simple things

This week of moving has been very full on but in the midst of all this, I still needed to find some normality for our kids... simple stuff that was hopefully not too messy and easy to clean up.

Stickers

Stickers are AWESOME! They are cheap, easy, quiet and fun. I get mine off ebay at at couple of dollars for pages of them. Its one of those activities I dont get out often so its always met with excitement ( stickers are the best in church too!).

The thing with stickers is sometimes its hard for little fingers to pull off so I have started to take off the outside sticky bit,leaving just the stickers... and its much easier!






Just be careful when daddys are around... what started off as a lovely, quiet, self involved activity using stickers and paper, quickly became " hey I know whats fun, lets stick them on ourselves!" Hmmmm....



We made a stage outside too... my kids love performing. Not usually for anyone but themselves, I was lucky enough to have front tickets to this show. ( often I am asked very politely to please leave the room so this was a real priviledge :) ) Shows are easy to set up and dont require many props. I started creating this play years ago with Jumeirah by just announcing " And now, ladies and gentlemen, its the JUMEIRAH SHOW!" and she just took it from there :) Jared is just starting to enjoy this more often but he was happy just to watch her take the stage...

Amahli has had the best time in the bark chips :) So much easier than a sandpit as it brushes off and its easy to clean up, she doesnt get to eat as much of it so it will last longer too! Shes able to transfer handfuls of the stuff between containers, buckets and trucks so shes developing all those tiny muscles in her hands which will be great for handwriting and shes also developing great hand eye co ordination and its keeping her busy for ages which is great! Anybody got some other simple tricks to keep kids busy??

planting a fairy glen

'A little bit of rain, a little bit of sun, when they come together they make rainbow fun'

yee hah!! Im finally reconnected :)
This last week has been crazy/fun/hard and BUSY. We are finally into our new home, and whilst things are still being finished ( fencing, grass, driveway sealing?!?!?) we are in are are settling into normal life. Kids are absolutely thrilled with their new backyard although its a bit hard to play as the grass needs some time to settle but we have been playing "construction sites" in the bark chips which provides limitless entertainment :)

The first thing Jumeirah was really keen to do in our new house was to build a "patch" for herself. The landscaper had talked to her about building her own veggie patch which she was keen on. So he constructed her a patch on the top of our retaining wall.... 7 METRES LONG!! So as well as having a veggie patch, we decided to create a "fairy glen". Its pretty simple, but its creates another space for her to develop those amazing imaginative skills, to learn about how things grow and how to looks after them and it gets her outside.

So off we went to bunnings where we picked a couple of different things; a little plant called a "thumbelina" (zinnia) and a beautiful little one called a Celossia.


She got right to work on returning home with panting and making holes for the plants to grow. Now my thumbs are so not green so I am really not sure how this will pan out but she had such fun working out where things would go :) Jared came and helped us water and made sure all plants were thoroughly drowned..sorry I mean watered.



We will also get some big rocks for our glen so the fairies can have a rest if they need to.. :)

To make your own fairy glen (or any plant type kids patch!) you could use some of your garden or if space is limited, buy a big pot. I was amazed at how much Jumeirah enjoyed going and choosing what colours she wanted and then working out where they would be planted, and also looking after them by daily watering them ( she is also talking to them, telling them the fairies will be here soon :) not totally sure if this step is required but it is lovely)

Get some good quality soil and choose a few plants. Talk about what will grow, how roots work, how water feeds them and helps them to grow. And then sit back and wait :)
We also had a lovely friend deliver us some carrots, beans, tomato, basil and parsley so we will be planting those too! hopefully with great results :)

Will keep you posted on our little patch!! Hopefully it will survive the "replantation" Amahli is now trying to do :)

back soon!

Its funny the things you take for granted... the internet, the phone, my mobile... all things I only just worked out I wont have for the next week.. ( mobile seems to have gone AWOL)...
I was going to post a blog this morning but seeing as the removalist will be here in under an hour, and all three kids need to be fed and I somehow need to find where my bras have been packed ( oh yes its going to be one of thoes days :) )....

So wish me luck, I will be gone for a week! hopefully will be back with some awesome new crafty adventures very soon :)

BYE!!

how to pack a house with three kids, 5 and under

oooh arent you lucky! I managed to sneak one in today :)

Packing packing packing.. so not very fun.. has to be done. And boy, did we pack some stuff today! But in the midst of packing, I still had three children, who really are not very keen to be helpers at packing ( amahli did help tim by emptying all the drawers of clothes, but then also "helped" me by unpacking all the clothes out of the box), and really needed some things to do. And with Nanna and grandad on holiday, we were all going to have to work together instead of shipping them out for the day. And so today, (whilst its probably not that interesting as far as crafty things go) I am writing the things you can do with kids whilst packing a house :)
Firstly, when Amahli and I went walking this morning, I found these huge gum nuts. We collected a few to do some painting with ( I did do some craft today see!).I set the paint into containers and cut up an old sponge for the bottom (makes the paint not so messy and if it tips none spills) and left them to print with them.

Jared wasnt that keen ( unusal I know) so he went and helped daddy take down the trampoline. He set to work with daddys tools and "helped" take the netting down. Jumeirah also came out to help and totally surprised us by being able to manipulate the wrench and completely take the bolt and screw out herself! Its one of those life skills that she will no doubt need one day ( if only to change my car tire :) ).



Next to packing clothes.... I have found in all this moving that kids actually really love to be given "adult" things to do. I gave Jumeirah a box and she set to throwing all her clothes into it. I dont care that they arent carefully folded, she did it herself and sang to herself the whole time :)..

We then went to our new house for afternoon tea for the FIRST TIME! Very exciting! Not only is it a brand new house, it has no furniture which makes for awesome running around! Quickly stopped that one:) So we played hide and seek fore awhile, then I got out the new Mobilo set I bought for them. I figured with all the craziness and us not having as much time, something new might keep them busy. Mobilo is one of the greatest toys ever made. Its a construction toy, and the pieces are easy to work with and strong. These will last a life time and beyond. We got ours from Toyworld but they are everywhere online. We already need a bigger set as this was popular even with daddy :) Its great for ages 2 and up ( although Amahli had a great time with the cars we made, it does contain smaller pieces so you have to watch the notorious toy eater)

It was a really good day, such fun to work as a whole family :)

spray painting

Well finally we have made it to the end of our life as renters... HIPHIP HOORAY!
Our house is just about done, carpet was being finished today, still waiting for my splashback/clothesline/grass/fence but we are allowed to move in :) Big shift is planned for next tuesday so its highly unlikely that I will be blogging for a few days until I am settled somewhat. BUT I will be moving my facebook notes over to here so you can still have a daily fix :)


See you soon!!

SPRAY PAINTING

What do you do with a boy whose not really into craft??? Jared and I have two days a week where Jumeirah is at preschool and on those days, we have about 2 hours (on a good day) where Amahli is asleep... I really wanted to make this a special time for him and me. In reality, if it was up to him, we would watch two hours of Thomas :) But having done copious amounts of cool stuff with Jumeirah when she was two, it was time I found some things for him to enjoy. Every morning as I do Jumeirahs hair, Jared mans the spray bottle to help tame the wild curls. He loves to spray and often sprays much more than her hair, also including me, Amahli, the dog which is quite a hilarious game. so I, with some trepidation, decided to create a craft for him to spray to his little hearts content :) Dressed in old clothes, I filled two spray bottles with water and food colouring.




OUTSIDE, I hung up large sheets of paper and allowed him to spray. He wasnt sure he wasnt going to get into trouble but soon got right into it. We talked about the colours and how the paint ran down the wall ( its ok it was washable) and we even allowed some of the flowers to change colour :)

kids taking photos

Jumeirah was helping to clean out a cupboard when she came across an old camera of mine and raced off to take some "photos". She came back asking why she couldnt see the photos on the back. I told her it was a film camera, " back when I was a girl, we didnt have digital cameras, we had to use a film and we couldnt see what the photo was like until it was printed..." oh I sounded so old :)

I remember how excited I was to get my first camera. But I couldnt waste the film as then I had to pay for it..when the roll was finished I had to wait days for it to be processed. I can still remember how excited I was when first overnight printing came in and then not too long after it only took an hour!! So different from today! I take a million photos for a few good shots and and so lucky I can hit delete :) Trouble is I hardly ever print them off!

Anyway, I decided to let her have a turn at my smaller digital camera and see how she went with it.

After spending 15 minutes chasing Jared around and annoying him no end, she found a few interesting things...by the end of her photography session, she was working out how to get closer, how not to cut off heads ( my mum still does it :) ) ( yes you do mum), and how to take photos of little things. Here are her photos. half headed Jared




her self portrait of of her feet ( I think this is a cool photo and I dont really know why!)

through the bushes

Jared in the "no more!" pose
Ariels unfortunate misadventure

Our gold lady bug

Give your kids a go at taking some photos. The results are quite surprising!









The best thing we found today was a gorgeous gold lady bug. Jumeirah is teaching Jared how to hold creatures carefully so that you dont scare them or hurt them.







>

I took this photo of the girls today. It was a great little scene of them playing together which is happening more and more often... Jumeirah is learning that Amahli just wants to be with her, Amahli is slowly learning how to "play" and not just "destroy". I love watching them :)

letter writing

Do you like getting mail? For me, its the highlight of my day :) Ok well Im not quite that pathetic but I do really love getting mail. No not the bills and boring stuff, but I love catalogues, postcards, and at the moment, anything thats coming from Centrelink :)

My kids also love getting mail. Ma and Pa sometimes send little packages of stickers or a postcard and its always met with wild enthusiam. Well this morning, Jumeirah got a enveloped letter addressed to HER (Miss Jumeirah which she was thrilled about). And so she opened and read this out:

"Dear Miss B,
It has been 6 months since we last saw you. We would love for you to visit us again soon......."
Yep, its from the dentist

Jumeirah: "Wow Mum isnt it lovely he remembered me. Im going to write him a letter back."
And so that whats she did :)

( shes decided to go next year):)

how cute is this open mouth??

And I was thinking, does anyone want to be involved in a postcard swap? As in, we send one to you and you send one to us? Could make for a fun activity!!

Post below if you are interested and I will sort something out. You dont have to have kids to be involved either ;)