Oh, Boy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

This summer of all summers, well the 5 ones he's lived anyway, my son has decided to make my life hell. Maybe I'm exaggerating but it's probably because I'm sooo tired. So instead of arguing all the time I had to act quick. 'If I keep him busy, he won't be bored so he won't be so disobedient. '
I tried to get him do some drawing but he doesn't seem to like it so I gave him a reason: 'let's draw our shopping list.' Don't be fooled, that's my work you see mostly.
'Let's play with your legos'. That was the following day and I have to say it worked.
Yesterday we went to the supermarket and I saw this glue for fabrics. 'Great idea. He loves crafts.' So today I got some old clothes, cut them in pieces, set the table and asked for ideas. He had many I have to admit but the only thing he wanted to do was cut the fabrics in little pieces and finish off the glue on a piece of paper. Only when he saw the puppet I've made, did he want to help me make another one.
And I'm left here wondering: 'where did my lovely boy go, the one who loved creating things and could spend hours amusing himself?' I think I actually have an answer to that: he's somewhere in a village riding his bike with the other kids aaaaaall day long. I 'll let him enjoy his 'loose' summer, hoping he'll be more involved in creative activities in winter. Pray that I'll be sane by then!!!!

PS Click on play and then on the arrows in the bottom right corner to see more pictures. So sorry for the ads. It's the free version of smilebox. Just ignore them.

Weekend at the Sea

I know the weekend is long gone but I thought these pictures would give us a breath of fresh air to help us get through a hot week in the city.
You can see two pictures relating to my blog title: shells and showers. Shells because I love the book The Shell Seekers and showers because I enjoy rain showers in the summer and other kinds of showers (see definitions 3,4 ).

Sunset at Sea

I've always stood in awe before the wonders of nature!

Out with the Old, In with the New (or... never go shopping with hubby again!)

On Friday, we went to Ikea to buy little one a new bed. We had already chosen one, ordered the mattress and so on Friday we took the van and went to get it. Simple? That's what I thought but when we went there the assistant told us it was out of stock. Ok then, we decided to call at the shop in a few days to see if they brought it. Well, I should have known better. You see, my husband is a shopaholic; there's no way he'll leave a place without buying anything. So while we were heading towards the exit he saw another bed, nothing similar to what we'd chosen. (I suppose I need to explain what kind of bed I wanted: four pieces of wood that would basically be a box for the mattress to sit on, with legs so that I can mop under it and no other pieces of wood around it so I could easily throw a bedspread on it.) You should have seen how ecstatic father and son were! This one had steps to climb on and enough space below to sit and play and build a fort and ...and... I'm not saying I didn't like it but I said it was dangerous for a 4-and-a-half-year-old to sleep at a height of 116cm protective barriers or not.

In the end, my son's excitement and the possibility to reverse it convinced me to buy it. There's no way I would have bought it if I were on my own though.

Serves me right. Now I'll have to get used to the idea that I'll bump my head every time I want to make the bed....that is, twice every day!!!

Being Grateful for Good Friends

Two of my closest friends came over today, in different ways but both bearing gifts.

First 'came' my penfriend from Malaysia who's sent me a book by a Malaysian author. It was a 'surprise' parcel as she hadn't mentioned anything. She's a bookworm herself and often sends me books she'd like me to read.

Then my best friend visited us for coffee and chit-chat. We're both going through rough periods at the moment- me, for having lost my mum recently, her for something of her own- so it was good seeing her and sharing thoughts and emotions.

She also brought little one a present for his name-day which was last week. He rode his new scooter all day long and refused to stop for a photo.

A good day

Today I realised that if I want to keep my sanity I need to accept the fact that I can't have everything done exactly the way I want to: I can't have a spotless flat, spend time with my 4-year-old son, keep my hubby happy, go to my village to keep my dad company and do some housework for him and, last but definitely not least, find time for myself.
So I decided to set my priorities and of course the first one is my little one. I feel really well now; much less stressed.
Here's how we spent our evening:

we made food, mainly ice cream, with "play -dough"



we did his favourite 'Lightning McQueen' puzzles



we played with water

and read a good book before he went to bed



P.S. My apologies for the quality of the pictures. Unfortunately, I don't see buying a new camera any time soon.