Me & Mine: A Family Portrait Project 2015 - December

We are joining in this month again with the Me & Mine Portrait Project with the lovely hosts Lucy, Katie, Jenny, Fritha, Lucy, and Alex .

We took hundreds of photos and lots videos in December to document our Christmas festivities for Vlogmas 2015 but only a couple family photos. The above photo was taken on my birthday a couple days before Christmas. It was a beautiful day with sunshine but rather windy up at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. There is the elevated seating area that allows for the camera to be placed at eye level and timer was set.

REVIEW: The Gruffalo Live London Christmas 2015

We were very excited when we are invited to attend a performance of The Gruffalo Live at the Vaudeville Theatre, London. The Gruffalo is one of Little Ladybug's favourite books and she probably knows most of the words by heart.  Our baby son was also welcome to come and we were all looking forward to this family adventure in London, England.

On the Twelfth Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Twelfth Day of Christmas - I Believe in Santa" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from My Thoughts on Things.

Please head over to Mummies Waiting for her Twelfth Day of Christmas post. Enter daily the below giveaway for the "Christmas Giveaway Grand Prize" from the #12DaysofParenting sponsors.

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On the Eleventh Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Eleventh Day of Christmas - Tips to Help You Get Through the Christmas Season" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from The Mad House of Cats.

There is some additional pressure to create a Christmas filled with magic and fun this year because this is the 1st year that my daughter understands and has expectations for Christmas Day. I also have been really busy creating daily vlogs for #Vlogmas2015 and blogging so I had less time to prepare for the Christmas festivities. 

On the Tenth Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Tenth Day of Christmas - How I Thought I would Parent vs How I Actually Parent" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from Joanna Victoria.

My wise Mother told me pre-children to not say "I would NEVER let my child do that... or my child would NEVER act that way ..." because you may be surprised. When I became a Mother, I had this new sense of respect for my parents. I always believed that they were amazing parents but I did not understand the challenges they faced raising my siblings and me until I became a parent. 

On the Eighth Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Eighth Day of Christmas - Christmas Trees" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from Cookies and Cwtches.

We stopped by a Tree Festival at our local church. My daughter loved running around looking for cuddly (stuffed) toys as part of scavenger hunt. Below a selection of trees including a tree Little Ladybug help make ornaments for and decorate. 

On the Seventh Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Seventh Day of Christmas - Cooking with Children" is the today's topic for
#12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from Suburban Mum.

In the ideal world this blog post would be showing the Christmas cookies that I made with Little Ladybug today but unfortunately we had little bit of "flour explosion" in the kitchen. While I was have some snuggles with Baby Brother, Little Ladybug decided to make it snow flour in the kitchen.

On the Fifth Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015 - Christmas Crafting

"On the Fifth Day of Christmas - A Christmas Craft" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from Monkey and Mouse.

We love doing Christmas crafting in our family. The last couple weeks we have been busy doing some easy crafts from Wilkinson but loved making some gingerbread play dough a couple weeks ago.

Christmas Tree Bunting with Prestigious Textiles

I was thrilled to receive some beautiful fabric from Prestigious Textiles to create some Christmas Tree Bunting as part of Prestigious Textiles Advent Calendar 2015.

The Christmas Tree Bunting that I decided to create requires no machine sewing (a little hand sewing optional) and can easily be done within a hour. I chose to make the bunting double-sided so the gorgeous fabric would be shown on both sides if hung in a window or staircase railing.

On the Fourth Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Fourth Day of Christmas - Our Family Traditions" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from Life with Baby Kicks.

Before I had children, I visited Harrods during the Christmas Time and was very curious about the Santa Grotto. Unless you have tickets, you are not allowed to wander around this magical place. It was not a hard decision when my daughter's first Christmas was approaching that we would be visiting Father Christmas at Harrods.

Siblings - December 2015

Joining in with the last "Siblings" Photography Project for 2015. I love watching Big Sister's and Little Brother's relationship during the last year.

It has now been a year some Little  Ladybug was given the title of "Big Sister". She has moments of wanting Baby Brother to leave her toys alone but majority of the time she loves having her Baby Brother around. She calls him "My Bubba" and often says "He is just TOO cute!". 

On the Third Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Third Day of Christmas - How Becoming A Parent Has Changed Christmas for Me" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from Mummy and Her Mini.

I feel that children bring the magic into Christmas. Before my Little Ladybug (LL) came along I was finding that Christmas was enjoyable day with family but it had lost the magic that I felt as a child. Since I spent most of my life in the USA, I often would normally work on Christmas Eve and would only have Christmas Day off before heading back to office or retail store on December 26th.

I could feel the magic coming back to the Christmas season as we prepared for Little Ladybug's 1st Christmas. We continued my family's tradition of making sure she would have her own Christmas tree. We spent Thanksgiving with my family in the USA that year so I made felt ornaments with my Mother for Little Ladybug's Tree.

Wicked Uncle Wish List 2015

As a mother of a very inquisitive and imaginative daughter, I am always looking for gift ideas for her birthday and Christmas. Recently I won a voucher for Wicked Uncle. Wicked Uncle is an online toy store with the "a mission to provide brilliant toys for boys and girls".

I enjoyed looking around the online store. The website is very user friendly and loved the idea that toys can viewed by the age of child.

On the Second Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

"On the Second Day of Christmas - My List to Santa This Year" is the today's topic for #12DaysOfParenting. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from Joanna Victoria Blog.

If I was writing a letter to Santa today it would be very different that several years ago before my sweet children were born. Becoming a mother has completely changed my life for the better.

On the First Day of #12DaysOfParenting 2015

This Christmas, I am taking part in #12DaysOfParenting that has been organised by Jade of Mummies Waiting.  With over 60 bloggers being involved it is a way to get some tips and share parenting experience with each other this Christmas season with some giveaways thrown in. The 12 Days starts today (Sunday 13th of December) and new topic theme every day until Christmas. Welcome to my blog if you are hopping over from SpiceLifeLaugh blog.

Today's Topic: "On the First day of Christmas - Surviving the holidays without tots groups/with very busy tots groups". 

2015 Book Advent Calendar with LadyBug Home

Christmas 2014 when I was cuddling my newborn baby boy I came across the idea of creating a book advent calendar from fellow blogger Oh So Amelia. We love advent calendars in our home and often have several of them to count down the days to Christmas.

This year, I decided to gather together my daughter's winter and Christmas themed books. I discovered that we have collected a rather large collection the last couple years and had enough to create an Advent Calendar of 24 days of books. I will wrap the books up and each day my daughter can rediscover one of her books.

#25FestiveDays December 2015 Instagram Photo Challenge

I have decided to join Angela of Garden, Tea, Cakes & More for her Festive Instagram Photo Challenge #25FestiveDays. This is fun way to make a collection of photos of the Christmas Season. Here is the daily themes and details of how to join are below.