bigbucketgirl

A colourful minute.

The phone has been ringing a lot around here the last month or so. Ringing off the hook. Planning and sorting on the phone has never been my favourite thing to do, I much prefer to email! I feel far more comfortable typing it all down with a little thinking time than having to provide quick answers to people who i don't know and who don't know me. If i could walk to their offices and talk face to face that would be better, but not practical and I doubt they'd appreciate me turning up in my usual email attire. I would love to see their facial expressions as we chat so that i can witness them rolling their eyes, making rude hand signals at the handpiece or silently guffawing at my 'stupidity'.

Phone calls it is though, and when I have to left the 2yr old 'alone' in the living room while I walked to the other end of the same room to talk, admittedly turning my back on said 2yr old for 1minute 23 seconds (The call log told me)....should i expect any less than this!

This is the 7yr olds Van Gogh homework, lovingly arranged with some co-ordinating yarns and the obligatory wellington boot. Out of shot were some blue building blocks and bizarrely a blue playmobil hat. I think my boy's got a thing for colour, or he's feeling blue.

Big eyes met me as I came off the phone and said "I like it, I like it."

I agreed heartily, before running off to iron the creases out of DD's assignment!

Beware!

Beware!, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

The sun is shining and we're taking no prisoners.....we will be out on the highs seas until dark..rampaging and destroying all that stands in our way of a good time, enjoying our grub and grog!

Come if you dare...if you think you're brave enough! .

Spring building.

My creation, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

Playing with bricks and Flickrtoys!

Oh and the book came!

Would you eat one?

Last night I greeted my weary and hard worked husband home by singing from the kitchen, "I'm sticking with you" from the Juno soundtrack, wearing a polka dot apron and handed him a cold beer. His spirits were momentarily lifted as he walked into the kitchen and saw the baking tray steaming on top of the oven. Imagine his dismay when on closer inspection he found this.

It was the first time I had ever used this recipe and to be honest I made it up as I went along really.

The others turned out splendid! although next time we will use more broken bits! I was too afraid to fill the cake cases too far incase they spilled and flooded my oven with molten wax!

Finally I have made crayons! Thankyou to littlecottonrabbits for the shove towards the oven. The kids thought they were a cool experiment! Perfect rainy afternoon action.

And it seemed a shame not to use the warm oven for some rainy day comfort food....baked sweet potatoes. "Yum in tummy" as says the 2yr old! Couldn't agree more.

Wet.Wet.Wet..

Good morning! The house is full of singing this morning...joyful and mostly in tune but unfortunately inspired by the lashing rain!

Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo...

I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I've a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin',
Singin' in the rain

Dancin' in the rain
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
I'm happy again!
I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain!

The kids are planning to get the rainsticks, cabassas and tambourines out along with the blue voile scarves..but i have begged that this happens after their cereal! The last time music and cereal mixed...well lets just say that it took days to clean the walls! They have already deliberated and negotiated with each other and picked out the dvd for this afternoon...

my contribution is that I think the last of the Easter chocolate will join us on the settee!

Yesterday was so different with the sun shining and warming the patio...I was on the lawn with the boys while DD stayed up on the patio with my latest empty Amazon boxes. After 10 minutes or so of peaceful solitude she had created a townscape with the box and a thrifted box of chalks. She never ceases to amaze me. Never. The detail was incredible but I couldn't capture it on the camera!

#3 lights up when DD gets arty and learns so much from her. As a thank you he helped her with a trail or two..."Meee elllp yuuuu"

(Mid-creation. Photo taken before #3 took to it with a duster!)

Her style at the moment whether with pen, pencil or chalk is scratchy, exuberant, full of short strokes, short quick, intense, emotional mark making. I absolutely adore how she throws herself into her art projects with gusto, however small or fleeting they may be.

We also painted with water from the bird bath(wheel barrow) on the patio and the kids used their new stop watches (Thank you Easter Bunny!) to find out how long the paintings took to vanish. We talked about the water cycle and DD used Google to find this! So today seems perfect to be Drippy! we may even stay in our pyjamas.

Last night was warm enough that the sun room doors were open until dark and because we hadn't expected the rain...and so her creation is soggy and blurred this morning but...We have found a positive focus in her washed out work...I must order more from Amazon so that she may have another box to create with. No other box will do apparently! Fingers crossed there should be a box coming early next week with The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections in it! We are very excited about it! The kids are looking forward to seeing Amanda's little ones in a real 'live' book!

Time to go...the tambourines are out.

Snow angels.

"Mumma, QUICK....Robin Hood's making snow angels"
How creative my children can be with a huge block of 'sneaked from the shed' polystyrene. My house looks like a blizzard blew through.

The.stuff.was.everywhere.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed their Outlaw role play, immersed in costume, music and song. They re-enacted overthrowing the Sheriff and his bad men, and read from their comic that people used to eat swans! Play and learning...marvellous. They also learned a particularly valuable lesson. Having fun with fake snow means YOU WILL vacuum until every bead has gone! or until Mumma's vacuum chokes and cuts out. Ah!

Edited to put in photo that Flickr seems to have made vanish!? Oh and I'm still finding polystyrene beads around the house!