when science experiments fail :)

Today was first day back at school :(
Im sorry to those of you who are glad the holidays are over but Im SO not one of those mums. I totally miss her when shes not here and its weird for the other two as well... this week will get even bigger when Jared starts preschool :( gosh what will I do????

Over the weekend, Jumeirah wanted to try and experiment we had seen all over the net, creating our own lava lamp.
This needed baby oil, water and food colouring and I told her we could do it :) And so she found a bottle and we began.
Firstly, you pour in about 1/8 of the size of the bottle with water. Then fill the rest with baby oil.
I stupidly squeezed it too hard so it fizzed and bubbled and became incredibly cloudy so we had to let it sit for awhile... Of course I also have no patience so it wasnt completely clear when we started.
Anyway!!

So we added the food colouring to it which was cool cos the food colouring stays in a ball shape until it hits the water, then it slowly bursts through and colours the water. By this stage the oil was a bit clearer but still a little murky, thus the crap photos .. sorry :)

It was about now that I realised we were missing a very main ingredient, an alka seltser tablet. Not to be put off, we hunted through the cupboards and found ENOs ( a stomach settler) and figured, "well its fizzy so surely it would work" and so we tried it.

I have never seen a little face light up so much. Photos dont do it justice but it was totally amazing to watch, even through cloudy oil :)

Unfortunately we got a little over zealous and once we had added almost half the bottle of ENOs to it, we ended up with a real lava flow... all over the kitchen in a glorious oil and RED food colouring mess. Jumeirah was nearly delirious with delight at creating REAL lava.

The next day when the oil had returned to completely clear, we tried again, this time adding black food colouring to the mix. Unfortunately the oil and water contain far too much ENOs and was not dissolving but I was encouraged by my loving 6 yr old that we could try again with proper tablets.

And even though it didnt work as I had hoped, it was a fantastic time of learning and experimenting, talking about colours, things that dont mix, density, and, of course, Lava ;)

You should definitely try this one :)

bubbles AGAIN!

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday.. both girls wanted bubbles and to make MORE paper :) So, seeing as I only have two more days of holidays, I let them loose and stood back and watched :)

Here is a video of my gorgeous ones doing this activity completely on their own.

bubbles bubbles everywhere

Today is Australia Day, where Australians celebrate all things Australian... the BBQ, beer, the beach and getting sunburnt. Well thats how it seems around here :)
(Actually not technically "here" but here in Australia)
Technically and historically, its when the First Fleet landed in Australia in 1788 and its the day we celebrate as a nation. In our household, its just a nice day off really. A day to relax and enjoy in the middle of the week.

And so we did things quietly, ( again we are all still catching up with the weekend) and just hung out together. Yesterday I worked and so no blog came to fruitition but heres what we did! Lately, my household has been bubble mad.

Actually, its something they have always been extremely keen on, but yesterday they bugged me enough to get some bubble fun out. We started outside with a great bubble mix and straws I had taped together. When blown, they make hundreds and hundreds of bubbles that look like lots of helixes. All three of them loved to do this and it went for quite a while whilst I madly tried to take photos...

This photo is actually me blowing the bubbles.. crazy yes but I couldnt get the kids the blow it slow enough! Obviously its not great but you get the idea ;)

After a while, I brought them all inside and added food colouring to the bubble mix.

Intrigued, they all sat and watched as I blew into the mixture with a single straw, until the bubbles were almost overflowing, and then laid a piece of paper over the top to take the print.

Once I had done one, they were very keen to do it themselves. Now, a 2 yr old and a yr old are not the best contenders for this craft but both astounded me with being able to completely do this task without me. Amahli did NOT ONCE suck up the straw ( as Ive seen countless times in my preschool teaching years) or spill the whole glass of bubble mixture over, or get bubbles everywhere. They were completely mess free and totally loving this activity. Together they produced about 30 sheets of bubbled paper :)

Jared watched but told me he'd do it tomorrow :)

paper weaving

Today was another recovery day from yet another MASSIVE weekend :) We have just spent the last four days in the lovely Hunter Valley with my side of the family celebrating a 60th, christmas and a 35th :) Such a nice time but geez holidays take it out of you!

And so today we did things on a quiet level.

Both girls were keen to craft and so I got out some really bright paper to create with. For Jumeirah we started with some paper weaving. I cut the folded paper into strips that stopped before the edge of the paper and she cut the long strips to weave with and set to it. Amahli was absolutely thrilled to be allowed to play with the "real" scissors and spent ages manipulating them to try and make cuts in the paper.

We then tried a wavy weave as well with pretty results. ( although the paper was a bit too bright for me!)

Once we had finished, Jumeirah and Amahli happily continued to cut strips and create whilst I began the first of many loads of washing. I came out at one point and jumeirah asked me to make her a tree.

We collected some toilet rolls and I stuffed some paper in the top and presented her with ( what I thought was pretty good) a tree.

She looked at me, and said, " Its ok Mum, I know you did try but I think I might just do it myself". Hmmm yeah ok then!

And so she did. And boy, did she outdo me too :)

( I only helped with the sticky tape. The design and execution is all hers)

She then set up this cute little play scene with all the trees and some dinosaurs and all three played here for such a long time.

I love times like this.. when I can sit and watch, and they just enjoy each other in play. Its not totally rare, but often someone is bossing the others, someone is being a pain in the bum and thinks its totally funny, and one is crying cos its not fair.... but today it worked :)

And I was a happy mum.

holidays!!

sorry guys its going to be quiet in here for the rest of the week.. we are off on a little escape :)

will be back on monday!

themed drawings

Tiny jeans I worked on tonight.. third pair of pants that the little recipient has now and FINALLY these ones worked.. you'll have to wait and see whos they are :)



The holidays seem to be flying by, but day to day seems to plod on through quiet and simple fun filled days...

Todays request was playdough. So I got out the ingredients and the colours blue and red.
"Ah Mum, how do you know we dont want a different colour than that?" was the statement quickly made. When asked what colour she wanted, she replied " Grey!"
Grey playdough?? gross! What could she possibly want with grey playdough? But seeing as it was for her and not me I obliged and made a batch of grey and a batch of pink ( at Amahlis request).
It looked terrible while I made it but as soon as it was done, two happy girls set to work making things together. Jumeirah was totally occupied with the grey playdough, informing me it was the perfect colour for what she needed.

Playdough master


A little while later, I met this little fella :) She made a few more with Amahli, teaching her how to get a good mouse shape and how to put eyes, ears and a tail on.



Amahli is still always keen to make cakes and sing happy birthday :)


Jumeirahs " handwich" she thought she was hilarious.

Later on, I told her I had a task for her to do. One that she can do every day for the rest of the holidays. For each day, whilst the house is quiet in rest time, I wanted her to draw a picture based on a different theme each day.
She was a bit hesitant, she loves to draw but its often the same things: butterflies, fairies etc.
I really wanted to push her brain a bit to think a bit further but I also want her to have fun so the first theme she had today was " how fairies play" . She was pretty keen to get started and this is what turned out.

She wanted to do another one and I told her the theme was " my favourite alien". This one she sat and thought about for a bit but then got started.
Here is "Raymo"







She was keen to do more but I told her she could do some more tomorrow... whilst I madly think of some more things!!

So far this is our list:

The Circus

A day at the beach

If I could fly

Down below

Up Above

On the moon

A picnic in the park

My greatest invention

I hope that this will be a fun thing for her to do each day and I'll turn it into a book when shes finished :)

Window art :) again :)

I had a phenomenonally massive weekend.... Saturday I travelled from Port to Sydney at 3am and back home again by 11pm to attend a Body Shop New Year Launch.
An absolutely brilliant day to say the least! Its so nice to be able to be an adult, and whilst the kids and hubbin are never far from my thoughts, I loved the chance to escape, even just for a day :)
I also love freebies and cool new products so the whole day was a blast!

Today, still under the effects of limited sleep and more than enough excitement, I set about sorting out the week to come.
This week is a big one too as my Mum turned 60 today ( happy birthday mum :) ) and we are heading to the Hunter Valley for my familys Christmas and birthday celebrations. ( Someone else is having a birthday soon too ;) )

So today, I started to rather large task of preparing Mums cake. Now, for now, I cant show anything or say too much cos shes like me and will more than likely look for photos BEFORE the party so I dont want to spoil it ;) Its going to be a impressive feat though. Watch out for it next week!

So I havent loaded up any photos from today yet, but heres something cool we did last week...

This morning, this is how I found my tribe. Peas in a pod they are :) I let them watch and chill out for a bit this morning, then decided to find them something more fun to do.

As I walked past the glass windows, I suggested that just maybe, they would like to help me clean them. Which they all did. I realised just how bad the windows were when I noticed mould growing from a handprint from last week... ewwww... So now I had lovely clean windows again, they set off to find something else to do.

Jumeirah comes to me saying " MUM! Those windows are now perfect for drawing on, dont you think? Lets get the window textas!"

WAS SHE SERIOUS? Of freaking course she was. And so, due to my lovely-fun-mum part ignoring the "Ive just cleaned them!!"-crazy-mum part, I let them go for it.

All three of them had a ball, drawing with these beautiful slidey crayons. They are just the most divine things to draw with! They are so smooth and vibrant and the colours just pop on the glass. They worked together, making sure EVERY single newly cleaned window was covered in lovely colour.

And then ran off to play.. far away from the ok-now-we-can-all-clean-again!!-mum and her cleaning products :)

(window crayons are from Crayola. No Im not paid for my thoughts, these just are seriously freakin awesome crayons)

project 52 :2

Todays photo isnt actually a great photo.. But I love the expression captured on this little dolls face. The complete concentration, having no idea I was on the other side of the glass.. I ran it through some really simple free editing stuff from Paint the Moon :)

Before:

After :

take the time to sit and watch

Today, I took the time.

After having two almost completely full days of cleaning, washing, folding, vacuuming etcetcetc and so it goes on, I came to the realisation that I could do this every SINGLE DAY and it still would be ready to do all over again tomorrow....
So for today, I sat, I watched, I played and I HAD A BALL :)


I watched an exploring 6 yr old trying to work out how to make bubbles bigger ,better, last longer, different shapes, sizes, and also admired a multitude of colours....






I played restaurants with a hardworking mini chef in her cafe and was served Pizza, coffee and doughnuts, all complete with amazing sound effects. Im sad to say I dont think I have actually played WITH her in this restaurant before, we had such fun today and will be doing it ALOT more.




I watched three lovely littles work together to create an amazing scene with the hammer and nails. Jumeirah taught both of the others how to hammer them in completely, Amahli was in charge of passing pieces, Jared did most of the hammering, Jumeirah was project design.





Sometimes, I forget the importance of involving myself in play, not only for them, but also for me. It strengthens bonds. Creates memories. Lessens stress levels. And shows me how very blessed I am :)

Tomorrow, set out three activities for your kids. Sit and do it with them. Forget the housework. Im telling you to have the day off :)
And enjoy the day :)