Chapter books we've read in 2018

This year we've decided to show you all the books we've read with the boys. They are now 4 and 6 (in a few days) and they both love to be read to. We read chapter books with them more and more and thought it would be interesting to add our selection for you. We also read picture books, especially with the 4 year old, but we've decided to stick to chapter books for this post. Every time we finish a book in 2018 it will be added here (affiliate links). I am adding the boys ratings with their opinion of the best bits and the lows - and be warned, they are extremely critical! Enjoy, and if you have any great suggestions, please let us know in the comments below or over on Facebook.

The Lion, The witch and the wardrobe.
Boys rating 3 stars and 0 stars!
Best bits: the end and killing the witch.
 Lows: The turning to stone

Magic school bus: Electric storm
Boys rating 5 stars
Best bits: When the magic school bus goes small

Tom's Midnight Garden
Boys rating: 3 and 0 stars
Best bits: Travelling back in time
Lows: The start. I hated it!

Zoey and Sassafras -
Caterflies and Ice
Boys rating 5 stars
Best bits: Baby caterflies and
 funny sassafras
Grown up caterflies but not the salt ruining
 the catnip plants!

The Christmasaurus
Boys rating 5 and 4 stars
Best bits: the christmasaurus
lows: The hunter

The Velveteen Rabbit
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bit: real rabbits
The fairy

Gobbolino the witch's cat
Boys rating: 3 and 4 stars
Best bit: turns into kitchen cat
the end
Lows: abandoned, the start 

Ask Oscar
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bits: when he finds the dog
All of it!

Magic Tree House:
Valley of the Dinosaurs
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bit: stroking dinosaur
flying on the pterasor

The otter who wanted
to know
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bits: the ride in the
airplane

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best buts: chocolate!

James and the giant peach
Boys rating 4 stars
Best bits: the seagulls
Lows: the aunts

I, Houdini
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bits: we want a hamster!

Magic tree house:
Night of the Ninjas
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bits: Ninjas, Magic

Magic tree house:
Adventure in the amazon
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bits: rain forest and animals

Magic tree house:
Moon mission
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bits: mouse, space

Magic tree house:
Mammoth to the rescue
Boys rating: 5 stars
Best bits: Ice age people,
secret caves

The Magician's Nephew
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: meet aslan

Prince Caspian
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: he turned
into a prince!

The Horse and his Boy
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: he meets the girl

The voyage of the Dawn Treader
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: the end

The pod and the bog
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: all of it

Charlie and the great
glass elevator
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: shooting knids

Who was Albert Einstein?
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: he's the best
thinker in the whole world

A mouse called wolf
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: the mouse when he sings

Magic Tree House
Diving with Dolphins
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: the dolphin and
the submarine

Magic Tree House
A Wild West Ride
Boys rating: 3
Best bits: echo, horses
Lows: ghosts

Magic Tree House
Lions on the Loose
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: Giraffe, all of it

Magic Tree House
Icy Escape
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: polar bear mother, huskies

The Sheep-pig
Boys rating: 5 and 4
Best bits: trained to be a
sheep-pig
Lows: the wolves

Ace
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: getting a skinful!

Daggie Dogfoot
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: all of it,
swimming

Who was King Tut?
Boys rating: 4
Best bits: when he died
Lows: the fights

The Animals of Farthing Wood
Boys rating: 3 & 5
Best bits: the fox and vixen
Lows: the humans

Alice in Wonderland
Boys rating 5 & 3
Best bits: the rabbit
Lows: the queen

Winnie the Pooh
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: when pooh bear
catches himself in a hole

The Wind in the Willows
Boys rating: 5 & 4
Best bits: the crazy toad
Lows: the toad!

Dragons at Crumbling Castle
Boys rating: 3
Best bits: Dragons
Lows: some of the stories are
boring.

Who was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?
Boys rating: 4
Best bits: piano
Lows: he's not a mouse!

Magic tree house 17-24
Boys rating: 5
Best bits: all the books together!

Gulliver's Travels
Boys rating 5
Best bits: when he's tiny

Goodnight stories for
rebel girls (aka: the ladies book)
Boys rating 5
Best bits: finding out about the alive
ones and watching the songs.

Christmas STEAM activities

Christmas is fast approaching so I decided it was time to sit down and write out our ideas for Christmas activities. I tend to try and make our activities educational whilst fun and here is a collection which covers both plus the fun of Christmas (which basically means: add glitter, and sparkly stuff)!

In the run up to the big day, we give the boys a Christmas envelope each day which holds their activity. Their elf usually has it in his hand each morning so there is great excitement to find Frazzle (yep, that's his name) and find out what they challenge they have to do!

Here are the first 6 ideas to get you started and make your Christmas fun and productive, enjoy!

Day 1: Make a fireplace and decorate the tree. This has become a big tradition in our home and is a great way to kick off the celebrations.

Day 2: Have a dinosaur disco. Put on some Christmas music and get out the tinsel. After they can draw pictures of their dinosaurs and add lots of sparkle (substitute dinosaurs for other favorites as needed).

Day 3: Make some Christmas slime. We have tried a few methods for this one and have two recommendations. One, add as much glitter as you can stomach! And two, use glitter glue as a base for the slime if you're not a huge glitter fan. The glitter in the glue is much more cooperative at staying within the slime and a little less on the children!

Day 4: Make candy cane tree decorations. These are simple but look fantastic. We used pipe cleaners and chunky red and white beads. I tied one bead to the pipe cleaner then the boys threaded more on in any pattern they wished. Once they finished, I tied the last bead around the pipe cleaner and got them to bend the tops in a curve and hang them on the tree. They actually repeated this activity most days until Christmas and loved giving them out to friends and family for their trees too.
 

Day 5: Make plastic and use it to make tree decorations. This was a great recipe using just milk and vinegar. Oh and the glitter of course! Heat one cup of milk and add 4 tablespoons of vinegar. The liquid will separate and look pretty disgusting! Sieve the mixture and collect the hard residues. Press the mixture into Christmas molds and leave them to dry. Make sure you remember to put a whole in the top of your decoration so you'll be able to hang it up. 
Once it's dried out it should be easy to push out of the mold (we used silicone molds and Christmas cookie cutters). Add a ribbon and hang them on the tree. I was asked about the smell of these once they dried as both milk and vinegar can have quite pungent aromas. Well, our experience was that once they were fully dry they left no smell behind. I will say we didn't keep them for another year so I cannot comment on their durability but for a few weeks they were great.

Day 6:  Make a circuit to light up fairy lights.
This was so much fun, both for us adults and for the boys. We had a set of fairy lights that was so tangled it was beyond repair! We cut off several of the lights and exposed the wires slightly. Next we asked the boys to roll up tinfoil into lines and then talked about how the tinfoil could conduct electricity. Next we added the lights into a circuit with the tin foil. Finally, we left a small gap suitable for a 9V battery. We allowed the boys to press the battery onto the two ends over the gap and watch the lights shine. We later added another gap where they tested many of their toys for conductibility. 

Next week I'll post more of our Christmas ideas. In the meantime if you have any problems/doubts just write us a comment. Below you'll find (affiliate) links to many of the items we used (or would like to use this year) for these activities.

Perfect

Parenting is hard

Heard it, thought it, felt it, right?

But, this is also the best moment of my life and it took me a little while to figure that out.

You get pregnant and there are so many celebrations and, that rush you get each time you tell anyone. But then the nausea starts. And you think, 'once this phase is done, it's gonna be great'. And for a while it is, until you get too big to be comfortable. Then you think 'once the baby is born...' Oh yeah BIRTH. 

Then, the sleepless nights.

If you're lucky enough to have a baby who sleeps through the night you can just stop reading right now. But if you're not one of the lucky ones (and we are many) then I can sympathize with how tough it can be. So tired. There is no comparison. And the worst part is, you don't even want any help. Just a few hours sleep. And you think once the baby sleeps through the night things will get back to being perfect.

It goes on and on.

But do you know what? 

This is the perfect. Every second. I promise, you won't remember how tired you were. You won't remember the foul nappies and puke covered tops. You'll remember gummy smiles and a snuggling baby as they feed. You'll remember how only you could calm them down and how you held them even closer in the middle of the night. And one day, you'll miss it.

Then they grow.

The two year old tantrums. The three year old tantrums (that will just about destroy you). 

But do you know what you're gonna remember?

The first time they say something. The laugh. The huge smile they give you when they didn't see you for half an hour. The smell of cookies, apples, and grass all mixed up in their hair. And the bedtime snuggles with books.

Then they grow more. They are them. How did that happen? Where did the tiny baby go? Now they are proud when they achieve something. They strive to be more. They ride bikes and read and so many other things. 

But once in a while they still need me. They still like a bedtime snuggle and to hear their favorite book. They still enjoy sharing their news and discoveries. I'm still very much important in their eyes. 

Parenting is hard. But it's also the best time of our lives.

So, revel in their smallness, hold them tight and fall asleep smiling that this is the best moment of being. Because before we know, it'll have passed and they will be bigger. 

But for sure, life will still be perfect. How could it not?

Hex Bug Projects

We have come up with a couple of simple projects to do with the Hex bugs and thought we'd share. These are inspired by Pinterest!

Hex bug Lego maze. Simple Lego board and regular pieces to make a maze the Hex bug will walk around. 

The boys also made little box habitats to keep their bugs safe!

Hex bug drawing bot. Three pens, a chunk of blu tac and an elastic band is all you need to make your own robot that draws! The mostly draw in circles but if you rearrange the pens slightly to different heights they will do some wobbly lines too!

Check out videos of the drawing and maze over on Instagram #independent-individuals #independentindividuals

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