SCRABBY, SCRABBY, SCRABBY WORK

That is how Jordan described doing his first Paper Mache. Its scrabby, scrabby work but it's so much fun to do, is the little song he was singing whilst dipping hands into the glue mixture (we used a flour and water mix). We are making a mountain, you see Jordan's castle has a draw bridge and we have been using a cardboard box as a mountain to gain access to the castle (when the draw bridge is down of course) unless you are the wizard and he knows the secret entrance !!! So I came up with the idea of making a mountain and I'm not sure who had more fun doing this, Jordan or myself. The more that Jordan prods it to see if it is dry yet the better it is looking. If I say so myself I think we did a pretty good job of it. Dad has also informed me that Ron who has the Electric Train Sets made most of his props including trees so hopefully he can give me some good pointers and we can add some trees. We already have a rock at the bottom which is where the aligators rest.......

Jordan would initially only use a paint brush to put the glue mixture on with but soon found that it was really good fun to get his hands into it (even if it was scrabby, scrabby work). The photo's actually show the surrounding table looking quite clean, by the end of the mountain making there was lots and lots of mess but we had LOTS and LOTS of fun and it was pretty easy to clean up and so worth the mess. ORGANISATION During the last couple of weeks I have been in Organisation mode and it has really paid off. We are very fortunate to have the use of a huge room downstairs of which you can see part of it in the photo above where I have set up Jordan's play area. We also have a table where we do our schooling (and my scrapbooking), I have my desk and lots of room for dancing, kicking a ball, running, general play etc etc. We now spend a lot of time down here and I must say it was very pleasant due to the double bricking during the last week with the extreme temperatures. As a result, I also have Jordan's homeschooling things in shelves and most of his craft things in containers which are easily accessable for him. The more research I am doing about Homeschooling, the more passionate and convinced I am that Montessori is the right road for us to take. I hope to create a Montessori environment for him and aim to add to this on a regular basis as much as I can. Fortunately there is some great information out there, especially from other mums who are homeschooling in the Montessori methods with instructions for lots of home-made materials being available.

REFLECTIONS Tonight I have been reflecting on how blessed my life has been. OK, there have been a few challengers along the way but really nothing that hasn't been overcome with relative ease, some more so than others. I think the biggest challenge was Jordan's birth but after the initial scare both Paul and I truely believed he would be OK and he was, that's not to say I didn't get scared or emotional but underneath it all I really did believe he was a fighter and would survive. Earlier this evening Jordan fell asleep cuddling me and I was laying with him in my arms thinking back to when he was born. Once he was out of his humicrib, I would spend most of the day and night with him at the hospital (bar a couple of hours) cuddling him. He was always in either Pauls arms or my arms and we just enjoyed holding our baby. It is only when you can't hold your baby you really really appreciate when you can. In some ways I was given a gift as not many mothers get to hold their baby for hours on end during the day as there always seems to be something to do. It was a very precious time and a time I will always treasure. Obviously a 5 year old as he is now, is not going to sit still for that long for that to happen today, although Jordan does give beautiful cuddles, often, but it is a BIG reminder to me to stop and just take pleasure in the now, my husband, my son, my family, my friends, my life. They are all very important to me and I want to enjoy time with them.