It’s been a few months since I wrote a round up post about what we have been up to. I’ve really missed writing them as even if nobody else ever reads them they are lovely for us as a family to look back on. The last few months, including November seem to have flown by, life is busy and there hasn’t been much time to have adventures.
I’m hoping that by committing to writing these monthly round up posts it will force us to make the effort to get out and explore. Personally I’m hoping it will inspire me to pick up my camera again, I love taking photo’s but just haven’t had the motivation lately.
Adventures
November started off with a cinema trip for me and Chris, this is a very rare occurrence we haven’t been together for years. We usually take it in turns to go to the cinema so it was lovely to be able to go together. The tickets were free thanks to a competition win so it turned out to be a very frugal date indeed. We watched Bohemian Rhapsody, oh my what a film we both cried, laughed and came away with a renewed love of Queen’s music. If this film doesn’t win some Oscars then I will eat my hat !
It’s been a busy month at school with lots of events happening. Jake has been going to a Christmas crafts club after school and Daisy has been going to singing club. I was invited to have lunch with them both at school which was nice.
Jake’s class have been learning all about different celebrations this term, I went on a walk to the local church with them where Jake got pretend married which was really sweet. There was also a history exhibition in school where each class could showcase what they had been learning. There were lots of displays and hands on activities including some Victorian toys and power point presentations.
Reviews
The kids have had lots of fun this month reviewing some cool toys and games. We started the month testing out the Smart Globe Myth, the kids loved learning all about constellations and different countries.
We also reviewed two games from Drumond Park, both were big hits with us. Foxy Pants and Wally The Washer were great games for us all to sit down and play after school.
Daisy held a special day tea party in honour of Baby Annabell turning 20 years young.
There was also time for some science experiments this month too. The Beaker Creatures Liquid Reactor Set caused lots of excitement.
Christmas Plans
My weekends have been taken up with planning and shopping for Christmas. I took a whole week off working on the blog to concentrate on deep cleaning every room and in the house and clearing some clutter that’s accumulated lately. I’m almost entirely finished my Christmas shopping, I’ve taken full advantage of the big discounts that the stores offer this time of year and saved myself lots of money.
We have a real Christmas tree this year from The Christmas Forest, they kindly sent us one to review. It’s lovely having a real tree in the house, it looks beautiful and smells amazing.
I wrote a Christmas Gift Guide for kids and a grown-up’s version too this month.
Chris spent one evening making good old-fashioned paper chains with the kids which they absolutely loved. Sometimes its the simple activities that are the best.
Celebrations
In November I celebrated my 41st birthday and my eldest daughter turned 21, I think I’m still coming to terms with that one. We celebrated with a takeaway, presents and lots of cake and I completely forgot to take any photo’s. I got a ton of new books, some pyjamas, a cool Disney villains mug and a gorgeous Disney Couture Little Mermaid Charm Bracelet from the family.
Jake went to his friend’s birthday party at a soft play centre. He’s has so many party invitations since he started school which is just lovely.
Reading
As a family we have been reading one chapter a night of The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher. We are all enjoying it so much and it should take us right up until Christmas eve to finish it.
Daisy is still working her way through her Rainbow Magic Fairies series, she likes to read in bed before she drops off to sleep.
I haven’t read as many books this month as I had hoped, I read Moonrise by Sarah Crossan, One Little Lie by Sam Carrington and I’m currently 100 pages in to Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend.
Watching
Chris and I have binge watched The Good Place, lots of people recommended it to us and they weren’t wrong, it’s brilliant. I’m re-watching Salem on Netflix too, if you like witches and don’t mind a bit of gore you should check it out.
We also watched The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix as a family, it was a wonderful film for the kids and us grown-ups too.
Listening
We have been playing lots of Queen tracks since watching Bohemian Rhapsody, the kids are enjoying rocking out to Fat Bottomed Girls.
I treated myself to a Disney Sing Your Heart Out CD, it has lots of the newer Disney songs on it like How Far I’ll Go from Moana and Remember Me from Coco. We’ve been listening it to it in the mornings getting ready for school and it never fails to put us in a great mood.
If you enjoyed this post you might like August At The Websters.
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