The Messiest Cupboard in the World

Recently I was asked to run arts and crafts at one of the local weekly parent and toddler groups. So this morning, laden down with cereal box cut out hearts, I celebrated a quick weight watchers victory (congratulations! You're back down to the weight you were a month ago - you know, that weight goal you celebrated by eating chips for the next three weeks) and hurried off to the Parent and Toddler group.

This group is held in a soft play centre, so I was surprised when so many little faces appeared in the craft corner just minutes after I arrived. On opening the art cupboard I felt, for the first time ever, an odd sense of smug pride that someone somewhere was indeed capable of maintaining a messier cupboard than I. After raking through shelves and shelves of half finished creations, crunchy paintbrushes and a surprising number of empty crisp packets and raisin boxes (ick) I finally scraped together three Pritt sticks (two of which where completely dried up) two broken red crayons (itched to steal for my collection, but resisted), five tiny scraps of red felt and a few sheets of pink sugar paper. Good enough!

If I do say it myself, the project was a resounding success. So much so that all the decorated hearts and Valentine cards were made and taken away before I got a chance to snap them. (The one below came from Boy, made at crèche). Now let's be clear: we are talking about 2 year olds here. It was a resounding success for about 9 minutes. 11 if you count the kids who showed up after everyone else had finished. But a success nevertheless. Especially considering I was competing with a bouncy castle.

I spent the next half hour clearing out one section of the Messiest Cupboard in the World. Externally I was tutting and shaking my head as any tidy, organised Supermammy should. But inside I was beaming with pride and couldn't help thinking, "imagine if Grunny could see me now?"

Valentine Arts

(That was a play on "hearts", did you get it?)

Decided to try a little craft project with Boy today - a straightforward Valentine's heart shaped collage suggested by http://galway.mykidstime.ie/d/things-do/art-crafts/valentine-craft-children. It took about half an hour to make, though Boy's sole contribution was a very grudging thump on one of the little bits of paper to make sure it was properly stuck down. I don't think he's really into the whole arts and crafts thing - yet - but I will persist and make a little Van Gogh out of him yet. Or someone equally artistic but with fewer tendencies towards self-mutilation. He did enjoy proudly presenting the finished product to Daddy while I swallowed back my feelings of plagiarised creative pride. Girl enjoyed scrunching up the leftover magazine pages and chewing on the cereal box cut-offs. So at least someone got some enjoyment out of it.

I will try this project again on Tuesday at the City Limits mother and toddler group in Oranmore, but will be using much smaller hearts for a quicker result. We will also only glue the collage on one side and write a little "Happy Valentine's Day" message on the other side. If they work, I'll even post a picture.

New Beginnings

(9 Feb 2012)
I have spent the last month trawling blogs for cool things to do with my babies. Found some very cool things, but they often don't quite work out the way I want. Like today, I saw this article about making heart-shaped rainbow crayons for valentines day, using broken crayons and heart shaped silicon baking molds: http://mollymoo.ie/2012/02/for-crayon-out-loud/

I got all excited and started emptying the cupboards looking for a heart-shaped silicon ice cube tray I bought in Ikea ages ago. No luck. I did find the formula dispenser I bought for Boy and couldn't find this time round. I also found a silicon ice cube mold for making little fishy ice cubes. That'll do I thought. So I started hunting down all the boxes of crayons scattered round the house and collecting up the broken bits. I especially look out for bright colours as the instructions suggest. An hour later I have 6 tiny bits of broken crayon. And four of them are navy. Girl is wailing to be fed. Boy has gone to bed. DH suggests I break up some whole crayons to melt down if I'm that desperate. I take the high road. I have decided to start collecting bits of broken crayon in a special tin, and make valentines' crayon fishies next year instead.

Hoping my blog will progress to become a little more inspiring.