Wall Stickers

You may have noticed by now that I like wall stickers.  In fact, I love them!  They are easy to apply, can add such a 'wow' factor to a room and the best bit - they are removable so you can move them elsewhere when you decide to re-decorate!  I fondly remember the wall stickers my mum had in my playroom when I was a kid - they were fantastic but unfortunately for mum, were not able to be removed without damaging the paintwork like the ones they make today!

I must admit that I have parted with quite a few dollars when it comes to wall stickers in my home - mainly the beautiful trees on the playroom and bedroom walls - but in my opinion the money has been well spent!  I've discovered, however, that there are some really inexpensive options available as well.  I thought I'd share my latest wall sticker purchase which has proven very successful in providing entertainment for my little ones during nappy change time!  I found these lovely woodland stickers in a discount store and they cost a total of six dollars, can you believe it?  They are not exactly the same quality material as the designer decals, but pretty effective all the same.

Here are some photos of little Kallan enjoying the stickers in the changing area in our laundry ...

Not only do they act as a distraction, but they are also beneficial for the littlies' language development  - providing an opportunity for discussion about the animals, the shapes and the colours ... bonus!

Nothing permanent either, so I can whip them down when we need a change (pun not intended!) or when the kids are a bit older and we no longer need to provide nappy change-time entertainment!

Now for a sneak peek at what's coming up in my next post ...

Four Months

Wow - four months already!  Time to share some more photos of our littlest man, Kallan. What a beautiful age it is too - lots of smiles and laughs, reaching out and grabbing toys, oh and he has definitely found his voice now - quite a loud one at that!  I'm trying to remember to record all his milestones for the Baby Book.

One of the most heart-warming little moments I experienced recently was when I got up to bubby in the night and, despite feeling rather fatigued, I was greeted by such excitement and smiles - just beautiful!

 

 

Banana Muffins

Baking with the kids is always fun - messy, but fun!  My boys really enjoy a good baking session!

Our latest little baking adventure was a batch of tasty banana muffins.  The recipe we used was super simple - I believe the easier the better when baking with the kids, so that they can do most of the steps themselves.  We also chose this recipe as we had some bananas that were getting a bit over-ripe and therefore ideal for baking with.  I thought I'd share the recipe and some snaps of the boys throughout the process ...

Super Easy Banana Muffins

2 cups self raising flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 ripe bananas

2 eggs

60g (2oz) butter

1/4 cup milk (more if required)

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix the butter and sugar together.  

Add all other ingredients and stir until combined.  

Spoon into greased muffin tins or cupcake wrappers.  

Bake in moderate oven for approx. 30 mins or until cooked.  

Enjoy!

Rowan eager to start

Damon mixing

Spooning the mixture into the wrappers

All ready to go into the oven

Damon icing a baked muffin

Rowan icing his banana muffin

Normally we don't ice these muffins but the boys were keen to do so this time, so I let them get creative with some 'Writing Icing' pens!

Ready to eat!

Yum!

Bookstand Revamp

Remember that little old bookstand I mentioned in an earlier post - the one my lovely hubby rescued from his work?  Well, it has now been cleaned and spray-painted (hubby ended up doing the painting late at night, with some paint he found in his shed) and it now sits in Rowan's bedroom, holding a selection of books in his little reading nook!  I'm really pleased with the finished project.

 

The books in the bookstand are mostly old Australian school readers from the 1970s.  I just love them!  They were actually being thrown out during the relocation of the school I was teaching at quite a few years ago, so I saved a few and am so pleased I did!  I love the simple, repetitive text and my boys seem to as well!  Check out some of the lovely, colourful, 70s style illustrations ...

My boys also really like the book, 'Little Owl Leaves the Nest'.  It was a lucky find in a thrift shop and, as well as having lovely illustrations, has flaps to lift and two different endings - almost like a simple, kids' version of those 'pick-a-path' books I used to read as a teenager, hehe.  What fun!

What makes this simple little project even more satisfying, is the fact that every time I go into Rowan's room, several of the books are scattered on the mat in his reading nook - so I know he is enjoying them!

Smiles

I just wanted to share a few things that made me SMILE today ...

This is a picture that Damon drew of Mummy - I just love the eyelashes and my dangly earrings!

Normally when I come back into the lounge after changing the baby, I expect to find the boys being loud, busy and quite likely to be wrestling with each other on the floor!  So, you can understand why I just HAD to grab the camera this afternoon when I saw my little monkeys sitting together on a pillow, holding their 'doggies' and watching the TV ... so cute!

Santa Letter

I heard today that there are only 44 more days until Christmas ... WOW!  This year has absolutely flown by and I can't believe it's that close to Christmas already!

I love Christmas.  It's such a beautiful time shared with family and friends.  I also love all the shopping, decorating and preparations leading up to it.  Yes, I must admit that I am starting to get a bit excited about the festive season right now!

It's also that time of year when the very special letter to Santa needs to be posted.  With a little help from me, Damon wrote his letter the other day.  He was very excited about writing it and of course decorating it too!  It was so gorgeous and I wanted to take a photo (or even a photocopy) of it to share, but in his great excitement, Damon grabbed himself an envelope, put his letter in it, sealed it and wrote Santa's name on the front, all whilst I was busy feeding the baby.  Anyway, I was quite relieved that he made some 'sensible' requests for presents and there were no major surprises - a toy laptop that has batteries and lots of buttons on it, some crayons, oh and some red clothes!  At that age, you just never know what they might come up with!

My favourite part of his letter read,
"Can you please bring Rowan something too - not coal!"  Good to see he's thinking of his brother!

I also had a little chuckle about the part that said, "I have been a good boy today."  No mention of the rest of the year, just today!  It was all very cute.

So, now his letter is just waiting to be properly addressed (Santa, The North Pole, 9999).  Tomorrow I will help Rowan to write a little letter too, then off to the post office we will go ...

Damon's letter to Santa, all ready to be posted! 

The gorgeous reindeer was a gift from one of my students quite a few years ago - handmade by her clever mum!

Although the Magic of Christmas entails far more than the giving and receiving of presents, the Christmas shopping has to be done!  Over the past month I've actually been putting a lot of thought into the gifts for my boys.  There are so many absolutely gorgeous things around for kids at the moment, which is great, but it can also be a bit overwhelming!  The boys already have a lot of toys, so I have been trying to think of things that are a bit special and will last for a long time (nothing to rubbishy, if you know what I mean), things that are suited to their developmental stages, things that will inspire their creativity and things that I know they are/will be interested in.  Of course, the all-important Santa letter needs to be taken into consideration too!

So, I've been making my lists and, between several trips to the gorgeous kids' stores in town and some late night online shopping, I've actually come up with some things that I'm pretty excited about giving the boys.  I still have a bit of shopping to go, but I am getting there.  As for the rest of my large family ... I still have a lot of thinking and shopping to do before the big day!  Looking forward to it though.

Happy Christmas shopping, everyone!

Little Vintage Book

I mentioned a gorgeous little vintage book in my last post ... 'BATH TIME'.  It's just so lovely that I couldn't resist sharing a bit more about it.

This little board book belonged to me as a child.  I just adored it then and still do!  It was published in 1973 and is part of the 'Show Baby' Series by Brimax Books.  I was a tad excited to read about another book in the series, in a post on one of my favourite blogs, My Poppet!  Oh, if only I could find some other books in the series too!  I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for them.

'BATH TIME' now sits on the shelf in Kallan's new nursery, along with some other treasures.  I love reading it to my little boys.  Check out some of the colourful illustrations - aren't they just gorgeous?