Tuesday 20 December 2011

All Day In, All Day Out

I can't believe that two "school days" of the holidays have already gone! Our two days couldn't have been more different - yesterday we didn't leave the house once, today we were out of the house for more than 11 hours straight!

Let's start with yesterday. Whilst I normally like getting lots of fresh air, it was actually really nice to have a day doing absolutely nothing. The children definitely needed the rest too. Despite staying in, we still had lots of fun.

Izzy enjoyed a "tea party" with her toy horse...did you know that horses love lebkuchen as much as humans do??


The children also did colouring...


and then we conked in front of the TV to watch CBeebies Strictly Cinderella - panto time!


Izzy thought it would be too babyish for her, but I saw her smile!! ;)


Once Liam got home from work, it was sing song time!


And when the children went to bed, Liam we finally got round to wrapping the presents!


There are now some more presents waiting to be wrapped though...as today we went Christmas shopping!!

Liam was only working a half day today - he now has a week off for Christmas, whoop! So I took the children shopping in the morning, and then Liam met us for lunch and more shopping.

The children and I went to Starbucks first though - needed some breakfast to fuel being on our feet for so long!! ;) I had a chai tea latte and some toasted fruit bread - love this!


Izzy chose a mini hot chocolate and a ham cheese croissant, bless her - she looks happy!


We spent most of the morning shopping for presents for Liam. I just hope Izzy does a better job of keeping them secret than she did last year - she's already started trying to give him hints, but luckily he stops her from telling him! (he is better at wanting gifts to be kept secret than I am!!)

We stopped mid-morning for a coffee break - toffee nut latte for me, smoothies for the children...


and once Liam finished work we went to Pizza Express for lunch - pizza with spinach, caramelised onions and goats cheese for me :) Sorry for the awful photo - iPhone + bad light + trying to help cut up Izzy's pizza does not a good photo make!!


After lunch we switched - Liam took the children shopping for a couple of little presents for them to give me (I was getting my main present later, exciting!) and I finished off the shopping we hadn't managed to get done earlier. Plus a few extras. Shopping with children is expensive! I thought we'd bought all the presents for Izzy and Toby, but while we were looking for other things, Izzy "fell in love" with a bright pink, sleeping beauty fancy dress outfit, and soft touch that I am, I bought it for her! Luckily it was 25% off in M&S!!

The children were so well behaved though - Toby stayed in his pushchair for most of the morning, with just a little walking break...


and then slept in his pushchair for most of the time that Liam had them! Izzy was fantastic too - hardly any whinging, and she was helpful in passing me things, keeping Toby entertained etc - very good considering we were out of the house 7.30am-6.30pm!

Our shopping trip was even longer than usual as Liam insisted we stopped off at PC World on the way home to buy my main present. I hate that place - we always seem to be there soooo long - but as the trip had a very positive outcome, I can't complain! I'm getting a new laptop for Christmas!! :-D Eeek, so excited! My current laptop has been on its last legs for quite a while (yesterday it took more than 20 minutes to transfer photos from my camera to laptop, when it used to only take a minute or so!) so I can't wait to be able to use my (hopefully!) quick new laptop after Christmas! I've recommended to Liam that he wrap it up tonight to stop me being tempted to open it early!! ;)

While we were at PC World, we quickly popped to Tesco to buy the children sandwiches to eat on the way home for dinner - it was getting so late! We haven't eaten yet, but I think baked nachos and breaded Camembert is on the menu...I need to think of something green to go with that too!!

How are you all enjoying the Christmas holidays if you have them? Have they been quiet or busy so far? Do you receive a "main" present from your parents/partner/whoever, or do you prefer getting lots of little things? I don't normally get such a big present - this laptop has cost way more than we usually spend, but I figure I would've needed a new laptop soon so having it as my Christmas present kind of saves money right?!! ;) Liam didn't really know what he wanted for Christmas, so Izzy and I had fun today buying lots of small-medium sized things...it's just a shame I now have to wrap them all!! I hate wrapping, so Liam normally does it all - you can always tell which presents are for him as they are the ones that are badly wrapped!

6 comments:

  1. I always LOVE reading your blog!
    Your kids are adooorable and you and Liam just seem like such great parents- I can just tell you are creating a lovely life for them and they're incredibly lucky.
    I think this every time I read your blog:)

    P.S for some reason it will only let me comment anonymously , but I'm an avid reader named Sarah
    Xxx

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  2. WHat a busy day! That pizza from Pizza Express is my fave and I always have it when we go there!
    With presents, we have never spent that much on each other, and for the last 5 years we have had a holiday (well tried to) as our present- one year we went to Paris for a few days, one year to Copenhagen for the weekend. Saying that last year I got Andy a kindle - he hinted a lot and this was because he had bought us the Discovery Cove tickets as a surprise and he knew I would feel bad if I just got him socks and a DVD! This year we had tickets to a broadway show which was our presents to each other. Although I should be careful because after finding out we could not go away he admitted that for my Christmas present he had booked us into a Disney hotel as a treat for our last night away. But we would both have benefited from it! Normally I love lots of little things though- treats that I would not get myself etc :)

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  3. I didn't know about horses liking lebkuchen; I'll have to give Inka one to try...!
    What a mission of a day that was but bless the children for being so good - and exciting about the laptop; I love your take that it's saving money :-)
    In reply to your comment on my post, I wasn't overwhelmed by the honey goats' cheese; I thought it would be amazing too but I didn't think the tanginess of the cheese went too well with the honey... I'm going to give it another go though and will add another review if I do... the rest is amazing though, especially the creamy one :-)

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  4. Sarah - thanks for your comment, that's so nice of you to say :-D

    Maria - a holiday as a present sounds great. My sister-in-law is off to Paris with her boyfriend over New Year this year, we're very envious!! You have had such bad luck with your holidays recently though :(

    Eleanor - yes, the children were fab, my feet were killing me after all the walking but Izzy had no such complaints! That's such a shame about the honey goats cheese, I love cooking figs with goats cheese and a drizzle of honey but it sounds like doing it yourself is better than buying it ready mixed!

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