great asset, but it does present its challenges at times!  

And so, full speed ahead into Christmas;

Christmas Eve we prep'ed the house and made our gingerbread village

Christmas Day begins (always) with everyone piling into our room to share what they got in their stockings. 

The rest of our gifts are exchanged after church and dinner.


  



  

  

Boxing Day brings all of Paul's family calling ~ such mayhem and madness ~ and great fun!!

New Year we celebrate at church, with a service to celebrate the year past and to cover the coming year in prayer ~ then we eat together and party until the early hours! New Year's afternoon some family friends join us for games and food. This year we taught them Saboteur and Survive (our new games). Previous years they have taught us games ~ like Jungle Speed (which we also got this year) :D.

After New Year I spent a day reorganising the boys bedrooms (x2). Partly because I needed to loose the baby toys they have all outgrown to find room for new stuff, and partly because Chip had all but outgrown his toddler bed. Joel wanted a floor bed (instead of a loft bed) and so swaps needed to happen. 

After that I pretty much crashed and burned and it's taken me best part of 10 days to get back on my feet and up to speed. We took an extra week off Home Ed while we all recovered properly and now we are back at it...

Another Birthday... (part 2 of 2)

The family Bit...

So apart from all the 'getting ready' for Christmas, November also hold Lilo's birthday - on the 27th. It's hard to believe she is already 12 (and this time next year I will have five teens in the house!). 



Lilo is my baby with maybe the most 'firsts' ...

• She was my first baby born in Cheshire ~ my first 'Dabber'.
• She was my first (but not last) 'big' baby ~ weighing in at 9lb 10oz, and not arriving until week 43 (although she did not look at all overdue, came with plenty of water around her still and didn't tear me). Thankfully she was the last baby to be that late. The three since have been just a little earlier.
• She was my first, and only, child to have white-blonde hair, that was almost invisible until she was over two. It has remained as beautiful golden locks ~ yes, she is my Goldilocks :D
• She was my first baby to be admitted to hospital, on the whim of a meddling HV who thought she wasn't thriving. We had to stay in for most of a week (which wasn't easy, with Paul being a full-time student at the time and four other small children at home), with me being pressurised to give food supplements and/or bottles because she wasn't gaining adequate weight - for their liking - on breastmilk alone. I didn't cave! She was, lively, strong and happy, feeding really well and really regularly and I knew they were wrong. Finally her consultant Paed' came round, took one look at her (and me) and sent us home ~ and gave his team a ticking off!! 'Catch Down' was his diagnosis - she was born to big for herself and was finding her happy place - which was what I had been saying all along. At this point she was the same weight as all my other babies had been at the same age (which had, of course, showed as a plateau on her growth chart). We popped back to see the Paed' in OP once I think, by which time she was happily pootling along on her corrected growth line :D So much fuss over nothing!
• She was my first baby to reject the breast too early for my liking - at 6 months - and then she totally refused to drink any milk from that day on, from me or otherwise (I did try all sorts). Thankfully she ate lots of yoghurt and cheese and stayed healthy, but she has remained my most picky eater and she still really doesn't enjoy food all that much. We're set to do some work on that issue very soon...
• She is my first girl with a shed load of Sas!

So, here she is ~ 12!! 

  

Lilo is also my child of many contrasts...

• She is the one who needs to plan ahead - but then forgets what the plan was ;-)
• She is able to be, in one single moment, both silly and sullen.
• She is fierce and fiesty, but she is my one who giggles - a lot! 
• She is tough - really tough - you know that kind of inner strength that holds it all together even when life hurls its crud at you - she has that!
• Yet, she is soft and gentle, sensitive and kind to others.
• She struggles with her dyslexia, yet she loves to create stories and talks of being a writer some day.
• She has a determination in her eyes that pierces me at times. If she wants something from her life, I have a feeling she will find a way to make it happen.

She reminds me of myself in many ways, and yet not. 

Happy Birthday beautiful girl! ~ we all love you to bits xxxx

~ ~ ~ ~ 

In other news, we are winding up for Christmas with a crafts week next week, but we have been busy already, making our new Advent Calendar. 

       

The calendar is filled with sweeties of various descriptions (mostly from our old fashioned sweet shop in Nantwich) and a small object to help us remember the part of the story we have read that day. On the shelf above are 25 readings to cover the Christmas story. We are reading one each day. 

  

I have also printed out some activity sheets for Chip (and Stitch if he wants), which he can do some of next week. The children are loving having a change this year and I love that they have all been involved in the creation of something so beautiful :D

Abbie is blogging Advent over on her blog. She's doing an ABC of Advent. It's great so far - why not go have a read? :D ... http://babsiboosblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Oh, and two boys had a haircut (it's mine and Chip's turn on Monday coming);

  

December Wrap Up!

I've not blogged it what seems like forever, but actually is just a month or so. Life travels fast! 

Of course December holds within it Christmas, but also Chips birthday. It's hard to believe my littlest man is already 4!

The last weekend of November Abbie (Minnie) tripped over the hover tube coming down the stairs, fell awkwardly and ended up in a cast for 6 weeks with a broken foot! 

This meant she had time off ballet and the following weekend Caleb had a day off from gym, so we took the opportunity to take the chids to choose a tree from Bridgemere - and enjoy looking at all the beautiful and expensive Christmas decorations! One of the plusses of buy our tree there that day was a FREE, no-strings, cup of hot-chocolate for each of us :D. It was good fun & possibly something to make a tradition of.

That evening was then filled with carols, we lit a fire and had fun decorating the tree(s) and the house together :D

After that I pretty much had to chain myself to the PC for a while to get all the presents bought, not only for ourselves, but also for my mother and grandmother! It was a mammoth endeavour, but thankfully I think I did OK and ultimately everyone seemed thrilled with their gifts. 

The children, meanwhile amused themselves with baking, crafting and gaming for most of December (with a bit of 'normal' school thrown in here and there)...

One highlight of December was a day trip to Home-Ed' Christmas Camp. This happens every year, but it's not often possible for us to stay (due to our number), so we pop in for a day to say Hi! to everyone and have a catch-up. I actually didn't take any pictures this time (gasp), but I think the chids took some on their phones. 

The following day Miss P came to stay for a few days, which was great fun and she definitely added a dynamic to the chid-mix!

Then there were parties 

gym open days

and parcel deliveries;

You know all the usual December things ;-)

On the 21st Chip had his long-awaited 4th Birthday. He was so excited about it this year, having been counting the days, in his own way, since Joel had his birthday back in October.

I have to say, this little man has to be the most grateful child I have ~ he literally jumped for joy over every present he received, from the smallest to the biggest. He was thrilled with every single one.

Bless him, it was a crazy busy day, involving the Christmas Carol service at church, which meant he only had a 'taster' of his birthday in the morning and the rest of his presents when we got home. It was good though, and so was he, meaning the enjoyment was extended throughout the day :D.

 

LOVE this little man!

The next few day were pretty much Christmas prep (I was organised and had the presents wrapped early this year), just a little cleaning to make the house presentable for guests, and then some time to make a gingerbread house with the children ~ which we were all very pleased with and has now been suitably devoured ~ it was scrumptious!

And finally Christmas came...

As usual the day began with stockings in bedrooms, only this year we all gathered in the girls room, whilst Daddy slept in a bit longer!

Then church & home for the feast, 

...and finally 'the big unwrap' begins!

This years requests definitely had a bit of 'warm' theme...

You see that look on Lilo's face ~ that was the moment she realised she now had the complete 'Hetty Feather' set. All I can say is "Thank-you Jacqueline Wilson!" My dyslexic, reluctant reader is now devouring book after book! Since Christmas she has already read through two of these tomes!

Christmas day is exciting enough, but the highlight of Christmas here, is Boxing Day, because THAT is when the cousins come! It's mayhem and madness and we totally love it ~ all of those that can make it under one roof ~ OURS! This year we were missing Uncle David & cousin Ben, but there were still 21 of us together :D

There were more parcels and presents, of course

I think my favourite this year just has to be this one, made by my sister in law ~ love it! 

Much general silliness and silly-games

and of course, much more food!

On the Sunday afternoon, between Christmas and New Year, we maintained another little 'new tradition' of having some good friends over for a games afternoon. These family-friends are great fun and it's always a hoot when they come :D

The wrapped up year was rounded off in style too ~ a New Year's party & sleep-over at our church, with about 100 of our friends. It was a night of celebration for all the great things we have seen God do amongst us this year ~ some miraculous things ~ a time to enjoy a meal together and see in the 2015 with dancing and music, hopeful for all it has to bring us!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too, and may I take this chance to pray every blessing over you and your loved ones in 2015