Here fishy fishy

A while ago, the kids and I completed these fish craft activities. I have had the post sitting there waiting to go , with just finishing touches needed, and everything else seemed more important , or more to my frame of mind. But finally, I'd like to share an easy craft activity that you can complete with your kids, with very little mess and supplies, in about 10 -15mins or so.

First up are these super cute "Patty Pan fish". I got the inspiration off of Pinterest, and had it stored in the back of my mind for a rainy day, and a Rainy day we had. The kids were going a bit stir crazy and I certainly was, and I had all the supplies on hand.

Here is Max's finished fishy;

To begin, take a few paper plates ( the super cheap kind, papery not plastic). You can just use glue and most of the time I do, but this time I ran a few rows of double sided tape along the bottom of the plate. This helps the patty cases stick straight away, rather than waiting for the glue to dry.

         I also cut a plate into quarters and attached to the side of the plate for the fish tail.
               Cover the plate with glue (we use PVA, its stronger and faster drying)

And get the kids to put the patty pan cases all over as scales. I pre-cut these in half, with a mixture of colours and patterns and each child had a bowl full.

                          Finish with a googly eye (and lots of glue!!) and your fishy is complete .

So cute and effective!! I must admit, I do have to stop myself from taking over and making sure all the cases are the right way, in the right spot etc, but it is the kids craft and they do, do a fabulous job!!

Because that craft was so quick ( and the rain was letting up any time soon) we also did a few "Contact fish". We have done other Contact craft in the past . We did some hearts for Valentines Day HERE, and some basic colour collaging on contact with a VERY young kiddos HERE . But  the idea of doing the fish ones came from the gorgeous Bianca at 'A little Delightful'

I cut a rectangular piece of contact and placed a card stock fish shape on top (which I had folded in half and cut out leaving the outer border shape) .

Again, each child had a small bowl with different bits and pieces to stick onto the card , like material, paper, the red shiny foil is an Easter egg wrapper (yes , I am one of those annoying people who like to carefully peel the wrapper off and smooth it out !!) that I chopped up. Anything and everything goes here!!

Once they have finished decorating, place another sheet of contact, sticky side down onto the fish creation and cut around the card cut out.

Voila, gorgeous craft creations, you can use them as a stained glass window by putting on a sliding door or window to strain the light, on the fridge, hand by a piece of ribbon through a punched hole. The possibilities are endless and its a relatively clean craft to do!!

Whats stopping you?

Toilet Training Twins

When we returned home from our Easter trip away, darling husband and I decided that it was a perfect time as any , to start toilet training our twins, Max and Lacey. We knew we had to get in before the cold weather did , and Lacey was beginning to take her nappy off all the time, probably didn't like the feel, just like Stella's didn't which prompted us that it was time!
Now I know most people with think its very early to TT, but I am a firm believer in "the sooner, the better" and seeing as though we had great results with Stella TT early, we were confident in doing the same. Well as confident as you can be , going into toilet training twins, and one boy and one girl!!
We feel that the longer you leave it, the more of a 'habit' toileting in nappies becomes, rather than the fact they don't know any different!! I think we should give our children a bit more credit and realise that they are actually alot smarter than we can ever imagine!!
We used a sticker system again, rewarding each 'success' with a "ticka" (their pronunciation of course)  and it seemed to be the motivating factor. A simple little sticker. The joys of a child's innocent mind!!
However, we did change a few things this time, the main being the use of potty's.
I have never liked the idea of potty's, I used to think , why teach them to go on something , that you then have to empty and clean each time, and then have to wean and reteach them to go on the actual toilet?!

A tired little girl, complete with a dummy , on the toilet!! ( and yes, they broke the paper holder!! Too enthusiastic with the rolling!!)

But we knew that Toilet training twins was going to be different and certain obstacles would be in our way that were perhaps not there before, like the fact there are 2 of them! ha
And if they both wanted to or needed to go at the same time, and it was during the day when it was just me, what would I do? Have one in our ensuite and one in the main toilet?
When they are that little and learning, when they want to do it, the opportunity has to be there!!
So we bought potty's and put them in the laundry, which is right next to our toilet and bathroom area. I am pleased we did now, as they seem to be sympathetic toileters!! Like as in, if one wants to go, the other follows and go's too!! Which is good for us too, you get them both out of the way at the same time, and it limits the amount of trips I had to make to the potty's and the amount of time I spent sitting on the floor , singing and reading books!!
Now that they are confident enough to take themselves off to the toilet, the pottys mean they can do it all themselves, especially if I am busy feeding Angus or something.
We also chose to teach Max to go sitting down. Its not the 'done' thing though, but he is too small to reach a toilet standing up, his aim would be ridiculous, and we were worried that Lacey would want to copy and vice versa. Keep it simple and teach them the same way. There is plenty of time for me to be cleaning up wee dribbles all over the loo!!

Toilet training Stella really only took a week, but I also had a week at home to focus on teaching her , and that only. Max and Lacey have really taken a bit over 3 weeks, but we have to leave the house everyday, and when I did so, I put a nappy on. I simply did not have the energy, time, etc to be cleaning up messes on the school run, at playgroup etc. It was nice to know that when we did get home, they needed to go straight away and more often than not, their nappies were dry. Yesterday marked their first trip out for about 40 mins, and they did it with total success!

As I mentioned, Lacey was the first to indicate that she was ready for learning, and she took to it so well. The first day she went a number of times and Max didn't want a bar of it! However a day at daycare, a few trips out and  some lengthy time at the park in nappies and she didn't go for another week.
It was then that big brother Max stepped up and cruised through, being so so proud of himself!
Then..... she came around. And now they encourage each other, talk to each other when going and clap for each other. So sweet.

So... here we are, with 2 little cherub, 2 weeks after their second birthday , and they are in little undies! We are so very proud of them and it was definitely alot easier than we expected.
The next task is to master the day sleeps, then eventually the nights. And it seems that everyday they are edging closer to waking up completely dry, actually they have done the past few days, so we might tackle that soon too, why wait if we are on a good thing?

Everyones experiences with Toilet Training is different. Everyone has different beliefs as to when they think is "the right" time. Everyone is ready (as a parent) a different times, and when you start, you just can't stop. And these are my opinions and my experiences, I'm not telling you they are the right way, just what worked for us! I am just a proud Mumma, bragging that her little babies have reached a milestone that seemed so distant, so difficult. And they did it with gusto, and all for a pack of $2 stickers!!
They no longer ask for stickers every time they go, and they don't get them, but even if you do have to give  your child stickers or little rewards for their successes, even for a few months, a few packs of stickers are alot cheaper than packs of nappies, and a small price to pay for a great outcome!!
If you are thinking of toilet training your child, I say go for it!!
You can do it, and more importantly, your little one can too! Take this inspiration and use it as your fuel!
To read other posts of mine about Toilet training , try HERE.
Good luck xo

Lately.....

A post of photos that warm my heart and fill me with pride xo

A snapshot of the happenings here lately.......

Ohh gosh, they are sweet xo

Happy Tuesday all

Piece of Cake...

Life has been a little busy here of late, and unfortunately a few of us have had a run in with a tummy bug last week too!! Not good.
Anyway , everyone is all good now, and while I try and find the time to write some bigger posts, I will just share the cakes I have made for our kids.

When I was making Max and Lacey's cakes, I was thinking back on all the others I have made, such great memories.

Fancy birthday cakes are always time consuming, messy and sometimes hard, but well worth the effort when you see your little cherubs faces light up !!

So here is a trip down memory , cake lane....

For Stella's First birthday she had a number 1 cake, pink with smarties, but the photos are not on hand, I am sure you can picture it!!

Stella's Second Birthday, Upsy Daisy cake

Stella's Third Birthday , A lady bug

Stella's 4th Birthday, a Barbie princess cake

Max's First Birthday , a rainbow

Lacey's First Birthday , a number one

Lacey's 2nd Birthday, a piglet

Max's 2nd Birthday, a Lion

It doesn't matter how busy I am, I am always going to make decorative cakes for our kids. I can remember ones that I had as a child and the memory is still with me, I want nothing more for our kids, and its only once a year, no effort is too much I think!!

Angus's birthday is in October, so at least I have some time in the month and not all the birthdays crammed into the same one!! Oh so many possibilities for what to make!!

Do you do fancy cakes for your kids?

If so, what have you made?

Our two Turned 2!!

On Sunday, our precious twins, Max and Lacey turned 2.

They are at a beautiful (and testing) age , where they know what is going on in the way of birthdays. Especially since Stella's wasn't that long ago.

Anytime you spoke of their birthday in the days leading up to it, they got the biggest smiles on their faces! So cute!

The present opening was so gorgeous. Every time they opened one, everything had to be opened, put on and played with, completely forgetting that they had more to go. Totally different than when the kids get older, its like a race to open all of them, and sometimes I don't think they even see what each gift is.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Notice the shoes are on, the beanie is on. Priorities!!

We celebrated the day with Pikelets for breakfast, morning tea with their godmother and kids, lots of playing, a day nap and then a big casual, family dinner.

They have such a big LOVE/HATE relationship, but most of the time it is love. Actually it depends on the day!!

Angus even had cuddles with his Great Grandmother, beautiful

And then came time for the cakes. They had to be fairly simple and quick to execute, as DH and I didn't get home until 5pm the night before from Perth. There was no time for precooking and freezing , like I prefer to do with birthday cakes.

So Max got a Lion (Raa Raa)

And Lacey got a Pig (Pepper)

But they did NOT want to blow out those candles!!

Luckily they had lots of cousins and a big sister to help with that!!

They really are growing up. The presents this year were more "big kids" toys, and they were so mature when opening and playing with them.

Yet again, it was quite an emotional day for me, even 12 months later, I spoke about it after their birthday last year HERE. ( Pics in that post are not for the faint heart!!!)

Parenting twins is really something special. When I fell pregnant with them, everyone kept saying that they are only given to people that could cope and handle them.

I think they might have been right!! Not to brag, but the past 24 months have certainly not been easy.

The emotional roller coaster of parenting multiples is HUGE!!

They are testing, yet so loving.

They fight, yet adore each other.

You are busy, yet blessed.

Your house and car are full, yet so is your heart.

They will always have someone to help, to experience things with and to comfort them.

They are friends for life......

And we are so very proud of them.

They are nearly toilet trained ( in the process, and Max is pretty much finished and Lacey is nearly there) They are so independent and like to dress themselves and put their own shoes on.

They love to play dress ups, with Mr Potato Head and at the Kitchenette. Oh and they LOVE the sandpit, and love even more to bring half of the sand inside !! haha

Max's speech is amazing!! He is a little parrot and has started to string 4 or 5 words together in a sentence. Lacey can say things but is quieter. She observes and silently conquers!!

To say we love these two is an understatement.

They made our little trio a real family.

They have enriched our lives in so many ways.

And they have also added more than a few grey hairs to the locks!!

Happy Second Birthday to Our Max and Lacey xo