The Willows Cricket Club Christmas Party

Today we attended "The Willows Cricket Club Christmas Party". Every year they hold a party for children with special needs and their families. They invite all the families that attend the Champion Centre. It was a real treat to go out as a family. We realized we hadn't done that in ages.
Pony rides were first on the requests for our children.

Thankfully they were not concerned about what shoes the children were wearing. :-)

We had to quickly get Ruth's pony tail out her hair so that the helmet could fit on her head. :-)
Hezekiah had loads of fun on the big jumping castle. He kept heading back there.

Asher enjoyed it too. We had her glasses with, so kept putting those one when she went on. She was on and off so much that eventually we just left her shoes on her.
They had these balls around too which Asher enjoyed so much. Later in the afternoon they came out with huge bags full of them and handed them out. So we were really thankful to be able to bring one home to add to her ball collection.
There was free popcorn (which our children enjoyed), candy floss (which they had to avoid because of the colouring), cold drink (avoid), ice lollies (we let them have lemonade ones - hoping the reaction wouldn't be too bad - at least they didn't have food colouring in), sausage sizzle (avoid) and loads of lollies (avoid).
It was especially hard for Hannah to avoid most of the food, but as she is the one that reacts the most, we had to keep to the plan. We did compromise a bit with the ice lollies (and suffered a bit from that).

The lady doing face painting was excellent. She had a very long line of children waiting though. I think she just put way too much effort and time into each one. She did create masterpieces though.
Hannah had specifically asked for a purple butterfly. Is't it just amazing.
Ruth didn't have a special request, so the lady chose these lovely tropical colours to match her bright green dress. It was just lovely.
Ruth was really fortunate too as she was the last one that got done before "Santa" arrived. And she switched to balloon creations for a while, so a few children missed out on the face painting.
Asher going up for a present. They had asked us to let them know the basic age brackets of the children (0-5, 6-9, and 10 and over) but they had presents sorted for each age. So Asher got a 2 year old toy - a plastic duck for the bath. She sat happily in her pram for a while winding it up and watching the feet move. It was a perfect present for her.

Hezekiah was very excited about going up. He got a lovely animal puzzle and animal dominos.
I missed getting a photo of Hannah. She got a lovely long bubble blower and a beautiful pen.
There were so many 8 years olds that Ruth had to patiently wait quite a while for her turn. She had made him a little gift and so was excited about giving that to him.

Everyone was so surprised to have someone giving Santa a gift, that they stopped for photos. :-)
Ruth got a Friendship braclet maker and a design ruler. What perfect presents for her.
Rachel was a bit shy to go up for a present. There were ones for older children though and although she didn't think she would get anything that should would want, she got a great camping torch. It has a built in stand and you can swivel the light, so you can stand it up and point the light wherever you need it. Very handy indeed.
She also got a Kazoo. We all had a go at "playing" it on the way home and that created loads of fun and laughter. I have to admit that I was the worst at it. It will be a nice thing to have with at camps ect, as it really is fun.
After the presents Hezekiah managed to get a balloon sword. And again, the lady put so much effort in and it was the most detailed sword hilt I had ever seen.
It was a really special day and we were very grateful for the invitation.

This evening Rachel and Ruth sang Silent Night at church. Thanks Holly for snapping this picture for me. I heard that it went really well. Rachel was a bit embarrassed though because she realized she sang the verses the wrong way around (starting with the last verse). I asked how Ruth managed to follow along, but she obviously just picks up on where Rachel is going and just sings along. Ruth harmonises beautifully. I need to try and record it at some point.