{Family Verse of the Month}

We are mainly focusing on the second half of our verse from 1 Peter 3:8 this month. "Love one another, be compassionate and humble."

Do you have a family verse cycle? Weekly or monthly? If so, what's yours right now? 

Lauren x

{Family Sick Bucket}

If the kids are going to ever catch a bizzare tummy bug, it often comes without warning? Am I right?

I remember once (or twice) being woken up by a sort of a yelping or wailing sound coming from their room or a random shadowy figure standing right next to you as you sleep that whispers "Muuuuuum...my tuuuummy feeels fuuunnny". The timer starts then. You never know how long you have until your cleaning up after a sick child. One of the glamourous parts of a parents job description.

I decided to put together a little bucket full of supplies that I could call on when needed. Usually in the middle of the night. 

So here is my bucket which is now stored in the linen press. I chose this location as it's upstairs and central to all 4 bedrooms.

A bucket (obviously)

2 plastic bags (I line the bucket with this when they are sick which makes cleanup much easier).
Vinyl tablecloth (this is handy to place next to bed on the floor to help contain the mess).

Cleaning items:

Packet of tissues

Hand sanitizer

Paper towels

New clean toothbrushes

Carpet and furniture deodoriser and sanitiser. 

Replenish and Re-Hydrate:

Bottle of hydro lite or other electrolyte drink (I chose the tablets as it's easier). 
Packet of sugar free lollies to get rid of that taste in their mouths
Dry crackers and Apple sauce with a spoon
Coconut Water

Probiotic Tablets

Now, this is one project that I'll be happy if we never use. However, when and if we are hit by a yucky bug, everything is in one place. 

Is this something you would use? Is there something else you would add to the supplies? 

Lauren x 

{Family verse of the Month : February}

As many of you know, our faith is a big part of the day to day running of our house. I have shared before about ways that we integrate this into our daily routine. 
One of those ways is our monthly family verse. It is written up in a central location of the home. It is often a great reminder for us all to focus on what is important for us. 
This month the verse is from Psalm 34:17  which says: "The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help."

 

Having a verse for a whole month allows a lot of opportunities to discuss this in conjunction with what we are dealing with in our every day struggles. I started doing this for the benefit of our children, however I find that it blesses me just as much!

Q: How do you incorporate scripture into your home?

 

{Prayer Sticks}

I am always on the look out for interesting ways to incorporate our families' faith into our every day moments. I felt God put on my heart recently the need to step up the prayer life for my two boys. I love that whenever they hear a siren now its instinctual to pray for the accident and the emergency workers. However, with their little sisters' sleep and general routine leaving something to be desired, bedtime prayers were either being forgotten or being limited in topic matter. Due to hubby's working hours, I am often juggling bedtime routine and rocking a baby to sleep at the same time. Helpful. 
So, I decided to make it tangible and exciting for the boys to pray for different things. Enter the Prayer Sticks.

{"Caught You Being Good"}

Its been a while since my last post. I needed a break to handle what turned out to be a rough last portion of pregnancy and a 2 month break settling into life with our baby girl. It certainly has been a hazy few months. I have felt like this often:

I considered giving up my blog, but decided to sit on it for a while. Glad i did as now that I am coming out of "zombie-land" slowly, I have missed my little space on here. 

I recently had some great feedback from some friends when they saw my 'caught you being good' addition to our fridge recently. So, I thought I would share it on here too. My boys (8) and (5) have adjusted well to being big brothers. However, selective hearing has started to creep in here and there. Okay, there are days  when I feel like I may just be invisible and that usually drives me nuts. I found myself always on the defensive back foot saying "no" too much. Add a sleep deprived mother and I was going crazy. 

So, here is my attempt to keep things positive. I simply typed up a sheet with their name and used the off cuts to create a paper chain of 6 rings each.

The idea is when i catch them being kind/ doing something respectful or helpful etc... a ring is removed. When they get to the top, they get a prize. I'm not talking expensive toys here, gosh no! These will be simple things like:

- 10 minutes extra bed time

- choose the Friday night movie

- choose a dinner for next week

- make cookies with mum etc...

I look forward to getting back into blog land and getting my kitchen/ crafty mojo back. In baby steps though :)

Lauren x

{Count Your Many Blessings}

This year I have finally put into place something I wanted to do all last year but never got around to doing. I have a big jar that has a simple sign on it "Count your many blessings" on the front.

Quite simply this jar is in a central place of the home and every time a special moment happens or a prayer is answered, a little note with a brief description goes in the jar. This jar will fill over the next year and then on New Years Eve we will open it as a family and look back on the blessings that have been lavished on our family. It's a great way to keep a positive outlook front and centre and a tangible way to see it grow.

Even if you live by yourself or just with a couple, you could still do it with an individual sized jar next to your bed or something...it's an idea totally adaptable to your circumstance.

Why not try it? It's only half way through January and not too late. You could always add one or two notes to describe any wonderful moments that have happened so far in 2014.


Lauren x

{Surviving Christmas : Tip 1}

            

                  
It's almost that time. Christmas tree time. Whether yours is in a box in the garage or about to be chopped down and waiting to be chosen, it's coming. Everyone has there own traditions about when and how they decorate the trees. If you are like us, you wait with baited breath for the first of December and fill the house with Christmas music whilst the tree goes up. However, my social media feeds have seen some beautiful trees already go up in November. Some very keen Christmas spirit indeed!

Although my boys are 7 and 4 now, the past few years have seen little kids crawling and running around the house. I felt terrible rousing on them to not touch the ornaments in case they pulled them off and broke them. Those suckers are fragile and can shatter into shards you don't want near little children. Regardless if they are prized ornaments or cheaper ones.

When I discussed this with my very wise Mother-in-law years ago, she explained her very simple solution that has been a  lifesaver for us. Rather than try to contain the kids and make them feel like they are becoming a burden for simply being curious, contain the tree instead.
I picked up a second hand wooden playpen for $50 and assembled our tree inside. This helped keep the ornaments in one piece and the children could still enjoy the beautiful tree without me having to work overtime keeping them away from it. WIN - WIN!
                                           
This will be the first christmas in a while without the playpen, but we are obviously not throwing it out considering we will have a 8 month old princess crawling around next Christmas...(woah that's crazy to think about!)

Q: Do you already have your tree up? Are there any special traditions your family enjoys at this time?  

Lauren x

{The Grateful FIVE}

 

I think one of the main battles for modern parenthood is the balance between wanting to give your kids all the things that we never had, and the struggle to keep them not focused on 'stuff' in an "I need this" society. We all want the best for our kids, there is no denying that. Keeping that balance in check can always be tricky though. I find it especially gets worse surrounding birthdays, Christmas etc... (read how I fight overindulgence at Christmas time specifically here).
The conversations are all about the toys, games and the fad's that come in and out like tamagotchi's, pillow pets, skylanders and polly pockets. Before you know it, you know which friend has all the toys and which friend is allowed to do everything and suddenly 'life just isn't fair'! Sound familiar. I hope it's not just me.

In our house I started a little slogan that swats that selfish "it's all about me" "it's all about stuff" and "I want, I need, more, more MORE!" attitude. The GRATEFUL FIVE is a saying that I can whip out of my motherhood tool belt anywhere, anytime. It works more with my 7 year old, but my 4 year old is starting to catch on slowly. Simply said, All i have to say is GRATEFUL FIVE, and my son must list 5 things he is grateful for right now. To make the list, it must not be focused on 'stuff' or things' i.e. 'I am grateful I have the biggest skylander collection'.

It totally takes the focus off them and back on to the important things in life. Some of the things he has suggested are 

- the chats we have on the way home from school 

- that Daddy likes reading me my star wars books to me

- for the rain today that helped farmers

- to have a warm and comfy house to live in etc...

So, why not try this with the kids when they get too caught up in the 'stuff' and forget the blessings that are around them. Whether it's a grateful 2, 3, 4 or 5...the principle is the same. Perhaps it's even us as adults that need to do this from time to time too. 

Lauren x

{The Countdown is on}

Children love to count down. We count down how many sleeps till Christmas, birthdays and holidays. They love looking forward to occassions. "Are we there yet?" "Is it my birthday yet?" "How many sleeps till...?" Sound Familiar?

It is sometimes hard for a young child to understand a length of time. Saying "its in two weeks" to a young child is as successful as if you were to say "oh, just wait a year".

So, years ago, we started helping our boys understand the various countdowns by using this visual aid. 

 
We simply place a sign on the fridge with what we are counting down to. Then attach a few paper chain links....one per 'sleep' until the countdown event. In our house, every morning, the boys love running down the stairs and tearing off a ring and they love watching the chain get smaller and smaller. It helps them to visually have a concept of something that is quite abstract for a young child.
We have 7 sleeps to go until a certain boys 7th birthday. This morning the first thing he looked for was to loose a ring off the chain. It has become a real tradition in our family that my kids look forward to.    


Lauren x

   

{We almost missed the Big Red Car}

In about 2 weeks, my eldest boy turns 7. I have loved watching him grow up and move into a new phase in his life. His interests and passions are blooming and evolving. We are (somewhat) out of the world of 'toys'. He loves reading, playing sport, the occasional sky landers game and Star Wars fever has hit our house hard!
However, when he was the age of his little brother (3-4yrs) he was still into things like play school, wiggles and Thomas.



My (just) 4 year old often follows exactly what his big brother does. They refer to each other as best mates and have recently moved into the same room (after many requests from them both). Little bro thinks big bro is a rock star and practically worships the ground he walks on.

Sometimes I forget he is still just 4 and so I put on a play school and a wiggles episode recently to break up the monotony of being indoors from the Sydney rain. I was initially met with "its a baby show", but he didn't move the entire episode of either!


Maybe it's inevitable with the second sibling that they miss out on some of these things and are swept up with what big brother/ sister watches. Perhaps it's even more this way when siblings are the same gender?
 
Either way, it was nice to just watch my 4 year old enjoy being a preschooler and sing along to some nursery rhymes etc...

Has this happened in your house with the second child or is it just us?

Lauren x

{"You Broke Mummy!" & The Spitting Cauliflower}

Ever had one of those days?

For me I occasionally have days or moments when things just go totally off the rail  crazy! I mean the moments that leave you wondering if you totally lost your sanity or if it ended up in the sink full of dirty dishes hidden carefully and skillfully under the chopping board for no-one to see. Motherhood does that to you. Occasionally.
Let me rewind.
I have had at least one sick family member requiring nursing duties over the last three weeks. Scarce a day when we are all 100%.
Needless to say I'm over sickness!

However, I always try to soldier on. School pick up done. Home remotely clean. We are on the home stretch to bed time, surely 'happy hour' will pass us by. Right????! WRONG!!

{Follow Up Post : I Love You Because...}

A few months ago, I posted about the addition of the "i love you because..." frame in our master bathroom. {original post here}
I placed it on the wall between our mirrors and leave the whiteboard marker on top. Every few days we change the message and leave something new for each other. 

                               

{Teeth Brushing Help For Kids}

I have never had a problem getting my boys to brush their teeth. Provided I buy the ONE toothpaste they like.
However, getting for them to brush longer than a few seconds has been a struggle.

Then I found this FREE App : "Macleans Nurdle Time".


It explains what they need to do and then plays a 2 minute song about tooth brushing. They now brush until the song finishes which is a massive improvement! They earn 'star' points for their brush and can trade them in for outfits to dress their characters up. There are up to 5 profiles for different family members too!

It's such a great idea and has helped take the pressure off the nagging in the morning to get that task done ;)

Lauren x

{A New Motherhood : Parenting Beyond the Dummies & Rusks}

About six and a bit years ago, my husband and I ventured out of the hospital and embarked on the trip home. I remember that car trip like it was yesterday, because I have never seen my husband drive any slower than he did that day. We were both full of caution, nerves, excitement, joy and hope for this little man's future.

Recently this precious little bundle who is now a first grader and racing into his childhood with energy and charisma, has entered a new phase in life. It all started with some changes at school and he started to become slightly more emotional than I had ever seen him before.

Then, one day after school, I sat with him on his bead and lay next to him on his pillow. His big brown eyes welling up with tears as he explained his heartache over his day. I wiped his tears and longed for the days where I could make it all better with a google search or some children's panadol.

Then it dawned on me. We now enter a new faze of the journey. One where I sometimes hold his hands through the frustrations of navigating friendships, disappointments of life, discovering what makes him really tick and the big questions in life.
I sometimes long for the days where burping him, changing a nappy, handing him a rusk or giving him a rattle would soothe all his woes.

I guess I was (somewhat) prepared for bigger issues to happen as we raced towards the pre-teen stage of life. However, at his tender age of almost 7, I have been caught off guard.

Most mothers, I suppose, have moments of 'how on earth do i tackle this one'. Days where you have to pause and think as you (attempt to) form the words that dish out todays life lesson. Which as life would have it, is usually on the way home from soccer practice or whilst your elbow deep in potato peelings for that night's mash.

I started to lengthen our bedtime routine by making sure that after bathtime, teeth are brushed and story is read, I simply sit with him for a few minutes and just chat. Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we share deep thoughts.
I always want my boys to know that no matter how busy Mummy is, they are a priority. That no matter what happened at school, they can talk to me.


One book that I have loved reading to him after a 'hard day' is Max Lucado's : Just in case you ever wonder. I will leave you here with his eloquent words:

"But as you grow and change, some things will stay the same. I'll always love you. I'll always hug you. I'll always be on your side. And I want you to know that....just in case you ever wonder."

Lauren x

{An Egg-cellent Easter Dessert Idea}

I couldn't resist the joke above - lol! A few sleeps till Easter, we love celebrating in our house and here is a snippet from something I did last year.
It's perfect if your having a family dinner for Easter this year. After you've had the main course, a special occasion calls for a special 'ta-da' moment dessert.

I posted yesterday about the Easter egg hunt cake (click here). Why not make that for the kids and trying something fun yet sophisticated for the grown up's.

Easter Cheese-Cake Eggs:
This is a tricky recipe to give measurements for as it depends greatly on the size of the chocolate eggs you use.

Get Ready:
You could use fancy vintage heirloom egg cups. If you have them go for it. OR, use an egg carton and cut it up for individual serving.
Then unwrap a hollow chocolate egg and gently crack off some of the top and set aside (slash nibble on them for sustenance whilst cooking for your family - I know you want to lol).

The "egg white" filling:
Mix up done cream cheese, castor or icing sugar in an electric mixer. Add a teaspoon of vanilla, a splash of fresh lemon juice and some lemon rind. Taste test to make sure it has a good balance.
Spoon into the 'egg shells'.

Top it with the Yolk:
Strain some passion fruit pulp so you don't have the seeds left and place in the middle of the cheesecake mixture. You could also use mango pulp or lemon curd if you prefer.


I served these last Easter and they were very well received. The great thing is that they are portioned, so depending on the size of the egg, you may leave your guests wanting more! (That's not a bad thing ;)
Lauren x

{The Fairy Is Coming : Part 2}

I shared before {here} about how the tooth fairy is coming to our house soon. The infamous tooth is slowly getting more wobbly and so I decided to have a play at the sewing machine and with no real plan, attempt at creating a tooth fairy pillow with NO budget, using only scraps.
I have an ever growing stash of fabric, bits and bobs. So, "shopping the stash" wasn't a challenge. I even had an old pillow insert left over after a cushion cover ripped. I cut it open and used the batting to stuff the little creature. 


Its not my best sewing attempt, I didn't even change my thread over to green to match the fabric, but my 6 year old loves it and it was more just a trial run to put what was in my mind into reality.

There is a cute little mouth sewn into the cute monster that doubles as a pocket for the tooth and money.  
 

I am not 100% happy with it, and think I might try another kind of design just to mix it up. 

Q: How does your house celebrate the tooth fairy? Glass of water? Under the sleeping pillow? In a special place? 


Lauren x 

{Motherhood, Tibetan Monks and Toddler Nose Picking}

I read an article recently about the varying differences between the time when our grandparents raised our parents and now {read it here}.
It got me thinking about the pressure on parents these days. This week, parents everywhere are labeling uniforms, battling contact when covering books, packing lunch boxes that are full of no nut, healthy, organic, treats grown by Tibetan Monks all whilst shining shoes and on the phone booking them into swimming, netball, soccer, clarinet lessons and extra German classes.
Slight exaggeration.
You get my point.




So many of us are trying to do the right thing by our kids, but is anyone happy? What ever happened to letting kids be kids? Preschools are even expected to report academic assessments these days. Quite frankly if my 3 year old didn't pick his nose too much, ate something resembling the bottom half of the food pyramid, laughed and played with his cars in the dirt (yes, dirt, it still exists!) I am very happy!
If we happen to draw something resembling a person or count to 20 it's an added bonus in my eyes.
So much of our society is yearning to return back to the days of a simple life. Vintage is all the rage and retro is huge! I love my gadgets and some of the conveniences of modern world, don't get me wrong. I wonder, however, if part of this shift is because of the values that we held onto back then. Are we all just wanting to take the pressure off?
Do you feel the pressure of getting it all right with your kids? Where does the pressure come from? Do you feel like the expectations of motherhood have changed?
I'd love to hear your thoughts. Here are some funny thoughts on motherhood that made me laugh :)








Lauren x

{The Fairy is Coming Soon}

Our house is counting down time until the tooth fairy comes - FINALLY! Mr 6 (and a half...the half IS important) has only ever lost one tooth, but that was after a playground accident and it being extracted by the dentist. The adult tooth in that spot we are still waiting to one through.
On his bottom jaw however, the two centre adult teeth have started to one up behind the baby teeth. It's been a waiting game till a bunch of these bottom front front teeth start moving.
Well, there is movement at the station friends! He wasn't so thrilled though. Tonight at bath time I realized he thought he had go to to the dentist to have it pulled out. When I reminded him about the tooth fairy, his face brightened substantially. Phew!
Now, I am scouting pinterest & google to find the right way to celebrate This impending tooth/ money switch. Here is some inspiration I found:




Think it's time to dust off the sewing machine and create something cute.
Q: How do you celebrate the tooth fairy in your house? Do you use a cushion, glass of water or tin? Any extra special touches like glitter or a receipt? What's the going rate these days, what does your tooth fairy pay?

Lauren X

{Nativity & Advent Calendars}

A few weeks ago, I visited 'The Yellow Dresser' for the first time. I picked up this gorgeous Advent calendar (and a few other gorgeous things) and couldn't wait to fill it with things to count down to Christmas. 
I searched for ideas, and there were a tonne of them thanks to google and pinterest mainly. I decided to keep it simple and I came across a lady who had a free printable on her blog of exactly what I wanted. All the hard work was done for me! {Here is the link} to the printable for the advent and this is an example of one of the days.





I chose not to add treats, as I wanted the excitement each day to be mainly about what happens next in the story. They definitely remind me to do it and it has become a real highlight for us.
Another good advent printable I found from one of my favourite bloggers, Be a Fun Mum, can be found {here} also. 

The other addition this year (which I wish I had found years ago) was an idea I had to make some visual aids to support the bits of the story we read each day. I found some images of the nativity online and simply printed them off, laminated them and glued magnets to the back.


Both my kids have been playing with them on the fridge and we sometimes use them to act out or help tell the part of the story we are up to. 
***tip: rather than buying expensive magnets form the craft store, save the large 'calendar magnets' you get given free in the mail from tradespeople etc... and cut up and glue on laminated pictures. Because of this and the laminating pouches I had, this cost me nothing***
{click for image of the nativity characters}
{click for image of the background}

I hope the lead up to Christmas isn't too stressful and you are taking some time to enjoy it with your loved ones.
Lauren x

{Childhood Jobs & 'Pocket Money'}

The idea of money, the value of it, the maths behind it and the ability to obtain it has been a big conversation in our house for months now. Mr 6 is paying attention to this A LOT! We started by letting him have a turn at {Coin Land} which is a PC game created by the Commonwealth Bank and it introduced some good concepts and taught him some good lessons. However, we found he was finding 'his own pocket money' from loose change around the house. We both believe that teaching our children about money and how to look after it well is very important in life. {Here} is a great tool that helps you understand how to break this down into age appropriate levels. We weren't convinced pocket money was something we wanted to launch into and so it took research, talking and thinking.