Bath Paints

We were faced with another wet day on Tuesday, the first official day of our half term holiday, so I got around to making up some bath paint for the kids to enjoy.  I've been meaning to do this for a while and as we skipped bath time on Monday due to a late pub supper, I had the perfect excuse!  

I've seen many "recipes" on the web for this so I made one I vaguely recalled using clear bubble bath and cornflour, along with some food colouring.  I kept the food colouring to a minimum, just in case it stained anything but it was fine - in fact, the colours were a little muted so I would probably used some more next time.

I used 1 cup of bubble bath (or body wash) - just make sure it is clear or the colour won't work as well.  Add around 2-3 tbsp cornflour, or enough to thicken it up to your desired consistency.  Separate the mixture at this point, and add a few drops of food colouring to the different pots.

Add two paintbrushes and some eager children then let loose on the bath tiles!  

They loved it, drawing pictures and writing letters on the walls.  Plus they had just as much fun washing it off the walls with the shower afterwards!

Mamatography - Week 21

A successful week of healthy eating meant I could fit into my skinny jeans *relatively* comfortably by Thursday - hooray!  Here's what else we got up to.

Day 139 - Sunday 19 May
We visited friends back in London, and Spiderboy and Doodles were fascinated by the iPad my friend's daughter was allowed to use!  I do sometimes let them play games on mine but not often enough to ensure it isn't a novelty when I do :)

Day 140 - Monday 20 May
Doodles was very proud of the picture of Daddy she drew on the chalkboard.  I frowned at Spiderboy when he pointed out that Daddy's legs & arms came straight out of his head :/

Day 141 - Tuesday 21 May
I spent the week detoxing / dieting / generally trying to be healthier (its amazing the spur an old friend's wedding can have!) and loved how colourful my plate looked every night.  Wholegrain rice with stir-fried veg baked inside a red pepper with a salad on the side - yum!

Day 142  - Wednesday 22 May
Photo failure...it seems I always have to have at least one day where I forget!  A busy day with school & nursery photographs, and a ballet lesson meant there was no time to snap.

Day 143 - Thursday 23 May
I whipped up a homemade body scrub and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, considering it was my first time!  You can find the recipe here.

Day 144 - Friday 24 May
I spent the day sorting out the Leavers Hoodies for Spiderboy's school - a simple task we as the PTA committee volunteered for which turned out to be more complicated than expected!  Still, everybody was pleased with the end result at least :)

Day 145 - Saturday 25 May
I had a birthday lunch for my mother-in-law and she bought me along these gorgeous Stocks which brightened up the table.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2013 Project hosted by Momma Jorje and Diary Of A First Child.  We are taking (at least) a photo a day to keep a record of our year.  Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!


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Without further ado, here are the Mama/Papatography2013 participants!

• Diary of a First Child
• Earth Mamas World
• Baking Momma of Two
• Emma's Little World
• Quacks and Waddles
• Three Counties Mum
• Seaside Chelle
• gentlemum
• The Cutie and The Beauty
• Charming Gardener
• Pineapples & Artichokes
• Jessica's Casserole
• Dad of The Monkeys

• Momma Jorje
• A Nature Mom
• Mommy and Little I
• too tired to blog
• The Family Patch
• The Princess Poet's Life Adventures
• harley famdamily
• Mama Unfurling
• the mommy metamorphosis
• Mothers Know Best
• Quest For Life's Passion
• Frugal Brit Witch
• Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work

Cinnamon Body Scrub

I needed something for the mother-in-law's birthday last week so after a bit of researching on the net, I came up with this Cinnamon Body Scrub.  It was super easy to make, and smelt delicious.  

I had an excess left over after filling the jar so used it myself this weekend, and can report that my skin was wonderfully smooth afterwards!

All you need is:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of sweet almond oil 
12 drops of cinnamon essential oil

Mix the essential oil into your carrier oil, and add it to the sugar until you have the consistency of wet sand.  Mix well and store in a jar.

Obviously you could use any essential oil for whatever is your favourite smell (or that of the person it is for).  

I found some very useful info here on making your own body scrubs, including salt and sugar scrubs, and then just adapted it for my own recipe.

I prettied the jar up with a label and a ribbon and it looked great - a personalised gift that anybody would be glad to receive!

I used a tea-cup for measuring purposes.

Shirt & Tie Card

I needed to keep DD occupied while I was making dinner last week so I dug out supplies to make a Father's Day card.  I think this shirt & tie design is so cute, and something that most kids can associate with daddy!

It is really simple to make.  You will need:

Piece of A4 card (I used black but white would work even better)
Piece of coloured paper
Scraps of tissue paper
Glue
Scissors

Fold your A4 card in half.  Make a small slit in the top, right in the middle.  Fold the edges downwards to make a collar.

Cut a tie shape from coloured paper - I actually used foam for mine, as I thought it would stand proud from the card a little more.  

Give the tie cut out and the selection of tissue paper to your child and let them stick to their heart is content!  When the tie is dry, stick it on to the front of the card and glue the collar pieces down.

There you have it!  Just add a few scribbles inside and daddy will be happy :)

Why I blog...

In case you're wondering, I don't do this because I think I'm a shining example of motherhood...I am FAR from that.  I'm not sure I get this competition between mums.  We're all aiming for the same thing right?  Bringing our children up the best we can without making *too* many mistakes.  There are no prizes given out at the end, except to see our kids hopefully go out into the world as well-adjusted and developed adults.  So why not learn from each other as we go?  Each of us has different strengths and weaknesses, and I personally learn so much and get such wonderful ideas by reading other mummy blogs.  

Motherhood is my job - my full-time job.  Although I always had a job before I had DS, I never had a career as such...this is my calling.  And yes, I take pride in it.  But I'm not showing off or putting myself up on a pedestal, rather sharing some fun ideas, recipes and knowledge that I've found to work for our family.

This blog is my hobby.  I love creating things and I love writing so what better way to combine the two than writing a blog!  But a hobby it remains, at present at least.  So there will be times when I get to post lots and times when it is few & far between.  If I have to choose between hanging out with my family or writing about it, I will always choose the former.

The blog is growing and changing all the time, as I learn more and discover new tricks and ways within the mysterious world of blogging.  So now I thought it was about time I put some slightly more personal names to my family rather than the DH, DS and DD they are currently known as.

DS, our Number 1 Son, was born in 2008.  He has been consistently obsessed with Spiderman for the last 1.5 years and it shows no signs of abating just yet.  So I hereby christen him Spiderboy.

Dear Daughter joined our family in 2010 and she has many nicknames, one of which is Doodles so I'll stick with that for the purposes of blogging.

And finally, my kind, patient Dear Husband, who goes out to work everyday to support us all with only the occasional moan, shall henceforth be known as Motorbike Man.  After his family, this is his pride & joy - the Yamaha BT1100, which looks like this:

And here he is introducing our boy to it...at 22 months old!

And in case you thought he was sexist, here he is introducing it to our girl...although she was a little older at 2.5 years!

I just hope they don't want to ride it when they hit 16!

So this is me.  And my family.  Three Counties Mum, Motorbike Man, Spiderboy and Doodles.  And you are very welcome along on our journey.