Santa Snacks

Choc full of choccy goodness

Today we did our traditional biscuit bake in preparation for Santa's arrival. The boys made double choc chip bikkies (a slightly altered Nigella recipe). Shmoo ended up making the most biscuits. Loo made a few of various shapes/sizes and then proceeded to lick his fingers and nibble on choc bits so Shmoo made him put the biscuits he was working on at one end of the tray to keep them separate LOL. Bean had fun squishing his dough, mouthing it and flicking bits onto the tray. We put his biscuits down the other end of the tray too ;)

I made a few for the OH and I as well. I did white choc & macadamia and milk choc & pecan... a little less kid-friendly (the boys don't like nuts) so more for us.

I hope Santa enjoys his biscuits.

Learning Together - Leathercraft

   

Christmas Stars

  

Making Christmas gifts

Watching Shmoo playing outside this afternoon... digging in the dirt; throwing a ball; swinging around on the old Hills Hoist clothesline using the makeshift swing that the OH rigged up for him; drawing and making up and solving maths problems with the new pack of sidewalk chalk; and rearranging his 'Kitchen Christmas Tree' - a small, thin branch that he has propped up in front of the kitchen window and decorated with old kitchen utensils.

This afternoon Shmoo and I had to brave some rather extreme fog to head into town. First stop was the doctor's where I had to have bloods done. Shmoo was fascinated and the GP was happy to answer Shmoo's questions about how she got the blood out of my arm and into the vials.

Then it was on to the post office so that Shmoo could post the drawings he and his brothers did for their dear little friend. We bought a prepaid envelope and Shmoo carefully wrote the address on the front, sealed it up and put it in the postbox. Then he noticed all the PO boxes on the wall so we investigated those and watched as some people came to check their box. Shmoo counted along with the numbers on the boxes and puzzled over why there were some missing numbers. We then discovered that at the bottom of some of the columns there were a few unused and unnumbered boxes, so Shmoo went back and counted again, working out what the missing numbers were. We noticed that the rows of boxes were grouped into threes so were able to have a go at counting by threes and figuring out what 6 sets of three equalled.

As we exited the post office we heard a ding ding ding and Shmoo was delighted when he realised that a train was about to go through the crossing. We ran up to the end of the block so that he could stand by the fence and watch the train go whizzing past. After the last containers had gone past we raced halfway back down the block and peered up to the end of the street, watching as the train went through the next crossing.

Before heading home we stopped by the bakery and bought a special little treat to share with everyone. Back in the car I asked Shmoo to count how many biscuits were in the container (6). But, as there are only 5 of us, what should we do with the extra biscuit? Shmoo's solution: feed it to the cats. :)) I told Shmoo that I didn't think the cats would be that keen on a biscuit, plus it would be pretty tricky to divide 1 biscuit up to share between the 5 of us... so he could have the extra one to eat on the way home.

 

Play/Learn

A morning at the park and beach with another homeschooled friend. The kids had so much fun playing in the park and then exploring the beach. They searched for shells and fossils (and Loo found lots of fossilised dinosaur poo apparently); examined the little creatures growing on the rocks; played in rock pools; explored the seaweed; watched someone kitesurfing; watched a boy spearfishing and then (cautiously) examined the pufferfish that he mistakenly caught; and so much more! Natural learning in action. :)

   

 

Getting There

Arborist

Today the boys learnt what an arborist is (if arboretum means 'tree park' then an arborist must be someone who is a tree specialist!).

We have a huge 30+ year old tree that is approaching the end of it's lifespan. Considering we live in a strong wind area and the tree is right next to (and leaning towards) our power line and house, it was time to get it cut down before it fell down. We also have some trees along our front fenceline that are above the powerlines and need trimming too. They got started on it this morning and the boys were absolutely fascinated (as were the OH and I!) and eagerly watched from the safety of Shmoo & Loo's bedroom window. Shmoo and Loo watched intently for a couple of hours and Beanie watched for about an hour (I'm impressed by anything that will hold a 20 month old's attention for that long!). Shmoo had fun working out how the cherry picker worked and why the man was wearing ear muffs and had a harness strapped around him.

They'll be back to finish off the job tomorrow, bringing spikes to get to the high branches that the cherry picker couldn't reach.

Can't wait to select a few stumpy pieces to make seats in the boys' play area outside and maybe a nice longer piece to make a swing (our neighbours will take the rest for their wood heater).

 

Sunday

Shmoo practising using the hand drill.

Shmoo Bear and...

Loo Bear attaching the door knob fittings. 

Our back door has been slowly disintegrating and in the past week or so things really fell apart (literally). The OH bought a secondhand door and he and the big boys painted it. Today they finally got to put it up.

We've also been investigating 'perspective', inspired by Shmoo's drawing of the Eiffel Tower.

And we had a lovely evening - Sunday night is our 'family night'. The big boys stay up late and we play a game. Tonight it was a game of Snakes and Ladders while we snacked on rice crackers and big bowls of fruit salad.

Wet Day at the Library

We had our regular library playdate today with the lovely Allana and her daughter. A perfect place to spend a cold, rainy morning. When we got there we noticed that the kids' play area had been rearranged. A little later we realised why - a rather large corner of the library was flooded, absolutely waterlogged, and the furniture had been rearranged to block off access to the wet area. It turns out that a pipe in one of the pillars had rusted through and had flooded sections on 2 floors of the library. 

So, we had to make do without any books from the junior nonfiction section. As the kids ran around playing and browsing through the books, I selected some books for the boys to read over the next couple of weeks. As anyone with a toddler knows, you can't turn your back on them for a second. I heard one of the library workers telling a child to come out of the wet area as their socks were getting wet. I knew it would be the Bean LOL. I looked up and there was Beanie, having a ball racing the toy stroller along the puddly carpet, cold water soaking his tights and up to the  knees of his pants. He was very unimpressed that I had to take him away from his water play! Luckily he was wearing a few layers so I was able to take off his wet things and leave him in his BabyLegs.

As we were getting ready to leave the carpet cleaners turned up so we decided to stay a little longer to watch. Vacuum obsessed Shmoo was, of course, fascinated. He was a bit cautious to start with and stood a safe distance away but curiosity quickly got the better of him and he soon sat down with the other kids to get a closer look. He didn't even startle at the noise!

   

The kids had a great time watching the water get sucked up; seeing the hose move as the water went through; and looking through the clear dome as the dirty water gushed out of the pipe and into the tank. It seemed to fill up very quickly. By the time we left, they'd only been sucking up the water for about 15-20 minutes with quite a bit more to do, and they'd already emptied the tank 4 times.

Just before we left Shmoo worked up the courage and asked the man how much water could fit into the machine. The answer: about 30L. 4 lots of 30 = 120L... that's a lot of water!