Loving... NOT Loving: Little Things

It's the little things that can get you down. Or the little things that make all the difference.

Here's some little things that I am loving this week (and a few I'm not).

This Badge.
Worn on Dash's jacket, as he headed off to school this morning. I just had to snap a pic to show you. It made me smile, and I'm wondering what his teacher will make of it?!!

This Little Man.
Always precious. More especially so when he is sick (as he has been for the past two days).
He's been feverish and off his food, just not himself. It's usually his little smile that lights up my days. (But it's the little amount of sleep I got last night that I'm not loving - which is why I am still sitting here in my PJ's blogging while he sleeps, with the dishes undone and beds unmade. Sigh.)

These Little Life Savers.
My Earplugs. They have been called into service again lately.  Small but powerful, they save me from the worst of the Witching Hour (5.00-6.00pm when all mayhem seems to break loose as we attempt to feed our Little Piggies).

These Little Muffins.
I "whipped up" a batch of delicious mini-muffins yesterday. They were so good, they are gone already. Soooo good (and soooo easy!)

Berry and White Chocolate Mini-Muffins.

1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup frozen berries
2 handfuls of white chocolate buttons, roughly chopped
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups plain flour

Beat together egg, oil, sugar and milk. Scatter in berries and choc chips, Stir. Add sifted flour and baking powder. Mix just enough to combine. Spoon into lined mini-muffin pans and bake at 180oC for 15 minutes or until golden and firm. Dust with icing sugar and gobble down for afternoon tea with your hungry little munchkins while enjoying scintillating stories about their days.

I'll be making those again.





Little Reminders.

I was glad I came across NieNie's moving video clip posted on Laura's lovely blog post this morning.



It made me stop and think about the little things I am grateful for. (I'm not a Mormon but I totally hear her heart and her love for Jesus.)

What are you loving/not loving at the moment?

Photo Scavengers

The afternoon began like any other when the kids arrived home at 3.30pm: snacks, TV, whingeing... At around 4.20pm I'd had enough. "That's it! Grab your jackets, put on your gumboots we're going out!"

A chorus of wails broke out, "Ohhhh but I'm too tired!" "I don't wanna go out! "I wanna watch TV!" You probably recognise the routine.
I decided to steal myself against their displeasure and pushed on.
"Get your bikes. Let's go. We're having a photo competition..."

Amidst much groaning and many complaints we made it out the door, with bikes, helmets and... the camera.
{Now, I thought I had spare charged-up batteries, I really did. Turns out I think they are stuffed, too old, past their best-before date. More on that later.}

Before we'd even gotten out the gate Scrag's finger got accidentally jammed by Miss Fab and the wailing escalated to a whole new level.

Man! Why do I bother???!! I thought to myself. I nearly caved in right there - but I had the inklings of a great blog post so I wiped tears, kissed ouchies and continued (LOL).

Here are the rules, I told them.
We are going on a hunt through our neighbourhood -  a Photo Scavenger Hunt.
You have to take five photos each. Here's what you have to find to photograph...

~ Something Beautiful

~ Something Small

~ Something Built

~ Something Green

~ Something Alive

Keep your eyes open. If you see something grab the camera and take your picture. I'll put your photos on my blog and get people to vote for their favourite. Sound like fun??? I asked hopefully.

Groans, some muttering... not too much enthusiasm really. I ignored that. We pushed on.

Once they got into it, they started to enjoy themselves and I was glad I'd persevered through their moaning (and ignored the fact I hadn't started dinner yet and it was nearly teatime. It was great to just break out.)

Three photos in - the batteries died. Never mind, I have spares, right??? Wrong. No juice in the spares. Argghhh! All of that trouble and the camera dies??

I took out the batteries swapped them over and tried again. Whew, the camera came back on and I left it turned on as a precaution. The kids managed to get most of the subjects on the list, but rather than post all of them, I've decided just to put up their two best photos each.

So my lovely friends, can you take a look at these works of photographic art below and leave me a comment voting for your favourite. The kids will be very excited to get feedback about their work!

Dash: Something Small

Miss Fab: Something Alive

Dash: Something Beautiful

Miss Fab: Something Beautiful

Leave me a comment if you would be interested in a Kids Photography Linky competition. Here's hoping - I think it could be fun...?

(...and even if you're not keen, please vote for your favourite one of the kid's photos! Ta.)

He's Forever RUNNING...

That's why we call him Dash.

This week's RAW(e) photo competition theme over at Sailor & Co. is RUNNING, so it was inevitable that the image would have Dash in it. Even as a baby this kid never sat still long enough to put on any baby chub - his thighs have always been muscular and athletic (like his Daddy's tee hee) even though he is skinny as a rake.

My RUNNING photo was taken on a beach in the North of England, during our trip last October. The weather had just turned, and it was rather chilly that evening; the night before we returned home to New Zealand. I like it. It captures Dash's energy and ever-motion.

Click here if you want to enter.

THE RULES...
Show us your best "RUNNING" straight out of the camera shot.
Please only post one photo
Don't link up until you've posted on our blog.
When you link up, link up to the photo, not your blog as a whole.

Good Luck!

And the Winners Are...

The Header Design Giveaway is closed, and here are your results. Drum roll...

Er, yes it's a highly technological randomised picking system. Names written on Post-Its (hey it was good enough for Meredith & Derek!)... Post-Its folded and put in a cup. Er, yes,that's my Painting cup. I don't drink out of it. It's clean but stained...

OK, back to the matter at hand.... Shake shake shake...

Pick a winner... taaa-daaa....

1. The Winner of the Draw is... Jacqui ! Congratulations Jacqui, you'll be getting a new header for your blog. Email me and we'll start talking about what you'd like, OK? greatfun4kids@live.com 
2. My Pick for the second winner based on your comments....????? Help! I couldn't decide!

Oh come on - you know how indecisive I am. Don't you remember the Birthday Cake Competition? How I had to get readers to vote for their favourite cake cos I couldn't choose? Well it shouldn't surprise any of you who know me even a little, that once again, I'm stuck.

I thought to myself... right, go through and check who has got the blog that most needs a header. And there were a few of those - some didn't have any kind of header at all.

But how to pick between them? And are the others with unsatisfactory Headers any less deserving? There were some lovely comments, some desperation, pleas and begging. Some were even willing to pay for a new header if they didn't win. Sigh.

My quest to beautify Blogland and help my fellow bloggers (while gaining new followers) was giving me a headache.

So I thought, enough of this. I want to go and put my feet up and watch Greys Anatomy. So I decided to let my fingers do the picking. I picked another name out of the cup...

...and whaddya know... it's GAIL! I laughed I can tellya.

Gail said if she won she'd donate her prize to someone else (cos she already likes her header and no wonder, it's very cool). Now I have to ask:

Gail: Who's it gonna be??

We are on the edges of our computer chairs waiting to find out!!!

Great Outdoors

Our kids spend more time indoors than we used to, right? Don't know about you, but when I was seven, I used to walk a kilometre up to the shops with my 5-year-old sister, and catch a bus to school three suburbs away all by myself. I can't imagine letting my seven-year-old do that these days, could you?

We never had Playstation, or DVD's or Sky TV (they weren't invented yet). In fact for a while we didn't have any TV at all! We spent our time after school playing outside, climbing the guava tree, swinging on the front fence, building huts under the house and spaceships in the garage. I remember making a snail house for my baby sister out of cabbage leaves... we realised what a dumb idea that was when we spotted her with snail slime dripping off her chin, and snail shell clinging to her lips. Yech.

But my point is that we played outside a lot. We played unsupervised. We used our imaginations to invent elaborate games. The stories we dreamed up! Like the one where we landed in our spaceship on an alien planet; and we had to wear jam jar lids on our heads so we could breathe the toxic air. When my sister's lid fell off she dropped to the ground clutching her throat; such a panic to drag her back to the spaceship...

I was naturally an indoors girl, a bit of a nerd, but mum would still chase us all outside saying, "Go out and play!" So we did. One house we lived in had a reserve across the road which we explored with the neighbourhood kids. There was long grass and a huge old tyre swing - fantastic.

We never had fancy plastic toys, but we sure did have fun. I remember turning the path around our house into a road. Little sister manned the "petrol pump" (the garden hose). Poor kid. We rode around on our trikes and she waited patiently for us to decide we needed some gas. Bless!

We didn't go to endless after-school activities either. We came home, did our homework then ran outside and played til it was dark.

When I was 15 we moved to the country. My next-eldest sister got the younger kids playing Army Cadets in the cow paddock. It was full of thistles and long grass and... cow patties. When she (The Sergeant) yelled, "Drop" they had to drop, wherever they were, whatever they landed on. By the end of the game they were scratched and filthy - but they loved it! Across the road was a patch of native bush; we spent hours laying tracks and even building a little bridge over the creek. Sigh. We didn't know how lucky we were.

How am I doing with my kids? Are they indoor couch-potatoes glued to the screen, or outdoor adventurers and game-players?

Um, a little of both, really.

I don't want us endlessly rushing from one activity to another, so the rule is one activity each. Dash has his football training and Miss Fab did Pippins but wants to switch to gymnastics (I'm yet to enrol her - shame). I really want them to have the space and time to play games and use their imaginations.

But some days I'm just so tired (and so are they) at the end of the school day; we have afternoon tea together and then the TV goes on...

Sometimes to get them active outdoors, they have to be shown. Which means I need to get outside with them and lead the way.

We had a great afternoon last week where I managed to do just that. I got them to write down a bunch of things we could do around the neighboorhood or in the backyard; we cut them up into strips, popped them in a jar and took turns drawing out an activity.

They came up with: riding bikes around the streets, playing ball tag, hide'n'seek, soccer (surprise surprise),  and a scavenger hunt.

First to be drawn and played was Hide'n'Seek (yes, me too)... then they drew out Ball Tag, which was great fun... and then Scavenger Hunt.
"Ohhhh!" complained Dash. He wanted soccer, and tried to put the Scavenger Hunt one back... But I had other ideas.

I wrote a list of things they had to find in our backyard, collect in a box and tick off:

~a red leaf
~a bug
~a worm
~a flower
~something shaped like a heart
~a stick shaped like a 'y'

~something to eat

They had to find everything on the list, working together, rather than competing in a race (we have enough of that as it is). You should have seen Miss Fab. They looked under some bricks for bugs, and she spotted a millipede and fearlessly picked it up... followed by a bunch of wriggly worms. That girl is totally unafraid of creepy crawlies! Even Scrag joined in, throwing clumps of grass and leaves into the box.

We had so much fun I didn't have a chance to stop and take photos. Best of all, when I went off to cook dinner, I heard Dash say to his sister (who he usually ignores): "Hey want to play soccer? Scrag can be on your team...!"

As I cooked in peace the sound of happy laughter rang out. Bliss.

My lovely friend Meg sent me this fantastic link which got me really thinking about this whole outdoor play thing, and I just had to share it with you. It's full of ideas and also some very thought-provoking stuff on the importance of outdoor free play. Have a read, you'll be glad you did.

Green Hearts Inc. Parents Guide to Outdoor Play

Mr Sensitive

People who know my husband might laugh hysterically if I said that he is sensitive. Mr G is well-known for his up-front-ness, his talent for boldness, his ability to speak his mind. He's not really the sort who goes around tip-toeing.

He is the most honest person I know. He may stomp on feelings with his bluntness from time to time, but he would never turn around and stick a knife in your back (so to speak). He is not two-faced, he isn't a fake or pretend-nice. What you see is what you get. And he's always the first person to apologise. If he knows he's said or done the wrong thing, he'll always man-up and make peace. And he really does care about people. So I say, in that way - he is sensitive.

As coach of our son's football team, it's a tough balancing act. He doesn't want to appear to be favouring our Dash when it comes to handing out trophies. But neither does he want to overlook our boy's achievements.

It was just such a quandry that Coach Dad found himself in, on Saturday. The team played great in their second ever match, coming away with another win, 2-0. Dash scored a great goal and set up another one with an awesome cross.

But there were other great efforts being made as well. The defense was solid and the other team never even looked like scoring. Player of the Day was hard to call.

In the end Mr G decided he'd give the award to an outstanding defender... but knowing how hard our boy had played, Coach Dad warned him of his decision before-hand.

Dash swallowed the news in silence. There were no outbursts or displays of temper from him. Just silence. Silence in the car on the way home. Silence as he sloped off to his room and shut the door. His disappointment was thick in the air, yet he held it together.

Friends called in for morning tea after the match, and while we were all sitting around Mr G called Dash into the lounge, who stood there with his head hanging down.

Then Coach Dad made this announcement: "Today was a tough call. I really wanted to give my son the trophy for Player of the Day, but the other lad just edged him out. However, in recognition of his excellent play, awesome effort and great attitude, I want to present this Award to.... Dash!"

From behind his back Coach Dad pulled out a little gold plastic trophy and presented it to his now-beaming son.

I have no idea where he got it from. All I know is that his act of acknowledgement (in front of our visitors) made a world of difference to that kid, who skipped off happily to play - his disappointment erased in a moment.

When Coach Dad went to tuck in our little football star last night, he found the little gold trophy clutched in his fist. Precious.

See what I mean? Sensitive.

The Climb

We woke up to sound of a little girl singing in her bedroom.
Bleary-eyed from broken sleep, Mr G muttered to me, "Now that's the sound of a happy child..."
She was singing Miley Cyrus - what else but The Climb?

Can I admit here to you in the safety of my little blog that I actually love that song? The lyrics speak to me and when I hear my daughter singing it at the top of her lungs first thing in the morning, it makes me feel happy.

She doesn't always get the words exactly right, but she sure is enthusiastic (and sings in a very cute American accent)...

I can almost see it, those dreams I'm dreamin'
There's a voice inside my head sayin', you'll never reach it.

It's been a while since we did a proper family outing on a Saturday. We've gotten a bit lazy and apathetic on weekends, but Miss Fab is always begging for us to do things "as a family". Yesterday afternoon (after a busy morning of football and friends for brunch) she came up with the idea of going to Clip'n'Climb, an indoor climbing centre for kids. Why not? we thought. We even found a 2-for-1 voucher.

But ohhhhh, I'm gonna be strong
Just keep pushin' on

Oh the excitement. What a fabulous place - it was like a climbing Cave of Wonders. The tether ropes are counter-weighted, so they actually help pull the kids up, and coming down is half the fun.

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna want to make it move

I strapped Miss Fab into her harness while Mr G buckled up Dash and juggled the Scrag (who just wanted to get climbing too).

The first wall the kids attempted was colourful backlit bricks. Dash scurried up and swung down grinning. Miss Fab (a regular spider monkey) bounced excitedly on the spot waiting for her turn.

As she climbed up, we stood below cheering her on, until we realised that she was... sobbing??! But still... climbing???!! She was about 3/4 of the way up the wall, terrified but still keeping on going.

There's always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

"Come back, honey, let go, just come down..." I called. She returned to earth and crumpled in a tearful heap. I unclipped my baby girl and cuddled her while she sobbed, "I don't want to do this anymore, I want to go home..."

The floor manager saw our plight and hurried over offering a jar of sweeties. He spoke to her about just climbing as high as she felt comfortable and then coming back down...

She wiped off her tears but was still unconvinced. I suggested that we just have a walk around and see if there was anything that took her fancy to have a go at, which she relucantly agreed to.

Aint about how fast I get there
Aint about what's waiting on the other side
It's The Climb.

We explored the place, with Miss Fab rejecting plenty of colourful and imaginative climbing options... until she spotted a rope ladder. This one looked do-able. She climbed a few rungs, looking back to me for reassurance. A couple more, then she dropped back to earth, smiling. "That was easy," she said.

And tried again. And again. And again. Going a little higher each time, she regained her confidence so much that before long she made it all the way to the top.

This time when she landed, she hugged me and hugged me, laughing, "This is so fun mama! I love it! Let's try something else!"

It's all about, it's all about The Climb

And that was that. For the rest of our time she used that strategy: Climbing as far as she was comfortable, then come back to safety. Try again and go a little further. Keep going and eventually reach the top.

Before we left she even surpassed her big brother and made it all the way to the top of the green pillars - inspiring him to go again and climb higher too.

There's a lesson there, isn't there??

Keep the faith... Keep the faith
Keep climbing, keep moving

Whatever it is that scares us, whatever we need to conquer, we can take a few little steps... a few more... retreat to safety then try again. All we have to do is keep trying and we'll get there.

And we may even wake up one morning, singing...



It's all about, it's all about the Climb.