playing with my toys

I was able to play with my new Christmas toys today- after nearly 2 days in bed with Kit's stomach bug! Thanks Kit- I know it's the season of giving, but REALLY? Fortunately I have a good book and the kids have been fairly occupied with their new "toys" (games and wii fit2). I got this fantastic book. It was actually a book I asked for after seeing the gorgeous photos, and it's as good as I'd expected.

First time I'd painted in MONTHS, but so nice to have lovely photos to do it from.

And I got Ella making this. The girl takes after her mother and is hopeless with her times tables (actually ALL my kids have struggled with them). So this looked like a good way to involve the creative side of her brain.

I think she had more fun filling in the space around the circles with various drawings of animals. She got a few "how to draw" books for Christmas (at her request) and has been enjoying playing with those...

Unfortunately I've been so unwell (and not eating for 1 1/2 days tends to leave you feeling a bit weak) so I haven't been able to take my new Christmas ipod to the gym yet. It looks like this:

Pretty! I even got my name engraved on the back so none of the kids would get any ideas. I'm having lots of fun putting music on it, but I really want to christen it at the gym... I do have to fight the boys for itunes time as they are all shuffling around their music and downloading album covers (the important stuff).