Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Happy Canada Day!!!!!

To all my friends, wishing you a very Happy Canada Day.


Here is a free embroidery (or colouring) pattern to craft your own Mountie Bear. Please don't sell this pattern nor sell anything you make with this pattern...cause the mounties might come after you and they always get their man person.

Share and share alike

After reading this post from the brilliant Forever Mommy from Planet Mommy it occurred to me that each of us mums have cottoned onto some gems in raising our kids--whether it be things that work for teaching hearing impaired kids vocabulary, helping foster attachment in kids with attachment disorder or just plain "raising them the way you want them to go."

Want to share some of your stellar parenting ideas? Come on and jump in! I'll start:

1) Pie Shop. Set up your living room as a pie shop. Cooking area at the back, cash register and counter at the front. You don't need great props. Just grab a dining chair for the counter and a bench or table for the cooking area. I make picture cards for four different kinds of pie and add sign language. You could write them down if you have readers or print out pictures from the Internet.

Divide up your kids into customers, cashier and cooks. After one turn everyone rotates. Mum and Dad should be the first customers. Drive up to the shop erratically. Order 15 pies. Eat them all there. Roll on the ground groaning. Mix it up. Have stuffed animals come by for pie. Have the animals fight over who is next in line. Have fun!

2) It's a hurricane. We all love this game so much. Everyone in the family sits on the couch. Daddy announces that the radio says a hurricane is coming. Quick! Grab your stuff, we've got to drive north. Grab stuffed animals, blankets, funny things. We have a papasan chair we all pile into. Daddy drives. Some of the animals are on the hood. Of course, there is lots of turns, twist, everyone trying to stay in the car. We stop suddenly and we're at our "cabin." Everyone piles out...and then gets to spread their blankets and camp on the floor that night. The next morning drive back home. This is perfect for a Friday night.



3) White Water Rafting. Our girls will beg for this game. Place a crib mattress on the floor. Don't have one....improvise. Everyone piles on including stuffed animals. It should be crowded. Mum holds onto kids. Daddy starts the raft down the river. First it's calm then oh no! Rapids. Daddy jerks the mattress all different ways while Mummy tries to keep the kids from falling in the water. All children are saved if they fall off. Stuffed animals occasionally don't make it. Repeat calm to sudden rapids until everyone is laughing so hard they cannot breathe.

Okay, your turn. Share the good stuff!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

This is why I make softies

You think there's going to be a picture of a little girl sleeping with her teddy bear, a boy playing with his stuffed dog, a teen hanging on to an old, much loved tiger. But no!

What you get is a sob story. We live in a 1945 sq ft house built in 1946 in which everything was painted peach and green (originally) and nothing was built in a normal (interpret as reasonable) way. The hot and cold water facets are switched. The house was wired completely wonky when we moved in and there's not one square corner in the place. Every single window is slightly a different size. You get the idea.

Needless to say, things happen in a house like this. Uhm...like....the toilet was leaking and we had no idea. And now, unexpectedly, we have encountered a large area of the flooring which must be totally replaced. And Head Honcho spent the weekend chipping out floor board and treating the world's worst mold while I kept the girls outside. Oh, and there's an old half bath upstairs but this is the only main bath...with a tub...in our house. You do remember we have four young girls, right?

While outside I noticed that fungus has attacked our tomatoes. All but one tomato plant. Of 25 plants. And they all have to be destroyed. All....have....to...be....destroyed. Whaaaaaa!

At times like this I need a break. I need a release. I need a means of coping.

That's why I make softies. Because everyone needs something to make her smile.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

It's a bird, it's a plane...




No! It's Super Uper Duper Bear! What we need at this moment: a super hero with a heart of gold...although her paws are a bit sticky.

(I thought a blog which says it's about a softie maker might just should feature a softie now and again. :-D)