Frosty the Snowman....

Oh my goodness, what a slack blogger I've been of late....the last few weeks have gone by in a bit of a blur to be honest. So much going on and so much to enjoy, I'm not quite sure where to begin!

Since I last posted we have been busy...

...Visiting Santa at Longleat, which is something we've done for the last 5 years. The train takes you into the middle of Longleat's wood, where you are greated by a roaring fire, trees sparkling with different colour fairy lights and a woodland chalet where the shrimps escaped the cold for a few minutes to visit Santa.

Before we left for Longleat, they wrote their letters to Santa...

....ready to be posted on the board outside the chalet for Santa to read later on...

On the 24th when we returned from the Crib service at church, Daddy's old boots were left out in the porch for St Nicholas to fill with sweets (my daughters aren't stupid, they soon worked out they could get more in Daddy's boots than their own shoes!!.....they were so excited when they actually heard the reindeer sleigh bells and a 'Ho, Ho, Ho' outside the door.

With their Daddy being half German, it's a tradition that we follow each and every year and something that truly makes Christmas Eve for us all. The girls also opened presents off their little friends and always look forward to opening their presents from Uncle Thomas over in Germany before phoning him to wish him a very Frohe Weinachten (Happy Christmas).

Of course there were more presents to open on Christmas Day....

A particular favourite of little shrimps being some Minnie Mouse shoes that have hardly left her feet since.

And a fun sparkly Christmas cake to enjoy, courtesy of my mother....

In our household Boxing Day is always celebrated in the same way as Christmas Day, we even give out Boxing Day presents... More guests arrived and were treated to a Christmas show by the shrimps! By the way if you hadn't guessed, little shrimp is Mary!

On the 27th, we packed up our car full of new toys and lots of warm clothes and headed to Devon for a week full of relaxation.............pure bliss.......no sales to trawl around, no retail parks to visit...no supermarkets to endure, just a week of family fun. Lots of games were played, family films watched, left over chocolates and treats eaten and long walks on the beaches and along the quay to blow away the cobwebs. We even managed to meet up with big shrimp's best friend from school at the Winking Prawn in Salcombe on New Years Eve. She was visiting her grandparents that live a few minutes walk away. The girls had great fun exploring the rock pools for Mermaids Purses!

New Years Day was fabulous. As we were up and about early, we headed to Bigbury on Sea. We arrived around 9.45am and apart from 2 other couples , we had the entire beach to ourselves. It was only at around 11am that others started to arrive. It was fabulous, the dogs and girls absolutely exhausted themselves running around and climbing all over the rocks in search of Mermaid houses (you may have guessed, but my daughters are slightly obsessed by Mermaids).
We returned home at the weekend ready for school on Monday morning and however much I love my daughters I was REALLY looking forward to my first day off from the girls in almost 5 weeks. I get 2 childfree days a week when big shrimp is at school and little shrimp at pre-school. I relish these days SO much after 5 solid years of 24/7 childcare with no family nearby to ever give me break. Before Christmas both girls managed to be ill during those childfree days for the 2/3 wks leading up to the big day and with all the Christmas preparations falling on my shoulders I was almost cartwheeling down the lane last night at the prospect of a 'Me' day today!....no whinging, temper tantrums or whining to listen to (Little shrimps 'terrible twos' started at 18 months of age and she's still going strong/getting worse at 3.5 years.

You can imagine how, however beautiful this scene was to wake up to this morning, my heart sank a little when I heard the list of school closures....Oh well, may as well make the most of it and turn it into a day of fun....

Yes, very funny, hit a woman with a snowball when she's helpless with a camera in her hand....

Yes, you'd better start running, or better still girls, get daddy.

Making such a friendly looking snowman put a smile back on my face, isn't he sweet?

Ok now, that's enough raiding of mummy's button tin....can we put the lid back on now please?

I hope that snowball isn't meant for me?!

Now, shall I make a run for it determined to still get that 'me' day, or shall I curl up on the settee with the girls, heating up full whack and enjoying a few good films?.....

Looking at the lane from our front door I think the 'me' day will have to wait another week!

Wherever you are reading this, I wish you a happy and healthy 2010. Have a wonderful day and if you're in the UK I hope the snow isn't effecting you too much and you're able to enjoy it.