"9 more sleeps!"

The first thing Lillie said to me this morning was "9 more sleeps!" I hope those 9 more sleeps will pass by as quickly as possible as I fear she may burst with excitment! It has also started snowing here. Only lightly though. However, the forecast says that Friday will bring heavy snow. But this has not stopped Lils from checking outside at least every 10 minutes or so. It would be lovely to have a white Christmas & in the meantime would take her mind off of those sleeps left before Santa creeps in on the 24th.
Tomorrow evening is the last Girls' Brigade session before the New Year. Lillie has so enjoyed going & I am delighted with how well she has fitted in & had so much fun. She is looking forward to the Christmas party tomorrow so no doubt will want to look her best for that. Last week she brought home the bits & bobs she has created since starting. So Ive added those to this posting. Calendar for next year...A little Christmas dec & a bracelet which we have hanging on our mantlepiece garland...

Also on the same garland is this beautiful picture frame. I decided to add a pic of Louis & Lils taken on holiday in Norfolk in 2004...

We have also been busy with creating some festive decs using salt dough and all things messy!

Rollin', rollin', rollin'....Now for the pastry cutters...

After their blast in the microwave...

Lillie lovin' getting all messy...

Some for under the cupboards in the kitchen...

... and some more...

These little beauties are now taking pride of place in the kitchen & living room doorways...

We have some festive fridge magnets to do at some point this week. Once they are finished Lillie will be wrapping some as gifts for a few of our neighbours.

Lillie has also spent time reading to me more this week, which is always a pleasure. She is constantly improving. She also has the subtitles switched on when she watches a DVD. She says it helps her with reading & there is the spelling side to it I guess. I think its a great little idea that she came up with. If it works for her, then it can only be a good thing in my opinion.

We have also made snowflakes using tissue paper. I havent got round to taking some pics of those yet as Ive been busy with writing a short piece of fiction for my next TMA. Its going ok but Im not confident with sending it in electronically. Im using StarOffice which I downloaded from the OU but somehow I cannot using the right format file successfully. Its all gibberish to me. I have considered asking my tutor if I can send her a hard copy. But the whole point of eTMAs is for staying up-to-date in the techno world, longer time to hand a TMA in, shorter time getting it back (not in my experience!) more practical and so on. I really dont like this method though & wished we had the choice. All my other courses thankfully allowed for hard copy. Just hope my tutor says 'yes' if I do ask. Oh well... time to fly!