Today we started much the same with Super Movers, then moving swiftly onto phonics and writing. After practising our sounds and writing we listened to Jolly Phonics Phase Two and Phonics Digraphs Phase 3.
We stopped again for a break and snack (these breaks are extremely important), the boys then played outside with some chalk for five minutes whilst I hung some washing out. When we came back in we completed Cosmic Kids Yoga before starting our History/Art lesson. We continued learning about early Humans and started looking at Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens, for which we created our own cave wall hand painting.
We created our hand paintings by drawing around our hands in red crayon and then tea staining the paper. We then hung them up in our ‘cave’ from yesterday.
After we made our own woolly mammoths from play dough, we also made our own Jomon pots – there were the first pots made by hunter-gathers, they were made in Japan.
After lunch we spent some more time in the garden playing on the trampoline and chalks, then when we came back in we played the Shopping List game (we absolutely love this one!) before starting our maths and finished of with another episode each of Numberblocks and Numberjacks. Next we went onto reading again – the books pretty much the same as yesterday, except Noah read Tim’s Din and we read our Agents of Feels – Feeling Scared. Last of all we played a game of our Word Jenga to conclude our reading lesson and then returned to Cosmic Kids for an episode of Zen Den. After our mindfulness we went onto Pebble 365 to look at todays photo, Noah didn’t like it so we searched backwards until we found one that he did. We found one with a dog sticking his nose out of his house at the bottom of a tree, we discussed what was happening and what might happen next before the boys filled out their Story Telling Comic Sheets.
Noahs story was very creative and goes as follows:
He sticking his tongue out(title)
‘Bonjour’ Toby said to Mummy. (drawing of Toby sticking his nose out of his house.)
Come out, Mummy thinks. (drawing of Mummy thinking.)
‘Lets do and experiment.’ Mummy said to Toby. (drawing of Mummy and Toby outside of his house.)
‘Make you disappear.’ (drawing of Mummy talking to Toby.)
Toby was sad.
‘This ice will work.’ It melts and Mummy adds some food colouring. (drawing of Mummy holding ice.)
POOOOF! Toby disappears. (drawing of Mummy throwing ice at Toby.)
Finally, we finished off our day with some Journaling, reflecting and recording what we done today. I’m super proud of both the boys today, they have worked really hard!
Download this image to print at home, I’m happy to email the original file if there’s any problems, just get in touch!
We started our day with Super Movers , before jumping into phonics and writing. Noah picked a couple of sounds from his word mat to practice and then used them in short sentences and Tommy practised writing his name.
Our written work from today.
We had a quick break for a snack and some yoga, Noah absolutely loves Cosmic Kids and does this a lot at home. After this we started are History/Art lesson and learnt about early humans, ‘Cave men’. We began by pretending our cardboard house was a cave and drew some cave drawings, the boys enjoyed drawing stick people and animals in their house. After that we used tissue paper to create a fire on the wall, we also thought about the food our early ancestors would have eaten. The boys had fun drawing a plate of food that included: Berries, nuts, seeds, leaves, grass, snails, fish, meat and eggs. This is definitely an era I would love to re-enact in full with the boys sometime.
After lunch we done some maths. Tommy drew some shapes in his book and Noah completed some Number Block questions, he practised using a ruler to draw lines and create squares. Then they watched one episode of Number Blocks and one episode of Number Jacks. Next we moved onto reading, Noah read Sid’s Pit to me whilst Tommy looked at his dinosaur book. After we read one of our Agents of Feels books (excellent books to talk about emotions with little ones) and then we spoke about how we feel today, filling out some of our How are you feeling today? activity book. Finally, I read the boys a few more pages of Romeo and Juliet (from the Shakespeare children’s collection).
After reading we returned to Cosmic Kids, but this time for Zen den. Then we logged onto Pobble365 to look at today’s picture, we discussed what we could see in the photo and then Noah drew a picture for story telling. He told me what was happening in the picture and I scribed on top, he came up with a story about an Ice Monster who couldn’t reach the nuts from a nut tree. Tommy continued looking at books. Finally, both boys wrote in their daily journals and drew a picture about what they had done today. I wrote out some words in Tommy’s book for him to trace over and then he drew a picture of shapes and said ‘I done my shapes today’. Noah wrote that we have learnt about humans and that our house was a cave, he also drew some lovely images to go with it.
We decided to get involved with the trending rainbows in the window (in response to COVID-19), as seen on groups such as #windowontheworld. However, with Easter approaching we decided to add a little twist and use our rainbow colours to create rabbits and eggs for our display.
Our finished rainbow bunnies and eggs in our window for our neighbours to see.
To start, we got some cardboard we had ready for recycling and cut out our bunny shapes. We cut the whole in their tummies very carefully so we could use that piece for the eggs. I drew out the templates in pencil before cutting, you can design yours how you like.
Once the pieces were all cut out we painted them, once they were dry we done a second coat.
Whilst the paint dried we moved on to making the rabbits tummies. We cut a piece of A4 coloured card in half, then carefully folding it in half (without creasing it) we cut lines across, leaving a 2 cm gap along the edge. Then taking more coloured card, we cut them into strips or equal width. We then carefully weaved the strips through the card, alternating each side to create a pattern.
Once we had created our weaves, we stuck them to the back of the bunnies with cello-tape. Once secured we trimmed the edges so none of the card overlapped.
Next, we finished painting our eggs by adding patterns. Finally we drew eyes, a nose and mouth on each of our bunnies.
Last of all we stuck our finished creations in our window, in the hope we will bring a smile to some passers by. We are thinking of adding a bear now to get involved with the bear hunt.
We would love to see your window displays if you are taking part!
Anyone that knows me, knows that taking the boys to Lapland was literally my ultimate lifetime goal! I’m obsessed with anything Christmas and the magic of Lapland was something I dreamt about us experiencing together.
Last year I sat down and wrote out my life goals, Lapland of course was on there as a once in a lifetime trip (lets face it, it’s not cheap). I became consumed with research, research, research, determined to find a way to afford the trip of our dreams! I mean as I have already said, this was a once in a lifetime trip for us and I wanted everything to be exactly as I wanted, even if it made the experience even more expensive. I knew I wanted to take the boys whilst they were young enough that they still fully believed in the the man in red, so I decided that 2020 was the best year so not to interrupt with schooling too much.
I started looking at packages to go for December 2020, with the intention of putting a deposit down in December 2019. I knew I wanted to meet Santa, to stay in a glass roof cabin near a lake (with the best chances of seeing the Northern Lights), to go snowmobiling, Husky sledding and on a Reindeer sleigh ride. The quotes I received were in the region of £6000+. There was no way I could afford that and I wasn’t prepared to let go of anything on my list, if I was spending thousands it had to be perfect. I had joined a Lapland holidays Facebook group and had seen a few people talking about going DIY (removing the travel agencies and building the package yourself, albeit stressful but definitely doable).
At the Apukka Resort – Aurora Cabin
With my attentions turned to DIY I spent weeks scrolling the internet, looking at different sites to book flights, accommodation, transfers and excursions. I managed to get the price down to around £4500 for December 2020. I sat down to work out money and affordability, as I still had to think of clothing and spending money. I then returned to the Facebook group for other money saving tips to see if there was anyway I could reduce the cost further, it was then I saw some conversations about last minute bookings for January 2020 . This got me thinking, I returned to google to search last minute, DIY deals. This was it, I managed to reduce my entire trip to half the price I was originally quoted:
I booked flights with easyJet leaving 12th January, returning 15th January 2020 for £668.90 (this included £7.50 bistro vouchers each on both flights, selected seats and 2 x 15kg hold luggage).
Our flight going left at 6:30 am, so with living approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes away from the airport I decided it made sense to stay at Gatwick the night before. For parking at the airport and a nights stay at the Airport Inn Gatwick, it cost £76.50 (+ £7 payable at the hotel for their overnight parking).
I used Expedia (think Nectar points and Expedia points) to book the accommodation. We got three nights at the Apukka Resort in one of their glass roof Aurora Cabins for £900.97 including breakfast. I also paid the hotel 60 Euros directly for transfers to and from the Airport.
I bought all of our thermal tops, leggings and socks and snowsuits, gloves and boots from Mountain Warehouse during a massive Black Friday sale. With everything half price or more I got everything we needed for £289.11!
I booked all of our excursions through TripAdvisor (I’ll tell you more about them below and obviously prices change regularly):
I had heard that Finland is expensive (which it is. 5.50 Euros for a 500ml bottle of Pepsi!), so for the four days I took 600 Euros. But because our excursions all included food and drinks, and our hotel included breakfast, I actually came home with 330 Euros! So including Diesel and the Dartford tunnel crossing the trip all in cost less than £3000.
Aurora Hunt, Barbeque and Photos
Photo taken by Alex at Record Travel
This was our first excursion, as we landed in Rovaniemi around lunchtime, I booked this for our first night. From start to finish the guide Alex was amazing! He made such an effort with my boys to make it really fun for them and to ensure they enjoyed it too, which they really did! Alex and his team picked us up from our hotel and took us out to a lake with other tourists. They had a fire in a wooden Kota going to keep us warm, which is also where they barbequed our sausages and served us the famous hot berry drink! They explained the phenomenon that is the Northern Lights and went around taking photos of us throughout the evening. Unfortunately we didn’t see the lights, not that night or for the rest of our trip, but hey that’s just an excuse to go back. We did get some lovely photos of us, and I loved watching the boys speak to and learn about different cultures. Lapland is unlike any other place I have visited in terms of mixed nationalities of tourists. On every excursion we met so many different people from different places all around the world, it was fantastic!
Happy Trail morning Husky Safari
Husky Sledding at Bearhill Husky
I booked this in for our first full day there as I thought the boys would still be tired from the day before travelling and the late night Aurora hunt. We got picked up from our hotel along with other tourists around Rovaniemi and taken to the Bearhill Husky farm. Like on the Aurora hunt the staff were amazing with the boys, so patient with us taking our time getting changed into their suits, and Tommy being a pickle of wearing something that wasn’t his. Once suited up we got onto a sleigh and enjoyed roughly 45 minutes on a sled pulled by a beautiful team of their dogs. As the dogs started pulling Tommy looked round at me with pure joy, love and wonder mixed into one, and all I could hear was Noah repeatedly saying ‘I love it’. They stopped half way to allow for photos and the views were literally incredible. After the Husky ride, we were taken into another Kota to warm up around a fire, given gingerbread biscuits, sausages and more hot berry juice! Finally we were taken back to our hotel to rest.
Arctic Delight – Visit to Santa’s Village and Snowmobiling to Reindeer farm
Arctic Delight tour with Safartica
I booked this excursion for our last full day as this was the excursion with the most going on. It started by us being picked up from our hotel in the morning and taken to the Safartica office in the city centre, there we met others on our excursion and were taken to The Santa Claus Village. We had a few hours there to look around, we started off by seeing Santa and having our picture and video taken with him. After that we took a stroll around, played in a park and picked up some souvenirs. We met back up with our guide Rachel and the rest of our group for lunch and was taken to a hotel in the village for a buffet (included in the tour price). After lunch we were picked up and driven to another office where they keep their snowmobiles. From there we were suited up, the boys then got on a sleigh pulled by a guide and I got on the back of a snowmobile with another tourist driving. Half way we stopped (the scenery was breathtaking) and we took photos and then switched drivers, driving that snowmobile was definitely the highlight of my trip and a memory that I will cherish, it was AMAZING! The boys clearly loved it too as I was told by another in the group that they could hear both boys in the back of the sleigh shouting ‘Go faster!’. We then continued onto the Reindeer farm where we were taken into a Kota for a traditional arctic crossing ceremony. After, we were taken on a sleigh pulled by a Reindeer and had the opportunity to take pictures before being taken inside for a fire, cinnamon rolls and (you guessed it) more hot berry juice. We received our Reindeer driving licenses (which apparently expire after five years) and were told more about Lapland and Reindeers. Finally we drove the snowmobiles back to the office (I drove all the way as the woman I was with said I was the better driver) and we got changed, to then be taken back to their main office to receive our arctic crossing certificates and be taken back to our hotel. Rachel was also fantastic and Tommy fell in love with her! Such friendly people out there.
This trip taught me a number of things:
My children obviously only get on my nerves, everyone kept telling me how amazing they were and well behaved, so I must be doing something right.
I’m seriously lucky to have such awesome little dudes, they literally loved every second of it and didn’t complain once. I did worry they might find it a bit much being so young still, but they were fantastic and would have stayed outside in the snow all day if I’d have let them. I realise taking a 3 and 4 year old might not work for every family, a lot of children would have moaned, but my little troopers made the most of it and didn’t waste a second of fun.
I worried about the flight for no reason, again they were as good as gold.
I’ve realised how important it is and how much I want to travel with the boys so they can experience different cultures.
It was worth every single penny! We have come home with the most amazing memories and photos that we will cherish forever.
The only thing I got wrong was thinking this was ever going to be a once in a lifetime trip, TAKE ME BACK! I literally have fallen in love this year, and it was with that magical place. We can’t wait to go back, obviously we need to renew our Reindeer driving licences as well!
Last year me and my two done #adayoutamonth challenge and made some amazing memories. This year I want the boys to learn more about the world, to encourage them to be understanding and opening minded towards other cultures, religions and events around the globe. We look forward to making decorations and food relating to each festivity and we really hope many of you join us, don’t forget to hashtag #exploringworldcelebrations on your Facebook and Instagram uploads!
Make use of all the extra packaging we’re all receiving this time of year and set up a lovely Christmas themed tuff tray. The bubble wrap provides lots of fun being popped and can act as ‘ice’. The polystyrene foam shapes are excellent to squish and act as ‘snow’. The tissue paper is also another ‘snow/ice’ substitute and can be scrunched and crunched. The straw can also have multiple purposes, eg. a bed if you chose a nativity scene, Reindeer food, or even a Robin’s nest maybe? I chucked in some other christmas bits including an old wreath, baubles, fake snow balls, an old star tree topper and the boys felt gingerbread house for that extra festive fun. Noah was actually super proud of himself for using the wreath, straw and baubles to make a nest! The possibilities are endless with this one! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
But honestly if you are persuing the ‘New year, new me’ attitude, then I can’t recommend this diary enough!
To be honest it almost feels insulting calling it a diary, it is so much more than that, it really is a life planner.
I bought this back in August when I was sat round my friends house beginning the application for my divorce. She has one and also couldn’t recommend this little book of motivation enough.
Well it arrived and I started filling it out, the first few pages are about life goals, how you see your future, motivation, distractions etc. Then there’s also plans on how to achieve and by when.
It was also during that visit that she encouraged me to go on a date that I had been putting off and wasn’t sure about. I finally went for it and he turned out to be a great guy. We clicked and got really well, I even messaged her thanking her for encouraging me to go.
It was a little bit ‘head over heels’ and we spoke about futures and meeting each others kids. Well during these talks it became apparent that we wanted different things, for example he wanted to get married one day and I wasn’t so keen due to how the first time worked out for me. There was also other things like dogs, location of future living etc.
Now I’m about to discuss something I NEVER talk about… my mental health. I do struggle, I have for a long time. In fact during and after my marriage breakdown it got really bad. I like to pretend I’m alot stronger than I am, and try to push through, but this time I couldn’t, my anxiety was the worst it had ever been and I was having physical symptoms, really scary physical symptoms. Eventually, after failing to self medicate and meditate, I admitted defeat and went to my doctors. I was put on tablets to help my anxiety, and gradually they were increased until I reached the maximum dose, and I started to feel better.
Now let’s fast forward to where I met this great guy, I was feeling great, the best I had in a really, really (years in fact) long time. So me being me (maybe a tiny bit stubborn) decided I could come off my tablets. I gradually started reducing my tablets. BIG MISTAKE!
I relapsed, and it was awful! I generally like to think I’m quite a chill person, I was far from chill. The doctor said each relapse is worse, he wasn’t lying!
During all this my handy little life planner (which I will never be without again) got a little bit neglected, a little bit forgotten. I turned in to someone who was far from chill, and apparently who goals, aspirations and dreams changed as well!
Now you’re probably questioning the relvance to this story, and I myself have even whilst writing it, but I promise there is a point to it.
After my not so chill self had finished scaring this guy away completely, I picked up my life planner in despair and delved into completing my next goals. Whilst looking back over my goals, I found a statement I’d written where it asked me to write what I envisioned my future to look like…
Turns out I originally envisioned my future pretty much identical to how this guy had described his own dream, and apparently completely forgot all about it.
Moral of the story is this life planner has so much potential, dont just put it down and forget about it. Fill it out and do what it says, reread it to yourself everyday to motivate you, to make the dreams a reality. No matter how bad things get or how off course, don’t forget your goals, don’t forget your dreams. Use this book to keep you on track, to remind you and drive you toward what you really want, even when things get too much and you forget.
I’ve had a very testing year and the last few months have been extremely difficult, but I’m plowing through and super proud to say I have now completed 5, nearly 6 (Lapland in January) of my life goals that I jotted down in August.
Don’t ever give up, and seriously get this book and let it be your life partner!
The boys love to draw and colour, and I honestly believe encouraging art helps to nurture the imagination.
I ordered a large paper poster roll off of Amazon and cut off pieces to cover the dining table. The boys can then come to the table as and when they feel like it throughout the day and create their designs.
Noah is doing amazingly well at recognising letters and has begun to blend sounds (super proud mamma). So to help him along with his blending, writing and spelling, I bought a cheap Jenga set off of Amazon (it was around £3/£4 with free delivery), and I wrote a selection of two and three letter words on around half of the blocks. We play the game like normal, except every time we pull out one with a word on, he practises sounding the word out and then writes it. It has fast become his favourite game! Simple, cheap and educational. The best thing is, because it’s so cheap I can buy another set once he has moved onto bigger words and just update to suit!
