85/365 Harry Potter

Woohoo!

The munchkin is super-excited to have finished Harry Potter 3. After the trials and tribulations of getting through books 1 and 2, he's finally found his flow. #proud. Do you remember the book that made you a READER - or your favourite book series - growing up? x

75/365 Bounce It Out!

Yes.

We totally need to have one of these huge bouncing pillows installed in our backyard at home so the boys can work off some of their abundant energy for a few hours each morning! Completely genius. What's the best way to tire your kids out? 

66/365 Life In Motion

We got to spend the day with the babies. aka my youngest nephews. They are the sweetest, funniest, smiliest cutesos I have ever met! My boys think they're pretty damn awesome too.

And apparently Stanton isn't shy of a little splashing. Be still my heart. 

63/365 And Then There Were Seven

Have you ever tried to take a photo of your son? 

How about your son with his first-grade best friend? Yes? 

How about your son with his once-best-friend-before-we-moved-10-hours-north AND his brother AND his best-friend's brother and HIS two-year-old triplet sisters? 

Ha! Got you there ;)

I can not believe I captured a shot where they are all visible in the same frame! Full post to come... :)

57/365 Beach Bums

My view across the water from Coolangatta to the high-rises of Surfers Paradise this morning. 

The best bit? The good man by my side :) T flew back from Singapore this morning. Hooray!! #daddyishome

Holidays

Well, the holidays are over! And I didn't get any of the blogging done that I had planned. Oh well! 

We did have lots of fun... a jam-packed first week with special friends visiting from Melbourne and family staying too. Busy fun.

Week 2 started with a trip to Seaworld and then followed with a rainy week staying on the Gold Coast. It was a shame about the rain but it did mean we got involved in a few homeschool group activities; rollerskating and then a play-centre meetup. 

We got home in time to have a rare lazy weekend at home. Dreamy!

What did you do over the holidays? x

The Call of the Wild aka Horse Riding with Boys.

I have wonderful memories of going horse riding through the Australian bush as a child. 

I never had my own horse. And I didn't get to ride often. But, my sister's dad would sometimes pay for us to go out and for a period of time in primary school bush-riding was my chosen option for sport. 

So, while we were in Armidale recently I decided to take my boys for their very first ride. The land around there just seemed like perfect horse riding land. Open, scrubby, inviting. I had to answer the call! H was in heaven - he could have kept riding all day and took to the trotting (which was as much as his guide would allow) like he was born to do it. 6 year old L was heavily disappointed that the instructors decided to lead his horse throughout our entire ride but I know that's only because he so wanted to be a free-riding horse man too :) 

The Treehouse

Hello And HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to Adventures Of a Rainbow Mama 2012.

Well our exciting news is that we're almost "officially" home-schoolers here at Rainbow HQ. We have an assessor from the Board of Studies coming to confirm our registration next Monday. Not that we haven't been doing this is various forms for the past 8 years! But this is certainly a landmark for us.

I plan on blogging a lot more regularly this year. What about you? I've been busy with my head buried in a lot of cool books & blogs; getting very inspired.

I also have bunches of photos I want to go through & post. A lot of cool activities that we did last year never got shared. So we'll do that too.

But first here are few stolen moments from last Sunday.
Treehouse building.
3 generations.
In the rain.
Very sweet.
Hopefully it might be finished this weekend... :)

x

"Boys Toys" : The gun-play debate

We received this toy catalogue in the letterbox yesterday. In the past I've occasionally, despite my anti-consumerism instincts, let my children look through these catalogues for fun.

Luckily I had the forethought to flick through this one myself before leaving it in a child-accessible area. Maybe it was the $8.74 nerf "Quick Firing Blaster with Rotating Barrel / Maverick Refill and Reload" dartgun advertised on the cover??

a sample of the "toys" advertised in the catalogue

I was shocked at the range of violent toys on offer. They advertise a "sniper" rifle wii game amongst the toy kitchens and tonka trucks. Our children do not need hunting rifles or fauz-uzies. Urgh. Especially when they're all being advertised as "boys toys". The images reproduced here are just a sample of the content.

We have a strict no-gun policy in our house. That means no gun-toys and no playing with household objects as if they were guns. My boys do attempt to subvert this rule and my husband has suggested at times that maybe we could be more lenient and in some ways I do wonder the same - my concern is that in my being so restrictive about it that I create desire - but I honestly cannot stand watching my children engage in violent play for fun. 

Do you allow gun-play in your home? And if not, how do you navigate the current violence-as-entertainment-is-cool culture? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this debate.