I have been trying to do at least a couple of activities each day with the girls - as most of their toys have disappeared with the shipping, they have been a bit more at a loss as to what to do with themselves!
Lots of my ideas come from Trish Kuffner's Busy Books which I really would heartily recommend. I have the Toddler and PreSchooler ones and they have ideas that have been great from 2/3 year old CassCass through to her 10 year old cousin.
A few months back I spent a while cutting out photos of familiar folk (yes Grandma, Grandpa, Tatie Evie, Uncle Malc, you are all there!) and different scenes/objects then sticking them on cardboard. I could cover them in sticky back plastic but haven't got round to it. Then I wrote out cards with the name in french on one side and english on the other. We have used these cards in a variety of ways (mostly with LissaLou for the moment):
*matching the picture with the word in different games
*playing a version of Guess Who, where we each select a card and the other person asks questions to find out which card it is - not only did LissaLou manage to read each card by herself, but we also learned about different categories (man-made is our newest one)
*I tried a game where we guessed the card from clues, but that was a bit challenging
*with CassCass we played shout out a card and run and collect it
*when I run out of inspiration we make up stories involving the different pictures!
Recently we also had a session on bird's eye views (which funnily enough was a phrase that even Bertie, the English expert, didn't know!) - thanks to Mum for this idea. We matched objects with their shape and then drew a plan of the verandah and placed an object according to where it was on the plan. I think we are still grasping this one! However, it made for a lovely treasure hunt, where Stella had proper clues, CassCass had drawings with a cross, and LissaLou had a bird's eye view plan of the room with a cross for the position of the clue. They also got a tamarind with each clue. That went down really well!
We tried north south east and west this week. Once I explained which was which, LissaLou was supposed to run to the right side when I shouted it out. She claimed to be too tired, so I gave her a passion fruit to chuck in the right direction instead, which she then ended up running cheerfully after!! I would like to do a treasure hunt with directions ie walk three steps north but that will have to wait!
What else.... the girls had great fun cutting out scraps of paper and sticking them onto sticky back plastic today and it made for beautiful pictures. In fact, anything involving sticking goes down very well, but they have used up all the glue and lost all the pritt stick now!
Ah, and thanks to Tatie Evie for this popular one - we each cut out a postcard of Guadeloupe stuck on a piece of cardboard in jigsaw style then had fun putting them together again, then getting the other family members to do so! Last time we did this was Christmas 2007 and CassCass had a two piece jigsaw - she has sinced moved on!!
When we have had enough of all this creativity, we have been enjoying the computer by singing along to Cedarmonkees (!) on youtube or watching Balamory and Charlie and Lola. It's a fine life!
I shall go into more details about the kids in upcoming posts, for those interested...
Showing posts with label Making Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Making Things. Show all posts
Friday, 24 July 2009
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Bun Overload
I meant to put this in my last post and forgot, but Mum's post on LissaLou's birthday reminded me...
If you are a busy mum of three already overwhelmed with cooking, cleaning, caring for little ones etc, and (most importantly) you only own 10 very hard to clean bun holders, here is what not to bake for your eldest daughter's belated birthday celebration at school...
It seemed like such a good idea beforehand...but took all morning of slaving away, wasn't helped by me miscalculating the cake mixture and only making half the amount needed, and was only ready 3 seconds before LissaLou left for school in the afternoon! See, even the picture was taken in a hurry!
Next time I will make a cake.
Friday, 23 January 2009
This Week's Activities
With LissaLou at home, I decided to do a bit of reading and writing which we haven't done in a while. Yesterday we worked on at and ate words, then today we have moved on to ee and ea and ch words. It is good fun working with her and seeing her get things, though she is very easily distracted! We played a game I read about online (see the photo I took above) - I wrote out various words and we each had a keyring. If she read the word correctly it went on to her ring and if not it went on mine! I wasn't sure what words to use but now I have a better idea relating to the sounds we did today. She was very chuffed at how many she had anyway! I also found out that she has learnt the ou and oi sound at school. CassCass is a bit harder to get to sit down for long, but we did an activity to do with circles and triangles - she knows both words but kept mixing the concept of shape up with that of colour.
We made some delicious buns for our day out, but I forgot to take a photo and they are all gone! We put cream cheese and icing sugar on the top then finished them off with hundreds and thousands and smarties, yum!
Yesterday I attacked a BIG project I have had in mind for months - sorting through Mamie's photos! It is such fun seeing all the family from years back but I needed a lot of help in correctly classing them. Now I am going to try and put them in date order and then I have to work out how to put them in albums. So Mum and Evs should be able to enjoy them when they arrive!
Another project I have in mind is writing a family tree - I sat down with Papy to do this in December but didn't get very far...some I didn't understand, others he had forgotten the names of. As he pointed out, he has been far too busy bringing up his own family to worry about the names of his nieces and nephews! I shall try Mamie instead. In fact I should have known to try her first of all, as isn't it always the woman who has the best grasp of such details....!
Now I am off to eat a sinobol that Bertie has kindly made.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Thanksgiving Tree
Do you remember our thanksgiving tree...well here it is in the flesh (almost!) If you are lucky (or have good eyesight!) you may even spot yourself on it...
Thursday, 1 January 2009
New Year's Day
No big celebrations in our house, though we did manage to see it through to midnight, when we were able to enjoy the many fireworks of Guadeloupe out of our window. Bertie and I took the time to reflect on the questions found here by Donald Whitney, definitely worth your time to look at.
A close up on some of the decorations - LissaLou painted the stocking at school and the girls and I decorated these frames. Who knows where the one of CassCass has got to...
Ah, here it is, hiding away at the bottom of the tree!
And under the tree is our special Christmas book box - the girls have particularly enjoyed going through the Jolly Christmas Postman this year and playing with its enclosures. I enjoyed reading The Story of Holly and Ivy to LissaLou a couple of times - no mean feat with 30 pages!
Here are our Christmas cards on display in our kitchen amongst the bibs! The towels normally hang there and have been displaced for the meantime.
Presents! CassCass' bible, the girls' tea set and baking set from Tatie Felicianne (with some bits gone awol!) Put in batteries and the kettle and mixer really work! Oh, and the shoes of course!
This is Baby JoJo's present, which he looks at every now and then, but is much preferred by CassCass!
Not a present but I thought I would put it in anyway. The last two christmases the girls got a cot each for their dolls but we didn't bring either one with us so we did the next best thing and made one. We took the box from one of the above presents, covered it in the wrapping paper from Baby JoJo's present, got some of the white packaging stuff from Tatie Pierrette's new washing machine and covered that in an Air France blanket which someone conveniently left here, and hey presto! Baby Luke and Baby Joy are very comfortably settled in it (reminds me of Esther's twins!)
This morning I have been blessed with my SIL's camera so here for the first time in a while are some photos fresh off the press....
Our Christmas tree in all its glory - Bertie made the paper trees with the girls
A close up on some of the decorations - LissaLou painted the stocking at school and the girls and I decorated these frames. Who knows where the one of CassCass has got to...Ah, here it is, hiding away at the bottom of the tree!And under the tree is our special Christmas book box - the girls have particularly enjoyed going through the Jolly Christmas Postman this year and playing with its enclosures. I enjoyed reading The Story of Holly and Ivy to LissaLou a couple of times - no mean feat with 30 pages!Here are our Christmas cards on display in our kitchen amongst the bibs! The towels normally hang there and have been displaced for the meantime.Presents! CassCass' bible, the girls' tea set and baking set from Tatie Felicianne (with some bits gone awol!) Put in batteries and the kettle and mixer really work! Oh, and the shoes of course!
This is Baby JoJo's present, which he looks at every now and then, but is much preferred by CassCass!Not a present but I thought I would put it in anyway. The last two christmases the girls got a cot each for their dolls but we didn't bring either one with us so we did the next best thing and made one. We took the box from one of the above presents, covered it in the wrapping paper from Baby JoJo's present, got some of the white packaging stuff from Tatie Pierrette's new washing machine and covered that in an Air France blanket which someone conveniently left here, and hey presto! Baby Luke and Baby Joy are very comfortably settled in it (reminds me of Esther's twins!)Thursday, 11 December 2008
Prisoners
Well, the blockade around the island intensified today and we have been unable to leave our town at all as a result. Correction to my post yesterday - it is actually the professions liberales who are taking action, including transporters such as the bus companies (which makes more sense, as they are the ones hit by the higher fuel prices). Fishermen joined in today too. They are after a reduction in the price of petrol by 40 centimes, but are only being offered 9 centimes by SARA, the petrol people.
For anyone wanting to know more, and to see some pictures of the huge lorries and buses that block all the roads, have a look at rfo (radio france antilles) here. Interestingly, they say that the movement is supported by the majority of the island (which appears to be the case from the phone-in we heard today). Nor are there any traffic jams, as everyone has left their cars at home. Also true! Just about everywhere was closed today: schools, shops, banks, post offices... There is a real holiday atmosphere around as people meander around the empty streets (of cars) and there are a far higher number of cyclists around! Food is also running a bit low (happily we did our shopping on Monday) and there are rumours of someone paying €4 for a baguette (normally 80 centimes...). Strangely, Bertie got ours cheaper today!
As regular readers know, today is usually our beach day. Well, that wasn't happening so if Mohammed can't go to the beach, then the beach must...come to us, of course! We cleaned and filled up the girls' paddling pool and they had a marvellous time with their cousin Stella splashing in the freezing cold water this morning. Then we moved on to a bit of creativity. I had a lovely parcel from London (thank you Judy!) including My Little Red Book, which is part of the Tiddlywinks range by Scripture Union. LissaLou has been enjoying reading through it with me, and today we made an Advent Ring, according to its instructions. This involved cutting up potatoes to put the candles in (Papy whisked one away from me, apparently it was for planting!) although plasticine works well if you have some. We covered everything in tin foil and put on some red tinsel. Aside from our four white candles, we also have a lovely red one in the centre, which was a gift from Yvonne last Christmas - thanks Yve, I knew it would be put to good use! It looks beautiful, and we enjoyed lighting the first two candles this evening during tea - ok, we are a bit behind!
For more creativity, Bertie made a kite out of newspaper (the London metro Mum brought in October!) with the centre part of a coconut tree leaf as the frame. It flew beautifully in the wind and the girls were thrilled with it!
Sad news: Papy went to Pika and discovered the pig has disappeared. We don't know if it just made a bid for freedom or if it has gone to be part of someone's Christmas dinner (pork is traditional for Christmas here) but it is rather frustrating for him either way.
This evening - it is chilly! We are about to have a mint tea to warm up a bit. The rain is bucketing down too, the paddling pool will be full again in no time! I can hear the band practising for the carnival, getting to be a regular occurrence now. And we wait with baited breath to find out whether the blockade continues tomorrow...
For anyone wanting to know more, and to see some pictures of the huge lorries and buses that block all the roads, have a look at rfo (radio france antilles) here. Interestingly, they say that the movement is supported by the majority of the island (which appears to be the case from the phone-in we heard today). Nor are there any traffic jams, as everyone has left their cars at home. Also true! Just about everywhere was closed today: schools, shops, banks, post offices... There is a real holiday atmosphere around as people meander around the empty streets (of cars) and there are a far higher number of cyclists around! Food is also running a bit low (happily we did our shopping on Monday) and there are rumours of someone paying €4 for a baguette (normally 80 centimes...). Strangely, Bertie got ours cheaper today!
As regular readers know, today is usually our beach day. Well, that wasn't happening so if Mohammed can't go to the beach, then the beach must...come to us, of course! We cleaned and filled up the girls' paddling pool and they had a marvellous time with their cousin Stella splashing in the freezing cold water this morning. Then we moved on to a bit of creativity. I had a lovely parcel from London (thank you Judy!) including My Little Red Book, which is part of the Tiddlywinks range by Scripture Union. LissaLou has been enjoying reading through it with me, and today we made an Advent Ring, according to its instructions. This involved cutting up potatoes to put the candles in (Papy whisked one away from me, apparently it was for planting!) although plasticine works well if you have some. We covered everything in tin foil and put on some red tinsel. Aside from our four white candles, we also have a lovely red one in the centre, which was a gift from Yvonne last Christmas - thanks Yve, I knew it would be put to good use! It looks beautiful, and we enjoyed lighting the first two candles this evening during tea - ok, we are a bit behind!
For more creativity, Bertie made a kite out of newspaper (the London metro Mum brought in October!) with the centre part of a coconut tree leaf as the frame. It flew beautifully in the wind and the girls were thrilled with it!
Sad news: Papy went to Pika and discovered the pig has disappeared. We don't know if it just made a bid for freedom or if it has gone to be part of someone's Christmas dinner (pork is traditional for Christmas here) but it is rather frustrating for him either way.
This evening - it is chilly! We are about to have a mint tea to warm up a bit. The rain is bucketing down too, the paddling pool will be full again in no time! I can hear the band practising for the carnival, getting to be a regular occurrence now. And we wait with baited breath to find out whether the blockade continues tomorrow...
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ok, so we are not American and I doubt I have that many American readers, but I love the Thanksgiving celebration. What an excellent thing to do, say thank you and express gratitude to God for all the good things he has given you over the past year. Definitely in line with Old Testament practice too! My two favourite passages from the OT are:
"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you...remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce weath, and so confirms his covenant." Deut 8:10,18
"There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and rejoice in everyhing you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you." Deut 12:7
We started "celebrating" Thanksgiving two years ago. We don't do the food (though this would be an excellent place to make sweet potato pie, fresh from Mamie's garden!) but we do make a special time to say Thank You. The first year I borrowed the idea of making a tree and sticking leaves on it with our different thank yous. Then I thought, what a pity to not keep a record, so I got a special book and stuck them all in. The girls were little so we did it on our own.
The next year we drew around our hands and each person had to say something they were thankful for regarding that particular person, which we wrote on their handprint. LissaLou came up with her own ideas but we guessed at what CassCass would be thankful for!
At that point it struck me that we didn't need to stick to being thankful as a family once a year, so we decided to do it more often. The idea was to sit down together each Sunday afternoon and record our thanks from that week, but it has ended up being more like once a month. Here Sundays are full of family visiting so I have come to the conclusion that weekday lunchtimes will be better. LissaLou loves the time together and often asks for it, and we have also tried to learn a bible verse each time (usually as a song) but that has fallen by the wayside somewhat!
We try and get the girls involved as much as possible, so they suggest things (LissaLou always mentions her forthcoming birthday!) and maybe draw in the book. CassCass still tends to lose interest quite quickly.
Today, I hadn't really planned anything, but then all of a sudden got a creative urge this morning and decided rather than make a Thanksgiving Oak Tree (a bit like here, which is what we did previously) we should be a bit more West Indian and make a Thanksgiving Coconut Tree! After studying the one growing up by our balcony, I used some brown paper for the trunk and got CassCass to paint the leaves green. The balcony is a great place for painting, she can make all the mess she likes. Now I am waiting for the rain to come and wash it away! Then I used the spare bits of brown paper to cut out coconuts, though in all accuracy they should be green if they are still on the tree.
As the girls are still not writing themselves, I thought it would be nice to cut out pictures of things and people we are thankful for. I love the tripleprint photos for this purpose, as I just cut out the small ones I had. I also used some magazines. Bertie and I wrote on the coconuts. Then after our lunch (yummy spaghetti bolognese, using up the last of the parmesan cheese Mum brought us, sniff!) we got discussing and sticking. LissaLou had a great time, and CassCass did a few before she started playing with Happyland! It was interesting seeing how many people's names from back home she had forgotten. We have now used up all our acid free sticky stuff, so if anyone has some lying around....?! To end, LissaLou said a thank you prayer, using the pictures as a guide, and it was great to hear how many things she included. I love hearing small children pray, they are so genuine!
Our verse this year was "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you...remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce weath, and so confirms his covenant." Deut 8:10,18
"There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and rejoice in everyhing you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you." Deut 12:7
We started "celebrating" Thanksgiving two years ago. We don't do the food (though this would be an excellent place to make sweet potato pie, fresh from Mamie's garden!) but we do make a special time to say Thank You. The first year I borrowed the idea of making a tree and sticking leaves on it with our different thank yous. Then I thought, what a pity to not keep a record, so I got a special book and stuck them all in. The girls were little so we did it on our own.
The next year we drew around our hands and each person had to say something they were thankful for regarding that particular person, which we wrote on their handprint. LissaLou came up with her own ideas but we guessed at what CassCass would be thankful for!
At that point it struck me that we didn't need to stick to being thankful as a family once a year, so we decided to do it more often. The idea was to sit down together each Sunday afternoon and record our thanks from that week, but it has ended up being more like once a month. Here Sundays are full of family visiting so I have come to the conclusion that weekday lunchtimes will be better. LissaLou loves the time together and often asks for it, and we have also tried to learn a bible verse each time (usually as a song) but that has fallen by the wayside somewhat!
We try and get the girls involved as much as possible, so they suggest things (LissaLou always mentions her forthcoming birthday!) and maybe draw in the book. CassCass still tends to lose interest quite quickly.
Today, I hadn't really planned anything, but then all of a sudden got a creative urge this morning and decided rather than make a Thanksgiving Oak Tree (a bit like here, which is what we did previously) we should be a bit more West Indian and make a Thanksgiving Coconut Tree! After studying the one growing up by our balcony, I used some brown paper for the trunk and got CassCass to paint the leaves green. The balcony is a great place for painting, she can make all the mess she likes. Now I am waiting for the rain to come and wash it away! Then I used the spare bits of brown paper to cut out coconuts, though in all accuracy they should be green if they are still on the tree.
As the girls are still not writing themselves, I thought it would be nice to cut out pictures of things and people we are thankful for. I love the tripleprint photos for this purpose, as I just cut out the small ones I had. I also used some magazines. Bertie and I wrote on the coconuts. Then after our lunch (yummy spaghetti bolognese, using up the last of the parmesan cheese Mum brought us, sniff!) we got discussing and sticking. LissaLou had a great time, and CassCass did a few before she started playing with Happyland! It was interesting seeing how many people's names from back home she had forgotten. We have now used up all our acid free sticky stuff, so if anyone has some lying around....?! To end, LissaLou said a thank you prayer, using the pictures as a guide, and it was great to hear how many things she included. I love hearing small children pray, they are so genuine!
Our verse this year was "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Visiting Malvern Manor
We sent Bertie off for his belated Father's Day present of a day of golf with his friend LL Cool J and Pastor Julio. A round of 87 I believe, plus he is showing promise as a golfing tutor - could be useful if the teaching posts ever dry up!
We had the pleasure of visiting my parents at Malvern Manor. We had hoped to spend the afternoon on the bouncy castle in the garden, but the weather said otherwise, so we turned to inside pursuits. Mum helped us make a groovy book from the photos of our visit to the zoo last week and she and LissaLou made a delicious cake. We also had fish n chips! Grandpa knows the way to a grandaughter's heart is through her stomach!
I foolishly forgot my camera, but Mum and I captured a few shots on hers of the day. Have a look at them here.
We had the pleasure of visiting my parents at Malvern Manor. We had hoped to spend the afternoon on the bouncy castle in the garden, but the weather said otherwise, so we turned to inside pursuits. Mum helped us make a groovy book from the photos of our visit to the zoo last week and she and LissaLou made a delicious cake. We also had fish n chips! Grandpa knows the way to a grandaughter's heart is through her stomach!
I foolishly forgot my camera, but Mum and I captured a few shots on hers of the day. Have a look at them here.
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Name Plaques
Our bedroom is devoid of much decoration (the Winnie the Pooh posters and Disney Princess transfers got covered by the ubiquitous damp that plagues us for six months of the year) so we were delighted with this present from Mum. Now both the girls have their names above their beds. 
I wish I could have taken better photos to show you just how pretty they are (any tips Evs?) - Mum put all her scrapbooking skill to use and made them out of chipboard covered with flowery paper and then added flowers and ribbons to finish. The ribbons on CassCass's name have the added bonus of being from my Senegal collection. When I was living in a small town there during my gap year, there really was very little to do in the village, so one of our favourite activities was buying ribbons! Well, I was looking after 8 and 5 year old girls!
I wish I could have taken better photos to show you just how pretty they are (any tips Evs?) - Mum put all her scrapbooking skill to use and made them out of chipboard covered with flowery paper and then added flowers and ribbons to finish. The ribbons on CassCass's name have the added bonus of being from my Senegal collection. When I was living in a small town there during my gap year, there really was very little to do in the village, so one of our favourite activities was buying ribbons! Well, I was looking after 8 and 5 year old girls!
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