Category Archives: England

Parent-Teacher Conference

Ryan looking over Maddox’s school work for the term.

Maddox and Ronan playing with dominos while we were in the conference.

It has been a rainy last few days…brrr.

After work today I took the train home to meet my partner at the boys’ school. We were having a teacher-parent conference with my youngest son’s teacher after school. It was really great getting to go through all of the work that he has done in the term thus far, and see what goals we together can help him achieve through the next term. The boys had fun playing next door in aftercare where they put together a few puzzles and played games. Ryan went off to University for a lecture and the boys and I got a much appreciated drive home since it was pouring rain and already dark outside. I will need to get used to the rain here since it is not a warm rain like in Hawaii. Better preparation for the elements is a must.

Holiday Make up

Leave a reply

I love sparkle. It is that special word that makes diamonds so appealing to my eyes. However diamonds are expensive and I do not own one yet. I do however have glitter, and that is this girl’s next best thing. Today for work I used Urban Decay’s glitter eyeliner wand in silver above my black maybelline liquid liner and finished my Chanel mascara. I got a lot of compliments at work from clients about my holiday make up. I am going to see what other holiday looks I can do for the next month.

Gingerbread Houses & More

Leave a reply

Tonight’s Christmas craft was this Gingerbread house. Ronan and Maddox had fun but wished it was edible so it could be eaten later. Maybe we will have time next month to make a real gingerbread house to fulfill their wish. I am not sure how easy it will be to find a gingerbread house kit here in England. So far I have not seen one and that would mean we would have to make one from scratch. Could be a fun adventure with gingerbread and sweets! If all else fails and it crumbles, we can eat the evidence.

Ronan and Maddox with our finished Gingerbread house.

Gingerbread house has a very glittery roof.

Decorated with lots of candy and sweets!

Today Maddox brought home a Christmas wreath that he made yesterday with his class. The parents of his reception class were invited to stay in the morning to help them with the Christmas craft activities they were doing with the kids in Nursery. Maddox got to hand paint on a Christmas tree, make a decoration for the tree, decorate part of a snowman, fill in the colour on Santa’s sleigh, and make a Christmas wreath. There was lots of paper, paint, glue, and glitter involved and much fun was had by all. I really enjoyed getting to spend the special time with Maddox in his class.

Green handprints to decorate the tree at Maddox’s school

Maddox decorated his ornament for the tree.

Maddox with his decorated ornament…with a quite a lot of glitter!

A sleigh ride decorated with paper and material in different colours.

Decorating a snowman with scrunched up paper.

Last craft was to make and decorate his own Christmas Wreath which he got to bring home today.

Ready to Deck the Halls with Christmas Cheer!

Caterpillar…to eat or not to eat?

Leave a reply

When Ryan was cooking dinner last night he found a stowaway on our basil plant who almost made it into our dinner. The boys have been feeding it from inside a jar, since I’m certain. It would freeze anyways if we had put it outside. So he is our current pet. No name yet. It’s not easy being green.

Nativity Scene

Leave a reply

We received yet another package from Mimi and Papa in Illinois which contained even more craft supplies for Christmas. The boys are still wanting to do something every night from what we have so far, but my partner and I have been trying our best to pace the boys. Tonight we were going through the supplies for the Nativity costumes and so it felt fitting to make our nativity scene. We did not have any directions to follow, so the boys used the finished photo of the craft to figure out how to put it together. They enjoyed putting together the three Kings which had the most assembling required. Ronan finally took down the left over Halloween decorations from the shelf and we put them aside to make room for the Christmas crafts. Below is a photo of the finished scene, but we will be hiding the Baby Jesus until it is time for him to arrive as to keep with the Nativity story. With the craft spirits still going strong, Ronan went on to colour photos and made a very nice Batman one. Perhaps he could visit the Nativity scene to see Baby Jesus too?

Our Christmas shelf with the Nativity scene that the boys put together.

The boys ready for the challenge of putting together a Christmas craft.

What is more Christmas-y than Batman? Ronan’s drawing this evening.

‘B’ is for Baking

Leave a reply

Easily one of the favourite past times of the holiday season is indeed baking. The kids have been doing it at school and we have been doing it here at home with cookies, scones, and cupcakes. Maddox came home yesterday with his gingerbread cookies with raisins to share with the family. Ryan has been making scones now at home for tea. I look forward to getting a start on our holiday baking once December is here…just a few days away now!

My partner is the King of our kitchen. Where I can throw ingredients together and it ends up in ordering a take-a-way, he can put together all these ingredients and make something mouth watering delicisous. These handmade whole wheat scones (pronounced SK-AH-NS) with currants were topped with strawberry jam and english clotted cream. Yummy.

Sainsburys Scavenger Hunt

Leave a reply

Friday is here and upon finishing my last client for the day at the Salon, I ran to the rail station to catch the next train home. I got out a little late and so I made the train it by literally seconds. Getting off the train I walked straight over to my kids’ school to pick them up. I got there just in time to see Ronan returning from the pool for swimming day. He had a fun day at the new pool and was excited to tell me all about his adventure. With a bag full of supplies for the kids’ nativity costumes, their school bags, and the PE kit we started our walk home. Unfortunately as we reached our front door I realized that my keys were hanging safely on my jacket hook in our entry way and not in my bag. With the sun setting earlier and the weather getting colder, going to the park or waiting in the stairwell would both be out of the question. I texted my partner who was still meeting with his class at Uni in Brighton. With two different trains to get back home, it could be an hour before we could inside our home. So what to do? I took my kids to the Sainsburys grocery store down the street and browse. We did okay but the store was quite cold. Solution? A scavenger hunt brought to you by a friend of mine over text messages. The boys found something and they got rewarded with a photo of something Batman related. Moods got uplifted and soon it was time to head back home.