#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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------


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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

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. 

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.

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!

 



 

Cloud play dough.

It is a seriously dreary day here today.

Constant drizzling and COLD!

As soon as we got up this morning, Boo requested a home day. Who was I do argue ;)

Friday's are go with the flow day's here with nothing scheduled, so a home day it was.

Home days often coincide with pyjama days also. Do they at your house too? MMM pj's.

So with not much on for the day, I thought I would checkout my Pintrest craft board for some inspiration. We all scrolled through and decided to give "Cloud Play Dough" a whirl.

What you need:

Cornflour
Conditioner
Food colouring.

That's it!

That is half the reason that I sold the idea to the kids so hard... It was simple.

What to do:

Put your corn flour in a bowl...
Mix in conditioner until you get a dough consistency...
Knead in some food colouring...It is hard to give amounts because I only made a small batch with what corn flour I had in the pantry. Apparently it also depends on the type of conditioner you use to how much you need. It really is just a "mix until it feels right".

As simple as the instructions are, it was quite messy. I feel messier than normal play dough.

The dough became VERY sticky before it made a good play dough. I had to keep adding flour to help with it sticking.

It reached its best play probably after 30 minutes or so of playing. It stopped sticking. It was soft. It was "cloud" like.

I tell you what though, it was the best smelling play dough I have ever smelt :)

And I had two very happy little people.

 

 
 

 

Holidays, hospitals and beyond... Day one!

So many different things happened on our holiday that it felt two weeks was actually two months.

There were so many high's but I will never forget the low's for as long as I live.

On our official day one, Ace was admitted into hospital.

This would have to be up there on a parents worst nightmare list.

Being overseas, and your child becoming seriously sick. It happens to other people. Not us. You know that feeling?

Ace had an infection.

He was fighting extremely high temperatures, and was having difficulties breathing due wheezing and a croupy cough. After our admission, he then followed on to have two febrile convulsions. It was then they started testing for some nasty things, including Influenza.

All his test results returned negative to anything nasty and it was just obvious that he was fighting an infection. I've never thanked who ever was looking over us as much as I did at the moment.

It all escalated so quickly. I mean he was swimming in the pool fine in the morning, and then this was him now, we couldn't even wake him at all?

 

  

The hospital was amazing. Thank god!

But language was definitely a barrier. Doctors and nurses were all speaking Thai and that was so frustrating for Dad'n and I when we wanted to know how and what they were treating Ace with.

After all had settled and Ace was a little more stable, everything was explained to us in English, but until that point, our anxieties hit levels that were out of control.

Being a Nurse, Dad'n would turn to me wanting to know what they were giving him and what they were doing. My response of "I don't know" was only adding to our anxieties.

As quick as Ace went down, he seemed to come back up.

The next morning, Ace and I snacked on Pringles and Pocky sticks for breakfast. Thai breakfasts were not what we were craving at all. Savoury porridge with minced meat on top, which I am sure was lovely... But not for us.

It was so surreal. He was sitting up in his hospital bed like not much had happened. I, myself, looked like I had aged 20 years minimum, but that was okay. As long as my little man was okay!

As I look back and reflect on it all, there are some things that stick out that helped us get through a sucky situation.

Having family travelling with us... Obviously.

We had support for Boo and we had support for ourselves.

Our travel insurance... They were amazing!

If you are in the market for a policy for your holiday, have a look at AAMI. Their support left us speechless. We had doctors calling us asking about Ace's condition. They offered to liase with his treating team so they could fully translate what was happening if they language was becoming to much of a barrier. They covered all medical expenses before we left the hospital so we didn't have to outlay money for the rather large bill! I can not speak highly enough about our experience. It was such a blessing.

Of course you never think it will happen to you, but this time, for us... it did.

Will we continue travelling with the children?

Absolutely.

This would of happened where ever we may of been. I will however research the hospitals a little more of where we will be travelling. I would like to have a better understanding of where we would have to go if we are somehow unlucky enough to frequent an international emergency department again.

So, that was "day one".

At least it could only get better from there!

 

Operation "Playroom organisation"

If you follow me on Facebook, you will know that we are in the process of organising our playroom. 

To be honest... I've been on this operation since we moved in but have never managed to finish it off.

So here is what we have going on to keep chaos to a minimum and easy fun playing to a maximum!

When designing our floor plan for this house, storage in our playroom was really up there on my priority list.

We decided on two shelved cupboards on the TV wall which meant it didn't eat up any wall space, and also added to the bulkhead effect around the TV feature wall.

You could also organise similar to this with Ikea Expedit unit's, bookcases, shelving units.

We have used this system for quite some time now, the "homing similar items in a box" system.

I have found that it is easy to manage as at the end of the day, we just lay which ever box is needed on the floor, and usually its 6+ boxes. Sometimes its all of them. Not all the time.  Then everything gets put in the appropriate box, and put away.

I now have each box labelled with not only the word of the items that are in the box, but also a picture to help with recognition.

The containers I ended up settling on were from Target.

 

After doing the rounds, I found these to be sturdy, cost effective,  they had clear windows to help see what's in them, and they came in a variety of sizes.

 

The cupboard to the left I decided to dedicate it to all of the containers.

 

 

 

The cupboard to the right homes Boo's dress up's down the bottom. This was just achieved with a hanging rail below one of the shelves.

It is also is home to all our art and craft supplies.

Then above we keep our kinder and swimming bags which are always repacked and placed back in their home at the end of the day.

 

 

 

Oh and the top shelf. The special top shelf.

 

It is reserved for toys that have driven Mummy insane, the ones that need a "rest".

 

We also keep our Easter egg hunt baskets up there. Better dust them off soon for when the fluffy bunny visits!

 

So that is our major storage covered...

 

We also have a 4 x 4 cube Expedit unit to house all our every day toys, ones that don't require storing.

 

And also a kids desk that is home to all drawing and colouring in things.

 

  

I hope that has given you some insight in to how we try to keep our playroom organised and maybe given you some ideas?

 

Maybe you already have a fab system that you find works well?

 

 

Share it! Find me on FB and pop some pics up! Would love everyone to get sharing.

 

Until next time...

 





Finding the perfect travelling bag for kids...

Finding the one... Travel bag for little people that is ;)

I love to travel and holiday, that's no secret. Who doesn't?

But what I also love is every fab find that I can get my hands on in the lead up to said holiday.

It used to be beautiful travel bags and accessories for myself, but since children, the obsession has turned to them. As it does with everything it seems.

For quite some time, I have been on the hunt to find to perfect carry on bag for them. The one.

Our family holiday last year had us taking a "Trunki". I thought it was SO going to be the one. How wrong I was.

I thought it was the answers to all. It was going to be amazing. So many parents raved and swore by them. It was going to rock my travel accessory world right? Wrong. It didn't work for us. AT ALL!

Sure it was fun for the first 15 minutes arriving at the airport. It was cute. But for the rest of the time, children got over pulling it. We didn't have time to have them riding it. Dad'n got super over trying to carry it. Its bulky and awkward. Its hard to get into. Many un choice words flying around surrounding that little case. Try to picture arriving after an overnight flight with two children still trying to sleep getting through customs with this big pink thing that every family member wants to throw! Sorry, still some pent up anger issues regarding poor Trunki LOL. Can you tell?

So we are getting geared up for our trip in a few weeks and our new bags and accessories have arrived. So we are having a play.

We kind of  look like a walking advertisement for Skip Hop.

I have always loved their products, we have quite a few in our collection. They have always functional and very durable.

We also got the matching travel blankets that I have attached on the back with a hook for easy access. Who doesn't like matching! They stuff in and out of the attached pillow which seems to work really well.

So far, these bags seem to hold a fair bit, but not to much so they get to heavy for children to manage. Carry handle packs away neatly and  they have a parent strap to make them a bit easier to carry for those times when children get over it. Which mine seem to a lot!

I look forward to giving a review on the other side of the trip and letting you all know if these in fact, were the ones.

Anyone else have a travel accessory problem? There could always be worse things I say ;)

Feel free to share what works, or what doesn't work for you.

*** Please note: These are my own opinions the products mentioned above, no endorsement has or will be received ***

Creating better days.

I often wonder. What would be the ratio of peoples complaints vs compliments?

 

Everyone always seems quick to ask for the manager to report someone, email a complaint and spread the word to family and friends to avoid a certain business, person or place.

 

But when do we show gratitude to good service, wonderful help, or someone just being a positive influence on every day life?

 

I try to always focus on being thankful and showing gratitude in my own family and life.  But now I have made it my mission to extend that to my surroundings and encounters.

 

It began yesterday.

 

I have been feeling very positive about Ace's childcare that he started attending one day a week this year. It hasn't been the easiest of transitions for us both but we have found the centre to be overwhelmingly caring and made it so much gentler on us both.

 

I decided to write an email to the manager expressing how happy I was with Ace's care. That she has wonderful staff and that I could not be happier having him there... It went into it a bit further than that, but you get the gist.

 

The response from her was so heartfelt. It was beautiful. It also said that what she received from me was so rare that in fact, she couldn't recall the last time it had happened.

 

I hope it made her smile. She  then forwarded it onto Ace's carers, I hope it made them smile. And  I know it definitely made me smile.

 

It was just showing gratitude. That's all it was. It took less than five minutes.

 

Is there something you are thankful for?

 

 Tell the person. Tell the place.

 

Just a thought.

 

 

*** Picture credits to: http://www.honeybearlane.com/2011/10/giving-thanks-thanksgiving-printables.html ***

 



 

Muesli Bars

This was a recipe that my sister gave me a few months back.

It came home with me with good intentions then got filed in the overflowing "must try" folder.

With Kinder lunchboxes high on my priority at the moment, I decided to dig it back out and give them a go.

I'm not sure how long they will last in the pantry though, as I have taken quite the liking to them! Must.save.for.the.kids!

They are easy. I like easy.

It's the kind of recipe that you get to chuck in whatever you have in the pantry. Love those recipes.

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup of oats
1/2 cup of sesame seeds
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1 cup of sultanas
1/3 cup of sugar
125g of butter
140g of honey
Other optional ingredients: chia seeds, dried apricots, pepita's, wheat germ, LSA ect....

Method:

• In a fry pan, dry roast all your dry ingredients for about 7 minutes until they are nice and toasted (not the sultanas or dried fruit).

• Let that cool down a little and enjoy the delish smell in your kitchen ;)  Time to add your sultanas / dry fruit.

• In a saucepan, bring your butter, sugar and honey to the boil then bring it back to a simmer for 7 minutes while stirring. Don't take your eyes off it.

• Pour your sticky butter into your dry ingredients and mix it well.

• Pop the finished mix into a lined slice tray and refrigerate.

• After a couple of hours your free to slice and dice it as you please. The kids liked theirs chopped into little mouthful squares.

• (Note: This recipe is quiet sweet. Especially if you have the sultanas or dried fruit. So feel free to drop the sugar / honey amount, I will be next time.)

Now we needed the perfect spot to hang the masterpieces!

This morning brought yet another trip to Bunnings, we are frequent flyer's there that's for sure!

While we were there I sprung it on Dad'n that I wanted him to whip us something up for above the kids craft area. Somewhere that we could hang paintings to dry or show off what pretty things the kids had created.

Here is what he came up with. I love, love, LOVE it!

 

 



Here is a list of what we used:

2m of Braided wire rope ($5.60)

Zenith Screw eyes ($4.30)

Zenith Wire rope grips ($6.40)

So it came to a total of $16.30. Not to bad at all.

 





Now Boo is working over time so she can change all the pictures over. Bless.

A little corner to create a masterpiece...

After researching (ie. scrolling through Pintrest) playrooms, I had come to the conclusion that I liked the concept of creating zones within the playroom.

I liked that the kids could focus on that one task and have everything there in that space that they need to keep them engaged. They can then they move on to another area once they were over it, and hopefully tidy up before they do so. Wishful thinking that last point.

At the moment, I am on my way to finishing their first zone. Their little corner to create a masterpiece. A few more little finishing touches to go, but I can see the finished product.

Boy has it been getting a work out. The kids LOVE this spot. So much drawing, colouring in, sticking... It's been amazing how much it has encouraged them to create by just having the area set up to use as they please.

I know that it may not be appropriate for everyone to have crayons and texta's available on hand as some little cherubs may take to walls ect. I have given my two the benefit of the doubt and until they abuse the privilege of having free run of the crayons... they can stay.

Where is that wood to touch?

 

 

Now to move on to their second zone. The kitchen / pretend play area. Waiting on Dad'n to approve the plans I submitted, just like council approval here LOL. Not really, but I need his builder hat on to get it finished. Beyond my scope of practice it is ;)

 

 

 

This is just the funnest ever Mummy...

To hear the words "this is just the funnest ever Mummy".

It gives me the warm and fuzzies.

It would have to be like getting employee of the month at your work. Not that I would know what that's like? But I would say it would feel similar LOL. It makes me feel like I am doing my job and doing it well. I am making memories and helping them have a wonderful childhood.

Yes I know my kids have fun most days. Playing play dough, going to swimming lessons... but today was EXTRA fun.

It all started when I decided to give the barbecue a bit of a clean.

This is how it ended!

 

 

 

                                

So the barbecue got half cleaned... This was WAY more fun to sit back and watch!

P.S: We can't wait to see Dadn's face when we show him what we got up to today.

The one where you accidently change your child's name.

Ace's "real" name was decided while he was still a little belly babe. We couldn't have imagined naming him anything else. We were in love with it. That was his name. End of story.

Ace then came into the big wide world. We officially gave him his name. The name we thought we would call him forever.

How wrong we were.

You see, Boo couldn't say the name we gave him. Along the way she found her own variation of his name, she named him "Ace".

Somehow, Ace has stuck. We all call him by this. Most people call him by this. Some people don't even know his actual name.

Dad'n and I joke all the time that we really should change his birth certificate as we don't know him by his given name... I don't even think Ace does?

Has anyone else accidentally changed their child's name?

Come to think of it, he could also think his name is Mo Mo Monster.... just saying ;)

This was Ace living life up as the dirty camp kid over Easter....