For the past 6 years, we have decorated gingerbread houses with the same family. Their boys are the same age as Samantha and Isaac. This lovely family were the first friends we met in Hamilton when we moved. We may not see each other that much during the year, but they are a family that […]
Today we were meant to decorate gingerbread houses with some friends, however, I have been unwell so it was postponed until the next day. Sometimes unexpected things happen in life and it is good for kids to see that there needs to be some flexibility to the routines. Check out our post for December 21 to […]
This year, to reduce the focus on presents, we’ve decided to do “Secret Santa”. This means that each person gets to buy/make a present for just one person each year. Buying presents for everyone can be expensive but you also often end up with things that you don’t really need or would use. Today, the kids […]
This tradition started many years ago when Jo was away for work at a conference. Samantha was 4, Isaac was nearly 3, and I was pregnant with Xavier. I was feeling exhausted, so put mattresses in the lounge and let the kids watch movies while I got some much-needed sleep. This was such a hit […]
School is out so we made sure that we got up early enough to get to the mall and get a photo before the line got too long. It was a fun experience as the kids got to colour in pictures while we waited for just the two families in front of us. This year Isaac kindly […]
Today we attended a BBQ lunch with seven other families – 25 kids running around! It was beautiful chaos with kids swimming, playing tug of war, touch rugby, cricket, treasure hunts, secret Santa and lots of yummy Christmas food. It was a wonderful afternoon spent with friends celebrating the end of the year. Believe it […]
A busy day calls for a quiet night reading a Christmas Book just before bed. Tonight we opened our new Christmas book – The Polar Express. I chose this book to remind the kids about the awesome experience we had in Canada last year going on the “Polar Express” train ride. Reading through the book with the […]
In our House, December the 14th is a Christmas free day as it’s Isaac’s birthday. This year, we began the day with poffertjes (tiny Dutch pancakes) for breakfast. It was the last day of School so Isaac went to school with a box of cupcakes to share with his classmates at lunchtime. Isaac was super excited to get […]
This is one of our family’s favourite Christmas traditions. Every year our kids get to each pick a new Christmas decoration for the tree. We store the decorations in their own individual boxes so that when the kids leave home, they have a set of decorations for their own Christmas trees. We write their name […]
Today we made snowflakes. The kids loved this fun and easy craft. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon with the kids as they chatted away and cut out paper snowflakes.