I think I may have mentioned the start of 'Project Street Party' last week. Here it is in all it's glory then, an all out assault on mass adulation from my teachers and peers alike:

It worked a treat! I was hailed a project hero, producing work above and beyond the call of duty. The only downside was that when I was to parade my endeavour in front of the class in an official capacity I had to answer the call of nature rather urgently. It even made the school website (but you have to have a password for that and if I told you what it was I would have to kill you. Make do with the picture above eh?).
He really was very proud of it, but not as proud as Dad was.....
I went to Shimons for tea on Thursday after school, we had a blast. Especially when I found out that one of Shimons toy guns fired kidney beans...all over the house! Thanks must go out to Shimons mum for being so, umm, understanding! Even if she did remark to Mum and Dad that it took me a very long time indeed to eat my tea....ha ha.
And what did Dad and I do with our long afternoon off with no need to be at school for 3 o'clock? Shopping, thats what! I loved it, there were christmas trees and decorations everywhere, we went up and down in loads of lifts and generally had a lovely leisurely afternoon perusing the goods on offer. I think I dropped Dad in it a little bit when I told Mum what we had been buying (shhh, one of her christmas presents......)
Saturday, we went to Sainsbury's to get some supplies for this weeks project. Oh yeah, and to all fall out with each other...Mum loves shopping as a family.
When we got home we set about making a giant lightbulb from a balloon and some papier mache. It all started off okay, but pretty soon descended into chaos, with soggy paper and gloopy stodge everywhere. Dad was having a fit because of the mess and Mum was trying to stop ellis painting her feet with glue and lumping great big blobs onto the balloon.

I don't what they were so worried about, a full load of the washing machine and bath sorted out all the mess!

In the evening we went to Max and Leo's. While the grown ups did boring stuff we got the boxing gloves out. I think I caused a few raised eyebrows with my rapier speed and power.

Sunday was a big day for Ellis, she was allowed to come with me for a days baking at Auntie Christines!

Yes I was, and what a lovely day we had too. We made loads of cakes, we had pizza for lunch (no tomato sauce of course) and had plenty of cuddles with Uncle Ian.

Laura popped round for her visit too which was nice and we got to bring home boxes and boxes full of cakes and cookies!

I've no idea what Mum and Dad got up to all day, but I bet it was rubbish!!!!!

Another big first for me this week, I rode my proper green bike to school to get Ned! Dad was so pleased with me, anybody would think i'd found the cure for the common cold.

And in my final installment of achievements for the week my cot has been converted into a bed, which I think you will find makes me a big girl? I had a little trouble getting the hang of it on the first night, when mum came in to check on me late at night I was laying on the floor asleep. I'd fallen out and just couldn't be bothered to get back in again...

Wednesday was a big day...Hugo came for tea after school for the first time. Secretly I think Dad was terrified, actually I don't think it was a secret at all. He needn't have worried though, we were both really good boys and had a great time, running around the house, watching telly, playing trains and Hot Wheels and eating our tea. Hugo eats even faster than Dad, it was quite amazing to behold.
I had to go to the doctors on Thursday, nothing too serious, i've finally copped for a dose of Eczema. The doctor gave me an enormous pot of some rather fancy looking cream. While we waited for it to be ready at the Chemist we wandered around town, paying a visit to Auntie Christines shop.
Where I decided I was on safe ground to 'fess up about another trip to see the Headmistress for my usual crime of messing about on the carpet in the afternoon. Oops.
Friday was new project day at school. This week it was all about street parties after the war. I've been pretty disheartened over the last few weeks when my efforts have recieved a rather less exciting response than i'd hoped for so this week we decided to go all out for glory. A whole street party scene model in a box! It's taken a long time and it still isn't quite finished. So pictures next week......
The weekend then, wet and windy...lets take Grandma out in town! It was all brilliant though, she got us pick and mix as well as a waybaloo cuddly toy....
...and a pretend rubber snake that I can use to frighten people with!
We even went for a drink in the Cafe in Mum's shop, how cool was that?
We came home and watched last weeks episode of Merlin on the I-player, I love it but I was still a bit scared after the previous episode. I managed to get through it okay though.
Yeah so did I, I love it too, we're Mummy's little geeks!!!
Speaking of Mum, here she is, caught in the act...after tucking me up in bed she has a sneaky forty winks (or sometimes even more), ha ha!

Anyway, back to Saturday, Slim and Trace came round in the afternoon. I didn't bother with too much of my shyness and soon put on a dazzling display of roly-polies for them.
While I drew reindeer pictures that Slim said he was going to put on his fridge and terrorized poor Tracey with my toy snake...sorry!
Have I mentioned that i'm getting quite christmassy?
Sunday we had Alan and Hayley round for lunch. Great stuff, they gave us a very valuable lesson on current pop stars and the like.......
The trike is getting regular daily outings to school now:

Yeah, and Dad is bringing my scooter for me everyday now too.
He loves it because we all get home so quick rather than our usual 30 minute dawdle!
When Dad came to get me from nursery today I was once again getting stuck in in the Butterflies room (with the biggest kids), I love it in there. So much so that Mum has to stop me running in there straight away every morning.....

Well and truly winter now, i've even been spotted wearing my school jumper....booo.
Drawing, cutting out, drawing, folding, cutting out, drawing, drawing and drawing. I'm so into it at the moment, shame I have to share my studio with the clutter of everyday family life isn't it?

According to the ladies at nursery i'm independant, determined and very grown up.....according to Mum and Dad i'm a little madam and an awkward so and so.....ha ha!
So the weekend was pretty action packed....good stuff! It started off with some visitors on Friday night in the shape of Emma and Leo, who came round while Max was at his school disco. Don't tell Ned though, he was a right grumpy and tired little monkey and got packed off to bed before they even got here. Ha ha, I got to stay up really late and play cars with Leo before having a good old chase around session too.
Saturday and we went to my choice of swimming pool, the Coral Reef. Only problem was that it's shut until after christmas for a re-fit...oops! Maybe we should have checked. After a bit of crying and sulking we decided on Basingstoke instead, having never been before we were all quite excited about our 'stand-in' venue. And so we should have been, it was brilliant! There were two slides that you had to ride down on tubes (either single or double ones). One of them even had bits that sent you back uphill, no one had ever been on one of those before! There was also a slide with a big green bowl at the end that I was desperate to have a go on but wasn't allowed because I couldn't swim well enough....i'm definatley on the case for some more lessons now!
Yes, it was really good, there were some nice slides for the little ones and plenty of water jets and a high up monkey who filled his bucket making it tip over and splash whoever was underneath it. I loved watching people get a good soaking.
My best move of the day must have been my underwater backwards somersault type thing...Mum couldn't believe it!
We had a quiet afternoon before heading to Auntie Christines to meet up with the gang to go to see the fireworks at the racecourse.
I was well up for them this year...
...I was okay to begin with but then they started getting a bit too moisy for my liking. Dad provided a decent sound baffle for me.
And then it was on to Chris and Kate's to watch our man fight the giant at the boxing. I got the best seat in the house (a huge bean bag right in front of the telly) and promptly fell asleep!
Which gave me a free run on the nibbles, thanks Ned and Chris and Kate!!!
So we had a bit of a lazy sunday morning before we went out to do a bit more visiting, this time to see baby Joshua (oh, and Chard and Oli of course).
We both love babies so we were well excited about this, even if it did take me a while to warm up.
I was of course well up for a cuddle with the new arrival:

Welcome to the world Joshua!
When we got home I was helping Dad make pudding when Mum came into the kitchen, daring me to squash an egg, betting that I couldn't (I think she had seen it on telly or something). Anyway, I got hold of the egg and squeezed it as hard as I could........and then dug my fingers in, making the egg explode all over the place. What a mess, but all endorsed by the parents...winner!!!
So, Monday then.....and I did something a little silly......I managed to get this bead stuck up my nose:

I tried pretty hard to get it out myself but only really managed to get it stuck even further in! A phonecall to Dad from the school and he was soon on his way. We went to Newbury hospital but the nurse there obvioulsly didn't fancy having a crack at it....Basingstoke here we come! We picked Mum and Ellis up on the way, well, might as well make a family outing of it eh?

We sat in the waiting room watching Cbeebies on the telly for a few hours before I was called in. They soon got it out and I was especially good at being still while they stuck things up my nose. Another good thing, we were too late to go home and get tea cooked so it was a trip to McDonalds instead....so it all ended up pretty good in the end, even if I do have a slightly sore nostril.

I decided I wanted to ride my trike to pick Ned up from school today, so nearly a year after Santa bought ot for me, it finally fits. I rode it really well and drew admiring glances from the Mums as well as the other kids on it.

I've also been inviting people round to the house as well, our old man friend from the park in the mornings and the ladies from nursery, i'm sure mum could find them a biscuit or Dad could rustle up a dinner for them!

Notice anything in this picture then?

No? Are you sure? There's no high chair! I'm officially a big girl now and can sit up to the table on a normal chair just like evryone else. The old highchair that Mum haggled so hard for when they bought it for Ned is now redundant.....
I've also developed a new angle of retribution on Dad when he makes me cross.......I hide his deodorant! Ha that'll teach him. trouble is, i'm so rubbish at keeping anything at all secret that I always give the game away and tell him where i've put it (usually before he even realises it's even missing). It's always in the same place too, on my bedside cabinet. So, not brilliant, but it's a start.....
So Wednesday was Dad's birthday and no one had to go to work or school or nursery. What did we do? We went to the beach of course:

We went to the Witterings near Chichester because apparently there were going to be waves. I don't know too much about waves but there were certainly shells, really good ones too:

There were waves Ellis, and I for one wanted to get amongst them as soon as I could. It may look a bit grey and drab but it was actually a lovely day:

Yep, it wasn't too bad at all, I didn't fancy any surfing but I certainly fancied racing the tide in and out:

I caught a few waves and got pretty brave even though I did get turned over by a big one:

For once there was no picnic, not normally a problem but today we wanted instant grub after our exertion! We didn't want to go to the chip shop, not even for chips....although we were soon talked round. We sat and had sausage and chips on the wall...lovely:

Hmmmm, lovely lovely chips. I didn't give any to the seagulls thats for sure:

We had a few quiet, refelctive moments:

And then we headed off for home, a lovely summer style outing at the end of October!

Mum and Dad went out with a load of the others to see Frank Turner of all people...how could they? My favourite!!!!

It wasn't all bad though, Auntie Trish came to babysit as she wasn't allowed to go either.

We did loads of drawings and what have you instead.

Thursday then was a very lazy no work/school/nursery day. We did finally get up and about in the afternoon when we went over to see Yanna and Fen. We went bowling:

It was the first time that I had ever been and I completely loved it, I was soooo excited about it all. The shoes, the ball, the Halloween decorations...everything!

And as if the bowling wasn't enough fun for one day we headed straight on for Pizza Hut! We coloured in hats, we ate and drank and we made poor sleepy Fen wait around for ages while Yanna and I had ice cream factory. Maybe if he hadn't got such a high score at bowling he wouldn't have been so tired?

Friday then, off to Windsor for our annual pilgrimmage to the Daniels toy department. i don't know why we have to go this time of year to look at toys?

I finally spent the last of my birthday money on a lovely Lego Ferarri transporter lorry and F1 car...it's really pretty cool.

And I spent some of my money on a set of Noddy puzzles, I really love Noddy you know.

We had a wander through the park and a good old run around the brick maze:

But we had to get home earlyish as I was off to Shimon's Halloween party again. Brilliant, Mum didn't have to stay this time and my finest achievement was jumping from his top bunk!

So saturday was Halloween then, mum went off to work for a little bit and the rest of us went to the library by bike again early doors. Before going back home and watching some cooking programmes on telly (not as good as CBBC truth be told).

Saturday afternoon was pumpkin time, i'd been building up to this for weeks. Dad carved his first ever pumpkin while I got busy with the decorating kit Auntie Christine bought us:

A good result on both counts I reckon?

We got dressed up in out scary outfits and were all ready to go trick or treating. No matter how scary our outfits were though, they weren't a patch on Owen and Hannah's!!!!

John and Sarah were also along for the ride as is now traditional and we hit the town!

First stop Slim and Tracey's...followed by uncle Alan's:

We don't want to disappoint anyone else but he (or more likely Hayley) laid on the finest spread of the evening!

After that it was Andy's Mum and Dad's, then Auntie Christines and then onto Max and Leo's next door neighbours party.....a late night, but a very enjoyable and profitable one. We had no cause to use and tricks at all due to everyones generosity, which was just as well because i'm not sure we actually had any?

Sunday we had a trip to Grandad's for lunch, again with Alan and Hayley. We watched a brilliant film called Pete's Dragon that mum and Alan watched when they were little. Then we had a look at Grandad's new car which is even smaller than Alan's Gayo....can't wait to go in it!

Monday and Mum was still off work with us, Dad still had to go to work and while he did we went to the discovery centre for the morning. We hadn't been there for ages and had a great time.

I watched some older kids use their coats as mats on the slide, decided to have a go with my jumper with great results...whoosh!

Went to the dentist with Dad in the afternoon, I loved it. the chair is brilliant and makes me giggle from the moment I see it. They do a good line in Spiderman stickers too.

And then today it was back to Nursery for me, it was photo day and I made sure I looked like a drowned rat when I arrived after refusing to have my rain cover on the buggy this morning. Ooops, still, the ladies made sure I was looking my best for my photo shoot by whipping my soggy trousers off and getting them straight in the tumble drier! All I told Dad was that I poked my tongue out at the the man with the camera....I bet they can't wait to see the pictures....

Hmmm, there's been a bit of bad behaviour at our respective educational establishments lately...
I've followed in the footsteps of Ned and caused a minor flood with the taps in the nursery toilet.
And i've been involved in a little bit of horseplay that has gained the attention of the headteacher...oops. Never mind, i've broken up for a week now so it'll all be forgotten by the time we go back I hope.
Dad took us to the library on saturday morning...by bike!
It was great fun, it was raining quite hard so there were loads of puddles to splash through on the way. Even better than that though was the subway at the police station roundabout, most exciting.
Once dad had paid all his fines we picked some books and battled our way back home through the grey wetness to get Mum reading them.
Abi and faye came round on Saturday night. Abi and I had a great time, charging around the house.
Yeah, thanks for making the extra puddings Andy!
We escaped for a bit on Sunday afternoon, to the castle. Who should be there? the Halford boys! We gave Leo a hard time, he loved though and kept coming back for more:

I made another strong fashion statement in the Autumn sunshine:

And I posed on the wall:

So, first day of the holidays, Mum has the week off so no nursery for Ellis either. We made Dad birthday cards!

I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret Ned, sorry.....ooops.

We happened to bump into Hugo and his mum as well, so we arranged a trip to the big park up the hill for the afternoon. Brilliant, we had a great time and didn't really do anything that we were told...ha ha!

I went to nursery today, so I was glad to see my own friends really.

Yeah, and Mum and I went to Reading on the train to see Fantastic Mr Fox at the cinema....I loved it so much I didn't want to leave as I wanted to sit and watch it again! We got the book from the library on saturday so I can't wait to get stuck into that!

Okay, i've decided i'm big enough to ride my scooter to school to meet ned in the afternoons, he doesn't like having to walk home while I glide along much hey ho. I did have something of an incident in the playground though involving a gentle slope and a large plate glass window. Luckily, being a school and all that I expect it's toughened glass so no serious damage was done.
It was colours week at nursery last week, we had pink, blue, green, and red days covered but yellow was proving to be a little problematic. Still, with Auntie Christine on the case I had this to wear:

Very yellow and very smiley, just the job.
Yes and she also had a baloon modelling kit with stickers and shoes and what have you, I loved it and modelled my first creation on Ellis, the likeness is stunning:

I also got half a pussycat to wear with my party dresses over the winter, very swish:

And a set of pumpkin decorations for Halloween, here I am, modelling a rather scary mouth:

Thursday was my first parents evening in year 1. My teacher told Mum and Dad that she had been looking forward to having me in her class since my visits while I was still in foundation because of my cheery disposition and enthusiasm....I wonder, where on earth do I get that from? Anyway, i'm doing well by all accounts, result. Even more so, Andy looked after us while they went out, we played Monopoly...he is very brave......

Friday was harvest festival assembly at school. Mum and Ellis came along this year which was great. I loved doing it all, especially having the bright lights on the stage. I think there may be some video later on actually.....

Friday afternoon we made the most of the autumn sunshine without the whingeing and arguing that Ned and Max have bought to the woods with us on recent outings, it was most refreshign without them:

So the weekend then, and after Mum was up half the night being sick, any planned events for saturday were a bit of a non starter, Mum took to the sofa, so she was good for an endless supply of 'on tap' cuddles and Dad did his best by taking us to the shops (I just don't know where his inspiration comes from sometimes).

Actually, we had a proper mission at the shop, materials for school 'countries' project...more of that later.

We got a book each too, I got a Noddy sticker book.....

....and I got a Doctor who 'making' book. Dad made the Sonic Screwdriver that was in there, it took him hours to finish and he reckons it was the single most difficult and complicated thing he has ever assembled....ha ha!

Sunday then and poor old Mum had no chance of any further rest, the other three of use were desperate to get out somewhere....Legoland would do the trick. Our last visit before it closes down for the winter.

I love all the little men:

And finally, I was brave enough to tell the man I was 6 and get on the big cars for a drive. I loved it and did really well. I made sure I paid attention to the traffic lights and road junctions:

My project then:

Flags all drawn by me, stuck into a map of the world on a pinboard. I even got really brave and drew the Australian flag, which was much much harder than Japan!

Went to pick Ned up the other day, it was chucking it down, Dad got my wellies, I was so excited I thought I was going to burst....I ran out into the street and splashed in every single puddle I could find, it was brilliant. I refused to wear a coat of any kind either and got proper soaked through, still, never mind, a bit of rain never hurt anyone:

I've been full of jibber jabber at nursery and the ladies keep on telling Dad how entertaining I am when he comes to get me. I even had a day in the biggest kids room on Friday, I loved that but didn't want to go back in with the little ones on Monday.
My other big news story of the week is my invention of the pig rabbit creature. I've not gone as far as gene-splicing or anything like that as yet, but I have done hopping across the floor, twitching my nose and snorting in the style of a pig rabbit. Everyone seems to find it really funny?
I've also been talking to Grandad on the phone and telling him all what we've been getting up to lately:

This is all well and good Ellis but you haven't done the 'out and about' section yet have you? Well, we haven't really got much to report to be honest. After months of lobbying and several petitions delivered to Downing Street we finally got our trip to JJ's. It was every bit as enjoyable as we'd bulit it up to be, the icing on the cake was being allowed to stay for lunch there too...just brilliant.

In the evening Alan, Hayley and Andy came round, they bought masses of crisps and drinks with them so Ellis and I did a good long shift of passing the nibbles round (for a nominal handling fee of course) before getting packed off to bed.

Sunday then, grey, wet, miserable and that was just Dad, the weather wasn't much better either! We stayed in, we played with our toys, so neglected over the summer, we dressed up, we built tents from furniture and I ate as much as I could get down my neck. A good day....

As it had stopped raining today, Ned was keen to go to the park after school. I didn't want to ride on the bacl of Dad's bike and couldn't get on with my proper bike so it was time to scoot to the park onboard the Postman Pat scooter. I did really well and got quite a speed up:

I knew the boys would be at the park on such a nice day, thats why I was so keen to go, here I am with Joe and Ben, climbing trees and singing 'I like to move it, move it'

I've finally got a chair for my desk. I've had a desk for ages, it's great as a dumping ground or as a launch pad for leaping onto my bed but it hasn't been too great as a desk without a chair. Mum spotted this one at work in the sale (while she was selling furniture by all accounts?)

It's spot on, so I can get creative in style from now on!
The weekend then, I went off to play with Abi, all on my own. Well, Mum took me round and then left me, it was so lovely to play with proper girls toys rather than all of Ned's old stuff. We had a lovely time and I can't wait to return the favour and have Abi round to our house sometime soon.
While Ellis was off Dad and I had a lightning quick trip to the park on the bikes and then got home to meet up with Mum. We went to Sainsbury's, everytime we go there it's sunny and the car park glistens with fairies! We didn't have a pound coin so we couldn't take a trolley down the ramp and had to make do with a basket. I managed to aquire this years halloween outfit, a long sought after skeleton suit.
We were all back together for the afternoon which featured rather a lot of slouching about and dozing.....our speciality!
It was soon excitment o'clock though as Auntie Trish was babysitting, yay! After a frenzy of gymnastics we dispensed with Mum and Dad and set about securing our latest night for ages.
I managed to stay awake pretty late....
But not as late as me, I was still up, chattering away when Mum and dad got back at 11:20, a new record (outside of New Years eve parties).
Sunday, understandably was a low key affair, after lunch we headed off for a walk, well, they did, I had a top up kip:

I didn't walk either, I rode my bike, just for a change. We went to the park at Wash Common, Mum hadn't been before so I had to show her what was what:

Slides of course:

...and me:

Big swingy thing:

Small swingy thing (i'm in there honest):

And then this afternoon we made jam tarts:

I prepared them with all the care and attention of a top Masterchef contestant, we even made a topping for them with some whipped cream and icing sugar...they were fantastic!

I had a yoghurt instead.....make of that what you will.....

Schools okay, nothing of interest to report. Parents evening soon though so we'll see I suppose.
Nursery is okay too, nothing to report there either, other than the fact that I love to stop by the allotments on the way in the morning for a sneaky wee (it's a long way without a nappy).
We've been to the library again and got Matilda this time. It's the most grown up book that i've been read yet but i'm lapping it up. Well, I campaign for an extra chapter every night anyway!
I love it at the library, Ned gets one book, I get as many as I can carry (usually about 4 or 5).
The weekend started with an after school trip to the park, all the usual suspects were there, Alastair, Ben, Joe and this time Jamie as well. We had a great time charging about the place, climbing trees, running around with a box on our heads....you know the sort of thing. I let them have a go on my bike too, that was cool.
I can now climb up the big ladder to the big slide all on my own!
Saturday then, we went to the Cotswold ater park. There were playgrounds:

Woodcarvings (?):

And weirdest of all, a sandy beach:

We got suited up and went for a paddle:

It was pretty cold if we're honest, but we soon got used to it.
I even did some 'proper' doggy paddle swimming and my special move, underwater swimming!

The shower was lovely, I thought I was auditioning for a shampoo advert::

We had a picnic of course and then headed out in a rowing boat. Mum was pretty nervous after our last time (she got hit on the head with an oar and we got stuck in the undergrowth). She needn't have worried this time though as I was well on the case as an expert oarsman:

I took some convincing about the whole thing, I didn't really like it to begin with but I soon changed my mind and actually quite liked it in the end. I especially liked my little tiny life jacket, it was most fetching:

There was a bouncy castle, which is always a welcome sight and of course some more playgrounds:

We went home, had ham and chips for tea and then watched Merlin on the telly...perfect!

Sunday we were up early and on the track:

I put in another strong performance of course, I even helped Dad with some video analysis of his technique (on the most part, obscured by my glove though). It was great fun and I think we were a little lucky that the car was still in the car park after I Left the door wide open.

Mum and I had a civilised girls morning in, very nice it was too.

Leo's third birthday party in the afternoon:

Notice how Ellis and I were on hand to help with 'cake security'

The ice cream was lovely as well:

It did more than put hairs on your chest:

Andy was very brave, having a non-nappied sleepy cuddle:

Happy birthday Leo, great party!