Lip Gloss Smile

Lip Gloss Collection

Every morning is Lip Gloss or Chap Stick time here. Kat has this amazing, literally mind blowing collection of cake batter, Skittles, lemon icing flavoured glosses that she decides to use in the morning as her one and only dress up detail for school (and yes – these are all natural coloured). Of course, nothing escapes Kit’s eyes...she watches from the side of the door and the minute Kat puts her gloss back in the room, she picks it up and says – “is this the cake batter one?” or “hmmm...this smells lovely!” This will wind Kat up and we will invariably get late for school and I will either end up downstairs in my slippers or without a sweater in this bitter cold and once we even left Kat’s schoolbag upstairs! (Wonder why we went downstairs in the first place??!) READ MORE>>

Happy 'Valumtimes' Day!

After a super charged 2 day school trip to D.C., Kat was back home on Friday and the rest of the weekend (ok, most of it!) was spent preparing for Valentine’s Day at school.
There is a rule in school (for both Kit and Kat) that you are not obliged to give out valentines but if you do decide to, then you have to give one each to the entire class – Kat was not very happy with this as at the age of 11 you don’t really want to write out valentines to boys unless you really want to! But since her friends were going to hand them out anyway, she felt she must do so too...however the main argument was not that, it was over the type of valentines – Kat wanted to buy them but she did not want to spend her own money – how cheeky is that? Imagine getting pocket money every week and then asking us to spend money for her friends’ valentines??
It sounded hugely ridiculous and when she did shed a few tears over it and still nothing happened (which surprised her too) – she came up with a plan (finally!) – Lets do it in-house – YAY!!

Red Heart card that Kat made

All the commotion got Kit interested in the whole thing (she had no clue about it before this) – she was ecstatic that Mummy was going to do a project with her now…Kat always has an endless supply of coloured papers and pencils – she is our stationery cupboard. We made some cute little coloured heart shaped valentines for Kit’s class and Kit got so tired of writing that she could do only 5 at a time...it did take a while to finish the 20 cards!
Kat did her 27 pink hearts on red coloured paper with different messages for girls, boys and teachers (some patience she has!) READ MORE...

Magical Powers

Getting Kit and Kat to agree on the same thing at the same time is not a minor feat.

Kat (who has over the years silently and uncomplainingly become the more mature one or maybe it has to do with the lets give up to this overdramatic sibling of mine syndrome) is usually the one who will quietly agree to give in to Kit’s strange (sometimes atrocious) demands and at times, I must admit I am amazed that Kat actually has the patience to listen to Kit and her nonsensical (at times comical wishes)!

Just today Kit started a whole drama because she wanted me to give Time Out to Kat as she believed Kat had hurt her on purpose (this whole “on purpose” thing has great consequences in our household for Kit Kat!!) – What a drama ensued – it got blown out of proportion (everything is super blown when there is a SNOW DAY and no babysitter...I lost patience, Kit got crazy...I got crazier but then finally...Kat came to the rescue:-)  Read More>>

Snow Day

8-12 inches of snow…another snow day for the girls...NO SCHOOL!! We got the automated message from school last night so I went to bed little relaxed – no early morning rush – I even put extra sheets behind Kit’s headboard to block any signs of daybreak so as to get her into thinking it was still night... Did it work? NO!!

Just when I sat down to check my emails at 6:15am (thinking I can actually drink my tea hot for a change) Kit comes into the room with a “BOO” behind me!

Me: “Already? You are awake already? This is even earlier than normal school days!”

Kit: “I am really cold...” but in fact she is so active (Oh dear)

Me: “You HAVE to go back to bed. Even Kat is sleeping. Its night time” (Alright I lied) READ MORE>>

The Unwanted Gift

That time of the year is fast approaching when I just want to be a child again...dream of my perfect birthday – wait for my loved ones to wish me and feel extra special on my special day...of course the candles on the birthday cake are still one or two (space on the cake due to age constrictions!)

The Mystery Birthday Gift

When I was young, I would always gift my mother chocolates or sweets on her birthday as I knew she would instantly gift them back to me :-) so the following conversation between Kit Kat and Me at the dinner table should come as no surprise...

Kat: “Mummy, can I borrow $200 from you?”

Me: “What??!!” “Are you kidding me? You want to borrow $200 from me for my birthday gift? Forget it.”
Kat (visibly upset as she loves her money and can be often seen counting her notes in her spare time – she is SO looking forward to turning 13 and getting her own credit card – can’t wait!): “It’s ok – I’ll have to think of something else.”

This think of something else probably means that Kat will (easily) convince Papa to get an advance on her pocket money (for the rest of the year?) – In any case I can count on a decent card from her.

Now, Kit has been listening to this exchange between me and Kat and feels that she must contribute to my birthday. It’s a prestige issue now.

Kit: “Mummy, I really want to give you something on your birthday.” Read More>>

Yummy Food, Big Names, Little People!

Kit is the official taster in her class. Teachers rely on her to encourage other children in her group to try new foods. Once at the table, she will volunteer to try all new foods, be it asparagus, hummus or a varied version of cauliflower! Her teachers tell me that other children watch her as she tastes it and announces “I like it!” – this encourages other children to at least try and of course it encourages Kit to carry on experimenting even if some days it brings out “I don’t like it. Yuck! Disgusting!”



Asparagus - not so nice?

 We all know that food always tastes nicer with friends so it does break my heart a bit when Kit comes home and says that she now loves cauliflower and I think of the endless moments spent trying to make cauliflower attractive... where did I go wrong? Never mind, at least she eats is somewhere! Same with asparagus – I got so excited when she said she loved it that I decided to steam it right the next day...Kat was eager to try it too. I order groceries online so sometimes portions are a surprise – I didn’t realise a bunch could have that many stems! Anyhow, determined to steam that, I served it all up and they did look pretty in their beautiful green glory but I guess the portion size scared the two girls!!
One look and Kit said: “I just tried one in class and I loved it – I can’t eat so much!!” My heart sank.

Now it was Kat’s turn: “Can I just try one first?” She did and she gave me that sideways secret look (the one she uses to show her dislike when Kit is eating). I died. Read More...

Happy Birthday Kit

I am amazed that I have not written for over two weeks. In fact I am amazed that I have managed to get anything done except celebrate Kit’s birthday...YES! Pink cake, pink icing, pink everything...and Kit is now 4!

Such a long awaited, spreading over 2 weeks celebration finally ended with a grand finale this Sunday and Kit is already looking forward to her next one (I am aching from all the running around and of course belly hurts from all the yummy cake(s) – trying not to think about the endless miles on the treadmill!!)

Happy Birthday Kit

There definitely is something magical about this age. The more I look at her, the more I want her to remain this age. The bond between the sisters is so tender now, especially because Kit is beyond the ‘find all, break all’ stage and Kat is so thankful for that! Read More>>