Wednesday 28 December 2011

London with little ones #1- Museum of London

Today we had a day out in London with some friends. Our plan was to visit the Museum of London and take part in the under 5's Christmas event. This we did but once completed we were a little lost as what to do next. Ideally we wanted somewhere for the kids to run off some energy! I'm sure there is a great book out there which locates all the best places to take children when visiting London but we didn't have it. Thankfully we remained positive and discovered some great things for children to do when in the Barbican area of London. Should you ever find yourself in a similar situation I hope you remember this blog post!!!


Having got off the train at Liverpool Street station we walked along London Wall Road to the Museum of London (it is just under 1 mile). The Museum of London is a great place to take children. If it doesn't have any special events on you can still pick up some children's worksheets and pencils at the information desk. Today we attended the 'Victorian Trinkett' event. This included a quick history of a Victorian Christmas, followed by making your own cornucopia for your Christmas tree and ending with an interactive story time.
We then had a quick trip round the museum followed by lunch in the cafe.



I knew we were on the edge of the Barbican Centre so thought perhaps we would find an outside, but enclosed place for the kids to run around but all we could find was the area outside the restaurant. This area was by the water and without any barriers from the waters edge we felt nervous letting the kids run free. However we did discover a Children's library. This would be a fantastic place to hang out on a rainy day and even though it was dry today we still had a little story time and explore of the library. The librarian then directed us to a near by park.


Fortune Street Park is an ideal place for some outdoor fun. It is a short (approx. 500m) distance north of the Barbican Centre. On the way is a Waitrose which is very useful when you have a child who needs a nappy change and a Mother without any nappies! And the park has the ever so important coffee shop with buy one get one free on croissants...the croissant deal was perhaps because the seller wanted to close up shop and may not always be available :).

When we had had enough of the park it was time to head back to Liverpool street and catch our train home.

As I put MJ to bed he said that he could stay up tonight as he did not have a busy day!!! Kids!!!

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Feeling Christmassy!

This past week we have been busy getting into the spirit of Christmas.


It is fantastic to watch MJ discover and appreciate the Christmas story and his excitement is making me appreciate it anew. On Saturday we spent a long time looking at and talking about the 'Adoration of the shepherds' by Reni at the National Gallery, London.


We watched him take part in his school's nativity play. A very cute camel!



We have been making Christmas pudding truffles as a gift to MJ's teachers.


I have made my annual Christmas decoration. Although I may make a number of decorations each year, I try to take special time and attention with one so that it will last for years to come.


My knitting progresses to a Raglan style jumper for MJ.


And finally, I just had to include one of MJ's monster pictures. I do love kids drawings.






Tuesday 6 December 2011

Winter woollies

I struggle with winter. I dislike the lack of light and the hot to cold and back again which happens all day as we move from inside to outside. Our conservatory becomes too cold to use (unless I am organised and pre heat it) which means I have no where to use my sewing machine. I crave chocolate even more and become disinterested in being active and creative. So, at the beginning of the year I was in 'embrace the seasons' mood and knowing that I can't do much sewing over winter I decided I would concentrate on learning to knit. When I say 'learn' to knit. I could already knit but I tended to stick to the basic which doesn't require a pattern. So the aim was to learn to knit following a pattern and therefore widen my knitting achievements.

First, I started with Kelly Hindrich's pattern, In threes. It is a great pattern. Easy to follow and gives rapid results. 

 


Then I decided it would be cute for Lj to wear a Christmas pudding hat. She loves her hats, which is just as well as she needs them alot these days! I couldn't find the pattern I needed so used Woolly Wormhead's Jester pattern to get me started. My first attempt was too small but it gave me a good template for the next attempt. 




Next, I feel MJ needs a winter woolly so am going to attempt a stripped jumper for him (another first!).

I really want to embrace winter and learn to enjoy this season. I find Soulemama really inspiring...in fact her blog was one that encouraged me to start blogging. She loves winter, so I'm going to try and tap into her energry and see what happens.