Literacy, Animal Needs and Basic Maths

Cal and I always start our day with the days of the week song (to the tune of the Adams Family theme song) and the weather. We have all been a little nuts this week and when we were doing the weather chart yesterday morning we realised that it was the first day this week that we had not had wind, so Cal and I decided that was why we felt less agitated friday!

Maths: graphing using elephant charts (count the elephants and then fill in that many squares on the bar graph). This activity is finally becoming easy for him after much practice during term 2, so we will need to figure out the next step.

Maths: measurement using slinkied apple skin. It was as long as Callum with his arm in the air. He thought this was a great measurement activity!

Phonics: /h/ sound book with pictures and words starting with /h/. Discussion of words starting with /h/. Cal was excited that hammer starts with /h/. A hammer is of course a necessary accessory in this house.

Science and Reading: Animal Houses book from Reading A-Z. Discussed where animals live, why they live there and other things that animals (and humans) need to survive. Cal really enjoyed this activity and participated freely (sometimes he is very resistive).

Cal continued digging his hole (begins with /h/!). Just about to china now!

Played house (begins with /h/ also) in the huge box that our new dishwasher came in (woo hoo, we got a Miele!).

Shoe Art and Jelly Maths

Caitlin is artist of the week next week. She is making some altered sandshoes, using sharpies and rubbing alcohol on her canvas shoes that cost us all of $3.50 at Kmart today! The project that inspired us is from The Art Girl Jackie.

Caitlin made really cool flower shaped rainbow patterns. She is going to stick on some gems tomorrow after school.

Callum's shoes are looking great too. He had a plan of what he wanted to do and then went about making them. Great job buddy! Great sequencing, planning, practicing pencil grip.

Library time thursday afternoons - Vanessa read 3 books today. Cal "read" sound words modelled by another participant.

Jelly maths was the only way I was going to get some real learning done today! Fractions made easy - one mixture of jelly, divided into four cups - hey presto, quarters. Callum divided it into quarters, halves and a whole. So easy to explain dividing something into equal parts when you get to eat the outcome! Above, jelly divided into halves (made up of 2 quarters per half). This concept needs reinforcing before Cal gets it I think.

Adventures in Home Schooling

Callum and I have embarked on a new adventure - home schooling. We started at the start of last term and we are now into our second term. I am so pleased that we are making progress (most days!).

Here I am going to record our journey through the maze of the Australian Curriculum and filling our lives with knowledge.

Making and copying patterns. This one is a simple rainbow colour pattern. This skill is important in pre-literacy/numeracy.

St Barbara's Festival

 Yesterday was the annual St. Barbara's Day parade (aka, the christmas parade!). Caitlin was on a float for Outback Rhythm where she does acrobatics. She was thrilled when she picked us out in the crowd and threw us some candy canes.

Craig, Callum and a friend, Dougal took up a good spot on the footpath outside the pharmacy!

This float is the school float. We gave them a huge wave!

This year I think there must have been a record number of floats. They were cellebrating 12 years of the parade and so the theme was 12. The school float did a rendition of the 12 days of christmas. I think Caitlin's year 1 class had a big contributing role. I can't remember wany of the verses, but the last one was "And a principal called McLerie"

This pic is of the float that Caitlin was on. She is sitting right in the middle of the photo, sitting on a box. Her teacher is blocking most of her and Caitlin has her back/side to the camera. I was too busy waving to her at first to take a good photo! Caitlin said that it was the highlight of her day!

This is "Bluey" the huge dump truck. This is my favourite part of the parade each year. I love love love seeing this huge piece of machinery come down the main street. You don't see that in every town Christmas parade!

You can get an idea of the sheer size of the thing from this photo.

I will post photos of todays happenings later!

Photo Update

I have added a heap of photos just as a quick update. Most are from our trip to Esperance over the winter, which was a lovely trip. It was the first time that Shannon and Ryan had been there, so I enjoyed showing off some of the lovely sights.



We found a very friendly kangaroo, which was drawn to Callum. He just loves animals and treats them so gently. Caitlin on the other hand ended up on our shoulders to get away from this cute kanga!


Dad, deep in thought.



This is a pic of Caitlin at acrobatics. This weekend was her concert, where her beginners group performed a routine. At the end Miss Mel, the principal (facing the camera holding Caitlin in the bendback), gave out some awards and to our surprise Caitlin got a medal for the beginners group. She is now planning how to display all the medals she is going to win!!

Update From Caitlin's Birthday

Caitlin loved having a birthday party this year. Five friends came over for a play after school, they played some games, ate some yummy pizza and opened presents. I am always blown away by the generosity of others when it comes to birthdays. Altogether it made for a lovely day for Caitlin.



I don't know why this pic of Caitlin's "bunch of flowers" is sideways, but I am sure you get the drift!


Caitlin got a hair crimper for her birthday ($5 from a garage sale, spotted by Shannon - good one!). She felt really grown up having curly hair! Had to get a pic of Cal in there somewhere too, so here he is!

Slack!

Have I been slack or what! I hope to post some photos and a catch up soon. The kids are gorgeous at the moment, so we need to share some more!

C

Birthday Boy

Yay, we now have a 3 year old in the house! Cal got a big boy bike for his birthday and we have had a race track up and down the hall all morning so far!



This is our boy as he sat in our bed and opened a couple of presents at 7am.



This is the cake I made to take to playgroup so we could cellebrate with Cal's friends on Friday.

New Research

New research has found that there is a possible link between breast cancer and the regular use of multivitamins. I was blown away by this - what a huge find. This research may have implications for many diseases, especially lifestyle related ones.

You just can't supplement nature. Nothing beats a fantastic diet of fresh and yummy organic produce!

If you want to read about the new research, it can be found here.

I have just realised that it has been 3 months since I have written a blog post!

I have been busy as usual. My tonsillectomy in January went well. I felt like I was swallowing razor blades for a while, but that passed quickly and all is now back to as normal as can be as I learn to deal with allergies as well.

Caitlin started full time school at the start of February and is loving pre-primary. She is very tired by the end of the week and was beginning to get sick by the end of term but overall has coped extremely well.

Mum and Dad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at the end of February. I went to tassie for 8 days (kid and husband free!!) as a surprise. My sister organised it on her frequent flyers and I am eternally grateful. I am so glad that I could be there for such a special occasion. We had a family get together on the day of their anniversary and the next day we had an open home, all of which went off amazingly well.

While I was in Tassie I got to meet some Dutch cousins who happened to be visiting at the time. Ab and Marietje are such lovely people. They are talking of coming to my end of the country in a few years, so I really do hope they make it.

I also taught 2 scrapbooking classes in Smithton, which was great fun. It has been a while since I have taught and it felt good. I am still not ready to go back to teaching regular classes. I have been thoroughly enjoying my other crafts recently. I have been sewing for the kids and also making gifts for my friends' children. It feels great to give handmade gifts.

I have been working really hard at simplifying our lives. I have been making and baking almost everything. We buy very little from the supermarket at the moment. I even made a batch of soap last week! I never realised just how easy this is! At the moment I have a sourdough starter brewing. It is beginning to bubble away and smells pretty interesting. I can't wait to make my own sourdough bread. YUMMY!

Mum and Dad have just been for a visit. They brought their car over on the train, had a night in Perth and then came to stay with us for 2 weeks. Dad got stuck into the vegie patch and between Mum and Dad, they have pulled our yard into shape! I said to Dad that he will need a holiday to recover from the work he has done here! The kids love having their grandparents around (for 3 days they had both sets together!) and play madly to make up for lost time. Mum went for Nannies help at school, which pleased Caitlin no end.

We had a gathering of friends and family for Easter which was relaxing and lovely. Kylie and Gavin and Leonie and Gary and all the kids came here, we all chipped in and made great food and enjoyed each others company.

Craig came out of hospital today after having his knee op. He is doing well and keeping his pain under control. He has some physio exercises to do and has crutches for long walking and uneven ground. He was upset today because he felt he was rushed and treated poorly on discharge from the hospital. They didn't even tell him when he needs to take his tablets next, or fill his scripts for him - he was told that he could stop off on the way home to get it if he wanted! I used to work at the same hospital and felt very embarrassed and sad that Craig was treated this way. Needless to say that I was crabby that my husband had been treated that way!

I have been loving some blog and web site hopping lately (I have a laptop set up in the kitchen and it makes the Internet quicker, more accessible and fun). Some of the sites I have loved are:

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/

http://www.dana-made-it.com/

http://leonie-stampcardnscrap.blogspot.com/

I will post photos when I have some on the computer, as I haven't transferred them over yet.

Progress of the Cubby House

Here are the progress photos of the cubby house that was given to the kids as a family present at Christmas time. The instructions said that it would take 2 people 6 hours to put it all together. At the end of it, Craig decided that they would have to be master builders and pretty speedy workers!


This first photo is of all the parts laid out on the table and the first walls going up. Some of it was pre-made, such as the cladding for the walls and the shingles for the roof, other parts we had to put together ourselves, such as the frame work for the roof. Needless to say that some of it doesn't quite line up! It was a fun process though and the delight the kids showed was great.



The walls are up, the roof frame work up and the kids are already enjoying it!



Almost finished. Window frames and a few finishing touches to go at this stage.



A close up of the finished item! Caitlin and I went to Bunnings shopping and decided on some petunias and impatiens for the window boxes. This pic was just before Cal discovered them and decided to pick every single flower and bud from the flowers in one of the window boxes just for Mum! Caitlin was rightfully very upset. She has been watering them regularly and keeping them free from Callum's eagle eyes.



This is a pic of the wasps nest that Craig found in the eaves outside the laundry. We were a little worried about how to get rid of them. In the end, we stayed inside and Craig would run out with the fly spray and give them a squirt and then run back inside as fast as possible. It is comical to think back on but is was pretty serious at the time!

I have been getting creative and trying to make up a few hand-made gifts to have as a stash for during the year. I have already started playing around with Christmas cards for the end of the year! I would love to give only hand made gifts and cards, so if I can get even half way there I would be pleased.

Countdown and One Word

This is what I am cooking for tea tonight. It is called Chinese Sticky Rice and the recipe can be found here. One time we were in Perth we went out for yum cha. Caitlin was great and tried a heap of new foods. The one thing that she absolutely loved and still talks about is sticky rice. One day she even cried because we couldn't find any sticky rice for her to eat!

I am on a countdown now until I have my tonsils out. It is only 6 days now (I have them out monday the 11th) and I am slightly nervous, but can rationalise that it is going to be heaps better with the big suckers out!

I am taking Ali Edwards one word challenge this year. All the details can be found here. Ali chose the word "story" and I think this is a great word with so many openings. It isn't the word that chose me though.

My word is "nurture". I think this is the word with meaning for me for so many reasons on the simple, obvious level, about to go into surgery and also with a house full of sick kids! I also know it is the word I would like to focus on in a deeper, more profound or abstract level. I want to nurture positive friendships/relationships. I want to nurture my creativity, not just my paper crafting. I also want to nurture some new roles and new skills during the year.

I will attempt to post some of my progress on my "one word" journey on a monthly basis (see how we go!).

New Year Tutorial

I set a challenge ages ago on the kal-scraps blog for people to use ONLY scraps to make a layout. It isn't until the last week that I have gotten around to taking that challenge myself! Here is the layout that I made (it is sitting on my layout shelf with a heap of other layouts and projects behind it - it isn't actually a weird shape!).



I made some cool flower accents on my page that added interest but didn't overpower what I thought was becoming a busy layout already.


To make the flowers:
1. Choose some flowers out of your stash. It doesnt matter what colour they are or what they are made out of because you are going to use them as a mask. You could use any shapes you desired, it doesn't need to be a flower.

2. Position your flowers on your project.

3. Choose a spray - I used Glimmer Mist in Creme de Cocoa, which is a very subtle gold spray with almost no background colour. Colour wash, walnut ink or any other favourite spray would also be great.

4. Spray this over your layout. I kept it fairly confined to the area where I was putting my flower accent. Remember to cover your photo if it is already on your layout because you don't want any over-spray damading your photo.

5. Remove the flowers or shapes from your project and dry off your paper/card with a heat tool.

6. Once dry, outline your flowers with a white gel pen. My favourite white pen is the Uniball signo. I buy these from my favourite Stampin' Up demonstrator, Leonie.

Finished!

For the ink splotches on my layout, I sprayed 2 sprays of colour wash (my favourite, lettuce) into a medicine cup. I then dipped a dry paint brush into it and flicked this over my page, making a splatter pattern over the layout.

Happy Creating!

Extremes of the Outback

It is over 35 degrees here already at just after 9am. Today is expected to be 42 degrees and catastrophic fire danger! We were going to go out and do something nice like go to the library, but I think that we will give that a miss!

The Kids cubby house that they got for Christmas as a family gift is coming along nicely. At tools down yesterday, all that was left was a couple of final trimmings and the windows and planter boxes. When I download my photos I will post some progress shots. They are loving it already! We have revised where we are going to put it. It will be going between the house and laundry, which we decided the kids will be more likely to go to. Also, the spot near the shed gets no shade in summer, which is a huge issue.

Fun with Christmas Goodies

I wanted to post some creative stuff for a change!

The canvas below is one that I made at the end of November when my friend Bec gave birth to her fourth baby girl! It is only 10cm square, so is very cute!

I love gel medium image transfers and have wanted to use the image of the fairy for ages, so I applied it using an image transfer onto this little canvas. There are heaps of layers of paper, paint, gel medium and spritz on the canvas and I have dyed some gauze and also some paper flowers to add to it. I used a good dose of glitz spritz over the whole thing for some great shimmer. I also used some of my favourite Collections chipboard for the butterfly hanger and the butterfly embellishment, sprayed with a huge dose of glitz spritz (did I say that I love that stuff?). It was heaps of fun and I hope that my friend liked it.

Now for a mini tutorial on faux wax seals. These little blobs are so much fun and very addictive.

1. Using your hot glue gun, squeeze out a blob of hot glue about the size of a 5-10 cent piece. Use a teflon craft sheet to work on, or if you don't have one, use a piece of baking paper. You don't have to work super fast because the glue stays pliable for quite a while.


2. Choose a stamp with some detail in it. I have used proper wax seals and an assortment of rubber stamps. Be cautious using acrylic stamps because they are not as resistant to heat (hot glue!) as rubber ones, so may melt.

3. Ink up your stamp with Versamark (my preference) or a coloured ink. I have used black Versafine and this worked well, but I think Stazon would work best if using coloured ink.

4. Push your stamp into the blob of hot glue and squash it down a bit. Don't use too much force or you will squash too much glue out from under the stamp, making it too thin and also a weird shape!

5. Give your seal 30 seconds to cool a bit and then peel it from your craft sheet. Your glue blob will be stuck to the stamp.

6. Ensure all glue is set and then peel the glue from your stamp. Don't leave the glue on your stamp for too long, perhaps not even until it is completely cold, as it will stick to any areas of your stamp that don't have Versamark on it (ie, the most indented areas) and will increase its grip on your stamp as it cools!

Here are some finished examples. Clockwise from the top are: 1. hummingbird wax seal, 2, 3, 4, 5. Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge unmounted stamp set (mesh, crackle, dates, bubble wrap) and 6. Stampington & Co Temptress stamp (clocks on her head only). If you are in Kalgoorlie, all the supplies I have used are from Keepsake Krafts except from the glue which is from Chez's Crafty Affair.


I love how the impressions are shiny where the stamp presses into the glue and mat where the glue pushes up into the indented areas of the stamp.They look great with some coloured paper behind them and I also think they would look good with some Stazon rubbed over the high spots to give it a bit of definition. I think you can also get coloured glue cartridges, so seals made from melted coloured glue would be very cool.

The glue is really flexible when dried, so it attaches to your layout or art really easily with glue or staples, brads etc.

Hope you have fun creating faux wax seals!

Christmas with Team Slater

This year was so much fun on Christmas day in our house. Caitlin was getting so excited before the big day and we expected her to be out of bed to check if Santa had been at about 5am. She was really considerate and actually stayed in bed until Callum woke up (I couldn't believe it - bet it never happens again!!). She said she was awake and waiting for ages!

Caitlin was all eyes when she was faced with her Santa sack full of presents.


We shifted the coffee table so we could sit on the mat and look at what Santa had been generous enough to leave for us. All Caitlin really wanted was a Hannah Montanna microphone that records your voice and then plays it back. Santa's elves must have been listening because Santa left one for her.


Caitlin got make up and dress ups and a new summer dress. This is a pic of her giving a fashion parade.


The biggest hit was a fantastic kitchen that Craig and I bought for the kids as a joint present. They both love it, but I think that Cal will be getting the most use out of it! He also got some kids pots and pans from Santa, so they are a hit in the little kitchen.


And of course the biggest hit with the littlest man of the house is the little person sized garbage bin. You can't believe the amount of joy one garbo bin can bring one little man (actually, Mum and Dad, you probably have some idea!)! All we heard on Christmas morning when he ventured out to the living room was "ooooh, biiiin"! I think we may have to have daily "what's in your bin?" photo shots!


Christmas night was a hit too. We had Leoni and Gary and their kids and also Kylie and Gavin and their kids around for tea. It was such a great night, we all got on well, there were no kid arguments and all were happy and merry! I must say tea was pretty yum too, with each of us chipping in with some food.

Hope you had a great Christmas too and that Santa was kind!

Summer rain

Right at the moment in Kalgoorlie, it is raining iceblocks (as Caitlin would say). The weather has me completely baffled! The picture above is of the wet grey sky, and below is a little video of the hail hitting the ground. The hail stones are between the size of a 5c piece and a flat stone of about 50c size!

Pool Time

Summer has really hit here! We have had a run for the past week of super humid weather and hot to go with it. I am so ready for some "normal" weather!

We have had the paddle pool out for the kids and they had so much fun in it. I have taken a video of them, but after two attempts to upload it, it just isn't happening. I will post some photos instead.







I was at Cindy's on the weekend and she had some water pumper things that I might get for the kids to use in the paddle pool. Caitlin had heaps of fun sucking up water from their pool and squirting it out.

Our fridge has broken down and has been out of action for a week now. It started with it making a terrible loud noise, but deteriorated into it keeping a temperature of between 16 and 21 degrees! We have moved everything into the bar fridge and has been very interresting to say the least! Samsung and also Harvey Norman have not been as helpful as they could have been. There seems to be no service person in town, so that has made it extremely difficult. The last lady I spoke to on Friday told me that she would have it sorted first thing on Monday morning. Needless to say, we haven't heard a thing from them yet!

It has been reconfirmed over the weekend that there are some people in this world that are not as nice as they could be. It always disappoints me when people are mis-informed and will not listen to another point of view. Those who think they are "right" seen always to be "righteous" (unfortunately there is a really good reason for this gem of wisdom!).

I just did a dash to the clothes line because there is a thunder storm brewing. While I was out there Caitlin was jumping on the trampoline with her umbrella so she didn't get wet! She is such a funny little bunny!

I have been having some fun with my scrapping recently. I have been making some Christmas decorations out of paper and also some altered glass ones. I am so happy with how they have come up. I will post a photo when I have some.

I have found some cool web sites recently.

Wednesday's Wishes is a new online shop by Maxine Hazebroek and Audrey Underwood. They make the most divine off the page items and sell kits for them on their site. I love drooling over their great works of art!

Tammy's Recipes is a cooking site that I came across when following some links from someone else's blog. I love the look of her apple brownies.

Empire Beads is a bead shop (obviously!) and it has great beads for craft work. I love their huge range of pearls. You can get a bag of about 20 8mm pearls for 88c. Wow, that is great value!

Caitlin is itching for me to play and paint and draw (she just won naughts and crosses), so I had better get moving!

Time Off!

Finally I am back blogging after a long break! I think I needed some time to get back on track with life and also winter always makes me lazy.

So much has happened in the interim, but here are a couple of pictures as a quick update.

Callum turned two at the end of September and we had a cellebration at playgroup and also a party on the day of his birthday, when we were in Perth, with BOTH sets of grandparents and Aunty Pam and the kids. The pic below is from playgroup.

We had a trip to Perth which was intended as a little holiday, but turned into Callum having his tonsills out and adenoids reduced in size, so it has been a slightly stressful time here. Poor boy had his op 2 days before his second birthday, so he was feeling slightly under the weather for his special day! All better now though.



Miss Caitlin is growing up so fast. School has changed her, for the better mostly I think.



This is a pic of Cal and Daddy. The kids had been playing in a big cardboard box and having heaps of fun.


Callum has moved into a "big boy" bed. Caitlin was just as excited as Cal was. This picture was taken on the new bed, after the kids had been jumping and playing and messing up all of the new bedding!


I will aim to update regularly again and I would love to put up much more of my craft things too.

First frost

Lastnight got down to a chilly 3.5 degrees here and we had our first light frost of the season. It muse have been pretty light because the spuds and lettuces are OK!