Wednesday 27 June 2012

Scooter fun at the park - Wordless Wednesday

This weekend, Mr Sociable was given a scooter by some friends, so we went to the park to have some scooter fun.

Mr Sociable did pretty well!
Mr Fun inherited Mr Sociable's old 4-wheeler scooter.
He insisted on walking next to it, but would not stand on it
Playing with Daddy
Their favourite park equipment - the slide & the fireman's pole
Somehow they always seem to find a puddle...

My Little Drummer Boys

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Stop and smell the clover flowers

Yesterday afternoon, while driving home from Prep, we noticed a rainbow. We stopped at a park so that we could watch the rainbow.



Then the boys found some clover flowers to pick...



and a tree to climb.



Mr Sociable told me in the car on the way home that he had so much fun at the park! So glad we stopped to watch a rainbow!

My Little Drummer Boys

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Sing a song of Lohtown

Last week I was helping a friend to change her daughter's nappy.  I started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to distract Miss 2 and calm her down. My friend commented on how effective singing was. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I sing a lot with my kids. I sing to them and with them as part of everyday life in Lohtown. So today, I thought I'd share with you some of the ways that I use singing in our home.

Distraction: nappy-change
Stinky Pants [to the tune of Thundercats]
Stinky pants is on the move, 
Stinky pants is loose... 
Stinky, stinky, stinky, stinky pants!

New Pants [I think Franky made this tune up...]
Pants, pants, pants, pants,
Pants, pants, pants, pants,
Makes you want to dance, 
When you've got new pants. 

You Smell Like Poo! [no tune]
You smell like poo!
Oh yes you do!
You smell like poo!
Oh yes you do!


Twinkle Twinkle little star
I have sung this song with my own kids, as well as with friends' kids. It seems to be calming for little people and has the added advantage of keeping their hands busy and out of their dirty nappy ;)

Wheels on the Bus
Both of my boys have particularly loved this song and we make up our own verses (eg our Daddy in the bus snores). It's also a fun song for clothes/nappy changing because you can do actions - swishing legs from side to side (as the wipers), cycling legs (as the wheels), honking noses (as the horn), etc.



Distraction: brushing teeth
Brush, brush, brush (from Playschool)
Ch... Ch... Ch... The toothbrush song (from Playschool)


Keeping on task
I often sing songs during tasks to remind the boys what they are supposed to be doing. It's much nicer than nagging. 

Bath-time [to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell]
We're walking up the stairs,
We're walking up the stairs,
Hi-ho the derry-o,
We're walking up the stairs.

It's time to have a bath,
It's time to have a bath,
Hi-ho the derry-o,
It's time to have a bath.



Just having fun
Bedtime Song [to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus]
The Mummy in the bed goes sh-sh-sh
Sh-sh-sh, sh-sh-sh,
The Mummy in the bed goes sh-sh-sh all night long.

The brother in the bed goes cough, cough, cough, 
Cough, cough, cough,  cough, cough, cough, 
The brother in the bed goes cough, cough, cough all night long.

The baby in the bed goes *snore*
*snore* *snore*
The baby in the bed goes *snore* all night long.



In China They Never Grow Chilli (Limerick Song)
The verses are limericks (and it was only tonight when I looked at Wikipedia that I realised the original verses are actually quite rude - we don't use those ones!). Franky & I actually make the verses up, one line each. When Mr Sociable was a baby, we would often sing this song, making up funny verses - which calmed Mr Sociable down, but also gave us some laughs in trying situations!
Chorus:
Ay-yi-yi-yi,
In China they never grow chilli
So sing me another verse
That's worse than the first verse
Make sure that it's foolish and silly.

Teaching
We sing songs to learn about numbers (see my Counting Songs post) and letters/sounds (we sometimes listen to Jolly Phonics in the car). We sing songs to learn about God and the Bible. Mr Sociable particularly likes Colin Buchanan - which is great for all of us to listen to in the car.

What songs do you sing in your house?

Monday 11 June 2012

Slim-fit t-shirt for Mr Fun

I've never made a t-shirt before, nor have I done much sewing with stretch fabric. But it's on my list of things to learn this year. I cut out the fabric for Mr Fun's t-shirt at least a month ago, maybe more, and I've been avoiding sewing it together. So this long weekend, I decided it was time to finish it off. It only took a couple of hours and I'm really happy with the finished product.


I bought the pattern online from Made by Rae. It is very easy to follow, with photos of each step. A great pattern for stretch fabric novices.


If you've been thinking about upcycling some old t-shirts into shirts for kids (size 1-5), this would be a great place to start :)

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Mr Fun: Bag-lady-in-training

Mr Fun pushes all his precious things around in the pram.



My Little Drummer Boys

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Chicken Maryland Pot Roast

A while ago, I tried making a whole chicken pot roast for the first time and everyone loved it! Success!! Mr Fun, who normally will not eat roast, ate the chicken and the rice (tonight he ate the potato too, because I said it was "just like chips"). But the whole chicken was a bit of a pain - I found it hard to cut the chicken up into pieces when it was hot and covered in liquid.

So tonight I made the same meal, but with chicken marylands instead (a chicken maryland is the drumstick and thigh, with skin on). It was much easier, because the chicken was already in pieces, ready to serve - I just separated the drumstick from the thigh when serving. I think next time I would add in a few different cuts of chicken, to provide a mixture of leaner and fattier meat.


Ingredients
4 chicken marylands
6 medium potatoes, cut into large pieces
4 carrots, cut into large pieces
1 large onion, chopped into small pieces
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine (I used sweet, but you could you dry if you prefer)
4 bay leaves

Method
1. Preheat the slow cooker. Spray the bowl of the slow cooker with oil.
2. Add vegetables, then chicken and liquid.
3. Cook for 4-6 hours on low, stirring once, to ensure all of the chicken/veg gets cooked in the yummy liquid.
4. Serve - either by itself or with bread/rice (season with salt/pepper to taste).


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