Archives for December 2013

Happy holidays!

I’m going to try and stay offline for a week or so this Christmas – and see how much I get done! So this may be my last post until 2014. Unless I get bored.

In the meantime, in Mothering Mushroom tradition (well, we did it last year), we’ve made you a seasonal card:

someecards.com - Christmas. It's all about the presents. Presence. We mean presence!* Happy Holidays! x

Whatever you are doing over the holiday season, we wish you love, laughter and happiness! Until next year…

Us. x

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Silent Sunday

 

Silent-Sunday

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I’m a blogger, get me out of here!

I have been tagged by the lovely Iona (Check out her blog, Redpeffer if you’d like to meet her!) to do a meme – just for a bit of fun. The idea is to answer some ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!’ questions. Like Iona, I haven’t watched this programme for a long time. A very long time. The last series I watched was when Peter met Katie. And we all know how that turned out. So, here goes:

1.What one thing about being a parent makes you scream “Get me out of here!”

Being woken at 5am with “I want to wake up Mummy! Now!” That was this morning.

2. What qualities would you bring to the jungle?

I’m open, patient (well fairly) and (I’m told) a good peacemaker. I think the last would probably be the most useful.

3. How are you likely to annoy people in your were stuck with them for 3 weeks?

Very. Aren’t we all annoying? If I’m tired and hungry (which I expect I would be) I’m likely to be oversensitive. I can also be a bit passive aggressive if I’m a bit scared of someone and don’t want to stand up to them. I know this is annoying and I always get annoyed with myself when I notice I’m doing it. I’m much better at standing up for other people! Also, I would probably tidy up after people too much (although I’m not sure how tidy a jungle can get).

4. What is the worst thing you have ever eaten?

The worst is associated with a memory I’d rather not recall but the second worst for me is any strong cheese. I only really like mozzarella and halloumi and even cheddar tastes strong to me. Finding  unexpected feta in a salad makes me gag.

5. What item would you smuggle into the jungle with you?

My phone is a bit obvious but I would smuggle it in not to make calls (they’d notice it and take it away, surely?) but to watch videos of Mushroom. I can’t imagine there would be much of a signal for calls anyway.

6. What is the most daring thing you have ever done?

I felt pretty daring the first time I stood on a stage and shared my poetry in front of an audience. There are other daring things from my youth but I’d rather not share those here! No regrets though, only lessons learned.

7. Who would you miss most if you went into the jungle with a bunch of strangers?

Mushroom. I’d miss Mr B too but I’ve not been away from Mushroom for more than one night so I’d miss him first.

8. What celebrity alive or dead would you like to have with you in the jungle and why?

Nelson Mandela. If I had to pick just one. Otherwise I’ve a list as long as my arm.

9. What would scare you about being in the jungle?

The snakes. I am scared of snakes but have a real phobia not of the snakes themselves, but watching them eat (is there a word for that? I couldn’t find one). I really can’t watch it. In fact, I am shaking a little just thinking about it right now.

10. After leaving the jungle, you go to a luxury hotel. What would be the first thing you did on reaching your hotel?

Shower.

11. Who do you think should win the Jungle Crown this year?

No idea. Didn’t even know who was in it! Ant and Dec? 😉 Pretty sure it’s a done deal now though, right?

12. Who is your least favourite celebrity in the jungle and why?

Can’t remember who it was from when I last watched it but anyone being two-faced would have got my vote.

13. Which celebrity has surprised you most and how?

Tried to think of an answer for this outside of I’m a celeb but I’m not surprised by much (when it comes to celebs) I don’t think… I’ll get back to you on that if I think of anyone later!

 

Now, I’d like to tag @mummygadgetgeek @BELLA_and_WILL @theboyandme @mummywithissues new blogger @kanchanchar and I would love to see what creative interpretation @storyofmum might come up with from this! Of course, only if you want to/can be bothered/have nothing better to do, which I know is unlikely at this time of year! At least you know I’m thinking of you. x

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Santa’s a bit scary | From Mushroom’s mouth

Hello you lucky people. This is Mushroom. Someone told Mummy that when I write it’s way more engaging than when she does. Well of course it is. So She’s giving me a whole section of her blog to share my thoughts with you. See, you lucky, lucky people.

Christmas treeSo, seeing as it’s coming up to Christmas I thought I’d share my thoughts on the festive season with you. The short version is – I love it. I get more chocolate than usual and there are pretty shiny things and twinkly lights everywhere. Lovely. I really enjoyed putting up the Christmas tree (with a Twinkle Twinkle star on the top!) and I love turning on the lights every day as soon as it gets dark. Apparently on ‘Christmas day’ it will have lots of presents under it for me. I like the idea of getting lots of presents. It’s a bit confusing though, ’cause I’ve been getting some when I see my friends and Daddy keeps saying I have to wait until Christmas day to open them! Firstly, I thought it was Christmas now? And secondly, wait? Why wait? I’m not too good at that. I even say sorry ten seconds into a time out in the hope of getting out of doing a full minute (Mummy figured out quickly that a minute’s enough for me). Speaking of Mummy….

She’s a bit of a pushover when it comes to presents. I’ve opened three so far under her watch. Ha! One of them was when we went to a local park to see Santa. He’d just left, apparently, but his elves took pity on me and gave me a gift anyway. I like the elves. It was two enormous pencils. I broke them both by the evening. Mummy said not to worry as it was an ‘accident.’ I’m gonna start using that.

The most recent gift came when I actually met Santa. Like I said, he was a bit scary. First of all, I’ve been told he’s ‘Father Christmas,’ so I didn’t get who this ‘Santa’ guy was until Mummy explained it’s a bit like she’s Mummy but her friends call her Rachael. But I’m not Santa’s mate. Are you? Not even sure the elves are, I mean, they work for him don’t they? How matey can you be with your boss, really? Anyway. We went to Westfield (Stratford) to see him at his house. Before we saw him, we got to play in a big room with lots of pretend sweeties.  I stacked sweetie towers and told anyone who came near me that they were ‘mine!’ Mummy said it was rude. Whatever. I’d worked hard to stack those towers and wasn’t letting anyone knock them down! She tried to distract me by showing me a sleigh. I made all the right noises and then she wanted me to get on it. I don’t think so! What if it flew off to the North Pole? I made a big fuss, screaming ‘I not flying!’ and eventually she gave up.

Would you feel safe if this took off? No? Didn't think so.

Would you feel safe if this took off? No? Didn’t think so.

Then, we went through carpet covered doors, past some more sweeties (normal sized one this time) we weren’t allowed to eat (and the point of that is…? Anyone?), into a room with an enormous TV. We had to wear glasses, which I didn’t like so much but didn’t complain. Then we watched a film that started off being really scary! I shouted to Mummy that I wanted to go back and play but she ignored me. Then pictures of the children I’d seen in the other room appeared in the film, and eventually one of me! I liked that. The rest of the film was ok but there wasn’t enough of me in it if you ask me (no-one did).

Afterwards, we went to another room where I finally came face to face with the big man. He was enormous, and a bit scary. When it was my turn to talk to him I sat really close to Mummy. He asked me my age and some other stuff. I kept my mouth shut. Too many questions, old man! Eventually, he asked what I wanted for Christmas. I was giving it some thought but Mummy seemed a bit on edge, eyeing up the other parents. Did she not realise how important this was? She made a few suggestions and eventually she came up with the goods. She looked relieved when I told Father Christmas what I wanted. Can’t think why, it’s nothing to do with her! Anyway, I was ready to go after that and he gave me a present before I left. Result! I had to wait til Daddy got home to open it and I thought showed great restraint. Daddy wanted me to wait even longer but Mummy told him she’d already promised me (see? Pushover) so I was allowed. Besides, he got a gift too – a photo of me and Father Christmas! What more could he want?

So, parent bloggers…. How do you feel about Christmas? Do you prefer giving or receiving presents? And what about the kids? Do they like Father Christmas (Santa, if you’re matey with him – if you are, put in a good word for me would you)? Or do they find him a bit scary too?

Before I forget, if you do prefer giving you can add me to your list. I’ve been a good boy, honest.

 

 

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A sweet sensory recipe for Christmas

Another easy recipe (I don’t do complicated recipes so they’ll all be easy!) that also serves as sensory play for your little ones. It’s got touch, smell and taste – what’s not to love! You could even use this time to talk about colours and shapes, if you like (you don’t have to). The main purpose is to have fun!

You will need: Icing sugar, peppermint essence, strawberry flavouring, red food colouring and sparkles (optional! Mushroom insisted no these)

2013-08-31 09.28.23

Oh, and an egg white. I forgot to take a photo of that. Find out how to separate eggs here.

And here’s how to make your sweets in pictures! Hover over the images for more info (and to find out what to do for the bits I didn’t get pictures of because of sticky hands!)

These sweets may be a bit sickly for adult tastes (unless you have a really sweet tooth!) and even Mushroom wouldn’t eat more than a couple but they are such good fun to make (it’s edible play dough as far as he’s concerned!). You could wrap them up in little muslin bags and add some little stars and give them to family as Christmas presents! It doesn’t matter if they don’t eat them – it’s the thought that they were made my your little chef that counts.

If you try these I’ve no doubt that you’ll make more spectacular looking ones than we did so please share your pictures either on twitter (remember tweet me so I can see!) or if you write a blog, do comment below. Happy (non) baking!

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