Quiet Play

Kees watches a little bit of telly, but I would like it to be even more limited and encourage more quiet play. I find that I set something up, he plays with it for five minutes, then loses interest. I can keep repeating this with a range of activities, which is really nice time spent with Kees, but what do you do when you need a straight half hour to get stuff done? I would love to hear your children's favourite quiet play activities. What I'm after is a little more of this (above) and a little less of.......

Picnicking

What a beautiful afternoon for a backyard picnic. Just add Grandma, Grandpa and some teddies...

delectable cakes from the French Patisserie....

and a few cuddles for good measure.

New Shorts # 2

Aren't these lovely shorts? So bright and summery. And lovely and soft, made out of an Op Shop pillowcase for the teeny-tiny price of forty cents.

But it seems like in this case, it's true that "you get what you pay for". On the very day they were made, Kees slid down a tree trunk and that was that. Boohoo.

Little People - A Work in Progress

I was so inspired by the delightfully gorgeous Birthday Ring on the Little Nest (blog) that I ordered some little wooden figures from the US myself and started making my own. They are really fun to make! It is just so cute fashioning tiny hats and hair. I don't know exactly what I'll do with them yet, but the fun is in the making. Perhaps they will be a special quiet play treat. I think they are definitely going to need their own house, playground, farm......meanwhile, the dishes are piling up and it looks like takeaway for dinner. xx

For You, Harry

To our lovely Harry, every time I see a "dirty bird" I think of you. With much love to you and Sam, from all of us.

Watermelon and Waterslides

Ah, watermelon. Isn't this what summer is all about? Kees was very excited about eating it, and, as you can see, couldn't wait for me to chop it. Anyway, it's much more fun to just bury your face in that cool, sweet, juicy flesh. Chomp! Jimmy definitely agreed.

We had a great day yesterday at the local waterpark. Was this your favourite thing when you were a kid? Waterslides!! Do you guys remember "Wild Waters"? The one that had the magical giant tap and the big crocodile? We used to LOVE IT there. Stace, we are thinking of you all moving house in the snow. Too bad you moved back to Canada.....heehee.

The reason we went to the waterpark was to make good on our voucher we gave Kees and Jimmy's cousins last Christmas. You know how I feel about the crazy consumerist madness at this time, with the kids ending up with a million presents and not appreciating them enough. So, each year, as a present, we give the cousins a voucher for a "Family Fun Day" to be redeemed. (Yes, very shabby that it took us this long to go!) I would love to hear any of your ideas: how do you feel about your children receiving many gifts and have you done anything about it? Or come to terms with it?

Housework...

Worst job. Obviously this is the "After" shot. And there was more than this.

Best job. Clean, clean, clean. Crisp and breezy and neat.

What are your best and worst household jobs?