Wordless Wednesday 30 June

One foggy hockey morning.

This was taken at 8.30 am last saturday.

When they make you proud

You have got to love it when you find out your children are trying very hard at school.  Of course I expect it of them but to be acknowledged is another thing.  The end of the school term is here and both McKenzie and Andre made great achievements.I am proud because they have been trying their hardest.  What more can a parent ask for?

Andre was acknowledged for his achievements at the schools activeathon. (No wonder all he could do that evening was lie on the floor and watch TV)

McKenzies award was for being studen of the term in her year group.

Monday Menu 27 June

Monday   meatloaf, baked potatoe and salad

Tuesday   curried chickpea and potato patties with salad

Wednesday   fajita

Thursday   crock pot - apricot chicken (my own recipe)

Friday   pizza

Saturday   Italian beef and lentil soup

Sunday   leftovers

Puppets

Still on the theme of those gloves I have a new idea for you....Finger puppets.

You will need:
one pen or marker
one glove
scissors

Now cut the fingers off the glove

Then do what comes naturally, draw on the fingers.

and finally the puppet modelled not by my key target, Hayden but McKenzie because he was too busy chasing cats outside.

I find this really useful for entertainment naturally but also talking about the things that are going to happen or have been happening to Hayden.  He loves it when he is control of a puppet or two and I have one too.  He tries to tell how the puppet is feeling this way giving me a little insight to how things are looking from his point of view.

In Costume for School

My children found out on Tuesday that they needed to come dressed to school in historical costume.  That is not easy for me as I am not so good with this kind of idea.

Andre was easy...a pirate.  Infact most of the boys in class came dressed with the same idea so.  We looked up the names of  a famous pirate and off Black Beard went to school very happy.

As for McKenzie this was a far greater challenge.  Luckily we had the leftovers of a white sheet, gold fabric bags that the curtains came in when they were made in Hong Kong and black tights to work with.

So I dragged this out of the tall cupboard down the hallway. ( I have tested the black and white function on the camera).

This antique works and probably is almost as old as me (and I am not an antique).  Oh and yes I can use it.

Anyway after working all week and finally getting the idea together in my head I got to making a Knights outfit.  Very basic with no pattern.

I sewed around the children having dinner at the table

(Note to self....lucky I had hair cut and coloured just the evening before)

So here is the Knight.  Not very creative but one very happy daughter.

My post would not be complete without a photo of the pirate.

Next week I need to create a Grecian Girl.  Wish me luck.

Wordless Wednesday 23 June

An active photo for todays shot.

Jokes

I have been encouraging laughter in our house by telling jokes.   I like the whole idea that laugher releases all the positive endorphins.  So I actively went out and encoraged my two able children to tell jokes daily....in fact right at the end of the day before they went to bed.  I supplied each of them a little cheap joke book I found and now each day they spend time telling these jokes to me and even trying to make up their own.  The breakfast table is a time to make up jokes their own jokes.

Anyway to cut a long story short Hayden suddenly pipes up at the Breakfast table on Sunday with joke with the pregnant pause and all.  We all had a great laugh.  Now we have started something new where jokes are happening at the breakfast table and everyone is waiting for Hayden to tell his one joke and then what new retort that he has come up with.

Haydens joke...

Hayden....Why did the chicken cross the road?

Me ....Why did the chicken cross the road Hayden?

Hayden.....Because he wanted to play.......

This is the page I made about just this topic.

The credits can be found  here at Weeds and Wildflowers

Monday Menu 22 June

I am tired so the next two weeks are going to be meals very easy to achieve.

Monday  Spaghetti Bolignaise

Tuesday Noodly Dinner

Wednesday  Pumpkin Soup  I dont use parsnip in the recipe

Thursday  Frozen crockpot meal

Friday  Homemade Hamburgers

Saturday meatloaf, baked potato and salad

Sunday  Leftovers

The Latex Glove

I write thinking how lucky I have been this week because it was a close call as to whether Hayden needed to go to hospital as he has been vomiting every morning since Monday.  Vomiting for Hayden leads easily and quickly to deyhdration and then hospital because IV fluids are needed for rehydration in the volume he would have required.  Thankfully today he seemed over It, (whatever It might have been) and we have moved beyond the alert.

So I am prompted to start simple. in my hosipital entertainment posts.  I sure might have needed these few ideas had Hayden not shown improvement.

The first resources you need are nothing less that the latex gloves that every hospital ward has and a permanent marker.  I keep one in my ready packed hospital bag.

Then you do what comes naturally with these two items.  Draw.  This one I quickly did when we were in at another of the many Consultants appointments at Starship Hospital, that Hayden has.

Hayden loves these.  Sometimes we make birds or monsters.  Sometimes he has the sole control, which an be a little dangerous as permanent markers are water resistent.

Of course the trusty glove can be used for other things.  I am well known for making a cricket ball out of gloves.  This can be so much fun but be warned,  it takes a lot of energy on my part to keep it going if it is a popular choice.

Here is the trusty cricketball.  It is about the size of a tennis ball and hard as concret but way too dangerous for any hospital ward.  My version is much more fun. 

Take your glove and put a little water in it.  Now this is not an exact science but if you put enough water to fill the fingers up to the knuckles and tie a water tight knot you will be ready to have fun.  The water gives the glove ball direction and unpredictabiliy. 

Now here is what to do:

1.  Give it a spin.  Look at that stretch and then the delight on your childs face.

2.  Bowl it.  It works just fine.

3.  If you tie the knots in the fingers and thumb then it looks great when it is thrown.  You might even need to stand the corridor to bowl that ball.

All in all this can be very infectious especially on those days when your child is bed ridden but feeling a little better and acting twice as bad as when they were at their worst.

I will try and take some more photos tomorrow to add to this.

In the mean time I hope that you don't need these ideas anytime soon. 

Project 365

I was not sure if this year I would be able to commit to this project.  Unfortunately my computer failed in January and I thought that I had lost everything especially as my EHD failed at the same time.  So I diligently started taking my photos again so that I would have a year in record.

Luckily my computer was fixed everything was recovered and I still had all my photos.  So a simplified my process and carried on.  Not having posted any of my this years project anywhere necessarily I thought I would back track a little, start with the month of May a give you all a little peek at what we have been up to this year.

All the products come from SS 5 kit  from Weeds and Wildflowers and the templates were also from there.

I did learn somethings last year from completing the process of taking the photos and making the pages. 

1.  My photography improved because I learnt how to use my camera

2.  The little things are worth recording as well as the big events.

3.  The whole family loved seeing the photos and even took the odd photo for me.

4.  The little bits of journalling are vital to the whole story

5.  Not all photos need to be people.

6.  It was fun (and heavy) carrying my camera everywhere. 

I am excitedly looking forward to the printing of my last year pages.  I can't wait to show them all off to everyone.

So I will be back to put up the rest of the months that I have done in the weeks to come.

Wordless Wednesday 16 June

Happy Wordless Wednesday

This is the first view when my sons class when on a trip to the Howick Historical Village.

It's cold

It is no secret that I do not like the cold.  If I had a choice I would not live in any place where the temperature meant I need a sweatshirt on at any part of the day.

So this little post is to help me keep warm.

It is only 7.4 degrees outside (9.30pm) and so we are predicting a rare moment in Auckland, a frost. 

Now I just need sound-a-vision and feel-a-vision (words coined by me) on my computer so I can stay warm as I sit here in the unheated part of the house.

Have a fabulous day.

Monday Menu 14 June

Another week of recipes.  Of course I link my Mondays Menu up to I'm an Organising Junkie.  Go and take a peek at others menus.

Monday  Chicken and Vegetable Noodle Soup

Tuesday  Spaghetti and Meatballs.  scroll down a little for a look

Wednesday Chicken  Fajitas   a new recipe for me

Thursday  Crockpot meal.  Steak n Kidney again as I have lots in the freezer. 

Fridays  Hamburgers  - chickpea and brown rice

Saturday  Pumpkin spinach and feta pies with salad.  They can be cooked on the barbeque

101 Entertainment Ideas for Children in Hospital

I have been encouraged by friends to keep track of my ideas for entertaining my child, Hayden, when in he is in hospital for his prolonged stays.  So finally I have taken the plunge and thought that I would post a little introduction to it all here.

I know that Hayden is a little unique in comparison to the rest of the world.  Well more unique than most that is.  He is 7 years old, congnatively a 2 well maybe a 3 year old, and more physically able than Neurologists originally predicted after his signifant medical event in 2006.  In fact he is as strong as any 7 year old.  Along with the many medical things going on in his life he has acquired ADHD at the extreme end and uses medication to manage this and save our sanity. 

Behaviourly this is where life gets tricky.  When Hayden is hospitalised it is usually because has a gastro bug or a serve cold with both causing vomiting.  The behaviour drug adds nausia and that means when in hospital no behaviour drugs.  It is terrible.  Nothing worse than a hyperactive ADHD child who is feeling grumpy, hooked up to IV machine for more than 24 hours.  Then to make it worse the Doctors dont like to keep him hospital too long in case he catches something more to prolong his stay.  Often he is kept in to ensure that his electrolyte levels are normal then he is sure bouncing seeing like there is nothing wrong.

So if this sound like something that could be useful to you, you might want to drop back and see what it is that I have found works for me.  I have had years of practise to refine my ideas and would love to add to my ideas too.

Image of Starhip Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.

This image is courtesy of wikimedia here are the credits.

Wordless Wednesday 9 June

Wordless Wednesday with McKenzie taking another moment for herself.  The best thing we ever purchased.  A beanbag.

I am back in the groove

I have been busy making excuses about not exercising.  The best, and real, one is that I need to push Hayden in the Buggy (when DH is away for work) and he is getting too heavy for me.  Each time I went out I would end up with a sore lower back and that was that for the next three weeks til I tried again.  Of course there are all the others.....DH is away and I am too tired, there is not enough time to fit it in, I dont want to go etc etc.

Anyway according to my goals for this year that I wrote about in this post i thought that today would be the day to get back into action.  I am now suffering for my efforts and that is not because I had to push the buggy but because my body is complaining of shock.  Yup....I am stiff.

Hopefully I have recovered enough for my next pilates, tomorrow and walk/ run on Saturday.

I will stay on top this time....yeah I know it is winter here and it will be a challenge but I am taking control of things.  I am aiming to complete a 10km walk  or maybe a 5km run.  I will see how I go.

This is the internal battle the exercising is part of. 

The credits for this page can be found here at The Digi Chic

Monday Menu 7 June

Here is my menu for the week. Not sure how much I can like as these all come from my books.

Monday  meatloaf, backed potato and salad

Tuesday  Curried lentil and pumpkin soup

Wednesday Ham cheese and corn pasta pie with salad

Thursday  steak and kidney stew (my version)

Friday  Takeaways for brithday celebration

Saturday  pumpkin, spinach and feta pies with salad

Sunday  curried chickpea and potato patties with salad.

Sorry abou the lack of links.  I f you want to know more let me know and I will tell you the source of the recipes.

What is it about little girls and their need for space?  In fact that question could be asked of older girls too.  This was McKenzies solution to needing a little time for herself on a fine winters weekend.  I hope it is always like this.

The credits can be found here.

Wordless Wednesday 2 June

Wordless Wednesday is here again.

This time it is a very fun and candid shot.

No words required.

Homework

Homework is an inevitable part of a child's school life.  Whether it is listening to the readers that are sent home, supporting the learning of spelling and basic facts...and all  the rest.   It is all there waiting to be done.  Lets not forget the extra curricular activities that require a little practice too.

So it is lucky that children are flexible because today DS2 has to do his violin practice in the car and on the footpath while we waited for DD Speech and Drama to finish.

You just have to love how much you can do in the car and then .....well you can see it still can be fun.

DS2 kept looking down the street to check if anyone was coming.  Maybe this was because it is after a couple of months of learning, he has finally how to bow on the violin....the 'e' string.  Yes he can make one note.  He is not allowed to let the bow touch any other string.  Now it is a pity that he played with the tuning knobs as the 'e' sting is out of tune and his bowing is in need of some practice.  I think that some ear plugs are needed in my house now.