Posts in category: Personal

The Christmas festivities have begun!

Last week the children recorded their Christmas concerts at school, and I can’t wait to see the end result.  All I know is that Nerys was a ‘person from Bethlehem’ and her class sang a song or two, while Rhys had the roles of a narrator and Angel Gabriel which he was so excited about.

At the weekend things really got festive for the children as they went to see the lights at Margam Park.

They went with their grandparents and it sounds like it was a really magical evening.  Made even better with the addition of a giant toasted marshmallow for Nerys!

So this week’s Living Arrows photo is courtesy of my mother-in-law who snapped a few fab pictures of the children as they explored everything.

Nerys and I also did a quick trip into town on Saturday morning to get new Christmas jumpers and PJs for her and Rhys, so they’re now pretty much all set for the next few weeks.

The school have arranged for each class to sing one of their Christmas songs at different times through the next week, outdoors in the yard so us parents can go and watch them.  I’m not entirely sure how well it’ll work but I do really appreciate how hard the staff are working to make this Christmas as much fun as they can for the children.

This coming week will also feature a trip to Gower Fresh Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree, and then another trip there at the weekend for the children to visit Father Christmas.

Then it’ll really feel like Christmas has started.

How on earth are we suddenly less than a month away from Christmas?!

All of a sudden it’s just around the corner and I’m feeling overwhelmingly unprepared.  I’m planning a trip to town this week to try and get a good chunk of the present shopping done.

While I’m writing lists of all the things that need to be done in the next few weeks, the children are busy making their own lists of all the things they’re looking forward to.

Nerys in particular is really excited about the next few weeks.

She’s counting down the days until the elf on the shelf comes back after I finally caved and let one into the house last year!

She’s also been digging out our Christmas books and is trying her best to hold out just a little bit longer before watching the Good Luck Charlie Christmas special on Disney+.

The children have both been busy over the last week practicing their songs and lines for the school Christmas performances.

It’s being videoed again this year for us parents to watch at home, which I think takes the pressure off everyone a little bit.  Although I do really miss going to watch them perform on the stage in the school hall.

The video is being done this week and then the children will be on the home straight to the Christmas holidays.

Anyone else suddenly feeling the pressure to get everything sorted before the end of term rolls around?!

After a spell of poorliness and pcr tests, it was really nice to have a pretty normal week last week with everyone back at school.

The children both still seemed a bit worn out at the start of the week, but were happy to be at school and able to go to drama class and scouts.

It was Rhys’ first week at scouts after moving up from cubs, and he seems to have mixed feelings about it.  I think it was a really quite different experience from what he was used to at cubs, and it’s always strange when you move to a new situation with lots of people you don’t know.

So we’ve agreed to give it a few more weeks before making any decisions about if he wants to keep it up long-term.

Nerys is still really enjoying her drama class and we’re all really looking forward to seeing the short show that they’re working on for Christmas.

It looks like a really fun show from what I’ve seen and I can’t wait to see all the children up on the stage enjoying themselves.

I took this week’s living arrows photo at the weekend when Nerys and I left the boys at home and went out for a little trip to Cwmdonkin park.

The weather had been a bit wet overnight so we weren’t sure if she would be able to play on much at the park, but actually when we got there it was all fine.  So she had a great time on the swings and the roundabout, before we both got a bit chilly and decided to head back home.

We spent the walk home talking about our plans for the next month, from visiting Father Christmas with Nana and Pops, to driving to Kent to see my parents, my siblings and all the cousins on my side of the family.

I’m just keeping everything crossed that nothing happens over the next few weeks that stops these things from happening.  Everything got closed down so suddenly last year, part of me is really quite wary of planning too much and pinning too much hope on the plans we have made.

Anyone else feeling that way this year?

Well last week was a bit of a write-off.

The children woke up on Monday under the weather and things never really picked up from there.  The whole family ended up taking PCR tests in the middle of the week, after coughs and high temperatures made an appearance.

Luckily the results came back negative for all four of us, so by the weekend we were all free to leave the house again.  So on Saturday Rhys and I went out for a walk through the parks and down to the beach.

We were only out for a little over an hour, but I think we both needed the blast of fresh air after being in the house all week.

Rhys spent the whole time telling me all about the computer games he’s been playing and I think he really enjoyed the one on one time with me to talk about the things he’s interested in.

We’re all still feeling a bit run down with whatever this cold-y bug is, but I’m really hoping we can have a more normal week with the children back in school from today.  I’m looking at the calendar and realising that there’s not actually that long until Christmas comes along, and it would be great if they didn’t have to miss any more school between now and then.

I’m not completely banking on it though.  The rules here at the moment are that if anyone in the house develops a cough or a temperature then we all have to isolate until we get a negative PCR test, and with it being cough and cold season I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we have to do it.

The last month has been a bit of a mixed bag for the children, from the fun of the half term holiday to the not-so-much-fun of coughs and colds and covid tests.

They’ve both been unwell this last week, with general poorliness turning into coughs and temperatures meaning we all had to stay put at home and take pcr tests.  Luckily they all came back negative and I’m hoping we can all get back to the normal routine next week.

Things were definitely more fun back at the end of October during the holidays.

Rhys and Nerys got to spend time with their cousins who we hadn’t seen for around 2 years, which they really loved.  They did a pumpkin carving activity at Gower Fresh at Poundffald farm and we all went swimming together at the LC which is always so much fun.

At the end of the half term week I took the children into town to have their eyes tested and then we headed over to the Spooks in the city event in Castle Square.

We joined in with the pumpkin parade, did a pumpkin trail around the town centre, and then Rhys and Nerys had a ride on the carousel.

It was a fab way to end the week and the children both enjoyed taking part in the spooky activities.

Now we’re (fingers crossed) over the worst of this latest bout of poorliness I’m looking forward to what the next month has in store.

Nerys will be working hard at her drama class, preparing for a little production in December.  It’s the first time she’s done anything like it and she’s so excited to be part of it.

Rhys is also excited to be moving up to Scouts on Monday and seeing what sort of activities they get up to there.

The thing they’re both most looking forward to though is, big surprise, Christmas.  And hopefully the next 6 weeks will be full of festive fun, from alternative school Christmas concerts, to visits to see Father Christmas and getting together with family for the first time in a long time.

We had a really lovely half term last week, just what the children needed after a busy start to the new year at school.

I think we managed a good balance of doing things and not doing things so everyone was happy.  We had a quiet day yesterday, just venturing out to pick up a few bits from the local shops and take these photos in the park.

We had a busier day on Saturday so a quiet day was just what we needed.

On Saturday I took the children into town to have their eyes tested and then we wandered along to Castle square for the ‘spooks in the city’ event that was being held there.

We had fun doing the pumpkin trail, visiting different shops to find the pictures they had displayed for Halloween, and took part in a little parade with all the other children who were dressed up in spooky costumes.

We don’t tend to do much for Halloween at home, so the children enjoyed this chance to dress up.  I did get some chocolate treats for us all to enjoy on the 31st though, and found some Halloween word searches and puzzles online that I printed for Rhys and Nerys to do.

I also found an escape room challenge that I printed out to do at home which we all really enjoyed.  Some of the puzzles were quite tricky but the look on Nerys’ face when she figured them out was just perfect.

Earlier in the week the kids also had some spooky fun with their cousins, carving pumpkins at Poundffald Farm.  They really enjoyed themselves, especially Nerys who loved getting to dance with Evie and Mal from Descendants who were there entertaining everyone.

The rest of half term was a mix of swimming, haircuts, shoe shopping, and meals with Steve’s side of the family, as well as a fair bit of taking it easy at home, avoiding the wind and the rain.

It was just what the children needed to leave them raring to go for a new term at school.

I’m not entirely sure where the last two months have gone.

For the first time in a long time I missed a month of taking a family photo for the me and mine project.  It just didn’t happen in September.  Between the wet, windy weather and all of us feeling a bit run down we just didn’t manage to get out and take a picture together.

So I was really determined to get one done for October.

We left it until the very end of the month but we did it.

We ventured out to the park during a break in the rain on Saturday and quickly snapped a photo.

You can’t really tell in the photo, but it was so windy while we were out and we were pretty much the only people out and about in the park.

It felt so different from when Nerys and I were there during half term and the place was full of children playing and people walking their dogs.

The break over half term was just what we all needed after a busy few months getting back into the swing of the school routine.  The children did really well last term though, and their teachers had really lovely things to say about them both when we had parents’ evening a few weeks ago.

Now we’re ready to jump back into another term with, hopefully, lots to look forward to.

Our school are doing an immersive learning week for the first week of this new term which I think Rhys and Nerys will really enjoy.  Rhys’ class will be learning all about bonfire night and Nerys’ class will be focusing on art and science, so they should be doing some really fun bits and pieces all week.

Then it won’t be long before we start gearing up for Christmas.  I’m not sure if the school will be able to do Christmas concerts this year, but I don’t think it’s looking that hopeful at the moment.  Last year though the children all learnt songs and poems and performed them in a video that was sent home to the parents that was actually really lovely.

So whatever they end up doing this year it’ll still be fun for the children to do and the parents to watch.