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when children are quiet…

Monday, August 30th, 2010

… they’re usually up to no good. Like the time I was tap, tapping away working on the computer as they played cars in the living room. After a little while I couldn’t hear Chick Hicks banging into Lightning McQueen anymore or Layla’s squeaky Guido voice. So I peeked. And there I saw my once-black floor covered in snow. On careful inspection I realised it wasn’t in fact snow (cause that would be highly unlikely near the beach – even in winter), but paper. Teeny tiny little bits of torn-up paper from a nearby notepad. After a quick high-pitched “what on earth are you doing?”, Zak looked up at me and calmly informed me: “It’s ok mum, we’re just playing Paper Man.” Then proceeded to attempt to stick the paper all over himself. Paper Man is actually the man covered in paper in the HR Block tax ads confused about tax time. How can you get mad? So I let them limp around in the paper pile for a little while longer then we got recycling.

Then there was the time they’d snuck outside and bought in a bucket of dirt to play “diggers”. Or when Zak drew a kitten’s face on Layla with a permanent marker. Or when they got into the fruit bowl and ate everything in it. Or when they emptied the entire contents of the clean-washing basket onto the floor then topped it up with every item of clothing in Layla’s room “so it can reach all the way up to the ceiling.” Luckily I discovered this before they got into Zak’s clothes (this was this morning!).

But sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised. Like recently when I checked up on their “quiet time” in the afternoon to see this. They’d pulled their sleeping bags out of the linen cupboard, taken them out of their bags and laid them on the floor and climbed in because “we’re a bit sick and need to rest.”

PS: If you’re interested (hi Ange!), the kids sleeping bags are by Carstens. My mum bought them online from the States. I’m not sure where but here is an online store that ships internationally – you’ll have to contact them to see if they ship to your country and for rates. They’re really cute – the toys on the top are detachable and are stuck on with velcro and the pillows are a giant T-Rex and unicorn. They love them and there is a heap of other styles.

What do your kiddies do when your back is turned?

Posted in family, kids | 12 Comments »

meet bubble

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Steve and I met Bubble today and it was sooo cute. I know most ultrasound babies look the same – to everyone else. But to us, its another version of Zak and Layla who pretty much looked identical. And this one will fit right in – uncoorperative (not in the right position for the scan), active (literally using my uterus as a trampoline) and stubborn (refusing to budge from its slumber despite being poked and prodded).

But we did see a calming side: it was in the “rocking chair” position, so sitting upright – not hard to do in my uterus, which is tilted. So it’s sitting up with its legs crossed and arms up in a meditative pose. Our little yoga baby. I think I even saw a few “om” speech bubbles floating around in there too… I especially like this image of that position – because it’s front on it looks like a meditating alien. heheh

Our meditating alien

In the end, we finally got what we needed and were on our way. I did think, being our third time, we’d be quite nonchalant about the whole thing, but it was as exciting and miraculous and adorable as the first time. More so even as the equipment used was a lot more modern and clearer – we could see so much more than before. And it really performed for us, jumping up and down and waving its hand… it looked like an astronaut floating through space. Minus the spacesuit. Early days yes, but I’m thinking a boy. I just feel it will be. So going by my past two records, that will mean it will be a girl – I got it wrong both times! I guess we’ll find out for good sometime next year.

Somehow, it’s the weekend again. Enjoy yours – I know I will! Thanks for visiting as usual and I’ll see you next week

Posted in all about me, family, kids, pregnancy | 16 Comments »

our growing family

Monday, July 12th, 2010

l-r: Steve (who resembles Mr Garrison from South Park), Zak, Layla and me)

Notice something in the picture? Yes, there is a baby in my tummy. And there are carrots in the baby’s tummy, too, although at its current size and inability to consume and digest such a food, I think Zak used his artistic licence liberally here!

So for the third time in four years, I’m pregnant! And we’re all quite thrilled about it – we always wanted a biggish family so we’re on our way. We’re still in single-digit weeks but I’m not one to keep this kind of news a secret – heck I’ve managed to hold off telling you for a few weeks; that’s an achievement in itself! Aside from an incredibly large appetite, constant tiredness and a few queasy mornings, I’m all good – pregnancy-wise. I do, however, have a cold AGAIN and am pretty sure I’ve now been sicker this year more days than I’ve been well.

You know what this means, don’t you? I get to decorate another nursery! whoo hoo. I think they’re my favourite thing to do! And because we like to torture ourselves, we won’t be finding out the sex again until it’s born, so it’ll be gender neutral, though I’m thinking icy blues will feature either way… And, on that, I’m thinking it might be a boy this time. For now – I change my mind a fair bit! Let the guessing games begin! xx

Posted in all about me, family, kids, pregnancy | 64 Comments »

art by zak

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Zak with carrots in his tummy playing football. The other person is “mummy when you were a little baby” and the car is a “Jeep with a wheel on the back”. Where are our arms? “I don’t need arms to play soccer.” But what about mine? “Um, I’ll draw those on later.” haha

There aren’t many things cuter than kids art. Particularly when you can make out what it is they’ve drawn! I’ve loved watching Zak’s skills develop over the years – from the random scribbles, to the scribbles with an explanation of what it is based on a fluke likeness, to the detailed and obvious. Like food in people’s tummies, spare wheels on cars and fruit on trees. I love that he notices tiny details and thinks to include them in his pictures. And I especially love when we talk about them afterwards. Here are some recent pictures and explanations that made me smile.

This is the “apple truck”, which is Zak speak for the Woolworths truck. I got it straight away when he showed me cause the logo is pretty spot on for a three-year-old! He also told me this truck is “a very very big truck because it has an extra wheel in the middle and a trailer.” Because normally, he tells me, “a big truck has one wheel at the front, two in the middle and three at the back. A medium truck has one wheel at the front and two at the back and a little truck has one wheel at the front and one wheel at the back.” And he’s SO right. I checked.

“My house with a path and gate and my apple tree and three suns.” The weird sribble on the roof? “That came from layla. She scribbled over my picture and I was very mad. I gave her a smack.” He probably did, too.

Posted in family, kids | 10 Comments »

Layla’s birthday party

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

We threw Miss Layla a little party on Saturday afternoon. Because we couldn’t invite you all, I made sure we took some pics and I made sure I ate enough cake for all of you! Want to take a sneak peek?

Ribbon tree
As seems to be the case at our parties, the tree took centre stage for decorations, decked out in white, pale pink and fuchsia billowing ribbons. I had this awesome idea to use real ribbons. Then I remembered I’m not rich enough to fork out for that much ribbon so hunted down some plain paper streamers instead – hurruh for Hot Dollar who had huge 24-metre rolls of single-coloured streamers for a whole $1 each. I LOVED this look – kept it up all long weekend. We all had fun running through them. Ok, I might have had more fun than the children. I just might not have grown up yet…

Chelsea, Layla and Sam crown themselves royalty

Cupcake trays and coffee tables make great craft stations!

Paper crown decorating
We did this last year for Zak’s messy party, but in an attempt to keep it clean this time, I stuck a couple strips of double-sided tape the length of the crown and let the kids stick paper flowers, sequins, feathers, pom poms and confetti stars to the tape. It also meant you could custom-fit to your child’s head as they stuck exactly where you wanted once you wrapped around the head. The kids loved it and I like a little craft activity at parties.

Jett, Layla and Zak discover doughnuts grow on trees.

Hanging doughnuts & biscuits
The plan was for the kids to run through the streamers and “find” the surprise treats hanging in them, but I didn’t have enough streamers to hide the doughnuts and even if I did, the puffs of wind would have exposed them anyway. And I couldn’t imagine two-and-three-year-olds eating without hands, so it was just find a doughnut and biscuit and eat away. Which they did, happily. A special shout-out to Jett who now thinks doughnuts grown on trees. hehe. We used mini doughnuts from Donut King and Kingston biscuits pierced with a skewer and wiggled into a large enough opening to tie the string through. Hang the string first and then get your helpful husband and sister to tie on all the food just before game time so the birds don’t eat (which they did on the leftover Kingston the next morning).

Layla starts the a-whacking…

…while cousin Frank patiently waits until every little person has had a go and finishes it off in one swift motion.

Broken pinatas make awesome hats

Pinata
I didn’t want to smash this in the end! I looked for a soccer ball pinata to cover like Brooke did at Inchmark (my original inspiration), but couldn’t find one, so made one from scratch. Balloons are not actually round, so I stole a blow-up beach ball from the kids and used that instead. Good news is, I could just let the air out and gently pull it away and it’s reusable! Bad news was, due to the rain a week or so ago, it took FIVE days for the first layer of papier mache to dry! But once the damp air vanished, it was just a few hours for the next layer. I threw in a bunch of crazy-inducing lollies, sealed it up with more papier mache and covered it in paper doilies. I was a bit worried about the poor old pinata breaking as soon as I took it out of its supporting bowl and hung it in the tree cause of the weak top, but all good. In fact, the kids all got a chance to whack it and couldn’t break it – weaklings. This recipe from My Cakies worked a treat for me.

The party-goers clockwise from me (attempting to explain the rules): Harper, Oscar, Chanel, Chelsea, Lilyana, Layla, Jett, Zak, Frank, Sam.

Pass the parcel
Good tip: don’t do for more than 10 children. It takes forever to wrap and they tend to lose interest once they’ve scored their prize! I made up these little colouring books with the colouring cards I bought a while back from Little Brown Pen (I’ve used them for so many things – best couple of dollars I’ve spent!) and some pretty paper I also used for the bunting: the hearts and spots are free downloadable papers from Love Mae and the gorgeous black pattern on kraft paper is my favourite-ever wrapping paper - from Laikonik (watch out for another post on them next week). Cut up colouring cards, staple together, use double sided tape along the top edge at the front and the top and bottom of the back page, stick on pretty paper and trim to size. A few random pencils all tied together with string and you’re done!

Decorative banner
I love this combo of papers – the colours and patterns look so pretty together, so after I whipped up the colouring books, I also whipped up this banner and stitched loosley with string.

Princess Layla the birthday girl

Flag cake & feather crown
I’ll be honest, this idea amost won me “Worst mother of the year award.” Pointy wooden sticks at eye level?!?!?! Stupid. Keep the pretty flag cake for adults who are able to see the danger in shoving their faces closer to the points to blow out candles (did you hear my horrified gasp as Layla nearly poked out her eyes? WHAT WAS I THINKING? Still not sure how she missed but am so thankful she did…). And of course we swapped the paper crown for my feathered one for the cake – she looked so cute!

We had a lovely day with lovely company – even if I did manage to barely speak to all my friends: I was much too busy hanging out with their adorable kiddies!

{All images by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home}

Posted in birthdays, craft, decorating, family, kids, party | 27 Comments »

Archive for the ‘family’ Category

when children are quiet…

meet bubble

our growing family

art by zak

Layla’s birthday party

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