Dress Rehearsal in Fur

Bethany and Leila are both competing in the Dance Eisteddfod again this year. Check out their costumes!
The Bear is for "bear necessities" and the monkey is for "I wanna be like you". Both items are using music from the Disney Jungle Book movie. They are hilarious to watch. They have a couple of other costumes too, but these were definitely my favourite. The other items are "bibbety bobbity boo", "Happy song" and some wierd number for Leila's solo that they have pitch shifted to make cuter (think chipmunks).
The dress rehearsal went for AGES, but it was very easy compared to last year, as little Hannah is so much older. She was thoroughly entertained by all the action on the stage, and didn't get tired and cranky.

Face off

Call me crazy, but I thought it might be fun to do a face pack on the girls, and paint their toenails too. We got some funny pictures as they peeled them off. Leila likes scratching other people's heads and poking spots, so she thought the exercise was fabulous. She decided she wanted to keep the peeled-off skin-like mask in her treasure box. Ugh (I didn't let that happen).

Mothers day

The night before Mother's Day I snuck in to where the girls were sleeping, and took these photos. Aren't they adorable?

Here are my Mother's Day cards.  The first one (from Leila) actually has a marshmallow sticky taped to the front of it!

Here is the inside:

This next one is from Bethany.  I'm sure she meant well, but I didn't get my hopes up too much!

Another from Leila:

And Bethany:

And ANOTHER from Leila.

Hannah gave me a hand-painted fan she had decorated at Grasshoppers.  She was far too excited to wait till Sunday to give it to me, so I got that one on Friday when I came home from work.

Finally, here is one of the Bags we made for the grandmothers.  They were lined tote bags, interfaced for stiffness.  This one was a family effort: it had a bit of sewing from Beth, ironing by Damien, a yo-yo flower by Leila and a covered button by Hannah.  

 

Damien gave me a package and warned me "I'm probably going to get into trouble for this one".  It was a bag containing an apron, cookbooks, a tea towel and a silicone baking mat for a Thermomix, which he had ordered at Agfest.  They are expensive.  Part of me feels a bit guilty, but I'm sure it will get heaps of use.  I've had it for 2 days now and have made hot chocolate, custard, risotto, muffins, "juice" and sorbet.  Lots of fun!

Bed time

This is Hannah's cot mattress on the floor in the "big girls" room.  Hannah likes to crawl in with somebody else (preferably me) but she'll settle for her sisters if that isn't an option.  Here are Daddy and the Sisters taking revenge (who'd have thought they'd fit?).

Hannah can write her name!

Damien and I could hardly believe it!  She needed reminding which letter came next, but we didn't have to show her how to do the letters.  I guess they have been practicing this at Grasshoppers (the 3 to 5 year old play group that Hannah attends on Fridays while I am at work).

Here is another picture.  We had just completed a puzzle together as a family.  I would have loved to have gotten a better picture, but they were too silly.  As soon as I took a shot they wanted to look at my picture and were too hard to regroup.  Oh well.  At least you can see that they were feeling happy.

Libby's 40th Birthday Alice Party

My sister Libby had a Late 40th birthday party at Lower Sandy Bay Beach.  She had an Alice in Wonderland theme, so Granny made some lovely card and heart decorations, Philip put a cheshire cat in the tree, Stephen and Mya made a HUGE teapot (wish I'd photographed it) and I brought along a croquet set so we could all have a go.  We also brought kites (not enough wind so the kids got a lot of exercise running along to hold them up) and Libby brought along kiddy dressups and hobby horses.  It was fun.

Libby in a new scarf and wearing my gift of rose clips in her hair

The cheshire cat Philip made

I like this one better

It was also nice to see a few friends and Matthews family.  I was glad for good weather, a nice fenced off play area, good toilets and a flat croquet lawn.  A guy also rigged up a tight rope between a couple of trees nearby.  Maybe we should try that too next time?

The Amazing Flower Chart

Looking at other people's ideas is a favourite habit of mine, especially when I have a problem to solve. One recent issue was (is and probably ever-will-be) the problem of getting kids to do what they need to do for a smooth running household and a sane mother.

I came across a blog called Pink-a-Doodle-Doo and stole this idea. My girls saw the pictures you see and they made it very clear that a mere star chart wasn't going to cut it.

So I took myself off to Warratah (a florist supply shop).  We had been subjected to HUGE amounts of rain that week, so Hannah really enjoyed looking at the raging rivulet that runs beside the shop.

Well, I found some absolutely gorgeous stuff.  I bought my supplies and eventually (late at night) managed to complete my masterpiece.

The base is a chickenfeed art canvas, covered in some fabric my mother-in-law gave me a few years ago (off-cuts from a linen/manchester factory).  I folded the fabric to make a pocket near the top (if you look hard you can just see it) and I used a staple gun to put it together.  Then I cut up an old cardboard mailing tube and covered the pieces with more Sheridan fabric to make the vases.  Glue guns are great.

The next day the big girls made their own tags out of shrink plastic.  Hannah made one too, but she coloured it too intensly: it was nearly black and unreadable when shrunk.  She made another one, and then liked it so much she wanted to keep it for herself.  I made another when she had gone to bed.

Here is the final product (I have since pegged the lists of morning and evening jobs on the sides, and put suggested reward goals in the pocket).

The top row has a vase for each girl.  I love their colourful tags.

The bottom row has filled vases, each labeled with a tag:

This one is full of Butterflies.  It is for when you are caught doing something especially wonderful.

The last one is for when you are caught doing something truly horrendous

Add caption

The flowers and butterflies are worth one point each. The ugly weeds are minus 2 points. These jobs are not for money, they are just basic simple things to do with the nececities of life.  Rewards are open to negotiation.  Getting kidnapped from school and taken out to lunch is one possibility, as is having a DVD with friends (both about 15 points).  We are making them up as we go along.

Here are my current lists:

Morning Responsibilities

 Make Bed

Curtains open

Light off and tidy 2

Breakfast and Clear table

Get Dressed to shoes

PJ’s away

Teeth + Sunscreen

Hair done

Bag Packed

Evening Responsibilities

 Bag Job (lunch box, paperwork, rubbish/dirty items  etc.)

 Homework and Helping

 Dinner + Clear table

 Bath/wash if needed

Teeth and Toilet

 Bed by 7:45 Settle at 8:08

I also have a list to help with bag packing:

Bag Check

 Lunch

Drink

Hat

Jumper

Diary

Glasses

Smock

Books (Reader/Library)

Show and Tell

Now in truth, the momentum slowed after a mere 2 weeks, but I'm not giving up!

Visiting Teacher

I have two lovely visiting teachers: Jill Cluff and Bron Williams.

I'm afraid that I haven't been going out myself lately, so I feel the need to pull up my socks and do better. Especially when the lovely Bron gives me gifts like this:

She had missed the April visit. But it seems that any excuse to give me something delicious is excuse enough. She spoils me.

I am so thankful for these two special ladies.

Plastic Family Dynamics (art mimics life)

So now you know the Daddy drama, lets let you in on something else I noticed recently.

I was sitting with Hannah at bedtime in her rocking chair, and I looked over at the dolls house and noticed something funny.

 
Big sister was in her bed, but where was the baby?

You can tell how Hannah thinks the world should be organised, can't you?  Daddy does not agree.

Daddy Doll is Back!!!

We bought a little Dolls house one Christmas, and although it isn't played with a huge amount now, we still enjoy it. It came with a little family: Father, Mother and Baby.

I went out and purchased additional figures for the set: a Big Sister doll (complete with bedroom furniture) and Grandma (who came with a little pram for taking the baby for walks in).

Funny thing was, that around about the time that Grandma moved in, Daddy dissapeared.

It was a complete mystery. I expected Him to turn up down the side of chair or in a neglected corner somewhere, but he never did. Months went by.

Then one day I let the kids have a little play in the toy corner at Globes Lighting in North Hobart, and there He was! The lighting shop is just down from the music shop, and we have dropped in and had a look around occasionally before or after lessons. There were no other matching figures among the toys, he was a lone man.

So we checked with the staff, and happily reclaimed him. Only his nose shows the stress of his adventures. You can see Granny in the background of this photo too (I think they might just be getting along a little better now).

Bethany's First Quilt Project

I bought some "jelly rolls" on special at spotlight thinking that they would be perfect for Bethany to learn some sewing machine skills on. We used a quarter inch quilting presser foot so that the straight lines would be easy.

I love how this photo shows Bethany's tentative approach (fear of needles). She didn't want to put her hands anywhere near the action at first.

The "tatoo" is from the regatta (mid Feb) which shows you just how behind I am in my blogging efforts!

I have since cut it into strips again so that when we get to do some more sewing it will make squares.  I'll blog again when we get a little further.

Craft Cupboard Sorted

I said I'd do it, and here it is:  TA DAAAA!!!

It isn't as pretty as Liz's craft cupboard, but I'm still thrilled. There is STACKS of stuff in there, all organised so that I don't have to waste time looking for stuff. If I want to do shrink art, I grab the box that holds the shrink art paper, how to books, a heat gun and cork board and various jewelery bits all together. Packing up is easy.  I have boxes for felt, glues, a laminator, paints, cookie/cake decorating etc. etc.  I love it.

Still plenty more to do. We have a computer room/craft room that is completely non functional, and I can't get into the cupboards properly to find things.  My Dremel for example.

I think I need to de junk, measure up the cupboards and buy some more boxes.