Teacher Gifts

The end of year always has me stumped with regard to teacher gifts. I am never sure what constitutes a good gift. Chocolate seems a bit boring, cutesy "#1 teacher" items surely get old too and for the most part, I don't really have any idea what their interests are outside of teaching my children. I have canvassed friends and family but sadly, we seem to be in the same boat. My next stop of course was Pinterest; some nice ideas but most required more time that I have available at this end of the year. (Perhaps I shall have to start a little earlier next year).

And so this is what I came up with ... personalised clip boards in the teacher's favourite colours with their initial on them. Hopefully these will be a practical gift that they can use in the classroom. I bought plain board clip boards at Officeworks and then covered the front with 2 coordinating scrapbook papers, added a paper ribbon and monogram sticker and then covered the whole lot with a layer of decoupage paste. I left the back of the boards blank so that the girls could write a personal message on them.

The clip boards were a good start but I needed something to accompany it. I decided on a magazine for each of them to enjoy as they started their summer holiday. Everyone loves a mag to flip through don't they?

And for Bec's kinder friends, we made Magic Reindeer Food. This is to be sprinkled outside on Christmas Eve as a snack for Santa's reindeer. It has sparkly glitter mixed with oats so that they will see it twinkling in the moonlight. I made up a quick printable for this so if you would like a copy, you can message me in the comments or on my facebook page.

Charlie & Lola Party: Part 2

Ok so back to the party .....

The cake was Lola's head. Very simple outline with licorice and then decorated with coloured sugar. Just put a small amount of sugar in a zip-lock bag, add a drop or two of food colouring and shake well. You can create any colour you need. The girls all had pink milk boxes to drink as this is Lola's favourite.

We played Pin The Collar on Sizzles, the dog from the C&L books. I comandeered David's painting skills again and then cut out a blank collar for each guest and had them decorate them. This is a fabulous game for customising to any theme you like.

Love craft activities for the girls to do during parties. It gives them a bit of quiet time to calm down and create. Lola loves butterflies so I printed out a page for each guest with their name printed in a fancy font. Then they each had a glue-stick and LOTS and LOTS of punched out butterflies to stick around their names. When they had finished decorating the cards, we framed them as a take-home gift to hang in their bedrooms or display on a bookshelf. This activity was quite the hit and their kinder teacher told me the following day that several of the girls had bought their name frames in for Show & Tell.

Not forgetting the party boxes ... I made up a sticker for each box that said "Thankyou for helping me celebrate my 5th birthday. Love from your friend, Rebecca". The boxes had some C&L magnets I found some time ago, a box of smarties and a Build Your Own Cupcake pack. These were a really cute idea I found at http://vol25.typepad.com/vol25/kids-projects.html They are a free printable that you just print and cut out and very in keeping with Lola's style.

And now, we breathe a sigh of relief that another party is done and dusted. But just wait until you see what I have planned for next year.

The birthday girl, Miss 5

Charlie & Lola Party: Part 1

Well, we survived another party! All the last minute planning came together and the girls had a lovely time together. Thought I would share some photos but I will probably break this into 2 separate posts as there is a lot to share.

The photo opportunity was lots of fun. David drew and then painted the 2 figures and the girls enjoyed popping their gorgeous little faces through the cut outs for a photo. We have used photo props at several of our parties and have always found that the kids are more relaxed when they have something to hold or play with in the photos.

We had a new twist on pass-the-parcel this year (Thanks Audrey). Each year we wrap layer upon layer for the pass-the-parcel which uses a lot of paper, makes a lot of mess and the gifts and notes (where we have included these) often get mixed up in the wrappings being ripped off. So this year, we used a pretty gift box, and then just wrapped the small gifts and placed them inside. The girls passed the box and each time the music stopped they lifted the lid and chose a small wrapped present. It was a brilliant idea and really saved on mess and fuss with the usual wrappings. When the last gift was removed, it revealed a card which said WINNER and that child won a larger prize. We will definitely be doing pass-the-parcel like this from now on.

How cute are these cupcakes? And who knew you could create rainbow cupcakes so easily? All you need to do is divide your cake mixture into several small bowls and add food colouring. Spoon the mix into the patty cases carefully 1 colour at a time. It really is that easy and the results were amazing. Oh and make sure you take off the patty cases so you get the full effect of the rainbow cake. And here's another tip for you for making party cakes: cheat and use a packet mix cake. Packet mixes (I use butter cake) give you a really light cake that everyone seems to enjoy.

A banner adds to the theme for any occasion and they are very simple to make. I used a variety of scrapbooking papers and cut them to photo size (4 inches x 6 inches). Then just tape or staple them to a length of ribbon or cord.

I'll share more of the games and take home boxes in my next post. Thanks for checking in.

Warning: Party Planning in Progress!

I have been absent for a few days as I am neck-deep in party planning. Miss (now) 5 is having 16 of her nearest and dearest girlfriends for her birthday party in a little over 36 hours!!! (Not that I am counting down ... or starting to panic ... breathe, breathe.)

We decided on a Charlie & Lola theme some months ago and I have been gathering party items and ideas but it always seems to be the way that there is a LOT to do in the couple of days leading up to the party. I did wonder if I was up for another party so soon after Alison's Carnival and even briefly considered outsourcing the party (McDonald's was looking mighty attractive) but this is what we do in our family; we have the girls parties at home, we choose a theme and we go to town.  Which is how David found himself roped into painting a life-sized cutout of Lola and bestie Lotta, for the photo opportunity.

They have been reinforced and stood up tonight and I can't wait to have Bec pop her cute little face through and become Lola for a while. I will share lots more photos and ideas once the party is over but for now I have to get back to my cutting. So much to do, so little time. And as Miss 5 likes to say, "Toodles".

Making the piles even

Last night I sat on the floor of our lounge room surrounded by bags. These bags contained all the Christmas gifts I have bought over the year. I had already had an attempt at checking the list; this was checking it twice! David sat on the lounge and glanced at me in bewilderment from time to time. "There's an awful lot of stuff there" he commented merrily. "Well, yes" was my reply, "we have 4 children."

I really try not to go overboard at Christmas (and I readily admit that this has not always been the case). Having recently decluttered both the toy cupboard and the girls bedrooms, I know only too well that they don't need more stuff. I am actually a huge fan of the consumable and/or useful gift - thus their stockings have new thongs and bathers, branded (read Barbie, Bratz and Dora) undies, lipgloss and the traditional gold coins (of the chocolate variety).

They each receive a main gift from the jolly man and one from us with a couple of supporting gifts. This is where things get tricky. For one, I don't want "S" getting all the credit for the great gifts. Then there is the size of the gifts - it really is best for everyone concerned if the piles look about even (and I am sure that many mujms can relate here). My girls are really nonplussed about the monetary value, it is just based on how it all looks. Which is why I found myself back at the shops today looking for something large for my 2 little girls. This is no easy feat with 4 children of the same sex ... we already have most of the popular girl toys and believe me, there is a limit to how many dolls accessories you can fit in one average sized home. Thankfully, the toy makers are on to this very problem and continue to bring out a stream of NEW toys each year. I swear I had no idea what a "squinkie" was until today but I am sure we will become more closely acquainted as I will no doubt step on one or more in the middle of the night in the months to come.

So the piles are now pretty even and I discover that I only have 2 more gifts to buy and then I am officially done. One 12 year old boy neighbour and one 40 year old husband. Oh help! If you have any fabulous ideas, I am more than open to suggestions.

Tree Decorating for Kids

I love to decorate the Christmas tree and this is something I have also passed onto my girls. Up until a couple of years ago, we actually had 2 Christmas trees; one for me and one for them. (Mine was barricaded inside the playpen but that's a whole 'nother story.) The girls' tree was their height and the decorations were non-breakable. They would spend hours throughout December decorating it, then taking all the decorations off and decorating it all over again. Great for entertainment value but oh the mess all those little green pine needles made all over the floor ... constantly! 2 years ago, I conceded defeat and allowed them to help me decorate the big tree but they are not allowed to rearrange it every day and I think they have missed this.

So I was inspired when I saw a felt Christmas tree on Pinterest (yes, I know, the source of all inspiration these days). No pine needles to drop and the girls can decorate (and redecorate) to their hearts content. I am not sure whether I should admit this, but I happened to have all the materials I needed for this little project in my craft cupboard. I had planned to do something else with it a long time ago and had never quite gotten around to it. To make your own felt tree, all you will need is a large piece of green felt and several scraps of coloured felt. I cut out different sized circles and then blinged them up with some KindyGlitz (everything is better with KindyGlitz - you just have to trust me on that if you haven't used it before yourself.) I also added some velcro squares to the back of the circles and the tree.

I finished it last night and left it on the coffee table . When I got up this morning, Alison had already tried it out and the little girls were excited to give it a go. It doesn't keep them entertained for quite as long as the real tree decorating did but then it doesn't make the mess either and that makes it a winner in my book.

Family Christmas Photos

It’s that time of year again … time for me to attempt to get some lovely  half decent photos of my girls to use on our annual Christmas card. It is, of course, near impossible to get a good photo of 4 children together – especially my children. 1 is always playing the fool, 1 is off with the fairies, 1 is usually cooperative and then there is the grump – the one that for whatever reason, doesn’t feel like having their photo taken today. (These roles are not always played by the same child, in fact, they seem to enjoy mixing it up a little and keeping me on my toes!) 

In fact, I have considered sending my Christmas cards out with seasonal pictures on them rather than bothering with the photos. However, most of my extended family lives interstate so I figure that they all at least receive an updated photo of the girls every December. And so I persevere.

For Alison’s 8^th birthday party recently, I made up some photo props. The kids could then choose from a range of props to pose with for their photos. It really was a lot of fun so I thought I would make up some Christmas ones for our Christmas card photos. I found some printable props (Santa & Rudolf) from http://jessicapeck.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-photo-props-tutorial-sew-or.html and then made up a few of my own (Elf & HoHoHo). The Top Hat and Moustache were from http://ohhappyday.com/category/free-printables/

The girls enjoyed trying them all out and I did get some cute photos of each of them. Then I tried to get a photo of all four together. As I said up front, this is not always an easy task and today, I just abandoned it. Maybe I will have better luck next year.

December Parenting Tool

Oh how I do love the Christmas Advent Calendar! Such an amazing parenting tool if only used in the right way. Early in my parenting journey, we always opened the little numbered window in the morning. This was an exciting way to start the day, no doubt but I’m afraid that if you too subscribe to a morning opening, a large part of the value of this little chocolate is lost. We have swapped to an evening opening of the Advent window and oh how much mileage I am able to squeeze from one small block of chocolate. It is surely worth it's weight in gold.

In our home, this chocolate has to be earnt. Each night before the opening, we have bedroom inspections to make sure that they are nice and tidy. I always go to some effort before December 1 to clean out the girls rooms with them and get them all tidy to start the month but from then on, I expect them to maintain them throughout the month. December is a busy month in our house as I'm sure it is in yours and doing a quick clean up each night after dinner ensures that the rooms stay looking neat and don't become overwhelming. (If I thought this would work on a continual basis I would buy 12 advent calendars for each child - one for each month of the year. Sadly, I think the novelty would wear off.)

Now here is the important part .... If the bedrooms are not tidy (or if the girls behaviour has been less than desirable throughout the day), they don't get to eat the chocolate! They still get to open the window but the chocolate goes to mum or dad who eats it on the spot. Let me tell you, there were tears and tantrums last year when all three of our big girls missed out on their chocolate one night. (In fact, David & I felt pretty mean I do confess.) However, DO NOT NEGOTIATE (with terrorists or children!). The next day the girls were extra helpful and sweet and their rooms that night were spotless and they made sure that mum and dad had to find their own source of chocolates from then on.

I read in some parenting book a long time ago, that you should not reward children with food. I would like to suggest to you that the author of that book had never had children of their own. And if I can harness their desire for chocolate for good rather than evil, well I am all for it! Happy parenting :)

Colour my world event planning

I'm a fan of colour! I love it. And so when I start planning an event, the first things I work out are the theme and / or the colour scheme. Then everything else just seems to fall into place. My lovely husband just celebrated his 40th birthday and as he has 4 girls, he lives in a world of pink whether he likes it or not, so I thought we should have a really masculine colour scheme for his birthday. We decided on blue with orange. Blue on it's own can be a bit boring but orange is such a vibrant, exciting colour it really livens things up.

Balloons are great for decorating with - they are inexpensive and they come in such an amazing range of colours and patterns. The banner in the background I made with the girls: 40 Reasons We Love You and they each wrote their own reasons. (Some of these will be priceless as they grow older.)

David is really not a fan of celebrating his birthday, so when I saw the idea for the "40 sucks" bucket on  thesuburbanmom.com I knew it was a keeper. (David laughed when he saw it so it started off the day nicely too!) You will be amazed what you will find to coordinate with your theme when you start looking. The orange tub was a dollar store find and the blue foil was once a Christmas decoration. I also used orange cup cake papers and just made coordinating flags to jazz them up a bit in my colour scheme.

I have a tendency to go just a little overboard when it comes to party planning but owing to the busy time of year, I had to keep things simpler this time. We had a lovely birthday breakfast of mini pancake stacks with maple syrup, a beautiful fruit platter and then egg and bacon muffin cups. (You can find the recipe for the muffin cups here http://www.thehighheeledhostess.com/2011/06/fathers-day-breakfast.html - they were really easy and very delicious!)

My lovely husband with his gorgeous girls.

Now to start thinking in pink again! Rebecca turns 5 in the next week and has requested a Charlie & Lola party so I am back to party planning in a big way (but for tomorrow, I feel some more Christmas craft coming on!!!)

A New Tradition

Whilst playing on Pinterest recently, I came across a brilliant idea which I have implemented in our house for this Christmas season. I am sure it is going to be a hit with the girls and will become one of our Christmas traditions from this point forth. (It didn't hurt that it involved wrapping presents which is something I really enjoy!)

The idea was to gather a basket of all your Christmas storybooks and wrap each one in Christmas paper. Then place the basket under your Christmas tree and each night, have a child choose a "gift", unwrap it and then read it together. What a beautiful way to enjoy all your Christmas stories each season. And what child doesn't enjoy unwrapping presents.

Now, I happen to have 18 Christmas storybooks in my possession. You may (or may not) have quite as many. Don't let that deter you from enjoying this tradition at your house. Just gather up some of your all time favourite storybooks to share over the month of December. Wrap them up in paper, place them in a basket and away you go. Don't panic if you miss a night or two either. December is a busy month with end of year functions and the like but on the nights when you do have the time, enjoy a little bit of special time together with a book.

No cape for me....

I have written a few posts now including several that included crafty projects. And somewhere along this short way, I have earnt the unwarrented title of SuperMum with a couple of my lovely readers. So I thought I should set the record straight early on in the piece.

I started this blog to share with you the things I love .... my family, crafty fun and my organising projects. These are the things that make me happy and fulfilled but please know that this is only a small part of my life. What you don't get to see on here, is the day to day struggles that go on in my household as they do, no doubt, in yours.

And like mums the world over (and I know I am generalising here but I am pretty sure I am right) I have bad days, I yell at my girls much more than I (and I suspect they) would like, I get caught up wasting time on the computer instead of spending time with them and I worry about whether I'm doing a good enough job of being a mum. These are the types of things that us mums worry about. (Feel free to add your own list here.)

But I aspire to be a SuperMum, I really do. I love the thought that I could have a perfectly tidy home, that my girls would keep their bedrooms neat, that I would never have washing spilling out of laundry hampers and on to the floor, that I would always have nutritious meals on the dinner table at a reasonable time and that my children would say "sure Mum" to my every request rather than launching into a protracted dialogue with me. What a perfect world that would be. But it's not very realistic I'm sure you will agree.

What I do love though it to visit other people's blogs and to talk to real people about what works for them at their house. I am always looking to incorporate new ideas into our home and lives that might make things easier, more fun or more beautiful. None of us is SuperMum but we can help ourselves along a little by sharing these ideas and our stories. Besides, if I was a SuperMum, what would my girls have to tell their therapists as they get older? This way the therapist will have the perfect reason (or lots of them) to blame all their shortcomings on their mum! lol.

All the mums received a little card at kinder a couple of years ago and I keep it on my desk as a reminder, it says simply "You are doing a great job". No one ever promised that being a mum would be easy, just that it would be worthwhile.

Christmas Advent Jar

I have been crafting up a storm this past week so I will have several projects to share in the next few days. One of the things I have been working on is my Christmas Advent Jar. My girls love the chocolate advent calendars and they have amazing powers for encouraging (read 'bribing') good behaviour but I wanted something that would also remind us to do something special together each day in December.

So I bought a few boxes of matches, emptied them of their contents, wrapped them in papers to coordinate with our Christmas colour theme for this year and numbered them from 1 through to 24. Each box then has a strip of paper inside it which has a Christmas activity for the day (or night). I have put the finished boxes in a decorative jar which will sit on my kitchen bench come December first, next to the mini countdown board. The girls can take turns each morning at breakfast to pick out that days box and see what surprise lies in store for the day.

Might need to add a red ribbon to my jar before it takes pride of place on the bench. (And by the way .... I have 1200 matches that are now free to a good home lol)

If you would like to make your own Advent Jar but need some inspiration for the activities, you might like to check out this site http://justagirlblog.com/2010/12/christmas-advent-jar.html

Conquering the Paper Piles

I don't know how it is at your house, but at my house, paper seems to multiply rapidly. The pile I sorted and dealt with just last week has grown to gargantuan proportions. It is, in part, due to all those end of year notices, permission forms and catalogues but it is also due to me needing to update our system for dealing with all these former trees! So today, I tackled the paperwork .... again.

A couple of months ago, I came up with a system for broadly categorising and storing papers that are "in use". I bought inexpensive white magazine boxes and jazzed them up with labels I made (so they matched the rest of my colour scheme. Coordinating makes me happy.) Each child has a box which is where I keep their folders for their activities eg. calisthenics, singing etc; their homework books (so their littlest sister doesn't use them for colouring in) and classroom notes and newsletters (I cull these at the end of every term). David also has a box which is great for anything he leaves lying on any flat surface - it winds up in his box and has some hope of being found again. I have several other boxes .... home, party planning and so on.

These boxes have worked really well but I really needed some way of having my current projects in view. It is definitely a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind for me. So today I added a new "tub"to my kitchen bench.

The tub on the right has my diary, pen cup, notepad, blogging ideas book in it. This is my EVERYDAY tub as I use all of these items on a daily basis. The tub on the left is my current PROJECTS tub and contains several clear folders that I use for ... paperwork to be completed (permission slips and the like), Christmas, summer holiday (including packing lists), a follow-up folder and one for Bec's birthday party which I am in the throws of planning as I type this. The folders in here will change frequently but with any luck, this stuff will not get lost somewhere in a pile on my desk. Here's hoping ......

(Feel free to share how you manage your paper piles in the comments section below. I love to hear how other people get organised.)

My 'Lightbulb' Organising Moment

I LOVE to organise. I mean, really LOVE to organise. I am ridiculously happy when I am rearranging and reorganising, well, anything! I also love to read books about organising; to see how other people organise their homes and their lives. A couple of years ago, I went to a session at our local library with professional organiser, MaryAnne Bennie. It was here that I had my lighbulb moment. MaryAnne was speaking about 3 ways you can organise your stuff .... (1) Organise to a number, for example, decide to keep only 12 coffee mugs, t-shirts etc, (2) Find a better (bigger or smaller .... OK, most likely bigger) space for your craft supplies, DVD collection etc or (3) Organise to the space. DING!

I have always subscribed to the "find a bigger space" or better containers to store whatever it was I was organising. I did organise by number when I finally came to terms with my coffee mug addiction but to decide on the space I was willing to let something occupy and then make my collection fit .... revolutionary! Why hadn't I ever thought of that? It was so simple I think I had overlooked it because I was too busy shopping  for the perfect container or basket (just ask David about my addiction to those lol).

So these days, I organise to the space more often than any of the other methods. The girls have a (large) toy cupboard but that is the space they are allowed to fill. If the cupboard is overflowing, it is time to cull. The same for my linen cupboard; the bath towels can only occupy 1 shelf.

As we have spent most of today cleaning out our downstairs area (laundry, scrapbooking studio and under-house storage) I have another word of advice to share: It will likely get worse before it gets better. You need to be able to see what you have before you can cull and then put it back. I tried to keep this in mind as I surveyed the incredible mess we made of my studio room. There will be no "before" photos but I might share an "after" one once we have it all looking gorgeous.

Hope you had a productive weekend too.

Freddo Night

At our house, Friday night is Freddo Night! This is a tradition that David grew up with and that we wanted to continue in our own family. Freddo Night is family movie night (and we eat the odd frog or two!) The girls really look forward to Friday Nights as family time. We often have a meal that they either help cook or assemble (tacos, nachos, baked potatoes....) and then we all sit back and enjoy the show. This week, it was mini hotdogs and choc-top ice-creams for dinner.

I found these cute ice-cream cups a while ago and the girls loved that they came with the little wooden spoons. (We have made little choc-tops in cupcake papers too - just add ice-magic to a scoop of your favourite ice-cream flavour).  

  

So, what great ideas does your family have for spending time together? I'd love to know what you do at your house.

A Crafty Christmas

As I mentioned in my profile, I love everything about Christmas. I already have my Christmas CD's ready to go come December 1! I love everything about the season .... decorations (I'm going red, white and blue this year), Christmas carols, baking and all the special food, getting together with family and of course, wrapping presents.  I am almost finished my shopping with the help of my Christmas Planner (I'll share that in a post another day) so my thoughts turn to crafts.

My girls love their chocolate advent calendars each year, but I thought it would be nice to have a larger (colour coordinated lol) display for my kitchen bench to remind us how many days we have until Christmas. I created this with a mini clipboard (available from OfficeWorks for $2 or $3). Cover with scrapbooking paper and then decorate . Quick & easy. Each day I will just change over the numbers or perhaps I can give that responsibility to Miss Meg as she is always the first one up in our house.

I saw a cute shadow box with bells in it recently on Pinterest (my new favourite website - you have to check it out!) I made my own version with some gorgeous black & white photos I took of the girls last Christmas in their Santa hats. My thought is that this will be a decoration that will come out every year to remember my girls when they were so little.

I don't want to alarm anyone, but it is only 5 weeks til Christmas (and less than 2 weeks til I can break out the Christmas CD's).

Savouring Every Minute

Today I sat out on the balcony with Rebecca (Miss almost 5). We had a picnic rug and cushions and we sat and played a game together. She smiled and sang and chatted away and I drank her in. For in a few short months, she will leave me to start her school journey. This 5 years has gone past so quickly and I find myself wondering if I have made the most of this time together. There are days where I have been so caught up with things that need to be done around the house and out of it that I forgot to cherish these early years. But not today .... for today she is all mine.