Well it’s been a whirlwind year, yet again. Can’t believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Ava is very excited and keeps talking about how many sleeps! Tom is walking now, although still a little wobbly. We’ve had a really busy few weeks with work and a little bit of play too 😉. Yes, my maternity leave is well and truly over and I’m back at work and travelling quite a lot. Which is tough when David is often away too. But we cope with the help of my amazing parents! 

We’ve been to Elf school at West Boldon Lodge again this year, which is a lovely event which  we went to along with some very good friends and their kids. The kids had to do different activities in each room to collect stamps in their elf passport. There was a little walk through the forest to meet Jasmine the fairy and luckily it was a beautiful sunny crisp winters day. It all finished with a visit to meet Father Christmas, who knew all about Ava’s princess party and what she wanted for Christmas which she was very impressed about. Then he read them all a story and gave them all a small live Christmas tree to plant at home. 

   
 
After Elf school we went to the Quality Hotel in Boldon for a Christmas lunch which was great value. There was a three course Christmas meal and a disco, balloon modeller and lots of games and activities to keep the kids happy. They absolutely loved it and the food was pretty good too. 

  
After that is was back the The Connolly’s for a tonne of cheese and crackers! A very festive day all round. 

The weekend after was a more adult weekend and was in fact Davids birthday present. We were out on the Friday night for a friends 40th in Southwark which was lovely to see the London crew. 

  
Then the day after we were at The Saturday Kitchen Experience ran by Cactus Kitchens the production company who create the show.