Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mothers day to all the beautiful mothers out there.

It's a poignant day for me as my Mum hasn't been around for a very long time but now that I'm a mum this day has a new meaning, and it's a really great meaning. Happy Mothers day Mum, love you always. Kx

P.S. Love this article for one thing you should say to your kids, and it's an easy one to remember as it's usually true!

Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers.

Becoming a mother I finally realised what my mum went through, why she said the things she said and has made me appreciate her more than ever - if that is possible. She is a true inspiration to me and if I'm even half as good as her I'll be happy.

Mum you are the best and I love you more than you'll ever know.Tx

A Mad Hatter!

Party planning is full steam ahead in our house as it's Elfins 7th birthday. I can't quite believe that she is seven. Those years have flown by so quickly and it just makes you realise how precious but fleeting they really are. It reminds me to stop, remember to try and savour every moment, not to get distracted by silly unimportant stuff and just give her my time. She has brought me such immeasurable pleasure I hope I can do the same for her.

Anyway back to partyville - I absolutely love organising parties for my kids, they love them, I love them and their friends love them so what's not to love! My mum used to organise the most amazing parties for us when we were young and I remember the 'peeing my pants' type excitement I used to feel when it was mine or even one of my brothers or sisters birthday as it would mean a party.

So we are having a Mad Hatters Tea Party and Elfin and I decided to make a Mad Hatters hat. We used it to photograph her in and make into an invite and for party games too. 

To make the hat you need - 

cardboard, scissors, sharp knife, strong tape, a glue gun and lots of lovely bits and pieces for decorating.

We measured Elfin's head, and used the measurement to draw an oval on cardboard. We added another oval around that to make the brim. For the hat itself we cut out a long rectangle of cardboard the same length as the initial measurement and then cut slits two thirds of the way down. We then used a whole lot of tape to shape it together! While I cut out the hat with the knife, Elfin helped by cutting the tape and sticking the hat together.

I then cut out the base fabric while she was sorting through all my pretty bits to find the treasure below. I glued the base fabric on using a glue gun (what a brilliant invention) and then it was then a collaboration (well mainly Elfin telling me what to do!) of glueing and sticking and getting creative with our chosen bits and pieces. We then made the obligatory price tag and our hat was ready.

Roll on party day......I can't wait!

I will post a post party report soon

love tess x

Leftovers Art

When we've finished a craft we always sweep up all the leftovers to use for another day.

The Easter Bunny is coming

Yippee! Easter is just round the corner. I can't wait to take this little man egg rolling again. Two years ago we were in Devon and had a big egg decorating session and then a mass egg roll down the biggest hill we could find. All the while the Easter bunny hopped in and left a load of Easter goodies in the garden. So we had a brilliant egg hunt and all the kids had a basket full of treasure.

The best thing about this is year is that we will be in Cornwall...wahoo!

So we can roll the eggs down the garden to the beach where we can have a massive easter egg hunt, I'm very excited, more so than anyone else! 

Have a lovely Sunday xx

All Aboard Train Puzzle

Choo Choo! All aboard the Marc Boutavant train puzzle! This has to be the most popular of Stevie's second birthday pressies (thank you Lizzie, Ad and Arlo) It's double sided so there are countless ways to put it together and there is so much detail to see and talk about in every beautifully drawn carriage.

You can buy this lovely puzzle here or here
 

A.MAZING MONSTERS

 

The A.Mazing monster series has to be the weirdest yet most brilliant series of children's books that have ever been written. In 1977 Jim Slater spotted four drawings on his kitchen noticeboard, drawn by his ten year old son Christopher. His imagination was sparked and he scribbled down the first story, The Great Gulper. A week later Christopher had illustrated the whole story and so the first book was born. They went on to write another fifteen stories and the books went on to be bestsellers in the UK, USA and Japan. 

We just love the A. Mazing Monster books here at KidPlayDo. Zeph (age 4¾) in particular is a huge fan and is completely fascinated with the drawings. He says Swiggo is his favorite because he's so funny, a fishy monster with a long nose who has issues with drinking water. Elf's favorite is Rainbow who can change things into the colours of the rainbow - who wouldn't want to be able to do that?

Each book is based around a different monster but all feature Mr A. Mazing, the monster expert who is often called upon by the Queen or The Prime Minister to help with a monster problem. He usually knows exactly what's needed but sometimes has to consult his friends, Mr A. Stonishing, Mr A. Musing and Mr A. Larm! 

The A.Mazing monster books are available to buy as a box-set here and make an excellent gift for the kid who has everything.

Messy self-portrait painting

Zephy, Stevie and I were wondering what to do when they both decided they wanted to paint. So I decided to draw a big self portrait of Zeph so they could paint on his clothes. They had other ideas!

I can pretty much guarantee that this happens every time I get the paints out. Zephy always ends up painting himself and not really painting what we started out doing. 

So I always have a warm bubbly bucket bath ready for after so I can dunk them in it and quite often they stay in the bucket playing for ages. The day we did this it was pretty chilly too.

The self portrait didn't really happen. So just to say that it doesn't really matter at all if what you started out to do doesn't end up how it should as long as it was fun along the way.

Happy messy painting love Tx

What Stevie Wore 3/3/14

Clockwise from left - Boden Dress, Lovjoy bib, H&M tights, Fisher Price mini bus, Petasil boots

Party Chicks

These little chick puppets are just the thing with Easter just around the corner. I made them with Stevie (age 2 ½) but they would easily entertain older kids too.  Stevie has been taking them around with her all week and they have even been seen eating her dinner. I have no idea why as we made them together, but she tells me very firmly that the orange and blue one is hers and the pink one is most definitely mummy's!

After I'd taken the photos I found this funny shaped pipe cleaner in Stevie's pen box so we wrapped it around the lolly stick and et voilà party chick wings!
Kx

Another one!

Elfin 3 days old

I still can't quite believe that we are getting another baby but looking back at these photos is making me feel really excited. (Although I had a sick Zephy last night and so woke weary and realised that's how I'm going to be feeling every morning in about five months!)

We also found out on Thursday that it's a boy! So now I'm super excited. I never thought I'd be the sort of person to find out. But as this little monkey is a complete surprise and the kids really wanted to know, we decided to and it's been so lovely. The kids now talk to the bump as their little brother -  and it feels so much more real. 

Now we just need to think of a name...

Have a great Wednesday love Tess x

Zephy 3 weeks old

Articulo Puzzle by Djeco

We've been getting into puzzles recently and this is one of our favourites. It's nice and simple for little ones with the added bonus of moving parts. Brum Brum!