We play puzzles

Lately Junior has taken to keeping himself entertained with some puzzles while I read Rascal his bedtime stories . He has been working his way through our large selection of jigsaw puzzles and this week I also down loaded a nice matching game from Made by Joel, a blog I discovered recently. Junior particularly liked the matching game, and colouring it in afterward, so I would love to know of any other sources of these online. What puzzles and games have you been playing lately? “Come over and play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up”

First Haircut

Last week my little red head has his first haircut and somehow my "Bub" has turned into a little boy! He watched his big brother and Dad get their haircut and then was happy to climb up into the barbers chair and sit quit happily while he had his lovely locks cut too. I was very tempted to sweep them all up and take them home with me but I resisted the urge.
Anyway, with another little bundle well on the way I have decided that Bub really can't be called "Bub" anymore and the only really fitting thing I can think of as an alternative is "Rascal" because he really is into mischief all the time at the moment. The bump by the way has been affectionately christened "Puggle" for now but we will see how long that lasts.

The Male Mind

Earlier in the week Junior and I made a batch of gingerbread - something we haven't done in ages. I asked him to add a choc drop to each on and this was his first attempt.
Apparently it is a gingerbread lady rather than a gingerbread man!

Finally Finished

After many years of procrastination I have finally finished the quilt I started on long before Junior came into our lives. This was my first attempt at patchwork and quilting and despite many offers from a friend to finish it for me, I was determined to do it all myself. What should have taken me a couple of months actually took many year but I'm glad I finally finished it myself (even if it is a little beyond my New Financial Years Resolution Date from last year).
It is super warm, made with soft autumn coloured flannelette fabric with a wool blanket for batting. It is actually destined to be a sofa throw for the winter rather than a quilt because I'm sick of Aussie Dad dragging a doona (duvet) into the lounge every evening to snuggle up on the sofa with.
Earlier this year I did a quilting course at a local fabric shop to find out how I should have gone about this project. The course made me realise just how many mistakes I had made with my first quilt and resulted in a sweet little quilt for Junior's bed. It also gave me the confidence to finally finish off my first quilting project.
Now I just have to get organised and start work on a similar kids quilt for Bub. I only have about 6 weeks until our next bundle of joy arrives so wish me luck! Hopefully the next quilt won't take quite as long as my first.

Playing in the rain

Winter has finally come to Perth and we have been experiencing rather a lot of much needed rain. While this is great for the garden, our farmers and our water supply it is not so great when you live with two active young boys.
As a result these gumboots have been getting a lot of use lately as we have taken a few strolls around our neighbourhood, splashing in puddles, dodging showers and collecting rain sodden leaves and treasures to add to our winter nature table.
Have you been stuck indoors this week? What have you been playing to keep your little ones entertained? “Come over and play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up”

Hand Art

A few weeks ago I can across a little book called Hand Art while looking for a birthday present for one of Juniors Kindy friends.
A copy came home for us as well and every now and then when I'm looking for a little art project to fill in a bit of time we dig it out and try a few more of the hand art projects.
It is such a simple idea but lots of fun and Junior finds it very easy to follow the pictures although he usually gets me to help him trace his hand and then he gets stuck in with the colouring and collage parts of the project.

A little art in the afternoon

Since Junior started Kindy we have been doing very little art at home because he seems to do so much at Kindy and it really is a bit of a challenge to do much with Bub constantly re-organising any art activities we try to tackle.
We used to keep the "messy" art projects for when Bub takes his daytime nap but I have fallen into a habit of letting Junior watch some TV while I get on with dinner preparation and other household chores during this time. While it is nice to get a chance to do a few things without constant interruptions the amount of nagging for TV at other times has increase as a result.
Therefore on Monday we skipped the early afternoon TV time and I asked Junior what he would like to do instead. "Squash Painting" was his reply. I took this to mean some Paint blot art and set him up with paint and folded paper

He happily produced about half a dozen "butterfly" paintings and then we moved on to a little watercolour painting as well.
We haven't got rid of the nap time TV altogether but hopefully we will have a bit more variety in our week from now on.