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Showing posts from May, 2016

Monthly play roundup: Food, glorious food!

At our place, we love playing with food. So here’s a quick roundup of some of the fun foodie things we’ve been up to lately…
~ Enjoying classic fruits in new and unusual ways ~Fruit kebabs ~ the kids helped me to arrange them on the kebab sticks, anything seems to taste better when it’s on a stick // Mini apple cars ~ with toothpicks to hold the grape wheels in place
~ Pancake monster faces ~
We created own monster faces with various fruit pieces on pancake ‘faces’.
This was also an extension from the ‘Go Away Big Green Monster’ activity we did previously.
~ Freshly baked pretzels ~
Sometimes as an alternative to play dough, I whip up a batch of bread or pretzel dough for the children to ‘play with’ and come up with their own real edible creations to eat for morning tea.
~ Homemade calzones ~
Calzones are just a variation of our favourite homemade pizzas. The only difference is that the dough is folded over to make a sort of ‘pizza dumpling’ and then baked in the oven with all the ingredients…
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Determination, resourcefulness and tenacity

I am just bursting with pride over my little man.Do you notice something shiny worn by the cool superhero character in this picture below?Our big winner!And truly well deserved.So this week was the cross country race event at Nathan’s school. For the pre-primary and lower-primary aged kids, the school had planned a ‘Superhero Fun Run’. No place awards for winners of the run, however prizes would be awarded for the three best dressed superheroes.For the past couple of weeks leading up to the Fun Run, Nathan had been going on and on about what superhero he wanted to dress up as for the run. Iron Man.Now being the practical mum, I gently tried to talk Nathan into dressing up as Spiderman since he already had  a terrific Spidey costume given to him by his grandparents.Nathan a.k.a. ‘Tony Stark’ would NOT be talked out of it. His mind was made up.However I was firm that I would not go out to buy a brand new costume just for this.“But mummy, we can make the costume ourselves! I know how we …
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All mine

I sometimes feel bad for my baby girl being our second child. Right from the start, our attention (though not our love) would often have to be divided with another sibling already in the family. And of course on most days of the week, mummy’s attention would often have to be shared between other ‘adopted siblings’ in our family day care.Of course she never complains. How could she? In her mind, this is the way things are and always have been. And she’s perfectly happy and content being surrounded by other little ones to play with and share our love with.At the start of the year, one of the ‘new’ things I decided to do was to scale back my work hours. It was a difficult decision to make considering the current financial circumstances, economic climate and individual circumstances of some families. But I think it was the right decision to make in our present season of life.Many people have been asking me how I’ve been enjoying having my Fridays off. And I tell them it’s so good. I no lo…
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Tomorrow

So our little Grace is growing and thriving wonderfully… in beauty, intelligence and her own distinct quirkiness. Her big brother has always been a big sweetheart. But Gracie… how can I even begin to describe this wacky, weird, kooky, droll little oddball character.Lately, Grace has developed this thing about ‘tomorrow’.It’s quite interesting actually.You see children’s memories are very fluid. They live moment to moment. Only focusing on the here and now. Young children in particular tend to think in a ‘fixed mindset’. Which means that they don’t naturally assume things can or will change. Sometimes in a particularly tough moment, they can feel overwhelmed by the situation or their own emotions. As they grow and develop, and with some help and guidance, they eventually begin to develop their inner sense of empowerment to find their own way to navigate their way through such emotions or situations. [source]Grace is now finding her own way to gain a sense of inner empowerment over any …
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Someday is finally here!

HEY, HEY, HEY!!!Bring out the champagne!!!Pop the party poppers!!!It’s celebration time!!!WOOHOOOOOO!!!Because…SOMEDAY is finally here!!!!!!Years ago I made a list of books I want to read to my children someday. Which included this old classic favourite. When Nathan turned three, I made an attempt at reading a chapter or two out loud to him… which kind of fizzled. So I tucked my beloved book away. Someday was not here yet.Fast forward two years later.Earlier this year, I tracked down a copy of the book from the library which had coloured illustrations and decided to give it another go.I told Nathan that this book used to be one of my favourite books I loved to read when I was a little girl… (Yes, yes, I know, I did do a little bit of a shameless sell of the book). It peaked his curiosity… or maybe he was just being the nice little guy he is and agreed to let me read a chapter out loud.And now he’s hooked.I am so, so, incredibly stoked.I think I am the one who looks forward the most to…
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The Last Time

So we have decided. This is it. We are a family of four.Once the baby of the family moves beyond toddlerhood, it’s normal to receive the usual onslaught of questions on “So, when are you having the next one?”.In the early years of our marriage, hubs tried to convince me that we should set out to have four kids. Because he grew up in a family of four kids. I bargained it down to three. Because I grew up in a family of three kids. Plus, my main line of reasoning is that three is the maximum number you can have sitting in the backseat of a regular car without having to upgrade to a seven-seater.Now we have two.And I can honestly say, it feels complete.A family of four. Four people. Two plus two. Two big people. Two little people. Two girls. Two boys.When people ask me the inevitable question. I don’t feel the need to cringe or shy away.I simply say it as it is. My baby making shop is closed. Our family feels complete.So… no more babies!No more babies, you say?Woohoo!!!No more morning sic…
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Mother’s Day Interview with Nathan and Grace

Hello! Happy Mother’s Day to all you gorgeous mums. I salute you for your vastly underrated superpowers of magic healing kisses, the ability to go into super-stealth mode during nap times, having invisible eyes at the back of your head, and having a sixth sense for mischief even (or especially) during moments of absolute silence.image sourceI stumbled across this adorable set of questions to ask your child about mummy and of course the first thing I thought of was to try it out on my own two wacky kids.My two little wackos are absolutely crazy over each other. However often during our conversations, they can drive each other (and me) crazy interrupting one another, trying to talk over each other and yelling for a turn to get a word in.So like the clever girl I am, this is what I told them: “Hey children, let’s play a game!” [Yeah! Hooray! I love games!] “I’m going to put this piece of sticky tape over your mouth. Then I will ask you both a question. When it’s your turn to talk, I will…
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