Weekend wrap

Where possible, we try to create fun, new but wholesome experiences for our girls. We try to impart an appreciation of 'the simple things' in life. And so, a trip to local hardware chain Bunnings several months ago produced....

the outdoor firepit!

Around $60, it's basically a steel bowl on legs that you put in your garden and make a little bonfire in. Now that it's winter, we light it some weekends in the late afternoon while the kids play outside. Then dinner is eaten outside in a bowl. Always followed by toasted marshmallows.

The fire is soothing, warming and is a real novelty for kids. They scurried in the garden and down the street to collect fallen branches and twigs to throw in the fire. It looks beautiful too. Although admittedly, my heart is in my stomach for most of the time watching three kids walking, stumbling and moving constantly around it.

The face paint was from an African festival the girls went to on Sunday. They watched African singing and dancing, ate African food, and even got an awful red braid put in their hair. Zahara didn't speak for the three hours she was there.

By the way, these books (A School Like Mine, A Life Like Mine , Children Just Like Me) by DK Publishing are also great to expose your kids to other cultures, nationalities and lifestyles. (I've put some in the sidebar linked to Amazon.) We have a few in the series and they are probably one of their most frequent requests for reading at bedtime. Layla and Yasmin really enjoy them and talk about that some of the kids have no shoes or toys but big smiles on their faces. And the ones that do housework and cleaning and cooking at home. Here's to hoping it may rub off on them...

Happy Sunday

I'm never sure which is more tiring, the Monday to Friday school, pick ups and afternoons routine, or the relentless, intense family time together on the weekends. The weekends are definitely less lonely of course, with a partner to share the load, but still nonstop. I tend to spend more time with my older girls and let my toddler spend some fun time with her Daddy.

Here are a few things we try to do on the weekends:
1. Stay home. Let the girls stay in their pyjamas and draw, paint, play Uno or whatever. They seem to love doing this Sunday mornings.
2. Make french toast Sunday morning with left over Challah from Friday night dinner. Yum.
3. Compare milk moustaches and crazy hair during breakfast.
4. Eat nice, homecooked food together. Today I used my Thermomix to whip up some homemade dips. Tzatziki, beetroot dip and smoked trout dip were served with cut up vegies and crackers. Yum. And definitely going on an upcoming family brunch menu.
5. Play in the garden for hours. Play in the sandpit, water the plants and let the girls be as free as they like.
6. Get pizza home delivered on Sunday afternoons and eat in the garden. Enjoy the unseasonal warm autumn weather.
7. And after all that, put the girls to bed by 6.30. I'm pooped!

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

A glimpse of today

French toast, painting, pictionary, drawing, pasting, playing in the garden, twirling our ribbon sticks outside, memory game, new outfits for Pesach, trying on almost the entire store (Layla), playdate, supermarket, trampolines, snakes and ladders, swim, dinner, eating left over pretzels found in Layla's room, shower, books and thank goodness, 7pm BED!

These holidays feel so much more relaxed than the summer break. And that alone feels good. Here's to enjoying (and not just surviving) the next two weeks.

Hope you had a lovely weekend too.
xxx

Stuff in the Garden

Our little garden is growing and coming along nicely. Yasmin is taking note of the little green sprouts making their way up through the soil. I regularly cook with the herbs in our garden (parsley for tabouli, chives for my egg dip, mint for Moroccan mint tea on Friday nights) and occasionally and very politely request from my children that they bring in some herbs to help me. They tell me, Mummy, I don't know which one is rosemary/parsley/chives. So, finally, after a brainwave one day, and with the help of my new best friend, the home laminating machine, Yasmin and I have created garden markers.

It was simple. I cut squares of white cardstock and wrote the name of the herb or vegie with a Sharpie. Then, I explained to Yasmin what the plant look liked, and we both had a practice draw on some scrap paper. When she felt confident, Yasmin drew and coloured her little illustration. The next step was laminating the squares, trimming the plastic to create a pointy end and using a glue gun to stick an ice cream stick on the back. Today, they finally made their way into the garden. Easy, cute, practical and weather proof.

A lovely weekend

It's 8.15, the kids have been asleep for hours already, and it's been a lovely and satisfyingly tiring weekend. We spent much of today in our lovely garden with our lovely (fake) green grass, making bubbles, playing and digging up old plants to make room for new ones. Out with the dead sunflowers and corn. The coming weeks we will plant more parsley, rocket, potatoes, new sunflowers, carrots, spinach and broad beans. All this abundance turns our little burgeoning vegie patch into an instant buffet for our girls whenever we are outdoors. They resemble mice, crouching in the patch, nibbling on strawberries, carrots, green beans or mint.

We also had a visit from a gorgeous, adorable little Sharpei...a little afternoon 'trial' while we deliberate adding to our family with a canine baby. The girls are desperate for a dog, and our voice of reason (husband) is weighing up how much 'extra work' and 'things to do' we will gain. Pros - the giving and receiving of love between the girls and the lucky little pooch, the extra unconditional love my eldest daughter will enjoy, the impetus to maintain and step up an active, outdoor lifestyle. A little someone to play with and fill in afternoons after school. Cons - work work work. Walks, vets, vaccinatons, feeding, scooping the poop....but can you just see that hopeful look in Yasmin's eyes? 'Please Daddy, please can we get one?'