holders for card games

We have had the strangest run of crazy weather here lately... saturday it was a scorcher at nearly 41 degrees, then dropped to 19 the day after!! Its playing havoc with my lungs and the kids noses but at least its been cooler the last few days.. I dread the heat of summer....


Yesterday after school I got so busy with cleaning that by the time I got to bed I couldnt recall one full conversation I had with any of the kids. Not that they really minded, they seem to all dissapear as soon as we get home and dont surface until daddy gets home (hmm) but its not a feeling I like. So this arvo I stopped them before they all took off and asked if they wanted to learn a new game. I had bought a card game called Phase 10 which I thought Jumeirah would enjoy but that Amahli could sort of play along too. Its basically a game with 10 phases ( funnily enough!) with things like a set of 4 and a run of 4, a run of 8, 4 yellows and 3 greens, etc, pretty easy to pick up but makes you think too. Both girls loved the concept, but struggled to hold 10 cards in their hands. Id start by fanning it out for them but pretty quickly one had hand cramps and the other couldnt see any of the cards she was working with.

Id seen a few ideas a couple of weeks back on a good friend of mine who wrote for another blog ( yes its all twisty) here, where that clever mum had made card holders for her cherubs to use whilst playing card games so I thought we could give it a go too.

Cutting an egg carton in half, I cut a slit in each section to slot a card into. I had to work quick because I didnt want to lose them, so it wasnt as pretty or fancy as it could have been and it didnt quite look right either, but it worked and they loved it!

I love other bloggers who make my life easier :)

breaking your own rules

umm maaaa!! how does a whole week go by without me seeing it fly?? crazy.

Life has gotten itself all busy on me again and work is piling up and somehow, I havent blogged for a week. Which feels weird but its not to say we havent had a great week :)

Heres a sneak peek at whats taken over my world/house/sanity....


NERF GUNS

Whilst I was casually browsing the shops the other day with the two little people, minding my own business and NOT spending money, hubbin crept up on me. He was browsing too (hmm it doesnt stop there unfortunately) and had "something to show"me..... I should have run then but  I followed. To the nerf gun section of target.

And suddenly the two boys in my life are BEGGING for one.... "they are on special! Ive never had one!! We wont shoot anyones faces!!" And so the mother in my sighs and takes two nerf guns to purchase and to put away for Christmas ( a third nerf gun had already been secretly purchased and had been put away months ago for Jared but todays were "better and easier "so Id been told).

And so we go home. Not long after, papa bear arrives home from work and I head to the shower..... and come out to a full blown cardboard massacre and not one, not two but ALL THREE nerf guns assembled to the delight of the now 4 children I seem to have in front of me.....

I walked away, feeling very "mum" like. Who am I to spoil the fun??

I wrote my story on facebook, to which I recieved a bunch of "thats so cool!!"comments and one that really stuck in my head.....
                               "its family bonding! go with it!"

And I realise that sometimes its ok to do something completely out of the norm, why cant we just be in that moment and break our own rules???

And so the family nerf battle began :) No miniture figure was safe, even the dog took cover.
The kids ( and the big kid) all had a ball. Kids bedtime curfew was stretched from 7pm to 9pm ( another rule to break... although I paid for it this morning)

 

And all three little kids are still talking about it....

do you ever break free of the "mum" in you and break your own rules??

letters letters everywhere!!!

Had to help one of the locals cross the road today... as you do in Port Macquarie ;)

This week has been a really awesome week for letter hunting!! Its also been interesting to see the world of letters from someone who cant quite get them completely yet... I never realised how confusing it cna be with different fonts, symbols used as letters, capitals, lowercase and everything in between!! But Jared has been loving it, finally he is beginning to see a greater connection with letters.

I just need him not to yelp in excitement when Im driving ;)

These were the favourites from the last few days... and an example of how confusing it all is!!

Running writing, bold writing and a word in capitals all in the one sign!

 

 

This was the first sign where he squealed he could see an "S!"

Trouble is the letter T is written as a bottle opener which makes it difficult to recognise.

 

 

Lots of fun letters to recognise here :)

 

 

Thought I might print some of these signs out and make him a book where he can practise reading letters that arent as easy as a printout from me. Will be something that he can do whilst we are reading at night or on his own.

Letter games

Sadly, the school holidays are over and we begin the downhill slide to the end of the year!! This term is FULL of scary new concepts for me... Jared begins school orientation this week ( YIKES!), Jumeirah will sit an exam to see if she is eligible for a position in an extension class next year, Amahli is about to turn 4... so many big things!!


Jared and I have been doing lots of letter activities lately. Ive been a bit worried that he really wasnt recognising any letters correctly and wanted to help him out a bit for next year. ( yes yes I know thats what school is for... but I want to give him the best start that I can so why not do a bit now??)
I bought a book which he happily calls "homework" and last week we worked with just 4 letters; B,M,T,S. We talked about them, what starts with them, what they sound like.

I did it with everything. And slowly but surely, he began to get it right more often than not. And today, he was so excited that he squealed at me to "STOP THE CAR!" because he found a T in a road sign :) I gotta admit, I was pretty excited too. I am an avid reader and love words so to see it finally click for him and for him to realise that the letters work together, was an exciting development.

So Im blogging this week on some letter activities that you can do at home with your own cherubs!
Amahli has been keen on letters for sometime so shes doing it too.

Todays activity was to create the letters out of playdough.
Its not only a great activity in letter recognition, but also playdough is wonderful for strengthening core finger muscles that will be used to hold a pen or pencil very soon!

I drew the letters onto a piece of paper ( had I time I would have laminated them first before he used them but he was at the table and ready to go so I wasnt going to wait!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

He really enjoyed this  today which was such a change from normal. I think the fact that it is starting to make sense to him makes it more fun :)

Big Sister box ( or big brother box)

School holidays are as usual flying by... we have spent so much time at the beach I think salt water is coming from our ears in a permanent flow, snad will NEVER be out of our hair, but we are happy and full of beautiful Vitamin D!!


Just recently, one of my littlest friends became a big sister for the first time. As per the norm, I went and bough at gorgeous pressie for the new little boy, a gift for mum and something small for dad. But when it came to thinking about my little friend I wanted to give her something too. Its hard to become a big sibling, to not be the only child anymore. Its even harder to watch mum spend ages feeding this noisy new thing seemingly ALL THE TIME, even more so when you are not quite 2. So I have made something especially for her to do whilst mum is busy feeding that requires little to no help from mum at all, but that is fun, engaging, and also not expensive but also can be added to.

My First Big Sister Pack
(as yet i dont have a box to put it in but you  get the idea)

These are the things in it!

An all about me book. At 2 shes going to LOVE this. All the photos are of her :)
It was easy to make ( relatively, I cant sew and ideas get stuck in my head dont always quite turn out how I plan... but this is using printable fabric so that bit was easy)

A simple puzzle

pretend play plates, knives and forks for a play tea party

pompoms and a set of barrels to sort with ( great for imaginary play  too!) ( second container)

handmade cupcakes to go with the tea party ( easy to make!)

Set of stickers ( in first photo)


I can add things to this as she gets older, pens and paper is good and easy but as shes still quite young I dont want mum having to get up to help her, kinda defeats the point!


So if you have a little friend going through the "new baby"stage at home, why not create a pack for them! I know they will love it but mum will too!!

school holiday fun

YES!!!! School holidays are the BEST :)


And this morning I was pumped, ready and totally organised... see how long that lasts ;)


I had someone comment to me recently that my blog made them feel inadequate and rather like a bad mum because of all the things I do with my kids. Ive had this before, but the answer is the same.

I have found through my nearly 8 years of being a mum that when I am organised and know what Im doing as far as crafty things and generally spending time with my kids, it WORKS. As soon as I busy myself in my own world, or couldnt be bothered or am just generally off the planet as far as having a plan, it all falls to pieces on me and I end up wishing the day was over and wondering if my kids will hate me for it.
Its one of those things for me, when we've been productive and had a good day, I rate myself a "good mum".  We all do it. Dont even pretend you dont ;)
So my blog is to help you get to that place of calm productive awesomeness like me :) Sometimes you'll do it and give yourself a pat on the back. Sometimes you wont, cos sometimes I dont either. And thats ok.

So I decided to post about the things we are doing in the holidays on a daily basis, so you can see how its done, how easy it can be, and how cheap you can make it. Holidays dont have to be a time to spend all day everyday at the shops or spending money. Fun things to do can be found everywhere!!

So today, with my negative bank account, meant that we were doing things that were either free or paid me. Considering there isnt much to do with three kids  that I can paid for, we opted for a free day :)


Simple dolls furniture set up without  the dolls house!

Lego for Jared (Although the girls did get into for awhile)

Painting for the artists ( another Kandinksy creation from Jumeirah)

Pretend play with icecream. ( pom poms and $2 shop icecream cups)

Afternoon at the beach

Cost: FREE!

I have also written a list of jobs that I want to achieve in the holidays and worked it out to do one per day. I have tried to get it all done in the one day, but I end up having a crap day cos the kids have had no time and often the job never gets done anyway!

Todays job: clean up and sort out top drawer.


DONE!!

story time

Its been a very long time between posts... I have had the traumatic time of losing a very close part of my life... my PC. Now before you scoff, its not just my PC... but  months worth of photos as well.


Now you may gasp in horror ( Ill even leave a pause)

Now Im not panicking... yet. My IT guru husband assures me he can retrieve it from the desktop somehow. But for the past week Ive been pretty much internetless nad very much photoshopless ( I lost all actions and everything in photoshop too but thanks to a friend who rescued me last time through multiple emails, I have managed to reload that all back tonight on my sparkly new computer)


So whilst I wait patiently for all my photos from the last few months, here is some I forgot to blog about that were still on the camera ;)



A little while ago, Jumeirah came home telling me she had to do a project on "Cam the cameleon" ( a stuffed toy cameleon from school) overnight. The idea was we would take Cam on an adventure to a wetland.

Thinking this could be more fun that first thought, I grabbed my camera and we set out.
What followed was a very funny afternoon with a stuffed toy, two kids just happy to be out in the "jungle, and one child who was able to breathe life into a stuffed toy and give him a great little adventure.

This is how it went.


(as told by Jumeirah aged 7)

Once there was a cameleon called Cam and a little girl named Jumeirah. They decided to go on a wetland adventure.

 

As they arrived at the boardwalk, Cam looked in surprise at the huge paperbark trees. 

 

 

He walked on till he found a creek. "I can see me!" he exclaimed.

 

 

Jumeirah held him tight so he could look closer without falling in.

 

 

Cam sat on a log for awhile, enojying the cool of the forest and the sounds of the birds. It was so peaceful.

 

 

Cam decided that  this was the best place to look up at the tops of the trees and clouds. And they went home very happy after their wonderful adventure.

 

 

Once we had the photos and printed them off, we made it into a book. It got me thinking of other "friends"of the stuffed variety that we could use in stories and take on adventures and how fun that would be to turn into a book!

Think we might have to do this again in the holidays : ( YAY!! HOLIDAYS IN TWO MORE SLEEPS!!)