the beginnings of Christmas

I worked it out :)

That weird, disconnected feeling?? Its because I TOTALLY was. I was fussing most of the day with washing, tidying, cleaning, retidying.. never really getting anything done and not spending any time at all with the littles I love.

When I fixed that ( clean only for an hour in the morning) by settling with them by 10am and playing until we had finished ( anywhere from half and hour to 2 hours) I felt so much better in myself and was able to clean with a purpose instead of just filling time.

So to fix it, I started by setting up the tables the night before with some activities that they could sit and do with me.

Yesterdays activities looked like this:

Letter boards and story stones

Marble transfering

And we began our Christmas craft :)

The christmas tree shape activity I designed myself in about 2 minutes in a word doc, printed it out, cut the triangles out and we were ready to start.

Amahli and our little Monday friend really enjoyed sitting and working out how the triangles went. Jared flew through his with minimal help, and he didnt even really flinch at the glue :)

I love a productive morning.

Stay tuned tomorrow when I show you our new addition to the Mumma Made It clan.... ;)

taking the time

It was happening again.. that yuck feeling of not really achieving anything in my day, spending bits and pieces of time with my precious littles, half finishing lots of things.... when it happens, nothing seems to flow, nothing seems to work, and NOTHING seems quite right.

So I recentred, refocused, got OFF the computer, and played with the two people who needed me most, Amahli and Jared.

I set up the table with a few different things to do... some candle painting, a simple Christmas threading, and the letter boards, and invited them to join me. Both were really keen, which goes to show that I have been a bit absent of late.

Amahli was straight into the threading, not really wanting to do the Christmas colours, but to make a rainbow. I was happy to oblige and she was more than keen to sit and chat whilst she threaded.

Jared wanted to have a go at the candles but wanted me to light them. After creating a dripping picture, he painted over the raised wax dots on the paper. This he did alot! He then wanted me to paint a "J" for him to drip down. All these ideas I was totally shocked at.... he had heaps of different ways to use the paint and candles and I just tried to keep up!

40 minutes later, both had finished and wanted to build a cubby so we grabbed some sheets and got to work. They told me to go clean the kitchen, so I left them to create, feeling so much more connected and focused and able to actually get things done :)

I love that in making time for them, I had time for me too. Time to reconnect, to take those few precious moments to bond, but also that in doing that I was able to stop the rush of " doing" to just be :)

the beginnings of christmas craft

CRAZY! This week has had so many twists and turns Im feeling rather giddy.... coupled with the fact that Big Miss is having a birthday this week and yesterday told me she would LOVE something handmade ( a cat, no less) Im racing against absolutely everything to keep my head above water...
so instead of just ignoring you for another day, Im reposting the beginnings of Christmas craft :)


Paper towel dipping



Now this craft can be messy. But if you do it in an organised ( read anal) way, it does work really well for kids of all ages from about 3 up ( unless you are really game).
To start with, you need the best paper towel money can buy. In Australia, its VIVA. If you cant find a really absorbent paper towel, dont do this craft as its really dissapointing when it doesnt work.
So, not really listening to my own advice, I bought a generic brand of paper towel. And whilst I did manage to do this craft, it didnt work as well as I wanted it to.


You also need food colouring or waterclour ink. (food colouring is what we used)
Each colour we put into the paint tray, ready to be dipped into. I only added a little bit of water as I wanted the colours really vibrant.



As this was going to be a Christmas craft, I cut the paper towel into tree shapes before we folded it. ( See here for another version of this paper dipping craft without the christmas bit)
Then, I got Jumeirah to fold the tree as best she could into a square shape and then dip each corner into a different colour ink.





Once dipped, turn the square around so that the ink runs all over the paper. Once this is done, carefully open the paper towel up. ( this is probably an adult part, especially if you didnt listen and bought cheap paper towel :). This is where you need to be strong)

And there you have a gorgeous tree!
Lay it on some old paper, ( newspaper will do) to dry completely. Then, you can hang them, use them as wrapping paper decorations.. whatever you like :)

foto friday: puddles

Friday. A wet friday. Its been raining non stop ( I kid you not) since wednesday.

On wednesday, when it was still kinda sorta raining, my mum rang me to tell me of some awesome Canon competition ( for australian residents only, sorry!) that could win me a new camera ( yes I do need a new one) but it had to include an umbrella, I said to her " I need it to rain more". Obviously this was the wrong thing to say as now it hasnt stopped....

But it did mean that I was able to get some photos of an umbrella :) My ever helpful Amahli suggested she jump in muddy puddles whilst I took the photo. 20 photos later and with one very wet but happy child, this is the ones I liked :)

I sent one in, then asked Tim which one he liked. Of course he liked the one I didnt send in..... but hopefully, HOPEFULLY, ( but really thinking it will happen because some of the photos are amazing!) I might just win something :)

Voting will start soon so Ill let you know! Theres a viewers choice so I need lots of you to vote for me!!

Baby props

In just 7 weeks I will be (hopefully) taking the first of many newborn shots of my little nephew :) Im a touch excited as I havent done newborn photos before and so I have been madly trying to find some props that work with the style of photos I want to take. I have seen all over the place these awesome posing pillows... huge circular bean bag style cushions that can be molded to fit a baby perfectly and makes for great photos.
Unfortunately I cant find ANY in Australia, let alone Port Macquarie. And the international ones I found are over $300 without the beans or postage. So I thought Id have a go at making one :)

I cut two circles out using a hula hoop for the shape and then a long strip to go in the middle, between the two circles ( this is actually my second attempt.. the first one was so big I would have never filled it and probably lost the baby in the middle of it!). With much difficulty I managed to sew this whole heap of fabric together and have spent part of every day filling it with beans, much to my childrens delight. We have had about 4 "snow storms" in the process as the beans are polystyrene and fly really well....


But finally tonight its finished!!

Its been teddy tested for safety and is going to work a treat. I just need some fabric to go over the top of it... some brown furry stuff will look awesome :)




I CANT WAIT!!

As you may ( or may not) have noticed, Im not blogging everyday anymore. Ive changed that for a few reasons... one being that it takes time to do it everyday, time is not something I have alot of anymore with working two little businesses of my own! The other reasons are my gang are not as crafty as Jumeirah was at their age and are happy with a sheet and some cushions to build cubbies.. and writing about that every day will get boring :)
So I hope you dont mind, but it wont be an everyday blog anymore. Id still love to hear from those of you who read this ( the easiest way is to choose the profile "anonymous" at the bottom of the comments section) and let me know that Im still loved ;)


Over the last few days though, I have increased my status as "awesome mum" to "amazingly fantastical mum" with a very simple ( and possibly was a bit stupid) idea that was right up the alley of my little guy.


Over the weekend, Tim went to Sydney, leaving me to my own devices and with the three treasures. I told them on saturday that it was "Yes Day". Yes day is something I heard about ages ago from another blog who allows their kids a day when they cant be said no to. It filled me with a bit of dread over what could come of it but apparently it would all work out well and my kids would have a brilliant day.
So I told them what was happening, and that they had the run of the day. I was told not to use the computer but asked to come outside and sit and watch them perform tricks on the trampoline. Of course, I said Yes :)


The day progressed quite well, we had chip sandwiches for lunch, a play with the hose, and a trip to Lake Cathie ( which I REALLY did not want to do but followed the rules and was completely surprised by how wonderful it was to spend time there), and a last quick play outside ( even after a bath). I was proud that we had had such a lovely day and was given permission to take some photos whilst they played..... which is when it happened.


Jared came up to me, looked at me straight in the eye and said " Can I have a go of your camera Mum?"
Gulp. My very expensive, pretty irreplaceable camera with a brand new lens on the front. Um. No. Heck. I have to.


And so, I did. I explained that it was important to me ( "I know Mum!")  and that it would break if he dropped it, showed him how to hold it, and then let it go.

And to my absolute shock, he came up close and took this photo.

I was surprised that it looks ok, surprised that he seemed to really enjoy being behind the lens, amazed at his careful handling and the way he knew how to how it properly and shut one eye, and humbled by the fact that his little face was glowing knowing he had been allowed to do something I would never have thought to let him do. ( he also has a natural eye for not shooting dead centre!! fluke?? maybe. But just maybe he got that from me )
Time to have more "yes" days :)

For Amahlis birthday recently, my dad constructed her a clear easel. Ive wanted one for awhile, instead of having to use the glass door, and we used one all the time and preschool many moons ago. So I casually mentioned it to dad who was keen to have a go at making one. I gave him some basic instructions on how I wanted it to look... and this is what he did! The kids loved it today. I just let them paint on it but on opposite sides so pretty quickly they were chasing each others paint brush around the screen :)

Ive never seen Jared paint for so long!

Does anyone else use an easel like this? What else do you use it for?