The Year We all turned four

My little babies turned 4 on the weekend. 

What the actual WHAT! I know. 

So it made me start thinking about how different the world is now.... 

My kids can use an iPhone. The phone in my house when I was four had a rotary dial, was attached to itself with a curly cord and had it's own table and even, maybe it's own little room. And it phoned people. The End.

So, here are a few things about:

Ah, Madonna... always there. Just getting a little more gristly as time passes...

What happened the year YOU turned Four?

Cool Craftiness

So, we like to make stuff. 
But not if it's too hard.. 
Or too messy.. or too.. glittery. 
Or if it takes, like ages  to do. 
Or if you finish it and the kids are like, "What the hell is that?" 
And not if it's too cutesy,
Or ugly...
Or too pretty.
We like making stuff that is easy and fun and over quickly and is easily identifiable. And involves felt.

We were sent a pack from Riot Art and Craft to try out, and it totally fit in our parameters. Now that they boys have started Kindy, they are definitely getting better at following instructions and understanding the sequence of tasks. I might send the Awesome Teenager to Miss Julia for a brush up....

So, we made two Ricky Riot Rainbow Feltboards. We went a little off script and glued the pieces down to make a permanent picture, but you could follow the instructions if you are not a revolutionary individualist like me.  You can also watch Ricky Riot make lots of awesome projects (including the feltboard) over on thier website.

The boys loved it. They like to glue stuff and they are awesome at telling me to be careful, because scissors ARE SHARP! Yes, they are brainwashed.

This was a fun project. The bits and pieces retail for about 16 bucks and it took about half and hour. Easy Peasy Bosom Squeezy.

As you can see, the boys are loving themselves sick in this photo. They love to admire their finished work and expect EVERYONE to repeatedly reaffirm how totally awesome they are at least half hourly. Just like mummy...

What's the last crafty thing you made with your kids? Or with your husband. Or your cat.

* I was sent a Rainbow Feltboard pack to try out. All opinions are my own and I wasn't paid for them. 

Close to You

I used to sing this song for my Awesome Teenager when he was little. Now I sing it for my little boys too.

Eli has a crazy ability to pick up song lyrics, stories and all manner of things. He will be a trivia buff like his mummy! Or a Superstar. Whichever.

How cute is his little face, and his little voice? Super.

Do you sing to your kids at bedtime?

Crappy Crafting

So, I am kinda, like an artist, or whatever. I'm kind of a big deal....**  

But, sometimes, I feel like a total craft mummy failure. I have knocked up a cardboard rocket in my time, I have made super hero capes, sure, but me and the boys certainly don't draw/ make/ craft every day. I read the hipster crafty mummy blogs and think, "Wow- that looks like a LOT of work. I have enough crap to clean up, let alone covering everything in GLITTER!"

SO, I embrace Crap Carfting. Easy Crafting. Not Super-Messy crafting!! (Who decided that the word 'Craft' was now a verb??? Why does everything have to be a verb now? Man, I am getting old...)

So, I think it's important to, firstly, acknowledge that it's OK to not be the most perfect mum in the world. In general. That is easy to say, but really hard to do. There are SOOOO many ways to put pressure on ourselves as mothers, so many guilt traps to push ourselves into. I am a walking manifestation of guilt about 20 hours per day. But I also know that it's not a frickin' competition. I am not being graded, or judged. Well, at least not until my kid are old enough to afford thier first psychologist.....

Anyway! Back to Crap Crafting with Tessiegirl!!!

All you need is:
Paper bags
Pens and crayons, 
Wooden spoons (or salad servers if you only have one wooden spoon and two children who don;t wanna share that wooden spoon)
Ribbon. Or tape. If you have tape.

- Draw a face on the paper bag
- Get your kids to colour the face in
- Put bag over wooden spoon
-Tie around neck with ribbon
- Let the puppetry ensue!

Are you Crappy Crafter?

** TOTALLY said with tongue in cheek.... I am actually a HUGE deal...

shadow man

Of course you can, buddy. Of course you can.

Conversations with japser

tastes like chicken

The park at Bargara was awesome. How cool is this Turtle? Answer: Extremely. 

born to be wild

Our boys love music. They love to play drums. They love to sing in the car. They are currently rocking awesome versions of  'Gold on the Ceiling' by The Black Keyes and 'I Like To Dance'  by Yo Gabba Gabba. They are very versatile.

And they looooove to rock out on Grandad's funny guitar that only plays 'Born to Be Wild' by Steppenwolf. Check out that technique! Rock. God.

Is music important to your family?

making my day

I like days like this. Days when all my boys are with me. 
The Awesome Teenager is becoming more elusive and time spent with him is getting rarer. That's how it goes with these teenager people, though, isn't it? A vague presence in your home, emerging for food and to request the reconnection of internet networks.... He is so clever and explains geeky stuff to m. He loves pop culture almost as much as me. And he still kisses us goodnight every night, so I think we are good.


The twins are hilarious and continually evolving. Eli has started using the word 'actually' with alarming regularity. "Well, actually mummy, I just really need a little tiny bit of yoghurt." Well, if you actually need it. Not figuratively. All right then.


Jasper refers to Eli as "My little brother" or "My best friend Eli". Both are ridiculously adorable. He introduces Eli to me daily. "Mummy, this is my little brother Eli!" Complete with Game Show Host style hand gestures and intonations.


My Lovely Husband continues to be lovely. He supportive and encouraging. Sometimes, all I need is for him to say, "You look nice." and I am OK. I love that he MUST say 'heinous' in a stupid way, repeatedly, every time we watch Law and Order SVU. I love that he makes Jasper laugh his weird dirty old man laugh. 


Life is stupid and complicated and annoying a lot of the time. But then, it's not. It's colouring in at a cafe. It's taking pictures in the sunlight. It's being with the man I love and the boys I have created. My days are made by the little tiny (actual) details.


What are the little things that make your day?

puddles

When the rain doesn't wanna stop, all you can really do is write a haiku....

handing it down

 Over the weekend, my gorgeous Awesome Teenager passed a portion of his huge lego collection down to the twins. Max was a massive lego geek when he was younger, and there are tubs of it under our house, that have been waiting for the boys to be old enough to play with it.


And now they are.

Max got a little sentimental about the handing down.... and  I got a little teary. It was like a tangible, physical representation of the fact that all my boys are moving into new stages in their lives. Max is no longer a child. The twins are no longer babies... It makes me a little sad, but mostly proud. Then sad again. Then a bit hungry. Then tired.....

Max told the boys that a big part of playing with lego was putting it all back in the box when you are finished, so you don't lose any of it (or mummy doesn't suck it up in the vaccuum.....)

When they were done playing, Eli started bossing Jasper around, "OK, put the lego away now. Back in the box. Come on, Jasper." Awesome.

I am now planning on getting Jasper to teach Max how to put his clothes in the washing basket, seeing as they are passing on skills.

I love seeing the concentration on their faces as they play. They get lost in these little worlds that they create. One day they will be rocket scientists. Or ballet dancers. Or architects. Or whatever.

The awesome teenager did find a few bits that we wanted to keep... Han, Luke, Leia and Yoda might have made their way back to his room. Purely for sentimental reasons. And if he does play with them, I am sure it's ironically.

Eli has not been without a piece of lego within clutching distance since the weekend. Even when he is sleeping. Just like his big brother used to be.

At Work and AT Play

So, yesterday, I was at work. Doin' stuff like making mannequins, dealing with wood boreres and wheat moths (don't ask)..... Lifting and carrying, drilling and smashing, running and then running back again... Putting up signs, taking down other signs. Eating noodles and looking at myself in the mirror...

And while I was doing all that, my Lovely Husband and my little boys were doing this....

How awesome is that?

Rocketmen

Sometimes, I feel like a lame mummy. I feel like I am not giving the time and attention to my little monkeys. I am not as crippled by guilt as I used to be. I don't let it eat me up like I used to.
But I worry. I worry that I am not enough for them. Or that the choices I am making for them are not the right ones.
But then we I make them some crap out of nappy boxes and alfoil. And I feel like I am the bestest mummy that ever mummied.
My little boys are happy with alfoil hats and a guitar box rocket. Oh and toothpaste box and button astronaut phones....
They are happy with homemade superhero outfits.
They are happy that I am their mummy.

Return of the Super Twins

How awesome would it be to have someone that you could sing along to 'Rango' with at the top of your lungs in the back seat of the car?


How cool would it be to have someone there all the time who was going through exactly what you were going through?


How cool would it be to have someone to wrestle with who was just your size?


How awesome would it be to have a secret special language that someone understood completely?


How cool would it be to have someone to dress up like a superhero with?


How great would it be to always have someone play with, watch movies with, fight with, laugh with?


And how cool would it be to have a brother you could hold hands with whenever you wanted to?


I think it would be SUPER cool. Don't you?