So then, bit of a lte effort this time? Sorry we missed last week......
Way back to before Christmas then and it was the day of the school play (i'm one of the ones at the back in a silver hat):

I was one of the narrators but didn't let my professional commitments get in the way of extending a warm welcome to Mum and Dad when I spotted them in the audience!
I put in a very strong and confident performance, delivery my dialogue nice and loud, punctuated with frequent waves to Mum and Dad and a few snatched shouts of 'hello' during quiet moments. I think they managed to catch a bit on video if you look further down too.

As we left the stage, I took the chance to get another good bout of waving in and issued a lovely loud 'Goodbye' So my last day at school before we broke up for christmas, hooray!

I had to go to nursery and missed it all!

In the afternoon we took it easy for a bit as we had a party to go to at Max and Leo's that night.

Abi and I made ourselves comfy in Max's makeshift bed:

While us boys watched Indiana Jones in Max's room with some stolen nibbles:

I kept Dad busy by marching him up and down to the buffet table until it was completely devoid of pork products and then cheesy crisps!

We finally put the tree up on Saturday:

Dad spent several hours getting it in the bucket and then getting stuck under a table, before spending several more hours putting the lights on. Then we finally got a go at it:

We made an excellent job.....

......although the 'north east wing' of the tree was quite densley decorated!

Sunday afternoon we went to see Yanna and Fen, Max and Leo and Abi came too. Considering there were so many kids in the house we were all very good. We all sat down and had tea together and everything, it was ace.

We even got a few early presents.....
Mum went to the quiz on Sunday night and won the star prize...no not cash, CHOCOLATES!

And very nice they were too!
Here we are playing with an early present....

And another sneaky one:

So Mum was now off work too, no school, no nursery and no Dad (he was still at work in the mornings). We had a lovely time.

Soon eneough it was Christmas eve, how exciting!

We went to the pub for a drink:

It was great, everyone really was in the spirit of things, some more than others though:

I discovered handbags, thanks Hayley:

Before Dad got too drunk we headed off for McDonalds and then home to make final preparations fo the big day.

Santa and Rudolph's gifts were put out:

The sign was put outside:

Slim and Trace came round to see us, my nose is pretty much better now Trace!

We had a final check on the NORAD website to make sure the big man in red was on schedule, I wrote Santa a note to put in my stocking and then it was off to bed for a christmassy story.
Christmas day! A very civilised start at nearly 8 o'clock, stockings dealt with on mum and Dads bed (I had the stocking on my bed for the first time this year) and then downstairs for the proper stuff.

I've got a bike of my own, but I let Ned share it:

I got a lovely book about animals to ponder over and a lovely big castle to fight with:

I got some lovely new boots to stomp about in:

I laid the table fo dinner:

Grandad, Anne and Grandma turned up, good job they did, it was a good feed:

Although one too many cracker jokes took it's toll on me:

A few more presents after lunch always goes down well:

I'd agree with that:

And a few more:

And a few more:

And once Alan and Hayley had arrived with even more, a bit of colouring:

And buggy pushing:

We also had a visit from uncle Den and Trish and Al, I think we saw just about everyone we know over the course of 48 hours!!!

Then it was all over and done with, we were soon asleep as well.

Still, boxing day, a good chance to really play with things:

Bang out some tunes:

It was Auntie Christines turn to have the pleasure of our company in the afternoon. So then, more presents, yay!

Grown up Lego for me:

And a cudde with uncle Ian for me:

Then I moved onto Owen:

Laura and James also came with their new puppy, we both loved her!

So that was it, all back to near normal again, Mum had gone back to work so it was lie ins and lazy breakfasts and lunch while still in out jim-jams:

A bit more present investigastion, I can get on and off of my trike all on my own but need slightly longer legs to reach the pedals:

Laura got me a pait of Ugg boots, here I am modelling them:

We did exscape briefly to the park:



But on the whole we'd rather be at home on the sofa watching films seeing as it's so cold outside.

We went to Grandad's for lunch on Sunday, I was totally engrossed by the Narnia film.

And I was totally engrossed in Grandad putting my teddies and what have you on the light fittings, I don't know who found it funniest!

We have a lot of sleep to catch up on.......

So as is customary, we'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who's fed us, watered us, entertained us, hyped us up, told us off and of course bestowed fabulous gifts upon us. We've loved it all.

So happy new year and see you all soon!

Still loving the Matio Kart:

Still loving the advent calendars:

We had a christmas lunch at school on Thursday, brilliant! I took great delight in telling Dad that the pigs in blankets were better than his, the stuffing was better than his as well. Seemed a good idea to let him know, maybe it'll get him to raise his game! As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day it was off to Auntie Christines in the afternoon for seasonal baking! We made a lovely big chocolate cake, expertly decorated by me and some sausage rolls as well for good measure.
Yeah, Dad and I had a lovely lazy afternoon without him and his constant gibber-jabber!
Saturday morning we headed for JJ's, brilliant, it had been a while and had taken a lot of pestering on my part:

I took Dad through all the really narrow bits right at the top, I had to help him on a few occasions as he'd got himself pretty wedged in......
Me and Mum had our own fun on the slides and in the play houses, although we did have a few all the family races down the big bumpy slide, I was superfast down this, it made my hair stand up on end with all the speed and static!
I did have one small complaint with the big drop slide not being open for a very long time. Still, I did get a go and i'm almost ready to launch myself now, but not quite......
That evening I had to take Mum, Dad and Auntie Christine to the panto at the corn exchange. I actually got away quite lightly compared to the other kids whose ratio of adult accompaniment seemed to be much higher than mine! The show was Aladdin and I loved it, even though I was getting quite tired towards the end of the second half. We did plenty of shouting and boo-ing (and cuddling up to Mum in case it was scary, it wasn't).
While they were out, I got to go and play with Kimi, Ben and Rach. We had a lovely time, so thanks for having me!
Had a bit of a lay in on Sunday before Ben, Rach, Kimi and Andy came round for lunch. Dad was really going for it and even cooked pigs in blankets (no doubt trying top top the ones I had at school last week, he didn't manage it). We had a very civilised meal, I talked all about what everyone else was or was not eating rather than actually eating very much myself....
......we had company? Did we? Ooops, I barely noticed, too intent on eating my own weight in roasted chickens! It was good to see Kimi again so soon, and share some of our toys!
Monday night was christmas tree night, we were greeted by Santa as usual:

Then it was out into the cold to look for a tree, quite honestly I couldn't have cared less. I wanted to be in the warm at home!
I loved it and was quite happy to wander up and down the rows helping Dad choose:

After what must be a world record shortest deliberation period ever we settled on this rather modest number:

It's still in the garage in a bucket though.......
Yet more Christmas events on Tuesday, it was my school party with games, party food and another visit from Santa. He's pretty busy it would seem, I hope everything is under control for next week while he's out and about?
Yes, he even came to nursery to see us. It was in the afternoon so we had to take Ned along as well as picking mum up. Ned loved it, he got to march about the place like the big shot schoolboy that he is!
Yeah, I had to step in to help my little sister when the big man in red started dishing out the gifts by collecting it for her:

Hmmm, I decided it best to send Ned to do my dirty work on this occasion, Santa makes me cry!

Still, the book was a very nice present, I think i'm coming round to him actually.

Yet more christmas business at school today, we had a visiting panto in the hall. They did pinnochio and it was really good fun! I've also been getting loads of christmas cards from my school friends, so we thought it was only right I send some back. We bought a box of cards in the afternoon, I dictated a list of my friends to Dad and we set about writing them all out. It took ages and was really quite boring.............

Winter snuggle up partners, the cat will do:

She loves us kids these days.
Yeah, I've tried to reign my shrieks of excitement in a bit and I think she appreciates that.
Wednesday evening, Auntie Christine came round for tea, Dad cooked it all and then cleared off to pick up Mum but didn't bring her home as they went out instead. I don't know what they were up to but we had a great evening!
It was my first Christmas bazaar at school on Friday! What excitement. The hall was full of games and toys and sweets and bottles of wine for the grown ups to win. I was really pleased to see the sweety bags Mum and I made on the tombola stall, they looked great.
I picked a winning ticket on the very same tombola, we won a jar of assorted sweets!
Yeah good work Ellis, my three tickets were all dud's! We went to see Santa, although I had already told Dad that it wasn't the real Santa, it was in fact Mr Jones the caretaker dressed up.
Whoever he was, I didn't like him one bit, so while Ned was reeling off his list of present requests Dad and I examined the Christmas tree, the fairy lights, the grotto, in fact anything to take attention away from the bloke with the beard!
Santa and I exchanged a little polite conversation before getting to the meat of the issue, presents. I made a very small request in the scheme of things, I think he liked that.
Once we were away it was back into the hall, I loved climbing up and down the stairs onto the stage....
.....and I combed the toys for sale until I found a Batmobile! Result, all that was left to do was haggle for the price. The stallholders opening bid was 50p, I accepted straight away, I probably wouldn't do too well in Morocco or somewhere like that.
We left at the same time as the big kids were being kicked out of school, so ran into the Halfords in the playground, 10 minutes of charging about in the playground later we decided to go to their house for a bit of a play. Max gave me a thorough lesson on all his Star Wars stuff to which I listened silently and intently.
And I watched You've been framed on the sky+ with Leo, ha ha!
Saturday, the sun was out, there was no rain, it wasn't actually that cold so we got in the car and went to monkey world!
Yep, Mum got her way after convincing me that we should go there rather than my choice of JJ's. She was right, it was brilliant, purely because there are sooooo many parks, oh and a few monkeys as well.

Yeah the parks were good:

The picnic was very nice, and the sun was actually warm:

Here's my new best mate, we had a lovely game that you can probably see on the video at the bottom:

We went into the Lemur enclosure, there aren't any real fences and this chap was sitting on the fence posing for photo's:

Did we mention the parks?

They had really high slides, for 8 year olds and upwards only. Still, there wasn't many people about so 4 year olds were also allowed to enjoy them on the sly. My climbing was so good that another boy asked me how old I was, I told him I was 4 and he was very impressed, even though he was 8.

Sunday was Grandads birthday, we went out for a pub lunch with him, Anne, Alan and Hayley:

We were both really good, ate loads and had lots of fun, my highlight of the day was playing with Grandad's mega train set!
Advent calendar news, i've been sneakily looking at what is behind the door before the grand 'guess what it is' charade we have everyday. I got caught out the other day though when I guessed that there was a seagull. The door was opened and Mum and Dad laughed their heads off at the picture. I thought I was right but apparently it was a Dove, not a seagull, Busted!

A video again this week, because we have actually been somewhere and done something for a change!

It's winter, we've been trying to hibernate as best we can:

We have been out and about a bit though. It was Max's birthday last week, we went round, we gave him a cool present I wanted to keep for myself, we ate cake. Excellent.
Friday then, Mum finished work early, we met up with her in town and waited with much excitement:

For Santa to ride through the town and switch on the Christmas lights. We happened to stumble upon Andy and Auntie Christine who had both cobbled together some pretty weak excuses as to why there were in town (not too see Santa? Yeah right!):

Here's Dad and I giving him a bit of wave, Ned had already taken off and joined the procession by this point.
Yeah, I made sure I tracked him all the way this year after last years disappearing act. I met up with my friend Ben from school in the market place while we waited so that was good!
The lights went on, and I really quite liked them!
After all the excitement of the big countdown and the lights going on there was yet more excitement in the shape of fireworks in the park. They were really good as well.
Yep, even I liked them.
We happened to stumble accross the Halfords, which was nice, before Auntie Christine called and persuaded us to go to McDonalds with her for tea. Brilliant. While we were there I was telling her all about Mariusz Pudzianowski (Worlds Stongest Man) who was on telly that night. Next thing I know, we're all sat on the sofa, with a mug of hot chocolate watching them lift cars and other stupidly heavy things. He's pretty much my hero at the moment.
The weekend, no being beaten out of bed at silly o'clock and icy trip to nursery in the buggy...hooray!
Nope, we went to town instead....urghh! Still, we did manage a trip to the pasty shop for Ellis' and I's lunch. I made a protest by not wearing my coat while we were out, I even took off my jumper and spent a little while in just a t-shirt. On reflection this was a bit daft, it was really rather cold. In the afternoon we got all creative making sweetie bags for the school christmas bazaar:

Dad and watched the horse racing!
Owen, Hannah and Andy came round in the evening, so I got another sofa session watching you've been framed and tv burp, with a mug of hot chocolate. Winter isn't all bad I suppose.
So sunday then, a rather ill advised trip to Milletts farm, it was ridiculously cold and wet and horrible. Still, at least we gave the animals some company, there was no one else about!




They did have a number of christmas inspired attractions indoors though, I still decided to keep my coat done up nice and snug nevertheless:

And once we got home, a nice warm bath and a chance to try out my brand new super snuggly dressign gown (thanks Grandad and Anne, it's lovely):

We watched the Star Wars film that was on, I think Dad said it was Return Of The Jedi? I don't know, but I do know I loved it, the speeder bikes, the Ewoks, the spaceships and everything. I must admit to getting a little choked up when Darth Vader died! I think I managed to cover it up okay though.....

Monday afternoon we soaked up some of Borders (the shop) heat and light by sitting on their sofas reading books for the afternoon. It was pretty tiring so we persuaded Dad to take us home. He was under the impression we'd nod off and give him a quiet hour or so....ha, what a fool!

The minute we got in the house we turned into a destruction tag team, causing mayhem and chaos anyway we could! I think Dad was very relieved when it was time to get mum, but even she'd had enough after being home ten minutes!

It wasn't all bad though, of course it was the first day of advent! Which means two calendars to open and a new penguin themed advent drawer thingy to go alongside Ned's truck!

Yep, the chocolate and sweety wielding fairy is back in business, yesss!!!!!

Today we had to get new tyres on the car, things have been so bleak lately that it passed as a great afternoon out! We watched the man lift the car up and take off the wheels (not like Mariusz Pudzianowski though, he had to use a jack). They put nice new tyres on and then put the wheels back on using what looked like a drill! I wanted to have a go, but everyone decided it wasn't the best idea.....

Then they drove the car onto a ramp and lifted it high up in the air, i'd never seen a car in the air before, it was weirdly inruiging!

Okay then we'll kick off with a few status updates.
I've said my first proper word in context, I pointed at the pile of bikes in the garage and squealed 'BIKE' at them. I repeated it a good few times so that I made sure Mum got my drift. I've also started riding Neds old three wheel scooter a little bit, only in the garage under Dads supervision, but it's a start towards my 'rainbow stripes jersey' as Dad keeps saying. I seem to have sorted out my outfits for nursery so i'm not having to put in quite so many dirty clothes protests as well so thats a weight off my mind.
Hmmm, and me? I'm eating for Britain now, One sandwich has proved to be insufficient in my lunch box at school and i'm even tucking away a bit of the old veg with our evening meals with minimal fuss. My fruit intake is a bit hit and miss, a hit if it's strawberries (which Dad keeps claiming are becoming hard to get at this time of year) and miss if it's pretty much anything else (apart from the occasional apple). I've been chosen to be one of the narrators for the school christmas play, can't think why, I don't usually have much to say? Anyway, we've also got to sing a few songs for the oldies as well so i've been practicing on occasion with Dad in the afternoons. Trouble is we keep on making up silly words for all the carols and finding it really funny and now I think he's a bit worried that I won't sing the right words at school.
So, back to out and about then. We went to the discovery centre with Leo last week, as Max had a better offer:

We had a lovely time, I even went down the massive tube slide all on my own!
Yeah, that was pretty impressive actually, not as impressive as the dead rat Emma had found though, cool!
We had an outing to the park Thursday afternoon on the bikes.
Yep, I got to ride in the seat again, it was lovely although I don't like being mauled about to have my crash helmet put on.
I did some timed laps around the track and fell of a few times when my pedals hit the floor during extreme cornering.....need to work on my technique a bit I think.
So then, onto the weekend, we did something really weird Saturday morning.....we went to the retail park!!! We got me my first ever wellies and checked out the toys in Mothercare. Good start.
We went to Next and got me a Mario Kart top that I can wear to my upcoming non uniform day at school....
...and then it all went wrong when we went to Homebase for paint. How dull. But things soon looked up in their christmas decoration grotto.
It was brilliant, they had loads of lights and sparkly things but best of all they had singing cuddly toys, that danced and sang christmas carols. We could have watched them for hours.....
But we had to go to the bookshop instead! We read nearly every book in the childrens department.
We had to head home for some rest after all that excitement:

Mum and I made a little something for Grandad after his little operation, I hope you get it in the post soon Grandad!
So Sunday we were under pressure to do something a little more normal.
We went to the Intech science museum in Winchester. There were all sorts of machines to work and experiements to do.
This was my favourite, processinn small beads. I spent literall hours glued to this, twirling the handles and watching the beads move around:


Even Tigger and I got involved:

I loved walking over this bridge:

Even with me attempting to sabotage it:

They had things you could build to have a quiet five minutes, I got all christmassy with mine:

I just sprinkled the bits all over the floor and tried to hide:

There were more knobs to turn and levers to pull:

Back to school and nursery and work on Monday....

Yeah, I didn't really want to go, I wanted Mum. Dad did his best in the sfternoon with me but the only thing that made me laugh was a picture of her on his phone!

I did drawing, lots of drawing. We did scary alien monsters and cars mostly. Although I did also manage a horse and cart as well (well, it was supposed to be a car but it went a bit wrong, don't tell anyone though I think I got away with it).

So today I had my forst ever packet of Rolo's, they were lovely! I can't believe I hadn't had them before. Dad said that if I loved Mum i'd save her the last one....I saved her the last TWO!