Votes please. Cover songs.

The well known loveable social media stompy pair of guitar twanging singers, Barricades Rise boys launched #pictemberise in September. Every day they have a theme and you take a picture of the theme, #pictemberise and they pick a winner. Simples.  Both Richard and I were selected as joint winners just after it launched...the prize, a cover of our choice by the band.

Well, Richard and I would never agree on one song, we have different tastes. So, we are putting it to the public vote. I've been literally hounded by Spoony to choose two, he refused to share his choices in advance.

Anyhoo, the vote is now live.
If you know me at all ...you'll know which ones are mine. ;-)

VOTE HERE. http://t.co/sQlX6pcyAR

My other choices on my long list were:
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Two Tribes
Salt 'n' Peppa, Push it (this would have been hilarious I'm sure)
The Clash, London Calling
Deacon Blue, Real Gone Kid. (Not easy for two men)
Roachford, Cuddly Toy (rejected just because it means Alan Partridge to me now)
Paul Weller, You do something to me.
Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror. (Can I really ask them to cover a MJ song??)
Oh and sooo many more in the same vein. I thoroughly enjoyed my voyage into the past, bopping around the living room to the sounds of the 80s. I tried to be kind and left out the likes of Kate Bush and Cindy Lauper.

Vote away.
Can't wait to hear the finished thing.
Good luck boys
X

Books to read aloud

38 Perfect Books To Read Aloud With Kids http://bzfd.it/Z0sQRc

Loneliness

One thing that they never talk about in motherhood books is the loneliness.

I like having time to myself and quality time with my girls but the constant pressures in life make that hard.
I work part time, mainly a choice due to cost of childcare, but also because it would give me extra time with my girls growing up, time that I know I'll yearn for when they are bigger.

So what do I do with my days?
I'm ashamed to say that I go food shopping, do the laundry, do the washing up, put clothes away and generally shout at the girls for walking behind me and making a mess. I'm not house proud by any stretch of the imagination. 

I'm finding it harder to think what to do with Mima. It may be because that when I had Tilly I was fascinated by her and pushing her to get to the next stage, walking, painting, soft play, it was all new for both of us. With Mima I think I kind of expect her to do everything Tilly does now. But life is also slightly harder, navigating around school, after school activities, double the washing, double the stuff in the house.

Yesterday I was angry and frustrated and I think Mima was too. We are bored of the same old surroundings and bored of each other.
Today, in a desperate attempt not to repeat yesterday I've had to get out of the house. I went to Rhymetime at a library. It was busy, very busy but we had fun singing songs with other children and mums. However, it is funny how being in a crowded room still managed to make me feel the most isolated and lonely I've felt in a long time.
I've mentioned it before but put me in a work shirt and I could probably go up and engage with anyone. But take that safety blanket off and expose me, as me and I find it incredibly difficult.

To me, it just emphasized everything. I'm lonely and I don't particularly enjoy Thursdays and Fridays.
And the most frustrating thing is, I see others that I think feel the same as me ...they certainly have the look that I do, of boredom and loneliness. The worst bit, I can't find it within myself to change.

Giant Octonaut heads

Here is my whole set of paper mache Octonaut heads. They have been modeled on giant punch balloons (hence their size), they are all hung with string.  

All you need is newspaper, flour and water paste and a few other bits and pieces of junk (empty plastic bottles, paper plates and bowls). 

I started with Shellington.  Basic shape, done a few layers at a time. Cut a polystyrene bowl in half and placed on each side for ears, papered into position.  The hat was an old cereal box which I folded around and then another upturned bowl put inside. The hair and nose balls are just screwed up molded newspaper. 

 He then ended up looking like this: 

To place the string inside each head (and take the balloon out) I put my hand in the hole to one side. I'd threaded the string through an old lid of some sort to give it more strength inside the head too, that helps support the weight when hanging.  Then just paper over the hole.  Below is Captain Barnacles getting his string and Captain Barnacles and Peso prior to painting. 

 

Kwazii had a minor drying injury though, the weight of the wet paper made his head cave in a little. He needed a bit of surgery the next day to push out (luckily I had to put his string in anyway). 

I did the easy characters first, Shellington, Barnacles, Peso and Kwazii. I wasn't going to do the others but then I had the spare balloons, the time and the free papers kept falling on the mat.  

I did Tweak first, making her ears from a 2ltr Coke bottle cut in half lengthways, you also need to cut into the head to secure it slightly with this way too or else you'd never get it to stay up whilst drying.  As I added the paper to the bottle the weight dragged them outwards, so I had to bind them with string while they dried. 

For Dashi I cut a milk carton in half lengthways and masking taped it to her form. 

Professor Inkling was simple, some cardboard (an old cat food container) cut to the shape of his ears and cut into the head and papered stiff.  The only other extras for him were a collar (although they all have collars I thought his was most important, more defining in his body shape).  I added a Pringles lid to the eye for his monacle and stuck a short piece of string between it and the collar. 

Tunip was last but not least. He was formed from a large normal balloon, as he is smaller than the others. His limbs were just pieces of an old cereal box cut into shape and papered into place. His green top was more complicated, it looked great at first but the weight of the paper made it sag a little. 

So now, I am the proud owner of a set of Octonauts.  Not sure what to do with them. I did originally consider wearing them as a head, like Frank Sidebottom but I'm not sure how they'd stay on. I think I may put them in the loft and save and hope that Jemima likes them in the summer and they may come down for her birthday party too. 

The ULTIMATE Octonaut Party

*Possibly not the Ultimate but I'd like to think it'd come pretty damn close!

Firstly I must say that much of this party has been inspired via various posts on Pinterest and of course, my daughter's obsession with The Octonauts.

Last year I gave Matilda an Alice in Wonderland party and it was great fun, she loved it and I loved doing it.  This year, she *loves* The Octonauts, we have all the toys and watch at least one episode every day so that had to be the theme. 

The invitation
The Invitation set the scene, it was the Octoalert and invited all trainee Octonauts to report for duty and told them where the Octopod would be docked. 

THE PARTY 
Full pictures are to follow, but here is a video that my husband took just before the children arrived for the party. 

Decoration: Giant Octonaut heads. 
It started because I'd seen a Gup A pinata on Pinterest and I thought I'd do one too. Using free papers, a mixture of flour and water I set to over a base of those giant punch balloons. I made the pinata base and it was quick and simple, I had another balloon so I thought I'd make one of the characters just for fun, then another and then. . .well there *are* 8 Octonauts and the giant punch balloons came in a pack of 10, so you can guess what happened!
Sort of a tutorial here, funny what I said in January too ;-)


Here is a picture of them all in front of a full set of patio doors to get a sense of scale!



LET'S GET THE PARTY STARTED
Following on from the invitation, I explained that I'd received a phone call from Captain Barnacles and he said he did need some spare Octonauts and they had to complete a couple of tasks before they could make it. 

I'd tried to plan a series of games based around each of the Octonauts.

Tweaks Pinata
Tweak said there had been a problem with the Gup A and she'd done everything she could to fix it, but it was no good . . so we ended up hitting it with a stick! 
Here it is after I'd finished it but before it got trashed *sniff*

 

Professor Inkling's Pass the Parcel
Pass the Parcel is Professor Inkling's favourite game because he can even play it on his own with all his arms. 

Peso's Craft Clinic
I'd tissue papered over a plastic bottle (with a string for hanging) for every child. I'd explained that as Peso was the nurse it was his job to help any animals better and these fish didn't have eyes or fins yet. There were googly eyes, sequins and other craft materials for them to have a go with. 

Pin the Patch on Kwazii
Had seen and stolen this idea from Pinterest again. 

Shellington's statues
Musical statues 

Captain Barnacles then phoned to say that he was so impressed and that they've all passed . . . Tunip has made some food for you, go and get your hats and eat. 

* not all of this went to plan at the party. . I'd kind of underestimated 5 year olds and the length of time it takes to do anything, so we missed out on Shellington's statues and the patch was done after food. 

Tunip's Treats

The spread was great fun to do. We had dolphin sandwiches (I was very lucky I had a dolphin sandwich cutter already), Octopus pepper hummus dip, mini Octopus made from Frankfurters alongside the more obvious choice of party food for 5 year old birthday parties; breadsticks, mini sausages, grapes, blueberries, mini cheeses etc. 

Sea scene jelly

Another idea stolen from Pinterest. 

Served in plastic win glasses (so you could see the jelly scene), I put a small layer of yellow jelly in first and allowed to set, added in the blue coloured jelly (from gelatine leaves) afterwards.  I added a Swedish Fish to the jelly a few hours before. I was given a great tip via Twitter for that too, to ensure you make a clear incision and don't rip the jelly, you have to dip your knife in lemonade before you insert into the jelly. 

Sadly the Swedish Fish did go very soggy (like wet sponge cake texture) even though I left until quite late. 

Drink

We served apple juice in jugs but I'd labelled it Whale Wee. . .5 year olds do love toilet humour! 

The cake 

I love to have a go at Tilly's cakes and I think I was a little too ambitious with this one, again, damn Pinterest.  I stayed up to the small hours trying to salvage and make it look half decent, I think in the end I got away with it but I need to be more sensible next year. 
Full blog post about cake here

The party bag

The problem with doing your own parties is that you don't get some free merchandise for your goody bags.  

Inside: 

• Octonaut bubbles - a bulk buy from Poundland with an Octonaut character stuck on each
• A temporary fish tattoo
• Fish fortune teller
• Marshmallow fish - really easy to make. Marshmallow on a stick, dipped in blue Candy Melts then dipped in yellow sprinkles and a fondant fish stuck to the side. 
• A chocolate bar with an Octonaut character stuck onto it. 
• Some print outs from Pinterest with Octonaut characters
• A crafty fish (was one of the activities) 
• A slice of cake

I don't have a hobby as I find it quite difficult to motivate myself to create something without a purpose, without knowing who it is for. This party turned into a short term hobby for me and I loved it, being able to be inspired by so many things and bring them to life to give Matilda a great birthday party was sooo much fun. 

Matilda loved her birthday party and so did I, although I must admit, I was fast asleep on the sofa by 8pm that night. 

Octonaut cake

After months of seeing great Octonaut cakes on Pinterest I'd had plenty of inspiration.

I wanted to make a Gup A cake on a sea base.

I'd already managed to make some coral, seaweed and fishes from fondant icing mixed with a bit of gum paste.

I made two Madeira cakes and started to carve into the right shape. Once I was happy with it I covered it in buttercream icing and then rolled out some royal icing. Gosh that bit was soo hard. Several times I ripped as I was just about to drape over the cake.
The worst bit was the weight of the icing on the carved cake meant that effectively 'the chin' dropped off. I had planned to go to bed once the Gup A had been iced as it was already 11.30pm but when it fell apart I just couldn't leave it.
Improvising I cut up the other cake into a moon shape and decided to place the Gup A at an angle, as if coming up out of the water (which also supported the droopy chin).
Once I'd iced the base and stuck on the 'bits' I started to feel so much happier.

The next day was just left for finishing touches, fins, glitter, putting the sterilized Octonaut toys on.

In the end I was happy and most importantly so was Tilly but it was a far cry from what I had in my mind I may be able to achieve. I think next year I need to hire someone else to make the cake.

Tilly's CBeebies Octonaut birthday card

Matilda's diary

Tilly's reading book this week was 'Kipper's Diary'. We talked about diaries and what they were and why people kept them. So this week Tilly has kept her own diary.


Here it is, starts on Wednesday.

What she failed to mention about this bath was that it was the first ever poo-in-the-bath incident. Funnily enough I was filming their incredibly high pitched screaming but managed to miss the moment, just got reaction here. 















Thursday

When blue skies turn bad...when we set off for school it looked a bit drizzly but nothing prepared me for the horizontal driving rain downpour mid way to school, poor Mima got it worse as she was in the pushchair and the raincover was in the car that Richard had taken to work. This was us on arrival.

Friday

Saturday

We rarely go swimming, especially as a  family...the trip didn't go very well. Mima screamed constantly as she is a little under the weather at the moment. After approx 20 mins in the water we were all asked to get out, the session was stopped soon after as there was 'something' in the water. Nice.

Sunday

Party progression

Things are moving on slowly but really well with the creation of the Octonauts themed party.
Richard posted a picture on Twitter of my 'alien' eggs waiting to hatch.
Some of the balloons have popped of their own accord, making me jump as it has also caused them to leap out of their bowls and off the piano.
Shellington's head has been base painted and I love him. I'll paint him with some glossier paint soon and add the details and lines.
The piñata is well on the way now, I've added the string, the sweets and glowsticks and closed it. I've added the fins and the lightbulb thingy at the top. I've given it a base paint. I need to add the propeller to the rear and then decorate with paper for a proper piñata effect.

SNOW!

Loads of snow in Coventry, very deep.  We took the girls out to Lake View Park this morning with the Breadmores, The Harrisons, The McIntyres, The Langston-Holmes. 

Dom took his camera and got some great pictures

Richard also bought a snowboard/snow scooter which although I mocked to start with was THE most fun. I loved it. Very short videos of me doing it with no hands

Kids Birthday parties

When I was little I wasn't allowed big birthday parties...except when I was 7. I have vivid memories because I was allowed 7 friends and my mum and sister had planned some pretty special games. There was a truth stool, a story time about a man with one eye and you had to put your hands in something (jelly) which was his eye socket. It was full of fun and magic. I want to try to give Tilly & Mima the same kind of magic. Last year for Tilly's 4th birthday I did an Alice In Wonderland Party theme birthday. 
What I figure is that really there are only a few years of fun birthdays, I'm guessing by the time Tilly is about 9, she'll no longer want magical birthdays but sleepovers.
With that in mind I'm going to make every effort to give them a great birthday but hopefully not too much cost. Tilly's birthday is not until early March but I'm planning and making now...this birthday may not cost much in real money but will be priceless with time and love.

Tilly wants an Octonauts party.
Thanks to my new found love Pinterest, I've found loads of amazing ideas for the party. One I liked was a homemade Gup A pinata . I love making things and am a dab hand at papier mache so I got to and got a large punchball balloon and started to paper over it.



As there was a pack of 10, I started to do another, not for another pinata but for decoration. I've hired a small hall for the party so there is plenty of space for the kids to play and the house won't get trashed by tiny fingers. However an empty hall needs good or at least clever decoration to get the theme across. 

The spare one is going to be Shellington...I cut up a polystyrene bowl in half and papier mache'd them for ears. I've added a nose and hair for some 3D detail. I read in a blog somewhere that if hanging something like this with string that it is a good idea to put a bottle top with the string inside the papier mache form so the string doesn't come out. 

I made the hat with a cereal box and an upturned bowl. 









I'm so pleased with it so far, I can't wait for it to dry so I can paint it.
I'm not sure what to do with it yet, I guess I'll have to add a body, a disembodied head may be a little scary for a group of 5 year olds. I think I'll make a paper body to hang (with weights on feet), perhaps kids could have their pictures taken with them.

Of course, there are 8 Octonauts....I'm not making 8, probably just the fave characters.... certainly not the Octopus head, Professor Inkling.

 

 

Blue Peter

4 old toilet tubes, tissue paper, masking tape, PVA, origami paper, googly eyes, a twig & string.

Idea from Pinterest. Great activity to do with Tilly, although she got bored after they were finished and left me to put on the stick.

Things Tilly Shoots

We bought a camera for Tilly at Christmas (another one!) But hopefully this one is one that works and less gimmicky.
She loves it & is good at remembering to take pictures. Richard has ser her up a blog for her photos http://t.co/m0zwhzCh

I love you everybody

Tilly is obsessed with writing things at the moment.

A goodnight kiss

I can't help looking in and giving a last goodnight kiss to my girls before I go to bed at night.
They always look so sweet, so peaceful.

Dragonfly

A friend of mine is having a tough time at the moment.  I feel pretty helpless as to what to say or do. She loves Dragonflies, so I've made her one.

It only took an evening to make & I don't think the pictures really do it justice.

I used my wire frame to wind some garden wire in the basic shape.
Wrapped some coloured wire around it with beads down the spine. Adding two beads for its antenna. For the wings, I got some old musical score and cut it to shape, sticking it with Shimmer Mod Podge.

Hey presto. Hope she likes it.

Tilly the Photo TOGs

We bought Tilly a camera for Christmas, she is now the proud owner of her own Tumblr page with her photos on.  She is quite good. Richard is very proud indeed. 


Tilly's Photo blog

Emily Brown and the Magic Moments.

I love children's books and Richard loves books. We have A LOT of books. 
Tilly and Mima are spoilt for choice when it comes to story time with so many wonderful books with great stories, illustrations or both.

I love reading books to Tilly. Putting in all the right excitement, tension and doing voices where I can. I tend to only be able to do baby, lispy, Scottish ladies, Yorkies and Cockneys. . . hardly surprising really. 

A little while ago Richard bought Tilly the latest Emily Brown book, if you've never read them, you must .. they are great little stories. On the night we bought it, he read it to her and I was reading to Mima so didn't hear the story.  Tonight Tilly picked it. I usually have given new stories a once over before I read them to the kids but there was no time tonight so I didn't know what happened.

The punchlines in Cressida's books are truly wonderful for adults and kids but not with a duel meaning  way, just perfect simple comedic situations. I laughed as the story unfolded, Tilly started to giggle and by the end we were both in fits of giggles. Not helped by me trying to act out what the sad Teddy was doing as it tried to un-ping its sad smile stitches.  We both ended up snorting loudly and Tilly nearly fell off the sofa. 

Moments like this don't happen all the time. A simple experience which was so wonderful. A real magic moment. 

THAT is what storytime is all about.  
Thank you Cressida. 

And for anyone who hasn't got or read this book, go and get it now. . . .and the rest of the set, they are ace. 

Questions

Yesterday evening after a good 20mins of silence upstairs, Tilly shouts 
 "Mummy. I need to ask you a question." 
 What? 
 "How did Jemima get out of your tummy?" 
*gulp* 
 I'll tell you in the morning. 


 This morning. Honesty is the best policy. So very matter of factly and without graphic details I told her. She looked slightly horrified. Her response was an immediate 'I don't think I'll have any babies'

My Lovely Horse

Browsing through the local antique shop, I saw a beautiful old tin horse. I thought it was from a carosel and I just couldn't get it out of my mind. Richard asked what I wanted for Christmas and I told him about it and he went and bought it for me. Isn't she lovely?

Seems she is an old Mobo Prairie Horse which used to be on springs. I'm painting her with enamel paints to bring her back to life.

of course, I can't stop singing this  My Lovely Horse