Christmas Day part four

For some people Christmas Day is just the 25th. For us it seems to stretch out forever. After the full day of celebrating, we have had two further family get togethers. Today was the turn of our old neighbour. Presents and a sunday lunch at a nearby pub and a chance to natter filled the afternoon nicely and Lily pigged out on bangers and mash with peas. A pleasant sight after a sore tongue meant she was off her food for a bit. Just one more day of fun to come and we're all done.

Duplo

Still in her PJs, Lily was busy constructing things from her new Duplo set. Hopefully this will stop her playing with my LEGO now!

Boxing Day fun

Having kicked out the last of the family late last night, then crashed on the sofa to unwind, it was almost midnight before we hit the sack for bed. Boxing Day always used to be a day to go out in the car for a long drive then a walk, but we didn't have the energy for that and the weather was rubbish. Finding a dry window in the morning we went for a walk. The three of us all holding hands with Lily swinging between us. Destination, the park. She ran round, swung, jumped and then clambered aboard as my co-pilot for a flight of fantasy.

Christmas preparations

With a couple of days to go, Kim has been busy getting food and drink in the house. Today she was busy cooking up treats. Lily was on hand as chief stirrer for the Rocky Road.

Awaiting the fat man

We have managed to bribe Lily a bit. She is aware of Christmas (or Mismas, as she calls it) And following our day decorating the tree and lounge she has got more excited. Kim and her made a little sign to hang on her bedroom door so Santa knows where to go. Daddy put the hook in and Lily hung it up. A real family effort.

Christmas tree collecting

With a week and a bit to go till  Christmas its finally time to start getting the place festive. So we piled in the Camper to go to the garden centre and pick up a tree. With limited space we opted for a small one again. It fitted neatly on the roofrack of the van for an air-cooled trip home.

Busy bees

When I got in from work today, the two ladies in my life were busy on the sofa catching up on emails, facebook and washing cars on a game!

Dear Santa

Lily is beginning to understand Christmas, she's been to see Santa, opened a few days on her advent calendars and knows that something is happening. We're playing the "you better be good" card and it seems to be working. Today, with help from Kim she wrote to Santa and tucked it in her pouch thats hanging on the kitchen door. Hopefully the fat mans helpers will whisk it away and reply

I'm so dizzy

Its very nearly December, so I'm not too annoyed that Christmas is being plastered everywhere (it has been since mid August!) Wokingham held its annual Winter Carnival today, closing off the streets and allowing stalls to sell crafts and food as well as a funfair. For the first time, Lily was asking to go on the rides and for treats. I know its going to get worse in the future, but she asked so nicely! A ride on the whirling chairs was treated with slight suspicion and then she spied the teacups ride. All the way to Cafe Nero, along all the stalls, at the cash point and whilst buying a Peppa Pig balloon all she kept asking was "I wanna ride teacups Daddy" So for £2 each, Kim and Lily spun round for a few minutes and loved it.

Autumnal fun

For the last few weeks the leaves have been tumbling off the tree in the front garden. Theres little point in raking them up every few days so I've left it until the tree is completely bare and then done all the work in one hit. I had help from Lily, who was happy to gather them up one by one while I hauled dozens at a time in. Once the pile was complete she then made her own game of running and kicking through the middle of the pile.

Party food

Its a weekend of birthdays, today we went out for lunch to celebrate my father in laws 76th. Lily had loads to eat and a run round the garden and finished it all off with two huge scoops of icecream!

Hairdresser

Lily had her first haircut this week and for the first time she was happy for Kim to tie her hair up and put some slides in. Looking super cute she then helped Kim with her hair!

Chillaxing

While I was slaving away at work, someone was putting their feet up and taking it easy before bedtime!

Happy Halloween

Once more work has taken me away from home for a few days this week which means I miss Halloween. Lily has been getting excited about pumpkins and spiders and witches. Over the weekend we carved the first of the two pumpkins with a big spider, last night I finished off with a smiling faced one as well (though it looks a little like a cat now!) And we lit them together and had them outside for Lily to watch during tea.

Crafty afternoon

Its been a daddy and daughter weekend. Kim was out most of saturday, so Lily and I spent the day together playing and seeing my parents. Kim was out again this afternoon so we decided to stay in and do some crafts leading up to Halloween. Lacking any white paint we opted for some chalk rubbed into Lilys feet and then drew round and shaded a bit to make a couple of spooky ghosts. We also managed a black paint handprint spider as well!

Brunch date

We had a breakfast date but owing to slightly poor service it became brunch! Lily dress up all autumnally with a funky hat at a cheeky angle. Then wolfed down sausage, bacon, hashbrown, beans and an egg!

Are you being served?

We had a playdate today. With his better half away, our friend Malcolm teamed up with us to play tag softplay at Kids'n'Action. The girls ran all over the place sliding down slides, kicking balls and shopping for almost three hours.

These boots were made for walking

Lily has a fascination with the shoe rack in the lobby at home. Each day she'll grab several pairs of Kims shoes off the rack and totter around the lounge. Today she stomped in my work boots!

Those Magnificent Women In their Flying Machines

After missing out on Lily time most of yesterday because of motorsport, I wanted to make up for it today. We had an early morning walk to the shop and then into the playground. The little kiddies one has loads for Lily to get her teeth into and her trousers soaked (autumn dew) including this old plane. She was happy to pilot the machine before bailing out down the slide at the back!

I Spy with my little eye

At bedtime we read some stories to Lily, she tends to pick some books out and we settling in. Tonight she nabbed a book she got for her birthday off the desk in the study. I Spy - Classic Cars. Whilst flicking through we spied the 1960s Amphicar which, by studying the photo and seeing a car and water, Lily named "boatcar"!