New haircuts

We are off to the hairdressers tomorrow. Darling B and I both look like English sheepdogs, just about seeing our way through the day.
Dervish Js hair is a bit of a mess really.
DH and I just don't want to cut it!

Not helped by lovely mother and sis telling us 'that boy needs a haircut!'
They want his to look like this

We have both kneejerk and are now refusing to cut it!

But that can't continue.
So we are all of a dither as to what to do with him.

DH says
















But I want more length.

I thinks this is more what I had in mind.





Unfortunately my wee Dervish just wasn't blessed with thick hair. So appears to be covering his receding hairline already!

I have a couple of images that I can take to the hairdresser tommorrow. I think at the very least he will get a fringe trim and a bit off the back.
I, on the otehrhand am going to miraculously transform into Jennifer Aniston/ Tom Cruises wife, whats her name again?!!

I just can't go without a fringe, I have tried.
Guess who Dervish gets his receding hairline from?
Hint: It's not so much his daddy!
Ok, it's not that bad, it just feels that way.

Anyway, I will add up pics of us all shorn, ra morra.
For now, good night!

Snow White makes a Mothers Day Banner

Thought I would get a head start on Mothers day.
I love that the Americans go all out with their decorations, but I am always a little behind with my prep. ie I only think on the day, 'Oh wouldn't it have been nice too..........'

So, after making the St Patricks day hats and clovers on the day, getting them up by 7 o'clock at night, I decided to be on the ball this time.

I was thinking of doing something along the lines of this from Filth Wizardy because I thought it looked just lovely.
But the paper I had did not lend well to rubbings and I didn't have leaves anyway. I was attempting to cut shapes out and rub them, but my paper was just a little too thick.
I had begun to cut out all the letters in advance, for our grand rubbing, so now had to think of another plan.

AHA! Paint around them!
Sure, even my wee man could get in on that!

We were getting all set for it, with me trying to figure out how to keep all these letters in place whilst my two painted over them, when I remembered These!

Those aren't our pens, just an image I have found, but Darling B got them as part of her christmas and we have not used them yet.
Now seemed the perfect time!

So, I stuck down our paper. This is from a roll that we got from the ELC to go with Darling Bs easel.

I thought we might try a wee lesson on recognising letters/spelling so tried to get Darling B to tell me which letters I wanted.
She did pretty well. She is so quick to just answer 'I don't know, mummy' in ever such sweet tones, but I try to persevere without losing my rag. Or give up, whichever seems best given her mood.

Thats the Dervish, using our lovely paper as his car track! :-)

It was pretty plain sailing from here.
Ya just gotta blow!
Pretty hard, it turns out!

You also have to hold down the letters with one finger whilst blowing. I ended up gripping the pen in my mouth whilst holding down my letter and Darling Bs, sometimes the one next to it as well!
It was like Twister, for fingers!

But even Dervish J was able to do his bit

All sprayed up, just got to take off the letters to see how well we have done.

Not bad!
Yeay us!

I will have to add a post showing you how it looks on Sunday.
Can't wait!

Washing

How does this happen!?
There are only the 4 of us and two are small

Silent Sunday

Last Minute Mouse

Friday morning and we are all getting ready to get out to Messy Play when DD says
'Mummy, I want to go to Nursery today.'
'Not to Messy Play with me and J?'
'No, I really want to go to Nursery.'

Righto.
Only Friday was Red Nose day and everyone is dressing up as a character from The Gruffalo

I had thought on this earlier in the week but, as she was not going to be attending I had put it to one side.
Now I had to pull it out of the bag because it was 8.25!!

So, I grabbed the card folders I had taken out for Messy play.
I pulled out some brown and some coppery stuff that I figured would do for the inner part of the ear and one of Darling Bs hairbands.

I quickly cut out an ear shape with a tag that I thought would go round the hairband.

Then I cut out an inner ear

I attached the ears to the hairband using selotape

And here they are

One willing model

As a finishing touch, I thought I could pull her hair into a ponytail. Then add lots of hairbands to make it look a little like a mouses tail.











So, what do you think?
Does she look like a mouse, pos from the Gruffalo? Or does it at least look like she joined in a little.
Thats all I would want. Just that she didn't feel left out of the fun and games.



The hairband mouse ears, the same as the pirate hat, did not make it home.
Oh well. She was as happy as larry that mummy had made her something to wear, I guess I will just have to accept that these things may not return to me.
But how childish am I that I wish they would, not least so that I could show them to DH. He would give me the pat on the head that my childish heart desires. hehe

St Patricks day crafting

Later this afternoon I decided to follow through on my promise to my sis that I would make some leprechaun hats.
She is doing a stint as a Beaver leader and really wanted to make hats with them, but decided that it would be too much to do in a 20min craft slot.
So I said that I would make some with my two so that they would be done for St Patricks.

I thought it would be an idea to make some shamrocks first, to display in our window.
Cutting out three love hearts and a stalk in two sizes, and two colours.
My figuring was that each child could get a shamrock to stick and glue together and one to paint.
Darling B got the little ones, Dervish J got the bigger ones.

We glued them together and bluetaced them to our big window.

I had found this lady when I was searching for leprechaun hats for my sister she was the perfect place to look for my Darling Bs pirate hat this morning.
So I went straight back to her this afternoon.

First up was Darling B, to get her head wrapped in newspaper

Dervish J was up next

Curling in the sides creates the hat

Now we just had to paint them green. B did great with this, J needed to be restrained, he was a bit too over keen with his painting and nearly tore through the whole thing.

Back to the storage heater/hairdryer trick to get them dried off.
I added a wee shamrock to the hat to make it a tad clearer as to what I was trying to achieve.

And here thay are, My little leprechauns!
Jonathans hat seems to have shrunk, not sure how I managed that.
Everytime I got the camera ready he would giggle, nod his head and knock it to the floor!

Early morning Pirate hats

I was woken by my darling B gentle coughing at my door this morning, at 8.
Yikes, everyone has slept in.
Still, time enough for a cuddle.
As soon as she was cooried in, she says, 'I need a pirate hat mummy.'

Oh dear, I had forgotten that it was dress as a pirate day at nursery, because they are being taken to the library.
I think I remembered last night but thought I would get away with jeans in boots, a loose shirt, some scarves round her waist and one for her head.
But no, apparently she has to have a hat! :)

Would a newspaper one do?
You Tube is beckoning, because I am not entirely sure how to do it, but I am fairly sure it is not hard.
No mummy, it needs to be black. You just need some black card from the cupboard.
Which cupboard?
The one in nursery mummy.

hmm, not sure that that is an option.

So my head starts spinning off ideas that could create a pirate hat from fabric..........Not sure half an hour will manage that.
I know I have card in the loft, but only A4...........
Maybe a newspaper one painted black? Do I have time for that?

Ok all this thinking is getting nothing done!
Time to get out of bed.

Straight onto the computer, before the children have even caught up with me!

A few clicks and I am going to have to go with the newspaper and paint trick.
Easy! ??

Making the hat is easy, finding you only have primary coloured paint, not so good.
Grabbed a plastic cup and squirted in some of each colour until I have a dark green shade.
This was deemed acceptable.

So I throw the childrens breakfast together, paint up a hat and place in on my storage heater.
hmm?
That is not going to dry in two minutes.
Quick dash up the stairs for the hairdryer, methinks!

So there we are, the children scoffing their breakfasts with me pointing the hairdryer at a pirate hat

S'cuse the horrid mess, this is no time for a tidy up,I have an important mission, dontcha know?

As soon as it is dry, it is flipped and the other side is painted.
I used the paint in all the edges to act as glue to hold the thing together.
And B is handed the hairdryer to start drying the other side as I dash upstairs to get dressed, dash back down to get J dressed.
Tooth brushing happens on the go, again, today.

Do you see the mess on the floor? That is where it went splat!, as I tried to get a good shot.



Quick photo shoot.

What a great pirate!!
And we are off, at a run, to get to school on time!

British Sign Language

When my J was less than a year, I managed to get onto a BSL course.
I had been looking out for the opportunity for a long old time.
Since I had spotted a poster in a shop, got very excited then realised it was out of date.
So to finally get on, and to find that a good friend was also interested, was just Fantastic.

It was 10 weeks of a course and I looked forward to, and enjoyed, every weeks class.

I have used baby signing with both my children (and totally believe that Everyone should do it!!) so I think it gave me a bit of a grounding because there were quite a few signs I knew already, so it gave me a greater confidence that I could and would learn these new ones. PMA and all that.

When we completed the course most of us were looking to move onto the next level.
But it turned out that only a handful of us were really serious and this was not enough to warrant a class.
Greatly saddened, we just had to wait....

Nearly 2 years later!!
An email pops up in my old email account, I had missed it, but my friend had got one too and alerted me.
Thank God for that!
Less than a week later and we were in!!

Yahhoooo!!
Tonight was my second class and I am once again bitten by the bug.
Signing constantly and expecting DH to join in.
What a shame he doesn't share my enthusiasm, but there you go, what can you do.

Sign at everyone else you can!

The silly thing is, of course I become tongue/hand tied as soon as I try to speak to the tutors.
I have such a big vocabulary now, but a basic conversation is still slightly beyond me.
The frustration!
But they are lovely and put up with my constant 'how do I sign.....?'

I am simply buzzing!!

I had to share!!

One day I will chatter away, without saying a word!

My little B, darling girl, will be my sounding board instead. She learns with me, because I have to share with Someone! I think my enthusiasm rubs off on her and she seems quite keen.

Heaven knows what I want to do with this signing mallarky, I guess I will find some use for it further down the road but, for now, I think I will enjoy the ride!

Late night ramblings

Why is it that I can only get my head into the right zone at 11 o'clock at night?
I wish I could go to bed, but my mind is now buzzing with thoughts.

I am geting Lost in Blogland. I should probably call my blog that really, because that seems to be what I do.
I am off looking for inspiration to create an interesting blog and am loving the search!!

You guys out there write such terrific things. They make me smile or sitting nodding like a churchill dog. Or get onto sites with things to do or make and I am just lost forever!!

I am loving it, but am still a little unsure on my direction.

It will all come together eventually.

Messy Play

Every Friday I take my two children to a Messy Play group for toddlers.
I don't like to add that I am the one in charge of the group.
My friend set it up and ran it for nearly three years, during which time she completed her Post Graduate in Primary School teaching.
This year is her probationary year.
So I was happy to keep going along to the group, in order that it did keep going, in her absence and take the payments. Doing the meet and greet to new people etc.
I have been coasting along for a while with the same old things out every week, but have started to do my own research to try to vary what is on offer.

Having recently discovered Filth Wizardry I have been inspired by quite a few of her terrific ideas.
Some are a bit to advanced for the age range that the group covers but it gets me thinking none the less.
My little girl is the oldest there, aged 4. Most of the group is aged about 2.

Last week we painted onto a plastic sheet of acrylic, that I had edged with electrician tape, and taped to the painting table.

The children drew in the paint,

then laid paper on top to get the image in reverse.

The younger children just enjoyed getting messy, splatting their hands on and squidging it about.
Ok I admit, I was showing them how.
Oh alright, I was the worst culprit!!


It was fantastic fun!

Apple Chips

Hmmmmm Apples!
I love a juicy Granny Smith.

But my little boy won't touch a bit of fruit?
No idea why, his sister is a huge fan.
We used to have to buy two bags of grapes at the shops because one of them would be devoured on the short trip home.

But my little boy has to be tricked into eating them. Smoothies are devoured, dried fruit is accepted and yoghurt coated stuff gobbled.

We once found some apple crisps somewhere in a big city and they were DELICIOUS!! But Expensive.
I tried trawling the internet to find them any cheaper but couldn't so I gave it up for an idea.

Recently though I came across this and had to give it a go.

I have had a few disasters, with not slicing well enough and having the heat on too high, then using baking paper that the whole lot got stuck too, very disappointing.
So I followed the recipe on the blog and looked into getting a silicone baking sheet, figuring it would be of use elsewhere anyway. It has been, cookies just lifted off!

I have not bothered with the lemon, sugar or cinammon that The Purple Foodies suggested, because I figured mine were going straight into a pre heated oven and I didn't want them sugared.
So all I have done is slice some apples, with a knife, as thinly as I could, laid them out on my new baking sheet and stuck them in the oven 80C.

My apple slices are in the oven now and I can't wait to try them!




They came out fantastic!!

And they went down a treat too!

I think I am going to have to make more.