Going by in a blur

Life moves pretty fast.. 

(ten points if you get the movie quote!)

What have we been up to? The usual but we've had birthdays, a Cub camp, a Scout camp, a school residential, not to mention unemployment, days out, a new camera, a new iPhone and days dreaming of a holiday!

The eldest attained her Silver award from Cubs and was invited to attend an awards day, where as well as receiving a commemorative woggle and certificate, there were also activities to enjoy, she loves a good zip wire but this one was so high I wasn't sure if her fear of heights would kick in, several Beavers cried at the top and couldn't do it, I'm not sure I could!

But I should have known she'd be fine!

She's now become a Scout and suddenly from being an elder Cub Sixer she's now one of the youngest newbies. It's a real big change as the age range is 10 1/2 to 14, so some of them look much older! She's already been on her first Scout camp though and lived to tell the tale, she enjoyed having a go at archery and doing fire lighting and knife skills. 

We had the annual St. George's Day parade in March where I very proudly watched both my girls take part. It's great to see how many people are involved and enjoy the movement.

The eldest also turned Eleven last month! It's a cliche but I'm not sure how that happened, she's also turned into a fully fledged phone addict, as she'd happily stay plugged into Minecraft YouTube videos all day if we let her, it's even taken over her book reading habit, which I'm very sad about. I keep hoping the novelty will wear off soon, how many videos can StampyCat have made?!

With her Minecraft addiction, it meant that of course deciding on a birthday cake theme would be easy!

I think I preferred it when they were small and had no expectations on my decorating skills!

It was also my Birthday and the eldest did me a fab painting of my favourite thing - a cuppa!

I managed to use my Birthday money to finally join the rest of the world in having a smartphone, hurrah! So I've been mostly using the camera and getting to grips with Instagram.

After going a long time without a compact camera, I now have two! My iPhone and I also purchased an Olympus Pen EP-1 on Ebay, it's a Micro 4/3rds camera, so it's a bit like a hybrid between an SLR and a compact and I love it! 

We had a lovely family Bank Holiday visit to Cogges for the Festival of the Fleece

and we all had a go at paper plate weaving, which even the littlest enjoyed.

So busy I've not even done anything crafty, I'm thinking I might treat myself to a day off work to remedy that ;)

Feeling proud

A quick photo post of images that were taken on a sunny walk to the park last month, that I want to remember, not just because we had a nice time and I'm glad we all made the effort to get out of the house (!) but because these pictures are not mine, they were taken by my eldest when she wanted to try my SLR that I'd taken with me.

I thought they were great and even more heart-warming is that she loved the camera! 

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?!

I think a small camera of her very own for the next birthday might be in order!

The little moments

Every autumn as the leaves turn I for some reason remember one of the first images I took for the blog and it suddenly struck my how much time has passed since then and how much being a Mummy has changed since then.

I can remember with rose-tinted glasses how we used to do more child specific activities, painting, gluing, cooking and I wonder what has happened. I feel like such a busy mum (with obligatory guilt) that I don't always enjoying parenting, I crave moments of time to myself and it can be challenging trying to parent school-age children and still remember the little one.

So, I made an effort and took an idea from Pinterest for a quick and easy (and clean) activity.

It's just paint in a zip-loc bag, taped down but she seemed to enjoy squiggling in it and mixing the colours!  My craft cupboard was noticeably barer than it used to be too, we need more paint!

The little moments are what make your heart melt, especially between siblings.

The youngest and the middle child usually share a bath and I managed to take this photo to remind me of the giggling that accompanied their whispering game!

I'm so glad that I started this blog, as a journal to look back on and I hope in another five years I can still look back and remember these busy days with happiness.

Playing Games

Happy Belated New Year!

Hope you've all greeted this New Year well and maybe made some plans for the coming year?

I thought I'd give details of the games we've spent a lot of time playing recently.
Last year we were introduced to UNO and loved it, even my 4-5 year old could play.

So we've tried to find more card games we can all learn, I've got a copy of 'Waddingtons Illustrated Card Games' which has a section on children's games but they can also be found online, this site has all our current favourites:http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/card_games_for_kids.htm

We like Old Maid, My Ship Sails, Snip Snap Snorem & Rolling Stone at the moment.

I got them some card holders to try to make the handling a bit simpler which seems to help.

For Christmas I made sure the girls got lots of board games, ones they could play together or for all of us as a family.

Guess Who Extra
KerPlunk
Mouse Trap
Hello Kitty The Game
Pop up Pirate

Game of Life, this has been recently updated and we enjoyed playing this as a family, the rules aren't too complicated & is a lot simpler than my '80's version thankfully!

 

Magic Cauldron Game, this is an Orchard game (love these!) for my 7 year old, it's a maths game where you have to find the correct sum that makes the number you have picked. The Magic part is that to find out if you're correct you have to rub the back of the sum card, which has a heat sensitive coating to reveal the answer.

Run,Run as Fast as You Can, another orchard game, this one for the 5 year old. You have to move round the board to get to the river, first to cross over wins, you have animals from the story who you use to try to stop your opponents & you have to use a spinner to try and get across the river first. A simple game that we all played as a family.

 

The girls also got a Wii game each, Scooby Doo First Frights which the eldest enjoys, you have to use the nunchuck (so 2-handed play) but it's not too tricky, a game for an older child who has had experience with a Wii controller.

The youngest got Barbie Jet Set & Style, which is a good simple game for her, previously she's only played the Peppa Pig game as she finds using the controller quite difficult but this is a excellent next step game, very basic controller use, rolling, swishing, simultaneous button pushing. Basically you style Barbies friends, doing hair, nails and clothes, which she loves!

Happy to announce the arrival of...

Rowan Jude

Baby girl arrived safely on Monday 19th September 2011 at 10.05am.

Born at home, delivered by Daddy, 9lb 1oz.

All healthy and happy!

Mothering

I think I have the best girls in the world! 

For Mothering Sunday they were so lovely, I got handmade presents and cards, told repeatedly I was the best mummy in the world and generally hugged at all times!

Before you have your first child you worry about how to be a good mum, will you do things right?Will you be as good as your own mum?  But the reality of being a mum is that you just do your best and without even trying it's the love in your heart that guides you to nurture the children you've been gifted.  The unconditional love that children give to you makes you aspire to be the best for them so that even when we get it wrong, when we're tired and grumpy, when we're not listening, they still think we're the 'best in the world' and every time I hear that, I try a little harder.

I think I do also have the best mum in the world as well and even though I can't shower her with gifts I know that's ok because (like me) we like the simple things,so I made her this card.

I hope if you were celebrating Mother's Day you had a lovely day too.

At the end of the day my eldest reminded me that I should thank her & sister if I'd had a lovely day!  I have at least taught her something!  And yes I did thank them, very much.