Yule log and door wreath started

Time is moving so fast, I'm really behind in the seasonal preparations, I've managed to get the Yule log inside and partially decorated as you can see in the above photograph. The wood has been carefully selected to reflect our current situation and my husband has made a hole for the candle. I have decorated it with small clippings of holly and ivy from our garden, I need to add a few more things but for now that is as far as I have got. I was hoping that other family members might add a little of something they like, my daughter did add a couple of white pebbles and a drawing of a four leaf clover but she has since moved them on somewhere else. I will post another photograph when it is finished so you can see the end result.

  This is our door wreath, I got the basic ring with the circle of twigs for a pound locally about six years ago. It has lasted very well and I still really like the simplicity of the twig style ring but this year I thought I would enhance it slightly with nature. I have carefully wound in a couple of trimmings from our garden of holly and ivy, I could have gone overboard and made a huge holly wreath but I really love my little holly bush by the front door and would much rather it stayed alive. I intend to wire on a few more pine cones as we have loads of these and maybe some fir tree clippings too, but so far I'm quite impressed with my handy work, definitely OK for hardly any cost. I will post another photograph of the end result so you can judge for yourself.

Pine Cone Trees

   This is the first of our Yule / Christmas crafts this year, little pine cone trees. It is very easy, so even the smallest of the little folk can try this one. We always find ourselves with loads of pine cones this time of year, collected from many nature walks and displayed on our seasonal nature table. So finding something to use them for is always on my mind.
 

   First, the children selected a good shaped pine cone and painted it green, these were then left to dry while we prepared the pots. Anything pot like can be used here, (bottle lids for example) but we have used old cotton reels and wrapped a piece of sparkly paper around them. My husband then glued the two together as you can see in the above  photograph.

   The next stage is also very easy, though a little messy, adorn with your chosen decorations. As you can see above my children have used as many sparkly things as they could find, totally raided the craft cupboards. We dabbed with glue then added sequins, jewels and glitter, of course! My daughter even found a different way of getting sequins and glitter on the little trees, smear with glue and roll the pine cone in them, seems to have worked well.

   I think the final effect is very magical, they look so cute on the window ledge. The children had a really good time decorating the little trees and are quite impressed with their craft work. This craft can very easily be adapted to suit any age child and we hope you have as much fun as we did making them.

Quick Update

    December has roared in with lots of snow and freezing cold weather, and for the last week or so we have been stuck inside due to stomach bugs and bad weather. Only venturing outside to play with the snow in short bursts as it is so cold. We have been getting ready for the Yule / Christmas craft sessions and choosing which things we will try to make. Very exciting stuff!

   I still haven't improved much with the crochet, I made the above headband for my daughter, but not much else. I think maybe using the cheap wool that has been in the craft cupboard for years is probably not a good idea, so before I carry on with more I'll probably buy some of the good wool.

     With the onset of bad weather our thoughts have been with the birds that visit our garden, my husband and the children have been busy making bird feeders from coconut shells as you can see above, and various other ways of feeding the birds. If you would like to read more on our bird feeders you can check out my husbands blog here. Last year we made bird treats by rolling pine cones in peanut butter then in bird seed, which they loved, both the birds and the children.

   My husband has also been making lots of these little wooden plaques for me, various designs and all from recycled materials. Isn't he handy and thoughtful and just plain lovely. If you would like to read more about these and see all the other designs have a quick look here .

   

    Well, that was a very quick round up but I will be back here very soon with some of our Yule / Christmas crafts. We are intending to make as much as possible ourselves, some hand made things make the season much more magical and will bring many lovely memories for future years.

My Son's Surgery

   A year ago now, when he was 5, I mentioned to the Doctor that something wasn't quite right with my son's feet, half expecting him to lecture me on the pros and cons of having the correct fitted footwear. But to my shock he referred us to a specialist at the hospital as he didn't think they were quite right either! The specialist confirmed there was a problem, he had a condition called Pes cavus but informed us that there would be an underlying cause, it's just a matter of finding out what that was. A MRI scan followed to see if he had a spinal tumour or a deformity but he was given the all clear. This has been a very scary time for us all, as you can imagine.

casts

   However, he would need immediate surgery on his feet, due to lack of muscle formation and an overly taut tendon underneath his foot. The high arches in his feet would just continue to get worse, they already seemed to curl right up. After much anguished thought, discussion with Doctors and internet research (which didn't have many answers) the surgery went ahead in the spring. They also took a biopsy from his calf to test for the most common causes of pes cavus.

biopsy

After three weeks of hobbling around, the casts came off and for the first time we could see the scars left by the surgery. Above is the biopsy, these photographs were taken immediately after the casts were removed, before washing, so the redness on his skin is from the surgery.

left foot

This is the bottom of his feet, above is the left foot and below the right foot, as you can see from the photographs his feet still curl up especially the left one, poor little man has been in a lot of pain too.

right foot

  The Doctors seemed very happy with the results, but advised us that he would need many more surgeries in the future. The biopsy was inconclusive, so we still do not know what has caused this problem, the specialist remains convinced that there is an underlying cause and is talking about the possibility of further tests and electrical testing of the muscles some time when he is older. 

   The last few months have been very stressful, my son has had to get used to walking a slightly different way on his "new" feet and he has had a lot of pain when he over exerts himself. Something the Doctor said troubles me too, he said "make sure he plays football, climbs trees and has fun now..."  is it just his way of saying he is fit to go and live life to the fullest or that he may not be able to do these things in the future...?  It has had me wondering and worrying every day since the operation.

    I just wish we had some idea of what we are facing, not knowing is awful, so I have written this post not only to let you in on our lives but also in the hope that we could connect with other parents who may have already been through or are now going through similar problems, so that we can share experiences as we found so little information on the internet regarding this problem.

Happy Birthday

Today is my husbands birthday, so I would just like to pause for a second to say Happy Birthday to him, I hope your day is as magical as your presence has made my life. I love you for all time, a true soul mate xx 

a love that even time will lie down and be still for

-quote from the film practical magic

This is the birthday cake I made today, with the childrens help, of course, the leaves are to symbolise his love of nature and gardening. It is filled with the wild plum jam we made from foraged fruit and to top of the evening we had a glass of our own homemade blackberry wine. perfect.

Pond Dipping

 

   This year we went pond dipping twice, the children love spending time with nature and we have spent a lot of time exploring this as a part of our everyday life this year. The possibilities for learning are endless and so is the fun. We went pond dipping in the Spring and again in the Summer, this post is a little late as we were going to go again in the Autumn, to record any seasonal changes, but time just seems to be flying by and the weather has been really bad. As you can see above my daughter caught herself in the net, by the look of the big smiles this was also fun!

   We chose a spot within walking distance of where we live, which just happens to be a country park, nature reserve and educational centre. This little bridge seemed the perfect spot, so we used the same place for both trips. Don't worry no creatures were harmed and all were returned safely to the place they were found. well, apart from the tiny red worm... which got eaten by the demoiselle larva... but that's just part of a natural life cycle.

spring

   Above are a sample of the water creatures we caught on our Spring pond dip. we didn't catch as much in spring but I have put on a photograph of some of the bigger things, a demoiselle and a true damselfly larva.

summer

    As you can see the summer pond dip caught many more water creatures than the spring one. Still the same sorts of things just many more of them. More larva and definitely more snails. On the summer excursion we also noticed that there were many empty skins of the larva on the bridge, where they had left the water, shed their skins and flew off.

    My son has really been enjoying all the time we have spent in nature this year, it is one of his biggest interests, so we intend to continue with more time spent exploring nature and the natural world around us. He has picked up so much this year, as it is a subject he loves so much, not just about the creatures and their life cycles but also food chains / webs, evolution, environmental science and habitat conservation, plus so much more in between. We intend to start a nature journal in the new year, to record as many things as possible from our area as they change throughout the year. A record to keep forever.

Remains of the Pumpkin

We have finally got through the rest of the pumpkin flesh that was scraped out of the lanterns made for Halloween. I made this spicy pumpkin soup with a difference... as it was a spooky time of year I have added a dumpling to the bowl, to give a hint that it may contain brains... not really!  A small amount of crispy bacon and onion has been added to the top for added flavour (or just onion for vegetarians) It made a very warming dinner.

 We also made pumpkin scones and these were so yummy they were all gone within minutes of coming out of the oven. I used my home made pumpkin puree for these replacing any liquid I used in the scone recipe. It was a bit of an experiment as I hadn't made these before, but it was a very big success... and that was the last we saw of the little Halloween pumpkins... Till next year (insert evil laugh here).