Potato printing

Today, we did potato printing. 

Something I've not attempted since school!

To make the potato stampers, I pressed different shaped cookie cutters into halved potatoes.

 

I then carefully carved away the outer potato until there was a definite shape for the children to use.

 

 

 

 

Next, I provided paper and paints and allowed Jasmine and Sonny to explore.

 

 

This occupied them for a short while, before Sonny turned his attention to trains, and Jasmine to making footprints.

 

 

 

This was a lovely activity to do in the hour before bathtime.  Next time, we will try different shapes and perhaps make note cards - possibly thank yous for Easter presents that have already started arriving.



 

 



We all love potatoes!

 

"Get your hanky, this might be amazing!"

This is what Jasmine said to Nanny Bee this afternoon as we waited to watch her demonstration lesson.

A far cry from the baby who began ballet lessons at the age of 20 months.

The baby I thought was so grown up!

My, how she has blossomed.

In August 2010, Daddy took Jasmine to her first ballet class.  She enjoyed it, but liked him to stay in the room with her.

It was a while before I saw her dance as I was very pregnant, at first, and then nursing a newborn.

The first time I saw her was just before Christmas in 2010.

This is Jasmine on the day; it was shortly after her second birthday:

 

Despite the serious expression, she loved it!

At Easter in 2011 (almost exactly two years ago), we watched her dance again.

 



Looking back, I can't believe how tiny she was!  Younger than Sonny is today and yet fully participating in her ballet class. 

At the time, with Sonny still a small baby, she seemed so mature, such a big girl.

I wonder if I will look back at today, when she is six, and marvel at how tiny and innocent she was...

 

As it was, Nanny Bee didn't need her hanky, but she was very proud and insisted on taking us all out for tea and cake afterwards, to celebrate Jasmine's efforts.



 

My little girl has come so far with ballet already...

 

July 24th 2011, baby bronze medal awarded

March 25th 2012, baby silver medal awarded (exactly one year ago today!)

January 2012

July 2011 - wearing the same outfit she wore today!

 

I cannot wait to see where her journey takes us next.

Sonny at 2.5 years

Today, my baby is exactly two and a half.

Quite how that is possible, I'm not sure.

While I can't imagine our lives without him, two and a half seems such a large number for my little boy.

He is growing up far too quickly and I don't want to forget a thing.

One of Sonny's favourite things to do at the moment is to pretend to be "Alex the lion" from Madagascar.  He frequently chases us all round the house whilst roaring loudly.

He still loves trains and asks, daily, for his box of Thomas engines and track.  He is able to set up tracks himself and will quite happily spend a long time scooting his trains along them.

He really loves to be read to, which I am so happy about, and his favourite stories are definitely those by Julia Donaldson, particularly Room on the Broom.  He can recite large chunks of this book, word for word, as well as portions of the Gruffalo and Tabby McTat.  Listening to him do this makes me very proud.

Sonny is a big fan of jigsaw puzzles and is getting very good at them; he can put together puzzles of 12 and 16 pieces unaided and incredibly quickly.  Larger puzzles require some assistance, though he is often reluctant to accept the help!

He can count up to 20 fairly competently, though he does sometimes struggle around the fifteen, sixteen, seventeen mark.  He has just started taking an interest in the alphabet.

Sonny loves to be outdoors - he loves the beach, particularly, as well as the park and the woods.  He is beginning to be an excellent climber and has, very recently, started to walk with me rather than being confined to his pushchair.  This is a huge development in my eyes.

He can speak incredibly well; I am constantly impressed by his vocabulary.  I think that having such a bright and talkative big sister has helped him a lot in this area.

He loves nothing more than to be allowed to paint.  In fact, he loves crafts and messy play in general and we have a lot of fun with these.

Sonny dislikes having his hair brushed, washed or cut, which has led him to look a bit like a tiny long-haired pony at times.  Thankfully, his hair does not require large amounts of brushing, and I am forever trying to come up with solutions to the other two problems.

He has just started at nursery, one day a week, for ten hours.  This is the first time that he has been left with anyone other than family and he struggles with the initial separation (as do I, if I'm honest) but largely enjoys himself.

Sonny loves cake but dislikes 95% of other foods.  He will not even try them and currently exists on cereal, toast, cheese sandwiches, fruit and yogurts.  Oh, and cake, of course.

He is taking an interest in potty training and progress is being made, slowly.  I know that by this age, Jasmine was dry both day and night, but she has always, always seemed so much more mature than her brother so I am not surprised that he is taking more time to master the skill.  It does not bother me as I realise that he is going at his own pace and will get there when he is ready.  For now, I am enjoying witnessing the small changes - he seems easier to keep up with that Jasmine.

Sonny loves his friends and family, his trains, his sister and his Daddy.  But I think I'm right in saying that, most of all, he loves his Mummy.

And I love my Sonny.

Happy half birthday, Son.

Decorating for Jasmine and Sonny

The children are at my mum's this weekend.

I miss them terribly, but it is for their benefit that I need the time and space.

For this weekend, I am beginning the mammoth task of decorating their bedroom.

Their shared space.

It is a huge responisbility and not one I take lightly.

I have a clear idea of how I want it to look.

I just hope that I can achieve it.

So far, it is not looking too promising. 

I have cleaned the walls and am midway through painting them white, to ease the transition between the lurid pink they were and the pastel colours they will become tomorrow.

It is looking patchy.

Being a perfectionist, I am not happy.

It is awful to only be content with perfection whilst simultaneously failing to achieve it.

But I will do my best.

The colours I have chosen for the walls, as you may be able to see from the photo above, are pale pink for Jasmine's half of the room and pale green for Sonny's.

Once the painting is complete, I have many more plans for the space.

The children and I have decided that we will be using wall stickers to further personalise their separate spaces.

Jasmine has asked for Cinderella, whilst Sonny has plumped for The Gruffalo (hence my choosing green for his wall as opposed to my original plan to paint it blue).

Ideally, Sonny's side would look like this:

But we are not made of money, so a highly budgeted version will be created for him instead.

It is not a large room, so I may have trouble fitting in all of my ideas, but I am planning on buying them matching beds and matching chests of drawers to go at the foot of them.  I want them to have shelves, for their souvenirs, and underbed storage to house some of their toys.  I would love to create a reading nook for them, but I really don't know if there will be space to realise this idea.  I am warming to the idea of creating it within their built-in closet, but will need to plan this idea further before I know whether it is realistic or not.

Jasmine will be having these lights instead of a night light:

 

 

I love them, and know that she will too.

Their storage chest will go between their beds, in place of bedside tables, which they really do not need yet.

James and I have also talked about painting the wall beside their wardrobe with blackboard paint so that they have a small space in their bedroom to be creative in. 

The plans are coming together nicely...

I just hope that the reality will follow shortly.



Jasmine's 4th birthday party

I have been meaning to write this post since the day itself, way back at the beginning of December, but have failed to find the time until now.

I wanted to make sure I have a record of the birthday before it totally evades me and I can't recall much of it at all.

We had just moved house, one week prior to the birthday and party, and Daddy was away.  Things were hectic, but I knew I wanted to make Jasmine's birthday extra special.

To compensate for what I couldn't give her, perhaps, which was a hug from Daddy.  But we have always made a big fuss of birthdays, more so than of Christmas.

The party was a joint effort - Jasmine shared her day with her best friend, Lexi.  They have similar tastes and birthdays just four days apart, so it seemed the sensible thing to do.  Not as cost-effective as we had originally hoped!  But it went exactly as I had dreamed, and then planned.

We had lots of help from family and friends, without which we would have not been able to see our ideas through.

Two particularly amazing people, Chantelle and Imogen, were our face painters - offering their skills totally free of charge.

We had a bouncy castle, glitter tattoos, pink chocolate fountain, a craft table, pass the parcel, cakes, party bags and a photographer.

The latter expense has meant that we have some beautiful memories to look back on.

For every other party of both Jasmine's and Sonny's, we have spent ages planning and looking forward to the day, only for it to whizz by without either of us (James or myself) having had the time to take a single photo.  We have missed large chunks of the parties having had to meet and greet and organise whatever else needs doing.

So last year I bit the bullet and paid someone else to take photos for us.

I was not disappointed.

My babies

 

Pass the parcel

 

 

Following the party, we headed home with a mountain of presents.

Jasmine was beside herself with excitment and tore them open, speedily.

She was a very lucky girl.

Jasmine with some of her presents

The following day, if I remember correctly, was her actual birthday.

December 3rd.

She woke to more presents, from Daddy, Sonny and me.  We played for a bit and spoke to Daddy on Skype.  I remember being so sad for them that they couldn't see each other properly on this day.  For James, mostly.  Jasmine was ok, she was excited and hadn't really had time to feel sad and miss her Daddy.

After lunch, we met her friend Oliver in town for bowling.  They all had balloons and lots of fun.

Later in the day, her great aunt Linda and second cousin Katie arrived with more presents and took us out for dinner.

More happened - little things that I can't immediately recall.  I really should have blogged this sooner, to remember the precise details.

But I think (I hope) Jasmine has some lovely memories of her 4th birthday.

I certainly do.

My beautiful four year old