Happy Christmas!

No matter how well you plan...things don't always go according to plan. 

Happy Christmas to you all :)

I will be back...

Mandy xx

Back soon!

Sorry I've been absent from my blog this week. When I get 5 minutes to myself I will update you on all our Christmassy goings on. We have been really busy having fun...photos have been taken ready to share with you.

Hopefully I can catch up over the weekend for a fresh start on Monday. Tree decorating today.

Time is going so fast and still lots to do!

Back soon,

Mandy x

Tomorrow's a roll over...

Hi everyone

Well yesterday's post didn't publish last night as I thought it had, so that didn't go up until this morning. Today's challenge was a bit of bad planning because being Sunday, everyone was about and we had some secret gift making to do! I decided to roll that activity over to tomorrow when the family are back at work and we can craft without hiding away! So tomorrow will see two lots of advent activities to catch up and instead I made today a family day.

We had breakfast together then Daisy had a long play in the bath (evening baths always feel so rushed as we keep to our routine to get everything done) then she helped me with the housework (she loves using her little Hoover).

Daisy loves helping me get the dinner ready and requested jelly for tea (so we made that too), then ate our roast and off for a Sunday afternoon walk with the dogs. 

Tea, strictly then it was Daisy's bedtime. 

Early to bed because we've got a lot to pack into tomorrow. 

Hope you've had a great Sunday,

Mandy x

Advent activities...day 6

Hi everyone

Today's advent activity was...

Make gingerbread.

I will give you the recipe if anyone requests it but I think I may have already put it on my blog before???

Gingerbread is so easy to make, but not so easy to bake!

You really have to keep an eye on it! I turned my back and this is what happened :(

The rest was fine, but I'm still getting used to baking in my oven.

Daisy loves baking and that's the objective...for her to enjoy Christmas activities. Daisy had fun! 

I then went on to make tiffin...

This is so good and you don't need much! A little extravagant with cadburys chocolate on top, but I rarely make it, so it was a little weekend treat. Obviously I made a dairy free version too. Recipe on request! 

Back tomorrow 

Mandy x

Advent activities...day 5

Hi everyone 

Today's advent activity was...

Make Christmas cards for your family.

We used a Christmas card kit that I bought from the Carboot sale for 50p (I think) and this kept Daisy entertained for well over an hour. 

We didn't use all the bits, so we have leftovers to use in other Christmas crafts. Daisy designed them all herself and chose who was getting which card before she started to make each one. She will do her writing in them tomorrow as we were giving the large amounts of glue stick chance to dry! 

This cost me very little and Daisy got so much out of it. She loved the independence she had and loved making choices unguided by me. They are all very different and I really think this captured Daisy's creative side. I will definitely provide her with more opportunities to do this type of activity again in the future...thank you cards after Christmas??

The planning that I put into these advent activities has really paid off. Having a focus and knowing what we are doing each day has benefitted us both (I know what I'm doing and Daisy is now looking forward to the next envelope opening.) Tomorrow's a good one (but Daisy doesn't know it yet!)

Thank you for your lovely comments,

Mandy xx

Advent activities...day 4

Hi everyone

Just a quick post to share today's advent activity...

Read a Christmas story 

These books cost me 10p each at Saturdays carboot sale. Charlotte and I sang the 12 days of Christmas to Daisy, but she was completely unimpressed with our opera style singing ;)

The robin story was lovely and then I went on to read several more Christmas books! 

Daisy looks forward to the next envelope now, so she must be enjoying our advent. 

Changing the subject... We had pork chops for tea and I made them into a roast dinner. I made cheesy leeks to go with them. This is so simple but so tasty, that I thought I'd share it with you...

1). Wash and chop a leek.

2). Put in a small oven dish and pour over   a small pot of single cream.

3). Add a couple of slices of cheese (broken up) and a shake of black pepper.

4). Bake in the oven with the rest of the roast.

When I'm dishing up I forget to take photos! So here's my cheesy leeks waiting to go into the oven.

Back tomorrow 

Mandy xx

Advent activity...day 3

Hi everyone

Today Daisy is wearing her first ever Christmas jumper (50p from the Carboot) and looking very festive. 

We have had loads of fun this morning with today's activity...

Make glittery Playdough 

The recipe is really quick and easy

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup salt

1tbsp cream of tartar

1tbsp veg oil

3/4 cup boiling water

Few drops glycerine

Few drops green food colouring

Several shakes and sprinkles of assorted coloured glitter

You basically mix these ingredients together (obviously I did the water bit and we had to leave it to stand for a while until we could handle the dough) and form a dough. If it's too sticky...add a little more flour, too dry...a tiny bit more water. A gentle knead and you're ready to play!

We used various Christmas cutters and lolly sticks. Daisy made stars.

Sorry I can't show any other photos I took because Daisy is in them.

Playdough is so easy to make...we won't be buying another pot of it now!! 

I wonder what tomorrow will bring? :)

Mandy xx

Ps...

Advent activity...day 2

Hi everyone 

Today Daisy's advent activity was to...

Bake a Christmas cake with grandma.

We slightly adapted a Mary Berry recipe to suit our family (I actually hate dried fruit so miss out a lot of Christmas foods) and baked five cakes in total. Daisy isn't scared of my mixer now so we didn't hand mix for the first time in two years! 

I soaked the fruit last night in tea (no alcohol so Daisy can eat it) and baked them today. 

 Sorry for the rubbish photo, but I was baking with a toddler and have to take photos quickly! I will add a picture of the cakes all baked tomorrow now as I'm writing this in bed! The cakes took nearly four hours to bake, then I put them in tins. I will wrap them properly tomorrow after photographing. 

I love baking with Daisy and have plans to do a whole lot more with her this month.

I'll be back tomorrow with day 3 of our advent activities...we are having so much fun already!

Thanks to those of you who responded to my question yesterday xx

Mandy xx

December blogging...

Hi everyone,

As promised, I will be blogging throughout December. I love Christmas and ever since I was a little girl I have enjoyed the whole build up from the 1st to the 24th. I hope I can achieve this for Daisy too. We began our advent today with dairy free chocolate, but also with something a little more exciting...

Daisy has 24 envelopes to open. Each one contains a card with at least one Christmas activity for us to enjoy that day.   Today's card was...

Write a letter to Father Christmas and post it. 

We did just that! The Royal Mail do a service where you get a letter back if you send it to a particular address. So now we have to wait and see! This will be a lovely little keepsake.

I will be sharing with you what we are doing each day of our advent. Tomorrow is a baking activity (but Daisy doesn't know that yet!)

I hope you will join me :)

A lot of my posts this month will be child related so out of curiosity, do any of my readers have younger children? A simple comment below would be very useful to me so I make sure I get the balance right. There will be baking and making etc but also children's crafts which may not be relevant to you. I really don't want to lose any followers because of the children's activities. I can throw in some everyday extras if none of you are interested! Let me know what would be useful to your Christmas countdown and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for reading,

Mandy x