When it comes to this whole parenting gig, I’m still skeptical of the phrase, “It gets easier”
When? When exactly does it get easier?
When will the sleep deprivation cease? When will my house no longer look like an excerpt from the Guns of Navarone? When will I EVER get to finish a cup of tea???
Almost exactly this time last year, as I was pulling my hair thinking of activities to keep the twinions occupied (without damaging our home), I thought that maybe, just maybe, it was safe to do a little cooking with them.
What was supposed to be a simple pancake making afternoon full of fun and immense joy, turned out to be unstoppable utter madness.
Hardened flour and water all over the kitchen floor and bench tops took two kitchen mop head replacements and weeks to scrub off.
Anywho. Let kitchen craziness bygones be crazy.
Last Sunday, I bit the bullet and made another attempt.
Taking a deep breath, I used my best I’m-a-fun-a-little-too-enthusiastic-mama sing song voice :“Who wants to make pancakes???”
“Me! Me! Meeeee!”
The response was unexpectedly overwhelming. Maybe even scarily so.
Terrified I had just signed myself up to the sequel of “Junior Masterchef Disasters”, I cautiously led them to the kitchen.
But as it turned out, we had a great, relatively non-messy time!
The boys love telling me what ingredients make pancakes.
“Mama, we need flour, susu (Bahasa Indonesian for milk) and telur (egg in Bahasa)”
Shock, horror! They even agreed to wear aprons!
And using the hand-me down Junior Masterchef Cooking Kit from a friend, we made special shapes.
“Mickey Mouse” was the big favourite.
Looks like we’ve found ourselves a new Sunday morning activity where the twinions have awesome fun and most importantly, us parents survive the aftermath.
They didn’t taste too bad either.
It’s astounding how things change in a year. And while twin wrangling may not so much be getting “easier” (not yet, anyway), these days, it’s a lot more fun and a lot less messier.
Speaking of fun, I have a fantastic Peppa Pig giveaway!
- Peppa Pig Backpack
- Peppa Pig Easter Treat
- Peppa Pig Wooden Dominoes
Peppa is a lovable, cheeky little piggy who lives with her younger brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig. Peppa loves playing games, dressing up, visiting exciting places and making new friends, but her absolutely favourite thing is jumping up and down in muddy puddles. Her adventures always end happily with loud snorts of laughter. Here’s your chance to win the ultimate Peppa Pig collection, valued at $40 – just in time to celebrate Easter and the holiday season! Check out even more new and exciting products now instore at www.Bigw.com.au. For more info, visit peppapig.com.au I facebook.com/officialpeppapig.au
To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me:
“What’s activity do you enjoy doing with your kids?”
Subscribe to With Some Grace by Email
Terms and Conditions:
- This giveaway is only open to Australian residents
- Closing date for entries is 10pm AEST Tuesday, 25th of March.
- The winner will be contacted via email on the following Wednesday.
- If the winner does not reply to my email within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen.
-
Entries will be judged on merit and decision of the winner will be final.
Joining Essentially Jess for IBOT
Awesome prize!!! We are massive Peppa fans in our house, but who isn’t? Our favourite game at the moment is dancing concerts. We put on Justine clarke in our Dora CD player and dance the day away!
Renee recently posted..Survivor’s Guide to Colic – eBook review and giveaway
Those twins are just TOO CUTE!! I think you’re made progress in the cooking department – looks like significantly less mess (with equal amounts of fun) going on there. I’m definitely up for ‘pep’ (as miss L calls her) giveaway xx
Robyn (Mrs D) recently posted..My FIRST night camping!
OOps, forgot the activity. I have recently created a herb and veggie garden with the kids and I it was sooo much fun. Lets just hope we don’t kill it now xx
Robyn (Mrs D) recently posted..My FIRST night camping!
I totally remember that post and photos and thought you were mental at the time, and a super mum! We dabble in cooking but mainly the packet variety where they just get to crack eggs, put in ingredients and stir, oh and set out the patty cake mixture.
The activity I like doing most with my kids is swimming and making sandcastles at the beach, making massive big piles of sand at the waters edge and then throwing my body in front of it so the waves don’t destroy it, it never works but they LOVE and laugh when I do it! x
Emily @ Have A Laugh On Me recently posted..The art of ‘giving a shit’ appears to be slowly fading
Seriously you twinions are gorgeous!!!
We love to cook/bake too.
Sam Stone @ A Life on Venus recently posted..#everydaypeople five
We make pancakes every weekend (well, maybe every second weekend). We’re a tad hippyish, so we make ours with wholemeal flour and no sugar, but they are still yummy! And if they gobble them a plateful of pancakes before heading out to a party, at least I know there is some good food in their bellies beneath all the sugar. Yay to a Sunday traditions. 🙂
Danya Banya recently posted..Cheese Monsters
Cute photos Grace!
We love baking together but Dora taste test from the moment I get the flour out. She will eat the flour by itself as well as the sugar and butter. I am sure I have half the mix left before I get to put it in the oven! All good fun though!
Kaz @ Melting Moments recently posted..Weekly Wrap Up Linky – Cornflake Cookies
We love putting on puppet shows. First we do some crafting and make some puppets out of felt or paper rolls or socks. Then we line up the stuffed toys as our audience and we take turns putting on a puppet show in our little theater. We have been known to make some Peppa Pig character puppets in the past too (we are all obsessed with Peppa in our house!)
Sweet Grace! I used to enjoy chocolate cake making, mainly cos every kid looks loveliest covered in chocolate… what a mess, but what a laugh!
Keep up the cooking though, my teens can cook meals for the family now. Lets hope they teach their Dad too one day.
Looking forward to seeing you at the weekend!
Seana – Sydney, Kids, Food + Travel recently posted..Five Handy Handbags for Mummy Photographers
My six year old son’s the hugest Peppa fan! We took him to the Peppa Pig show and I swear all the other kids were 3-4 year old girls, but he loved it! The activity I love doing with him is painting. I bought some art paints, and because they are flash (compared to what we usually use) I’m actually enjoying it and getting all serious doing my apple trees and fabulously artistic rainbows while Mr 6 paints his dinosaurs and elephants! His paintings turn out better than mine, by the way 🙂
Di from Max The Unicorn recently posted..Week 2: March Movie Challenge
We love ‘camping’ in the lounge room!
We make a tent using sheets and chairs, and we play games in the ‘tent’, and watch movies in there too. Its so much fun. We each have a flashlight and tell stories. It’s a great way for the kids to use their imaginations (and for mummy to relax a little too!)
I’ll tell you a well known secret – I’m terrified of cooking… So the thought of doing it with twins… You are amazing!! Our favorite activities are still pretty simple: peekaboo, chasey, “hide” and seek & anything outdoors is a winner with Oli 🙂
Jen recently posted..Why Colicky Babies are NOT Just ‘Fussy’
When we have the rest of the family over, we love building our ‘human pyramid’. It’s so much fun, yet so tricky. Another thing we love is the cardboard drive-in movie cars. It’s so easy to make and is always a box office hit
Ashleigh would go NUTS for that pack!
I enjoy doing all activities with my kids because my kids are just divine and everything is great and a blessing… no? Not what you’re after? Okay. I love marching around the living room to the Mickey Mouse Club March. Ashleigh loves shouting M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E and stomping around, Mitchell claps along and laughs as we make lots of noise, and judging by how exhausted I am after the 2.5 minute song is finished, it’s a great workout as well!
Thanks for hosting the giveaway. Good luck everyone!
Emily recently posted..People of the past, characters of the future
Painting. It’s controlled mess with a colourful and creative outcome!
Does taking him to daycare so I can come home and nap count as an activity lol!
He loves Peppa Pig, though and I’m sure you’ve found similar with the twinions, is that it is so hard to find Peppa Pig stuff for boys. Dyllan doesn’t want George stuff, he wants Peppa stuff. Would it be so hard for them to create some gender neutral clothes/bags/lunch boxes? Or at least different colours than pink and blue.
Tegan recently posted..The Psych Ward
We have Pancake Sunday’s as well.
Not sure where my son got the idea to have pancakes for breakfast.
Of course he loves to help make the batter. I have to say the more he helps the more the ingredients are staying in the bowl.
Sally@Toddlers on Tour recently posted..St Patrick’s Day in Perth
I’ve just started cooking a bit more with Ava. We made the packet mix peppa pig biscuits the other day, because they had peppa and george on them, and clearly that is the most important factor when cooking 😉
As for getting easier, it doesn’t. That’s a lie. It just gets different. It’s less physically demanding the older they get, but much more emotionally demanding as you have to really start talking the nitty gritty of stuff.
Just so you know 🙂
EssentiallyJess recently posted..Ordinary Days #IBOT
Hi there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew
where I could locate a captcha plugin for my comment form?
I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty
finding one? Thanks a lot!
https://www.littlehomesandbighearts.com/ recently posted..https://www.littlehomesandbighearts.com/
Hi Grace! Well my darling daughter has just turned 3 months and our favourite game this week has been “watching the trees” in our local park. She can stare at them for ages and a gust of wind brings forth smiles of wonder! I can’t wait for the leaves to start changing colour
Isn’t it amazing how much things can change in one year, and we’re so busy cleaning up poo and scraping rolled oats off the ceiling we don’t even notice! My kids love cooking too, so we make cookies a lot. They are all also strangely into helping with the housework: cleaning the bathrooms, mopping the floor…hopefully one day they will be effective at it, but for now I don’t mind encouraging them!
Carolyn @ Champagne Cartel recently posted..Keep on top of your life: a quarterly life audit
Peppa the Pig is a new phenomenon for me as my kids all grew up with Spot and Thomas. Cooking with kids is one of the most memorable things for them. I could never stand it but forced myself anyway. The things we do!
Pinky Poinker recently posted..Pinky the Clairvoyant’s Electrifying Reading Just for You!
Love pancakes, love Peppa and LOVE your boys’ passion for cooking. xx
Lisa@RandomActsOfZen recently posted..5 Good Things For You
I love cooking with my kids, but my favourite is reading with them.
Annaleis recently posted..{Review} Palmolive Divine Blends
The twins are gorgeous and growing up so fast. I’m sure you will enjoy many more adventures in the kitchen….
Beck recently posted..Letting Go
My little girl will be so thrilled if she won the prize – she is a huge Peppa Pig fan! I am quite big on karaoke and we have a few really nice karaoke DVDs and little princess has definitely inherited Mummy’s love for singing so I usually turn on the TV of songs that we both know – at this stage its usually nursery rhymes but sometimes Mummy’s adult songs too – and sing and dance together! She loves it! She constantly says to me – Mummy let’s do a concert together – and then she will start off the session by going “Welcome to Our show!” Loads of fun plus workout for Mummy who needs to burn off some calories! Gets her tired too so she sleeps better at night! Best of both worlds!
Your twins are gorgeous Grace! I love the fact that they are speaking Indo too with the susu and telur. I teach me lil one to say Selamat Pagi to me in the morning! 😉 You definitely have some lil Junior Masterchefs in the making! x
Winnie @ Bubfriendly recently posted..{Giveaway} Sweetness on your Lips without a Lifetime on the Hips! Join the Organic Soft Drink Revolution with BIONADE!
You are so brave to let them venture into the kitchen. But I can see that they had a blast! I love the fact that you have incorporated a few mother tongue words into their vocab. I should do that more with my son (I’m from Malaysia originally). So far the main word we often use is “Sayang”… which has so many meanings (love, cuddle, oh dear).
Living Serenely recently posted..Talking about grandparents
My little one loves doing gardening with me. He can make life with his little hands while finding the vitality is so dogged. When he grows up a little bit, I will let him cook with me too. I’m sure he will have lots of fun like your boys do.