It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The snow has come. Kit's been out having fun with her sledge.

Eugene came to stay for a couple of days. He has got fatter, but it was like he had never been away. We miss Eugene.

We made a start on Christmas crafts. Kit got her cards done and mummy started on some presents for her - dolly clothes and some knitted things.

Kitty and daddy came to the Christmas lantern parade that mummy organised at work. Kitty made a pretty orange and pink papier mâché lantern. She gave Santa her Christmas letter too.

We discovered that buttons are a great addition to playdoh play.

Chickenpox

Adult chicken pox is BAD. The worst. More than a week off work and I'm covered in spots - face, head, body, mouth, even the bottom of my feet. The Doctor says I'm likely to get scars too as my skin is 'not as young as it should be' to deal with Chickenpox. I thought about posting a picture, but really it's just too horrible so here is a nice one of Kitty instead.

October & November catch up

I have been neglecting this blog a bit, mainly due to the fact that we Skype a lot now. However, I still really like having this record of our family life to look back on, so here is a quick catch up from October and November.

October was party month. First Halloween, then Kits best friend Riley had a birthday, a charity Pirate Day for Barnardo's at Nursery and of course my birthday too.

Fancy dress was required for a Halloween Party

and this year Kit wanted to be a witch like all of her friends. In two evenings I managed to rustle up a pretty cool witches dress and cape. I didn't want it to be too Disneyfied like the ones you can buy in the supermarket, so I based it loosely on Sunny's costume in Lemony Snicket, with little short puffed sleeves, organza arms, long shaped skirt filled with a netted underskirt to make it look like she was gliding. I kept to black with just a touch of purple, some beading detail and a sprinkle of sparkly spiders on the bodice and hem. A little witches hat and some purple & black stripey tights set it off a treat. Unfortunately she wouldn't stand still, so I didn't get a decent picture.

Riley (Kits best friend) turned 3 in November and invited us to her party at a local 'family pub'. They had a fantastic play area and with a little help from her friend Johnathan, brave Kitty climbed straight to the top - about 18ft high!

For Barnardo's Charity Big Toddle, Kitty h

ad to dress as a pirate for Nursery. I didn't have much notice to this, so just made a little waistcoat and she just wore her jeans and a stripey top. With the addition of a spotty bandanna I think it did the trick. Kit raised £15 in sponsorship.

November was my Birthday too. Thirty-eight sounds scary. Mum and Dad came for a visit and we had a lovely tea party, with lots of jelly, cake and candles. I received lots of really

nice presents (thanks everyone!) including a fab new fox lampshade from Kitty and Peahead that I had been drooling over in a shop in Hebden. Lush Designs, same as my pig cushion a few years ago.

Unfortunately, November also brought Chickenpox. I had a couple of days off too look after kit while she was spotty, but it didn't seem to bother her too much and we had a fun few days at home. Little did I know that 10 days later I would break out in spots half way through a meeting with the tourist board. And adult Chickenpox is certainly not as much fun!

Domesticity

Kitty has always liked helping me around the house, but her domesticity is getting out of control! Today she had dinner on the stove, a cake in the oven and while she was waiting had decided to iron her dolly clothes. In true domestic goddess style, she was also sporting a pretty pink apron and her best pearls.

I think playing in muddy puddles redresses the balance.

I finally finished Kitty's odd-ball cardigan that I started in the summer. The colour mix is a little 'different' but it looks quite cute on and will be a useful addition to her wardrobe. To follow the theme of using up odd bits of wool I had leftover, I added a few odd buttons from my stash.

Scrumping

A problem with my car resulted in an unexpected but very welcome extra day off work/nursery. Time for scrumping some apples. Collecting some for us and as many as we could fit in the bucket of Kits trike for the goats.

A nice long walk, eating plenty of Blackberries along the way.

Saying hello to the fancy chickens that live down the lane. They moved in several months ago, but apparently have yet to lay a single egg.

Petting Steven and giving him one or two of our apples.

The usual chores, but much more fun when there is time to spend messing around.

Kitty is currently obsessed with things that 'look like' other things. My favourite observations so far include spotting a cloud that looked like Spike (our white cat), a bin lorry's wing mirrors that look like ears and noticing that the honey on her porridge makes the same pattern as the giraffe fur pattern on her slippers. She is a clever little bean.

It's over

We spent the last days of our holidays playing on the canal........

............and eating cheese pie and vegetables at the Craven Heifer in Kelbrook.

Kitty has been a star for two whole weeks.

But now it is over. Back to the rat race.

Moose slippers

A great little parcel arrived in the post from cousin Olive. Recently back from a trip to Canada, Olive sent Kitty these fab Canadian hand knit slippers and a lovely letter telling us all about her exciting holiday. Thank you!

Mommy and baby moose taken by Uncle Steven Pih.