10 first movie tips for tots

July 16, 2015Leave a comment

A week or so ago we took Aidan to the movies for the first time…It had been raining quite often and most restaurants with indoor play areas results in either Rob or I awkwardly watching him play while the other dines alone, so we wanted a change.

Aidan is still pretty young (28months/2years), most people wait for at least 3-4, but I must say despite his age, it was a success. He sat through the movie and has already asked when we can go again…also “sooooo much popcorn mummy”

I am by no means an expert this is just my opinion, but I figured why not share what I learnt, so here goes:

Tips for taking a tot to the movies….

– Know your kid.
Would he/she be able to sit quietly through a whole movie? In my opinion it’s not an age thing as much as a temprement thing. My friends’ twins are the same age (shocker) but we are certain one will take to the movies far better than the other. Aidan has TV time daily and will utilise the full time period (also known as; you watch this so mommy can finish some work time) so I suspected he could sit through a movie.

– Choose your time well
We went midday on a weekday to reduce the chance of having a theatre full of annoyed people if kiddo decided to act out.

– Choose your movie well
Make sure it is age appropriate and that it doesn’t run too long (sidebar: I don’t like long movies myself unless it is a good Bollywood one).We watched inside out which in hindsight was a little emotional for him.

– Skip the trailers
The less time they are forced to sit still the better.

– Prepare them
I believe in explaining “big” things to him, it gets him excited for the event and he is less overwhelmed. In this case, he is not a fan of the dark so I explained that the lights would go off, but then a “big TV” would go on and he was fine with it 🙂

– 2D over 3D
It’s a lot to ask of a kid to wear plastic glasses for 90min so if possible go for 2D. We didn’t have the 2D option, he wore the glasses but only because mommy and daddy were…He hated it though.

– Choose an aisle seat
It’s easier to make a quick retreat in an aisle seat, incase of tantrums or bathroom breaks (we are only just starting potty training so the latter is not for me yet)

– Don’t be too invested in the movie
If your kid doesn’t want to sit through the whole film be prepared to walk away from your overpriced seats 😉

– Pick up on queues
I noticed that Aidan was getting a little uncomfortable/tense when he reached for my hand…I checked if he wanted to go, but he insisted on sitting through albeit on my lap.

– Soak up the excitement
Nothing like seeing things like this though a child’s eyes… things we take for granted are magnified and made even more special with them 🙂

Storybook DIY: home based chocolate factory

July 15, 2015August 7, 20162 Comments

Morning all, you know the song …WHO RUNS THIS MOTHER?…. the answer right now, the flu virus, sheesh, can’t we get sick one at a time maybe?

Any who I am involved in a really cool blog challenge where me and three other book/DIY loving bloggers each chose a book and over the next four weeks will be doing crafts based on these:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Suddenly a Mom)
Cinderella (Ruth Abercrombie)
Alice in Wonderland (My Spreadsheet Brain)
Peter Pan (Me,JustEllaBella)

Today is Charlie and Chocolate Factory , the book (and the movie, lets be honest) makes me think CHOCOLATE!!! but as a grown person aware of the calorific and sugar loaded truths of a chocolate lake I decide to make something a little more, “big person” but just as chocolaty…

Ginger choc popcorn

Yummy ginger choc popcorn at 118 calories per serving if you share…

Three cups of air popped popcorn
candied ginger slices
dark chocolate (I went all fancy with Frey’s Dark Crunchy Almond)

chop up about 15g of the ginger

mix in 20g melted choc with the ginger

Enjoy the deliciousness!!!

It can get a little messy, I know because Aidan saw me eating, ran to his room, returned with a wet wipe and told me to clean my “choccy face”…he is getting quite a mouth on him that one, his dad was playfully chasing him around to “catch his nose” when he stopped mid run, turned around and said “here, just take my nose” hmmmmmmmmmmm

The other bloggers came up with super cool Charlie and the Chocolate Factory inspired Crafts:
SEE HERE:

SUDDENLY A MOM
MY SPREADSHEET BRAIN
RUTHABERCROMBIE

the A-Z of being me

July 14, 20154 Comments

I’ve been lacking in inspiration recently, I feel like my blog is like a haircut which is growing out, it’s at that awkward, not big, not new, stage and I feel like, soooo what now? cut it (just drop blogging) or grow it (take it more seriously)?
I decided to do a blogger questionare to maybe inspire me… so here goes the A-Z of being me 🙂

A- age? I’m 30 remember I did the 30before30 thing
B- Breakfast? I really try but I’m always so busy in the morning, it’s usually all bran or chia pudding
C- Cellphone? is cracked 🙁 still works but don’t know for how much longer
D- Driving? I bought a little fiat palio, still prefer being driven around though
E- Eating? way more than I should be, woolies macaroons are EVERYTHING though

F- Fun? right now my idea of fun is watching youtube videos with my boys, cold makes me boring
G- Goal? to get fit an healthy and feel comfortable enough in my own skin to play with Aidy on beach this summer
H- Hair is now a shade of red that I love but can’t get to show up in pics…also totally embracing the curl and doing the twist out thing

Just woke up don’t judge

I- Instead of here? I’d be anywhere less wet, thank you very much
J- Job? a lot happening on that front was offered a lecturing position but the hours were too crazy and now it looks like I get my dream of 3 days in a office 2 at home doing my own thing, GOD IS GOOD
K- Kinda want amarula hot choc and macaroons but can’t if I want to loose weight
L- Life is good, I could do with more money but that was to be expected, otherwise I’m happy and blessed
M- making? things for Oh!Boy Kid’s accessories and Gifts&Goodies

N- Never expected winter to be this cold sheesh
O- Opportunities? been asked to guest post for a couple of websites which is awesome
P – Parenting is difficult but oh so rewarding
Q – Question season has started in this house why where when how, rinse repeat
R- Reading mostly blog posts
S – Studying online digital marketing and aced my first assessments, yeah me
T – Thinking way too much as usual
U – Unable to get into any of the popular series, zombies,vampies, thrones and emotional hospitals are not for me
V – Very annoyed at how long the alphabet actually is
W – Want people to be nice to each other

X – Xerophobia: Fear of dryness (my skin right now is scary)
Y – You have been awesome to sit through this
Z – Zee you later

Mamahood on being moms

July 13, 2015Leave a comment

Lizanne’s kids are on the left Zac is 1 and Julian is 4 and Candice’s son Rocco,3, is on the right

It’s Mama Moment Monday 🙂 So because I think I’m super cute and smart I asked the ladies who started Mamahood on FB (It’s this online mom forum that has REALLY taken off around South Africa) about Mamahood (see what I did there). Candice Littleford and Lizanne Oved are AWESOME I interviewed them earlier this year for THIS ARTICLE and have watched them grow in cyber space since then… GOOD WORK LADIES!

Here is what they had to say, Candice is the one answering , hence the Lizanne and I 😉

Tell us about the time kiddo made you cringe
Well, we can’t think of anything that made us cringe per say, but we do have a good laugh at the things our kids get up. Little Zac thinks he is superman and keeps jumping from couch to couch much to Lizanne’s shock and horror. I have been on the phone with Lizanne on numerous occasions, where I have heard her literally jump out of her skin and run to see if Zac’s has survived his last attempt at couch flying. This makes us both laugh as my son has always been a very busy and adventurous lad and Lizanne always felt like she got off lightly with well behaved Julian.

Tell us about one moment you felt like you were winning at this mommy thing
There is nothing more amazing or rewarding than hearing your son tell you how much he loves you and every time my son Rocco tells me my heart completely melts and it makes being a mom the best thing ever. Whenever Lizanne fetches Julian from school, she is amazed at how excited he gets when he sees his brother Zac. He takes little Zac by the hand and shows him off to his buddies. This gets Lizanne every time as its so great to see the bond forming between the brothers.

How has mamahood changed you/your life
MAMAHOOD has changed our lives for the better and for the busier. We are blown away by the way everyone has embraced MAMAHOOD. We feel so privileged to have created such an amazing and kind platform for all moms in South Africa and that is a GREAT feeling. We get inspired by our mama’s everyday and we love creating new and exciting elements to our MAMAHOOD village. We have also been so busy behind the scenes designing and creating an amazing website that will be a great resource for all moms out there. We are very proud at what we have created and we cannot wait to show you all, we will be launching very soon so keep a look out on our Facebook groups for this.

What do you wish you knew before
I think for both of us we wish we knew how much it took to juggle working full time and trying to be the best mom’s we can be. When we started out MAMAHOOD was at first a part-time project, but quickly progressed and grew to be the village it is today. We always hoped that MAMAHOOD would be something great, but not in our wildest dreams could we ever have imagined the true community it has become.

Do connect with Mamahood it’s awesome, you can ask for advice and things any day with the added bonus of Monday(Business listings) Tuesday (Featured Business) Wednesday (Bloggers) Thursday (Featured Product/Service) Friday (Featured Competition/Special) Saturday (Featured Expert) there is also a pre-loved group for all those hardly used baby stuff you would like to get rid of, I mean bless someone else with at a steal 🙂

EASTERN CAPE
CAPE TOWN
GAUTENG
NATAL
GARDEN ROUTE
FREE STATE
MPUMALANGA

Sometimes you can borrow faith…The Amelia story

July 9, 20152 Comments

Today’s No Fear Just Faith guest post comes from Amelia who blogs over at Suddenly A Mom. I met Amelia as a freelance writer when I was in charge of organising writers for ad features back in the day. I really liked her and used my power as her link to work to force her to be my friend, whahahahaha. But seriously there was something seriously cool about her and after reading her post I’m sure you will understand 🙂

I’ve never been a particularly fearful person. I’m not scared of lonely streets, bikers with tattoos, dogs with big teeth, or cars that drive fast. But, 2014 certainly taught me what being afraid was really about. If ever I had doubts…2014 cleared them up for me!

At the risk of making this a depressing journal of disaster, I’ll give a quick breakdown of what happened last year.

February – got divorced from my husband of nearly 10 years after he told me he was having an affair with a girl from work.

Also February – my stepmom (with whom I’m really close) nearly lost her life and spent weeks in hospital, followed by rehabilitation.

April – found a lump in my neck.

May – spent days and days in public hospitals (thanks to no medical aid), and spent almost all of my savings on medical tests.

June – first op to remove half my thyroid and 5 lymph nodes, all found to be cancerous and malignant.

July – second op to remove the rest of my thyroid.

August and September – in and out of hospital for tests, scans and appointments.

October – received radiation treatment.

November – called off a rushed engagement that seemed to be a good idea during all the drama, but was really quite a bad one.

In a timeline, it looks quite manageable. In real life, it wasn’t as easy. I was scared. But, there were so many rays of sunshine amidst it all, and these were where the real lessons came from.

Suddenly, the friends I’d shared with my now-ex-husband rallied together and cared for me in ways that I can’t imagine, proving their love and loyalty beyond description. I was literally taken into their homes, fed, hugged and distracted 24 hours a day. I wailed in their showers, had panic attacks on their kitchen floors, threw up in their toilets…all while they stood by patiently and told me that I was going to crawl out of this black hole and smile again one day.

And how right there were! I met the most amazing man with the most amazing daughter. They’d had their fair share (unfair, really) of sadness and tragedy. But, together, we have found such happiness and calm. I’m now a wife to a glorious person and, without a doubt, my very best friend. And I’m mom to a 6-year old who makes me laugh every day. I’m healthy (hold thumbs for check up!), happy and so grateful. I must admit that my faith in happy endings waned at times. But, maybe it was the faith that my amazing, special friends had that counted.

Faithful friends

5 min longer length apron/smock for kids

July 8, 2015Leave a comment

We do a lot of crafting around these parts, seriously even Rob likes building model buildings and vehicles. You guys know I’m always making things and Aidan can’t get enough of painting, glueing and building.

While I encourage his interest (uhm duh) I am growing tired of clothes destroyed by paint! seriously even the “safe on clothes” type paint isn’t really safe on clothes.

He has a apron/smock but it is so short he inevitably needs new pants every time a picture goes up on the fridge (or picture wall in our case).

So I decided to make a long length apron/smock for crafting time, it took around 5min (and that’s with me taking pictures) Here is how to make your own, using an old t-shirt.

End result, I realised that the t-shirt I choose was a little TOO worn out so neck part is a little stretched. It still totally works though and is crazy easy to do.