Jun17

Felt Pictures

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Felt shapes.

Felt shapes.

I found a felt board among the puzzles, but couldn’t locate the bag of felt pieces that went with it, so we made our own. I used several different colours of felt, and cut them into basic shapes, such as squares, circles and triangles. A took the felt board to make her pictures, while L used a plain piece of black felt as her background. Felt sticks to felt, so the shapes will stick to any piece of felt, L just laid her piece of the floor so that it was flat.

A adding grass to her house picture.

A adding grass to her house picture.

Adding a sunset.

Adding a sunset.

A made some pictures of houses and a city, with blue sky and green grass, and of course a wonderful yellow sun. L used her black background to create a lovely night picture and a volcano picture. She cut up some more felt to suit her design, as she wanted little pieces of white to create the ash for her volcano.

We had a lot of fun making our felt piece pictures, and it was simple and fairly cheap to set up. We have stored the felt pieces in a zip-lock bag to use next time we feel like making felt pictures.

L's volcano.

L’s volcano.

Jun16

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

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The Twilight Saga is composed of four sequential books exploring the interaction of vampires, werewolves and humans through the eyes of a clumsy, stubborn and rather naive teenage girl. I think this series would appeal to teenagers and adults interested in vampires and the supernatural, or those just looking for something a bit different in the romance line. It follows a fairly predictable course of girl meets boy, they fall in love, they aim to live happily ever after, but I enjoyed the supernatural complications of this story.

 

IMG_4633Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, young adult paperback, 434 pages, published by Atom in 2006, this edition published by Atom in 2007.

In the first book of the Twilight Saga, we are introduced to Bella, an ordinary, though somewhat clumsy teenager. She has moved from the warmth of Phoenix to the constantly overcast and drizzly town of Forks, where her father is Police Chief Swan. During her first day at her new school her eyes are drawn to five of the most beautiful teenagers she has ever seen, one of which is her biology lab partner, Edward Cullen. He seems to take an instant dislike to Bella, but she is intrigued, and soon becomes obsessed with him. Discovering that he and his family are vampires doesn’t deter Bella from dating Edward. However, she soon finds that not all vampires are as nice as the Cullens, as she is chased from Forks by a vampire that would like to eat her for dinner.

 

IMG_4641New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, young adult paperback, 497 pages, published by Little, Brown and Company in 2006, this edition published by Atom in 2007.

In the second installment of the Twilight Saga, Bella attends a birthday party at the Cullen’s house that goes dreadfully wrong, resulting in Bella being injured and almost attacked by Edward’s brother, Jasper. When Edward fails to convince Bella of the risks of dating a vampire, he leaves her instead. Bella is destroyed, and spends several months surviving, but forgetting to live, totally consumed by the hole in her chest that Edward’s departure has left her. In an attempt to help her overcome her depression, her father encourages her to spend time with her friends, especially an old family friend, Jacob Black. Bella finds it easy to be with Jacob, and soon they are spending large quantities of time together. Bella is again devastated when Jacob stops talking to her and stays away. Jacob is keeping a secret from her, but why, and what could be so shameful he can’t share it with her?

 

IMG_4637Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer, young adult paperback, 559 pages, published by Little, Brown and Company in 2007, this edition published by Atom in 2008.

This third book in the Twilight Saga, sees Bella wondering how to have both Edward and Jacob in her life without antagonising the ancient tensions between the vampires and the werewolves. This is complicated by a string of disappearances and deaths in nearby Seattle that might spill over to hurt the Cullens. It appears to be the work of a gang of violent and uncontrollable newborn vampires, but who is creating them and why? Meanwhile Bella is preparing for her high school graduation, and the issue of whether to stay human or allow Carlisle to change her, as Edward refuses to do so until Bella marries him.

 

 

IMG_4636Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, young adult paperback, 702 pages, published by Atom in 2008.

In the final chapter of the Twilight Saga, Bella is still human, and preparing for her life with Edward. They decide to consummate their marriage on their honeymoon, even though Edward thinks he may hurt Bella in the process. The product of such a liaison is a surprise to them both, and may kill Bella or lead to her transformation into a vampire. To Bella it is her baby, but is it really a monster, an abomination that she carries? The child will change all their lives, including Jacob’s, and will bring conflict and danger close to home. The vampires and wolves need an alliance to survive, but still they may not be able to better their enemy, and Alice and Jasper have abandoned them to their fate. Is this the end of the Cullen family?

 

This series reminded me a lot of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, though Twilight is definitely the junior version, much more suitable for high school students. Twilight contains some violence and sex, but essentially it is a love story. Love between a vampire and a human was bound to be fraught with issues, but Bella and Edward are so devoted to each other, that they will fight hard to stay together. Jacob’s love for Bella complicates matters, and I actually hoped for a lot of the story that Jacob would triumph and win Bella over, as she obviously loves him too. Perhaps I just prefer the idea of spending a mortal life with a warm and loving werewolf, than an eternity with the constant thirst for blood as a vampire, even if it is for love!

I found Edward to be somewhat dislikable, with his controlling ways, and his tendency to keep secrets from Bella in the guise of protecting her. This makes their relationship uneven, and I think truth is always better, so that decisions can be made together. Edward is rather resistant to this idea, and even goes to the lengths of having his sister kidnap Bella and keep her hostage while is is off on a hunting trip. Protection is one thing, but such overt control dismayed me, along with her inability to be angry with him when he returned. I also found him to be arrogant and smug. His attitude improved through the story, but I had already formed a dislike for him, while championing Jacob. Though Jacob has his own problems, with his adjustment to discovering his werewolf side, and the whole ‘mortal enemies’ thing with the vampires, he really just wants Bella to be happy. He loves and respects her, and will be there for her, even when it’s not in his best interests. I liked his fierce devotion and his honesty with Bella. I felt like he deserved to have Bella’s whole love in return. This story made me think of that saying ‘nice guys finish last’.

Bella is a complicated character. In some ways she is strong, when accepting that she has fallen for a vampire, and that her best friend is a werewolf. Yet, then she shows a weakness by being unable to live when Edward leaves her, and just forgives him easily despite how his actions have hurt her. I know we should all forgive, especially those that we love, but I wanted her to be a bit stronger in making him understand how his actions were inappropriate, and how they made her feel. Then I remember that she is only eighteen for most of the story, and she has little in the way of experience in relationships. I also found her intense desire to become a vampire baffling, when it would mean leaving her parents behind, whom she loves and is close to. I was pleased that by the end of the story she had become more than just Edward’s girl, as she discovers her own identity and her own strengths.

This series is not high brow literature, but they are entertaining and I found them to be an engaging read. The plot was somewhat predictable, though fairly well developed. My biggest complaint was that I got a bit tired of hearing about how beautiful and perfect Edward is! I was also a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more action of the vampire fighting kind, especially in Breaking Dawn. There was a lot about sexual desire and allusions to sex, but no actual sex scenes, which surprised me. The whole series was actually pretty clean with no foul language and no explicit scenes, just innuendo and plenty of kissing. Along with the dearth of vivid vampire killing, this does make it better for younger readers. Overall the Twilight Saga is a likable series of books to relax with.

 

 

Jun14

Chocolate Shop Cake

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We wanted to make Big L a special cake for his birthday this year, but none of us had any good ideas. I remembered seeing a cake with lots of different chocolates on it ages back on Facebook, so I went looking for it online. I’m not sure that I found the exact one, as there were quite a number, but the one on BakingMad.com was pretty close. It said to use chocolate cake, but I thought that would be a bit over-the-top chocolate, so we used butter cake instead.

Cakes with the tops cut off.

Cakes with the tops cut off.

The stacked cake ready for icing.

The stacked cake ready for icing.

I baked two round butter cakes and let them cool. Then I cut the tops off each cake to make them flat. I spread some plain frosting over the top of the first cake, and then up-ended the second cake onto the first. This provided a flat top to work with, without the crumbiness of the cut surface. I covered the whole cake in plain frosting, and then it was time to decorate!

Placing the chocolate finger biscuits around the edge.

Placing the chocolate finger biscuits around the edge.

The divided top.

The divided top.

Adding Maltesers to the top of the cake.

Adding Maltesers to the top of the cake.

I started by pressing the chocolate finger biscuits carefully around the edge of the cake, as if I was making a fence. On the top, we divided the space into sixths using the chocolate finger biscuits as dividers. The biscuits didn’t meet at the centre, so we placed a single Ferrero Rocher chocolate in the middle of the biscuit spokes. Then the kids filled each section with a different type of chocolate. We used Mini M&Ms, mini caramel milkshake eggs, Freddo faces, M&Ms, Cadbury Flake pieces, and Maltesers. Any kind of little chocolates or lollies could have worked for this part.

We added a special birthday candle and it was ready!

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Jun14

Eternal Inheritance by Rachel Meehan

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IMG_4626 (1)Eternal Inheritance by Rachel Meehan, paperback novel, 231 pages, published by Cherry House Publishing in 2015.

Sarah is only twelve, but when men claiming to be police come to take her away from her grandparents, she finds herself on the run. Frightened and alone, she tries to find her way to the city, to a man she has never met, but whom her mother had trusted years before. Marty agrees to help her, and along the way, they befriend Amy and Ellen. Between them, they attempt to uncover the reasons that Sarah is being hunted by the powerful and rich father that she has never known. It is evident that he is not after a family reunion, but what could he want with her, and just how far will he go to obtain her?

Eternal Inheritance was exciting right from the first page, as Sarah escapes her grandparents’ cottage to begin a terrifying flight of survival. It was a fast-paced, page-turning mystery thriller, which I enjoyed. The story flowed well, but was rather complicated with lots of information and back story emerging throughout the book, including science and medical elements. However, everything was brought nicely together at the end, which was quite satisfying!

There was a definite distinction between good and bad in this story. All the characters were well written and easy to picture. Sarah’s father, Parnell, was a formidable character, written as the perfect adversary for young Sarah and her friends. He was rich, powerful and arrogant, with no respect for anyone or anything outside of his own interests. This made him an easy character to hate. A true villain! Conversely, Sarah and Amy seem so vulnerable and so young. They are strong and resourceful though, and I couldn’t help but hope they would triumph over Parnell. I also liked Marty and Ellen, they were very altruistic to risk themselves to help a child they didn’t even know existed until she landed on Marty’s doorstep. They made for good, strong characters to help our young hero on her quest for the truth, and for survival.

Eternal Inheritance is suitable for upper primary school to lower high school students. There was some violence, but none of it was too graphic. I’m happy for my eight year old to read this book, though I think some of the science concepts relating to Parnell might be too confusing for her.

I received Eternal Inheritance for free through Goodreads First Reads.

 

May23

Hand-print Bookmarks

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IMG_4472For Mother’s Day this year we made bookmarks using the hand-prints of the kids. I found some old scrapbooking papers that had pink or blue heart patterns on them to use as our base for the hand-prints.

Using the paint pad.

Using the paint pad.

A's hand-prints.

A’s hand-prints.

Each child chose the background paper to use, and the colour of paint for their hand-print. Predictably A chose pink on pink for her bookmarks. L used the rainbow paint pad for her hand-prints on the back on the blue paper.  Unfortunately the rainbow paint didn’t come out as clearly as the other paint, but L liked it as it was. The boys used blue paint on blue paper. Using paint pads for hand-prints makes it easy to get a good amount of paint on the hand, and is much less messy than using conventional paint.

Hand-prints.

Hand-prints.

After the hand-prints were dry, I carefully cut around each hand. The kids wrote some lovely messages on the back of one of their hands using a marker. A pushed down her marker quite hard, and the ink is visible through the hand-print. She also drew a lot of love hearts! I love it because it is so unique.

Writing a message on the back of the hand-print.

Writing a message on the back of the hand-print.

To finish the bookmarks I laminated the hand-prints. I arranged the hand-prints so that A’s hands and Baby T’s hands were together to make a bigger bookmark each, while L’s hand-print was big enough as one. I also did a single print of my hand to make a bookmark for my mum. Once laminated, I carefully cut around the hand-prints so that there was a small amount of plastic laminate around each one. The kids were happy with their bookmarks.

One of the boy's bookmarks.

One of the boy’s bookmarks.

A hand-print bookmark in my latest read.

A hand-print bookmark in my latest read.

May23

Pinecone Bird Feeder

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Items we used.

Items we used.

A came across this idea in one of her kindergarten readers and begged for us to try it out at home!

Coating the pinecone with peanut butter.

Coating the pinecone with peanut butter.

We tied a piece of string to the pinecone so that it could be hung up in a tree when we were finished, and then I helped A to cover the pinecone in peanut butter. This was a little messy, but A didn’t get nearly as much peanut butter on herself as I had thought she would.

Rolling the pinecone in birdseed.

Rolling the pinecone in birdseed.

Then A rolled the pinecone in a bowl of birdseed. We used a basic parrot mix because most of the birds that hang about in our yard are parrots such as cockatoos and galahs. A pressed as much seed into the sticky peanut butter as she could, completely covering the pinecone. When the pinecone could hold no more seed, we took it into the yard and hung it up in a large bottlebrush tree.

Making sure the whole pinecone was covered.

Making sure the whole pinecone was covered.

And now we wait for the birds to come and have a feast.

Our new bird feeder hanging in a tree.

Our new bird feeder hanging in a tree.

May16

Star Jumps by Lorraine Marwood

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IMG_4454Star Jumps by Lorraine Marwood, paperback verse novel, 128 pages, published by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd in 2009.

Ruby is growing up on a dairy farm in rural Australia, which has experiencing drought conditions for some time. Ruby and her siblings, Keely and Connor want to help their parents to keep the farm afloat. Ruby is too young to help with the calving, but she watches, and tries to help where she can. If they all work together, perhaps they will see another year on the land.

Star Jumps is a touching story of drought and the struggle that accompanies it, told in beautiful verse from the perspective of a young girl on a dairy farm. The author has obviously experienced the vagaries of the weather for farmers firsthand, and has conveyed the sense of frustration and sadness that drought brings to those dependent on agriculture. The story also highlights the hardiness of those on the land, even the children, despite knowing the hardships, can still find pleasure and fun on the farm between jobs.

I’m not normally a big verse or poetry reader, but I found this book to be well written and moving. It is suitable for primary and lower high school students. Though I think children from country regions may be able to appreciate it more wholly than children without exposure to agriculture, it would be good for all children to read something a bit different. I will be adding Star Jumps to my daughters’ book shelf and encouraging them to read Ruby’s story. I hope Star Jumps will remind them that there is always some good in any situation, you just have to find it, or work to make it happen.

May16

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

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IMG_4458We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, paperback novel, 225 pages, published by Allen & Unwin in 2014.

Harris and Tipper Sinclair have three daughters, and their daughters produce a number of grandchildren. Cadence Sinclair Eastman is the eldest, but only by a few weeks. Next are her cousins Johnny and Mirren, one child for each Sinclair daughter, more grandchildren come, but these three are the first. The family is from old money, they are beautiful, they are strong, they seem to have it all. They even own a private island off the coast of Massachusetts, where the whole family spends their summers together. When Johnny’s mum finds a new partner, she brings along his nephew to spend summer on the island. Gat is the same age as Johnny, Cady and Mirren, and together they are the four liars, best friends growing up together, making mischief, having fun. In the summer before they turn sixteen something terrible happens, an accident, Cady can’t remember, and the family won’t tell her. What are they hiding, and why?

As I read the first page of We Were Liars, I prepared myself for a pretentious, overindulgent and vain story of frivolity and inconsequence. By the second chapter I was intrigued, and by the fourth, I was starting to race through the pages. I had to know what Cady had forgotten, and what was happening to the family.

The story is told from Cady’s perspective, and jumps between the summer of the accident, which her amnesia is blocking, and the summer two years on, when she has returned to the island and her memories are beginning to re-appear. The style of writing employed may not appeal to everyone, though I felt it fit the story quite well. There are elements of romance and family conflict, there are secrets and lies, all revolving around an intriguing mystery leading towards the truth. This book provided me with something that has become increasingly rare for me, an ending that I never saw coming, it slammed me, it made me cry, but it was so very very perfect.

I found all of the characters in We Were Liars to be well written with plenty of depth, surprisingly, I liked the four liars. These teenage characters of Cady, Johnny, Mirren and Gat had some aspects of spoilt rich kid, but they were still likeable. They were stifled and embarrassed by the behaviour of the adults, with ideals which were refreshing, but they still took it for granted that they would always have whatever they wanted. The way that Cady changes after the accident is interesting, she is a complicated girl, suffering debilitating migraines, and hovered over by her mother. Part of me wanted to dislike her for her assumption of continuous wealth and security, but I couldn’t, she was doing it tough in a lot of ways, and I felt for her.

The adults, though less central to the plot, were as expected of adults in a privileged family. During the summer of the accident, the aunties are arguing over money and property and the love of their father. Harris Sinclair is manipulative and uses his immense fortune to play his daughters off one another. Rich people are often portrayed in literature and film using their money as power and needing more and more no matter who they trample on to get it. Not knowing anyone with this sort of money at their disposable, I must assume that this is only a slight exaggeration of reality, and the behaviour of the Sinclairs is consistent with this image. I thought that the way the three women wheedled, connived and ingratiated themselves in order to gain favour with Harris was pitiful, yet completely plausible. I find this behaviour bewildering, but then I’ve never had lots of money to fight over before!

One of the best young adult novels that I have read in some time, We Were Liars, is a stunning read for high school students and up. Give it a go, it’ll surprise you, and it will stay with you for a very long time.

 

 

May6

Zog by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

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IMG_4426Zog by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, paperback picture book, published by Alison Green Books in 2010.

Zog is the largest dragon in Madam Dragon’s class. He is learning to fly, roar and capture princesses, but while he tries very hard, he also tends to be a bit clumsy. Luckily for him, every time he hurts himself, a friendly girl comes along and helps him. As the years pass, and the girl grows older, perhaps they will find their true calling together.

Dragons, dragons, dragons. This book is about dragons, and much like they react to books about dinosaurs, my kids gravitated straight to this book. I was pleased to find that it is witty, amusing and fun with rhyming text (I really am a sucker for rhymes!). I like to read it aloud and laugh with my kids, we always crack up when Zog catches his own wing tip alight! The illustrations are perfectly matched to the story, and as always from Axel Scheffler, beautifully detailed with bold colours and memorable characters. I recognised some little creatures from The Gruffalo among the scenery too. I found the ending unexpected, yet perfect. A beautiful book to share with primary school children, Zog, will entertain parents as well.

May6

Jack and the Flumflum Tree by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts

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IMG_4431Jack and the Flumflum Tree by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts, hardback picture book, published by MacMillan Children’s Books in 2011.

Jack’s Granny has developed the Moozles, and there is only one known cure, the fruit of the Flumflum tree. The Flumflum tree grows on the distant island of Blowyernose, but Jack is determined to reach it and return with the fruit to cure his Granny. He builds a boat, secures a crew, and gets ready to sail. Granny gives him a patchwork sack full of interesting objects that she thinks the adventurers may need, and they set off, but what awaits them along their journey?

Jack and the Flumflum Tree is another brilliant and engaging story book from Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo. The lyrical text, which just begs to be read aloud, sucks even the most reluctant reader into Jack’s story. There is action, misadventure, bravery and inventiveness along their journey, with plenty of laughs. Granny’s sack is a wonder, and what Jack does with each item is clever and entertaining. The repetition of Jack’s reaction to each new situation is memorable, and has spurred my children into using the phrase “Don’t get your knickers in a twist!” when someone is flustered, or just inserted into everyday conversations with no context!

All the pages are beautifully illustrated, with expressive characters, and interesting scenery. I particularly like Stu’s and Rose’s facial expressions each time another complication arises. There are many little creatures hiding among the foliage on the island of Blowyernose, which my kids like to spot.

Suitable for primary school students, Jack and the Flumflum Tree, is also great for parents, a book that will be hard to get sick of. All my children love this book, and it is often called upon for bedtime reading.