Wow! How the world goes without me

It has been 6 months since my last confession.

I can not believe it actually! So much has gone on in that time.

A lot has gone on especially with Joshua, he has gone from being a toddler to a proper little boy, gone are the thomas trains and tracks and in their place lego now reins supreme.

It's taking some getting used to, having this new little man to deal with, but I like it. It is almost as though a light switch in his head has turned on, the tantrums are settling down, the listening still has some work to go, but you can see the improvements.

Other then that, this household is plodding along, my work got a little crazy at times, and we fell behind in the garden upkeep. But as things are sorting out again, I don't think it will take us much effort to sort it all out again.

Take care

The Williams

Surprises when your not looking for them

Today I was going around doing my list of chores. Shockingly I was quite happy doing them for once lol.

I was up to the chicken hutch. I wanted to move it to another patch of fresh grass & do a tidy up of the girls things. I was refreshing the water when I noticed these................

Garlic! YAY! I had completely forgotten about them being right under the tap. I have also been super busy with work, so a simple thing like when I planted the garlic, easily escapes my mind :)

The girls looked at me funny while I managed a mini happy dance :) They are so massive now, I have never kept chickens before, I find it completely fascinating to watch the different stages of their growing period. It is true though they do go through an ugly stage. The girls have just passed that stage, Clarabel is giving us the worries though. She has me thinking that she could actually be a he. Fingers crossed that Clarabel remains a she & doesn't turn into a he :)

Annie (LT) & Clarabel (RGT)

I have a lot on my plate at the moment. I'm trying to sort out this household again. With me going back to work (spending quite a lot of time there actually) family turns and the rest of everyday life, this home has gotten into quite a different run. I must say, I DON'T LIKE THE NEW ROUTINE!!!! I know I can't go back to the old routine, but I am not happy where we are now. I am not handling it very well either. I felt as though I was having a melt down last week. I distinctly remember lying on my bed, bawling my eyes out, and not knowing what I was crying about. Nothing was doom & gloom, the bills were payed, Joshua was fed, playing a happily in his room. I even had money left over to do/get things of luxury if I felt the need. Instead of loving it, I was crying, like I was told I had to have my arm removed. RANDOM!!! Hopefully my equilibrium returns soon. :)

The day is lovely, it's shining, there is a lovely cool breeze & I have no chores left. Joshua still has an hour & half left of kindergarten. I think I might just go out the back yard & sit on a blanket & saver the sunshine :)

Take care

Christine Williams

Mother's day

Mother's day came and went with a flurry at our home. Not only was it an early rise for me, I also had to go to work from 7am. I had the breakfast/lunch shift. Yep, that's right, all day at work. We ended up serving 184 for breakfast and 70 for a set lunch. The only word I can describe it with, is HETIC! As our restaurant manager says, it was the busiest Mother's day since he's been there & he has been there 7 yrs to date.

For my mother's day gifts I received these cute earrings made by Joshua while he was at kindergarten. The card was also made with a surprise photo of him. I found out that when they were getting their class photo's the photographer also took these lovely shots of our children.

I had a lovely day, all things considered, and even though I wasn't overloaded with gifts like I know some mothers expect. I love the effort that my little man went to to make mine, because it's easy enough for him to not want to at his age. Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's/carers out there.

Christine Williams.

Backyard happenings

Today dawned beautiful!!! Just love it when the sun comes out after a few days of poor weather. I think this year is going to have a short Autumn, as I'm sitting here typing this at 8am and my toes are still frozen!

I was going to plant the garlic yesterday, but as you can tell it was raining pretty much all day. So today I will be planting the garlic. Garlic has so many uses, not just for cooking with. You can use it medicinally for coughs and colds, but I've just recently learnt that I can mash up a clove and give it to my chickens. This gets rid of their intestinal bugs & worms. I think this is great. As i'm not keen on giving the girls chemicals to try & keep them healthy. Defeats the purpose really giving them chemicals. Can't be too healthy with those.

Clarabel (RT) & Annie (LFT)

Annie & Clarabel are also getting big now. They aren't the little fluff balls I bought home from Joshua's kindergarten. They have proper feathers on 90% of their bodies. They are in their ugly stage. :) Personalities have also developed, with Clarabel being the winner on attitude. She certainly rules that roost. Annie is so laid back & mellow.

Other things needing to be done......

1. Go next door and ask if I can severely prune back a tree that is coming over the fence, this tree is the bane of my existence! It's growing over the shed & patio. Blocking up both gutter pipes.

2. Clear away the branches of said tree that I have already cut down.

3. Do some more cross stitch. I have a gift I am stitching, and because this person's b'day is coming up soon, I need to get a wriggle on.

4. Complete Joshua's B'day invitations. His birthday is next Tuesday! OMG I'm so forgetful! Thank the heavens he only wants 4 other people to come to his party, and they are all close friends.

I'm sure I could think of heaps I have to do but probably be hear all day listing them. These 4 are top most on my list of extra activities, outside of course of everyday chores.

What is on your list of things to do?

Take Care

The Williams 3

Passionfruit

Rain rain go away come again another day.

When it's raining I like to do bright activities, to keep my spirits up. Rain triggers a sleepy/hibernation reaction in me. Even though I live in the subtropics, and not a colder location :). So on today's agenda was passionfruit. The bag full of passionfruit came from my husbands parents garden as they are having an abundance this year. Mine are still green & growing so I won't be able to harvest them for a while :)

Passionfruit pulp has many uses. From breakfast as a yogurt/ muesli topping to dessert in cakes/cheesecake, ice cream & pavlova. There are just so many choices :) I love looking at the shot of sunshine on my bench for a while, and the sweet smell as I process all those passionfruit makes my kitchen smell just delish.

Do you process foods on a rainy day to keep the blues away? What's your favorite food to process?

Keep Happy

The Imagination Team

Letting Go

Today I allowed Joshua to ride his bike outside of the home.

I was completely scared witless, due to the fact that when Joshua gets excited, he doesn't listen, and being outside of the home I have no control over how fast he goes, whether he will stop and wait for me when he's a mile ahead, and also if he will stop if I see approaching danger ( like a car!!)

Well to say the least it didn't go nearly as bad as I though it would. Joshua did listen to instructions, I'm still not 100% easy with the whole riding outside, but at least we had fun. It's all about letting go & allowing your children to grow up.

What have you found hard to let your children experience?

Keep Happy

The Imagination Team

World of Possibilities

Today was a wet day. Joshua is not is any shape of the word an indoor child. So keeping him amused while being inside all day can be a challenge. With him starting at kindergarten though, some of the other boys have introduced him to the world of Lego. Now don't be deceived we have had Lego in this house for ages, most of it is actually Scott's from his childhood. But until recently Joshua hasn't taken the slightest bit of interest in it.

Now that Joshua understands what can be achieved with Lego & it's finally cool to play with. I've found it's a great distraction tool, while not loading him up with cartoons on these rainy days. Of course being into diggers & Buzz Lightyear, the first things built are a excavator, pick-up crane & rocket ship. After these 3 essentials are built he lets his mind wonder & constructs just about anything & everything.

From massive things which entail every bit of Lego he owns, to things that come out which are only constructed with 4 bits of Lego, which you have to understand is a massive laser gun :) Oh the possibilities!

I love quiet play with a passion.

What do your children do on rainy days?

Keep Happy

The Imagination Team

Book Review- Harry and his bucket full of Dinosaurs

When Harry helps Nan to clear out the attic he makes a wonderful discovery - dinosaurs!

He carefully fixes, washes and unbends them all and from then on they go everywhere with him in a bucket. Then one day his beloved dinosaurs get lost!

How will Harry prove to the Lost Property Man that they are really his?

Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs is a series of children's books written and drawn by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds. The series is about a 5-year-old boy named Harry, who has a bucket full of dinosaurs. In the books the dinosaurs talk to Harry but seem to be toys to the other characters. The other main characters are Mum, Nan, Harry's best friend Charlie, and Harry's sister Sam.

Of course at toddler age both boys & girls find dinosaurs fascinating! Joshua loves this series of books, and also watching the tv shows, which you can watch free online. there are two seasons to the tv program so far. It's great for young ones and problem solving strategies, so give it a try.

Keep Happy

The Imagination Team

Vegemite Pasta

Today I copied a recipe for marmite pasta from Nigella Lawson's new book Kitchen.

I love Nigella Lawson, she is the epitome of a beautiful curvy woman who loves food & also loves to cook.When I read this recipe I thought to myself "how gross" but Joshua was making for a trying afternoon today so instead of fighting another dinner battle I decided to give it a try. Well the photo below says it all. :)

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

Angel hair or fettucini pasta

equal amount of Vegemite/marmite and butter/margarine ( We used about a teaspoon of each)

Method:

Cook pasta till al dente

After draining the pasta, reuse the pot to melt the equal amount of Vegemite & butter

When sauce is melted down & thoroughly mixed, pour over pasta & toss lightly

Serve :)

It's that easy, I love it.

Keep Happy

The Imagination Team

Chalk Family

Joshua had a fun lesson in chalk. It was family day at kindergarten and so when we got home, I continued on with the theme, but made it extra fun with chalk. Being as hot as it was, outside under the cool patio was lovely.

We got everyone in our family to lie down on the patio, I drew an outline with chalk, and then Joshua had to color/fill it in according to what he thought they looked like. He needed to figure out if they needed a skirt (girl) or shorts (boys), what type of hair they had etc. Some of these additions proved harder for him to figure out then others, eg: the shorts/skirts.

We had a ton of fun, adding extra things such as Narla the cat, the goldfish and his fav characters at the moment Wall E and Eva. Joshua just didn't want the game to end. It lasted us at least an hour, then all we needed for clean up was the hose :) Simple, easy & cheap as the bucket of Jumbo chalk only cost me $2 at our local discount store.

Keep Happy

The Imagination Team

Happy Days #1

I have decided to open up this blog again to post about things you can do with your child, that are cheap, easy & fun. Lord knows I don't have the endless bank account to entertain my child with, like most other mum's out there I'm searching for fun things to do with my toddler that don't hurt me in the back pocket.

Today Was Volcano Day :) Joshua didn't want a red one, ours was a blue one.

Materials:

Bucket ( laundry soak bucket)

Sand ( bucket of sand scavenged from beach)

Plastic Bottle ( left over coke bottle)

Bi-carb soda (Pantry)

Flour (Pantry)

White Vinegar (pantry)

Food coloring

So as you can see, for this experiment it cost us next to nothing, I had everything with the exception of the sand, which was an easy trip to the beach. If a beach isn't close by, then sand from your local gardening store is just as good.

Steps:

1. Place sand in bucket, add enough water to make damp & stick together, without being soggy.

2. Place the plastic bottle in middle & form sand around bottle to make your volcano. The 2Lt soft drink bottles give the best volcano's, but just what ever is on hand works :)

3. In one cup mix 2tablespoons worth of Bi-carb soda to 1 tablespoon of flour. In another cup mix 1 cup of white vinegar with enough drops of your desired food coloring to create a vibrant colour.

4. using a funnel, pour your Bi-carb mix into your bottle, then when ready, using the funnel, pour the vinegar in quickly, take away the funnel then stand back & watch your volcano go :)

It's that simple and as you can see, toddlers can get really fascinated about them. The best part of this experiment is that because it's so easy & cheap, you can have a few goes of it. :)

Our Video is uploaded onto our facebook page. Visit us at Imagination

Keep Safe & Have Fun

The Imagination Team