Connecting With Your Kids

Having two boys leaves me with a house full of cars, dinosaurs, lots of washing and a need for me to join in with their boy games!

What happens when they grow up that little bit, when your not so little one is now five and his interests are all about computer games. The things you once connected with are gone and now they look at you wanting for you to play their new favourite games with their rules. You are left feeling completely confused and have no desire to broom like a car or smash around the house like you are part of Mario Carts and Bowser has just taken over Luigi.

Is this all starting to sound like a second language...Believe me somedays I feel so far apart from my sons world that I have no idea how to merge back into his lane!

Today I took the plunge. I decided to get a connection with my son even if it meant that I had to sit down and play Mario on the wii (something I wouldn't normally do as it hurts my head). 

He was so excited that I said yes to playing that he could barely sit still. He talked the whole time, encouraging me when I fell of the track, letting me know what position I was in and alerting me to the fact that I has special powers that needed to be used now - Push the button MUM!!!

After two tournaments he kindly set me free and said that he is happy to play by himself now.

Giving him that 20mins of my full attention really wasn't that hard. That 20 minutes that made us have something in common. That 20 minutes showed him that I am there when he needs, that I am interested in what he loves and that I support his love for his game! 

The smile on his face when he looked at me confirmed that my desire to connect had been achieved...

The Aftermath Of Glandular Fever Five Years Later

My story starts when my eldest was 6 months old - five years ago. 

I was hit with a two week long stretch of sever headaches and extreme triedness. Tiedness like I have never experienced, to the point of falling asleep upright. I remember saying to my partner one night, if something happens to me make sure my son remembers me. A little drastic I know but at the time I knew something was wrong. Off to the doctor I went and after a few blood tests later I was diagnosed with mononucleosis (Glandular Fever). Great news that I wasn't dying... The down side was that I couldn't do anything to make it go away. For about another month I suffered from the extreme tiredness and weakness of my body, some days it was so hard to even move. My limbs feeling like I had just been swimming for hours, so tired and heavy that moving them was something I had to plan in my head for minutes before hand.

Finally it had passed and here I was thinking it was all behind me...How wrong was I! 

Every few months I would get that feeling, not to the severity of the first time but enough to hit me for a six. The tiredness comes back, the hint to slow down forces me to rest. The frustration set in that yet again I am not me, I am grumpy, tired, and lack any ambition to do anything. 

The years have gone on and my next biggest bout hit just before I fell pregnant with my youngest three years later! Sure enough the two week headache hit and the signs were all to similar. This time I felt it in my throat. It would come on at night and last until morning. The only thing that would take away my sore throat was a morning coffee. I couldn't even talk until I had finished it. So back to the doctor I went. At first I was treated for tonsillitis but the medication made no difference. After blood tests all they could tell me was that mononucleosis was present but showing up that I had had it a few months prior to my symptoms. This is always the case now. It shows up in my system under the name of Epstein Barr Virus, its just lying there waiting to strike me when my immune system gets low or when I get stressed. Again I was left lifeless for weeks with my wonderful partner holding the house up.

Five years on and I am still having bouts. Im left wondering when it will leave my system, wondering what else I can do to prevent it from taking my body over. I am yet to find an answer. It is like nothing I have experienced and I find it very hard to explain the effect that it has on my body. I can only hope that one day it will pass...


The main reason for me sharing this is that a few years ago I was that person trawling the net for answers. I was that person wanting to hear other people's stories. I wanted to know what it was like for them, how they over come it...I really just wanted to hear that others like me were dealing with this virus and that there is an end...One day I will be able to say YES it does end!

My Perfectly Messy :)

Climbing Critters

Simple to make and lots of fun to play with...Its Climbing Critters time!

First thing you will need is your critters. I use a fantastic site called Open Clipart. Here is the link to the bee I used. I click on the PNG button then drag the picture onto my desktop (I use a Mac) Its as easy as that! I then placed the three pictures onto one piece of paper in word, printed, laminated and cut them out.






Now gather your materials, you will need a piece of thread for each critter about 1m long. I used wool for ours. Two 3cm pieces of drinking straws per critter, a coin per critter and a couple of beads or matchsticks.






Stick the coin to the bottom of the critter, this will give him a bit of weight to slide down the thread. Stick the straws as shown to the back of your critters.









Now thread your wool up through the first straw and back down the second straw. To secure the ends add a bead or a match stick to prevent the wool from falling through the straws. 









Your climbing critter is ready to try. We used a door handle to hang them off. To make them climb pull the ends of the wool apart, once at the top let go of the wool and they will slide back down.

 
























Have fun creating your Perfectly Messy climbing critters!

Paper Aeroplane With A Twist

Can you make a paper aeroplane with straws? You sure can!

It may not technically be called a paper aeroplane with the addition of straws but it sure fly's like one and is super easy to make...




 Cut two strips of cardboard the first one 24cm and the second one 12cm with the width of 2cm for both.

Join the ends of both strips together with sicky tape to make a loop.

Grab 4 straws and cut the bendy ends off. You could save the ends for another craft activity.





Tape the straws on the inside of the large loop. Tape the other end of the straws on the outside of the smaller loop. Now add the other two straws in between the first two.

Your straw paper aeroplane is now complete!

Time to hand it over to a 5 year old to test it out....

Look Mum it can fly, it sure can!

A simple easy activity that will have everyone entertained!

Baking Soda And Vinegar Wizard's Brew

A rainy afternoon of colourful, bubbly explosions is just what we needed today. 

Time to whip up some Wizard's Brew!

Fill some cups half way with white vinegar and add a few drops of food colouring. Sprinkle in some glitter to add the magic and a good squirt of dish washing up liquid. (This helps to add extra bubbly fun)!

Time to give it all a good stir with a metal spoon...Now the super fun part. Add a heaped teaspoon of baking soda into your cup and watch what happens! 

Our wizard's brew has bubbled and doubled but not quite enough so...

Time to step it up by adding a little bit more baking soda and give it a quick stir...TaDa our wizard's brew is brewing nicely.

The colours are overflowing and the effect is fabulous - Our wizard's brew is complete! Until I had one last idea...

Add a piece of paper towel to soak up the gorgeous colourful, bubbly experiment and turn it into a work of art!

A Perfectly Messy experiment!

Our Mini Holiday In Tassie

A spontanious decision to go on a mini holiday saw us booked and leaving in two days time!

We were up early on Sunday and on the road by 7am. After a few stops for food, coffee and a leg stretch we arrived at the Tasmanian Zoo by lunch time.

The zoo was fantastic and I fell in love with these two gorgeous wombats sleeping together. We also made friends with a sheep-goat and the many monkeys were quick to say hi!








The most anticipated part of the zoo was the Jurassic Swamp and finally it was time for our tour. The wander through the bush lead us to some amazing dinosaurs with lots of sound affects along the way.

Our next stop was to The Tamar Valley Resort where we would be spending the next two nights. The jumping pillow was a big hit with the kiddies and even the Daddy! We played our first game of put put mini golf and found that our 5 year old was a natural doing much better than his Mum. We road around on the coolest go carts and raced like were part of the Mario game - Of course I was Princess Peach. We explored the Launceston Museum and check out the Cataract Gorge in the pouring rain!

We had our first dinner out in years! The boys we so well behaved and what a treat to sit down and be severed on.

Our last day on our trip ended with a beautiful cruise up the river. The first time the boys have been on a boat. We were lucky to have a sunny morning and going up into the gorge was amazing.

Soon it was time to head on our 3 1/2 hour drive home. We timed it perfectly with the kids and they were fast asleep for most of the way. It was a lovely mini holiday with only a few bumps and grazed knees...Oh and one black fingernail after it was jammed in a car door!

Why We Homeschool

This post goes out to everyone who doesn't understand why we homeschool.

We always sort of joked about it even back when our eldest was a baby...I would chuckle along but inside thinking it would never happen - and here we are!

As school age quickly approached the signs of not being physically ready were there. So we decided to hold our eldest back for a year. Within a few months he was showing new signs of wanting to learn everything especially counting. This is how it all began and so did the conversations about school. We know our son like no one else, we know his strengths and his weaknesses. 

What would you do if you knew your son's abundance of energy would label him as the disruptive child? What would you do if you knew his peers would laugh at his melt downs? What would you do if your knew his clever mind would go unnoticed?

Would you send him to school knowing his intelligence would be overlooked due to his high energy level? Would you send him to school knowing that he craves one on one attention? Would you send him to school knowing that his uniqueness would be beaten down by the school bully?

We couldn't and we wouldn't!!!

We wanted to give him a safe, loving learning environment where he isn't judged for his high emotions. A place where he can learn at his own pace, jump miles ahead then have a break and let his body catch up. A place to transform into any character and work through his high energy without be told to sit down. A place where he can be him without any judgment!

I have never made it a secret that we homeschool. In fact I am very proud of what we do, so proud in fact that we started up a website, facebook page and group to help others get into homeschooling. I have publicly put our family out there for everyone to see and judge. Is that easy - No Way!

At times I feel like hiding and not turning on the computer, other times it makes me feel so excited that others are loving what we are doing. Then you have the families that contact you asking for advice and you do your absolute best to support them in their decision when no one else will.

Its ok that some of our friends have disappeared, its ok that they don't have anything in common with us anymore - Its all ok! All because we are exactly where we are meant to be. All together, all happy and all loving our learning journey as a family!

From a Perfectly Messy Mum  xx