Monthly Archives: July 2009

Noahs Ark Childrens Centre

 in softplay / summer activities by

We spent most of the day here today and it is a great place. Full of things the children can do, not just the obligatory soft play, slides, ball pool, trampoline, but also crafts, dressing up, jigsaws, play dough, kitchen area and reading area. I took my 4 year old niece too and we had a ball. We spent a lot of the morning on the active things going down the slides and just running off lots of energy. We then had a lovely healthy lunch (they don’t serve chips or fizzy drinks), all three of the children ate really nicely and enjoyed their food. We then went to the craft […]

Shortbread star wands

 in baking / cooking / crafts by

We have had great fun making these this afternoon, we picked up the idea from the summer issue of the Tesco Magazine and it was really easy. Ingredients 275g plain flour 200g cold butter 100g icing sugar 2 egg yolks lolly sticks To Decorate egg white sprinkles basically, you add the butter and flour and mix to a breadcrumb consistency Stir in the egg yolks and icing cugar until it forms a dough roll out on a floured board Cut in to shapes – we used stars, my tip would be to make the shortbread pretty thick. The eldest MiniMad pushed in the lolly sticks and then you cook at 200 […]

A nicer sort of Thursday 2

 in Thursdays by

Today has been Thursday, but a different sort of Thursday. A rearranged less stressed Thursday. A much nicer, happier, more relaxing and preferential Thursday – yes you get my drift. We had friends over this morning and played and laughed. We then had lunch from leftovers. Went to animal antics at Sure start Went to mums and got her shopping list Left the boys with her Did her and my shopping Went back to mums and cooked for the boys Fed the boys Got back in the car and came home to a house where MadDad had emptied the bins Put the recycling out for collection watered the plants fed the […]

Pine Cone Bird Feeders 1

 in crafts / summer activities / surestart by

The MiniMads and I went to the local sure start centre this afternoon, for some Amazing Animal and Bug fun and the boys loved it. The weather was kind and the rain held off, so they went on a bug hunt, enjoyed looking at them in their bug catchers. Drew the animals as best they could. Finlay did worms, which were just brown lines, but they were worms none the less. We also sang animal songs and read animal stories and made Pine cone bird feeders with lard and seeds. It was so easy to make, just mix the lard with seeds and oats with your hands – lovely messy fun […]

Swimming – Proud Mum Moment

 in swimming by

This morning has been a challenge, I am not feeling on tip top form and the MiniMads are pushing the boundaries somewhat. Anyway I decided to take them to our regular Wednesday Swimming to burn off some energy and guess what, DS1 has just earned his 5 meters backstroke badge. I was astounded, amazed and ever so proud, that my four year old has managed a width of the little pool on his back without any floatation aids. They both adore swimming and I tolerate it as I want them to be confident in the water and enjoy swimming. So even though I feel sick, have had no sleep and have […]

Recycling broken crayons 2

 in crafts / recycling by

If you are anything like us you will have loads of broken, half chewed and blunt crayons, so this is a great way to reuse them and also make multicoloured and non-rollable (ours always roll off the table and snap) crayons. All you need to do is snap up the broken ones – minus the paper of course. Pop them in a heatproof mould. Mine were 99p silicon ones from home bargains and we use them for ice cubes and then heat in a low oven for about 1o mins. Then allow to cool, turn out and you have funky crayons, that are great for little hands, compact enough to go […]

Evening Routines and plans for the week ahead

 in fly / flylady / menu planning by

As you must know by now I am an avid follower of Fly and need to make sure that I do my evening routine to ensure that I start the week the correct way. So tonight being Sunday, it feels much more important to start the week on the right foot so to speak, so I have Got all our clothes out for tomorrow (after checking the weather forecast) Menu planned the rest of the week Checked calender for the rest of the week Confirmed any appointments etc with MadDad and got Mum to cover anything DW loaded and on Washing machine loaded and time set Cat fed 15 mins in […]

Days out and car packs

 in car journeys / crafts / travel by

If you have every been unlucky enough to have a flat tyre or a breakdown with children in the car, you will understand just how much of a lifesaver having something they can do in the car is. With this in mind I have been busy putting together some drawing, reading and craft packs for the car and for when we take my mum to hospital etc. I tend to save all the crayons and pencils you get in restaurants and also all the little sticker packs and gift packs you get with children’s magazines. I have packs with dot to dots, colouring, puzzles, sticker books, maths and English books, beads […]

Home made scented play dough 2

 in crafts / play dough by

One of the things that my boys adore is play dough, especially the youngest MiniMad, but it all tends to end up in one miss mass of colours, so I make a batch of home made every three months of sooner, depending how long it is before they want more than one colour. Since they no longer try to eat it I have started to add essential oils to the mixture, which takes the whole experience of play dough to a different level. It is so easy and inexpensive to make 1 and half cups (1 cup is 250ml) of salt 3 cups of warm water 3 cups of plain flour […]

Spiritual Sunday 1

 in spiritual / Sundday / thoughts by

My Home is a Peaceful Haven I bless my home with loveI put love in every corner and my home lovingly responds with warmth and comfortI am at peace I was up really early again this morning, a mixture of insomnia and the minimads. MadDad gets a lie in on a Sunday, so I thought I would take one of my power thought cards and think positively about my home and the people in and around it. We do love our home, it is full of memories and also possibilities of thinks to come. Take some time to think of your home this morning and about what feelings you want it […]

My new baby and My first sewing project

 in art / sewing by

My mother is a sewer extraordinaire. I grew up wearing home made clothes, she made our bedding, curtains and loads of fancy dress costumes. Guess what, I think that she must of intimidated me on the sewing front, as I am a cant sew, wont sew girl. But times are a changing, let me introduce you to the new member of the MadHouse – Sally The Sewing Machine. She is a Singer handed down from my mummy. She is very old, much older than I am, but she sews and that is all I need. I needed to make the boys some painting smocks and this was one of the things […]

Mummy I want to marry you 1

 in jelly babys / marriage by

said the eldest mini mad today. This is something that is coming up more and more recently. So I explained very patiently that I couldnt marry him as I was already married to MadDad. “Thats OK mummy, I will wait till he is dead”. That will be a long time I countered and really you should marry someone your own age that you love. “I love you mummy” he said. I know I replied I love you too and I always will love you, even if you are naughty I will still love you. We are family and that is forever. “You are my best friend Mummy” and that was the […]

Things to do on essential, but boring trips out 2

 in car journeys / hospital / trips by

We regularly take my mum to the hospital and I find that if I am prepared and plan things in advance that they go much more smoothly.So I have put together small packs including colouring pens, crayons, drawing books and a reading book in a small wallet for each of the boys.This worked really well for them both yesterday and kept them pretty entertained during the tedium of the day.I am going to do some more so that I can just grab them when we go out, any ideas of what I can put in them?

Traffic light Jellys

 in crafts / jelly babys by

My boys like most children love jelly’s, but they also love making them. One of my abiding memories of childhood is sitting on the kitchen counter top eating jelly cubes. With this in mind we make jelly’s the old fashioned way and I half the cubes and save the rest for next time. Today we have made traffic light jelly’s, which takes a little longer, but the mini mads really enjoy doing. A fun way to spend yet another rainy afternoon and the real plus is that we all love eating them. We also add soft fruit to the layers if we have any, but the cupboards are bare at the […]

Speech Therapy Assesment

 in mastectomy / speech therapy by

The eldest Minimad was born with a tongue tie which didn’t go until he was 5 months old and it has caused him to have issues with the F sound, so the preschool referred him to a speech therapist. This morning was his assessment at home and she asked him to sound out lots of words, to try and isolate where he had any issues. He can sound it out at the end and middle of a word, but not at the beginning, so she is going to send us details of some fun exercises we can do over the holidays and see him once he enters Reception class this September. […]

Mondays are home bluring days and an update on the bed 2

 in bunks / cleaning / fly / flylady / mondays' beds by

Mondays for us in TheMadHouse are home blessing or bluring day as I call it. This means that we go round and polish all rooms, vacuum, sweep and tidy and I do me we. Each of the mini mads has their own pinny and feather duster, they also have a sweeping brush and can use the hand help vacuum too. This way the house is all prepared (as much as possible) for the rest of the week. This weeks intensive clean is the master bedroom, so I will concentrate on cleaning in there, doing the skirting, cobwebs, windows etc. I try and instill the boys not to have all their toys […]

Spiritual Sunday

 in Uncategorized by

Before I went in to hospital MadDad bought me some Power Thought Cards by Louise Hay. They are a wonderful, colourful set of inspirational thoughts which I use in quiet moments to think and center my thoughts.I keep them in the kitchen and look to them during a quiet moment and todays card readsI turn every experience into an opportunityEach problem has a solutionAll experiences are opportunities for me to learn and growI am safeThey really confirm and compound on all the positive thinking I am doing. I carry a thought card in my purse which reads “I am thinking positively towards the future” specifically for when I am having down […]

Wet weather games and puzzels 2

 in duplo / games / lego / play dough / Puzzels by

As the Mini’s get older one of the great things about wet days it that we can play board games and puzzles together.One of our new favourites is Orchard Toys Shopping list, which is like bingo with food, you place all the pieces face down, each have a shopping list and a trolley and the first to get their trolley all full with food shouts shopping list. This is great as the youngest Mini Mad who is just 3 can play along too.We also have a leapfrog Bingo game, which has a wheel to turn and works on the same format, it has shapes, numbers, colours, animals and also easy sums.The […]

Its raining its pouring

 in garden / grow your own / rain by

The weather is very wet at the moment, so much so that a 25 min journey took me and the boys an hour and a half this afternoon and was very hairy in places. I was secretly pretty apprehensive, but the mini’s were loving every minute of it! Especially as they watched two cars fail to make it though the flooding and they gave a great big cheer when we manged to get through, MadDads voice in my head “high revs and go slow”. I have a diesel and that does make it easier in the wet.Well one thing that is loving the rain is our garden. MadDad installed a water […]