Making Patterns

Kids like to make patterns - and this is a great activity to teach them this concept. I'm a big fan of tissue paper as it's so versatile to use with so many activities. I cut up small squares of tissue paper and gave Master 3 two colours and Master 5 three colours. We had been doing some threading activities earlier on in simple two and three set patterns. This activity worked really well as I was able to adapt it to two different age and stages of development. This activity not only teaches patterning but is a great fine motor skill development activity. Master 5 cut up his own squares which was a great opportunity to use his scissor skills. Draw a wavy line to paste the squares onto. Encourage your child to paste their pattern from left to right, which is the way we write.

Who does the shoe fit?

We had so much fun reading this hilarious book, Centipede's 100 shoes. It is a great book to use for number recognition and counting. After having so much fun reading this we decided to get out some shoes and have our own fun!

This is a fun activity you can do when discussing the mathematical terms "biggest" and "smallest". It is also a great opportunity to use scissors as you cut around the traced shoes. Gather a shoe from each member of the family and use a pencil to trace around the them. Cut out the shoe shapes and order and then glue them on a large piece of paper.

It's A Rainbow

On the weekend the boys were invited to a close friend's 3rd birthday party. As I have said in past blogs, June and July equates to a party each weekend as all our close family friend's have too had children born in June and July! When it came to Miss A's 3rd birthday my friend was a bit unsure how to theme her party. Miss A had really moved away from her Bindi the Jungle Girl and Dora phase. Finally a rainbow theme was decided upon, and what a colourful and fun time we all had. It was such a happy theme and so well suited to Miss A's happy-go-lucky-bright personality that we all love.

The rainbow table was just gorgeous. A table decorated with every colour of the rainbow.

The kids had so much fun decorating plain maree biscuits with different coloured icing and smarties.

I loved the party favour the boys received. Each child was given a big bubble wand with a rainbow cookie attached.

The inside of the party room was decorated with cut up crepe paper in the colours of the rainbow.

I loved these cute rainbow balloons that sat on the party table.

These jellies looked so cute on the table and the kids loved them.

Lots of rainbow coloured food...

Rainbow sprinkles on star shaped bread, rainbow musk sticks and rainbow lollie cake was on offer.

Somewhere over the Rainbow..... Miss A turned 3! Check out the cute rainbow dresses Miss A and her big sister wore to the party.

The kids could have a rainbow put on their cheeks which was very cute in keeping with the theme.

Oh look at that face.... what little girl wouldn't be smiling with a Rainbow Cake that looked like that!




This was such an amazing cake made by another very clever friend. The Rainbow, the clouds (fairy floss) and the gold coins looked amazing.

Disney Cars Party

This year, for the first time I decided to have the boys 3rd and 5th Birthday Party together. With the impending release of the Disney Cars 2 movie it seemed natural to go with the Cars theme. The first movie has been played over and over as a popular choice on Family Movie Night in our house, so the boys were very excited. As I mentioned in previous posts about birthday parties, I love the planning, making all the bits and pieces and finally the day when it all comes together. This year was no different, only that I had the energy and enthusiasm for one party, instead of the two, that usually fall three weeks apart!!

The Race car theme was based around the two main characters, Lightning Mcqueen and Tow Mater. Here I found an old plastic pavlova stand in my cupboard and sprayed it gold to represent the Piston Cup. The characters are actually both bubble bath bottles that I found in Big W which were much cheaper than purchasing the real cars.

This was the Pit Stop Lane drinks table, where there was Juice (Oil), water, and tea and coffee on offer.

I served home made sausage rolls and hot chips in meal boxes to keep with the race track theme of eating fast food at the race track. I made simple labels on my computer for the meal boxes and bottles of water. The place mats that you can see are just Cars wrapping paper cut in to A4 size and laminated. The kids also had a Cars squeeze yoghurt and one of these super cute apple and grape racing cars.

This is a picture of the loot bags and party gifts that the children received from the boys as a thank you for coming to their party. The loot bags had some cars lollies and two packets of Wikki Stix inside, and each child received a Cars themed board game. The loot bags were just a simple black bag that I attached the tag off the lanyards to with some Cards Themed ribbon from Spotlight.

Here's a snap shot of the room before the guests arrive.

Outside we had used some checkered tape to outline a race track. we had some coop cars and ride on bikes for the younger guests to ride on throughout the party.

This is the entrance to the party. Master 5 stood at the gate with his Nanny to greet the guests and each child received a personalised Crew Pass on a Disney Cars Lanyard that they wore throughout the party and took home. We took photos of each child at the entrance to print off and send as a thank you card.

Here's the Grandparents and Aunt working hard in the kitchen. The adults at the party were served hot sizzling sausages in bread and a bucket of hot chips, which was perfect as it was freezing!

Here's a snap of some of the boys enjoying their meal boxes after having their face painted.

This is a picture of my big boy who actually turned 5 on the day. Master 5 is standing in front of a scene setter that I bought. We decided to buy some cheap wood, paint it black and glue it on to create the backdrop and framed it with the checkered tape. This table was used to place gifts on until they were opened later.

This is the boys aunt who did a fabulous job face painting the kids faces. I had bought two cheap kits from Aldi that worked perfectly.

The highlight of the party.... the jumping castle, which of course was a Cars Themed Castle!

Master 3's Birthday Cake!

Master 5's Birthday Cake!

This is my favourite photo from the day, my two beautiful boys. xx

Once the children finished eating from the meal boxes, I took out the baking paper that lined the box and any leftover food so they could be used to collect treasures from the pinata.

Here's my little guy having the first turn at the Cars Pinata!

Fireman Party

I'm sitting here looking at this photo from my baby's 2nd birthday party last year. I can't believe it's a year on and he is a year older, wiser and cheekier! lol I love celebrating my kids birthday's, and yes I'm a mum who likes to go all out. Why? Because it's what I like to do for my children. Together we spend the month prior to the party choosing a theme, shopping in discount stores for bits and pieces, talking about what you do to get ready for a party, and most importantly talking about their achievements over the past year and how proud we are of them. By achievements I obviously mean those relevant to the level of understanding. I've decided to share Master 2's Finley the Fire Engine Birthday Party with you as it was so much fun.

The birthday boy on the morning of his party with....a fire engine!!

(Sorry about the picture, for some reason I can't rotate it) Here is a picture of the party table all set up in the theme colours of red and yellow.

Now what is a birthday party without sprinkle bread. I always use a cookie cutter to match the theme, in this case a fire engine.

I found these cute biscuit toppers at the Eumundi Markets and just used a little bit of icing to attach them to a tea biscuit.

(Another pic I can't rotate!) I love using a picture from the theme of the party to personalise everything. Also by personalising the drink bottles, it saves children drinking from each others.

Personalised loot cups!

Each child had a personalised place mat that I just printed from my computer and laminated. We also had these super cute (and cheap) fireman hats for all the kids and parents to wear.

I love Pinatas. They can be used as a great centre piece on the party table before the battering begins! lol

Any excuse to laminate! Lol I printed off lots of signs relevant to the theme and placed them around the house where guests would be going.

I used cheap rolls of red and yellow crepe paper to hang as a fire effect. This is Master 2 with his special little friend who was born the day before him xx

I just love the look on their little faces when you bring the cake out.

As I'm sitting here looking through my photos from the past year of my baby boy and smile as I think about the love, joy and pure laughter that he has brought to our lives, I wonder what I did with my life before he became the centre of it! xx