B.M.W.B - At Your Level

I am always so thrilled by the way the boys respond when I play down at their level, fully engaged in whatever they are playing and even suggesting play myself.

When they got out the car mat recently I sat down on the floor with them and started my own crazy car commentary as the cars drove towards each other. (FYI you can buy this by the metre at spotlight)

They thought it was so hilarious. They didn't say - that doesn't make sense, or dumb, or you just changed accents for the train - they don't criticise, they respond with delight.

...and that is the great joy of play at their level. It's just mucking about and being silly, and really what more successful thing is there than making your kids laugh? You don't have to try hard to organise it, you just have to get off the couch and sit on the floor and e.n.g.a.g.e.

On Sunday afternoon the family (extended) got together for Uncle A's birthday and it was so sweet to see Daddy and Pop and Uncle A and Ma and Flip playing UNO and Monopoly Deal together. Flip LOVED it.

The other advantage with play at their level is it changes the photo perspective too.

Becoming the Mama I want to be is about taking time to enjoy the journey of parenting, to honour it's value and to hopefully inspire and encourage each other. 

Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be

Button code on the right if you want it

These Are The Things We Talk About

Flip - When you do a blow off you have to say pardon me and then the smell goes away. But if you say it too fast it doesn't work so you have to say it again.

Bounce - (Flip and Daddy were talking about boogies in golf and I was making jokes about that being gross) That's what makes your boogies green because they have been out on the grass.

a constant source of entertainment!

B.M.W.B #33 - Olympics Family Night 'The Blood and the Glory'

or it could be blood and gore - y. If you have a sensitive streak you may not want to read on.

With the Olympics being on and reading about Simone's Family Olympics I thought 'why not?'. On Saturday afternoon we invited another family to join us, dressed up as whatever countries they wanted to be - no problems if there were double ups.

I made medals, thought of activities - long jump in the hall: with a jumping pad, a landing pit/blanket and a tape measure; hurdles/obstacle course: outdoor benches, around the washing line, kick a ball, under the tramp sprint finish; Sprints: down the drive, onto the footpath, touch the neighbours letterbox and back.... there were some other ideas but we didn't get to them.

In fact during the hurdle heats (first activity) one of official timers decided to stand on a large Thomas train with wheels to watch and his little brother thought maybe he would pull him along.... concrete face plant anyone?
Massive amounts of blood, I mean massive! and rather a lot of screaming (from injured child)... and we thought it might be off to the emergency room or after hours doctor. However the patient, though difficult to console, wasn't going to miss out on his Olympics night.  He stayed on (the nurse next door gave us the ok) and even competed in the long jump and later the sprints.  It looks even worse in real life.

We finished the night watching some gymnastics, eating chips, pizza and ice-cream (we had earned it!!) and having a medal ceremony.

What did I learn? That family nights are incredibly important and special to my No.1 son. He adores the anticipation and the doing, the focus and specialness. And he's pretty brave to boot.

This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be)  is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.

Do you ever have family plans that go astray?

B.M.W.B # 27 - Building Generosity

I really want to grow kids that are generous kids. I want our family to be based around a value system where we recognise our position in the world is one of privilege not right.

Source: lillightomine.com via mar on Pinterest

This week we started pocket-money - our boys have never heard of pocket-money but after doing the middle years course with Parents Inc we decided that we would like to introduce pocket-money. I want my children to be intelligent with their money and I want them to always, always factor giving into the way they live.

After talking together as a family the boys have decided to save together, and we will contribute too, for a big-ticket item. Then they both have 2 other jars - one labelled 'Live' and one labelled 'Give'. We have prescribed how much they will put into each jar (about 15% into 'Give' and about 40% to 'Save' and 45% to 'Live'). They can spend their 'Live' money on whatever they like. we will help them by identifying small items they want to save up for and once or twice a term I will do a 'shop' at home where they can spend as well.

They are SO excited about this new system. Each week at our awards night we will give them pocket-money in small change so they can easily split it between the jars. It also means they learn to handle and understand how money works and what you get for it. As they grow a bit they will be able to make more decisions about how to split their money between these 3 places but for as long as we can we will be teaching and modelling to them a giving lifestyle.

School holidays have begun! We have had a spontaneous invitation to Clip n Climb (a fantastic climbing gym for children) on Friday night. The boys are becoming SO confident at climbers and Flip even did the 8m vertical drop slide! Then on Saturday we went to the lantern festival as part of the opening of Kidsfest - a beautiful lantern lit walk through the Botanical Gardens followed by Flip's first ever live rugby match and a very late night to go with it. I do love holidays!

We also went for a gorgeous walk up by the sign of the kiwi on Sunday afternoon. The views were spectacular and it was so nice to see the boys out in the cold wind exploring and enjoying. We went with a cousin and some lovely friends. I love that my boys are full of the wonder of the world.

Do you do pocket-money with your kids?
What are some ways you encourage generosity?
Don't forget to enter my giveaway here!

This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be)  is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.  

Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.

Because We've Got To Friday Again!

This week I am grateful -
Grateful for fast healers - Flip has his bandaging off already! But the bruise still tells the story.

For crafty friends who are friendly and inspiring and the kind of people where you know you can collect a random, unrelated group of them and they will all still talk to each other and be encouraging. And one of them (the pregnant one!!) will take on the job of making all the hot drinks because she is lovely and she knows no-one will get one otherwise! I did bake though - I have my priorities.

The whole on-line books purchasing thing can leave one with the conundrum of choosing to buy sight-unseen. If you are reading fiction and love the author you can be pretty safe but I tend to spend my pocket-money on crafty books. I have been burnt by this once so now if I read a great review and it looks like I might want to add it to my wish list I simply see if the library has it - pay $2 to get it on hold and see how much I really do want it. And if they don't have it? I recommend they buy it (and I think they usually do! I've only just started this so we shall see).

Loving Bounce's version of 'Thank you Lord for giving us food' (sung grace) that should end with 'right where we are. amen.' as a child I actually thought it was 'ri-twere-weare' and it meant something like hallelujah. Bounce sings, 'riot where we are' - which probably seems perfectly sensible to him!

And a little boy who got given a watch by the neighbours (hand me down - awesome neighbours!) and just about burst with pride. SO cute.

Loving watching my boys scooter home together and listening to Flip tutor Bounce on correct scooter riding technique. Sometimes they are so adorable together it makes you want to burst.

grateful to have found the piece of charcoal-ised sausage on the bottom of the oven - now I know why it smelt weird when I heated the oven up!

and people who pop round with presents, just because. Love you Deb!

What's making you feel the love right now?


Not a lot of photos - I've been busy in the moment.

B.M.W.B #25 - Winter Crazy

Winter and 2 boys - exercise needed. My gorgeous friend Deb once said to me 'A boy is like a dog he needs to be walked every day.'
This week we had a whole lot of balloons hanging around so I thought we'd play old-fashioned balloon batting. We all tried to keep the balloon up in the air and when it touched the ground we all lay on the floor made crazy noises and waggled our legs in the air (well Flip and I did, Bounce wasn't entirely convinced or amused).

Then we mixed it up - I have come to the conclusion that enforcing the rules of a game isn't fun or helpful especially when you have quite different abilities and maturities in the group of players. The point is to have fun together so if they aren't having fun don't waste time.
After that we sat on couch with a huge stack of books and read them together until dinner time.
*** I usually try to make or at least prep our dinner at lunch time - a luxury lots of people don't have - it makes the afternoons way less stressful and means I can actually enjoy that time of the day with the boys. Interestingly they often just play happily together during that time, it's as if knowing I am available means they don't need to fight to get my attention.

I love those kind of afternoons with my boys. By the time The Atlas arrived home we were all loved-tanked up and he could just join in with the fun.
What is your go-to inside activity when the winter weather hits?
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be)  is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.  

Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.

 
Read More:
All my posts about Becoming the Mama I Want to Be

B.M.W.B #24 - Dr Suess

Last week we had a Dr. Suess party.

I have been so looking forward to my boys being old enough to enjoy a 'party for no reason' party.

To swell the numbers and the excitement we made an invitation and invited another family.

For dinner we had chicken nuggets, wedges with blue and red sauce and 'make-your-own' pizzas.

For dessert we had Truffla Tree cupcakes, One Fish Jellies, Dr Suess Hat Stacks,

Truffla Seeds, Marshmallow Pops

We played 'I Can Do That' which is a Dr Suess game and very family friendly

Read stories together by the fire and had fun

Everyone was invited to come dressed up in their PJs with a crazy hat or hair

Bounce went as a Barbaloot (The Lorax), Flip went as Thing One (Cat In the Hat) and mummy and daddy just went crazy! (Notice I am actually the only person looking at the camera in this photo???)

This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be)  is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.  

Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be. 

Read More:
Mystery Party for my 6 year-old
How to Make Marshmallow Pops
Family Awards Night