Avoiding 41degrees

This week here in Queensland we've had a massive heat wave. I can't actually remember the last time it was this hot, so you can imagine how hard it hit me. For most of the week we were so lucky to just chill out in our air conditioning watching movies and playing the i-pad.

Lucky for us we only live 10mins from the beach so we were able to venture out in the late afternoons for a quick dip.

 

Mr Ed found some Soldier Crabs along the shore line. We talked about all the different kinds of crabs that we know of. We discussed about Jenny and why you can't keep her (if we were ever lucky enough to catch one), we watched the hermit crabs move slowly on the bottom of the crystal clear water where we swam. We wondered why all these crabs were so scared of us??

 

With the air conditioning  on high, Mr K explored pattern making while playing blocks. He discovered a few different ways to make patterns. We then made a playground, where he managed to balance a perfect sea-saw while discovering about different weights of objects.

Mr Ed however just wanted to make a set up for his ever so popular Trashies.

We explored some Science, as this basically is all Mr K ever wants to do.

He got to make music and listen to the different tones that different water levels made. We then made different tones with our voices and even tried to make our own song with the glasses as our instruments.

We also had a day of making musical drums with plastic cups, rocks and sticky tape (Mr Ed's idea). The boy's little cousin joined in on this day and the house became very loud but also very exciting. A little upsetting that I have no pictures to show of that fun.

 

 

 

 

Christmas Craft

Since we put our pens and pencils down, I have been very tired and slack, so I haven’t had much to report about. Most of the Christmas activities I wanted to do with the boy’s, they have had no interest in, so I didn’t bother setting them up. Instead we had a week laying around, playing and doing whatever we wanted. I think I needed that!

None of the Christmas craft supplies have even been touched. No matter how appealing I make them, they’re not interested.

The only activity that Mr Ed wanted to participate in was Bakers Clay decorations. Bakers Clay is my favourite too, so I was happy. And I knew I could also use the end result for a few small gift ideas.

Doesn’t get much easier than three ingredients …..

 

I love watching him measure it all correctly.

The sensory part of this creation is Mr Ed's favourite.

 

 

 

That's as far as Mr Ed got, the rest was left up to Mr K. Painting is his favourite so he was happy. I guess that made for one happy little family.

 

 

 

Maybe next week will bring more interest in Christmas and we will make use of the ever growing Cristmas supplies. Then again ....... I'm also ok with just relaxing for another week.

 

 

Holidays have begun

So it seems that Christmas has snuck up on us once again. I was going to be so organised this year and have the gifts all wrapped up and ready to go early, but that just hasn’t happened (liked every year). I am however very happy to say that we are now officially on HOLIDAYS!!  No more work books, no more lesson plans or sight words, no more worry about what level we are at (or not at). Just relaxing and going wherever the days may take us.

 

 

 

Yesterday, the day took us to Christmas decorating. We put up the tree and started with some Christmas drawings/ colourings.  Now I know most people like to have a tree that is colour coordinated with matching decorations throughout their house. They have breakable baubles on the tree and often place the tree out of reach of the children. NOT HERE!!!
Christmas in our house is all about the kids. Would I like a perfectly decorated tree that matches the wrapping on the gifts and everything strategically placed? Well even if I did, I know that there is time for that when my nest is empty. Right now I want to let my Children explore, create and lose themselves in the magic of Christmas.

And this is what they did. They will continue to re-arrange and re-create the tree until Christmas night, as they usually do and I love it. I love their creativity and I love that no one’s confidence is crushed by not letting them have input into the decorating process.

 
Last year we found Mr K (3yrs old at the time) under the table, eating his entire chocolate advent calendar along with his big brothers. Needless to say this caused a massive fight and a major anxious mother who was concerned about the amount of sugar her son consumed in one sitting. So this year we’ve made our own advent calendar.

Santa’s elves will visit us every night on the count down to Christmas. They will bring two little gifts (for each child in our family) and place them in the xmas pockets. This time the gifts will NOT be chocolate.

 

We have also started our Christmas readings. This book was mine from when I was a small child and it truly was my very favourite. I can still remember the excitement and magic it used to fill me with when I read it. The boy’s talked about the Authors and we explored our other favourite books by these two. We love them.  Do you have some favourite Christmas books from your Childhood?

 Let the Christmas magic begin.

Turning 30

Recently someone we love very much turned 30. Where have the years gone and what have we been doing all this time? Did you have these thoughts as you hit 30?? My friends tell me they are normal, but as I approach the big 30 myself I can’t help feeling like I’m the only one who’s scared (just a little) by this. I'm really really not ready to be here yet. Lucky I have a few months left to come to terms with it. And until then, I can poke fun at the Birthday boy instead.

 

 

Nothing like cooking chocolate cake to take my mind off it all, right? Ok…. So those that know me well, know that me and cooking do NOT go well together. I know that a lot of women like to cook for enjoyment and to relax, but for me it’s just another job. I’d much rather put some headphones on and run a few kilometres than do cooking. But, on this page it’s all about following the interest of the boy’s right? So they wanted to make a cake for Mr D’s Birthday and so we did! Mmmmm yes, we certainly explored this chocolate cake making session. What fun we had heheh

Nothing too fancy, but enough to say 'Welcome home, we love you (No matter how old you are'.)

 

I guess at the end of the day, it's not how old you are, but about the family and friends that stand by you, that love and support you and that continue to enjoy being around you, despite your age. After all, it is just a number right??

 

 

Playing with Mushroom's

A short trip to the Fruit Shop and Mr K found this gigantic Mushroom. He asked if he could buy it to make something with it. I was not too sure what he could create with a gigantic mushroom, but going with his interested, I purchased it.

 

And wow! Look what he created. A frog stool with some lily pads and 'mucky' water. We talked about different habitats. We discussed the life cycle of the frog and what he might like to eat and how he eats. Then he played and played and played.

 

 

He then addded different animals and made some boats from lego to add to the water. Who was I to think that not much creativity could come from a simple Mushroom??

PHEW! Starting this blog has been much harder than I ever imagined! I am a facebook user, so trying to understand how to use these blog's has been a challenge to say the least.

So for my very first post I will keep it short. That way, if anything should go wrong and I loose all my information (yet again) I will not be worried.

Hope you enjoy hanging around here from time to time. xoxo