How we minimise school morning chaos at No.59!

So here we are again, first week back of term one!

Feeling oh so much better than I did at this point last year. To rejog your memory, I wrote a post on what they didn't tell you about your child starting school. Insert crazy emo school mum emoji here!

We have now moved on from that stage and have happily returned to give Grade 1 a whirl. Day one is done and dusted and we are all giving high fives in this house. Not even a single tear... from me that is.

Last year we seemed to have nutted out what works and what doesn't, to get us out the door with zero chaos and minimal stress. So I thought I might share our routine, just incase anyone out there might want to start nutting themselves out a morning routine.

This is only what works for us. You might scoff at it and think helllll no. But I think one of the main points to maybe take away from this post is find a routine that does work for you, and stick to it.

That's it.

So here it is my friends... The routine that goes down at No.59!

The night before.

A lot of our chaos minimising strategies happen the night before.

•  Lunches are made, 100% ready to go. They just need the freezer block dropped in and then straight into the school bag. Ace, is only at Kinder three mornings a week, but I make his lunch box up the same regardless. This means he has a hamper ready to go for a home day or if we are out and about we can take it along with us.

•  My planner is checked. Do we have sport / readers / notes due ect?

• School bag is put on the kitchen bench with everything in it after checking the calendar (including hat / readers / notes ect...)

• Next to this is Dad'ns lunch bag, his breakfast prep, wallet and keys so he can get out the door without searching for anything.

•  Bowls and plates set out for breakfast.

•  What's for dinner tomorrow night? Meat taken out of the freezer or then at least I know what I need to grab while I am out the next day.

• Appropriate uniform is hung on little peoples bedroom doors (including underwear / socks / shoes)

•  I then write myself out a schedule for the following day including what I have on, and what I would like to achieve (including housework, bookwork, cooking, appointments ect.)

Then...

Alarm goes off, it's show time!

I struggle getting up. I have the self confessed sleeping habits of a typical teenager. I go to bed WAY too late and would love to sleep all day. Buttttt, it aint gonna happen that way. Is it?

6:30am: First alarm goes off. I shut that shit down quickly.

6:45am: Second alarm. Getting closer, but no cigar.

7:00am: I am up. I am grumpy and sleepy but I am up. Why am I up? Because I don't want to be running late and i DO NOT WANT CHAOS. Full stop.

So from here I run our ship slightly military style. Ha. There ain'n no messing with my time schedule!

7:05am: Kids are up. I am making them breakfast while they wake up at the table watching TV. Breakfast is two courses. Weetbix. Followed by toast and fruit. Everyday. Thats how they roll. Makes my life easy. If my little people had their way though, they would have another three courses to follow. They love breakfast.

7:15am - 7:30am: My breakfast time. Kids are still eating...

7:30am - 8:00am: TV goes off. Little people are sent to their rooms to get dressed and I will shower and get ready. We all have half an hour for this... They know if they do it quick, it means they can play until I am ready. In this time, beds are made and rooms get a quick tidy.

8:00am - 8:10am: Everyone meets in the bathroom for face washing, hairdo's and teeth.

8:10 - 8:20am: Dogs get fed their breakfast and put outside, lunch boxes into bags, bags into cars and doors are locked.

8:20am: We are on the road. I repeat, we are on the road!!!

So there we have it friends, our military style, chaos minimising, school morning routine.

Happy back to school!

My new reality of social media.

The reality of sharing on social media is that some people just aren't going to like what you share.

I am okay with that, I completely get it. People dabble in social media and share different interests for  different reasons, so it would only be natural for you not to "get" what some people are about, just as in real life.

The next part is what I don't get.

There is a fork in the road after you decide that you are not on the same page as someone that you follow.

The roads lead in two very different directions.

You can take it for what it is, a simple difference of opinions / taste / interests and "unfollow" OR you can take another road. This other road is the one where you take it upon yourself to speak to behalf of the entire social media platform and dissect and assess this persons online presence and character. Oh but make sure that you use the words honest / constructive because that should make everything you say A-Okay.

I guess as a person that always sees the pretty side to life, negativity does not sit well with me. I am not emotionally strong and I can not deal with conflict. And I most certainly didn't think that my online presence would create such a strong negative opinion. But I was wrong... real wrong.

Yes, I share glimpses of my life. And glimpses is all they are. I choose to keep my online presence positive and pretty as that is who I am. I don't feel that is a reason to judge that I am portraying a fictitiously perfect life. It is simply a highlight reel. That's it.

Do I have struggles and problems just like every other person. Of course I do. What person doesn't?  I have never claimed otherwise. But just because I do not chose to share them does not mean I am trying to elude the fact.

Is this a vent, a therapy for over coming something that has happened? I think it is. First instinct, or I guess defence, was to close everything I had down and cry. But as the days pass I have realised that I shouldn't stop something that I do enjoy doing because of some one's opinion.

SO. The take away on this one... If you are thinking about telling someone exactly what it is you don't like about their social media presence... My advise is don't. Just don't follow / read their material and move on with your life. End of story.

Might I delete this post in a few days? Maybe...

But for now I wanted to get it out and share my new reality of social media. And unfortunately, it wasn't pretty.

Our new and improved laundry... Did someone say storage?

When building a home, you try and cram as many ideas and wants as you can in the process. 

 

Unfortunately, in the process, sometimes there are wants that just don't get across the line due to sheer lack of availability or funds.

 

It was an exciting month in The Bower Birds  Nest, as I was able to see of my 'wants' come to life and get the laundry I wanted. 

Even if it was 18months down the track...

 

So here it is!

 

Our new and improved laundry.

 

It makes me VERY happy. Like kind of a bit sickly happy. We all know by now that I am a bit odd like that. Oh and that I also like to label everything.

 

Enjoy the laundry gallery!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steph

xx

#aceturnsfour

There once was a little boy that LOVED going to the zoo.

He loved going to see all of his favourite animals. Seeing what was new. Seeing what adventure he could find.

It was coming up to this little boys birthday!

So I wonder what this little boy would like to do for his party?

His Mummy sat him down to talk about what sort of birthday party he would like... and there in a split second it was decided.

"A ZOO PARTY MUMMY!!!!!"

And there it was. The party theme was born.

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We decided the colours, the decorations, the invitations, the animals....

The animals. This is were we had very different ideas. 

I thought I was being a bit clever arranging for a "animal man" to come and give us a display of all different animals.. But unfortunately, this translated into a soon to be four year old thinking that lions, tigers and bears were coming. Oh my.

With a bit of tweaking to the theme, we ventured into the realms of a "safari party" and that the animals were more likely to be from the Australian Desert. Yes? Phew. He followed. No more lions, tigers OR bears expected.

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And so on Saturday, the 4th of July. Ace's Safari Party went off without a hitch.

The little boy who loved the Zoo was amazed with every bit of magic that his Mummy and Daddy created for him.

The End. 

Time to get on with the pictures! Apologies in advance for the poor quality photos, our garage didn't lend the best lighting. But crappy photos were a small price to pay for a little boy having his own little safari land. 

What poeple didn't tell me about sending my child off to school...

Two months ago, I was not in a great place.

It sounds so dramatic that sentence... But it's true.

I was in turmoil regarding my first born child, my baby girl Boo, heading off to school for the first time.

Boo was starting Prep.

Everyone joked about crying in the car after drop off. Wear sunnies to make sure your kid doesn't see. Do something fun after drop off to distract yourself they said. All light hearted stuff really!

But here is what they didn't say. 

Sometimes, those things above just don't cut it!

For the weeks leading up to that first day, I was an absolute nut case. Not funny haha nutcase, I mean, sort your S#%T out kinda nut case.

I cried at night. I felt sick at the thought that it was getting closer each day. I was literally consumed by it all.

I had this feeling that things were never going to be the same, and I didn't like it.

I missed her so much with just the thought and it was breaking my heart.

Two months on...

I can now process those feelings and say that as everyone told me, it was all okay.

Yes. I was a nut case and yes, I did sort my S#%T out.

She wasn't heading off to boarding school, just 5 minutes down the road. And she was still my baby when she got home.

I still miss her when she is there. But 3:10pm comes around pretty quickly.

Hindsight hey.

The cubby house.

For the past five months, we have been busy putting together something that will hopefully last in our  children's  memories forever.

We wanted them to have a cubby. 

But not just a cubby that is filled with spiders, plastic chairs and tea set....

We wanted another space for them to play and use their little imaginations.

We wanted it to feel cozy.

We wanted them to feel warm and safe in there.

We wanted it to be beautiful.

So we pencilled together a plan.

Dad'n got building and I got busy creating a styling vision for the interior.

It was a bit of a drawn out process but since we had until Christmas to get it sorted, we had the time to plod along at it. 

The kids were well aware of what was being built, but it was "Santa" that sprinkled his magic and turned it from the blank white space into something just a little bit special.

For those that came along on our cubby building journey on Instagram, I'm sure you are just as relived to see it finished as we were.

So here it is!

Our cubby.

Our iPad charging station.

We have to many iPad's in this household. It's ridiculous. But we do. That's life.

My daily dilemma was where to home them all while charging without looking untidy. We all know I don't like untidy!

One evening, I stumbled across a lovely Facebook page selling labels called Pretty Paper Label (for labelling addicts, your welcome!).

It was that evening, that our lives changed. Ha, dramatic... but true.

My prayers were answered.

An iPad charging station!

Here is what you will need:

1 x IKEA Kvissle letter tray $34.99

A drill with a large drill bit or we used tin snips to cut out the back holes to pass the cords through

1 x power board

Think iPad's, phones, laptops...

You're welcome!

The princess and knight birthday party

Boo had a birthday. She turned 5! 

She wanted a Princess birthday party. As you do when your a little girl.

I am a little partial to a good kids birthday party, not to mention a good theme. Who was I to argue with her?

We did struggle with the theme once the guest list was finalised. We had quite a few boys coming, so we decided to turn it into a "Princess and Knight" party. Settled. Easy done. 

With our moving and renting in a non-friendly party home.... This was our first year that we have been settled and able to go all out. I felt like I had a few years of pent up party planning to get out of my system, so party planning is what I did.

We built castles. We made bubble princess wands and swords. We made princess hats. The list goes on. We basically lived in Princess and Knight land for the lead up to the party. Completely normal. No?

I know it's OTT. I can be over the top with a lot of things. No judging okay ;)

So here is a few snaps of our wonderful day.

 

 

 

 

x Happy Birthday Boo xx

Organising a craft work station for kids!

With Boo and Ace growing up before my eyes, I am having to adapt some of the ways we organise things around the nest.

What worked for the craft / drawing station 12 months ago, isn't working for us now as we are hitting different stages with them both.

I decided this week that our craft / drawing table in the play room needed a make over to reflect them getting older and these different stages.

One of the things I have noticed, especially with Boo, is that she has her own belongings now. They are things that she looks after, and that it would be great if she had her own space to keep them safe. Up until now, everything has all been shared things. Sharing is great. We are all for sharing our things. But when Boo spends hours filling in her colouring books, it breaks my heart to see Ace follow behind scribbling all over her work.

We have zoned the table into 3 areas. On the left is Ace's area. Middle is shared. Right is Boo's.

 

- The set of drawer's is for their Smiggle cases, pens that they would like to keep special, their own stamps ect.

 

- The magazine holder is for their colouring books.

 

- The box on top of their draws is to put special artwork / pictures in that we want keep.

 

- In the centre is shared paper, pencils and textas.

 

- Craft supplies are in a separate cupboard.

 



 

 

 

 

All up the make over came in at $80.00 which included new textas and pencils.

 

All of the aqua desk organising items were on clearance from Target between $4.00 - $6.00 each.

 

The clear plastic drawers were from Officeworks - $16.00 each.

 

The white "stationary caddies" were cutlery holders from a local $2.00 shop for you guessed it... $2.00 each.

 

The labels were something I whipped up on a Word document and just laminated them.

 

Happy organising!

 



 

What shall I be when I grow up?

I have this question going through my head over and over lately.

I asked it out loud last night, and the response from Dad'n was less than thrilling.

What shall I be when I grow up?

"What do you mean, what do you want to be when you grow up? I hate to break it to you Hun, but your thirty, and you're a nurse."

Well there you go hey, glad he cleared that up for me! Pfft. What does he know.

Is this the whole mid life crisis thing setting in ahead of time?

Is it itchy feet with one child heading off to school on the horizon?

It's definitely something. And it doesn't seem to be leaving me alone in a hurry.

So really, Dad'n did have a point.  I am thirty. And I am a nurse. But I feel that was so BC (before children). I don't completely feel like that person anymore and I don't enjoy it like I used to. Not to mention shift work being unfriendly to work around the family, school drop off / pick ups ect...

There are a few idea's that get me excited... Heading back to school is definitely one! But then the realities chime in and bring me back to earth and I am left right back at the beginning, asking what I shall be when I grow up?

Anyone else out there asking this same question?

xx