Growth Spurts...

My daughter has been very clumsy this week.  She’s managed to fall off a chair, walk into a wall and tumble head first down the stairs.  Fortunately I was at the bottom of the steps and managed to catch her before she really did herself an injury.  Oh, and she also tripped over her own feet, landed on her face and split her lip.  The ice  pack has been in and out of the freezer all week!  She seems to have...

Make A Milkshake...

A milkshake is one of life’s simple pleasures.  My daughter and I often enjoy a milkshake at a cafe together, making memories as we share – one cup, two straws!  Unfortunately though, I do sometimes find she has a case of the sillies afterwards, so lately we have been making our own shakes at home. We really use whatever we have in the kitchen at the time to make our shakes.  We start with a base of milk...

Just What the Doctor Ordered...

Sick-boy snuggled up with Daddy My little man has been out of sorts for almost a week.  He just hasn’t been his usually sociable and smiley self.  He’s been off his food, not napping well in the day, and waking several times through the night.  His low grade fever told me something was going on, but I just put it down to teething.  After all, most kids get a little hot and bothered when they start teething. Today...

10 Tips for Finger Painting!...

Finger painting with young kids is insanely messy, but it is worth the effort.  Here’s how to survive the experience without it becoming a colourful catastrophe: 1.  Dress your child in old clothes or put on a paint shirt (I do both!) 2.  Cover surfaces with a drop sheet or old newspapers. 3.  Use decent quality paint.  You need good depth of colour and good consistency. 4.  Limit the colours you put out. ...

A Cup of Rice...

I made a great dinner last night.  Lovely grilled ocean trout with wilted greens and a lime soy dressing served on a bed of rice.  Masterchef eat your heart out.  (Even my three year old scraped her plate clean!)  After enjoying our meal, my hubby and I put the kids to bed and cleaned up.  As usual I just tossed out the leftover rice because there wasn’t enough for another meal, and in all honesty I couldn’t...

Techno-Babes...

I love this photo of my son and I blogging.  Well, I’m blogging and he’s giving me material to write about!  As children of a software developer and a reasonably tech-savvy mama, my kids are bound to be fairly technically literate and exposed to the online world from a young age.  But how young is too young?  Or is there no such thing, given that these kids are growing up as “digital natives”? My...

Little Miss Three...

The much requested Strawberry Cake My daughter always seems ready to embrace the next stage in life long before I am.  She was on the go before I was ready for her to crawl.  She was walking before I had good shoes for her little feet.  She climbed out of the cot before we had bought a single bed for her to move to.  You get the idea.  Today my little munchkin turned three.  She’s ready.  I’m not. Three...

Flashback Friday – The Icing on the Cake...

My daughter turns three tomorrow, so I’m spending today doing the cake and getting things ready.  Thought I might flashback to this article I wrote in 2008 after her second birthday party. Before becoming a mother I spent many years as a teacher. I planned excursions and celebrations and full scale musical productions. So I had no qualms about planning a little party for a two year old. I was quite pleased with...

Salt Pictures...

One of my daughter’s little friends sent her a beautiful picture made with coloured salt.  Inspired by the lovely surprise in the post, we decided to give it a go too.  So easy, cheap and fun.  Here’s what we did: Firstly, colouring the salt.  I bought a decent sized bag of no-name salt (for the grand sum of about 99c I think).  We poured some salt into a bowl, added a few drops of food colouring and...

Real Aussie Mum – May...

Meet the inspirational Rebecca Mason – a wife, mother of 6 children (aged 6 wks to 10 yrs) and midwife living on the outskirts of Melbourne who has a passion for travelling and has a vision to inspire large families.  She is the founder of the Family Value website which lists Aussie family attractions encourages them to bring back ‘Family Entry at Family Prices’.  Here are her five faves: 1.  Favourite outing...