Free Holiday Fun!

Anyone who knows me will know how much I LOVE our local library.  We go there at least once a week to get books and dvds for the small people in the house, and often a few of the same for the grown-ups as well.  I love that everything in the kids section is free to borrow, as are most of the standard fiction and non-fiction books.  Although the DVDs are rental the prices are amazing and I would far rather give my rental money to the library than the local video store.
Anyway not only are they fantastic but they run amazing activities for kids, especially during the school holidays (and once again it is all free).  This summer Mr A has taken part in the Reading Reboot programme, where he has collected stamps for reading books and doing activities associated with them.  He is an avid reader anyway but it is nice for him to feel the sense of achievement of completing his card.  We have also been several time to their holiday daily storytime sessions and last week we went to an activity session called "Construct-a-bot".  Initially there were some stories about robots and then the children all worked together to create and name a robot.  After that the real fun began when they were allowed to take their pick from a mountain of boxes and craft supplies to make their very own robot to bring home.  It was so much fun seeing all the different robots taking shape.  Mr A and Miss M decided to work together and build one robot and I must admit at times their imaginations were slightly beyond my abilities to help create with only tape and the items at hand :-)
Introducing busybot:

Some of it's many features:

* Three eyes

* Hover DVD feet

* Side boxes for storage

* Straw Antennae

* Brushes in both 'hands' for painting

* Rear rocket booster

* It's own cup and straw for refueling

Not a bad effort I'd say.

Chemistry Summer School

For christmas Mr A was given a really cool volcano kit by his Aunt, Uncle and cousins.  Mr A actually received something similar for his birthday last year but it took a lot of building and then there was very little excitement when it came to making the actual eruption, this kit however I was really impressed with.  It came with a wee collection of bottles chemicals and tools as well as gloves and safety goggles. Mr A was keen to get into it so on a cloudy, windy day we got stuck in.

Safety first, all ready to go.

 The first thing we were asked to do was mix and mould some 'lava bombs'.  The instructions were all clearly written with warnings where necessary and lots of great pictures and explanations of what was going on.

The red lava bomb  mix:

This was then moulded into shape, turned out to dry and a yellow one prepared.

Time for an eruption, red first!

Then yellow as well.

The eruptions take place in a pre-moulded plastic base so you are all set to go straight away which is great and it can be easily washed and reused.  There is also space as the back for 'pools' and a series of experiments you can do with pH paper to investigate the different pH of the chemicals used and what happens when you mix them. 

We still have at least one, if not two, sets of experiments to go from the instruction book so there is a lot more fun to be had.  And I was amazed by how much Mr A could work out about what was happening just by watching, like deciding that a gas was being given off when you mixed the chemicals etc.  I haven't gone into reactions of acids and bases with him yet although we touched on it when looking at the coloured indicator paper.  This is a fantastic and informative kit that both my kids loved.  I'll be looking at it for gifts in the future (but then I am a science geek).

Family Times

I know I said I wouldn't try and catch up with last year but at the end of 2013 we had some very special people come to visit us ally he way from Scotland.  Miss M and Mr A loved spending time with their cousins and really getting to know them (Miss M had never met them and Mr A was only 2 the last time we saw them).  On the whole it was a fantastic couple of weeks with memories we will treasure for a long time.  Here is a quick photo story of our time together.

A New Post for the New Year

This is not a New Year Resolution, I don't make those as I never seem to stick to them, I'd like to think of it more as finally getting around to doing something I've been meaning to do for ages.  I am going to make no attempt to 'catch up' on all the long lost blog posts of the last 6 months or so, or even try to explain why they are missing other than life getting in the way really.  What with activities for the munchkins, school, work, and Kakariki Crafts most days I felt like I hardly knew if I was coming or going.
With the start of the new year always come changes and this one is no exception.  I am starting a new job (sort of), well I'm doing essentially the same job for a new employer.  For most of last year we had huge amounts of uncertainty over our future as a science group and it was nice to finally get some resolution to that at the end of 2013.  I am excited about what the future has to offer work-wise, I feel like the new opportunities have come at a time where I am ready to face the challenges head on and give 110% to the team which is fantastic.
On the home front there is never a dull moment with the kids keeping us all on our toys and bringing joy and frustrations in equal measures as they grow into beautiful young people.  This year I would love to do more for and with them, and together as a family in general.  Plans are already afoot for a few large events which shall be revealed as the year goes on.  We are trying to fit in a few fun family activities before the new school year starts as well which is fantastic.
From a crafting point of view my aim this year to to have a bit more balance.  Last year I got pretty overrun with sewing for Kakariki Crafts which I loved but also found pretty tiring at times.  We had a great year as far as fund raising for the Amanda Taufale Trust went and while this will continue I will be scaling things back a bit, especially as the year gets busier at work and at home.  Later in the year if I feel up to it I may do a few markets (I loved the wee one I did locally last year) but I won't be pushing to expand things like I was through the main part of 2013.

 So how do I intend to get balance into my crafting this year.  My main aim is to do what I want when I want (sounds perfect right?).  I have already picked up the knitting needles again after they gathered dust for most of last year, and I have made a top for myself which I'll blog about in the next few days.  I have also decided to take part in Kids Clothes Week for the first time at the end of January which is one of the things that pushed me to start blogging again.

So enough waffle from me, I'm back (for now at least) and I hope some of you enjoy sharing the coming year with myself and my family :-)

My Two Wee Kilted Kiwis

Recently, well over a month ago, the daycare centre that Miss M attends had their annual Cultural Dinner.  This is the focus point of a couple of weeks of activities they do embracing the wide variety of cultures represented at the centre.  Everyone takes along a dish from their country of origin and much fun is had by all.
Mr A is always keen for any excuse to dress up in his kilt but I was stuck when it came to Miss M.  Good old Mum to the rescue though.  She was looking for something in a cupboard just a few weeks before and came across a kilt that she had made for me when I was not too much older than Meg.  So here they are, Mr A dressed in his family tartan and Miss M dressed in a kilt that her Gran made for me :-)

And a couple of snaps we got at the event.

Miss M actually got to dress up again a week or so later when we went in to show off 'all things scottish' and do some ceilidh dancing with the kids.  Mental note to self, attempting ceilidh dancing with about 20 pre schoolers may not have been my brightest idea ever :-)

Rainbow Rice

Yes see I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been crazy busy with a whole lot of stuff that has keep me away from the blog.  One day I might try and catch up, but for now I will just share this quick and fun wee activity we did the other day.

I had Mr A home 'sick' from school so we decided to set up some craft stuff and I made this fun rainbow rice.  I found a recipe online (of course) but since I'm pretty rubbish at actually following recipes I just made it up as I went along.
We got a bag of cheap rice from the supermarket and put about half a cup into some snap lock bags (or you coud use any container with a lid.  To each bag add a few drops of food colouring (you can always add more later) and a dash of white vinegar (scientific that eh?).
Here are our bags.

Then we tipped them into containers and left them out to dry for about half an hour or so, this would have been quicker had it been a warm sunny day.

The kids decided they wanted to mix it all together and it looks pretty cool.

They then spent ages making pictures by gluing it onto paper and just generally playing about with it.  Cheap, easy and fun, plus it is now stored away for use again next time ;-)

Mother's Day

First of all I want to wish all the Mums out there a huge Happy Mother's Day.  Being a Mum is a 24/7 365 days a week kind of a job, and one of the most frustrating and rewarding things I have ever done.  People don't tell you about all the hard bits before you have kids, and there are many of them, but they do tell you about the good bits.  When I had Mr A and realised just how hard this new job was, and went through all the usual 'new Mum' insecurities, I wondered why noone told me about those bits.  But now looking back I know exactly why.  Most of the people I knew had children, and by that I mean not babies.  Their wee ones were already school age or older, and already I am learning how quickly you forget all the trying times and only remember the good bits about being a Mum.

And so to the weekend really.  Last year I had the most awesome Mother's day which I wrote about here.  This year I think may have topped even that.
Yesterday Mr A came to me asking for a big box so I knew he was planning something.  Next he asked for the box of felts/crayons and gathered up all his stickers, took Miss M with him into the conservatory and told me quite firmly to stay out.  I'll admit now that I did have an inkling as to what he was up to but it didn't make the sentiment any less sweet.  So after much time and concentration I was told not to look and said box was 'hidden' in Mr A's bedroom.
Roll forward to this morning.  I got given two lovely cards that Mr A had made (one at school and one at OSCAR), and a card and chocolates Miss M had made at daycare.  I also got some chocolate, a lovely mug with 'pekos' on it (that's pukekos for those who don't know Meg shorthand for these things) and a new wooden spoon.  As well as a nice fresh cup of coffee and lovely cooked breakfast in bed, including toast that Mr A had made all by himself.
Then I got given this box.

This is a box that Mr A got sent for his birthday with a helium balloon in it.  He had written a new message in the tag for me and told me to open it.  Inside there was nothing.  Or was there?  I was told very seriously that Mr A and Miss M had filled the box right up to the very top with kisses just for me *awwww*.
I know that Mr A got this idea from this lovely wee book by Vivian French.  We first discovered this book in our local library and every time it was there Mr A wold get it out.  It's a lovely simple wee story about a cat who doesn't know what to get his Mum for her birthday, and finally decides on a box of kisses (you may have guessed that already).  I'm not sure what it is about it that Mr A loved so much but when we saw the very same book on the 'for sale' shelf of the library we nabbed it and it is still a firm favourite here, with Miss M now loving it.

So I guess my point is that the idea wasn't original to Mr A but we haven't actually read this book for a good few months and noone mentioned it to him.  I think he was just in the same situation as Stanley (the cat in the book) and wanted to get his Mum something special, all by himself.

For all that my children can be completely infuriating and drive me mad, deep down I am really very lucky to have two caring, loving and on the whole delightful children.  I think everyone has those moments when they could quite happily give away one or more of their kids, but it is times like this morning that make it all worth while.  And lets face it when looking back it's not the tantrums and defiance, but moments like this that form the lasting memories.