Christmas Crafts for Kids

I know Christmas is still a little while away (well not that far away really - 8 weeks or so - scary huh!!) but I've been looking at lots of different kids Christmas craft ideas on Pinterest. Pinterest is a fantastic online pinboard where you can save all sorts of inspiring and fun ideas. I have been having all sorts of fun finding craft ideas that I want to do with Joel leading up to Christmas. Thought I might share a few here as well

Source: lifamilies.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: emptybobbinsewing.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: parents.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: familyfun.go.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: familyfun.go.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: familyfun.go.com via Megan on Pinterest

Looking forward to starting some of these soon.

You can find me on Pinterest here

Till next time

For the love of kids books

Whoops. Yes yes I missed a day. It was bound to happen. Life got in the way and that's ok. I am back now. Blogging again. It was only one day. No problems.

So I am a big fan of books. I love to read and love reading to the boys as well. Joel loves books as well and I am so glad that my love of books has been passed on to him. I love the classics - The Very Hungry Caterpillar, We're going on a Bear Hunt, Possum Magic. I could go on and on. So many wonderful stories to read and share with the boys. 

I love buying books as much as I love reading them. Which was becoming an expensive problem until a year or so ago I heard about The Book Depository. The books are really reasonably priced but the best part is free shipping worldwide. Awesome, hey.

Now I really want to buy some more kids story books and would love some suggestions of what to get. What were your favourites as a child? What are your kids favourite storybooks?

Would love to hear from you

Cause you can never have enough books hey.

Till next time

Over halfway and Little Melbourne

Well it's over halfway through October and I have managed to blog every day! Yay. So far so good. It's been hard some days coming up with ideas for posts, and then finding the time to write them, but I've enjoyed it. Hope i can see the next half of the month through. 

Wanted to share another website find before I go today. It's called Little Melbourne. It's a guide to all the stuff happening around Melbourne for babies, toddlers and kids. What a great resource hey, Between that and Little Eats, you'll have plenty to do to entertain the kids. I am hoping to try out another cafe next week sometime so I'll let you know how it goes. 

Till next time

Words that define the way I want to parent

 So last week I came to a decision that I wanted to write a mummy mission statement for myself (you'll find the post here). This came about from some reading I did on another blog - Everything is Edible written by Loiusa  I wanted this mission statement to be something that would help me be a better mum and remind me of what I want to be about as a mum. First step was to come up with some words that define the way I want to parent. Some of the stuff I have borrowed from Louisa and others who are taking on this challenge. A lot of their words and descriptions resonated with me.

FAITH

I want Joel and Noah to know Jesus. I want to show them and teach them what a life of faith looks like.

LOVE

I want Joel and Noah to know and feel they are loved by me 100% of the time, by me, even when I am cross with them or grumpy. I never want them to doubt that. I also want them to learn how to love others.

SAFE

I want them to feel safe in our home and I want them to feel safe in sharing things with me and talking to me.

GENEROSITY

I want Joel and Noah to see me as a generous person. Not just financially - although I am sure that will come soon enough - but generous with my time, my praise for them and generous with myself. That I am available to them. Hopefully they will learn to be generous people too.

RESPECT

I want to be the sort of mum who Joel and Noah know will listen to them and respect them. I want them to know that what they say and think matters to me.

GRACE & IMPERFECTION

I want to be the sort of mum (and person for that matter) who is able to admit when I am wrong and show examples of humility and forgiveness. I also want to show Joel and Noah that it's ok to make mistakes and to handle failures and hard times with grace and a screwed on head.

FUN

I want Joel and Noah to see me as a fun person. Happy, laughing and confident. Able to be silly and funny. To get messy and join in their fun. To play with them and enjoy them.

There were so many words and things that came up but to make this doable, I needed to try and scale down a bit so these are my thoughts for now. A mission statement is only useful when it is practical so my challenge for this week is the following - need to choose 3-5 of the above words to practice and define. How do I do these things? What do they look like in action?

Hopefully that will help me get a better picture of what my mission statement will look like.

Till next time

A cafe date

Had to take my sister to the airport this morning so we decided to make it a bit more interesting and have a coffee somewhere beforehand. With the 2 little boys in tow, it had to be somewhere kid-friendly, but not Maccas. We headed to Jellystone in East Brunswick. It was lovely. Very cool cafe and then a walk through to the covered courtyard where there was a lovely sandpit with Tonka trucks, shovels and other toys. Joel loved it. The food was delicious (I had the Lemon and Pistachio gluten free cake - YUM!) and really reasonably priced. So nice to go somewhere and be able to enjoy the food and the company without worrying about whether Joel is going to muck around. He was awesome. Playing nicely and then came back and sat at the table nicely for his milkshake and gingerbread man. And Beth and I got to chat and enjoy ourselves. Not a Happy Meal in sight either!! Win all around really.
Jellystone is in Albion St, East Brunswick. If you are interested in other places that are good for a meal or coffee with kids, check out Little Eats. (and if you are in Adelaide - CLARE - there is a similar site Little Lattes) Lots of reviews on Little Eats of all different cafes all over Melbourne and they things they have on offer for kids. Not a lot in the outer Eastern suburbs :(
Might have to open one up!!
Think as the weather gets better I might go and visit some others. Maybe make it a fortnightly thing.
Anyone else have any kid friendly cafes they know of?

Till next time

Grumpy Bum Mum

The last 6 weeks, having a broken foot, and not being able to do a whole lot. has been frustrating to say the least. This frustration (which hasn't been helped by severe tiredness, due to a baby who doesn't sleep well) has been flowing over into my parenting and I hate it. I hate being a grumpy mummy. I hate feeling like crap cause I've yelled at Joel too much. I hate this feeling and I want it to stop. I don't want Joel to feel unhappy at home, to feel like I'm always yelling and frustrated and tired. I want to be his biggest cheerleader. The person he knows will always be there for him, no matter what. I want to be a fun, happy and loving mummy to both of the boys. When I have good days as a mummy I think WIN, but the bad days always leave me feeling like the worst mummy in the world. And that's just crazy.

On one of the blogs I follow - Everything is Edible - it's author, Louisa Claire, set herself a challenge to write a Motherhood Mission Statement. Here's what she said on her blog..

"I want a mission statement that gives me a picture of what I am trying to achieve as a mum - the values and practices that matter most to me, so that when I am tempted to feel like I am failing, I have something realistic and tangible to measure myself against. I want to see the real wins for what they are, and same for the times I feel like I'm not doing a good job.... A mission statement is something enduring - it's not bound to a stage of parenting or a season of life but incorporates your goals."

So I am going to join in the challenge. I want to get this right. 

Week 1 Challenge is... What are the words that come to mind when you think about the mum you want to be?

I'll post my thoughts in a few days. Need to really sit and think on what it is I want my mummyhood to look like.

Wanna join in?

Till next time

Currents

Borrowing the idea for this post from my friend Tam.

Just a list of current happenings around here.

Drinking: lots of water (and some Coke Zero)

Eating: pear and havarti cheese YUM

Wearing: jeans and short sleeved top

Listening: new Glee soundtrack on the iPod and Mister Maker on the TV

Watching: new How I Met Your Mother and Survivor

Thinking: I need to start buying Christmas presents soon

Cooking: Chow Mein for dinner (hanging to do some baking when I am back on my feet!)

Dreaming: of a full night's sleep with no kids in the bed

Loving: watching Joel make Noah giggle A LOT! And mucking around on PhotoBooth with the boys. Noah loves it (as you can see from the pic above!)

Looking forward to: my appointment at the fracture clinic tomorrow - fingers crossed I can start walking again. And my mum and dad coming home - 23rd December. Not long now!