Carli's kids: Move Away From The Oven..

Apologies for the absence of last weeks blog, but my sister was visiting and she took precedence.

So holidays are upon us (well at least our children's holidays are upon us!) and those of us who have children at 4 term schools now have them lazing on the couch or have packed them off to holiday school. I have the ultimate middle class school horror - one child at a 3 term school and one at a 4 term school. It literally means that I play 'pass the holiday baton' throughout the year, as one goes back to school, a short breath is taken and the other one goes on holiday. Sigh. It means that I am forever trying to work with one babe at home (avoiding merely plonking them in front of the tv for the duration of their vacation - perish the thought!) which is really tricky. It also means that we seldom get to go on adventures as a little unit. As we know, it would be unforgivably unfair to enjoy a day out with one child and not the other. Thankfully this moan is coming to an end as I shall send my baby off to primary school next year to join her sister. Hail the one drop off, hail the one holiday. So how does one make the most of their the time off? (I work unusual hours!)

I used to feel really bad about how I would avoid cooking and baking with my girls, or take them on slow ambling walks through the Koppies (I would usually land up carrying at least one of them with the other bemoaning the weakened state of her young legs) until I read a Martha Beck book in which she stated the same whilst coming to the conclusion that her children would probably enjoy things she liked doing as long as they did it together. It's truly true. I so seldom bake with them now, instead they set up a canvas on a neighbouring easel and we paint together. Or we dance about the lounge like idiots or sew silly things or we go to the park and I walk the dog while they fly the helicopter. Next week we are going to the scratchpatch in Midrand where they apparently give an underground tour. What fun! My girls probably won't be marvelous bakers (they might be fine chefs thanks to their dad) but at least they will grow up with an enthusiasm for discovery while knowing that we sincerely had much fun together.

And now for this weeks art class.. actually it was a couple of weeks ago.