Turtle Power!

"I remember when these were trendy the first time around". I may be in the minority, but I feel a bit smug saying this to my children. I love it when they love something that I love(d).

When my girls were little and very into Care Bears, they were most impressed that I had carefully preserved half-coloured in colouring in book from when I was about 10 (yes, I also realise that I am a total pack-rat. I am getting better - promise!). My love of the Care Bears may have also been the reason why they each got a Care Bear that Christmas, and why we still have them. (Ok. I do realise I still have to work on the pack rack tendencies).

A few years later, I was horrified because the girls didn't know what Smurfs were. A quick trip to the DVD shop and I rectified that gap in their pop-cultural knowledge. Sadly, they were not impressed by the cartoons. Fast forward a few years and, much to my annoyance, they were begging to take DVDs out again after the new Smurf movies were released. Pixie may have informed me that it was different now they were cool again.

Humph. Children. Who would have them?

I was re-telling this story and some genius decided to say my time would have been better off introducing them to Shakespeare. I did point out that I had that covered already, and that I was aiming for well-rounded children, and that sharing my 80's childhood was important. Perhaps not my finest moment, but true!

I also gave the girls my precious Princess Ringlet (who had a rainbow mane and a "growing" tail), when they loved My Little Pony and were old enough to not wash her or cut her hair or leave her outside.

My most recent conversion has been the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT for those of you old enough to remember).

I took Tink and the Pixie to see them at the drive-ins. Buglet didn't wan to go. This was a great plan that did not pan out. The drive-ins reached maximum capacity and closed the gate two cars before us. The girls were so good about it and didn't complain at all (plus I really wanted to see it) so we raced home (not exceeding the speed limit, obviously) and picked up Buglet (who decided she wanted to come after all), and Z (who Buglet had ended up babysitting) and made it to the real cinema to see it.

Spoiler alert: If you don't want to hear about the movie do not read the next paragraph
It was a great movie. They kept all the essential bits of the old version, and it felt "right". For the purists, the only thing I would complain about was that in this movie Splinter started off as a rat not a human. This bugged me for some reason. I loved how the fight scenes were realistic in that the turtles didn't always win against immeasurable odds. I note that someone who refers to fight scenes with Mutant Turtles as being realistic should not be taken too seriously. Would definitely recommend it to fans.

The girls loved it. Buglet (after being the one who didn't want to come) has ended up a massive fan.

At Guides last night we made these the best Christmas decorations.

My lovely co-leaders didn't tell me, because they thought that I would be the most excited person there. I was. Buglet may have been a close second though, and gave all sorts of instructions how the Pixie and were not to stuff our ones up. I was so excited that I needed to go and have a lie down to recover after making them (I am also suffering from Man Flu). So much happiness!! So very much happiness!!

Moral of the story for the children out there: When your mother tells you something from her childhood is awesome, believe her, she might just be right.

Moral for parents out there: Share those moments with your children. They might like them, or they may just humour you, and if nothing else you may have fun remembering.

Disclaimer:

• I am not qualified to give craft advice.
• I am not qualified to give advice on what is cool. Ask my friends. Ask my children.
• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

Slothful

And no, this isn't a post about me being lazy, although I could write one of those.

Ironically this post is brought to you by late night blogging and a random sighting on facebook that it is sloth week (No idea if this is true. I probably could have googled it. Googling things pays off as you will read later).

Look Mama! I am a sloth! Quick. Take a picture for Daddy.

 

As I haven't posted today, here is an old story about Tink.

Tink was in about year 1 when this story happened, so it is slightly paraphrased now!

Tink: Your favourite animal is a starfish isn't it Mummy?
Me: Sure. Why not.
Tink produces a family coat of arms.
Tink: I thought it might be. I spent such a long time drawing Daddy's sloth that I thought your favourite animal would be a star fish. I can draw those quickly.

The aforementioned coat of arms took pride of place on our fridge for ages. Now it is a box somewhere and when I see it next I will share a picture with you. It has a painstakingly drawn picture of a three-toed sloth on it which is actually DB's favourite animal. My official favourite animal is now a starfish, because Tink knew it would be.

And while we are on the topic of sloths, Pixie's random day of googling "how to make an origami sloth" paid off at Guides when that was what she was asked to make by chance last year in a random challenge organised by one of the girls. Out of all the things I have ever seen the girls google, that was one thing I never thought would pay off. Funnily, Tink's team was asked to make an elephant which is her favourite animal.

 



So the morals for tonight's story is:

1. Sometimes you just know things about your mother;
2. You never know when random knowledge may come in handy; and
3. If you're going to be up so late, don't expect sensible blog posts.

Sweet dreams everyone xx

Mama Bear and her babies

I survived my first day of this intensive week. Just. This will be a super short post.

I must have looked shattered when I made it home. Buglet took one look at me and told me to go to sleep. I curled up straight on the couch and went to sleep. Just staying awake long enough to have a cupcake shoved in my mouth by the Pixie. Buglet had made red velvet mini cupcakes this afternoon, and Pixie informed me later that she'd made very blue icing all by herself. It was very blue. Tink was all soccered out. She fell asleep on top of me about 30 seconds after I lay down. I love our couch! It is big enough for all four of us to snuggle on - and sleep!

Today's ironic moment was getting a frantic phone call from Pixie during a class on managing stress and work-life balance. A frantic phone call from Pixie either means something is very wrong or her she needs to dob on her sisters for something or she is not sure if she is allowed to eat some sort of food.

Me: What's wrong baby? Is it important? I am in class?
Pixie: No! Sorry. *slams down phone*

She wanted to know if she was allowed to have Guide biscuits. Luckily it was during a small group discussion. Since she did ring a few times a little more information would have been handy now. Apparently, Buglet made an executive decision in my absence. Some moments I feel like I have the work-life balance sorted, however fleeting those moments may be!

I did however still manage to make bear ears tonight. For some unknown reason Pixie knew exactly where the brown felt was that was left over from her mouse costume for book week 6 years ago. No idea where or how, it wasn't with the rest of the felt. As an added bonus, Buglet had been using the stapler, so that was where it was supposed to be.

Staplers are a point of contention in this house. There is never one around when I need one. I think I bought one per assignment for my first three years of law until I threatened to staple the girls' hands to the desk if I had to buy another one. That one stayed on the desk for at least 18 months. Potentially not my finest parenting moment, but I must have looked serious .... it worked!!

Daddy Bear ears and Baby Bear ears. Mummy Bear's ears were a point of contention. I thought they should go on a hat too. Pixie disagreed. I gave up. She is apparently going to stick them on using bobby pins.

Not the most artistic effort, but I think they will do! Sometimes your best is all you can do at the time. This is important. Feel free to remind me of this.