in this moment

Jumeirah and Jared made this for a wonderful friend ( whos actually a teacher) for her birthday...today it rang true for me.
So often, my kids ( as awesome as they are) drain me of absolutely everything I have... time, resources, words, energy, strength and sometimes even patience. I am left with nothing. But in every single instance of this happening, one of them will come and wrap themselves around me and instantly, I am full to brimming. I know that I am loved JUST because I belong to them and they belong to me. There is no conditions on love from them. I just get it poured on, often when I least expect it but when I most need it.

Heavy or Light??

Wow did we have fun with todays crafty experience!! Its one you have to just go with the flow, and its REALLY messy ( well if you have a child like mine who is extremely .. how should I say it??.... involved in craft) but it was a very fun morning :)

Last week, after much begging, Jumeirah bought herself some parachute men. You know the ones... little green fella connected to a flimsy plastic chute that you can throw in the air and watch float down. Shes wanted one "forever!" and so I relented.

Jared today, was playing with one of them and it led to us talking about what else can float/sail or the wind? Whats light and whats heavy?? I so I created an experiment/ craft that we could use some things that are heavy and light to make a collage.

supplies today were:

cotton balls

buttons

fairy confetti

tissue paper

cellophane

feathers

I had a little friend over today ( hes 13 months) and whilst my two crazies hassled the garage man from the safety of the window, I sat him down to collage. Its the first time I have done it with him but he really enjoyed it. He painted and then carefully selected things to put on it. Half way through, I took a feather and held it above him and let it flaot down. He giggled and I did it again. I then gace it to him to try, which he did! He then grabbed a cotton ball and tried to do the same thing. Much faster to the ground with that one. And so I showed him other things, not saying much, just letting him enjoy the visual concept of things that float down gently and things that dont. When my two heard the giggles, they came to see what we were doing. Once Amahli saw me throwing things in the air she wanted in. I stood her on a chair with a hand full of feathers....."WHEEEEE!" came the excited cry and she watched them float to the floor. "MORE!" came quickly after... and so as fast as I could pass her different things, she was throwing them around the air.

Then just as quickly, she jumped off the chair to collect her treasures to start again. She had a ball and my house quickly turned into a tornado of colour :) We did do a bit of actual gluing of the collage pieces, but really it was so much more fun to throw it around the place. Especially the ones that had already been glued down....
Once the excitement ahd slowed down and I put her to bed, I took Jared outside to properly talk about heavy and light. I gave him a handful of different things and asked him to gently blow it. We then talked about whether each item was heave or light. He really enjoyed this special one on one time, just him and me :) He also thoroughly enjoyed begin allowed to throw things in the air and see what happens.
Ready...
Set....
GO!!
Feathers float...

Glitter floats

Ltos of things float!!


This was lots of fun! I need to find some more things to practise with...
I have completely forgotten to post some of my new finds in blog land.. heres one for today.

I so needed to find this blog when I did... it totally inspires me and I am working to do some of the things it challenges me to do in my world for others.

Its called Kind over Matter and this is what inspires me most...



FREEBIES on this blog are absolutely goose bumpingly awesome. Go look at the printable cards. And then go check out the drop off section. These lovelies print them off and drop them off in random places for strangers to find. I think its such a wonderful idea, who knows?? You might just make someones day....

just me: digital wednesday

OK dont laugh...

After looking through a blog called em ee kay ee, I found that Kelly had done some amazing pages with digital scrapping. I was well impressed and decided that once a week ( or so) I would create one for this blog that was just about me. There is so much on my awesome kids ( which is really what the blog is about) but if and when this ever gets printed for them to read later, I want there to be some things about me too.
I dont know why... probably cos theres hardly any photos of me!

Finally, second attempt at sending these postcard swap cards, hopefully this time it works!!
I bought cards over a month ago, wrote them all out over a whole weekend, then let them sit for a little while. I kinda wanted you all to get mine last. Anyways, about three weeks ago I decided to send them. I added one for Jumeirah cos she was a bit excited over the whole thing.

And we waited....

and waited


and waited


and nothing ever came for her..... and no one mentioned they got mine.
And so I went to the post office to try and find out why. The guy there reckons I didnt stamp them right, but I dont know why Jumeirah at least should have gotten hers..anyway, on the weekend, I bought a whole stack more, then typed a message ( it took ages to write the first time!) and TOOK SOME PHOTOS AS PROOF. :)

Then got the post guy to check it, and check again, and sent them sailing into the box and now hopefully onto you. I have recieved about 6 which has been such a lovely find in my letterbox.

If you havent done it yet( yes there is at least one of you) PLEASE do it :)

Apologies to those who got to it straight up.... I promise the Christmas one will be more prompt :)

So, what superhero skill would you want??

And has anyone got any tips for a very beginner digi scrapper???

mummas day off fun

The mountain I conquered...... truly it was sight.

Over the weekend, I did something I havent really done before... with some pretty hilarious results :)

All children were awake and demanding breakfast at about 7.30am (sorry, yep ist the normal wake up time around here!) when I walked into the kitchen. The conversation with Jumeirah was as follows:

Me: "Guess what? Today I am having the day off"

J: "Thats great Mum, I'll have a peanut butter foldie"

Me: " Sure. Theres the bread and the peanut butter is in the cupboard. I am having the day off, you can do it"

J: "thats not funny, Mum. Are you joking? You are joking arent you?"

Me: "Nope Im not joking" ( I go and sit on the lounge)

J: "MUM! Im hungry! Just do it!"

Me: "Nope"

Tears began. ( by her, not me) And so I walked to the kitchen, got out the things for her.

J: " thats better. Now can I have two foldies?"

me: "Sure! Go for it"

By this time she was pretty mad, but I showed her how to spread it and fold it. Its something that really she could do normally but when you HAVE to do it, it becomes a chore, apparently.
Well she managed to make her own, then offered Jared and Amahli one too. She was pretty proud of herself and set off to play.
Whilst they played, I set up a big container of very warm soapy water and stacked up the breakfast dishes beside it. All three came over to see what I was doing.

Jumeirah told me she didnt want to but once she realised that bubbles and water was involved she began to wash up. Amahli quickly joined in, Jumeirah rolled up her sleeves "cos thats what a mum would do" and she had a ball.



Actually this activity they enjoyed so much, I was asked for the set up for lunch and dinner too, as well as all Sunday as well! Jumeirah loved not only the water/bubble experience, but the responsibility of completing an adult task. She then dried up and put everything away.

I let her in charge of Amahli too, making sure she involved her in washing up too.Amahli, little monkey that she is, had more fun washing her face, rewashing the things Jumeirah had just dried, and generally being over zealous with her washing up.

Once done, I asked Jumeirah to do another "mum" job... some baking. She decided to make her own cupcakes and proceeded to get out all she needed to do that.

So she wasnt too interupted by littler people, I set them up with their tea party, where they pretended to serve me tea and donuts for ages...

Amahli did come and help a little bit :)

All in all, it was a wonderful, fun day with lots of mum helping activities.

Jumeirahs final comment was just priceless though:

"Being a Mum would be so much easier without little kids."

Shes totally right :)

I woke up this morning with this stupid dizzy business again.. dont know whats causing it but its really annoying! Funny thing is, my littles had just the most perfect day to help me out xxx

I went back to basics today. I got out three primary colours and some paintbrushes and didnt add, or persuade, or coerce, ( or bribe for that matter :) )... I just let them come and create as they please.


Too often, the preschool teacher in me makes everything a complete learning experience without letting them just have the experience. Today, not feeling great, I sat back and let them do it themselves. Amahli was straight in and began by naming all the colours as she got out each paintbrush to paint. She talked the whole time she painted " dot dot dot" or " liiiiiiiine stop!" and just really enjoyed painting today.


Jared ( shock horror!!) came over and asked for a page. Maybe he knew I was going to let him do as he pleased and decided he'd have a go :)
He began by painting " a milkshake and a sun and a fish"... which continued to "a crab" and then " FIRE!" and then "just nothing".. he kept churning them out. Probably too it looked neat and not too messy so he was happy to stay. I loved watching him paint as he talks to himself whilst painting too. Often the paintbrush is a crane and hes more keen on playing with it rather than painting. He was really proud of his work too and showed a suitably impressed big sister and daddy when they got home.





Its funny, in doing something really simple they still had the chance to:

Name the colours

Match the paintbrushes with the paint pots

Turn take

Share

Imagine, create, Dream.... All without pretty much anything from me :)

When then decided to cook ( well we made something with food, not much cooking involved though!) a Mars Bar slice. Yep its as good as it sounds :)




Ingredients

Three Mars Bars
2 cups of rice bubbles
60 grams of butter
melt the mars bars and butter together, pour over rice bubbles and stir through.Normally you would melt chocolate over the top but we didnt have any so we left it without.
Put it into a square dish and whack it in the fridge to set.

its FANTASTIC. Unfortunately I have no photos of the end result because... ummmm... well.... I didnt take the photo fast enough for this tribe :)

Scales will no doubt show the result tomorrow!

Thought this week I would also add some links of some fantastic blogs I have been reading lately, some are just for the sheer fun of it, some are parenty and some are just for me :)

Todays one is the little one I stumbled across quite by accident but its really cute :) Its called Milas Daydreams...

Have you got any favourite new blogs you'd like to share?

In the moment

Just a photo from the week, but one that I have gone back to a number of times.

It totally captures my princess and my imp, who adore each other completely.

I love them both to bits :)

I am having trouble downloading anything today, we have hit our limit :( So i cant make this gorgeous shot any bigger, but its still a great snap :)

have you taken a photo you would love to share this week?

Link it below!

100 days

My littlest Imp, trying so hard to look like a fairy, but her cheeky personality still comes pouring through :)

There has been an awful lot of new tricks being tested out on our new trampoline at the moment. I stood poised for ages trying to get Jumeirahs latest. Even she was impressed at these photos :)

Oh my gosh, did I do it??

WOW! I DID DO IT!!

Amahli, as usual, is still doing her awesome trick too :)

Jared is still perfecting his, and wants more time before I start clicking away at him.

100 days.
I cant believe shes been in school for 100 days...this year seems to be flying past and yet it seems be going really slowly some days too. Im still not keen on it, its been a rocky start but this term is going to be the best one yet :)

And so to celebrate, they had a 100 day party at school. And, being the stupid ever helpful parent that I am, offered to make the cupcakes for them. Luckily it was only 50 but still... I wanted to show Jumeirah that her 100 days was worth me making an effort :)
And so I scoured the net looking for a way to decorate them. I wanted to do something in the theme of "100" but couldnt find anything. So I settled on finding these great cupcake printable toppers ( for free!) from the martha stewart website. A wonderful friend came and helped me cut them out and together ( with Jumeirah) we made these gorgeous little cakes and their toppers. They were really simple to do, I have a cutter that punched the shape out, we attached them to tooth picks and they were done!

And they were a big hit too :) I had 50 little "thankyous!" from 50 little people who were still waving around their tiny toppers like flags. Luckily, no one had stabbed anyone else with the pointy end...

As we were leaving, someone commented on what an awesome mum I am. My response??

"No, I am a pretty average mum. But I have an awesome daughter worth doing things for." Jumeirah looked up at me and smiled.

For she is absolutely worth it.

She just knows it again now :)

Taste testing fun

This child, who is only 20 months old, has the most incredibly perfect pencil grip and has begun to demand " picture? picture?" and is now spending most of a day drawing.... stop freaking me out kid and act your age!



Missed blogging last night as I went on a "date" with a friend to see Eclipse... it was good, though no where near as good as the book... but I came out feeling a bit blue. Why isnt love always like that?? That heady rush, overpowering desire, that feeling that you are the most important person in the universe to someone else?? Ok dont get me wrong, I am absolutely still in love with my hubbin, but three kids, a dog and a mortgage, we dont really take the time to let the other one know.
So I made a pact with myself ( at about 3am) that this week I will let each of the beauties in my life ( not just hubbin but the three cherubs) know just how much they mean to me. Somehow :) Stay tuned :)

After our fun of "eye" activities, I moved them onto another sense, Taste. Something we take for granted, something we dont often think about more than whats going in and whether we like it. So I got some things out of the cupboard and put them into little containers for them to taste without knowing what they were. We talked about how things can be salty, sweet or sour and also what we thought would be in each group.

I got some simple tastes out: Vanilla, icing sugar, salt, vinegar, and jelly crystals as I didnt want to scare them off with things like chilli and curry powder... I started by using a spoon and placed things on their tongues. Its really very funny to watch, especially when you start with my favourite taste, Vinegar. I made them close their eyes to start so they would focus on the taste rather than the sight. I also tried pinching their noses closed as that makes a huge difference to taste.

All were a bit hesitant after the vinegar but they were still interested and told me they would do it themselves. Using fingers, they dipped them into various things and tasted them. Amahli got stuck into the Jelly crystals and ate the lot. Jumeirah was more keen to blend the vanilla essence with the icing sugar which, she told me, was much better.

And so to finish and celebrate the fact that taste buds are awesome, I got out some biscuits to cover with icing and smarties :) Of course we had to test the icing too... ALOT :)


Can you tell we are in the middle of winter?? The sun in our backyard is so magnificent Jared declared it a pants free day.


Such a fun thing to do, so simple and yum to boot!