WA Day... Out and about

 Today was our states first WA DAY 

(formerly know as Foundation Day)

So all this meant that a public holiday was given......

After a very slow start....(very nice!)

and having the man of the house back after being away a couple of days we headed off to 

A train and LEGO enthusiasts exhibition....

The trains were good and truly have some passionate people attached  

but 

our main goal was to seek out the Lego....

And seek out we did.....

Wowsers so much detail....

so many millions of LEGO bricks....

so many people wanting to see those LEGO creations....

I would never have known the impact LEGO could have on a household had I not had a little guy!

Childhood

Childhood - Photo a Day

 

 Just near where I sit at the computer  is a basket full of my childhood.....who am I kidding strewn throughout our home is remnants of my childhood....

But this basket is precious....

It contains the toys that were knitted by my grandparents for me as a baby and toddler.

I am so lucky that I even have photos of me with these toys so that I am able to accurately date them.....

They are about 43 years old!

Irreplaceable!

Child's Play

I am still amazed to discover what it is that switches my 6 year old son on to the point that he will spend a huge amount of time finishing something.....like most boys his age he more often than not has a very short attention span.

So on Friday when I was greeted once again at his classroom with a handful of papers to go into his bag I took little notice of what he had.

It wasn't until the next morning when we cleaned out the bag he grabbed one of the pieces and said he needed to finish it????

He then proceeded to spend a good hour or so completing this very fascinating art piece.

It was a paper towel that had a self embossed pattern on it...he had begun to use textas to go over the pattern in dots.....

The end result was very effective......

Who would have thought ?????

The other thing that I have been amused with is our box of "barbie dolls and horses " that no longer take pride of place in our family but we have decided to keep just because.

We had a very sweet  3 year old little friend and her family join us for lunch on Sunday.

We dragged out the box just in case she wanted to have  a play......

Well we had a very hard time convincing our little friend to have anything to eat...the dolls were so enthralling to her that it was quite amusing to see......

Then today I had my nearly five year old nephew spend the day with me and as the box was still out .....he spent the better part of the afternoon playing with the much loved dolls and their horses....

I am so glad the all the bits and pieces that have been gathered over the years are still proving to be of huge entertainment value...

Home Sweet Home

I know I have been telling you all about the "stuff"leaving our home.....but.....there has been an exception....

This is a dolls house  that belonged to my mum when she was little....

Maybe three or so which would make it about 65 years old. I think her poppa might have made it for her.

Anyway it has been residing in my dad's shed until such a time that someone was going to appreciate the fragility of it - that time is now for Meg.

It actually will need some renovation work done on it...but I do love the originality of it.

I am looking forward to spending some time with Meg making it really homely with some homemade touches- curtains, floor coverings soft furnishings all the things that seem to have gone missing over the years.

Hidden Treasures

There has been much purging of "stuff" going on in our house.....when you have been in the same home for nearly twelve years there is a lot of "stuff" tucked away in every available space.

It is time to dig in and find the treasures and also rid the house of most of the ""stuff"

I found tucked away in a box along with some other mementos of my mum these really sweet and tiny toys.....I totally forgot I even had them.

Very tiny Little Red Riding Hood puzzle blocks.

A very tiny ...one of those toys that you press from the bottom and make it go all floppy( I don't know the technical name)

...and this book that is in a fragile state....

..I know those eyes could frighten small children!

I remember asking mum when we were small, if we could take a look in the dark (as it has glow in the dark eyes) and she would always say "be careful it is fragile".

I googled it and found it was printed in 1930...I think it must have been old when my  mum got it.

Lego and Dinosaurs

When a friend was giving away a doona with dinosaurs on it I thought there must be something I can use that for.....Fraser loves his lego and the box was staring to overflow so instead of moving to a bigger tub, I had a thought to combine his dinosaur interest with the lego. ( they are learning about dinosaurs this term at pre primary)

I cut a large circle and serged the edges...threaded a cord made of the same fabric and viola we have a lego mat and storage bag in one!

It is worth the trying to keep all the lego in one place and easily cleaned up at the end.

Check out what lots of other clever people are doing here.

Shapes Galore

I first saw this fantastic puzzle game here and knew that I would love to get this for Fraser for his birthday.
I was finally able to track one down from here . It is called The Shapemaker, a Miller Goodman product.
It is such a well made toy that I knew would challenge him ( all of us). It is made from wood of the rubber trees and printed with non-toxic paint. There are 25 blocks that can be used to create thousands of patterns and pictures.
Here are a few of the ones we have done....

This is the type of toy I would love to see my grandchildren playing with one day.