Last minute table decorations, rag-rugging, Christmas 'stocking' decorating, the Christmas tree, and other December activities

Just time for some last-minute making of table decorations.

During a quick trip to the local park this morning we - er - "borrow" some holly, leylandii and ivy.

Using a potato as a base (instead of florist's foam) the potato is wrapped in foil. The kids use a barbecue skewer to make holes before poking in the greenery.

Some garden wire and bows made of leftover ribbon give it a more professional look.

While scrabbling around in the loft I re-discovered some rag-rugging attempts.

This week the kids have started their own rag rugs. These will probably end up in the loft after Christmas, but perhaps one day they'll be finished.

In the afternoon the kids decide to decorate small hessian onion bags with felt and ribbon shapes to make Christmas 'stockings'.

And yesterday we celebrated ds1's 14th birthday. No photos allowed on here (by his request. Where did my little boy go? ;)


In the past week or two...

Dd decides to make a cat tile to go with our others that reappeared during our pre-Christmas tidy up.

We sow cress, mustard, broccoli and alfalfa sprouting.

The Christmas tree gets decorated

Ds1 makes this year's Christmas cake. Now marzipanned, but still to be iced.

The kids open some discounted body parts (models)

Intestine-man causes some problems, but eventually we jam in all his internal organs and shut them in with his ribs. (No doubt at some time in the near future his ribs will give way and fire his guts across the room).

More microscopy

And at the beginning of December, a Christmas fencing team competition

Thursday: Printing adventures, bugs, rocks and kerb crawling.

Thursday.

We all of us head for the University Press printing museum:

Ds1 tries to beat the speed of the camera shutter - Ha! Caught you!

The original printy thingy plate from the mouse's tale/tail in Alice in Wonderland

And then, the boys head for a printing workshop:

And with a little frustration, produce some fabulous hand-printed sheets of paper.

Meanwhile, dd and I discover a whole new meaning to the term 'kerb crawling'
There's a lot of kerb in our city. And it takes a long long long long time to crawl along it all.

Occasionally there are glimpses that she has inherited her mother's madness:

What big feet you have...(if you're a dinosaur)

Bugs, bugs, glorious bugs

That's me and the three kids. I'm the big flat one with bingo wings.

Then on to the rocks (oh joy!).

Dd takes 20 blurry photos of rocks while I go walkabout, take photos of unsuspecting tourists and wonder if I had a pocket of spit-dried-paper balls whether I could actually hit them. Ahem. And then I grow up again.

We rediscover the museum microscope

Elementary my dear Watson: dirty thumbnail, sign of a filthy child and a mother who doesn't give a toss.

Ouch! Attack of the killer stuffed animals. So that's why they say 'Please Touch': it's so gallery assistants can have a laugh watching small children being eaten by taxidermied wildlife.

Just time for a quick visit to the scary next-door museum with the pointy jangly people who stare when you put a quid in the box. Not forgetting the shrunken heads and the ghoulish masks.

And the best bit of all: a chance to see what people have dropped down the grill holes in the floor of the museum...

'Ooh! A pencil! A hairclip!'

'Yeah yeah. Can we go home now?'