My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

Easter around here

Sunday Easter was yesterday already.

Time is passing faster or slower? I am not certain.

Is it the pressure to keep everything going as normally as possibly for the kids, but with as so much to do and with so little resources, I find myself having almost no time at all. True, I have been writing on my blog more often... But that is also an exercise to keep my anxiety at bay. Focusing on little tasks to keep my mind busy. Focus on what I can manage...

To Easter egg hunt for kids, check!

Bake, check!

Write blog, check!

I prepared our Easter event as usual, a mini egg hunt around the garden. It's for kids such fun to search for the eggs that are hidden away! They run around searching everywhere and enjoy finding the eggs....and mostly eating the chocolate!
I then have to cope with ecstatic  kids for the rest of the Sunday but their happiness is a joy to watch. I hope that these little moments will be with them forever!

I start by placing eggs in really obvious places, we still have a little one that really needs to find some eggs too!

After finishing our egg hunt we had some Easter races! Our oldest was really keen on using the little bunnies to mark a race track! I had no idea that these little bunnies would be so much fun for the kids!

I still haven't finish my Easter embroidery. I started this little embroidery last year, but with everything... It pretty much remains untouched. Maybe some time this year I will manage to finish it! Nevertheless it still added some Easter sweetness to our home this year, and I managed to grab a few Flowers from our garden to add a special and different touch to our Easter Sunday lunch!

 We also had a special dessert Pao de Lo de Ovar. Maybe some time later I will share the recipe, bu today I will only drop the photo! This was lovely dessert and really tasty! Another sugar rush for the rest of the afternoon!

And this was our Easter Sunday!

Pandemia still lurking outside, but yesterday was just us. and I hope everyone enjoyed it!

I hope you enjoyed yours!

xx

Focusing on a new simple homelife with a lurking pandemia outside

Today I will be sharing how we have been dealing with covid19 pandemia and our forced lockdown, but also some activities that I have been having with the kids. This is not only for their enjoyment, but also for my self care. My anxiety has been reaching new levels, and focusing on my family, the kids entertainment has helping me cope a little with it. Everything is quite different, and our plans for Easter have changed dramatically. 

This week would be the first day of our Easter break. This will definitely be a very different Easter. My parents already cancelled their journey, as travelling is still very much prohibited. The kids are more aware that 'germs' and 'virus' are  changing our way of living and our future plans. We most probably wont be going anywhere this Summer. Well, its a wait and see what the Future stores.

Skype and video calls are even more frequent. And we are finding calling everyone that we use to see on a daily base... as we are now we are even video calling little friends from school! This was really nice for the big kid to still be in touch with his best friend. Our school has been quite brilliant with online tools, and making sure that big kid would be connected with work, teachers and friends. We start our morning signing into Dojo and reading what were the teachers work suggestions. We would also see the messages from all staff at school! And every time we posted what we were doing there were always nice and encouraging comments from all the teachers. It was different, and many times big kid asked why  simply not going to school? And then I had to re-explain again about the very dangerous germ that is still outside... And that all the children were now learning at home.

This is quite different, I find myself leaving different scenarios at the same time. The news are simple disastrous, and I often find myself despairing at the lack of preparedness of UK government. And yes, this is so very unhelpful for my mental well being. Don't even get me starting talking about twitter. That's another new level of despair - and I am forcing myself to stay away from there. However, visiting my go-to blogs has been quite relaxing. Its a new found serenity, where everyone is living and showing how they are easily coping with this lock down... Almost feels that this lock down is normal... These are never ending sources for ideas to play with the kids, and enjoy a new found family centred life.

Coping with this weird scenarios is the most difficult thing I had to face until today. Its not only about me, but also about my family. Its about balancing my anxiety, and how I have reached a new heightened stress level, but still having to manage this so that my kids don't get so affected by it. That they don't see it. 

Lets once again refocus. What can I control? What can I manage? 

A basic and simple answer: Our home life... and entertaining and playing with both kidos. We have been  doing a lot of activities in the garden whilst British weather allows it. And... some activities that we have been enjoying:

....Bubbles is a must in the sunshine!

 In these last couple of days playing with bubbles is a favourite pass time for the kids in the garden. And is so helpful as they just run after the bubbles burning a bit of their never ending energy!

Chasing bubbles and blasting bubbles. I would never guess that they would never grow tired of this!

So simple, soap water and this leads to hours of chasing and laughs and screams in the gardens.

Shadow drawing 

This was a play suggestion I got from a local Facebook group. I will be quite honest though, I was enjoying it more than the kids. After a couple of dinosaurs and elephants and the kids grow tired of it.

 ....And birthday parties!
No, we don't have to leave the house, nor have guests. Our little friend the pinguin is turning 1 and we definitely had to celebrate! This is not an outdoor activity, but kept us busy for the whole day. We made decorations, we baked.
We had fun!

I hope I inspired you for some activities!

...How are you coping?

xx

My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

We went on a BIG ghost hunt!

I hope you are enjoying your half term break and had fun this Halloween! 

During this break I did struggle to have imagination and fill all this week with activities to do with with the kids.  Luckily, around Southampton  ' Go Southampton' is offering a city 'Ghost trail' for families to enjoy around the Old city centre. So, that was one morning sorted with more ghost hunting fun! You can enjoy this activity until the 3rd of November (find more here).

As Ghost hunting, or treasure hunting is indeed something that my kids really enjoy to do, I could not miss a ghost hunt  around Southampton. We packed a quick snack lunch bag and off we went, ghost hunting! Map on hands.... and lets explore the old city centre and find all the lost ghosts...

This Ghost hunting involved searching ghosts in several specific spots, 11 altogether and a mysterious last one. There are many venues collaborating with the trail, as the points where the ghost are hiding.   These are local pubs as the 'Duke of Wellington' and main touristic attractions in the city, as 'Tudor House'. The Tudor House was also the origin from where all the ghosts escaped...

We could easily find many families following this ghost trail.  At any given ghosts point children were searching and locating the  various 'lost ghost'.  These 'lost ghosts' are historical figures, which will not only teach the children interesting facts and also feature a letter which will be key to find a hidden clue that will show you  your final 'ghost point'. 

For the grown ups the trail is may not be as exciting as far as a ghost hunt goes, but it still can provide you with interesting sightseeing while rediscovering the local attractions.

The ghost trail took us all the morning to do and was enjoyable. After my children found the ghosts, all the little pieces of information about fun historical facts  were oddly  remembered! Also, if you love the city and know other facts you can also pitch in and teach them a little more!

At the end of the ghost trail you can also claim a prize. You just need to fill up and return the map in the last spot of the trail, which will be known once you are done collecting all the clues. 

All the search and ghost finding gave the kids a true sense of fulfilment  as they got a prize at the end! These were masks that they had fun scrapping and discovering different colours.

Now, this school break is almost over. Only one more weekend and school will resume. I know that once it starts I will miss the  kids, but not sure I will miss the stress of...what are we doing today???

We had a mini Ghost Hunt!

Half term break is here and that means that parents, me included are on the lookout for activities to do with little ones! Today I created a mini ghost hunt, which I did with my little ones! I hope I inspire you to do your  hunt at home. In the past I did an egg hunt with the kids, and since Halloween is here, I decided to change the theme for a more 'Halloweeny' one, and here is our very own Ghost hunt!

I used materials that I already had in my craft cabinet, so I haven't spent  any money at all in this project.

If you are thinking about making a similar hunt, here are the materials I used in the little felt ghosts:

Felt (colours I used, blue, light and dark grey, cream)

Embroidery thread

Embroidery Needle

...and for the little signalling ghosts:

Card (different colours, for ghosts and arrows)

Duck-tape

Scissors

Black pen

colouring pencils

Wooden skewer

I first started to make my little felt ghosts with different colours:

These took some time to make, but if you google alternatives some paper suggestions come up. I decided to make them in felt  because I hosted my ghost hunt outdoors, so felt seemed more appropriate given the  more humid and cold weather. I also think that with young children having felt ghosts would mean then these would be reusable in the future, either as soft toys (and they were already playing with each one that I finished), or simply as decorations.  If you are having an indoors ghost hunt making paper ghost are much quicker and easy to make. I made 9 felt ghosts altogether and this was the most laboured task of this process. I planed to make more (12 little felt ghosts) but as it was taking me so long to make this, I cut the number short. However, and given how fast the kids found them - it took this hunt around 10 minutes, I would advise for a larger number of ghosts (the initial 12). This is a balance between having a hunt to take some time, but not so much to bore the kids. Also, making the ghosts really difficult to find would not work, the kids would be discouraged, and not forgetting that this was for children of different ages, my little one is only 2! However, if I am considering that the kids were engaged in this whole process, it actually took us the whole morning doing this...

Then I made the signalling ghosts. These were very easy to make and my little ones helped me with the cutting and with the colouring.

These designs where inspired from the internet, and were really simple to make. 

After cutting and colouring, it was time to attach to a skewer using duck-tape. Kids also helped me with these steps.

And here it is, the final look of the signalling ghosts, the only step missing are the little arrows that I also glued over the ghosts:

All ready to stick in the garden (oops, minus the arrows)!

My oldest stick the ghosts in the garden. He was really excited with all, and helping me make these. They were engaged in this little craft project, and I let them help as much as they could. The only thing that I actually did on my own was hiding the ghosts in the garden! Otherwise they would not be having a ghost hunt....

We also made a ghost counting card, were the kids would mark once they found the different ghosts in the garden.

Once the little guys found the different ghosts and capture them, they would tick their card!

The last one to find was the this little yellow ghost...!

Both kids really enjoyed the ghost hunt. They were asking to repeat the ghost hunt tomorrow again! 

Happy hunting!

My Sunday Photo || {The Ordinary Moments}

Looking for activities for your children to do in Southampton?

I have a few suggestions... I hope you find them useful!

The new academic year has started and alongside so did my search for activities to do with the kidos. Not everyday we have free activities available as #RailOpenDay... ! 

I am always looking for different activities for my children to do, as diverse and nearby as possible! And.... that don't put a hole in my wallet... With Autumn, even though the splashing on poodles is a favorite pastime for them both, there's a limit to do this and we do have to diversify and find activities to do indoors. Having two kids with different ages, as my oldest will reach 6 this year and my youngest 3, keeping both entertained and busy can be a challenge. And again, I have to be sensible budget wise. It can be expensive to go to enjoy soft play everyday... However, I do have some go to places that can offer activities for heir different needs and preferences, and mostly that are free or not so expensive! One is my very own favorite, my local library!

I have been creating a schedule with weekly offers from my local libraries. I have discovered for a while now that  local libraries were offering 'story times' and 'rhyme times' for the children. 'Rhyme time' is designed for the younger ones, it's basically a singing group for children younger. 'Story time' as the name is indicative, a story is read by a staff member or a volunteer to the children attending the session.  These singing and reading activities are pretty handy when I am feeling uninspired about what to do with my little ones particularly during raining days since they are happening indoors. 

Since the library also has other spaces for reading, drawing and even playing, even if one of the kids is not so much into the session there are other things for them to do. In the meantime  I also can also find some new reads for me! win-win!  

I am sharing this schedule on my post and I hope you can find it helpful:

Library Activities

Do keep in mind that I found these schedules at the Southampton city council website, so if you are using it, do check with your local library beforehand. For my local library they were correct, but I cannot be certain that they are for all libraries. Also, bear in mind that unusual circumstances may force some sessions not to happen.

These sessions are free to attend...., and they are also  great to meet parents with children similar age as your kids. Most people who attend these Rhyme and Story sessions do so regularly, so in no time you can find yourself chatting with other parents.

The city art gallery is my other favourite go to place for activities to do with my children. During the Summer we went there for several artistic activities! That was where the Big drawing event happened too.

This Autumn term the City Art Gallery is  offering every third Saturday of the month the 'Mini Monets' club. This is happening from 11Am to 12PM on the 21st of September, 19th of October, 23rd of November and 21st of December. However, these sessions are not free and you also need to Pre-Book. The 'Mini-Monets' are sessions for children from 2-6 years, where they can explore the gallery and get messy! I am trying to go to these sessions for some time with my youngest. 

Once I am able to attend, I will write on my blog about our experience! These sessions are designed for children to explore, they will be using lots of materials and methods to create art pieces. A plus about this is that I don't have to clean up any mess my kid made afterwards! My youngest is quite keen on experimenting with paints, the  messier he gets the happiest, so  I am expecting these sessions to be perfect for him. I am becoming more reluctant in enabling this messy play at home, mostly because of either the huge amount of cleaning I have to do or the huge amount of control I have to do, to prevent the art play to get out of hand. So, I am really excited to try these sessions with him. I always endeavour to enable his creativity and since I am aware that I am not allowing the paints out as much with him - they are pretty much hiding at the moment - these sessions are a great alternative to enable his 'artistic flair'.   

If your child is older, the City art gallery is offering 'The Young ones' sessions, for children from 7-13 years. They can discover several art techniques as monoprinting, wire working, clay, mixed media and more. These sessions are happening from 10:30Am -12:30PM on the 28th September, 26th October, 16h November, 14th December and 11th January. Dress for mess in either session! These sessions are not free unfortunately, and pre-booking is essential. Find more here.

The City Art Gallery is also offering a one-off event on Saturday, the 12th October, from 11:00AM to 11:45AM: 'Swish, Swoosh, Splosh', theatre for children under 6 years. This event is free to attend, however you need to Pre-Book.  I am quite curious about this theatre experience, and will definitely attend with my youngest. It is advertised a 'playful multi sensory exploration of life underwater and the positive ways in which we can reduce plastic in the ocean'.  I am  quite curious and excited about how this will be materialised as a children theatre play. Find more here. 

I hope these events helped you and you children! Do you have a favourite go to place to have some fun with your kids? Do let me know!

#RailOpenDay

This past Saturday, 28th September, we attended the #RailOpenDay at the Northern Line Facilities, in Southampto, find more here. This is part of the rail week events, which are happening all around the UK.  We have to stress how our kidos that are absolutely crazy about trais, so this event was impossible for us to miss. This was actually my partner's idea, he was the one who stumbled upon on the advert for the open day, and signed all of us to attend. This was a brilliant idea really, as both kids absolutely loved it!

I had no idea that the open day would be offering so many activities. We arrived around 14h30, and we stayed there for hours! During the whole afternoon, we were walking around trains, learning more about them, and I have also to say that the staff that was working the Open Day was absolutely friendly and lovely...

One of the activities that we could do was having our names featuring on the trains:

No my name is not there, but as you can see Patricia had her name featuring on the destination for a few minutes! We had our kids name there, as well and they had a laugh when saw it and realised that it was their name showing on the train! "Its my name there", they were screeching with delight, pointing at their name!

The event obiously was all about trains, so there were trains all around and it was impressive to actually see the trains weals up and close! They are massive. However, a key thing is the actual surface of the wheel that touches the train line in the size of a 50p coin... Curious! I had no idea...

We also had the chance to learn more about the innovations that are happening on the locomotives to become more eco-friendly. Siemens is attempting to de-carbonize rail, hence the creation of 'Hydrogen Hero'. There was a small locomotive that the kids could ride on. Unfortunately when our turn arrived they had run out of Hydrogen so we couldn't try it... Maybe next year!

We also had the opportunity to walk under the train, and we where able to see up and close the ins and outs of the train...
Actually, I didn't went under the train, as we had to bring the buggy with with us, so I was the one that volunteered to keep and eye on the buggy. Dad and kids did go, and learned a lot about the train's mechanics!

We Love trains! Even when walking around, under, in, all trains are brilliant, even in photos!

LEGO! This was one of the favorite stops for the kids.There was a small area that had Lego trains, a small lego train line that being used as a prop for for reading measurements of both vibration and the noise caused by trains. The kids did not care much about the readings, just the trains really, though mummy was interested in the different measurements!

The marquee outside was offering a lot of kids friendly activities as well, as face painting and my kids favorite: wood train sets. This was their favorite activity and where in the end we stayed for a very long time, the final stop of our #RailOpenDay!

Overall we had a brilliant time. The suggestion that I would make for the organisers though, is to make these events more mobility friendly. We are still using a buggy for our youngest as I mentioned earlier. He is pretty active, however he still gets tired and very now and then he still asks for a nap after lunch, and the buggy is pretty handy for this. The paths that we were using in this event were not spacious enough for a buggy to pass whilst other people were walking in the opposite direction. I had to stop several times to let people pass by me and the buggy. A nice alternative would be the offering a spot for the buggies to be parked by the organizers... !We would then be able to do many of the activities together instead of having one of us volunteering to keep an eye on the buggy too... Another point is, if walking with a buggy was pretty difficult for me to do,  I won't even imagine how people with mobility issues could circulate easily this event.  Otherwise, we really had a brilliant day! Thank you for this #RailOpenDay! We will do the event next year if possible!

What about you? How was your Saturday?