Last year I had an idea that I’d like to read Jostein Gaarder’s The Christmas Mystery to the children. At the time, I read it myself, but decided to hold off reading it to the kids.

The Christmas Mystery is a charming little story, told through an advent calendar, of a girl (Elisabet) who chases a lamb through a department store and across country. On her travels, she meets various figures from the nativity scene and discovers that they are all travelling across time to Bethlehem and the birth of Christ.

The story is told via a little boy, who is given the Advent calendar by an old shopkeeper and told that it is a magic calendar. When Joachim opens the first door on the calendar, a piece of paper falls out and he discovers the story of Elisabet, and each day her journey unfolds and her meetings with new members of the Nativity.

Anyway, I’ve been reading The Christmas Mystery with Rachel for a couple of days now. Granted, we’re a bit behind and need to catch up by a few days if we’re to finish on the 24th December!

I think she’s liking the story so far, as she’s repeating the tale to Lisa and her aunts. In fact, when she was given an advent calendar as a gift, she was a bit disappointed that a piece of paper didn’t fall out!

I’ve since found out that reading The Christmas Mystery has become a family tradition for some people - one review on Amazon.co.uk said:

Our family started reading The Christmas Mystery about 5 years ago and it is now a very special Advent activity and a way to come together as a family in a busy season. While it is a bit confusing at first- the story moves backward through time and geography-it is so rich and has so many layers that it’s absolutely worth reading.

There are bits that obviously confuse Rachel, but I try and skip these or simplify them as best I can. However, after we read the night’s chapter, I ask her to tell me what happened in the story that night, and then we look at the picture on the next chapter to see what the next tale will be about.

If I remember correctly, the end of the tale moved me the last time I read it, so I’m looking forward to Rachel’s reactions! Anyway, I’ll maybe post a few updates here before Christmas!

I’m a great believer in the school of thought that all children need regular, one to one, individual attention. I notice that if one of the kids is going through a spell of bad behaviour and we make sure they receive more individual time with us, it makes a big difference to their outlook and mood.

Therefore both Gerard and I do try whenever possible, to do activities and spend time alone with one of the children. For example, yesterday my sister bought gifts for the kids from a local toystore. Rachel’s gift was a make your own jewellry set. It involved quite intricate painting and gluing, before actually threading the beads, and I knew that this wasn’t something we could tackle with the boys around. Gerard therefore offered to take the boys or a walk and Rachel and I spent a fun hour making necklaces.

She revelled in the attention she received, and for once she was able to complete a task without it being pulled apart by her brothers, or without me being called away to someone else.

Today though it was a different story. Gerard was at work, and I was at home with the three wee ones. Rachel wanted to read a new book she had recently got, Jake wanted to build train tracks, and Daniel just wanted lifted. I tried reading to Rachel first, but Daniel was screaming to be lifted, and when I obliged , he attempted to eat Rachels book. I then told Rachel I would read with her this evening when the boys went to bed, she wasn’t amused and started grumping and whining.

Jake then began to cry because he couldn’t get his train track to fit together properly, so I bent down to help him, once again Daniel wanted to be involved and pulled up the track as quickly as I was laying it. Jake panicked and then in temper swept all the trains and pieces of track away, declaring that he didn’t want to play anymore.

I was at my wits end. The three kids were crying and I could feel my temper starting to bubble. I was trying my very best to be attentive and interact with them all, but in the process managed to dissapoint each of them.

In the end I did what all bad mums do, I put on a dvd to keep them occupied, and rocked Daniel to sleep. I don’t want the kids watching TV all day, but sometimes I just can’t manage anything else.

If anyone knows a way that one person can split in three, or even better four, please let me know. Whoever patented that invention would be worth a fortune!

Today I had a real taste of what summer will be like this year, in a town where I actually know and socialise with other parents.

A friend and I decided that as the children were off from school, we would take them all on a mini day trip. Since the weather forecast was favourable for once, we decided on a trip to the farm, and a picnic lunch.

We chose Brookhall Historical Farm as it is only about 7 miles from home, it is really cheap, and it has loads of room for the children to play.

The kids all had a ball, and for once there were no arguments and no fighting. My two were thrilled when a kid goat began chasing them around a field, and they were hysterical when the donkey began to ‘Hee Haw’ at a deafening volume.

Daniel was fascinated by the mini lake and tried to jump out of my arms and into the water many times. And when the kids were amused and playing in a safe environment, my pal and I were able to have a great gossip and chat, uninterrupted for once.

It was a lovely day, I am looking forward to repeating it many times during the summer holidays!

Where have my children gone….I haven’t seen them in days!

That is a bit of an exaggeration, but since the sun started shining earlier this week, I haven’t been able to keep Rachel and Jake indoors for more than 15 minutes at a time.

A month ago jake couldn’t ride a 3 wheeled scooter, now he is like a speed demon on the two wheel version. A month ago Jake was just learning to ride a small two wheel bicycle with stabilisers, now he zooms up and down the street on Rachels much bigger model. Rachel can cycle with no hands and rollerskate without falling over at every step. Daniel loves the baby swing and eating sand!
The time outdoors has been great for me too. Since the kids are too young to play outdoors alone, I have been spending most of my time on our garden bench watching over them. This has resulted in my usual blue/white skin obtaining a much healthier glow. My skin normally burns and then goes white again, but this year due to my vigilance with the low spf lotion and the lengthier periods outdoors I have a very very slight tan.

Long may this fine weather continue! If only I could convince Gerard to clean out the barbecue then it really would feel like summer time!

When we were younger, my mum always sang a silly tune each time we were building sandcastles. When we got to the stage of tipping our buckets over and tapping the top, my mum always sang “pie pie make a pie, if you don’t I’ll beat your bum”.

I know that in this day and age thats not very politically correct, but can I just say that my mum never in fact ‘beat my bum’!

Since we have had fantastic weather this week and have spent more time in the garden, than in the house I took a quick trip to the toy store last night and bought Rachel and Jake a sandpit. Jake has hardly moved from it since I set it up. He just loves to get his hands dirty.

As I helped him build and then destroy the castles one by one, I found myself singing my mums rhyme “pie pie make a pie…….”. Jake of course picked it up very quickly.
Gerard and I almost collapsed with laughter as we watched Jake from the garden bench tonight. Now every time he builds a castle, one hand is patting the bucket and the other is patting his wee bum as he sings his castle making ditty. Its definately one of those Kodak moments. I really must charge the battery one my video camera!

Babyfirst TV has announced its first 24 hour TV channel aimed at children aged 6 months to three years old.

When I first read this I couldn’t believe my eyes. I have just about gotten used to 24 hour shopping, and 24 hours music channels, I can’t imagine there would be a need, or even a want for 24 hour television for children. Apparently the American Academy of Pediatrics agree with me!

I’m not in any way saying that children should never be allowed to watch TV. My children love to watch their programmes and I am guilty of setting my eight month old boy in front of the screen every now and then, in the hope of buying myself enough time to use the toilet, without him realising I am gone.

However, my children are also stimulated in other ways, and get plenty of outdoors play. They mainly watch TV in the mornings before school and I specifically don’t allow them to watch cartoons all day long.
At night children should be sleeping, or winding down for the day. Why would you want your baby to watch TV at 3am? I ask you!

I love our local library. Its a fun, educational place to take the kids….and even better its free! 

We got Jake his first library card when he was only two months old and Rachel was just turned two and ever since we have been regular visitors. 

Our local library is very small, but the librarian knows everyone, and always has a smile and some kind words for the children. 

On entering, Rachel and Jake make a beeline straight to the childrens tables and chairs at the back of the room, and always play first with the bead frames and jigsaw puzzles. While they are occupied Gerard and I can choose browse the shelves and choose our books, I laugh at his weird choices, and he admonishes me for picking yet another piece of ‘chick lit’. 

The we settle at the back and read a few stories before letting the children pick some books to take home. 

Children model their reading behaviour on on their parents, and many studies have shown that children who don’t have parents who read, often don’t see any purpose in learning to read at school. 

Cultivating a love of books in your children at an early age is vital to ensuring they develop good literacy skills. Visits to the library are a great and enjoyable way to enforce their love of reading. 

I am especially grateful for the library in the winter time. The storytelling and craft sessions that they host for children are a great way to keep the family amused when the weather is too cold or wet to play outside. 

For anyone interested in homeschooling, why not jump over and have a look at the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Its really informative and contains some very high quality links (including one to us of course).

A great one for any current homeschoolers or anyone interested in starting.

The day begins at 6.30am with a cry from Jake that his shorts are wet. I get up to discover his Huggies pull-up pants and pyjamas are wet through. He gets washed and changed and joins me on the sofa for a few quiet minutes cuddled under a blanket before the other two wake up.

The quiet moment passes quickly with the arrival of Rachel at 7am. She demands breakfast and complains because we have run out of Weetabix. A fruit salad and some toast later we have two full and happy children. The I hear Daniels tell-tale babbling in the baby monitor.

I lift him to discover that his diarrhea has not yet abated and quickly strip off his clothes, bedclothes and nappy and scrub him down.

The morning continues with all the children (and me of course) getting washed and dressed. I begin to prepare for the important meeting we have later that afternoon with a marketing consultant by printing out vital documents and emails while frantically serching for my car keys and purse.

11.30am and we are ready to leave. A friend is going to kindly drop Rachel to school so I leave her off first then embark on the 15 mile drive to Belfast.

After stopping for some vital groceries I arrive at my mothers house in time to be vomited on by Daniel. Of course I haven’t brought a change of clothes, and I don’t think that smelling of stale vomit would convey a very professional image to the marketing consultant. So I run about in my bra trying to wash out and then dry my top before the goop dries in.

2pm, both boys are washed and fed, Jake is watching Shrek, Daniel is sleeping. It is time for me to hand over to my mum and set off on my 20 mile journey to Antrim.

I arrive on time, the meeting begins and we start to talk about how we intend to launch our first ever product, a set of preschool educational flashcards. (Feel free to purchase a set, I can highly recommend them!)

We explain how Gerard hand-illustrated the cards for use with Rachel when she was younger and we found them so beneficial in developing her early conversational skills and now her word recognition and reading skills, that we felt we could produce them commercially and turn them into a viable business venture.

The consultant spent almost three hours suggesting ways in which we could promote and market the product, most of which would cost way more than we can afford. It was highly informative though and definately a worthwhile experience.

We got home at 6pm, made dinner, got everyone washed and ready for bed, then collapsed in a heap in front of our PCs to try and plan the way ahead.

I wonder what tomorrow will hold?

Last year a friend who is currently living in The United States Of America sent Rachel a birthday gift.

I helped her unwrap it and found a strange looking video cassette with animated vegetables on the cover, it was called VeggieTales.

We put it on and it turned out to be a version of the bible story ‘David and Goliath’ with animated vegetables taking the starring roles.

Rachel loved it! I don’t know if it was all the songs or the funny looking characters but she watched it repeatedly for days. For Christmas she got the personalised VeggieTales CD which again tormented us for a long time. Its quite cool and features songs like ‘He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands’ and ‘God Is So Good’

There seems to be a whole range of this stuff and although I am by no means a super christan I do have a strong faith and I want to pass this faith onto my children. VeggieTales helps intoduce them to bible stories and christian concepts in a very fun manner and in my experience lessons that are learned through fun tend to be remembered most easily.