Pinterest ...

Like many people I joined the Pinterest ban-wagon a while ago.  I decided to start because I had things saved in my favourites on our home computer that I knew I would want to look at when I was on holiday (think rainbow cakes here!).  So I decided Pinterest would probably be the best place.

I found this picture on this blog - don't ask me how I found my way there ... I just did!  :-)  I loved the idea and decided it would be a fun thing to do with the kids for the grandparents.  So basically the day before we left (I know ... nothing like leaving things to the last minute), I got out the paints and the kids chose what colour they wanted and away we went.

 I first stamped their hands and when they were dry I penciled in the branches and eyes and then painted them in, added some feet and some small leaves.

 Love the "tail feathers" on this owl of Samuel's :-)

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of them nicely framed.  We got some frames from Ikea and Lyndon painstakingly re-sized the mat so the pictures fitted in!  I was really pleased how they turned out actually.  Must make one for myself and maybe include Lyndon's and my handprints too. :-)

I've used a few ideas from pinterest actually, the watermelon shark head we did for Aaron's year end school party, rainbow cakes (of course!) and snack ideas for the kids.  Of course there's lots more ideas that I want to use too!  :-)

Thanks for visiting.

Holiday Entertainment ...

I am running out of ideas! hehehee

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Yesterday Aaron told me he wanted to do painting! So I distracted him and put it off till today, and then I cheated a bit hehehe (parents are allowed to cheat aren't they?) ;-)

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I remembered he'd been given a painting with water book by some friends before we left NZ and I had put it away, so this morning I took the book apart and cut the pages so they were loose (7 pics to paint). Aaron got to paint 4 and Maddison 3. They thought they were pretty cool ... although Maddison did insist on drinking some of the paint water! (nasty).

So that took all of about 20 minutes ... then what to do! Build a train track of course :-)

(Excuse the ironing board in the pic - Aaron tells me I need to leave it up, 'cause he needs it for his cars!!) Whatever!

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After lunch we completed the train track and added in a few extra pieces then Aaron wanted to do something else, so I thought we'd make some Chinese lanterns out of Hong Bao's. Aaron had made one at school and I had a pile someone had given me for craft purposes :-) So we got busy ...

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Do you like the scissor holding style?

Tim Holtz's tiny attacher came in very handy :-)

And here's the finished product ...
Again - that only lasted about 20 minutes before they wanted to move onto something else! Time for a snack (while I blog) hehehee

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So today we have played kids scrabble, other board games, done jigsaw puzzles, painting, built a track & played with the train set, crafted some lanterns and it's only 3pm! What to do for the rest of the day!? Too hot for me to go out to the playground yet ... I try and put that off till after 4pm!

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I am having issues with Aaron's behaviour ... when I ask him to do something that he doesn't want to, he'll turn around (as he's running off) and spit at me! So I have told him every time he does that then it's a day without any time on the computer (for him this means not playing Hotwheels!). It happened Sunday morning, so that was Sunday with no computer time. Then Sunday evening, so today's been computer free for him. He's finding this VERY hard, but still doesn't seem to understand why I won't let him on even though I have told him hundreds of times that spitting is not the accepted thing, I don't like it, it makes me sad, etc. etc. For a kid that is bright in a lot of things he seems very dumb in this regard!!!

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I'm getting all sorts of excuses on why he needs to play Hotwheels ... if it wasn't so repetitive it would be amusing! (Quite frankly I am over it!). Excuses generally revolve around his tummy for some reason ... for example ... I need to play Hotwheels because my tummy hurts, ... because my tummy is full, ... because my tummy is sick. Or a slight variation ... because my legs are long!!!

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On that note his 'tummy' is calling out excuses again for something to do. So I best be off and find something else for them. Maybe get out the Thomas play tent me thinks! ;-)

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It's Wednesday Again!

It's been a week since I did an update of what we have been up to! Only about 4 more weeks left here in NZ! Feel like the time has just flown actually.
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Anyway - last Saturday we went out to my sisters place to have more cuddles with little baby D :-) He's 2 weeks old today and we saw him today and he's changed again since this photo last Saturday.

While we were out there Maddison decided to try on some of his booties!

Sunday Grandma found a stick insect so the kids had great fun checking it out. Aaron called it a "cattergator or a catterbug" LOL (got his aligators, caterpillars and bugs mixed up a little heheee)

We have had a ton of rain over the last week or so and there's some big puddles in Grandma and Grandad's garden just right for playing in! ... like mowing with the toy lawn mower.

Speeding down the hill on the trike straight into the puddle to make the biggest splashes!

Basically - getting as wet as possible!

Wet right up to ones armpits! (Obviously not very comfy after a while!!)

Today we have been painting ... here's a few pics of what the kids have been doing. I got them the cheapest canvas possible and they had a picture outlined on them ... Maddison's was a duck with an umbrella.

Aaron's was a rocket ship, planets and stars.

Paint was put in some interesting places!

This is my NOSE!!

Tongue in just the right position so the paint goes in the right place!

Maddison just put paint any old where (including her hair!).

Finished art work ... I might auction it off heheheee (any takers?) You can't see much of the duck any more :-)

Aaron's was very neat until he got a bit carried away with the blue ... so planets and stars are in hiding!

So that's us ... not going to show you what I have been doing as it's a LONG way from finished. Maybe next week!