Lunch Ideas for School Kids (4)

Below is another set of four lunch ideas for school children. If you would like to check out the previous ones, you can check here, here, and here.

1. Lunch and Snack:

• Cream cheese and chia wraps
• Lightly boiled squash with some dried mint on top
• Cranberries
• Homegrown corn on the cob

2. Lunch and Snack:

• A sandwich in multigrain bread (with poppy seeds) with cream cheese, cucumber, tomato and chia seeds
• A vegetable salad with raw mushroom, cucumber, carrot and some homegrown salad leaves
• Green and red grapes
• An apple

3. (Light) Lunch:

• Green salad leaves (sorrel, baby spinach and lettuce)
• Red capsicum
• Fetta cheese cubes
• Linseed
• Pumpkin seeds
• Goji berries

4a. Lunch and Snack:

• Cooked pasta shapes
• Lightly boiled broccoli
• Lightly boiled green beans
• Raw red capsicum
• Apple slices
• Strawberries

4b. Snack for Miss Junior
(Same as 4b except for pasta and apple)

• Lightly boiled broccoli
• Lightly boiled green beans
• Raw red capsicum 
• Strawberries

On the Road with Kids and the Spud Festival

A local school circus

Just recently, I read an article somewhere that suggested a great distraction idea for kids during road trips. The timing couldn't have been any better! Just the other weekend, we decided to go to the 'Great Trentham Spudfest' in a beautiful little town in Victoria, Trentham.

Types of potatoes and when to use them

We decided to go to the festival the night before. Since the kids were in bed by then, I easily went online, checked them out on their website, and made a few print outs. They had some printable colouring pages for a competition and a map, which was what I had just needed. 

Local school kids' potato sack artwork

The map wasn't much detailed and only showed a few streets but I found another one online that worked better for the purpose. Here is the distraction! I highlighted the route for them to keep a track of our way to the festival. While we were enjoying the beautiful views, kids were busy trying to follow the highlighted instructions on the map and see what was coming up soon. It worked really well for my 6 year old son and our 4 year old daughter was happy to just keep trying and also following her brother's map with him. 

Potato sacks turned into canvases

The festival was really well organised. There were many paid and free activities for kids and lots to see for adults. The hat shop was just amazing and my son also scored himself one of his most favourite pairs of gloves. They played golf, raced in potato sacks, had some hot potato swirls and more. There were over twenty types of potatoes on display! We also watched lots of shows both by professional bands and groups and some local school children. Hubby's favourite was the famous Australian chef, media personality and several restaurants owner Guy Grossi's live cooking show. He made making gnocchi from scratch look so easy and he was quite funny too. 

On the way to Trentham Spudfest

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (3)

This is the third set of four lunchbox ideas here after this and this on Home of Homemade Treasures blog so far. Definitely more is planned. Please feel free to share your lunchbox ideas with us in the comments section below as well. Enjoy!

1. Lunch and Snack

• Warm green lentil and pasta soup (in thermos)
• Pineapple slices
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Melon slices

2. Lunch and Snack

• Homemade pancakes
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Blueberries

3. Snack:

• Watermelon and banana kebabs

4. Lunch and Snack

• Couscous with cherry tomatoes and green leaves
• Cucumber slices and carrot sticks
• Melon slices and blueberries

Teddy with a Story

This curious little teddy bear you see in the picture above is as precious to us as a teddy can ever be. Her name is 'Teddy' and no, it is not a typo, it is a 'she', not a 'he'. 

She was a gift for my son from a friend of mine when he was first born but he has never been a big fan of soft toys, of course except for his 'storm friend'. Also, these days, he enjoys watching TV with Snoopy the dog (about the size of our 4yo daughter) at times but no other soft toys have been much of an interest to him. Therefore, teddy was left lonely up until Miss Junior was born and was close to the age of one, I believe.

Out of all those dolls and other soft toys that we had at home at the time, she chose her, Teddy, to be the most precious and even share her bed with. When she was approximately 2 years old, when we said that it was a boy, she was totally upset with our misinterpretation and incorrect assumption. Luckily, she had the intelligence and patience to explain to us (and others who called her a boy or 'he' a few times over the years) that it was a girl, just wearing her brother's pyjamas! To that explanation, there was no other word we could argue or add. That was it. It -now- is a female teddy wearing her hand-me-down jimjams of her elder brother. 

Now, Teddy has a family of her own. Her mother is the 'Brown Teddy' and father is 'Snoopy'. She also likes to call her 'her baby' which qualifies her as a second mother. Don't be fooled with the word 'second', she is no less than the first in any way. 

Normally, she is too precious to leave home in case she gets damaged or lost. Only when we go on extended trips or holidays she comes with us, The last time we went overseas for a break, we kept checking our passports and Teddy each time, to make sure there was no trouble awaiting us. 

Teddy has claimed the doll stroller and the doll highchair at home, of course. Even though my daughter has recently started to pay a bit more attention to dolls, no doll can compete with Teddy at this stage in her life. She even asked me to put away some of her 'now-small- clothes' for Teddy. She uses her unused nappies that were left over from when she used them for her, she sleeps with her in bed, and each time we have a meal, she places Teddy in the highchair and puts the highchair next to hers at the table. She doesn't feed her or anything but she really enjoys the 'pretend' games and this is a great opportunity for her. 

Recently, she has told me that she is tired of washing Teddy's clothes and there are so many food stains on her clothes and she really needs some bibs. She also told me that 'she likes the sky, and the moon, and red'. Then she went to my fabric stash and picked out this fabric in the picture saying that 'she likes stars too and Teddy said OK to pink'. She is quite a decisive person. She just looked at the stash and easily and very decisively told me which fabric was to be used for the bib I was to make for her. Don't I wish sometimes my customers over at MADE BY Y  were as decisive?

The same day, she went to bed for a nap and I started making the bib for Teddy. I also added a little teddy bear applique to the bib to surprise her as well. She seemed to be quite happy and Teddy seemed to be quite curious about her little friend. Now, Miss Junior puts Teddy's bib on her during meal times and then takes it off when she remembers or when she takes her off the highchair. Appearantly, Teddy is getting cold and now needs a pair of shoes too but I am yet to decide how to come up with a pattern for her tiny feet. I may have to crochet a pair instead of sewing but that still is up in the air. Until then, a pair of Miss Junior's socks on her should do.

Does your child have a precious toy too? Have you ever needed to make anything for it?

Lunch Ideas for School Kids (2)

I have been longing to make this post for such a long time now but it looks like today had to be the day. I seriously am one busy woman! (Who isn't, ha?)

I had shared four lunch ideas/recipes with you here previously. I prepare lunch for my son on a daily basis, and Miss Junior now has lunch at school a few days a week as well, so, do expect many more to come in time but for now, enjoy the ones below:

1. Lunch and Snack:

• (Homemade organic) bread and spreadable cheese with chia
• Avocado slices
• (Homegrown) cherry tomatoes
• (Organic) cranberries
• Pineapple slices

2. Vegetable and cheese kebabs:

• Red capsicum, 
• cucumber, 
• mozzarella cheese

3. Lunch: 

• Carrots
• Raw fresh garden peas
• Slice bread
• Cheese slice

Snack: Fruit Salad

• Blueberries
• Kiwi
• Strawberries
• Nectarin

4a. Lunch and Snack for Mr. Junior

• Homemade roast beef - cold cut.
• Baby spinach and fetta cheese salad
• Flat bread chips
• Cucumber, yoghurt and mint dip (tzatziki)
• Fruit salad with melon, kiwi and strawberries

4b. Lunch and Snack for Miss Junior

• See 4a for content.

All for a Special Person

Recently, we have celebrated a special day of a very special person in our family, our little daughter's 4th birthday. This year, her birthday fell on a day during the term break, only a few days before Term 2 started. She attends a Montessori school and they have a particular way of celebrating birthdays, which embeds a lot of learning about the solar system into the celebration. They use a globe that represents the planet we live on, and a round yellow candle to represent the Sun. The candle is lit and is placed in the middle of a circle (they have a particular mat that marks a circle - or rather an oval, really - and the children sit around it, just behind the line); the birthday child holds the globe and walks around the circle as many times as the number of their new age. For instance, if the child turns 3 on the day, the child turns around the circle three times, which represents the fact that since the child was born, the Earth has circled the Sun 3 times, once a year. The child's family also provides a photo for each year of the child and the children in class get to see the photos in the order starting from birth to understand the evolution of the child in time.

We don't normally have birthday parties or do traditional birthday celebrations at home, but we make every effort to make sure that the birthday person feels 'extra special' on the day (or perhaps the week!) just to make sure that they understand, once again, how special they are to the rest of the family. We all try very hard to spend the day (or the closest convenient day) together, spoil the person with a special breakfast (it is pretty much the same for our children as the request comes from them and it has not changed much so far: some homemade pancakes with lots of berries and fruit and some honey, maple syrup or berry sauce), do things that the birthday person enjoys doing the most or that has put in a request for. We also aim to do some donations on behalf of the birthday person.

This year, I asked my daughter just before the term break whether she wanted to have a Montessori celebration at school as well or not and she said yes. Therefore, the teacher marked the first day of school in Term 2 for her birthday celebration (half an hour of the day). The school's procedure is that every child that celebrates birthday at school is to bring in photos of themselves (one per year since birth) and a fruit platter.

 At the end of the day, every child gets a little gift from the birthday child, which is totally optional. Our little princess wanted some finger puppets for her friends and we worked on it throughout the holidays. Even my son made his own finger puppets for a few of his friends, all on his own!

My daughter actually asked for 3 puppets for each of her friends but luckily, I was able to negotiate with her and we settled for two. We also packaged them together at the end. I now have one happy class-full of 3-5year olds. We still keep getting compliments from the school and the families about the puppets. Just today a mum was telling me how her 3year old son's puppets are also a favourite at home for her 14month old daughter too. They even play together! I surely had quite a few late-nights to make all those puppets but it was well worth it!

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: A New Blog

I have been working on a brand new project, a new blog, for a while and it is now ready to go public (Well, mostly. There is still some fine tuning to do but it will happen in time). 

The new blog is very different to this blog here. It is called ENGLISH IN COMFORT and aims to teach English to the speakers of Turkish language using comparisons of both languages, explanations, examples, work sheets, songs, research results and everything else that you can imagine that helps in learning/teaching a new language. 

You can click here to have a look it and if relevant, follow to be posted on a regular basis. 

DUYURU:

Yepyeni bir blog ile yine karşınızdayım. Ancak, yeni blogum burada olandan çok daha farklı bir konuda ve Türkce okur-yazarlara hitap ediyor. ENGLISH IN COMFORT adını verdiğim bu yeni blogda, çogunlukla Türkçe dilini kullanarak İngilizce öğretiyor olacağım. Dilin kuralları, Türkçe ve İngilizce dil yapısının anlamayı kolaylaştıracak karşılaştırmaları, örnekler, açıklamalar, alıştırmalar,  kendiniz için ya da İngilizce'yi çocuğunuza öğretebilmeniz için gereken her türlü paylaşımda bulunuyor olacağım. 

Buraya tıklayarak yeni blogumu ziyaret edebilir ve hatta takibe alabilirsiniz. 

Harmony Day

A solo voice was singing

quite a pretty little song

Another voice who knew the tune

joined in and sang along

The duet sang in unison

their voices side by side

One bass voice one soprano

on the same melodic ride

Another singer joined them

Counter pointed to their sound

As this voice descended theirs would climb

and the other way around

The tune got woven, twisted, plaited

in a tapestry to hear

Building to a pretty picture

that grabbed people by the ear

Now each singer had to listen

to the other singers' part

to stay in time and stay in tune

With all fellow singers' hearts

They had to work with common purpose

If they all would get along

and welcome other different voices

to build the richest fullest song.

All the voices joined together

had the audience entranced

Folk were swaying to the rhythm

while some other people danced

And they sang about community

but with a common ground

where each one had a part to play

so that harmony was found.

(Harmony, by Paul Walker.)

(Harmony Day: This year on the 21st of March, 2015, Australia will be celebrating the 15th Harmony Day. It is a day that reminds and celebrates diversity, respect and inclusiveness... Harmony Day coincides with the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.)

Gone Knotty Again

Remember my French knot addiction (click here for a tutorial on French knots) ? Well, not much has changed since then and I am still totally addicted to it.

by MADE BY Y

I had made the half of the bib with the French knots on it a while back not knowing how to finish it until recently, then one day, I found this gorgeous red fabric that compliments it well in my ever-growing stash. Once I saw it, I knew just what to do and this is what I came up with.

Almost every time I make a new design, I keep staring at it for a while and then walk off. After a while, I look at it again and see whether I am still happy with it. (I actually keep doing it for some time.) Every time I look at this design since I made it, I still LOVE it. I guess it is a good sign that it is ready to be shared with you as well, right? I find it to be unique, cute, stylish, fresh, elegantly colourful, and yet, still babyish. The yellow ribbon on the side adds a character to it too. Do you agree?

While Waving Goodbye

It is that time of the year once again that we are able to say goodbye to a year and welcome a brand new one. Most likely, we have been who we are throughout the year and we will be who we have been tomorrow regardless of the change in the year. However, we can take this end of year/beginning of a new year as an opportunity to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses, have more organised thoughts and plans for our personal and professional future and take a breath and share our best wishes with our families, friends, and even strangers. It is also a reminder that regardless of what one has gone through, life continues on and will keep bringing on more and more... hopefully including many cherished moments.

Warm wishes to you all and may 2015 bring a healthier, happier, more peaceful and fulfilling year than ever for us all regardless of our gender, and cultural, racial, lingual, socio-economical, educational or religious backgrounds.

Focusing on the positives, here are some of the many beautiful experiences life has brought me, my family and my business, MADE BY Y, in 2014.

The picture below (featuring one of my MADE BY Y bibs) belongs to a father-to-be. When I was sent this photo all the way from Italy, it just made my day! The comment said that both the mother and father-to-be LOVED their MADE BY Y set but were a bit unsure whether the sizing was right. As much as it looks good on him, I think they are right that the bib is a tad small for him, don't you think? Joke aside, wishing this excited dad-to-be, his partner and everyone else that is expecting a safe and easy arrival of their child in 2015.

As for the pictures below, I took them this morning and they are from a cactus plant that we have in our front yard. We have had the plant for over 9 years and this year is the second time it has ever flowered. It is pure beauty! We have noticed also that they always open in the evenings or at nights and stay open for one and a half to two days. Before it flowers, the plant starts giving a dark round fury/hairy bud around the side on top, then that bit starts growing longer for some days and then it turns into this unique flower in about 5-6 days or so. These three marvellous flowers opened up all in one day yesterday and we woke up to them today! Before this lot, we had four more but all on different days and one after the other, never together.

Stay safe and happy New Year!

Guest Post: 7 INCREDIBLE KIDS' ROOMS

By Jane Blanchard

There's no other place like home for a child in his or her own bedroom. Children have great personalities and wild imaginations; having an incredibly designed room that goes with a certain theme or fantasy they harbor makes for fantastic childhood memories. Designing a fantastic children's room doesn't have to be brain-wrecking and difficult. Simply take a look at ideas, cartoons and imaginary games your child is obsessed with, and build from there.

Here's a collection of 7 incredible kids' rooms we've found. Draw inspiration from these, pair up with your kid and create a gorgeous daily memory that will last a lifetime.

1. Princess-Themed Bedrooms

Every little girl dreams of being a princess, right? Make your precious jewel the princess of your kingdom with this fairytale-themed bedroom design. You can easily bring this to life in a number of ways. Paint shades in jewel and pastel pinks, blues, purples and other shades can be purchased at your local home improvement store. Getting the bed can be as simple as shopping specialty stores. Rooms to Go, Rilane and even eBay have Cinderella style beds for your little princess.

http://qumore.com/wp-content/themes/flix/images/jz/zoom.png

2. Pirate-Themed Bedrooms

Ahoy matey! Allow your little rascal to live out his dreams of sailing the seven seas in this pirate-themed bedroom. Spruce your design with skull and crossbones wall art, pirate flag carpets, treasure chest toy boxes and other décor. You can even find pirate-style bedding, beds and decor on Etsy, eBay and cull ideas from Pinterest.

http://www.ratecore.com/kids-room/tropical-space-sport-pirate-themed-kids-rooms/

3. Space Theme Bedrooms

Let your child experience the wonders of being on the moon or in outer space with this themed bedroom. Space themes are for the child whose big dreams reach beyond our mere little atmosphere. Design a solar system on the wall, infuse the bedding with galactic star-studded sheets and comforters. Rockets or spaceships can be painted on wall murals or added with appliques. Let your imagination run wild by cultivating ideas on Etsy, Pinterest and Pottery Barn Kids.

http://industrystandarddesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/space-themed-bedroom-3-600x393.jpg

4. Under the Sea or Mermaid Theme Bedrooms

As a child, my friends and I were obsessed with The Little Mermaid. We dreamed of trading in our land legs for sea legs and being completely immersed in a sparkly underwater world of fun and excitement. You can design a beautiful underwater or mermaid themed bedroom using a number of methods. You can cultivate mermaid theme ideas directly from the movie, complete with Ariel, or you can switch things up and make it completely unique.

5. Jungle and Safari Themed Bedrooms

Let your child be king of the jungle with a cute, safari themed bedroom. This is a really fun theme to use, as the options can be as tame or as wild as you'd like them to be. There are an abundance of jungle-themed items for a child's nursery too. Beso also has some super cute finds.

http://www.jp-designer.com/jungle-safari-theme-bedroom-design-ideas/jungle-themed-nursery-wall-stickers/#image-1

6. Super Hero Bedroom

OMG! Aren't these rooms the coolest ever? Who doesn't love the idea of being a superhero? If you want a superhero bedroom for your child, the choices here are pretty endless. Batman. Superman. Spiderman. Hulk. Wonder Woman.

http://bensbargains.net/thecheckout/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/superhero_superman.jpg

http://bedroomdesigncatalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Hulk-Bedroom-Decor-Theme-Ideas.jpg

7. Sports Themed Bedrooms

Encourage your child's desire to become the world's next greatest athlete. There are sports of all kinds. You can mix and match decor and design themes in conjunction with sports they participate in, or centralize the design around their favorite professional sports team.

http://images.viralnova.com/000/027/233/desktop-1406691527.png

http://www.trioplex.com/377/boys-sports-bedroom-decorating-ideas/boys-sports-bedroom-decorating-ideas-bmx-wall-decal-sport-kids-room-decorating-ideas

For more kids room ideas and inspiration visit Modernize!

Spelling the 100-200 Oxford Words

In a previous post, I have shared with you the list of 307 sight/Oxford words that my son's school uses in their Foundation classes. After the first two terms of the school, it turned out that my son was ready for a new challenge. After a discussion with their coordinator, his teacher decided to provide him with the spelling words lists. The idea is the same as the reading sight words; each week, he is tested and once he achieves that particular lot (normally 10 a week but it also depends on the individual's pace) confidently, the next set of spelling words are worked on at home and tested at school the following week.

I thought it may be beneficial for many of you to have this list to use with your children now or save for later. To access to the list, click here.

Have a wonderful day!

We Have Adopted

Photo taken on 13/5/13

An orphan lamb. We welcomed her shortly after hearing her story. First her mother has passed away, then her twin sister. She needed some individual care and a place where she could access to appropriate food and care easily. She needed someone to take care of her and provide some individual attention, love and care for a few months, until she could be strong enough to live amongst other animals without the requirement of individual care as much. We have never looked after a lamb before, but we knew we would do our best to help her gain strength, be loved and cared for until she can survive in a farm by herself along with older sheep with some limited individual care. Therefore, we took the plunge and happily opened our doors to her. Well, 'The Girls' (our beautiful chickens) opened their doors to her. She is now sharing their home, which has definitely enough room for even more chickens or lambs. The girls go into their coop at nights while the lamb stays in the pen. During the day, they are all left free.

The two photos below were taken when she first arrived at her new home greeted very warmly by Mr. and Miss Junior. This was two nights ago. It is believed that she is currently 6-8 weeks old.

This photo was taken yesterday. Her first day at her new home. She can hardly walk. She is extremely weak. She finds it hard to stand up. We are planning on massaging her knees with some olive oil tonight. We did some online search and also asked for some professional advice on what to feed her. It was advised that she had some milk (formula milk for lambs) to boost her immune system as well as gain some strength. We bought her some milk and bought a bottle too but unfortunately, there was not much luck in feeding her any of it. She definitely didn't appreciate it.

The last photo here is from today, her second day with us. For the first time in my life, I tried to bottle-feed an animal. Even though my kids never had bottles, it felt so natural to say things like "C'mon Mummy, it is good for you. C'mon, you can do it, just try to suck it a bit. Good girl". Even Mr. Junior was trying to encourage her, saying 'good job little girl'.  I feel like mothering her. Unfortunately, not very successfully at this stage though. She refused to drink any milk today as well. She slowly chews on some hay and fresh grass and we are planning to see whether she may be ready for pellets tonight. We are all excitedly awaiting the day when she can start walking properly and even jump around with a cheerful 'baaaa'.

Note: This post was written and left in the drafts folder last year but I didn't have the courage or the motivation to publish it until now. Unfortunately, even after getting some professional help, she did not make it more than a few more days with us. It shook us a bit as a family but it is life. Rest in peace Little Girl! 

Guest Post: A Step-by-Step Guide to Installing a New Pendant Light Fixture

Installing a new pendant light can be as easy as removing an old fixture and installing a new one. There are two issues that can help make your installation easier. First, with the exclusion of large heavy chandeliers, most pendant lights are lightweight and fine for a standard ceiling box. This makes them easier to handle or to momentarily suspend from a ceiling box with a DIY wire hook. Additionally, with the exclusion of most track lights, pendant lights usually hang from a canopy. This gives you the opportunity to support your fixture on your ladder or an interim hook, leaving your hands free to adjust the electrical and mechanical linkages.

How To Install a New Pendant Light Fixture

Remember to make sure that the power is turned-off at your home’s circuit box. Place a covering over the switch to make sure that it won’t be turned back on while you’re working. Keep a circuit tester near to make certain that the power is off before touching any electrical wiring.

Step 1: Remove the Existing Fixture

Remove the existing fixture. If you have a ceiling fan, be sure to take away the blades from the fan first. Loosen the screws while holding the fan still. Lightly pull the fixture away from the mounting bracket. Carefully remove the wire nuts from the wires, separate the fixture, and take out the mounting bracket.

Step 2: Affix the Mounting Bracket

To suspend your new pendant light, affix the new mounting bracket to the junction box. Most of the time, older mounting brackets use screws from the bottom; however, the newer versions have open bolts on the base that are topped with a cap nut.

Step 3: Affix the Wires

Affix the wires to the new pendant light following the manufacturer’s directions. This is normally white-to-white, black-to-black, and ground-to-ground.

Step 4: Firmly Fix the Connections

Firmly fix the connections with wire nuts, and then affix the bare ground wire to the green ground screw on the mounting bracket. On a number of fixtures, the neutral wire may be black with a white stripe. Slip the new pendant lamp over the bolts in the mounting bracket, and then fasten the mounting cap nuts.

Don’t forget to put the light bulbs in last; however, wash your hands first. This will help give your light bulbs a longer lifespan. Now you can climb down from your ladder and marvel at your work. Whether you’ve installed it as part of a living room remodel, or just because, we’re sure you’ll be seeing your room in a whole new, better light.

Check this YouTube video for a visual step-by-step guide.

Tim Smith writes for Modernize.

Photo by Chris Patrick Interiors.

Sight/Oxford Words

My son started school this year and he is now officially a 'Preppie'. He is currently enjoying the first week of his second school term holiday. I must admit, I do look forward to school holidays even though a part of me gets a bit anxious. It has only been a few days and so far so good. 

Both my son and I love routines. We both adapt a new routine whenever our current one is broken and we feel the urge for it. A part of our routine since he started school is that he has some 'concentrated work' time pretty much everyday. One part of our routine these days is that he practices the 'sight/Oxford words' list that was given to us by his school. 

At our school, it is the school's aim that Prep students learn the first 100 words out of a total of 307 words by the end of their first year of schooling. If they go beyond it, it is a bonus and they try to work at their level with those students too.  They give a list of 10 words each week once the previous set of 10 words is tested and the student has achieved it. The words are chosen not necessarily on the basis of simplicity but rather how often they are used in daily life and in books here in Australia. 

With the sight words, in case you are not familiar with it, it is different to 'reading' or 'sounding out' a word. Sight words are the words that students are expected to know as soon as they see. They are tested on the basis of whether the children can read/tell the word within 4 seconds of seeing the word, without hesitating, without making an effort to work out the word. Each set of 10 words is colour coded and parents and children are encouraged to practice the words with their children on a regular basis, using various strategies and games such as flash cards, go fish, matching games, snap, etc. 

If you would like a head start or are simply interested in some extra work for your child in English, here is the full list of 307 sight/Oxford words that my son's school uses.  

Enjoy your time with your little one(s). 

One Wedding, Three Languages and Lots of Handmade Goodies

I met a young lady over 10 years ago in Melbourne and she has become one of my dearest friends ever since. We have joint memories and some mutual friends. We used to go to different cafes to try something new whenever we had a chance, we had a great holiday together once, and she was the first person to introduce 'chai latte' to me. 

She is fun and smart, she is hardworking and responsible, and she is inspirational in many ways. Since I met my husband and formed my family, she has become a family friend and we would enjoy one another's company whenever we find a chance. She moved interstate a while back which made it hard for us to find the opportunity to get together much, however, she has always remained as a valuable person and a dear friend in my life. 

                                   

Over a year ago, she found a person that she knew she could see herself with for the rest of her life. They became best friends and partners soon after. As time went by, they decided that it was their time to form a family together.

My friend was understandably very excited about the news and when she shared at the time not-yet-publicly-announced news with me, I naturally and very happily shared her excitement and was very happy for her. You know how you say 'you deserve happiness' to some people at times, she is one of those people that really deserves to be happy and she surely has the right attitude to pursue it.

A few months ago, she was asked for a hand in marriage by this special person in her life and of course her answer was 'yes'. We were thrilled to hear the news and also be invited to share her special day with them. The big day was on the 26th of April, 2014.

As a family, we decided to drive to their current location, the city of churches, Adelaide (SA), a few days in advance to have a little holiday. We stayed at an apartment in the CBD and our children shared a room for the first time. It was also our daughter's first time to sleep in a 'big bed' too. It was so much fun hearing all that giggling in their room until late hours, especially the first night. They talked and giggled for hours, thinking we could not hear them. The giggling became much less the remaining nights as they couldn't fight off sleeplessness anymore. However, almost every morning, we found our little daughter, who is 3 years old, in her 5 year old brother's bed. It was such a heart-warming experience and a picture for us.

While in Adelaide, we had a chance to go around in the city a bit and also met the famous pandas, Wang Wang and Funi, at Adelaide Zoo too, of course. However, the highlights of the place weren't any of them for us. It was when we went to some surrounding suburbs such as the German town Hahndorf, we were quite impressed. We also enjoyed the local farmer's market at Willunga. I cannot explain how tasty the sultanas we bought from that particular market was! We so regretted not buying so much more of them after we tasted them on the way back to Melbourne!

The wedding was at a place in Clarendon, another beautiful place that reminds you of the words serenity and calm. The wedding started with an outdoor setting and everything felt so romantic, so well organised, so 'wedding-like'. After the ceremony and some photos etc, we went inside for some drinks followed by a meal and lots of fun. I must admit, I don't ever remember of laughing so much at a wedding before as much as we did at this wedding. It was pure fun!

The bride originally comes from Japan. The groom is Peruvian. The immediate families came all the way from Japan and Peru for the wedding and they knew almost no English. The speeches were made in three languages (there were interpreters to read the speeches in Japanese and Spanish). However, the family members communicated with us so much more successfully than many English speaking people that we get to meet at times in our lives. The communication is not limited to language, definitely not.

Throughout the whole wedding, I thought that they used their multilingual and multicultural backgrounds to their advantage very successfully. They acknowledged and valued them really well. 

Everything was planned well and their organisational skills were exceptional, yet everyone was very relaxed. In fact, I haven't seen so many professional, great to talk to and fun-loving people together for a long time. By the way, I still don't know how it happened but at some stage we were all on stage doing the 'macarena' dance. It was a great laugh! There were Japanese dancing, Latin dance shows, fun personal video clips and more. Who said wives don't come with a set of instructions? My friend did! The groom, who had a great sense of humour, had the pleasure (!) to read out the instructions in public (while sweating) and cannot claim that 'he didn't know' in the future. 

I have always found my friend to be talented. It looks like it runs in the family. Her dad is an ex-school principal and he surely knows how to communicate with kids well. My children's Japanese is pretty much limited to counting to 5 and saying a few words like hello and thank you. The father's English was quite limited also. Regardless, he made my children (and us) laugh so much so many times. He even taught my son some magic tricks and my daughter a few dance moves!

Her mum was very talented too. She came up with so many origami objects and toys in such a short time using some of the paper that my children were using to draw on. She even asked for permission to use their paper using no English whatsoever. Beside the point, it was amazing to watch her fast moving fingers and determined face with a confident but warm smile. See the funny looking paper object above? It is one of the origami pieces that she made and when you throw it forward, it works like a propeller. Brilliant! Better yet, the little colourful bags in the first few pictures are also her work. They had some lollies in them and had our names on the back. Every guest had one and she had made them all by herself! I think we were about 60 or 70 people in total and she made one for each one of us. Incredible! Very precious!

The wedding was special. fun, relaxing, inspirational, and had lots of handmade goodies to enjoy (and I met two other friends of mine there too, what a bonus!). It was such a great pleasure to be there. Wishing the newly weds a 'happy ever after' ending!