Silent Sunday

Happy Mother's Day to You All

In the spirit of supporting women of all kinds, at all different stages of their lives, amid their own decisions and life choices, I wanted to say Happy Mother's day to you all, whether you are a mother or not (in the literal sense).

To all the Mummy's who are expecting, I'm so excited for you! Your life is about to change dramatically and although things probably won't work out how you envisaged it (sorry to say), it will be a lot of fun.

To all the women who have fought against infertility and miscarriages, and all the poking and prodding that goes along with that, my heart goes out to you.

To all the Mummy's who have a newborn, I know its arduous. The constant feeding and wiping can get really dull, but trust me it's worth it and it'll be over before you know it (and certainly before you're ready for it to be).

To all the women who have been through abortion or putting children up for adoption, I respect your personal decisions. You've made some tough choices and I'm sorry things have been hard for you.

To all the Mummy's with young children, it's chaotic and messy, but enjoy their silliness, honest cuddles and sloppy kisses.

To all the Mums who have lost a child, I'm truly sorry. There aren't words...

To all the Mums of teens and pre-teens, though I haven't been through that stage with my own, I remember being one myself and I know it's a minefield, but I'm certain you're doing a fabulous job amid the tantrums and strange smells.

To all the Mums whose children are leaving the family nest, I hope you are enjoying your new found space and freedom, despite how horribly empty your house might feel. you've got through the big part of your job, now it's time to get on with your own stuff and wait for the phone calls...

To all the women who are still waiting for their lives to take the baby turn, give it time.

To all the women who've lost their own Mum, my heart goes out to you.

To all the women who are surrounded by 'non-biological' children, you're awesome! 
Whether you're an Auntie, a foster Mum or a second Mom to your best friend's kids, you enrich their lives.

And finally, to all the women who've chosen not to have children of their own but keep a watchful and loving eye over their family and friends, I respect your decisions and I hope you don't let anyone tell you your life is in any way incomplete or wasted just because you chose not to reproduce.

My Mother's Day Cards

Yay! Thanks to school I have Mothers day cards I didn't help make myself. 

I love little surprises and use any opportunity I can to let people keep secrets (the nice kind) from me at Christmas, on my birthday, Valentine's day and Mother's day.

I knew they must have making them because on Wednesday Bean had paint all over his sleeve and when I asked about it he replied;

"Mother's day cards". 

Ooops Bean, don't think you were supposed to tell me that...

So, on Friday, Ed, who is very precious about his surprises and hates them to be ruined in any way, came out of school with something stuffed inside his coat. We walked to the car as he gave Bean and I strict instructions to go straight into the kitchen when we got home. However, he must have got overexcited and when we got home, before we'd even walked through the door he asked me if I wanted it early, then gave it to me before I had a chance to answer.

Now, I'll be honest, Ed spends a fair amount of time telling me I don't love him, and he's written me notes that say something along the lines of; 

"I love you but I don't think you love me" 

So I had expected his card to be full of: 

"You don't love me, you've never even liked me, you're an asshole"

Instead, I got this...

Translation; Dear Mum, Happy Mother's Day. I love you lots, from Ed.

Bean's card was stashed in his homework bag, and when given permission to remove it, I found this.

I seriously never expected this.

When I asked for a translation of '1psent min' I literally laughed out loud and asked why on earth he'd put that. Bean is always so loving and sweet, it was a surprise to see this written in his beautifully hand-painted card. 

Apparently, it's very simple. 

The morning he wrote his card out at school was the morning I wouldn't let him have crisps for breakfast.

Mommy, you are 1 percent mean, from Henry
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Now I don't need flowers or chocolates, instead I have two little boys who I know will never hold back and always be honest about their feelings, however, Ed decided it was inappropriate to write something mean in his card, which I think is an excellent notion to have at just seven. 

What great kids I have. I'm one lucky Mummy.

But Martin! Workbook: Free Printable

I made this for my boys after reading But Martin! to them at bedtime.

I've always loved this book, I remember my Mummy reading it to me when I was little.

Feel free to print it off for your little ones too 

(just right-click on each photo, save as a j-peg file & print).

Let me know what you think of it x

Supermarket Zoo Day: Kid's project with Free Printables

Available here

Ed & Bean love this book, although to be honest I'm not it's biggest fan and often leave Daddy to read it if they choose it (haha). Reading it aloud requires far too much fake enthusiasm which I just can't muster having read it quite a few times now. There are books I'll never run out of beans for, but this just isn't one of them. But that's just my humble opinion and it certainly doesn't effect the boys excitement for it.

So I spent last night sorting out some print outs for them. I found these great printables online and put these together;

stickers 1

stickers 2

stickers 3

Please feel free to use these, simply right click, save & print them off A4 size, cut them out and stick them onto a trolley/shopping basket of your own. I made extra stickers and other animals for them to play with.  

shopping list

word mat

So, armed with the shopping list I photocopied out of the story book, the boys glued the right amount of animals onto the trolley (I had a proud Mummy moment with Ed as he counted down how many monkeys we needed, for example, when we had 4, he said we needed 2 more without even thinking about it, etc, etc).

When they were done with that, I gave them their own shopping trolleys, shopping lists and the other printables to do with as they chose. They stuck the left over stickers onto their trolleys and shopping lists, choosing which animals they would like to buy if they could.

The bags and boxes were a much bigger hit than I had predicted, Ed drew some lovely tins and stuff. He drew a shelf full of "baby Christmas trees for people to take home, water and care for them", and another shelf of other kinds of plants. He must be plant focused at the moment because he has been helping me with my salad growing. 
Even Bean 'drew' some hoops (their favourite breakfast cereal) on a box.

Our display. Once again I've ran out of pockets :/

This impressed me no end.
I don't push Ed into 'writing practise' or anything, but I'm always on the lookout for moments when he's happy to have a go at anything and help in any way I can. I printed off these price stickers for them to decide how to use, and Ed immediately attempted to write a number in each box. His first attempt was actually thwarted by a bump from Bean and a hissy fit, so I printed another sheet off and left it on the table. Later on, he had another go. The numbers he was unsure of, he asked me about and I provided him with a laminate sheet I did ages ago with 1-100. Awesome.

The images I've used for these printables are not mine but I ask for nothing in return, only that you have lots of fun with your small people.

Cereal Box Marble Run: How to

I recently spotted this on Pinterest & had to try it with my marble loving boys.

We spent what felt like weeks collecting toilet rolls & cereal boxes, then finally we had enough to make two.

 

 It has a trap door at the bottom, so the marbles don't come tumbling straight out & a hole in the top.

Then, when we came to make Ed's, as impressed as he was with Bean's, he wanted a marble maze instead. 

So I asked him to draw a track on the cardboard, which then had to be slightly amended on the parts where it was too close together and we added extra routes where there were gaps.

I tried to make it using the loo rolls, but there wasn't enough, so I had to make amends with the spare cereal box, which turned out much better and far easier to put together.

Oh, I cant tell you how much I enjoyed making this!
This one also lasted a lot longer than the loo roll one.

 

 It has a hole at one end, then a trap door in the other so if he fills it, he only has to control one hole. 

As soon as I made it, he put all the marbles in haha.

 Sooooo much fun! Go make one!