Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve at a friend's house. Mummy discovered a talent for drumming on the "Beatles Rock Star" game while Daddy and George played.

Children in a box - George, Ruby and Betty:
George lasted well, but finally crashed out on the sofa at about 11.30pm, next to Mummy who was still drumming!

Eyes Bigger Than Belly?

On the way home from Wales, George spotted this barrow full of chocolates in the Motorway Service Station and decided it would be just the thing to help him get through the post-Christmas blues.

It's Christmas! (for real this time)

We celebrated Christmas with Nanny and Grandad in Wales (we were lucky to get there, what with the snow and the breaking down car). Lots and lots of presents for everyone, of course, and plenty of food - plus our biennial visit to church.

George's present from Nanny and Grandad was his very own camera - and the results of his first efforts were actually very impressive:
To be fair, there were also a fair few photos of the floor, but not every shot can be perfect, that's why someone invented digital photography!


Mummy kept herself amused during those long nights of TV soaps by making a Gingerbread House - well, decorating it anyway. After making all those mini ones before Christmas I didn't feel the need to start from scratch with this one.

George was delighted to be told that he was allowed to eat the Gingerbread House, and dived straight in:

And since his present from Mummy and Daddy was an iPod Touch, George started working on his impression of a teenager, lounging around in his pyjamas mid-morning, engrossed in video games:

Advent Day Twenty-Four

Pig Torch with oinking sound.

(No photo as I can't find it just now!)

Advent Day Twenty-Three

A Clockwork Dinosaur (very pleased with this one as it was randomly on a shelf in ELC and seemed to be the only one there!)

Advent Day Twenty-Two

Whoops! Seriously slipping on the whole remembering to take photos and post them thing. In our defence, there's been a lot going on - to do with snow and broken down cars mostly.

Snow!

It looks like we might be in for a White Christmas. Possibly the first one I have ever seen in the South. It has been a bit of a nuisance really, especially as our car has chosen this week to develop a fault which means we keep breaking down in the freezing cold.

So this is what our house looks like in the snow:

With George and Daddy looking out of the bedroom window at crazy Mummy freezing in the snow outside so she could take a photo:

Advent Day Twenty-One

Duck Bath Finger Puppet

Advent Day Twenty

A Car. I admit, not very inspired, but you try finding 24 things small enough to fit in the tiny drawers!

Advent Day Nineteen

Another gap - maybe we'll remember later.

Advent Day Eighteen

More Thomas Jibbitz - slightly better received this time but it
apparently "isn't right" to get the same thing again !

Advent Day Seventeen

Some Stretchy Dinosaurs

Advent Day Sixteen

Okay, I'm rubbish - somehow I missed this one. Probably some stickers!

Advent Day Fifteen

Little Rubbery Snakes

Advent Day Fourteen (sort of)

Rocket Balloons.

Didn't get a photo of this because they got lost around the room very
quickly - and he wasn't supposed to have opened them anyway - he got
them out of the drawer for the 20th on the 13th!

Should I be Worried?

Now, I don't mind at all when George makes a beeline for the girly dressing up clothes at Conker Club, and I have no objection to him tottering around in the gold strappy sandals. But this porn star pose might just be a step too far!

Advent Day Thirteen

Mini Train - it's Doll House size.

It's Christmas! (Well, sort of)

Today we celebrated Christmas with Mummy's family - Nanny, Grandad, Uncle Steven, Auntie Lindsay and Cousin Erin. There was lots of food, including a delicious traditional Christmas Dinner made by Daddy and including homemade cranberry sauce, bread sauce and stuffing. Mummy made tea and also created little table decorations of miniature gingerbread houses and heart decorations for everyone to decorate. These are the finished articles:

As well as lots of food, there was also lots and lots of presents. I would have needed a wide-angled lens to fit them all in, but here is just one corner of the room pre-unwrapping:

And George playing with the present from Erin:

Advent Day Twelve

Finger Monsters

Advent Day Eleven

Little Light for the Running Bike

Advent Day Ten

Bouncing Putty
(Daddy wasn't impressed with this one when he got it stuck to the
hairs on his arm - ouch!)

Advent Day Nine

Smiley Face Pop Up

Advent Day Eight

Tiny Wooden Wobbly Ladybird

Advent Day Seven

Dinosaur Zip Attachment Thingy

Christmas Fair at the O2

Christmas Fair at the O2 - really just an excuse for mummy and daddy to go to the Rodizio Rico and eat far too much meat (and not enough of their yummy garlic bread because they never make enough to satisfy me!)


George on the carousel - I quite like the blurring effect on the photo.

Santa (again) - surprisingly this was free, there was no queue, and Santa gave George a little net of chocolates. Fabulous!

Advent Day Six

A parachute man - big success, his favourite so far. Daddy got the
same (and he seemed to like his too)

Advent Day Five

Magnetic Frogs

A Christmassy Day

This morning was the last session of "Whippersnappers" before Christmas, and George got to dress up as a reindeer!

Then we went off to IKEA to buy some plates, and unexpectedly encountered Father Christmas. He gave George a cuddly cat, which he is holding in the photo. They had a nice long chat - just as well there wasn't a queue.

Still in IKEA, George treated mummy to a rendition of a new song about Father Christmas getting stuck in the chimney - he is uncharacteristically quiet in the video so you might need to turn the sound up!

Advent Day Four

Mini Stamps

Advent Day Three

A pack of "Googly Eyes". And that is what they are officially called - just ask Mister Maker!

Advent Day Two

Bath Finger Puppet Frog

Advent Day One

The first advent present - not a roaring success to begin with. George declared it "boring" until he realised that the Thomas the Tank Engine "jibbitz" weren't just part of a bracelet, but could be attached to his fluffy crocs.

Advent Calendar

George is having his advent presents in one of these little houses. He loves it already but has been impressively restrained about touching it before December starts - and he hasn't even messed too much with Mummy's and Daddy's calendars either. Finding 24 tiny presents to fit into these drawers has been a challenge, but hopefully he will enjoy opening them - as well as the two chocolate Thomas the Tank Engine calendars he also has.

Day Out

Grandad Ron is visiting for the weekend so today we headed into town for a visit to the Natural History Museum. George enjoyed the moving dinosaurs and anything with buttons to press, but the real highlight of the day for him was the visit to Yo Sushi! on the way back home.

Once again he ate lots of expensive raw fish, and also found space for two plates of Doriyaki (pancakes with custard filling and raspberry sauce).

He's a Little Princess

The tiara look seems to really suit him!

Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night party at Sarah and Lynn's. Plenty of hotdogs and potatoes. George and I made tomato spirals which were re-christened Catherine Wheels for the occasion, and also adapted Easter Nests to become little bonfires with Jelly Baby Guys on top! All gratifyingly popular with adults and children alike! All the children enjoyed sparklers, and we couldn't let George be left out.

Hallowe'en Pumpkins

George and I kicked off the Hallowe'en celebrations with funky fingernails, courtesy of Lynn. He managed to stay still long enough to get his thumbnails done, and they lasted until he had a bath!

This was the best photo I could get to use as Hallowe'en greetings - taken on our last trip of the year to Chessington:

On the day itself we went to a small gathering with George's little friend Amy, had hotdogs and cakes, and sat around a big fire. George and Amy tried to outdo each other, taking it in turns to sing songs. (Too dark for photos).

Bedtime Story

At bedtime, George has three books read to him, then maybe a few songs, and Daddy recently started a trend of telling him a story about a little boy called George. George loves these stories and normally asks for one before he goes to sleep.

Tonight I told him a story, then when he asked for another one I asked him to tell me a story instead. This is how it went (with some prompting from me along the lines of "then what happened?" and "what did you buy?")

"One day there was a little boat. It went on the water to Pirate Island. There was a shopping trolley there. I took it to the shop and bought a duck and some potato waffles and a football. I paid for them and took them home. The End."

Running and Sushi

Daddy was running again today, this time the Royal Parks Half Marathon. Mummy and George spent the time hanging out in Hyde Park, blagging free stuff from the food stalls and playing in the playground. We also made a sign to encourage Daddy, and we found him at about mile 6 to show it to him.

After the run we staggered back to Victoria Station for the train home, and stopped there to visit Yo! Sushi. George ate loads - including most of Mummy's Nigiri (rice topped with raw fish). This boy has expensive taste - that's a big slice of salmon he is stuffing into his mouth. He also liked the tuna one, but fortunately he wasn't so keen on the prawn - which is just as well because Mummy really hates to share her prawns!

Is it George or is it Georgina?

This is George dressed as Ruby, apparently.

Randomness

We went on the London Skyride - cycled into London and around streets which weren't open to cars. We stopped off at Wahaca for some tasty Mexican food, and by the bike racks in Covent Garden George spotted this train. It is obviously home-made, pretty sturdy, and didn't seem to have anyone looking after it. Very strange.

Down in Dorset

A couple of snaps from George's break with Nanny Yvonne and Grandad Michael.

Running in Crystal Palace Park

Daddy was doing the Cancer Research 10K in Crystal Palace Park. We kept ourselves amused in the playground for a while, then George wanted to join in with the running.

Dressing Up - and Undressing.

Another in the series of "George as a girl". This time Ruby outdid herself and styled his hair too!



And in contrast, this is what happened when Mummy left George to do some unsupervised painting. After being quiet for a few minutes, he was heard to leave the room muttering "I need to wash my hands". When Mummy followed him to the sink to check on progress, she discovered that it was actually rather more than just his hands that needed washing.