Today’s party took place last year already but I remembered being so impressed with my friend,Ranique ‘s, handy work I just had to share her son,Adam’s, Mickey cuteness.
Curly countdown with Robyn
Yeah!!! It’s time for another curly count down…This time it’s my friend Robyn,I have mentioned her on the blog like a thousand times before, you know, my maid-of-honor and mother of my twinsikles, I’d call her my bestie but I’m 30 and now don’t use phrases like that or yolo, or on fleek or bae… I might use slay though (if I can work it into a sentence, but don’t think I can)
Robyn has such an awesome curl pattern but because her hair takes to straightening so well (like she has way more than 20min of straight hair time after heat) people are often so surprised to see her hair in it’s “natural state” and she has to field questions about perms and curling rods all the time.
Here is her curly countdown
5 Random facts about you.
– I have a lot of hair. Looks like a little when straight but when its curly it springs up into a big mess that never looks the same day to day
– I’m the mom of twins, no time for fuss with hair. Curly not choice, it’s really just the easiest way of life.
– When i was younger a hairdresser tried to relax my hair to make it easier to work with.
– I never know what my hair is going look like at the end of the day.
– At 32 I’m still trying to find what works and trying to live in peace with my hair lol
4 Activities or products you can’t live without
– I’ve recently tried perfect curl. Love love love it. Keeps curls looking neat without the hardness other products create.
– I don’t brush my curls. I wet. Apply product and scrunch.
– I use a round detangling brush thingie before I rinse my conditioner off.
– I don’t touch hair at all after scrunching. Just leave it be
3 Tips
– Hair accessories like bands and cute clips are awesome to add a little something to your curly style. Not too small tho or it’ll disappear.
– Banana clips are an awesome way to tie shorter curly hair back without that barely there looking ponytail.
– When u find product that works stock up
2 Misconceptions about curly hair
– Yes just wetting it can cause curls. Ppl ask how did u get your hair to curl. Is it a perm? No its water.
– Curly hair is not always lazy hair. It sometimes takes a lot of different techniques to achieve workable curls.
1. Curly pic
How does one raise a reader?
In all honesty actual reading isn’t on top of my priority list at the moment, well not for Aidan at least.
He will be three soon and I don’t expect him to be reciting sonnets, but I do want him to love books and reading. There is something so special/magical/uplifting about being able to immerse yourself in the written word. Also you can then use sentences like “immerse yourself in the written word” quite successfully-hehe.
Right now I’m working on helping Aidan recognise letters of the alphabet, he is pretty much only interested in the letter A because A is for Aidan.
Here are 6 tips/games I’m using to get Aidan more interested in the other letters…
– I let him trace the letters using colourful stones or beads
– We play a treasure hunting game where we collect pictures (he loves taking pics) of objects that start with a specific letter… ants, apples, antelope (we don’t have antelope or artichokes) he suggested a picture of himself and of this blonde haired Aidan he met once.
– I let him go through my old magazines with a highlighter looking for specific letters
– I let him colour/paint/collage (you know this means tear off paper and haphazardly glue onto letter right?) the letter of the week
– I use things like scabble or bananagram tiles and have him pick out the letter of the week
– At the end of the week I want to give him a felt letter signaling that he knows that letter now (just thought of that now-don’t you just hate me… we are heading to C now so I better get working on that)
We also read pretty regularly, very regularly. The Kid’sBookClub means we are building quite the collection. The service gives you the chance to build up a library that grows with your kid at the steal of R145 per month. That is two books and two magazines which is AWESOME.
Any more tips on raising a reader???? DO SHARE!
Maybe I should stop talking to my toddler?!
I’m considering not speaking to my kid anymore
I’m getting such mixed messages from social media/well meaning people and various articles. I thought this might be the best way to not screw him up
Because you know complimenting them to much makes them not strive for better
Not complimenting enough makes them underachieve
You should let them find the answers to things themselves, to promote learning
But since they are just mastering their home language you should help them out
You should not mention their physical appearance as it can breed narcissism
But you must build their self esteem on both physical and intellectual level
You should let them have imagination play and no screen time
but you should guide them with educational games and also make sure they know that they are not the center of the world
You need to be sure that they understand differences in people but you should not say anything that can instill preconceived notions
You need to make sure they have a voice but they need to know that they are children and should be seen not heard.
They need motivation but you should also not put too much emphasis on success
So jip, I just wont speak to him I think that way no matter how he turns out it will not be my fault
– hehehehe just kidding have a great day and remember that the only thing you can do 100% right is to love them
Pics to hold on to when the tantrums hit
Aidan was so exhausting this weekend…Omw the terrible twos are hitting so hard!!! He just moans about every little thing – it’s infuriating!!!
I don’t want that cup, I don’t like that juice, I don’t want to sleep , I don’t want to bath, I want to cry ahhhhhh. … but other times he is sweet and I chose to share those pics instead 🙂
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| Self portrait out of play dough – he looks like humpty dumpty |
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| some love |
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| Aidan tracing letters |
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| he only wants to do A’s |
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| Caleb hung out with us the weekend |
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| Caleb is so gansta |
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| Here they are attempting a obstacle course |
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| obstacle course |
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| They did some crafting |
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| messy crafting |
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| messy messy |
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| caleb playing dr |
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| answering the phone |
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| the “non messy paint” thing didn’t go down too well with them |
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| caleb wrote on my floor |
Party with Emma
So yes I am pretty much still obsessed with kids parties 🙂
Last week I featured Finn’s Adventure time party and this time I feature the daughter of friends and colleagues, Michael and Kathryn. Emma is ridiculously cute!!! and her mom pressed the x100 button on the cuteness with her DIY teddy bear picnic… just have a look
1. Name and age of birthday girl
Emma Kimberley turned one on 8 December.
2. How did you decide on a theme?
I actually chopped and changed a few times, lol. First it was Beatrix Potter, then Alice in Wonderland, and then after stalking Pintrest I decided on a teddy bear’s picnic. I figured they are still so little (don’t tell my big girl I said that), that it would be nice to sit on picnic blankets and make a royal mess with the food. A theme like Alice in Wonderland will be better appreciated when she is a little older and understands the story.
Everything that I found on Pintrest to do with this theme was quite boyish though so that was the biggest challenge. I managed, after going to quite a few material shops, to find pink picnic material, which obviously set the theme. I then added pink and white balloons, and begged, borrowed and stole picnic baskets and old fashioned teddies from friends and family.
3. DIY or shop bought?
I am proud to say I made almost all the décor myself. Being a working mom, I would sit at night after Emma had gone to bed to get the goodies done. I made teddy bear masks because “if you go into the woods today, you better go in disguise”, signs that said “do not feed the bears” or “this way to a teddy bears picnic”. My mom, who is very arty, helped me draw bear paw prints with chalk along the walk way and I made the invites. I went to an arts and crafts shop where they cut out teddy bear shapes for me. I then printed the wording on the bear and added bows on the ears and a cute bear tail at the back.
Food wise, Ginger Pops did an incredible job with the cake, biscuits and cake pops. I made heart shaped sandwiches for the little ones. I added a drop of pink food colouring to the cottage cheese filling and then put a ribbon around them. Looked gorgeous. We did picnic food, so mini burgers, mini hot dogs, mini corn on the cob etc. I also made pink jelly in little jars and covered the lids with picnic material, so simple, yet so effective. Most of my crafts, such as tiny picnic baskets for the gift packs, I got from JA Florals. I then bought lucern from a horse feed shop and was luckily able to resell it.
4. Any behind the scenes blunders?
It was extremely windy so the lanterns kept blowing down and we ended up not being able to use them. In the rush to get done I also forgot to put out some food, like the watermelon.
5. What was best part of the day?
Seeing Emma’s face when everyone sang happy birthday. It was at that point where she realized, this is all for me.
