Grassheads Get a Restyle

Before

And After

For some reason Linc insisted on pushing his Grasshead's hair down rather than cutting it. It's given him and bit of a drunk punk rocker look. Eva's grasshead eyes slipped down, so she looks like she's been partying too.

Grass Heads

Look what we did the other day.....

We made Grass Heads.

Look how much their hair has grown in less than a week!

Only problem is silly Mummy gave as clag paste to stick our Grass Head faces on, and what is paste made of....? Yep, flour and water! Every time we water our Grass Heads we wash their faces off and Mummy has to stick them back on. Will she ever learn?!

The Joy of Words

There's been an interesting development here of late. Mans' speech has taken off.
I recently put the boys on a waiting list for speech therapy. The MCHN and I were a little concerned, especially as they love to 'twin talk'. They would walk up to each other and gabble away, nodding in agreement or babbling back. Very cute but at the same time useless when they babble at me and expect me to be able to understand them - To the point where they would get frustrated with me because I couldn't. Even Eva had started to get involved in the 'twin talk'. To me, it's like being in a house full of people that speak a foreign language.

I've been making a conscious effort repeating words they try and say, encouraging them to tell me what they want rather than just pointing, describing everything I'm doing and adding descriptive words to expand the sentences they do say.
It seems to have help Mans. I'm hoping Linc won't be far behind. But I'm going to keep them on the waiting list and get them accessed just for piece of mind.

Generally he has become easier to understand and communicate with. But here are some of the conversations and catch phrases that have been causing a stir lately, just for posterity.

I say "Huh?" a lot. I didn't realise that it was a bad habit of mine until the VIPs started doing it. My response to it was "Don't huh me..."
Now whenever I or Linc says Huh to Mans he says "Don't huh me..."

Me: "Mans, should mummy have a shower?"
Mans: "Yes, I have a shower."
Me: "You don't need a shower, you're not dirty"
Mans: "Oh.... I get dirty!"

Me: "Go and get your pillow and monster, please."
Mans: "What about blanket?"
Me: "No, no blanket. Just your pillow and monster."
Mans: "How about....... one blanket?"
Me: "No, no blanket."
Mans: "OK."

Baker Bob: "This is my house!"
Mans: "No, this is my house!"

"Mummy, what are you doing?!" - repeated continually through the day, usually when I'm so busy that trying to articulate what I am doing takes too much of my brain power.

Myer Christmas Windows 2011 - Santa Claus is coming to town

12 Days of Christmas Activites - Day 1 Visit the Myer Christmas Windows

Last Sunday the kids and I were feeling the cabin fever. I decided to take them in to the city for the Myer Christmas Windows. As an added extra, I thought we could catch the train in as Mans is train mad at the moment.

They were doing really well until the train had to stop in the middle of no where for an hour as there was an issue further up the line. They ended up having a couple of melt downs and I'm just happy I packed lunch and lots of snacks otherwise they would have been hungry, bored, toddlers and would have terrorised the whole carriage.

We got to the windows. This years theme is "Santa Claus is coming to Town". Big, beautifully coloured windows.

But Linc would not go near the windows. He was terrified and spent the whole time sitting on Baker Bob's shoulders.

  

We also went and browsed at the Myer Trim Shop and was very disappointed by this years Santaland. But the VIPs were wonderfully well behaved (beside the boring 1 hour wait on the train). It was a good day, and perfect for curing the cabin fever.

Dizzy's Castle with Friends

A week ago we had a friend visitng Melbourne from Hobart for a mutual friend's wedding. He brought his daughter Faith over with him. She's a little younger than the boys and the last time they saw each other the boys were just 4 months old, Faith a little baby.

We decided to go to an indoor playcentre for a catch up and Dizzy's Castle was the closest to were they were staying.

The toddler area was fantastic. Well equipped and easy to monitor. But the VIPs also loved the "big kid" play area and the springfree trampolines. They even had glow in the dark mini golf.



As a side note, my camera is totally giving me the pits lately. I can't get it to take one decent photo!

The Annabel Challenge - Oat and Raisin Cookies

The oat and raisin cookie recipe on the Annabel Karmel website is not the same one that is in the Finger Food recipe book. It's a simple recipe.

Cream together 50g butter, 30g brown sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla essence.
Add 30g wholemeal flour, 30g oats, 30g raisins (I used sultanas), 1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of bicarbonate soda.
Roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place on a non stick baking sheet in a preheated 180ºC oven until golden.

I think I over baked them a bit which made them a little too hard for Eva to eat but otherwise the kids loved them. The recipe only makes 10 so it may be an idea to double or even triple the recipe.

They are full of complex energy and they are supposed to be "brain boosting" too. BONUS!

Movie Night

I'm a lover of Disney movies. Always have been and probably always will be.  As a little girl I would fall for the hero right along with the heroine, swept away in the romance and mystery spun within the movie.

My favourite Disney movie was released on VHS on my birthday many moons ago.
My second favourite is Lion King.

I bought it on BluRay recently and thought I'd let the kids have a late night, curl up on the lounge and watch it as a family.

We all flaked about half way through but it was good while it lasted!