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f there is one subject that I know will always interest my children it is when we do experiments. They also love cooking so when I can combine the two it makes for two very happy girls. Recently we completed another one of our "Science at Home Awards", a "Chemical Changes" experiment.
Here the girls are making sherbet. I never told them what they were making I just give them the instructions to read, IE what they need and how to make up whatever it is and leave them to it.
I do like to ask a few questions as they go along so they notice things happening and sometimes I have them write up a report as they go along. Here I had them add their final mixture to some water and they loved seeing it bubble up. There were a few squeals of delight and worry that the water would bubble over. I had them taste it, and they didn't really like it and then I had them add some cranberry juice to it and they tasted it again and really liked it this time.
I had them pop some of the mixture onto their finger and taste it, with still no clue as to what it was and as you can tell from the pics they were rather surprised by the result. Their faces were rather funny. They couldn't wait for the Papa to come home so they could pop some in his mouth and watch his reaction.
Just in case in case anyone would like to try this themselves, to make this sherbert, you simply need 50 gms icing sugar, 25 gms baking soda and 25 gms of citric acid. Simply mix it all together and store it in a sealed jar.
My Fashionista, who is 11 in the next week is mad on clothing (hence her blog name). Unfortunately she has rather expensive taste. I have no idea where she got that from ... shh mother, don't say a word! Thankfully she also has a rather funky taste in clothing, ranging from bohemian to high street and has a knack for pulling all sorts of clothing together and looking rather trendy. I am also very glad that both my girls will wear dresses as many of their friends are reluctant to wear them ... what's with that anyway?
Anyway recently we three girls popped into a second-hand clothes shop whilst out shopping. The Fashionista found a dress in one of the stores for the princely sum of $8 and asked if we could get if for her to wear to a wedding we have this weekend. I took a closer look and thought I could do a couple of wee adjustments to the straps (it's a very tiny ladies dress) and it should fit fine.
So here's the final ensemble; dress, Christmas shoes, and borrowed jewellery and handbag from the store of "Mama" ... which both girls raid often. She put the whole outfit together, just asking for my opinion afterwards on whether it looked good, and I have to say that I think she has a pretty good sense of style for a 10 year old.
Earlier this year she found this lovely ball gown for, yes amazingly just $5! I wouldn't be able to buy the gorgeous material for that price so I agreed. We (yes she helps and sews) are going to remove the length and use it to make some shoulder straps so stay tuned.
We love recycling clothing and she gets a kick out of being able to put her own little touch on things. So if you aren't a great sewer like me or don't have the time, try buying some second-hand clothing like we do and sprucing them up. It's so much fun and saves us so much money too!
Oh my goodness, clutter has taken over my life! Anyone else with this problem? I always seem to so busy that many things get set aside to do later, frankly later rarely comes these days. I really need to de-clutter as I am hugely aware that when my home is cluttered, so is my mind and then my stress levels rise.
I have boxes of bills and other papers (I am sure they are in there right now multiplying as I write) in my study that need sorting and hopefully binning!
I also have so many wonderful things that I have kept for a "just in case" situation. As a homeschooling mum you never know when you may need 50 toilet rolls to build a rocket ship or need extra, buttons, wool, ribbons to make something. Imagine having all the supplies that a kindy or school has and add that to your regular home ... agh!
Oh and I confess that I am a "gadget girl". Want to make rosettes from a vegetable, I am sure I have that tool. Electric hard-boiled egg maker, mini fridge for the car, camping gear (really not to fond of camping either), check, check, check! I make sure I do not watch those shopping channels because I ma sure that there are oodles of items that I must buy or my life will never be complete!
What about all those wonderful organisational blogs that help you tidy one room a day or some other easy peasy task. Honey, if I could de-clutter and clean one room in a day then I certainly wouldn't need to be reading a blog to do it. How long is a day to them anyway? Do they wake at like 5am and work til 5pm cause in some of the rooms I am sure I'd need 12 hours to do a thorough job. Then they really should allow a week to get over that full day of cleaning cause I sure as heck ain't up to doing another room the next day.
I spent six hours in my eldest daughters room on Saturday (yeah riding lessons were cancelled actually freeing me up some time!!!). I went into my eldest hoarders, er sorry daughters, room to help her move some furniture around and try and get her to rid herself of some of her clutter. She's one of those kids that keeps everything she's ever been given or made or bought! The room has come up beautifully. It's not like she's that messy, but her room was just filled with clutter. We didn't manage to throw much out but we did move some toys out to the club house and put out some clothes for donating. I am happy with her baby steps and have no idea where she got these hoarding habits from.
I told youngest daughter I'd do hers on Monday (a public holiday) but sadly I simply couldn't summon the enthusiasm. Bad Mama.
Recently I even bought a set of shelves that helped sort out a cupboard in the hallway that was attacking me when I opened one of the doors. Man I love storage solutions. I am sure that it is the answer to all my problems, lots of great storage solutions ... maybe I should go search online for some more to buy ... shh don't tell. It's not more clutter, really it's not!
I would have loved a sister but instead I was blessed (well there were times I didn't feel that way - still not sure I forgive them for drawing on my teddy!) with a couple of crazy, yet lovable younger brothers. They are twins too, so they are pretty special. I have always loved having twin brothers, I am not sure I have ever told them that. I tend to forget that they are twins as they are as different as chalk and cheese, always have been. Sometimes when we were younger I used to get jealous of their special relationship with each other. I felt a bit left out and especially at those times I would have dearly loved a sister my age. Despite that they are gorgeous guys that I consider a couple of my best buds.
Instead of birth sisters, I have some wonderful women in my life that I couldn't love anymore had they been born into the same family as I was. No matter how far away they are and how long we go without catching up, whenever we do it's like no time has passed. I love my best buds, yeah you know who you are!
It's hard to make new best buds as you get older but if you put in the work you can still find some lovely new people to add to your circle of special people. That's pretty cool isn't it? Yah just gotta try a little harder as you get older it seems.
My little girls are best buds and when I see them heading off down the block for a walk like this, with their arms entwined around each other, my heart simply melts. My greatest desire for them is that they continue to stay this close to each other throughout their lives.
I haven't really been inspired to write recently in fact I've been feeling rather laaaaazy.
I initially starting blogging as a way to keep my family over in Australia in touch with what our little family unit over here in NZ had been up to. Since then I have written a few posts about what we've done, some homeschooling stuff and not really much else. Unfortunately when we are really doing some fun stuff it often takes a little more of my time and energy and therefore I haven't had the pep (I didn't want to use that word energy again) to keep up with the blogging, even though that's usually the stuff that is more fun to blog about.
Also my peeps some of you may read my blog but because you never actually comment on the blog, it's kinda hard to know if anyone actually is reading it and again that can be a bit disheartening.
Now I really need some motivation to get back on the blogging treadmill, because I have discovered that I usually quite enjoy my writing time and actually doing something that is just for me.
Sue Elvis, yes true name my peeps, writes a lovely blog that I follow, Sue Elvis Writes. With a name like that I'd make it my blog name too! Just quickly in case I forget to say it, you should pop across and check out Sue's blog, she writes so beautifully and poignantly. I mostly follow homeschooling blogs for ideas and inspiration (and at times to feel inadequate) ... what's with those "moms" that post fantastic crafts and activities that they manage to do everyday, seriously do they spend all night thinking up new and exciting activities! ... anyways ... Sue Elvis Writes is not about that, it's about her life, her family, her grief over the loss of one of her much loved babies and sometimes her funny musings. The lovely Sue does have another blog Stories of an Unschooling Family about unschooling her family if that's what you'd prefer. Crikey if she reads this she'll be thinking I am stalking her!
You may wonder why I even brought up Sue, well it's because yesterdays posting from Sue was about Angels and at the bottom of her lovely posting, she mentioned how Angels was her first posting in a Blogging from A - Z Challenge that she was participating in.
I took a look at the Challenge and have decided to take it on as "A" personal challenge. Hopefully it will give me the impetus to get back into the swing of blogging! If not I will crash and burn out gracefully.
Basically you are supposed to blog each day, excepting Sundays which we all know is a day of rest (or total collapse), starting with the letter A through to the letter Z.
I realise I have cheated a little with the "A" today but that's so I can let y'all know what I'll be doing this month (and I am a bit Johny come lately so haven't really given this much thought) and hope you will follow me along my attempt to do a whole month of blogging. I mean really, I could have also started my posts with April Fools Day, which would have been simple too, so give me a break!
Hmmm now B is for ...
