Rock and Gem Party

He is 7! It has happened already! Now I need to figure out how to parent a 7 year old! I haven't done that before.

Every 2nd year we support our children to organise themselves a birthday party. Orlando has done a few now and he loves the process.

This year he had a dilemma as to which 'theme' to choose (he is passionate about many things) so we planned them all! Through this process there was a clear winner. A theme that he has been passionate about for a long time and was going to make for a really cool party.

Rocks and Gems!

Here is what he planned...

Invite

Tools

Each guest was provided a bucket with a magnifying glass, paint brush, pair of tweezers and a tool for excavation. These were used in all the activities and then taken home at the end. 

Activities

Excavation - Sandpit was buried with bones, real fossils, polished gems, shells and an assortment of other 'treasure'

 Fossicking - Big tubs full of sand, water, chip gems, shells and large gems. Scoops, real fossicking sieves and gold pans made it feel even more authentic.

Rock Dig - We had a lot of fun creating a plaster and sand rock dig. We followed the tutorial over at 'longlivelearning'. We had great fun making them before hand and 3 of them lasted the whole party, and now, 3 weeks after the party, they are getting close to being finished. They were very popular and the party and the kids got a real sense of achievement when they finally got out a treasure.

Gold and Gem Mine - I forgot to take a photo of this! We got a kids tunnel and a small tent and covered the whole thing in MANY black plastic bags. This made it completely dark inside. We then spray painted a bucket full of normal rocks gold. These rocks we hidden all through the tunnel and tent. So when the kids went in with a head torch it lit up the gold for them to collect. We hid some large rough cut gems in there also.

I am not a big fan of competition at birthday parties. So near each experience was a bucket for you to place the treasures you had excavated or found. This served two-fold, if an activity was wiped clean, we could re-hide treasures, but also made the morning feel like a communal effort. We were all working together to excavate as much as we could. At the end of the party we collected all the buckets and put it into 2 really big trays. One of the kids said "WOW look at all the work we have put in! We have all collected so much!" (my non-competitive heart sang)

Then everyone collected 20 of their favourites to take home from the party, along with their tools.

Cake

This is always the first thing Orlando plans. Pinterest is a wonderful tool when it comes to ideas for cakes. There are some very talented cake decorators out there... I am not one of them. I can usually make a cake look pretty good but when thinking of rocks... A friend had her sons birthday party a few weeks earlier and she had made EDIBLE GEODES. They were IMPRESSIVE! So we got to thinking and thought that we might use this idea to make a geode cake topper.

Not all went to plan, I learnt a lot. But we had some crystal caves to use and found some chocolate rocks to add to the 'rock-i-ness'.

Inside was chocolate mud with jube lollies baked though it (like gems in the dirt). I DON'T recommend doing this... and wont be doing it again :) They made the cake really hard to cut and all sank to the bottom. They were hard to eat also.

Food

Well the food all needed to be rock - related so we had...

Chocolate Chia Seed Balls
Caramel Macadamias
Chocolate Rocks
Caramel Pop Corn Balls
Rock Cakes
Pretzels (with Salt Crystals) 

We also added -
Homemade Sausage Rolls and Spinach Rolls
Prawn Cutlets
Fruit Platter
Cheese Platter

47/52

 "A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Matilda: A young lady very chuffed to now be 4!!!
Orlando: Another tooth out, the tradition to write her a letter... I love to see the amazing writing and drawing development since last tooth :)

Below: A very heartfelt birthday cuddle. Orlando gets just as much joy watching other people have a birthday as he does out of his own.

A Wondrous Birthday ...

Can it really have been a year already? 

and on the other hand...

 Has it really only been 1 year?

Today marks "A Woman who Likes to Wonder's" Birthday.... 

1 Full year of Blogging.... WOW!

76 posts, a few trusty and often quiet followers, most posts get read... by a few people :)
(Hey maybe you can give me a Birthday Present by hitting Follow over there on the right!)

I started this a year ago, with the aim to record some ideas, some thought processes, share some concepts and challenge myself to improve my writing.

What I was unprepared for was how cathartic it would be. A place to write down the continual trails of thought. Instead of letting them continue to circle in my mind, recording them here often allows me to let them go, release them.

It's become a place for me to use the thousands of photos that I enjoy taking. To share the way I see the world. 

Looking back over my year was quite an experience for me. What a delicious record of our world, our life and the experiences we share as a family. Little did I realise I was marking down and creating such a record, a memento. I love revisiting these experiences, as do the kids. They often want to sit and look through all the photos saying "what story were you telling here? was it about..." I great place to re-visit and reflect on our experiences.

The year ahead... is going to be pretty hectic and unfortunately I don't know how many spare moments I will be able to set aside for this space. I will when I can and I will then be back as my workload subsides. At the very least there will be portraits :)

So HAPPY BLOG-DAY to ME!!

May we all continue to Wonder 

and allow it to enrich our lives with

 learning, curiosity and reflection.

3 Years Old!

Last week my little Lady turned 3. She has been practicing being 3 for a while and for the past 6 weeks she has been waking up as asking "Is it my Birthday yet?" so to say it was an anticipated birthday would be an understatement!


We struggled to think of what to buy her for her birthday. We already have a wealth of toys and have many '3 year old' toys from when Orlando was 3. We have also just spent 8 weeks on the road with very few toys and have been more than happy. So I was stuck with the consumerism dilemma. Do we buy things for the sake of it? 

We decided to invest in just a few really nice things that were open ended enough to satisfy her for a number of years. She adores Fairies, so we went with a beautiful felt playscape and some needle-felted fairies. Orlando choose a felted mermaid and an apple 'house' with hedgehogs inside. So among a few other books, shoes, puzzle etc it was a very 'felty' birthday!

She adored it, so we were rather happy about that :)




Now that Matilda is 3 we have noticed she:
- Is toilet trained - day and night
- Is rather chatty and enjoys re-telling events and stories
- Is practicing 'reading' her favourite books to anyone who will listen and then demanding them read to her in return
- Is demonstrating her ever growing Independence - I want to brush my own hair, teeth, etc
- Gets herself dressed most of the time
- Is VERY social and really focuses on her 'friends'
- Is very eager to label people that are and are not her friends
- Enjoys a feeling of power and will seek it where possible
- Can easily establish who is going to be more lenient toward her every whim
- Knows how to push her brothers buttons perfectly
- Is kind and developing a deep sense of empathy
- Asks questions about the world and is keen to understand how it works
- Loves drawing and painting and talking about what she is creating
- Is patient and will wait when needed
- Adores a cuddle

Tillies Birthday Activity of choice was Swimming with Friends :)

- Wants to now how to use ALL technology and experiments regularly
- Loves swimming and looking under the water
- Has a great sense of humour
- Has a calm a peace that is very settling
- is very excited about starting Preschool in January!

What will our year ahead hold! I adore watching you grow and develop little lady xoxoxoxox