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

Mima

Love these photos from our trip bowling today.