Shrinky Dinky Do, well do you?

I do, remember them I mean.  Shrinky dinks the fabulous shrinking plastic, that you pop in the oven for a minute and it twists, curls and then ends up 7 times smaller.

MaxiMad was complaining that all the school book bags look the same and it is difficult to pick his out, so I decided we should make some shrinky dink name tags.  I went to our local craft store and bought a few A4 sheets and cut them into shapes.  I then wrote the boys names on the plastic and then gave them the pens to make some patterns on them.

I then use a punch to cut a hole in them (ours was star shaped) and we popped them in the oven and watched.  Before our very eyes they transformed.

A couple of ribbons later and they became name badges for bags and zip pullers for coats.  We even made a couple of autumn leaves.

A really easy and simple craft for children, we are thinking of making some for our nieces for Christmas and doing some holly shapes for Christmas tree decorations.

Twister Blister

It was one of those heart in mouth moments that every mum of boys gets, but at least they are playing nicely together.  Welcome to the MiniMads new game...................................................

Twister Blister (and yes that is MaxiMad in his pj's)

We love York

We are lucky enough not to live to far from York and on today's like today, it is a marvelous place.  It wasn't too cold today, but very windy and we enjoyed a fantastic family day out at York.

The MiniMads love watching the squirrels in The Museum Gardens.

Enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, whilst jumping in all the falling leaves

Standing on the city walls

Whilst I got to get a small bit of fabric from Cath K to make new swimming bags for the boys.

All in all a fantastic day was had by all.  We love you York

Thrifty Christmas over at Violet Posie

I don't know about you, but we are pretty strapped for cash at the moment and with Christmas on its way, I am looking at ways of making it less expensive and more thoughtful, less consumer driven and more cared for and considered. So when I saw that Violet Posie was hosting a Thrifty Christmas’ Carnival from the 9-12th November, I though yep that is for me.

I have a few ideas up my sleeve for things that I will be making for all this Christmas, so will be participating, but I am also keen for some more ideas and can not wait for my imagination to be peaked.

We actually don't buy many Christmas presents but it does all seem to add up, this year we will be giving to the following:

2 Nieces

Mum

Mums best friend (Christmas pudding)

Mother in Law and Farther in Law

4 close friends children

Boys Godparents

Our Homestart helper

The toddler group helpers (small appreciation gift - last year we made mini Christmas cakes and fudge)

Teachers and teaching assistants (7 in total)

The MiniMads are pretty much done, as I have been squirrelling things away each month, so that we don't have a large outlay near to Christmas and plus they don't really want for anything and have no real needs.

So for me Christmas means lots of baking, cooking, preparing and love.  I have already purchased the dried fruit for the Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings and will be putting them in soak over the weekend. 

What are your Christmas traditions, what do you give away and how many people do you give too?

Bed Head

The bigger the hair, the less sleep had by the whole family.

Last night was a sleepless night!!

Less is more when it comes to gluing

MiniMad loves gluing and sticking, it is one of his favorite craft activities and he would do it all day and every day if given the chance. 

My one tip for this is to have everything accessible and easily seen, so that children can do all of this themselves.

In my sticking box, as he calls it I have:

Feathers

Pom poms

Foam shapes

Lolly sticks

Glitter

Sequins

Googly eyes

Bits and bobs

Various glues

Having all the various things that he likes to use in one place means that he can get it out of the craft cupboard and it is an easy and mostly mess free activity for any open ended art.

All I need to do, is pop the table cloth on the table and his art smock on him.

So what things do your children like to glue and how do you store them, please let me know.

You will be assimilated, resistance is futile

Every afternoon since last Wednesday I have been taking MiniMad to Preschool.  every afternoon without fail I have received a phone call asking me to come and collect him early.

It happened again today.  He is fine when I drop him off, he runs and pops his name on the board and gets stuck in to something, coming back to give me a quick kiss, but then about half way through his session the tears come from nowhere.

He can seemingly be fine, he was coming down the slide this afternoon, when all of sudden he bursts in to floods or tears and becomes inconsolable.

I took in his dummy and comforter in case this happened and the staff have tried giving him them to calm him down, which has worked, but then he will get back on with things and all of a sudden burst into tears again.

The staff are fantastic and ring me  and I immediately go and get him and he runs into my arms and all is forgiven.  A big smile come on to his face and he insists that we go for a cuddle and all is well with the world.

As a mum this is so hard, especially as he has always been my confident, cheery and content second child, well he was until I went in to hospital earlier in the year.  We had prepared both the boys as best we could for the operation, but you can only cover so many bases and with all the complications I suffered and the readmitting he went to pieces.  We have been working hard to resolve these issues.  I always do what I say I will to reinforce my always coming back for him.  Yesterday I sat outside the school in the car, so unsure if I was doing the right thing for him, me and our family making him go to Preschool.

The hard thing is I am going back into hospital at the beginning of November and thought that Preschool would give him some semblance of routine and normality in what will be a sea full of uncertainty.  SO I have decided that I am going to be a Borg Queen and resistance is futile, he will be assimilated.  I am going to preserve and we will review the situation next week.

Sometimes being a mummy is like I am in charge of the Starship Enterprise!!