No Mess Painting .......Now thats my kind of painting!

I'm by myself till 9 tonight and the kids woke up early from their nap so Gracie needed some entertaining. By some MIRACLE I had a clean house and nothing on my to do list so I decided we should get creative.

Had a bit of a search on my 'For the Kiddlywinks' board on pinterest and cane across This Lady's Blog. My criteria was quick, crafty, no mess and this is what came up....................

 Chalkboard Water Painting!!!!

Painting around her hand

She LOVED it. It kept her occupied for about half an hour while I fed Joshie and played with him for a little bit. 

It was so quick and easy. You don't even have to do those stripes you can just rub the duster over the board.

If we have a day at home and I ask Gracie what she wants to do she always asks to paint, and it stresses me out but I can't say no.

Gracie loves painting and I hate mess.

Chalkboard Water Painting here we come! 

That's My Girl

Well, it was a daddy daughter night tonight.  I always like them cos I feel like such a rebel letting Gracie say up that little bit longer.  As we stayed up a looked over the lesson for Sunday and she wanted to comb my hair.  She even told me to put my head up and I was like 'ahh ok'. But the crowning event of the night was reading this book together.  It has taken a while but the hard work has paid off. We had a pretty crack up time when Gracie was in bed too. She sings and like reading books and this time I was listen to her for the next line of lyrics haha.  Gotta love her though.
Enjoy

Mummy's Little Helper.....

Gracie has been doing some classes put on by her favourite kids group The Polkadots (check them out, they are friends of mine, a group of young Mums committed to teaching preschoolers through fun. Gracie is OBSESSED, enough said.) The class is called Body Bop and it teaches her all about exercise, eating healthily, coordination, team work etc and Gracie SUCKS lol (nothing to do with the class mind you, all the other kids are great lol) She spends 90% of the time chasing after balls that the other kids have dropped and making sure it gets back to them, picking up bats to make sure everyone gets to finish their turn and picking up equipment that has fallen over. She will even run over to the other side of the room to put Joshie's blanket back on if it has fallen off. The other 10% of the time she is actually trying, but it drives me nuts. Then I thought about it and I realized she is like this ALL the time. At home, if something spills she says "oh no!" and runs to get the tea towel. If Joshie dribbles or pukes she runs in to get the wipes. She is CONSTANTLY trying to get the broom out and sweep the floor and she blows her nose all the time so that she can go and put the tissues in the bin. On Friday (cleaning day) she makes me give her a sponge and she follows me around the house helping me clean and spraying her Spray'n'Wipe which I refilled with water. If me and Haydn have finished our drinks or cleared our plates she will grab them and RUN to the kitchen to drop them in the sink (one thing we are trying to stop) Then I found her on the couch the other day doing this...........

Mummy: "You ok Gracie?"

Gracie: "Yup, I feed Joshie."

She had her legs crossed and everything lol, she had her top pushed up but pulled down to cover her "Booboos" she even had the phone, cell phone and remote lined up on the armrest (although you can't see it) Just like Mummy does. You should see her trying to fold pillow cases when I do the laundry SO cute. This isn't a bad thing, she will be a great Mummy! (Just maybe not that great at sports)

She may not look like me but personality wise she is DEFINITELY a carbon copy of me!

Sick Kids = ZERO fun

I have pretty much been wiping snot and cleaning vomit from the carpet for three weeks now. They were pretty good apart from the last of Joshie's chesty cough coming out. It is FREEZING down there, at least 3 degrees colder and I guess the kids immune system didn't handle it too well cause Gracie and Joshie both go worse and now Gracie has just woken up early from her nap (I was really enjoying having both kids asleep) with a temp of 38.5. So I have shoved her in front of the TV and she is SILENT and STILL and I am enjoying myself, for now. This part of being sick is the ONLY good thing to come of it, it doesn't however, make up for the lack of sleep, constant crying and whinging, coughing fits which lead to vomit and cabin fever. Saying my prayers that they both are back to normal soon, Joshie needs his 5 month immunisations and hasn't been able to have them :(

Time for the new post you have been waiting for.  Honestly I (Haydn) feel great.  Why you might ask?  I gave up seminary.  Man I don't know how people do it, particularly a Man with 2 kids under 2 1/2, A full time job as a teacher (in my second year of teaching), 1 Uni paper and the list goes on.

Now I think more importantly than stating the facts is why I quit.  The story goes something like this...  I was in the temple helping a mate for the first time.  It was great to be apart of and while I was in there I got the impression 'You need to give up seminary, or you will loose your family!'  I initial thought was 'nah just get a guy to cover the odd day and i'll be sweet'.  The weekend after the temple was a good example on why I should of listen right away because right infront of my eyes were experiences that made me realise that I was slowly loosing them.

Once this realisation was brought to my attention the email was sent to quit seminary.  Yet again I am grateful for the revelations received.  So this week I have made the effort to be a better father and husband.  I taught Jessie some rock and roll dance moves, I took Gracie out today to the mall and had a great time with her, and Joshie heck how can ya not love that kid?!

Moral of the story, never give up on ya family or let anything come in and flood your time away from them.  Its hard to do but their happiness should come before yours.  I love them heaps and think its about time they get the best of me.