Elf School

Last week we took the children to see Father Christmas at Merry Hill.

This was their second visit to see Father Christmas this Christmas.

Well we turned up at the entrance to the Elf School with the children still totally unaware what they were going to be doing, neither were we to be honest lol.

Well the Elf at the desk booked us in and took the children's name and we queued up with the other families waiting for the doors to Elf school to be flung wide open (well the curtain to be pulled back at least) so the children could begin their Elf school training.

Well the curtain was pulled back and we were invited in to Elf school.

The boys rushed straight to the front and plonked themselves on the front row so they could see exactly what was going on.

Two elf's introduced themselves to the children and got them to join in with singing some Christmas songs and played hunt for Rudolf's missing red nose which the children enjoyed.

Once this was brought to an end the children were given a certificate that said they had passed elf school and were given a funky elf ears hat as a gift for completing elf school.

Then it was the time they'd been looking forward to since they'd been told what was in store for them when they were booked in to elf school, yes time to meet the big man himself....... Father Christmas, they were so excited it was untrue to say the least.

Once inside his Grotto they told Father Christmas what they wanted for Christmas and he told them that if they were good and left him a mince pie and some milk he'd see what nice presents he could leave them in exchange, obviously they agreed, that sounded a fair exchange, cars, my little pony and super heroes for milk and a mince pie how awesome would that be.

Well they said goodbye to Father Christmas and made their way to the elf's toy workshop where they chose themselves a present from Father Christmas, this kinda took away the magic of as wrapped present from Father Christmas for me but at least they took away with them something they wanted and would enjoy playing with or in my children's case colouring in as they had each chosen a giant colouring in set.

Well that was the end of their visit to Elf school and I must say for £6 it was well worth it they not only enjoyed the elf school sing along section but most of all enjoyed seeing Father Christmas, I would totally recommend it to anyone who's taking their little ones to see Father Christmas this Christmas.

Brewers Fayre Bromsgrove

Yesterday we spent some about four and a half hours in a pub, the brewers fayre in Bromsgrove, and no alcohol was consumed between either my wife or myself.

The answer to your question of why didn't you drink? Is a simple one, it was a bloggers event for our children to try out the new Beano themed menu and play area.

Well upon arrival the children were greeted by Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, they all had hugs and a photo with them.

We were then welcomed to the event by Katy who told us what the event would entail and where to find our seats.

The first thing the kids were invited to do was see Father Christmas, obviously meeting the big man himself was fantastic they told him they'd been good (obviously we agreed lol) and told him what they wanted for Christmas and in return they each received a lovely present and had their picture taken with him.

Once we had seated ourselves and sorted ourselves out, the kids quickly removed their footwear and headed straight to the play area.

They didn't know what to do first, get their face painted, played in the soft play area or go watch Dennis the Menace cartoons whilst colouring in Christmas tree decorations and Christmas cards.

Well obviously being my three they all wanted to do something different and off in different directions they went leaving me to turn into octopus arms daddy, nothing new there lol.

Mummy kindly took L-A into the soft play area whilst I sat with the boys and coloured in some tree decorations and made mummy a Christmas card, "you're enjoying colouring that in aren't you?" one of the photographers asked me to which it replied "beats being in work lol"

After all three had some sort play time we made our way back to our table to relax before our lunch was due to be served, the kids played with their Christmas present whilst mummy and I kicked back with a relaxing Costa latte.

Lunch came and we all thoroughly enjoyed our main course and desserts, the kids mixed a bit of each of their mains together so they all had a bit of variety then the boys enjoyed their brownie sundaes whilst L-A devoured doughnuts with caramel sauce and sprinkles.

  

At this point I'd like to say how friendly and helpful all the staff were who served is at various times during this event, they couldn't help us enough when we needed them.

After we'd all eaten, the children went back into the soft play area, all three of them throughly enjoyed themselves climbing up the steps, through the various obstacles and going down the massive twisty purple slide.

Before we left and as the queue wasn't too big the kids got their face painted or in L-A case a arm tattooed.

 

Overall we all had a fantastic day at the pub, the service was great, the food was fantastic and the kids loved the play area.

Review: The Book of everyone

As you get older presents become more difficult to buy for friends and family members especially when their birthday is close to Christmas like my father in laws.

His a bit of a zany character always happy and bubbly, also having a laugh and enjoying the things he likes doing, so every year we never really know what to get him for his birthday to be honest, this year being no exception.

Well this year we've found that something different, that unusual present that he'll open and thoroughly enjoy, The Book of everyone.

The Book of everyone is a glorious celebration of any individual aged between 1 and 101, it's a beautiful personalised book celebrating someone special whether it's their birthday, anniversary or just because they deserve it.

This personalised book is fantastic, it's full of different pages of information relevant to the person who the book belongs to like "(input name) you share 50% of your DNA with a banana", "your 1952 block buster movie was The Greatest Show On Earth", the number 1 hit on the day the person was born on and finally the persons name in British Sign Language.

This book would make a perfect christmas present this year for anyone and everyone, this Christmas in collaboration with AgeUK for every book you buy it goes towards the 'gifting' of a book for an elderly person who may not receive a gift.

The Book of everyone starts at £7.50 for a digital download version through to £49.50 for the Deluxe Edition its fast to make and free to preview. You choose in the first three steps of making this book the owners name and age and who the author of the book is and their relationship to the books owner once that's complete you choose what colour cover you want and preview all the books pages then your ready to purchase the book.

I think that this product would be a lovely gift for anyone of any age, I also think that the price is very reasonable, I looked on line at other personalised books and some are cheaper and others are around the same price range but all the detail and information in this book makes it worth every penny.

I was sent this book as part of a review and all my words and opinions are mine.

Christmas craft session

Today I attended my youngest lads Christmas craft session at his nursery school.

I attended one last year with JR so I kinda knew what was in store for me.

Well i queued up with the other parents and waited patiently to collect our craft pack.

We met up with our children and made our way to a table to begin crafting.

Our craft packs contained different pieces of fabric, sticky dots, a magnet strip and a ideas sheet.

Basically it was create whatever you can out of the pack provided and have lots of fun doing so lol.

Well here's our session in the few pics I managed to take.

I'm also linking this post up with Tinsel Tuesdays

Not so dancing on ice

Wednesday we tried our hands at ice skating, well our feet anyhows lol, from my big daddy feet through to L-A and her dinky feet we all had a blast at it.

I titled this post not so dancing on ice which is certainly true for me as I was more like bambi on ice I was sliding everywhere.

My wife had been invited to attend Webb's Garden Centre media event and in turn we were invited to go ice skating, how fab we both thought, something we had never done before as a couple or as a family.

The only time I've ever been ice skating before was when I was about 12 years old, and one of the lads I was with fell face first on the ice and knocked his top front teeth out.

Well we hadn't told the kids what we were doing we just picked JR up from school and made our way over to Webb's Garden Centre.

The kids were so excited to see all the bright lights and Christmas scenery in the entry way to the store.

Once inside the kids were invited to write their Christmas letter to Santa telling him what they want for Christmas, they posted it in the post box and now they have to just sit back and await his response.

As we were early for the ice skating session we had a look round the store, showing the kids all the animals in the animal corner.

We took them through the Christmas section where they pointed at all the lights and decorations in excitement, we even got to take a christmas photo in a lovely carriage pulled by reindeers.

Now it was time for ice skating, we made our way round to the ice rink where we bumped into Joy from Pinkoddy and her lovely family, we put on our ice skates and waited patiently to go onto the ice.

I was worried about me falling on my ass as much as my kids falling over to be honest so we decided to help the whole situation out by hiring a banana aid which the kids sat on whilst I pushed them round plus that stopped me falling on my ass many times to be fair.

Well all my kids at different points of the session found massive amounts of bravery as they all skated by themselves at some point. Even little L-A showed daddy how to ice skate properly to the point she refused to hold anyones hand.

By the end of the session even my wife was skating round like a natural, well I won't say Jane Torvill has anything to worry about well apart from moving out of the way as my wife as she couldn't stop lol.

As big massive thank you must go out to Pinkoddy for the help and encouragement she offered at various points to my wife and kids who thanks to her found inner bravery to go off and skate unaided cause I was useless on the ice and couldn't stay on my own two feet let alone helping them stay on theirs.

Once we had finished the skating we all chilled out with a lovely chocolate muffin and hot chocolate which we all fully enjoyed.