SNOW!

Apologies for the absence, it's been a busy time.  And for part of it our little family was travelling to NEW ZEALAND!  It was Geekling's first overseas trip, and it was the first time seeing real snow for the entire family.

 Chasing and playing on the frosty lawn

 Geekling at the Snow (Mt Hutt)!

Snowball fights with Aunty N

As well as the snow, we visited the Wildlife park, a number of small towns and hot springs.  What a great contrast to the cold that was!

Overall, I'd say Geekling travelled pretty well.  At 2.5 years old and with a fair few plane trips under his belt, the flights weren't an issue, and he loved car trips around the country with so many sheep and cows to look at.  But he missed his grandparents, our pets and our home in general.  A couple of times he begged to go home, which was so sweet and sad.

Ideas for family friendly garden zones

I came across this link to 9 Ideas for family Friendly Garden Zones on facebook, and it has some great ideas and gives a pretty cheap and simple version of each.  I think this list is fantastic, but would like to add to it with the 'Banging Wall' idea from Chasing Cheerios and of course a vegie and herb patch which I know my toddler loves.

What do your little ones like best in the garden?

Doing dishes with Daddy

Geekling loves to help around the house.  He loves to help with cooking, sweeping, vacuuming, watering plants, feeding the animals (cat, dog and chickens) and now doing the dishes.

 Drying dishes with Daddy

Following Montessori guidelines, we try to provide him with child-sized utensils where possible.  He has his own small broom, a miniature vacuum cleaner (that does actually work) and a little watering can.

Pick of the toy store, and my little Montessori man choose the broom!

He is really becoming very helpful at home!  Each meal he takes his empty bowl or plate to the kitchen, and will usually offer to take ours too.  He feeds the cat and dog most mornings and evenings, if the door is opened for him he will go out, get the dog's or cat's dish and then get the dry food from where its stored, measure and tip in the correct amount.  One of us parents usually adds the wet food though.  He also loves collecting eggs from the chooks and putting them in the box in the kitchen.

There are lots of websites around with lists of toddler appropriate chores for anyone wondering what their little man or lady is capable of contributing to the home.

Lightsaber play

Hubby has introduced Geekling to the fun of playing with lightsabers! Hubby's is a proper replica, Geekling's is the Wii-remote version that came with a game some time ago and is just the right size for him.

We don't call him Geekling for nothing!

The Big Dig at the Abbey Art & Archeology Museum

The Abbey Museum of Art and Archeology had a Big Dig event on recently, where they set up a toddler excavation area (as well as a more complex one for older kids).  I think that teaching some of the younger toddlers to dig and sift into bucket was a bit ambitious, but Geekling and his cousins had a great time.  All three of the kids found treasures - although Geekling's treasure was a small glass bead, which he declared looked like a jellybean and kept trying to put it in his mouth.  Hmmm... they didn't think that through perhaps.

 Geekling resorts to using his hands

Afterwards, we went to Centenary Lakes park in Caboolture and fed the ducks, then played on the play equipment before heading home.

Fly Away Home @ GoMA

We've posted before about trips to the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) - they always have at least one kid specific exhibit but Geekling is getting old enough that he is interested in other exhibits too, especially as many are interactive or involve lights, sounds etc.

 This amazing cubby-like tree piece is made from a lot of yarn with all kinds of treasures included.

 Geekling and his dad making their bird.  Geekling insisted on giving it the same name as him, and apparently it lives underground and eats chippies.

 The Fly Away Home room with birds in the trees in the center of the tables and in the nest box like alcoves in the hallway out (far left).

There was another exhibit that had old school bench chairs, and invited folks to make a paper rubbing on them as each chair had a different Thai carving in the flip table top.

Geekling had to visit that first piece again before we left!

Previous GoMA posts:
Obliteration Room & We Miss You Magic Land
Surrealism for Kids
21st Century Kids

Bug catching

As a child I delighted in catching bugs and observing them for a time before releasing them.  I had one of the those cheap plastic bug houses that was standard issue in the 80s.  I'd always planned to get one for Geekling so when I saw this gorgeous wood and mesh one, I had to get it.

Image: http://www.uniquekids.com.au which stocks this catcher.  I got the same one from Bright Bugs

We have had a couple of occupants so far - a lady beetle we housed in there for a day before releasing...

and a very funky caterpillar.  It was green and black striped, fuzzy and had a red head and black feelers.  The red head reminded me of Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar which is Geekling's favourite book.

 He loved watching his "pet pillar".  When we went to release the silly thing it clung to the mesh and it took 3 days to find its way out.  Or maybe it was enjoying the food too much.

Flowers in the bath

Geekling has only recently begun accepting baths again after about 8 months of being completely petrified of them (all the while loving his swimming lessons).  It's been a full turn around - today he asked for a bath in the afternoon just for fun.

To make it a bit more interesting, I grabbed some leaves and flowers from our herb and vegie patch to add to the bathwater - marigolds, tarragon flowers, carrot leaves and nasturtium leaves.  Geekling is well past the  stage of sticking everything in his mouth, but all of these are edible if he had chose to try them.

He had great fun counting them, naming colours, sticking the flowers in between his toes and then we discovered the nasturtium leaves stuck really well to wet skin...

More fun with pipe cleaners - animals, Christmas ornaments, leis and more

Other than cleaning a pipe, poking into play dough and coiling like a spring, what can you do with pipe cleaners?

Here's some awesome animal tutorials from Thoughts from the Beaver Pond.

Flower Leis at All Free Holiday Crafts - theirs are 4th July ones but they'd work well for spring celebrations, Hawaiian themed parties or fairy costumes.

Christmas tree star toppers from 2crafts.com which could be adapted into wands or incorporated into space themed activities.

4 Crazy Kings made pipe cleaner shamrocks for St Patrick's Day - will definitely give this a try next March.

Or try some beaded Christmas Tree ornaments like the ones at Make and Takes - they look even better with clear or faceted beads.

Boy's Easter 'Bonnet'

I just stumbled across photos my mother in law took at Geekling's daycare Easter Parade, so I'm making a very late Easter post - or very early for next year?

We needed to make an 'Easter Bonnet' at home to bring in for their parade.  Which got me thinking - what exactly do you make for a young man?  Most bonnets I've seen are fairly pink, frilly, lacey or otherwise rather feminine.  While I'm not usually one to follow gender sterotypes too closely, I couldn't bring myself to make such a hat for Geekling and was determined to think of something more manly.

I almost made him this one from Sewn Together out of scraps, and almost wish I had as it would have gone into our growing dress up box collection.  But in the end I wound up making a very cheap and simple one from cardboard left over from our wedding invitations (4 years ago!) and some foam letters from our sensory box filling collection.

Let's explore outer space!

Geekling has been loving stars and the moon for a while now, so I put up some of those old style Glow-Zone glow in the dark star stickers and a set of planets in his room.  I bought them second hand (but in unopened packets) ages ago and had planned to wait til Geekling was older and we could plot out constellations together, but I just felt in my heart it was suddenly the right time - and I'm so glad I put them up!  Geekling is enthralled by them!  I made sure to put the solar system up in the right order and put up a few of my favourite constellations so we will hopefully have fun finding them a few years down the track.

Since the stickers went up he's requested "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and a lullaby book of his talking about catching stars, so I think I'll nip down to the library in my lunch break tomorrow and borrow some kids books featuring stories about space and maybe a couple of simple reference books.

So the next question is - what other space-themed activities should I gather up to feed my son's new obsession?

Counting Coconuts did a whole month's theme on it and have some amazing ideas - matching planets, a space sensory box, practical life activities pouring star-shaped pasta and sweeping star sequins, counting with star stickers, punching stars with a small punch... a fantastic resource!

Fairy Dust Teaching has a gorgeous looking Galaxy Playdoh - I must hunt down some black food colouring to make some!

First Schools has some printables and activities in a space theme.

Now... is it too soon to introduce him to Star Wars & Star Trek?

Stay tuned for our space adventures!

Hubby's birthday cake

My husband is a bit of a quirky guy, and one of his most obvious eccentricities is his penchant for Hawaiian shirts.  To be fair, in our climate they are nice and cool in summer and as they're button up and collared they are technically suitable for a wide range of occasions.

So Geekling and I made his 32nd birthday cake in the shape of a Hawaiian shirt!  We baked a square cake then cut a slice off to cut up as sleeves.

I wish I'd gotten a picture before it was pincushioned, but this will have to do.

Happy birthday, hubby!

Rainbow rice!

I had to pick Geekling up from daycare a couple of weeks ago as he wasn't well.  While he was napping, I made up a batch of rainbow rice for him to play with in the afternoon and he was positively thrilled with it!

I used 2 x 1kg bags of jasmine rice.  They were on special for $1 each.  I divided into the number of colours I wanted (5) and then put each portion in a ziplock bag with a couple of squirts of hand sanitising alcohol and quite a few drops of food colouring.  Then I shook until it was evenly coloured and lay it on baking paper to dry.  You can substitute hand sanitiser for white spirits like vodka but it will take longer to dry.

Here it is before Geekling got to it:

Its become a permanent addition to our sensory box fillers.  I initially gave him some different sized cups, scoops and spoons (including slotted ones that the rice slowly sifts through).  I've since used it with rainbow foam letters buried in it as an alphabet find-the-letter activity, and today with plastic easter eggs to fill and shake.  It still looks great even all mixed up and when we're done I tip it into a large ziplock bag and put away for next time.

After shot coming soon!

Aromatherapy shower discs for colds & flu

First off, apologies for neglecting this blog.  I contracted Ross River Fever at the end of February and its been a long fight but I'm finally coming good now.

I came across this post for home made aromatherapy shower discs on Pinterest and it reminded me that here in the Southern hemisphere cold and flu season is about to start.  I was thrilled to note that I have all the ingredients for these, though we often buy a blended oil here called "Breathe Easier" because hubby has so many allergies and Geekling is athsmatic, and it smells very much like Vicks so I might use 45 (!!) drops of it instead of the blend, even though I have those oils. I had to stop myself whipping a batch up right now - only I think that they'd be best made fresh.  Rest assured at the first sniffle or sneeze, I'll turn out a set and give them a try.

I think they'd make a great get well gift too!

Glasses like Daddy

Geekling explored his craft box on the weekend, and is quite taken with pipe cleaners.  I offered to fashion him a pair of glasses from them, which were a big hit - "Glasses like Daddy!" and "Cool dude glasses!"

Geekling's bedroom - 2 years old

Now that Geekling is toilet trained, we've sold his nappy change table (for almost double what we'd bought it for! $45 second hand off ebay 2 years ago, sold for $80 on ebay recently).  We moved his chest of drawers to where his change table had been, moved his bookshelf to where his drawers had been and put up the play tent I made him for his birthday.  We've also now got an easel his Grandma gave him, and we blew up balloons for his birthday!

The playtent is just a hula hoop ($5), a queen bed sheet donated by Geekling's Grandma and a bunting donated by Lumpy's Mum.  The tutorial I followed is here.

Geekling LOVES the tent, loves his new Very Hungry Caterpillar bedsheets and pillow and his easel!

I love comparing photos and seeing how his bedroom has evolved.

Previous posts about Geekling's room:
Geekling's newborn nursery
Geekling's new bed

Geekling's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Geekling's 2nd birthday last weekend at our favourite park at Chermside - its huge!  The play area is under cover, and although not a priority for us there are lots of options for special needs kids too which is nice to see.  There are toilets and lots of tables and benches and lots of grass to run around on - its a wonderful space.

We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party as its Geekling's favourite book at the moment.  We ate all the foods that the caterpillar eats in the book!

 

 

I've been struck down with Ross River Fever that I must have picked up from a pesky mosquito while camping a couple of weeks ago, which put me out of action in the lead up to the party.  A HUGE thank you to:

• my mum who made Geekling's awesome caterpillar cake;
• my mother in law who made the jellies and cupcakes and supplied drinks; and 
• my wonderful husband who did the rest.  

The only thing I managed was to pick up a second-hand single bedsheet from the thrift store and stamp it in greens and red with a cut potato.

Hoot Cupcakes

Geekling's 2nd birthday is near, so I had to send cupcakes in to daycare so the kids could celebrate.  These are what were made:

They are little owls decorated with halved oreo biscuits, halved malteasers and orange jelly beans.  They look a bit like Geekling's favourite character Hoot, from ABC's Giggle & Hoot.

It took 3 packets of oreos to get enough halves for a dozen cupcakes, but the remaining bare sides are sitting with the left over malteasers waiting to go through some home made ice cream, perhaps with a touch of my home made Baileys - mmmmm.

Confession: I used packet cake mix.  I normally make everything from scratch, but my mother-in-law made the most amazing cupcakes and when I asked for the recipe she confided that it was ALDI 'Hillers' brand vanilla cake mix.  That stuff is only 75 cents a box!  And it makes the most divine cupcakes!  So its my go-to for cupcakes now.

I did however make the frosting and it was awesome - creamy, buttery but not too sweet.  I posted the icing recipe on my new Thermomix blog I am going to use to post my fave recipes and my own conversions.

52 Uses for Coconut Oil

I came across this post recently on 52 uses for coconut oil.  I'd never realised Coconut Oil was so useful!  I love that you can use it as a base for so many home made cosmetics and medicinal balms - some of which would make lovely home made gifts.

(Image from the http://www.deliciousobsessions.com article linked above)

For those who haven't used it before, coconut oil isn't a liquid like most oils we're used to, its a thick balm like substance.

Ingenious uses for everyday household items and staples

I came across this list of household tips using items most people would already have and some are just brilliant.

My favourites are re-using aluminium foil to scrub casserole dishes, removing stains from chopping boards with cut lemon and using citric acid as a dishwasher cleaner (they said Kool-aid but its hard to get here and its the citric acid that makes it work anyhow).

What's your favourite?

Lumpy's 2nd Birthday Party

Yesterday Geekling and I helped Lumpy celebrate her 2nd birthday - what a lovely party!  Thank you Mara and Lumpy for having us!

 Adorable teacup treats

Geekling LOVES to play with sliding doors

Check out the cake - a joint effort between Lumpy's mum (who baked the six different coloured cakes) and friend Jaime who is a cake decorating queen and came up with the awesome marbled fondant.

 SIX layers of bright rainbow colours!

There was also had a DIY cupcake table that the kids just loved.  Geekling did a decent job of applying his own icing with a spoon and dotting it with m&ms and jellybeans before toddling off to eat it.  I was very impressed he didn't try to over-load it or sneak a few lollies in the mouth while decorating.

 Spreading his cupcake with icing

 Decorating his cupcake

 Ready to devour his masterpiece

The birthday girl decorates her cupcake with lots of crumbled oreo - yum!

I was also very impressed that he was able to communicate his need to go to the toilet in an unfamiliar environment and didn't get 'stage fright', including a stop on the way home just before jumping on the highway (which I was very grateful for).