Precious Moments Christmas Style!

What a great week, apart from today when we received a bill of £260 for a ten minute appointment with the neurologist (which we knew about) plus a £160 bill for a five minute telephone call to give us the brain scan results (which we were not told about). This definitely was a horrible ending to a lovely week. No matter…

Last weekend we began with a lovely brunch of waffles, maple syrup and fruit salad. Oh, it was so good!

Whilst the boys trapsed in our Christmas tree and decorations, the girls ‘helped’ by moving furniture and bopping to the Christmas hits we had blaring in the background:

Christmas decorating with seven (Ads was very sensibly playing computer games with some friends from school) is always interesting busy chaotic! We all rush at it, paying pretty much no attention to aesthetics…There are various panettone, mince pies and non alcoholic mulled wine to consume and imbibe at the same time:

Becca is still young enough to be mega excited about all things Christmas, and begs to be the one to put the angel (her angel) on the tree. She is a bit bigger than she was last year, but Gary managed to lift her none the less and she just managed to perch it on the top of the tree:

Twas a little wonky though:

So I snuck in and uprighted her:

So pwitty!

Doesn’t it look lovely? I do love Christmas decorating!

By Monday, we were all motivated to get stuff done so the girls could start their Christmas holidays as soon as possible. Each morning they worked hard, getting their workbooks finished, practicing their speech for their upcoming broadcast

and practice their presentation speech about the Edwardians:

Mid-morning, we had toast and tea with Ads and Lillie and then moved on to our morning delight learning. On Monday, Becca continued with her artist study on Van Gogh:

whilst Abigail made pastry in the kitchen:

Tuesday, Becca worked on her quilt, which is slowly taking shape:

Whilst Abigail learnt about starting up a baking business, focusing on health and hygiene:

Wednesday, Becca made a start on making her own skirt from scratch, without a commercial pattern. We measured around her waist and doubled it, and she decided how long she wanted it. We tore (yes tore – I get a straighter line tearing the cotton than if I’d cut it) the material and she ironed the long rectangle:

She had learnt to do a casing last week, although we used pins to keep the material together before sewing. This week I taught her to use the iron instead of pins (particularly good if using a natural material). She ironed the casing for the elastic and then sewed it:

She had learnt how to hem last week as well, so in the same vein, I taught her to iron the double hem instead of trying to pin it:

Lastly she hemmed it on the machine, ready for later in the week:

Abigail carried out an activity from MEL Science and etched a design onto another key ring:

Cute, no? Abs is saving it to give as a present to her drama teacher.

Thursday, Becca finished her skirt by threading elastic through the waist:

Sewing the elastic together and then sewing the side seam:

Lastly, I taught her how to use the zigzag stitch to neaten the edges:

How cool is that? A skirt made and finished in two 1 1/2 hour sessions:

I am very, very excited about Becs’ future in sewing. She has taken to it like a duck to water. Literally I show her how to do something and she has it mastered in minutes. And, even better, she LOVES it! I must say, it gives me confidence in our interest led approach to home schooling:

We have bought her a tie-dye kit for Christmas and that is what she will dye the skirt with.

Abigail had a moment of assumed madness, because as she was baking her weekly biscuits, this week experimenting with biscuit thickness and taste, she managed to cover every. single. surface. in flour:

Literally. Everywhere.

They both then spent half an hour with Charlotte, writing the first chapter of their children’s novel together:

Friday, we spent making Edwardian Christmas cards with the help of some art from Beatrix Potter:

and recording for our very own 1900’s radio broadcasting. Something Thomas helped with:

I’ll be posting the recording sometime next week – I am so pleased by it!

Afternoons were spent finishing up Edwardian work, of which there is much!

Journaling about the Wright brothers each day:

Model making for our Picasso study:

Working on their presentation:

And working on their comics, which took up three whole afternoons but is now finished:

A great week! I still don’t want to pay the doctor £160 for a five minute phone call but I do feel cheerier having looked back on our excellent week!

Have a great weekend all!