fairy land/ smartie game

My Little "One" had a great birth day, even though she still isnt quite 100%. We still had lots of fun at home and had fun celebrating this wonderful little girl :)

Jumeirah decorated her cake.... " one for me, one for the cake" style.

Just goes to show that you can use spral oil when you run out of the real stuff :)

( I cant really cook either)

We played the Smartie Game, something I used to play at preschool for a special activity and it was very well loved :) Its a good game for encouraging turn taking, colour recognition and chocolate appreciation.

How to Play

Get a small plate and put out one of each colour of smartie. Ask the child ( if you have a group of children pick someone to go first) to close their eyes while you pick a colour. Point to the colour for the benefit of other children playing. Ask the child to open their eyes and guess which colour you chose. If they get it wrong, they get to eat it!!

Jared and Jumeirah loved this game and it took great patience for my two chocoholics to wait their turn but they played it really well.




This afternoon, as it is STILL raining ( three days and counting) I took good use of our under outdoor area to get my kids outside. I gave jumeirah a tub, some small beads, two fairy houses I made out of an old milk bottle and an juice bottle, some playdough, a few wooden trees and her princess dolls.
And we made this.



Ok it doesnt really look that appealing but they LOVED it. We have been really into play areas this week, especially with the beach in a box and yesterdays trucks in a box. And I would love to get some more props to go with it but they are really loving the simple style we are creating and have spent ages playing.

And thats really all that matters :)

banner take 2/ buttons for babes/lego

Another neighbour, this time found inside the house. I almost grabbed him to pass to Amahli in the bath, when I realised that the " toy" was breathing. Not good...

Oh, we have had another hard day today. My poor babe is in such pain... two huge front teeth trying to bust themselves through, a sore throat,an impressive sounding bark of a cough and shes trying to rip her ears off as well. Shes not really in a good way :(

And so, in order to NOT have her on my hip the whole day, I got out my button collection. Yes, I know, babes and buttons are not a good mix. But it was something that Jumeirah loved as a little one and I knew I would be watching her closely.. and so I gave her a sorting tray to put them into and let her loose with a whole box of buttons.





And she loved it :) For just a short time (about 15 minutes, long enough for me to sew yet another pair of shorts... please wear off strange addiction, I am growing weary of you) she was completely engrossed in picking handfuls of buttons out and dropping them into the sorting tray. Actually she came back a couple of times today to do this so I left them out. And she only tried to eat two of them :)

I did something different for Jared and Jumeirah today too. Instead of giving them the colossal amount of Lego to play with (which usually ends up embedded in my foot at 3am)I sorted out a really small amount and two small boards to play with at a table. It made for some more interesting play and encouraged them to create a small "scene" rather than just to make sure lego is in every single corner of the house.
Jumeirah was quick to begin and loved the challenge that limited bricks gave her and made this.

"A man diving off a high board"

Jared was happy putting pieces together to help Jumeirah and also taking all the mens heads off and making some strange statue. Its currently hiding somewhere in the house for me to find :)

The last thing I have been busy with tonight is to make another banner for Amahli as its her birthday TOMORROW! ( I had made one here before, but the colours were a bit insipid, and not once in her entire year of life could this child be described as "insipid") I love how this one has turned out... even if one of the letters is a bit stuffed ( I blame severe lack of sleep)

Day Off tomorrow as will be partying with my princesses and prince and celebrating my littlest blessing :)

What do you do to celebrate birthdays??

beach in a box

BEACH IN A BOX

For todays adventure, I needed to think outside the box.. actually make that inside the box ;)

I wanted to find an activity that I could set up ( probably more for Jared as he has the greatest aversion to crafty/messy/painty stuff) for the kids that they would enjoy seperately but also working together, something I could build on, change through the week, and of course, something FUN! And so I trawled the Net last night and came upon the most awesome website called Pink and Green Mama with some fantastic ideas for " in a box" activities.
I LOVE every single one of her ideas for this type of play.( check out construction in a box and ocean in a box)I CANT WAIT to do the coloured rice but thought I would start with something simple with things I had around the house. And so we created a "beach in a box".


This type of play not only is fun, but its also great for social skills, turn taking, and imaginative play. These three had a great time. Jared and Jumeirah had different voices for each of the people at the beach, Amahli just splashed in the water.

I couldnt get close enough to hear what happened, but there was also an elaborate accident for poor Snow White.

We spent most of the morning in the box :)

The princesses collected shells

Sunbaking.. these princesses do not understand the Australian sun and had to be warned, and almost drownes in suncream. Poor girls never saw it coming.


Amahli loved her water again too.

I coloured it today with Blue and Yellow food colouring and she had a wonderful time running her fingers through the water whilst I poured it from the watering can. Jared had a ball working on his blokey skills and hammering the life out of the pegs for the shade cloth.

And just to prove that I am STILL infected with the sewing bug, AND that I really am as crap as I said I was, heres some proof.

I found a pattern for easy girls shorts (cant find shorts pattern ANYWHERE on the net.. may have to resort to getting one of the horrible and hard ones from spotlight. *sigh*) that just said to trace a favourite pair of shorts folded in half, cut on the fold, sew up the crotch, sew the two sides, do a hem nad waistband and BINGO!! You have shorts.... hmmm maybe not.

First pair looks so cute BUT i didnt stretch out the elastic waist so they are super skinny... so amahli can have them. Except they are really long. And now I am moving on from them cos they are annoying me.

Second pair... goodness only knows what happened here....

Third pair worked well!

Only now she doesnt like them.

Maybe I will just go buy some :) But really, wheres the fun in that?!?!

my first painting/ water water water

our new neighbours :)


Flying Red ants, noisy crickets, mating Koalas, and its HOT... I can feel summer comin on :) I am not really a big fan of summer, I hate the heat BUT I have a brand new air conditioner just begging me to switch him on... soon my friend, soon :)

Been trawling the net today to find some new things to do, probably as I realise that Jared just really isnt into paint and mess. I have to remember that just because I love it doesnt mean he has to and I want to encourage him to explore just as much as the girls do in their crafty stuff. There are heaps of wonderful sites out there so stay tuned!!

Today though, he did humour me and do a painting which he called " a butterfly". I love that he is starting to actually paint specific things, that he can see things in his paintings.

Jareds Butterfly



Today was also Amahlis first finger painting. Oh my, how much fun did I have watching this little one. Firstly, I put a big blob of purple paint on the page. She spent ages trying to pick it up and move it to another spot.
Then rubbed her ear... then the table... I proceeded with the hot pink paint. ( game?..yes I was. Stupid? yes probably that too :) ) This she spread everywhere.

Soon I told her it was time to pack away. And she threw herself at me, paint and all. She hit the ground. Then the dog, the window, herself...luckily this stuff washes easily. But she had a ball and its something I will do more often with her. I found though, that being outside, I let her have more free reign as I wasnt worried about the carpet and such.

NO! I'M NOT DONE!

Dont be scared of the mess that little ones create in painting. Most paints are easily washed off both children and whatever they can hurl themselves at before you grab them :)

I also set Amahli up today with the water troughs I made (well actually grand dad the wood worker made them but I designed them and supervised) a few years ago for Jumeirah. Today I just put water and boats in it which she happily transfered back and forth between the tubs :) This little one is growing up too fast!

flower pots and puffy paint

"worst meal ever Mum" :)

(penne napolitana and chocolate bikkie) ( decided maybe I should cook this every night)

Today was one of "those" days... blerrrrggg. "Crawl back into bed" days... " we've got nothing to do" days...all of us just a little bit "not quite right" they happen, not often thankfully, but they always leave me drained and ..well... "off centre". Jared still is 100%, Amahli has the two biggest blood blisters from her teeth trying to break through the skin (crap how that must be painful), Jumeirah was ok but not really wanting to do much. Made for a long day. And then, suddenly the hero (in the form of daddy) arrives home and all kids are bright, perky, giggly and having a great time out playing. I should be grateful, and really, I am cos hes fantastic. But it left me feeling like "whats the point?" in all the stuff I do to try and make their lives full of fun and cool stuff. I know, I know, really they love being with me...as I said, its just one of those days :)

Anyway, to top it off the camera is throwing in the towel as well.. but lucky for you I had some cool stuff from yesterday I havent yet posted so here it is!

Yesterday, with lots of complaining, we went to Bunnings. Ah bunnings... the male version of Spotlight for me. Almost as much awesome stuff, miles of aisles to get lost in, and a kids play area to boot! And so, once we had looked at three " mummy and daddy things", I took them down to the play area, whilst daddy continued to browse in peace. Beside the play area, they had set up a table of crafty looking things. Jumeirah, Amahli and I decided to take a look and found they were decorating pots ( apparently every saturday and sunday they have a craft section for kids thats free!) with only one child and so we went to join them. ( Whilst Jared sat like a garden gnome and watched).

These are the finished products! We are going to put them as the entrance to fairy glen. ( WHICH IS ACTUALLY GROWING!!!!)

In the afternoon, we had a go at a great little painting project called Puff Paint pictures.

How to make it:

3 tablespoons of salt
3 tablespoons of self raising flour
water to mix it to a runny paint
food colouring
cardboard squares to paint on ( they need to fit into your microwave so i do mine about A4 folded in half and half again)

Now we made our paint, then split the mixture into 4 sections so we could colour it in different colours. We used cotton bus to paint it with.

Then once the picture is done, put it in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds. (it will need to be watched, it doesnt take long to "puff" up and left too long, you will have to work out a way to explain to anyone else living in the house why there is soot and cinders in the microwave and strange smelling smoke) ( and yes it did happen :) )
Alternatively, you can let it dry in the sun but it doesnt puff as much.
This is such a great sciencey crafty with really effective results :)

very cute easy girls dress

I have two large problems.. ( oh alright, I have a few but these two are biggies at the moment ;) )

I absolutely love fabric. I love colour. I love patterns. I am forever looking for great finds in spotlight to make things. I have plenty of ideas, visions of lovely handmade clothes for my kids and myself that would leave people saying "Wow! Where did you get that?", leaving me to humbly reply " actually I made it myself".... BUT.....connected to this very addictive passion comes my next large problem. I REALLY CANT SEW. I struggle with sticking to a pattern. I cant even cut on a straight line. I failed High School Home Economics for stitching my finger to my pillowcase ( yup straight through the nail). But I do love to try!! :)
I wanted to make Amahli a dress that would match ( in opposite colours) the skirt the fairies made for Jumeirah last week. ( this pattern even I cant stuff up, its awesome and quick!) It had to be simple. It had to be quick. I found this one from Oliver + S.

Its got really clear instructions, and I printed it on paper which is much easier to use that that crappy thin fluff you normally have to work with when buying a pattern. AND its FREE :)
And so I cut it out, no problems so far. Began to stitch. Semi followed instructions ( yes well i did pin the yoke on the wrong side but it still worked pretty ok).Stitching is relatively straight, mostly :)

THe whole dress took me about 40 minutes which is perfect for me :) And its pretty good actually!

Until I tried it on my model this morning. And unfortunately for me, the pattern is so fantastic that a size 2 dress pattern really should be for someone aged 2, not 11 months. So it swims on her.

Jumeirah very happily tried it on though, ( skinny little thing it fitted her well, just a bit short as shes pretty tall).

But all in all, this is a fantastic pattern, easy to use, quick and achievable.

Even for the "special" sewers... like me :)

Give it a go!

( I have also found some awesome easy looking skirts for me, so maybe, just maybe, I'll have something else to show you soon!)