Christmas Party.

Yesterday Oscar and I went to our Home Ed groups Christmas party.

We aren't able to use our usual room at the Adventure Playground during school holidays but one of the families from the group was brave enough to open their home to us and another of the mum's organised party games. We all took a secret Santa gift and a plate of food and a brilliant time was had by all.

The children played musical statues with silly faces,

balloon games,

musical chairs,

the chocolate game,

and they wrapped each other up in toilet paper to make snowmen!

There was also lots of singing dancing and giggling. At the end of the party the children were given their secret Santa gifts, Oscar was very pleased with his chattering teeth and whoopee cushion and I highly recommend checking your seat before sitting down if Oscar is anywhere nearby!

Oscar declared todays party 'The best Christmas party ever'. 

A big thank you to Louise and Charmaine for making it such a special day.

 When we arrived home I found that my long awaited Amazon parcel had finally arrived, in it was this book that was recommended to me by my friend Sarah.

We read the book last night and again tonight, Oscar thinks it's brilliant as it is full of all the details about how Father Christmas gets everything ready for the big night, including facts about the North Pole, reindeer, Christmas trees and other fun Christmas stuff along with all the magic of the sleigh with it's enchanted cargo hold that never gets full, Santa's magic Snowsuit that gets fluffier or thinner according to the weather and the secret of how Santa gets all those toys delivered in just one night (he has the help of a bubble timer).

Thanks for the tip Sarah, it's a brilliant buy.

A really big catch up.

Well it's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged, this is partly because I've been a bit lazy and partly because we haven't been up to a great deal and then also because we had a brief stay in hospital due to Oscar having concussion. Anyway, here is a little of what we have been up to over the last couple of weeks.

We made gingerbread angels and decorated them with Christmas sprinkles.

 At the home Ed Group it was book week and the children had all read Treasure Island so they had a talk about the book then joined in various activities including making pirate biscuits.

For some reason Oscar, Jack and Sam decided that sticking biscuit dough to their noses would be fun.

Then it was time for a play outside even though it was freezing cold.

 Roger and I were very proud when we went to watch Oscar perform in the St. Johns Ambulance Christmas show. Oscar was playing young Mozart and he did brilliantly!

We had a trip to the Theatre to see Treasure Island with our home ed group, Oscar thoroughly enjoyed himself sitting with his friends and giggling.

More cooking, this time it was mince swirls.

Then there was a bowling party, Oscar had a great time but then discovered that bowling balls and heads aren't a great mix and he ended up spending the night in hospital with concussion.

Once we were home from hospital Oscar was on strict instructions to take it easy so we spent most of last week watching Christmas TV and films and making paper chains. 

Lots and lots of paper chains.

Oscar did decide he was up to a visit to see Father Christmas though so that's where we went on Friday.

Oscar was lucky enough to receive this lovely book as an early gift from Santa and we have read it over and over again all weekend.

Fortunately Oscar seems to be ok now but being so close to Christmas I will be running round like a headless chicken this week while Oscar gets to do pretty much whatever he wants. Today that included spending the afternoon at his friend's house followed by his taekwondo class. 

Tomorrow we will be off home the home ed group Christmas party.

Snowmen and Christmas Trees.

We woke up yesterday to discover lots of snow, Oscar was very excited and straight after breakfast we were out in the garden. We built a snowman and threw snowballs and just generally had lots of fun.

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In the afternoon we played a few games and drank hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Today there was still lots of snow and ice on the ground so we had another day indoors. 

After breakfast Oscar wrote a letter to Father Christmas.

Then we spent the rest of the day putting up Christmas decorations.

Oscar is more excited about Christmas this year than he has ever been before. At the moment I'm really enjoying his enthusiasm but I think it could be wearing a little thin in 21 days time.

The other big event for Oscar this week has been the arrival of his new bed.

He loves having a den to hide in and read his books.

 

Snow Day

When we got up this morning it had snowed again, that along with lots of people having coughs and colds we decided to cancel the Latin group this week so Oscar and I finished his Christmas project.

Oscar learnt about the history of Christmas lights and decorations.

 Why we have Poinsettia plants at Christmas.

Why some people and places have nativity scenes and the history of the candy cane.

 And then he learnt about Father Christmas around the world.

After lunch we had a look at one of Oscar Disney encyclopedias, my dad has been collecting these for Oscar with vouchers from our local newspaper, they are lovely books packed with information and Oscar loves being told about interesting things by some of his favourite characters.

Then Oscar did some colouring.

Finally Oscar went to St. Johns this evening for the dress rehearsal of the Christmas show.

Home Ed Group - Advent Candles, Felting Beads Snow and Dancing.

Yesterday we went to our home ed group, the children started the session by making an advent candle each by rolling a beeswax sheet around a wick and then making marks down the side for each day of advent.

Then the children learnt how to wet felt.

 Turning this into beads to hang on the Christmas tree.

Although Oscar thought this one would make a good Rudolph nose

After lunch the children went out to play and Oscar made a new friend called Lucy.

Then it snowed and we had a group of very excited children.

We managed to tempt them all in from the snow for their weekly dance session.

As you can see from the video Oscar loves dancing and I'm really quite pleased about that, particularly as Charmaine who does the dancing with the children is the daughter of the dancing teacher I had from when I was Oscars age until I was about 16 or 17. I even recognise some of the routines.

A fabulous day.

Today Oscar and I went to The Victorian Festival of Christmas at the Dockyard. The Dockyard had been turned into a Victorian winter wonderland with people dressed in period costumes and absolutely loads to do and see. 

Here are some photos of our fabulous day.

As we walked in the gate we were greeted by this couple singing Christmas Carols.

Oscar got to meet a traditional Victorian Father Christmas.

We saw a local youth theatre group perform a scene from Peter Pan.

Oscar thought the Queen of hearts playing croquet was hilarious as was the white rabbit.

And he loved Doctor Dean's Flea circus with Hercufleas, Fleavel Knievel and Miss Flea Flea.

He was very pleased to discover a chicken amongst all the horses on the merry go round.

The Victorian style magician was brilliant.

Oscar really likes Mary Poppins so this performance of songs from the musical was very popular.

Oscar spent ages trying to count all the instruments being played by this one man band.

We both enjoyed this performance of Scrooge.

Oscar didn't really rate Victorian bicycles as a mode of transport.

Oscar was surprisingly happy to sit and watch the Pearly King and Queen.

In the afternoon we stopped for a hot chocolate and snowman biscuit and when we went back outside it was dark and everything looked even more magical.

You can't beat a Salvation Army brass band playing carols to get you in the festive spirit.

Oscar thought this was a statue so got a real surprise when he jumped forward at us. 

After that I had no chance of getting a photo of him with Oscar in it too as Oscar seemed to think it wise to keep at least a metre between him and the statue/man at all times.

Fagin can't be so bad as he gave Oscar a lolly pop.

The petting farm was lovely, as well as this sheep there was a Shetland pony some ducks, chickens, rabbits and a goat.

The Warrior looked stunning lit up, this photo really doesn't do it justice.

When we had our lunch we shared a table with some friendly old ladies visiting on a coach trip.

They all thought Oscar was lovely and really well behaved and when we left they each gave him a pound. Oscar used the money to buy this lovely super soft super floppy bunny that he has named Frank and I could resist the cute raccoon hat.

We both had a really lovely day and Oscar has already asked if we can go again next year.