God-reliant parenting

I am posting over at Life on a hill today. I wrote this post for my old personal blog in October 2010, when I was about 7 months pregnant with my youngest child (hence the pelvic pain I mentioned). Though the specifics of our family situation are quite different now (I'm not pregnant, kids are older, we live closer to my husband's workplace, no family wedding this year, Matt is now a year into the "new" job....), I am still prone to self-reliant parenting. I need to read and learn this lesson again, and again.

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Sometimes the most gentle rebuke can strike the hardest.

My husband Matt is dealing with a super-human workload at the moment. You know those times when “just one more little thing” is enough to tip you over the threshold. He is three weeks into a new job and is adjusting to all the changes of a new school, a longer commute, managing a team of people, picking up the pieces that have been left after this position has been vacant since January. Matt is also still tying up some loose ends at his old school (writing reports etc). Our family was tied up with plans for my sister-in-law's wedding until last weekend. (Matt was MC at the reception as well as making a speech and helping me get things organised with our children - flower girl and page boy - for the day). He is trying to fit in some training for the Sydney-Wollongong bike ride coming up on November 7th etc, etc.

In addition to all this, our whole family has been pretty tired since last weekend, and our 15-month-old, in particular has been quite grumpy... (Read more at Life on a Hill)

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Things I don't want to regret

Sometimes the fleetingness (I know it isn't a word) of life really hits me between the eyes. Anyone who is over 45 will tell you that the time we get with our small kids is so short. Today I was thinking about how I often get my priorities all out of whack. I spend too much time on the things that don't really matter and not enough time on the things that do.

 Here are some things I never want to regret:

1) Not kissing these chubby cheeks, or holding these little hands, or hugging this little body enough

2) Not seeing enough of these smiles

3) Not talking to, or touching, or hugging or enjoying my husband enough. One day he (or I) won't be around to talk to, or touch or hug or enjoy.

 4) Not snuggling enough with my little ones

5) Not letting mess happen

6) Not playing enough

7) Letting a clean/ tidy house be more important than relating to my kids

8) Being selfish with "me" time - taking more of it than I really need (at the expense of relationships)

9) Not cooking enough of this kind of thing (and enjoying it with family and friends)

10) Not making time to know God

Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Than I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Matthew 7:22-23

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Wordless Wednesday: Time to move the fruit bowl

Linking with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday

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30 minutes to turn your daughter into a butterfly

We attended a (very fun) 2nd birthday party on Sunday, with the theme of "jungle animals". When I first discussed the party with Miss 3, she insisted that she should go dressed as a pig. Pink pigs are a favourite here at the moment.

I had started putting together a bit of a pig costume - ears attached to a head-band, a cardboard snout and a spiral type tail. Then on Sunday at lunch-time came a late costume change - Miss 3 decided she wanted to go as a butterfly. (She finally admitted that a pig - at least a pink one - isn't really a jungle animal, although by this stage I had stopped trying to convince her)

Under most circumstances, I probably would have made her stick with the pig costume, but I had a brainwave about how I could make a butterfly, and, with about 90 minutes to party-time, I wanted to give it a go (Plus, I thought it would be quite cute for both girls to be matching butterflies!)

So, here is how to make a (no-sew) butterfly costume in about 30 minutes (about 50 minutes to make two). If you are clever with this sort of thing, you could probably do it even faster.

1. Cut out two wing shapes with cardboard. I placed the two pieces of cardboard on top of each other so the centre join would be the same length without measuring.

 2. Cover each half of the wing with some fabric

3. Wrap like a birthday present, fold and staple the edges

4. Staple the two halves together

5. Tie, or staple some elastic onto the back (front?) of the wings and make two loops for arms to go through

6. Make antennae by using a head-band, and wrapping pipe cleaners around the top

7. Wear a skivvy and tights with your wings and antennae

8. Join your "elephant" brother (and many other jungle animal guests) and par-tay!

Join Jess at Diary of a SAHM

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Christmas is coming... Operation Christmas Child

It is only September, but Christmas is everywhere already. For anyone who hasn't noticed, Christmas now takes up over a quarter of the year. This is sad and frustrating to me on many levels (mostly because of the commercialisation, greed, materialism that has come to be associated with the celebration of Jesus' birth)

But, there is one great thing about Christmas that you need to start thinking about now... Operation Christmas Child. The deadline for delivery of boxes is 25th October 2011.

Those who were reading my blog last year may remember that our church, and our family were involved in Operation Christmas Child in 2010.

Thanks to our old church group, and my friend Kara, we are excited to be taking part again this year. Miss 3 is packing a box for a 3-year-old girl, Mr. 2 is packing a box for a 2-year-old boy, and I will pack a box each for a 10-14 year old boy and girl (because this age group is apparently often overlooked).

Some things I like about Operation Christmas Child:

• It is part of teaching our children about thankfulness. Our children are learning how much they have compared to so many others around the world
• Our children are learning to be generous. It is quite a hard thing for a 2/3 year old to choose gifts they want and like themselves, and then give them away
• Our children have a practical focus for prayer, as we pray for people in need around the world
• Operation Christmas Child shows children in need love in a practical way
• Operation Christmas Child is a small part of the work of Samaritan's Purse. Samaritan's Purse are involved in disaster relief, community development, and practical assistance for those in need, in the name of Jesus.

To learn more about Operation Christmas Child, please visit http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.au On the website you can order/ download free resources to help in packing your shoe-box. You can also download the labels to attach to the shoe-boxes.

At the moment, there is only one drop-off point listed for boxes in NSW. There may actually be other points available. I plan to phone after 1st October to find out. If not, I am happy for anyone (who knows where we live) to drop boxes off with us, and I will take them out to Penrith on or before 25th October. Feel free to email me if you want me to take some boxes for you.

Are you/ have you been involved in Operation Christmas Child?

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Blog fail: 6 blog posts I never read

I have just been trying to clear the massive backlog of posts in my Google reader. I got to thinking about certain kinds of posts. These are the posts that won't even make me pause as I scroll through my  "unread" list, let alone tempt me to visit the actual blog. 

{DISCLAIMER: I know I am guilty of at least some of these types of posts myself... If your blog is in my Google reader at all, obviously there is something keeping it there. Others will obviously disagree with my assessment, but these posts just shout out to me... keep moving, nothing to see here}

1) Any blog post that is a review and giveaway for something boring and/or insignificant: a DVD, a mop, a cleaning product. Even worse, when almost every blogger I am subscribed to is giving away the exact same product. B-O-R-I-N-G!

I can usually twig to one of these posts by noticing the over-sized picture of the said boring product at the beginning of the post. Moving right along...

2) Posts that are very long, with no photos and no paragraph breaks. I've got 100s of blog posts I want to read. I need the main ideas to stand out!

3) Vlogs. I know, I know, I need to get with the times. But seriously, if I want to watch a vlog, why aren't I just watching tele? I want to READ blogs, not WATCH them.

4) Blog posts with terrible grammar, spelling mistakes, punctuation. Of course, the odd mistake is forgivable (I hope you forgive me my mistakes), but I can't enjoy posts with language errors here, there and everywhere (+ my husband doesn't like to watch the steam coming out of my ears as I read)

5) The "woe-is-me-no-one-reads-my-blog" blog post. Come on. Chill out. Every blogger (I think) has those moments of regret that no-one commented on a certain post, or disappointment that no-one seems as interested in your blog as you are! We don't all need to hear about it. In reality, only a small percentage of bloggers have millions or even thousands of readers. If you don't enjoy blogging just for the sake of it, don't do it.

Maybe next week I will be more positive and write about the types of posts that always inspire me to read on!

What turns you off reading a blog post?

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Wordless Wednesday: Memory

Joining Wordless Wednesday

Playing Memory with a 2 and 3 year old may be a little bit ambitious. It was amazing how much insight I gained into their different learning strengths the first time we played though. (And also, how much insight into my (low) patience levels...)

Hurry up mummy!

Miss 3 gets quite competitive these days

Mr 2 has to put both cards right in front of him before announcing "same" or "not the same"

Not the same (but that's okay - not too competitive yet)

Miss 3 is not too happy when Mr 2 gets a pair!

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Recipe of the week - Pumpkin and Spinach Coconut Beef Curry

Our dinner simmering away. Pumpkin and spinach not added yet.

A couple of people over on the Facebook page were asking about this recipe. So, here it is:

Pumpkin and Spinach Coconut Beef Curry

 Recipe from One Family, One Supermarket: Cooking with Aldi (adapted for slow cooker)

Ingredients:

1 kg beef chuck or other beef fillet (not too lean or beef may dry out in slow cooker)

1/4 cup plain flour (optional)

1 tbs olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed (or tsp minced garlic)

2 tbs yellow curry paste (or more or less depending on preference)

2 tsp paprika

1 beef stock cube, crumbled

2 tbs tomato paste

1 can (400mL) coconut cream

400g pumpkin, peeled and diced

60g baby spinach 

Method:

Trim any fat from beef and dice into 2cm cubes

If using flour: coat beef in the flour and shake away excess

Heat oil in a non-stick saucepan over medium heat

Add beef cubes, onion, garlic and curry paste. Cook until beef is well browned

Transfer mixture to slow cooker

Add paprika, stock cube, tomato paste and coconut cream to slow cooker

Top up with a little additional water to cover meat if needed

Cook 4 hours on HIGH or 6-8 hours on LOW

Add diced pumpkin in last 1.5 hours of cooking (HIGH) or last 2 hours (LOW)

After cooking, add spinach leaves and stir through until wilted

Serve with rice.

Note: You can make a lot of (minor) variations to this recipe without changing overall taste - add additional green vegetables, substitute tomato paste with a tomato pasta sauce or even tomato sauce, substitute coconut cream with regular cream or evaporated milk (takes away the coconut taste).

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Parenting and preparing to let go

I posted this over at Life on a Hill yesterday:

 

On my wedding day, over 8 years ago, my dad gave a powerful and touching speech. (I remember it well because I have watched our wedding DVD quite regularly since the event!). I want to share a particular part of what he said:

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"I know that many dads of daughters will be able to relate to what I am saying here:

Let's think back to the time that we brought our baby daughters home from the hospital. We were the most important man in the life of that little girl. 

Or we think a little bit further on, when our daughters started talking. Our daughters told us that we were "the best in the world" at all sorts of things. We were told we were the smartest men in the world, the strongest men in the world, the fastest runners, the funniest men in the world, the best-looking... As time went by, our daughters realised that there were many men smarter, stronger, faster, funnier, better-looking than us, but still one thing remained. We were the most important man in the life of our little girl....

Click here to read more over at Life on a Hill

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Our "freecycled" cubby house

I think I have mentioned that we have pretty friendly neighbours around here. A few weeks ago, another of our neighbours (not the ones with the tangelos), offered us their old home-made cubby house. It was sort of a win-win situation. His kids are now in high-school. He wants to do extensions to his house and needed to get rid of the cubby. He didn't want to see it dumped because he had put so much effort into building it. We are the only family with small kids at this end of our street. We weren't really in the market for a cubby... until we were offered one for free. 

The only problem was getting the cubby house into our back yard. 

In the end, this is how we got our cubby house. Thankful that our neighbour has lots of resourceful mates:

Pretty exciting to have this happening in the backyard!

And, ta-dah! Our cubby house in place. It even matches the colour scheme of our house and yard!:

Chillin' on the verandah (excuse the hair)

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They said it better... #5

Most Saturdays now I like to share a couple of posts I've enjoyed reading during the week:

Play:

Squigglemum talks about outdoor chalkboards. Would you believe I am in the process of painting 2 outdoor chalkboards? I am making use of some marine plywood we used as our old sandpit cover. I plan to complete the second coat tomorrow! I started this project before I saw this post.

I shared this great tip for maximising kids' activity books on Facebook.

I thought this looked like fun for older kids.

Parenting:

I'm really not looking forward to shopping when my girls hit this age group. Debbie from Aspiring Mum talks about the clothes that are available for 8 year old girls.

Finally, for all Christian parents, though it specifically addresses a sub-group of Christian parents. This is a long read, but has some brilliant insights and wisdom.

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I *heart*...

Gumption is totally old-school. My mum used it when I was a kid. Until recently, I wasn't even sure if you could buy Gumption anymore.

I have an old tub of Gumption. I think it came from my mum's place or maybe my mother-in-law's place. At our previous house, it found its way to the back of the cupboard under my kitchen sink, then stayed there for about 5 years.

When we were preparing to move house, my Enjo gloves were not cutting it. I had 5-year-old grease (*cough*) on my range hood and the bottom of my kitchen cupboards. I needed something stronger. In desperation I reached into the back of the kitchen cupboard and pulled out Gumption. (There must have been some reason I didn't throw it out). Watching Gumption at work was like watching magic happen. The grease just dissolved before my eyes. (I am receiving no payment to endorse this product).

Somehow Gumption made its way to the bottom of our cleaning box again at our new place. Last week I found myself unable to remove the ring around the bottom of our bath-tub using my conventional methods. I tried hot water and elbow grease. I tried white vinegar and water. I tried straight white vinegar. I tried my Enjo marble paste. I tried some bicarb soda. (The bicarb did make a difference but still not perfect). 

Then I tried my old friend Gumption. Perfection.

The tub of Gumption I have is so old that it gives no indication about its environmental credentials. But it is non-toxic, and you only need to use a small amount on a damp cloth to get almost anything clean. You can use it for stainless steel, bench tops (stone or laminex), painted surfaces (walls), on bonded leather lounges (ask me how I know?), etc etc. You can get it at most major supermarkets.

Have you used Gumption?



I love to hear your opinions. Please click on the title of this blog post if you would like to view comments or add your own comment.

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Wordless Wednesday: For outdoor fun, just add water

Ever since reading this post over at Squigglemum, I have been thinking about some kind of outdoor play kitchen for our kids. 

The advantage of an outdoor space is that (a) we have no space in our house for an indoor play kitchen (b) we have a decent sized backyard and (c) the kids can make as much mess as they want to, cooking up a storm with rocks, dirt, grass cuttings and ... water.

This is a work-in-progress. We are not going to purchase anything for the space at this stage, but are using bits and pieces that we have for play. On Saturday while Matt and I were busy on some outdoor jobs, I gave the kids a bin half-filled with water and away they went. This kept them going for at least an hour!

I'm linking up with Aussie Wordless Wednesday at My Little Drummer Boys



Please click on the title of this blog post if you would like to view comments or add your own comment.

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Ideas for messy play

Last week at our play-group, 2 ladies from church organised 2 hours devoted to messy play. I have since nicknamed these ladies the masters of messy play. Seriously, with a bit of cornflour, some hot water, some soap flakes, jelly crystals and lots of food colouring, these ladies created an amazing array of tactile play. My messy kids were in awe (and up to their elbows in goop!) Here is what we played with:

1) Dyed, cooked spaghetti

This came in many bright colours. The kids had a ball cutting, rolling, piling, and feeling the spaghetti. Miss 8 months took straight to eating it as soon as we sat down at the table.

Credit: http://www.theimaginationtree.com

To create a similar activity, simply cook the spaghetti according to directions on the packet. Add coloured food dye to the water during cooking.

2) Goop

I have never made goop with my kids before. They were right into it. I wish I had taken my camera.

Credit: http://www.beafunmum.com

To make goop: combine 4 parts cornflour and 1 part cold water (e.g. approximately one packet of cornflour to 1 cup cold water). Add food dye to colour.

3) Finger paint

My kids have played with finger paint a bit. It was a nice touch at play-group to have the finger painting on a vertical surface (butcher's paper taped to the wall). The paint was added to the paper in clumps (using a plastic spoon), then joyfully spread across the paper.

Photo: http://www.baby.families.com

To make finger paint, combine 1/2 cup of soap flakes and 1 cup cornflour with water and food colouring. Mix until mixture starts to thicken and add more water as required.

4) Shaving Cream

Credit: http://www.busybrissymum.blogspot.com

Spray on a table (preferably covered in plastic sheeting). You may add food colouring or powdered paint if colour is required.

 

5) Jelly

Credit:http://www.nuturestore.co.uk

Make according to packet instructions. Set and bring it out in tubs for play!

6) Play-dough

Photo: http://www.playdoughrecipe.org

I shared a couple of play-dough recipes here. Always fun (and not quite as messy as some of the other tactile play!)

7) Make-your-own fairy bread

Photo credit: http://www.chatteronchildren.com.au

This was one of our kids' favourite bits. It involved being independent and eating sugar! After the messy play was cleaned up, and hands washed, the kids were set up with paper plates, plastic knives, a slice of bread, butter and sprinkles. They quickly figured out the best way was to butter the bread, then turn it face-down into the plate of sprinkles for maximum coverage. Yummo!

Today I'm joining Jess at Diary of a Stay at Home Mum (also from Life on a Hill) for I blog on Tuesday!

Please click on the title of this blog post if you would like to view comments or add your own comment.
 

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