Today I have three poorly children.  We did, however, make Regency bonnets and learnt the basics of the Napoleonic Wars.  After lunch the Girls did some solid English work, Faith Study and Panda Girl finished her reading book, but only Monkey Girl was well enough for her two dance lessons and gym class this afternoon.

With three under-the-weather kiddies, today was mostly about resting.  The Boy started a jigsaw craze which lasted on and off all day...

                                                   ...Panda Girl and Monkey Girl joined in...

...and by 6pm they had completed 29 jigsaws :)

Ballet Girl started the day by baking a banana bread with The Boy.  She knows this by heart now and is a great teacher to her brother.

Panda Girl has been slightly off colour since the weekend.  She is a little fragile but enjoyed creating a scene for the Regency teddies she made earlier.

Monkey Girl had fun making Regency style fans and hair clips.  

Before afternoon work-time the girls donned their home-made Regency costumes and copied some Regency dances from the internet.

The Boy decided not to take his afternoon nap so we interrupted our Picture Study work to wear him out at the park.

...and then dried out on the sofa with popcorn and Regency favourite, Pride and Prejudice. :)

To kick-start our Regency Period Unit the girls made some gorgeous Regency silhouettes, complete with ribbons, bonnets and cravats.

The Boy got busy today.  Monkey Girl made him a box robot which he painted blue...

... he made some yummy fairy cakes for morning snack ...

... and some pesto twirls for dinner.  Good job Baby!

We learnt a little about The Holy Grail last week.  Panda Girl made a papier mache chalice which dried over the weekend and which she painted today.

The Wind

We did a mini-project about the wind.  The girls had a selection of worksheets to complete on hurricanes, tornadoes, wind vocabulary, clouds etc.  Panda Girl' learnt some new wind-related words on some cloud flash-cards I printed out and Ballet Girl made a great Beaufort Scale chart.  They also designed and made a hot air balloon, a sail boat, a tornado, wind gods, a parachute, a kite and a washing line :)

We came home earlier then expected from France for various reasons, but the littlies enjoyed their time at the village school there and they made some sweet little friends.

Advent

 

The Girls' Advent calendar.  They had to make one house each day and then the Church on Christmas Eve.  A lovely present from Nanny Mo.

Panda Girl watching Santa's progress.  She had to be in bed before he hit Europe!

Stockings at the ready

A hamster from Santa!  How did he get it down the chimney?!  Father Christmas named her Peanut Butter :)

Christmas Day with a few cousins.  Happy Birthday Jesus :)

We arrived home from a Christmas outing to find a make-your-own gingerbread house sitting on the doorstep.  A gift from a lovely friend.  The girls had a super time :) 

First 'snow' of winter.  The Boy was delighted.

Panda Girl meets Father Christmas.

 Shooting out the front door to collect my girls from various gym and dance lessons I almost dropped The Boy.  But you never do drop your own baby, do you?  So I caught him and tore my ankle ligaments instead.  I'm on crutches and the Boy has had issues with his asthma this week, so unfortunately some of our Advent projects have not happened.  Ballet Girl supervised a mince pie making session yesterday while Monkey Girl played at a friend's house, and they made more mince pies today with my lovely sister.  

 Candlelit Christmas carols at our local church

Today we went to our awesome Forest Centre and made Christmas Wreaths with willow.  The Boy enjoyed snipping all the ribbons into tiny pieces and one of the helpers commented "I see he still loves cutting everything in sight".  Yep!

:)

Panda Girl had an Under-the-Sea Party for her 6th Birthday.  It was a few months in the planning and a few hours in the making but it was a labour of love and she/we had fun :)