Superheroes....

  The boys have never seen an episode of Batman, Superman, Spiderman or even Ben 10.  Nor have they seen any of the movies, nor have I bought them a single Superhero toy.   Yet somehow, (perhaps by osmosis in the playground?), they know each and every Superhero.   Wandering into the Converse shop, I had only been intending to purchase them a new pair each of the classic grey slip ons they both love.  I did walk out of the Converse shop with grey slips on, but I also walked out with these:

I succumbed to pester power.

For the first time ever I bought them a "licensed" product. The little guy got Batman Converse and the big one got Superman Converse.  In my defence, at least they are vintage prints.   They now wear them constantly, even with their pyjamas.

Oh please, please Mummy can I have these?  Even if they are so big that I can wear them as a hat?

Speaking of Superheroes, the King of the Superheroes made a reappearance this week:

This time he was escorted by his trusty sidekick, Super Little:

Together they embarked on an adventure inspired by a true Superhero...  Eliot jones, of course.

Yes indeed,  that would be a "Meteor-Busting Rocket Launcher"  that The King is sitting on!  It is sort of like the one Eliot has to save the world with...

Reader, please be aware that today you were saved by...  

The King of the Super Heroes and his confidant Super Little!  

I love "green waste" collection week...

                    Almost as much as Council Clean Up!

Driving the Captain to school this morning, the boys in the back happily listening to Micheal Hordern's fabulous voice narrating Paddington. I was busy scanning the piles of green waste on the side of the road.  Occasionally I find some great cuttings and this morning I scored big time:

A pile of silver birch branches!

Well, a couple of piles!

I forced myself to keep on driving. As tempted as I was to squeeze the bundles in the back between the boys car seats.  (No room in the boot it is full of QF uniforms, manuals, bags and other Flight Attendant paraphernalia that I have to return to work.  Yes, I resigned... but that is a blog post for another day!)

Anyway, dropped the Captain at school.  Took the little one to swimming lessons, picked up some supplies for the morning... sushi for him, coffee for me and... hurray... the garbage truck hadn't done our street yet!  I squashed some into the boot and the rest into the Captain's car seat and the space between the seats. Hope Husband doesn't read this bit... or the people that service the car... 

Back to my find though,  just look at how lovely they are:

Now what to do with them?

Maybe this gorgeous hand made Christmas tree that I spotted last year here.

Not sure if I have the skills to make these.

or these, but they are gorgeous and I am keen to try.  Both images found here.

Now, this looks the best idea yet.  I will have to have a word with the husband about making me one of these! Found here. 

The Pirates make some Bontings

If you are unfamiliar with award winning childrens author Shirley Hughes, I highly recommend her wonderful books.  Written and illustrated by her they capture the everyday magic of childhood.  Timeless stories, illustrations with a minutiae of detail and charming characters.  Indeed, they are so brilliant that I actually don't mind reading them countless times. 

The Alfie Out of Doors storybook is a gorgeous collection of stories and poems about children playing outside.  One story tells the tale of Alfie's beloved stone Bonting.  Both Pirates have long adored this tale and have often asked if we could make some Bontings.  Finally, we got around to it:

Supplies were sourced from the garden!  And the craft box.

They were busy for nearly two hours!  (An excellent activity...)

These lovely stones are the little one's work.

The Captain made this gorgeous ladybird as a birthday present for his father.  R loved it and is going to use it as a paperweight.

Happy Halloween and out first Jack-o'-Lantern

This weekend was rather frantic,  on Saturday I drove down to Canberra to attend my 20 year school reunion (yes, I am that old!).  On the way down, just as we were passing through the Southern Highlands there was a serious car accident right in front of me.  Literally, the car in front of me lost control and ended up swerving across both lanes twice and crashing into the median barrier.  Fortunately, the driver was uninjured and I was able to stop in time and thankfully the car behind me also managed to stop in time.  I was driving with my oldest and dearest friend who is pregnant with her first baby and also my not so little baby and I am so grateful that we are all okay!  Anyway, the school reunion was fabulous and it was a lovely opportunity to catch up with friends that now live overseas or that I had lost contact with. 

After a wonderful night out, including dinner at Ottoman!  I then got up early on Sunday morning to drive home as I had promised the Captain that I would be home in time to help him celebrate Halloween.  Halloween, although not typically an Australian celebration, is taken very seriously in my neighbourhood.  A letter was deposited into our letterbox, instructing as that Halloween was appproaching and that if we were interested in participating to please tie the attached balloon to the letter box.  The Captain was entranced!  During the week we had purchased a pumpkin with the anticipation of making a Jack-o'-Lantern,  never having made one before I was not sure how difficult it would be.  Luckily, it was quite straightforward!

We started by carving a hole, to make the lid, in the top of the pumpkin.  Once the "lid" was able to be lifted out we scooped out all the seeds and excess pulp.

We then used a pencil to draw a face onto the lantern and I then used a small paring knife to carve along the lines we had drawn.

A candle popped inside and it looked fantastic!  The Captain was delighted with our efforts.

Sitting out on the front porch.

The Captain  Bat waiting anxiously for Trick or Treaters.

Happy Halloween!

Make and do: More volcano fun!

The volcano that we made recently is well-loved, treasured even. The pirates play with it nearly every day. Mostly the volcano could be described as dormant, however there was a surprise eruption earlier this morning.

A number of dinosaurs had gathered to observe the lava flow...

plus one random donkey (there he is in between Brachiosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex ... probably not for long though... I am pretty sure Spinosaurus is eyeing him off! )

Oh the joy on their little faces! They just love it!

Make and Do: The Volcano!!!

Inspired by nature (and a few other clever Mamas who have made these for their broods recently) we built ourselves a volcano. The Captain was put to work ripping up bits of paper for the papier-mache volcano and valley.

We then borrowed a bit of plywood from Daddy's supplies under the house to use as the base of the volcano. An old tin can was used as the volcano crater and some take-away containers helped pad out the rest of the volcano. We used a basic papier-mache recipe of flour and water to construct the rest.

All our hard work completed the volcano was set to dry out in the afternoon sunshine.

We were so proud of ourselves and then disaster, in the form of a very cheeky brushtail possum, struck. Very late at night we heard unusual sounds on our back deck. Ross, sent to investigate, discovered that a possum was eating our beautiful volcano! The culprit was caught on security camera and further invesigations are pending!

In the morning we surveyed the damage to our volcano and decided it was repairable.

Repairs underway:

After another day in the sunshine the volcano was ready to paint:

Finally, it was ready for the Captain to take to Pre-School for show and tell. His pre-school teacher helped him mix the ingredients for the chemical reaction.

The eruption!

Apparently the class loved it!