The Monarchs are Hatching

Our driveway is lined on one side with swan plants which a few weeks ago were covered in hundreds of monarch butterflies. So many, we thought they might eat all the plants and then die. They then started to climb up the fence ready to build their chrysallis’ and some even crossed the driveway to hang on the fence on the other side. One very brave caterpillar trekked all the way to the plant outside our front door.

The boys have spent hours on the driveway watching and cataloguing the caterpillars and occasionally helping them across the driveway so they didn’t get squashed by a passing car. Last week we had little green crysallis’ hanging under every horizontal post on the fence. The interesting thing was that they hang upside down as caterpillars for almost a day before the crysallis is built. Then, before you can blink, they are covered in a green sac.

We also ended up with a few hanging inside on bulldog clips as they were accidentally relocated closer to the house by a small person (luckily without squashing them). 

Now the butterflies are starting to hatch out. Photos and video below:

Bug Birthday Party and Spider Cake

My youngest son turned 4 the other day and since he is obssessed with bugs (spends most of his waking hours checking our swan plants covered in monarch butterfly caterpillars), we decided to throw him a bug party.

The invitations asked everyone to bring a live bug with them. We got snails, slaters, a centipede and some caterpillars, all of which were admired, judged and medals awarded. We made some fake magifying glasses with clear cellophane and the kids used these to hunt for the tiny rubber ladybirds hidden in the garden. Very cute.

Of course, the cake was a spider web with a big spider on top. I covered the cake in blue icing, then made really thick red icing and rolled it up to make the spider web. My hands were stained red for 24 hours.

Space Movies – Old and New

ET and Wall-E, made 20 years apart, but both with the same cute creature from space kind of appeal for kids.

E.T Movie 

I bought a copy of ET at the local video shop a couple of weeks ago mainly because I wanted to see it again and also to see if my boys would like it as much as I did when I was a kid. The answer is yes and it’s been the number one request since I bought it home.

The boys think ET is so cute, especially when he copies the things the little boy does (they can really relate to). They get a bit scared in parts in a totally riveted, can’t even blink, need Mum or Dad to sit way. They love the happy ending and have started play-acting ET around the house. One of them walks around with a sheet over their head led by the other one.

Wall-E

Being school holidays (and raining), we took the boys to see WALL-E at the movies.

Monopoly for Future Success

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post (sounds like a confession). We’ve been moving house so things are even more chaotic than usual. My eldest (5) always has a half hour or so of ’special time’ after my youngest(3) goes to bed each night. He usually chooses to draw pictures or make lego creations, but the other night he asked to play Monopoly.

I remember reading ages ago that many successful business people and entrepreneurs played Monopoly a lot as children and they thought it had played an important part in teaching them about the world of money and business.  Thought I’d have a quick check to see if I could find a reference to this and found this book – Everything I Know about Business I Learned from Monopoly  in which Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Donald trump and other reflect on the lessons learned from “the world’s greatest board game”.

Bob the Builder Meets Elton John

There are millions of Bob movies to choose from and all are good watching but the absolute best has to be “Bob The Builder – A Christmas To Remember”. Bob’s twin brother is coming to visit from his home in the North Pole for Christmas and Bob is helping plan the Bobsville Christmas concert starring “Elton John”. The highlights for my boys are:

• The daddy reindeer getting rescued by Bob’s brother while the baby reindeer looks on
• Roley rehearsing with “John” then coming up with the stage name “Elton John”
• Everyone bopping to “Crocodile Rock”

Bob the Builder is a great positive role model and we have cited his “Can we fix it?”…”Yes we can” motto on many occasions. The dvds are short, entertaining, don’t have bad language and are all about building and fixing things (which boys love).

Boys Watches Made From Lego

A friend of ours was sent one of these Lego watches from the UK and I really want to get one for my boys for Christmas. High quality kids watches in a variety of themes and colours but the strap is made from lego. The watches are really sturdy and can easily be adjusted for different size wrists.Some of my favourite Lego Watches (see photos below) are:

• Darth Vader Watch
• Soccer Watch

 Make sure the Lego watch you choose is sold directly by Amazon as some of Amazon’s other distributors do not ship their Lego watches to New Zealand. (Thanks for alerting me to this Elaine)

Superhero Book with Cape

Every little boy wants to be a superhero and even my boys who aren’t really into dressing up love zooming around with a red cape flying over their shoulders. The Superhero Starter Kit is the coolest book. It is one of the Chicken Socks range and comes with:

• A red cape
• Different superhero masks
• Matching wristbands
• Superhero ID card
• T-shirt stickers
• Instructions on superhero dos and don’ts.

My eldest son got this book/kit for his 4th birthday and loved it. Connor is turning 4 soon and really wants the same book with cape etc so I’m sensing we’ll be getting another one.

Grow Muscles Like Popeye

You don’t hear much about Popeye these days but I often tell my boys about him and how he got so strong. He ate lots and lots and lots of spinach (and other yummy green things like silverbeet, broccolli etc). 

My way of getting the kids to eat spinach is Pesto. I’ve started making my own which is full of spinach and can be used for heaps of different meals or snacks and best of all, the kids love it.

My favourite homemade pesto recipes are:

Spinach Pesto

• 1 x Large Pack of spinach (several bunches)
• 2 handfuls of cashew nuts or 1 packet of pinenuts
• 1 small jar of sundried tomatoes
• Sprinkling of sea salt
• 3 -4 teaspoons of olive oil

Take stalks off the spinach, mulch it all up in the food processor, add more oil or salt to taste.

5 Year Old Birthday Presents Under $10

We seem to be going to little boys birthday parties almost every week at the moment so I am always on the lookout for reasonably priced toys which boys (and their Mums) will love. The boys really enjoy making a special card for their friend and we usually make the wrapping paper too.

The best boys toys for under $10 which I have come across so far are:

Lego Racers – ZX Turbo
Just one in the lego racers series. The ZX Turbo is racing through the night! Watch its side exhaust pipes glow-in-the-dark as this touring car speeds down the city streets to victory. Just build it and race! Measures 8cm (3in) long! Contains 55 pieces. Buy now…

Funho NZ Made Metal Trucks

You know when you go to someone’s house and there are heaps of cool metal trucks and tractors which look loved but aren’t broken and are really fun to play with? Chances are that these are the New Zealand made toy vehicles from Fun-ho that your kids’ Dads used to play with when they were little boys. These toys are reall made to last!

I always assumed that if you weren’t lucky enough to have a granny who saved them for your children, then you were out of luck but… just found out that you can still buy them. They are really strong and great for sandpit play.