A Doily Ornament

I snuck in a little time at the sewing machine the other day.  To finish off those stockings.  Which are still a work in progress but close, close to completion.  Of course the kids followed me upstairs and set to creating their own little creations.  Here is Hugo's 'Christmas fire engine'. 

And my, Dexter out did himself with this embroidered Santa ornament don't you think?!  I helped a little with the final sewing together, it's tricky business turning fabric in a circle while sewing when you are only six- though he is becoming more and more a master of the sewing machine every time he uses it.

Beginning to look like Christmas...

Growing up we always decorated our tree on my sister's birthday, December 1st.  This year was no different.  What is different though is we've left the fake Christmas tree in it's tub under the house and instead bought this lovely living tree from the nursery.  We'll hopefully one day plant it in the ground, though it may have to wait until we move house as our little garden is about as full as it can be for now.  It's a Norfolk Pine, how about that you guys?!

Dexter and Will put up some fairy lights outside on the weekend...

I began a project that has been on my to do list every christmas for years now.   Home made stockings! Cut from an old table cloth I found at the Salvo's a few weeks ago.  Do you think I will be able to finally tick it off my list?  Fingers crossed, it's still sitting exactly like this on the floor, but I should be able to find a couple of hours to sew them all up and perhaps even hand embroider our names on each one sometime in the next two weeks.

I whipped up this little bunting the other day.  A quick easy sew, just the kind I should probably stick to if I ever want to finish something!

The birthday that just keeps giving...

Deter turned 6 last weekend and what a great weekend it was.  Daddy arrived home from Ethiopia after what felt like the longest 2 weeks of our lives.  Presents were unwrapped and played with, assembled, adored.  The day ended with a pyjama party/disco by black-light!  Next day the celebrations continued with a pool party with beloved cousins and freshly arrived grandparents and included ice-cream cake!  What a treat!

 Favourite present by far a build your own windmill.  

 Modelling clay.

Dance party by black-light complete with geofix necklaces and white paper wrist and ankle cuffs.

Pool party and ice-cream cake with the cousins.

A few days before Dexter's birthday Nanny and Pa came to visit and took Dexter to the Zoo for the day as a birthday treat and then took him to a jewellery shop to buy Dexter his very first watch.  Further celebrating took place this weekend when we went out to dinner at Dexter's favourite Vietnamese restaurant with one of his besties and her family from our home-school group.  This Friday Granny Kim is taking Dex to the toy shop so he can pick some Lego for his birthday present.  And just this morning a notice arrived for Dex that he has a parcel to collect from the post office which we're about to go and collect... this birthday just keeps giving!  Dexter has been pretty chuffed at this drawn out birthday fortnight!

And now it's time to buckle down and get going on all this Christmas business...completely unorganised in that regard.  So much for getting started on the Christmas gifting back in October, haven't done a thing since then. Doop de doo.

Freestylin' with the 'speriment stuff

So this is a post about a tidy house, though these pictures seem to indicate otherwise.

On Tuesday - officially known as Experiment Day around here  - I gave the kids free rein over their "experiment ingredients".  It's been a long week, actually two, for this flying solo mama.  The house had got into such a state one couldn't walk across the floor so much mess was on it.  My brain was about to implode if I had to endure another minute of wall to wall Lego, tiny pieces of snipped paper and crafty goodness, the up-ended dress ups basket strewn around the boys bedroom, Jenga block towers, every single cushion and pillow from the entire house piled up into a precarious lean-to cubby house in the centre of the kitchen...you get the idea.  Mama needed to tidy up! Oh and yeah, my folks were on their way for a visit.  

So with the need for these boys to be out from under my feet for an hour so I could get in and clean the pigs sty that had become our house I set them up outside on the deck, explained a few basic rules - don't get stuff in each other's faces,vinegar stings etc. - and left them to it.

They played with this stuff for TWO HOURS! Two hours people!  I couldn't get them to sit in front of the telly for that long.

Bicarb, vinegar, corn flour, balloons, water, bottles, funnels, spoons and bowls...

Bubbling, fizzing, sloshing, mixing madness.

It was messy.  They were completely engaged with it.  Completely.  We had a clean house afterwards, inside at least.  (And outside after 2 minutes with the hose).  Ahhhh, I could breath again.

Sleepless days

It's been a tough week round these parts.  Fragile first born who is missing his daddy (Ethiopia this time.  The adventures never cease)!  Crappy bedtimes every. single. night for oh, a week now?  As in the little one not falling asleep until after 10pm.  What?!  Me feeling sleep deprived and generally stuck in a grumpy solo-parenting mood.  Really, not much to blog about!  However, having just downloaded photos from my camera, I can see it's not been all misery.  

Frozen fruit whips.  Yum.  Love the start of the summer fruits don't you?

Extra cuddly night times (when they finally fall asleep that is).  Dex has declared that he needs to sleep with Hugo and not on his top bunk while dad is away because it helps him to not miss daddy so much. Naw!

A somewhat last minute but very much needed playground picnic dinner with friends last night.  A totally delicious meal of BBQ chicken sandwiches on olive and rosemary sourdough, zucchini slice, salads and to finish off watermelon and cocoa and coconut bliss balls.  (Most of which were made by my lovely friend, my contribution was the bought chook.  Yeah, I'm in solo-parent mode for sure).  

So far my grand plans to fill my Will-less evenings with giftmas sewing after the kids go to sleep haven't eventuated...but I'm hopeful.  It has to happen soon, these boys can't keep up this 10pm bedtime thing for much longer surely?   

Just a wee bit of Christmas crafting...

I've made this year's To Do list for our handmade Christmas gifting a little more realistic than past years in an attempt to actually complete it for once.  We have even made a start on it already.  In October!  I may actually finish what I set out to this year.  Imagine that?!

I can't give much away because, well, most of the eventual recipients read this blog. (Hi peeps)!   However, here's a wee little sneaky peak into some joint kid/mama gift making we've been working on...

We're heading off for a few days camping with my parents and I'm hoping to work on a few embroidery projects while watching the kids play in the sand.  Then again, maybe I'll just sit. And. Watch.  And you know....do nothing!  

Ahh, the smell of vinegar!

Let it be known folks!  Tuesday is no longer the day after Monday and the day before Wednesday.  No sir, not in this house, it is much more than that.  Tuesday has been declared Experiment Day.  Dexter will NOT let you forget it.

In our house our week rolls along not so much by which day of the week it is but by which regular activity or outing we have planned.  So Mondays' are not Mondays - but Gymnastics day.  Wednesdays as of this term are Art Class. Thursdays are referred to as Train Park day (in reference to play equipment in the shape of a train at the park where we meet our local home-school group each week).

And Tuesdays, for about 5 weeks now, have been renamed Experiment Day.

I finally got organised and put together a couple of tubs of the common ingredients and household items that constitute simple science experiments together with the books we have.  Having everything we need in one place and committing to a regular time to get sperimenting has made the whole activity so easy to achieve.  Here's a little of what we've played around with in the past few weeks...

Watched washing soda crystals grow,

 Bubble printing with water, detergent and food colouring onto watercolour paper,

Bubble powered boat - using once again the trusty gas made when combining vinegar and bicarbonate soda.

Revisiting goop, of the corn flour and water variety,

And a look at liquids and their density by mixing oil, water, and maple syrup and observing which is heaviest and lightest once settled.

Soon we'll be expanding our experiment kit with this.  Electricity is a topic that we come back to again and again so I know Dexter will be very excited to have his very own short circuit kit.

I took a more detailed look at the NSW Board Of Studies stage one (K to 2) Science and Technology syllabus recently.  If you're having trouble falling asleep, I highly recommend this 40 page document!  Anyway, I am confident we can tick that box in terms of meeting this particular 'Key Learning Area'.   What do you think?

Another lot of Firsts!

On Thursday Dexter had his first piano lesson.  Oh my.  What a moment huh?  I can't think how to describe it actually.  I think it's a pretty special milestone.  We've had a few of them lately but I'll get to them in a moment.

Dexter has been excited about starting piano lessons for a long time.  Earlier this week we made a music bag together and talked about his upcoming lesson.

He decided to make a picture using a fabric markers and adding embroidery details.  I suggested a music theme picture but of course this child can't be persuaded to do something he doesn't feel like.  He decided that a picture of a fire engine next to a burning building was the right thing for one's music bag!

I helped him cut out the pieces and took care of the pinning and ironing parts of the bag construction but he took full charge of the sewing machine for the actual assembly.

Voila!  Finished bag, music book inside.  Set to go!

His lesson went well.  A couple of minor hiccups and moments of close-to-unravelling (mostly about doing the bow), however our most wonderful teacher, someone we've had the pleasure of knowing since Dexter was a wee baby, gently but firmly held the space and Dexter pulled himself together and went on to enjoy the lesson and rise to the challenges set.  I was proud of him.  

Also this week Dexter participated in his first Athletics Carnival!  How about that?  Bet you thought we homeschoolers would miss out on this school tradition, but no.  Every year in Sydney there's an athletics carnival for home-schooled children organised by SHEN and hosted by Kickstart.  It was great fun.  Dexter had a ball.  He started out a little apprehensive as per his usual self when tackling something new and unknown but he quickly settled into the swing of the day and hung out in his age-group chatting with friends, old and new. 

Second place for the high jump!  Boy was he chuffed to receive a ribbon.  You can have the its-not-about-winning-it's-about-having-fun conversation with a 5 yr. old as much as you like - but at the end of the day, well he's five and the main focus for him all day was trying to earn a ribbon!  He also tackled the obstacle course, javelin, shot-put, running races and finally the relay. 

Hugo enjoyed the day too.  He ran around with the other little kids, playing with sticks and getting dirty.

And just one last milestone for my big boy this week.  Though actually this one happened about 2 weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to make a note of it until now.  We'd been out and about all day, it was raining and we were homeward bound apart from one final stop at the deli for something.  The only parking we could find was around the corner and I pulled up thinking aloud that it would be great if only one of us had to get out in the rain and race into the deli instead of all 3 of us.  The parking spot was just that little bit too far for me to feel comfortable leaving both kids in the car -  it is illegal after all and I've known friends to be busted for it in our neighbourhood by the police!

Well, Dex volunteered to go and buy what we needed while Hugo and I waited out of the rain in the car!  I gave him money, explained what he should ask for and reminded him to wait for his change.  Lo and behold off he went.  I watched in the rear mirror as he disappeared up the footpath and out of site past the florist which is next to the deli.  Our old neighbour owns the florist so I knew that Kelly would recognise Dex if he seemed in need of help.  And we also know the couple who run the deli so I knew they'd recognise Dex and even if he couldn't explain what he wanted they'd hazard a pretty good guess based on our usual purchases.

Well, he did it.  Triumphantly came running back around the corner into my sight after what felt like a very very long 3 minutes or so to me!  He'd bought the lasagne and on a whim a couple of gingerbread men for himself and Hugo - apologising to me that he didn't buy 1 for me as he worried he didn't have enough money!  How about that huh?  I clearly remember getting upset and making a fuss and refusing to run into a shop for my mum when I was much older so I was impressed that he handled the whole task with such confidence.  He's growing up huh?

One final milestone which occurred in our family this week was all Hugo's.  He has started the Reading Eggs program and is loving it!  (And I remembered to access the HEA discount when signing him up and renewing Dexter's subscription - 40% saving, woo)!  It's been a very slow and gentle start with him repeating over and over the first 2 lessons of map one this week and half of it is going over his head.  But!  There he sits each day for 15 minutes or so laughing at Sam the Ant and joining in the signing parts  - beginning his literacy journey.  It's his first time using the mouse and Dexter has been gorgeously sitting by his side, helping when the mouse threatens to run off the edge of the desk.

Nature fix? Kind of....

I guess the sound of rain on the tin roof while sitting in front of the fire still feels like away-from-the-big-smoke. But we didn't quite enjoy hours on end of sun drenched paddock stomping that I'd hoped the kids would enjoy (and heck, myself!) last week at Nanny and Pa's.  Ah well.  Next visit.  

All was not lost though.  The rain stopped for a few hours one afternoon and we headed straight for the creek before it began again.

Dexter was very excited by his discovery that one can swing back and forth across a creek using willow trees like a rope.  And he didn't end up in the creek by some miracle!

Hugo went a little Lord Of The Flies - thrashing a stick rather aggressively through the long dry grass.   (A far cry from a not so long ago visit to the same long grass).

They both poked sticks in the creek and fashioned a couple of twig bridges as you do.

When it was raining, which was most of the time, the kids played with toys from my childhood and a crazy amount of Lego left behind when a certain family left the mainland.  We also made a trip to the new Vinnie's in town and Annie's Ice-cream Parlour.  (An institution in Bathurst and one which I had to finally indulge the kids in)!

Mum got up early - as in when Hugo wakes which is early - every morning and played with the kids and made them cooked breakfasts while I slept in.  How cool is she?!  (I wonder how that works when we're in a tent next to their caravan as we will be in a couple of weeks?  Hmm, now that's something to think about....)

A public holiday in Photos...

Today was all kinds of awesome.  

We went to the Sydney Children's Festival (for the second time in 3 days). We spent time at the origami star-making station (Build your own Galaxy), hula hooping, plate spinning, juggling, uni cycling... all kinds of circus tricks.  And I mean all of us having a go, not just the little people in this family.  (Man!  Is hula hooping fun - I'd totally forgotten!  And my better half is an awesome juggler, it's been a while since we got to witness his skills).  

And then unexpectedly The Cousins joined us there!  A totally unplanned afternoon unfolded with Senna, Lara and Sachin coming home with us and playing all afternoon.  Home made - with many hands - pasta for dinner, more origami, water colour painting, Zingo, the construction of a massive Lego metropolis, bunk bed cubby-houses, hide and seek and on and on.  

 (I think the origami bug may have resurfaced for a certain 5 yr. old).

We're off to the countryside tomorrow for a nature-fix.  I don't expect to blog.  See you in a few days...