Helpful Hints to Learn Sight Words

This post is being published in conjunction with Your Kids OT.

Many parents are looking for new and interesting ways to help their children learn sight words at home, so today I've compiled a list for Cindy and her readers (I hear Cindy's son is getting close to the learning to read stage!).

Firstly, I just want to explain a bit about how the whole 'learning to read' process happens. Basically there are three skills a child needs, alphabet knowledge, sight word recognition and a general understand of print (eg left to right, look at picture clues, repetition, making predictions of what comes next etc). The English language is a tricky one for little people to master - words like 'they', 'said', 'put' and 'was' are not simple to sound out simply by using your alphabet knowledge. Hence, sight words (or tricky words as we call them when using the Jolly Phonics program) are a vital part of the learning to read jigsaw puzzle.

Each school or teacher may have a different system for teaching/learning sight words, however generally speaking your child will probably be given a list of words weekly or fortnightly to learn, and once they master this list, they move up to a new one.

Here's a few examples of 'word building' - which is the skill of putting letters together to sound out and make words. Children love using hands on materials rather than just looking at words on paper.

For more info and explanations of these activity ideas - visit the full post at Your Kids OT.

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Still want more ideas? Look no further than Childhood 101 where Christie has compiled two HUGE posts worth of activity ideas for learning sight words. Try here and here.

I hope you found these ideas useful whether it be for school or home!
Lauren

3

Kindness Stories

I was inspired this week by my friend Say Hello Jo as she's on a mission to spread more kindness around the world. She'd experienced some not so kind people of late and decided to share various kindness quotes with colourful walls backgrounds on social media. You can 'say hello' and request your own quote and favourite colour and she'll do one just for you - like she did for me here! (Keep reading for the direct link)...

Image used with permission - Thank Jo!

Kindness is something we talk about all the time with Miss M, and children at school. "That was a very kind thing to do" or in some cases "That wasn't a very kind thing to do". This book is a great one to introduce the concept and language to young children.

So I've been keeping notes of kind things that happen day to day, and today I'd like to share them with you.

• When the lady at Woolies opened a check out for you while you're jiggling a crying baby, preschooler, pram, food...

• When someone opens the door/gate for you at the child care drop off because you usually have your hands full with baby/capsule
/Miss M/keys/backpack.
• When a family member brings you no reason flowers.
• When a friend shouts you a coffee
.
• When the lady at the coffee shop gives your preschooler a freckle.
• When you and another mummy exchange a smile at the shops/park/wherever
 because in that moment you both totally understand each other.
• When a blogger friend likes, comments, shares your post.

• When your child brings you something the baby needs
.
• When your hubby comes home with a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

• When you get something in the mail other than a bill
.
• When grandparents babysit (and send you photo updates!)
• When someone tells you that you are a good mum.
• 
When someone tells you you are doing a great job.





Visit Jo here (It's cool to be kind) to leave your own kindness quote for her to photograph on a colourful wall in Perth just for you and keep her kindness movement going.

You can also read more in my interview with Jo here if you'd like to get to know her a little better.

And just one more kindness quote to leave with you...

Just. Be. Kind.

Lauren x

4

Daddy had a week off! This is what we got up to in RAdelaide

James (my husband and Daddy to my kids) has just had a week off... Woo hoo! Little man is 12 weeks old, and boy I tell you I was ready to have his Dad home for some extra help with these two little tikes.

So what did we get up to in RAdelaide during the past week of beautiful week of Autumn weather?

Princess Park - South Terrace

Whoever invented trampolines in the ground is a genius!

Chuck Wagon - O'Connell Street

OMG - all the deliciousness! Pulled pork nachos, yummy burgers & the most amazeballs dessert ever where Nutella is always the main ingredient... Minion toy provided to entertain Miss M.
No baby change table = make emergency trip back to the car.

Shopping!

Sunday morning, Mummy stays home for baby cuddles and Daddy takes Miss M on a bike ride.
Do an ENTIRE lap of the Gepps X centre and don't buy a single thing (except for a coffee)...
Miss M visits the chickens with Nanna at her aunty's place... Mummy & daddy have chillax time! Enjoying those 5 minutes when every item of clothing in the house is clean, washed and put away!

Kindigym & More Shopping

Daddy takes Miss M to Kindigym. We go to the Parafield Gardens Rec Centre.
Then - more shopping. And the best salt & pepper squid in Adelaide from Red Chilli Elizabeth.

Ben & Holly LIVE!

Catch the train to the city because - Adventure!
Fun times had by all at the Ben & Holly show (read what I had to say about it here).

IKEA

Because IKEA is always a fun day out for the family! I love how they can play and explore with everything in the kids section - and they do great kids lunch packs.

Miss M Goes to Preschool

Miss M has her regular day at child care - now in the Preschool room (I'm in the process of writing a blog post as to why we still send her to child care while I'm on maternity leave). Back to the Gepps X centre to get our new outdoor setting & BBQ. So much easier to look and make those choices without a preschooler running amok in the stores.

Carrickalinga & Family Time

Carrickalinga - for beautiful beach hangs. The thing about Carrickalinga is that it is purely residential - just holiday homes and people who live there permanently. No shops, no delis, no fish and chips...just homes. It has a lovely peaceful vibe and pristine beaches. Pop to Normanville or Yankalilla for your supplies.

Easter egg hunts, time with family. Appreciating those close to us and those who matter most, missing those no longer with us.

Can you tell that Easter bunny is at the beach in this painting?

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Then you blink and it's over and Daddy's back to work.
And the best part was when he said to me "I understand now how hard it is for you with the two kids." JUST WHAT I NEEDED TO HEAR!

How was your Easter??
Lauren xx

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Fun Times had by all at Ben & Holly LIVE {Review}

I absolutely love live theatre for young kids. I think it's just such a wonderful experience. In the past we've been to see The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Play School and more recently at the Adelaide Fringe, we saw the Amazing Drumming Monkeys. All have been fabulous!

You may have read this previous post on Miss M's Ben & Holly 3rd Birthday, as it's become her newest favourite kids show! And I must admit I quite like it too (you know how there are some kids shows that you just can't stand - but others are quite sweet...). So off we went with Nanna to see Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom LIVE at the Adelaide Festival Theatre (Dunstan Playhouse).

Image Source

I really rate it when kids live performances integrate movement and interaction from the audience - it's so important because little people can't sit still for too long. In the Ben & Holly show, familiar and favourite episodes such as 'King Thistle is not well' and 'The Tooth Fairy' were integrated with brand new songs and dances to enjoy. Children were invited to run, fly, giggle, dance, sing and interact with the performance. Miss M loved pointing out where Ben was hiding, and she was so excited when the famous Gaston the ladybird made his appearance. The show has a short intermission, which is also really great for the kids to have a drink/snack/toilet break.

Image Source

Something quite unique about the characters (as you can see in the photos) is the masks they wear to make them look just like they do in the TV show. Because you can't see the performer's faces, they had to use really big actions with the rest of their bodies - which they absolutely did (Ben Elf was my favourite).

The show is off to Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Perth next - click here for more ticket info. Highly recommended! (Babies under 12 months do not need a ticket - I always find this good to know).

We love you Ben & Holly!
Lauren & Miss M

This post has also been published on Play & Go Adelaide. 

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Exploring Shapes + Colours + Light

Integrated learning is when two or more concepts can be explored in the one activity (or by using the one product). That's what I'm talking about today - bringing shape, colour and light together with some fun learning experiences and educational products for preschoolers.

Thanks so much to Wooden Wonderland who sent us this tangram puzzle, and colour viewer for the purpose of this blog post - and by the way, when you pop over there, take note that the Educational products are organised into learning areas making it really easy to find what you're looking for.

The great thing about teaching shape and colour to preschoolers, is that they go hand in hand and there are lots of opportunities for incidental learning. It's all about the language you use, eg "Pass me the blue square, can you find the yellow triangle, what colour is the circle?"

A tangram is a geometrical puzzle consisting of a square cut into seven pieces which can be arranged to create many different shapes and pictures. They can be quite tricky, so for little preschoolers I'd suggested using a template for them so they know how to put the puzzle back together, as well as some examples of simple things they can make... At around the age of 6-8, school children will be able to explore with tangrams a lot more (the puzzle from Wooden Wonderland has some picture examples underneath the pieces as you can see). The wooden pieces are a beautiful quality, Miss M and I explored some other ways to play with it such as making a tower, and putting the numbers in order.

Wooden Tangram Board - Shop here

Miss M loved looking at the world through the colour viewer - it's lovely to watch young children be so amazed at simple things. She already knows all the colours, but this would be great to encourage language development as they identify the 'red apple' and the 'blue whale'. As all of Wooden Wonderland's products it's really great quality.

Wooden Wonderland Colour Viewer - Shop here

Continuing with the light theme, are these gorgeous rainbow blocks (ours were gifted from Finlee and Me but they're also available from Wooden Wonderland). We always try to pick a sunny spot to play with them to get the full experience. Blocks are an essential ingredient to any child's toy collection as there are so many open ended ways to play with them. Your little one can explore shape and colour as they sort and construct.

Rainbow blocks - Shop here or here

Want some more great hands on activity ideas to learn shape and colour? You'll find them here in this post I wrote for Childhood 101.

Another fantastic product from Wooden Wonderland is this colour mixing puzzle - I wrote a post all about colour mixing here (incase you missed it!).

Remember - Maths isn't just counting and 1 + 1 = 2...there is a whole other world of shape, geometry, transformation, symmetry and logical thinking. Start to look for these learning opportunities in every day life with your preschooler, or students.

Lauren :)

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Lovely Laurens {Mini Interviews}

Hi I'm Lauren! (In case you're new, or you've followed me for a while but never actually knew my name LOL). There are a few other Laurens in amongst our awesome community of Aussie Parenting Bloggers, and one day when I was pondering blog post ideas, I thought of chatting with a few of them to create a mini interview post. And so that's where we are today!

Firstly is Lauren - The Thud. 

I adore Lauren for many reasons... mostly her sense of humour when it comes to all things parenting! Her boy 'The Thud' is a little younger than Miss M, and her daughter 'Pop' is only 2 weeks older than my Little Man, so we shared many of the same feels and struggles in our 2nd pregnancies. Lauren has just started podcasting and she and Jodie are a bucket of fun to tune in to. Oh and not to mention she won the Kidspot Voice of 2015!! If you love a good laugh, you'll love her blog.

Can you share a favourite or popular post from your blog?

With a newborn baby, I’m back in sleep deprived hell so this post is my life right now - Ten Enemies of the Sleeping Baby

What activities does Thud enjoy at the moment?

Thud is two and a half so he enjoys doing anything he shouldn’t be doing. Climbing to precarious heights, finding and deploying dangerous objects, wielding permanent markers... he’s a risk taker. He’s especially fond of his bike right now. He taught himself to ride it. I’m slightly terrified about what the future holds for us. 

Funny parenting story?

My life is one long, funny parenting story. Or tragedy, I can’t tell.  Right now, if you could watch what happens when we try to leave the house, you’d be in stitches. It’s like a Benny Hill skit, involving chases, bodily fluids and serious injuries. Every time I think we are finally ready to get in the car, someone shits themselves or someone disappears or someone is suddenly nude or someone bursts into tears (usually me).  And that’s before we get to the car and have the long-running argument over who is going to drive. I swear one day I’m going to hand him the keys and tell him to keep it below 60.

Favourite quote?

My most frequently repeated quote is “this too will pass” – said as I hide in the pantry and eat biscuits. 
But my favourite quote is “You wouldn’t worry about what others think of you if only you realised how seldom they do” – Eleanor Roosevelt. A great reminder to stop obsessing about yourself and just get on with shit.

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Lauren - Canberra Mummy. 

I first came across Lauren when she put the call out for bloggers to review her ebook OMG I'm Pregnant! (Click here to read mine). She's also a mother of two and writes with honesty and positivity about parenting.

Funny parenting moment?

(Since becoming a mother of two) these occur regularly when my baby daughter laughs at everything her older brother does. It is amazing to watch the two interact at such young ages, and the joy they bring to each other's lives.

What do you love about Canberra?

Canberra is awesome because it is one of the most family friendly places in Australia.  There are beautiful parks and lakes to walk around, lots of free family events held most weekends, and there is a real sisterhood of parenting that you can only find in smaller communities such as Canberra.

A popular post?

My most popular article I wrote at 5am in the morning after doing a night feed for my eldest. He was only a newborn at the time. So many of my friends warned me of the night time feeds, but you know what, I loved them. They were very special and private moments between bub and me. - Why I'm happy my baby doesn't sleep through the night.

Favourite quote?

My favourite quote is by Toni Morrison, "“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
I took this quote literally and it is the reason why I created my blog. I wanted to write about parenting and share my wisdom with other mums. I also wanted to reframe negative view of parenting into positive ones, hence my article about enjoying night time feeds.

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Lauren - Life at number Five

Lauren is a stylish blogger, wife and mum who's always sharing her 'everyday style' over on Instagram. I followed her before she had her daughter Grace, and it's been lovely to see her grow over the past few months!

Tell us about your little Grace...

Oh, where to start! I think I could talk about her for hours, but I’ll try to restrain myself! Grace is just the most beautiful, happy, chilled out little baby. It’s such a joy to be her mum. She has crazy amounts of beautiful blonde hair, the most squishable marshmallow thighs and she is obsessed with sticking her tongue out! I’m very lucky that she’s a great little sleeper at night, we’re still working on her day sleeps though! She just makes life so enjoyable and makes me laugh every day.

Funny parenting moment?

There are so many! Grace is a seriously hilarious baby. One of the most recent ones was at mothers group when we had someone come talk to us about sleep and settling. Grace literally sat on the floor staring at the woman talking about sleep like the most attentive little student, it was super adorable. The best part was that when we came home from mothers group she had a 2.5 hour nap, which is super unusual for her, so clearly she was paying attention! 

A favourite/popular blog post?

My most popular post on the blog is '21 awesome uses for the Raskog cart from Ikea’ – people just love it! My personal favourite post would probably be Grace’s birth story [part 1 and part 2] for sentimental reasons. It’s nice to have a record of what happened, especially as my memories of the details are already fading a bit!

Favourite quote?

I’m so bad at picking favourites! I change my mind a lot about what my favourite quote is, but at the moment it’s a quote from Roald Dahl – "If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” I just think it’s such a good reminder that your thoughts and your outlook can have such a big impact. Especially important as a mum!! 

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Finally, Lauren - Create Bake Make

Cooking is not something I'm good at - that's why mums like me need awesome foodie bloggers to follow! Enter Lauren from Create Bake Make! Not only does she share great recipes, but the highs and sometimes heartbreaking lows about motherhood, babies and kids.

You have so many delicious recipes on your blog! Would you mind sharing one savoury and one sweet?

It's so hard to just choose two!  My Cheese and Bacon Cobb Loaf is one of my favourites and very popular, and it's easy to see why!  When it comes to sweet treats, my 4 Ingredient Maltesers and Mars Bar Fudge is another favourite too, it's pretty rich but soooo good!

How old are your boys and what activities do they love?

Our boys are 4 and almost 3 with baby number #3 due in July.  They really are stereotypical boys and love all things trucks, cars, trains and construction but also enjoy 'helping' me in the kitchen and having fun 'making' with paints, crayons and ALWAYS glitter!

How many coffees a day and how do you take it?

While I'm pregnant I stick to one decaf coffee a day but usually I'm a two - three a day girl.  I like to keep it simple, flat whites all the way except when it's hot I indulge in an iced latte - yum!

Favourite quote?

'Cake is the answer no matter the question'

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Thank you lovely Laurens!
Hope my readers have found a few new great blogs to follow...

xox

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Making Rainbows | Colour Mixing with Play Doh

I've recently been collaborating with Wooden Wonderland, an online toy store, and they have some beautiful products. This colour mixing learning board puzzle is perfect for preschoolers. The chunky wooden pieces are high quality and super smooth to the touch. It's handy when puzzles have a guide underneath to help the children and it makes this one much easier. Plus the names of the colours on each piece encourages early reading.

Colour Mixing Learning Board - Shop here (kindly gifted)

We were feeling inspired after playing with this puzzle, that we decided to do some colour mixing with play doh!

Miss M loves nothing more than to mix all the colours, and we all know how that ends up. That's why we usually only have one colour out at a time. So this activity was quite guided and structured and she responded really well (plus she loved having some mummy time and attention while Little Man was asleep).

This is how it went...

• Starting with primary colours red, yellow and blue play doh, cut each colour into three pieces.
• Then mix red + yellow, blue + red, yellow + blue (all the while predicting and discussing)
• Using our Grimms wooden rainbow as a guide we placed our new + original colours in rainbow order and rolled each of them into snakes
• Together we then created the rainbow and trimmed the ends with a knife.

Play doh is a favourite sensory material in our house... but there are some other fun ways to play with colour!

Which one of these activities would your little one like best?

Lauren :)

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Babies be like...

Regular readers of Teacher Types will know that I often seek inspiration, stories and parenting moments from my wonderful March 2013 Mums Group on Facebook... Well I'm also part of the January 2016 group (Little Man was technically due in Jan, even though he was born on the 30th of Dec) and the lovely mummies over there have helped me to write today's post...

Image Credit - Memory Bank Photography

Our 2 month old babies can't talk yet - but this is what we think they're trying to tell us!

• Babies be like "change my dirty nappy so I can poo immediately in the clean one"
• Babies be like "I spit out the boobie but I want it!!!"
• Babies be like "mum needs a new perfume... Eau de Vomit"
• Babies be like "woman why don't you know why I'm crying"
• Babies be like "I'm going to wait to feed until I'm ridiculously tired, proceed to fall asleep on the boob and unlatch myself but then start screaming once I realise what I've done because I'm still hungry."
• Babies be like "I'm gonna play a game with you and daddy and I'm gonna cry till one of u pretends you know what's wrong".
• Babies be like "no I don't want to sleep today. Oh wait we have to do school pick up? Okay now I want to sleep"
• Babies be like "you just sat down for dinner? Time to cry!"
• Babies be like "how dare you remove your boob from my mouth, i was obviously just resting my eyes!"
• Babies be like "give me your boob mum, I need to fart"
• Babies be like "I haven't slept since the last feed and I'm yawning and rubbing my eyes but I think it's hilarious so I'll look at you and smile and laugh."
• Babies be like "I don't feel like sleeping today but let's have a melt down cos I'm over tired and need to sleep"
• Babies be like "oh you wanna leave the house?" cue projectile vomit/poo explosion
• Babies be like "You have an important meeting to get to? Here, let me help you to be late by demanding a feed RIGHT THIS SECOND!"
• Babies be like "let me scream bloody murder the whole time I'm in the car but oh wait is that our driveway, I'll just fall asleep now"
• Babies be like... "I want the dummy, I don't want the dummy! I want the dummy, I don't want the dummy!!"
• Babies be like "oh you want to sleep forever? I thought you said you wanted to sleep never!"

Hope today's post brought a smile to your face. Thanks to the January 2016 mummies!

Add your "Babies be like..." comment below!

xx

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Baby, Toddler and Little Ones | Milestone Photography Inspo

OMG - this little darling is now THREE!

Photography by Jade Kearns Photography

Over Miss Ms' first year, I was lucky enough to have a professional photographer take a pic of her each month, as part of a 'photo a month' package. In the above collage, you can see her grow month by month in a clockwise direction, and the centre photo was for her 1st birthday. Notice the cute little headbands she wore?!? Not a chance she'd wear one these days!

I love the idea of monthly or milestone photography, and that's what today's post is all about. I had a go at taking my own over Miss M's first year (well, hubby usually took them), and I think they turned out beautifully.

In this first collage, I chose my favourite outfit of that month to dress her in, and sat her on the rocking chair in her nursery. Having the same background and position is really important for consistency with monthly photographs to have a nice finished product. And I like reflecting back and remembering the cute little outfits (again - these days everything has to be plain! Nothing fancy for my little fuss pot!).

In the collage below, you'll notice she's wearing the same outfit. I just bought the same white onsie and pink pants in every size (they were nice and cheap from Target and she wore them all the time). She's lying in her cot, again for consistency.

I'm planning to take monthly photos of Little Man as well (have set a permanent reminder in my phone for the 30th of each month!). I'm using these gorgeous milestone blocks {gifted from Finlee and Me}.

I love how versatile they are - you can go by weeks, months, years and/or grade. Just imagine the final product if you took a photo every week/month/year and grade until they finished school! Have a look below at some of our pics...

{Pom Pom rug thanks to Ecoviva Australia - gifted}

Another fabulous product from Finlee and Me are these Monthly Onsies! How cute are they?

Monthly Onsies - from Finlee and Me. Shop here

We got these milestone cards from our Little Lettie Box and they are another great option for your photo-a-month... as well as the toddler milestone cards below to remember those special first achievements.

Turquoise Design - Milestone Cards

Life is Peachy - Toddler Milestone Cards

I was given this gorgeous Baby Book by my Mother & Sister in law and it has month by month pages for baby's first year. What a perfect place for me to include Little Man's monthly photos!

Baby Book from Finlee and Me - Shop here

If you are into apps - Baby Pics App is a great one for monthly and milestone photography.

It's so important to capture and treasure your children growing up - and I hope you've found some useful ideas in this post... I think it's good to just give it ago, try some different things and then at the end of the year go with the ones you like best, because it's hard to visualise the finished product.

People are always saying that it's harder to keep up with all these photos when you have your second child - but I'm trying hard because I've seen the lovely result from Miss M's first year photos :)

Happy snapping!

Lauren

2

{Interview} Say Hello to Jo!

Jo has the most colourful, beautiful and inspiration Instagram feed and I absolutely adore her photographs. I don’t know how she does it! I first came across her via Fat Mum Slim as she makes a frequent appearance as one of the ‘fab 4’ in the photo a day challenge. And it was back in November of 2014 when she really caught my eye with her #handywallcandy theme for the entire month! (See what I mean here)

She cleverly built up her Instagram tribe (an amazing almost 16k followers!) before starting her blog Say Hello Jo. She’s worked with some fantastic brands (including Finlee and Me like me!) – with her Alphablock Book promotion.

Welcome Jo!

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1. Hello Jo! (how appropriate to start our chat LOL)… Would you mind sharing some of your favourite Instagram pics?

Of course!  It was hard to choose just four but so fun looking back to choose!

Grid created by @sayhellojo and used with permission

2. How exciting that you recently worked with Target!! Tell me did they approach you or did you approach them?? (asking for a friend – by ‘friend’ I mean myself)

So exciting huh!  They approached me just before Christmas last year asking if I wanted to work with them on an influencer campaign.  I love their stuff so naturally said yes.  I’ll be working with them every month showing how to get some cool colour pops into your home for next to nothing.  It combines three of my biggest loves:  colour, shopping and bargains!  It’s been a really great collaboration and I can’t wait to share what’s happening next.

3. So Mr O your darling boy starts kindy this year? How are you both feeling about this change?

Oh my goodness.  Let’s just say only one of us was ready {and it WASN’T me!}.  I took the day off work because I knew they’d be tears and I was right {again, ME guilty as charged}.  He’s been there a month and is just loving it.  I’ve got used to it too and love seeing the change in his confidence and his love of learning.  I’m hoping to start volunteering at the school soon, and am looking forward to that.

4. What kind of activities does Mr O enjoy? (Apart from wall rocking!)

He is the best model and loves exploring with me.  These days he is so fast I have to be quick to whip my phone out to get a pic before he skedaddles!

He is obsessed with fire engines, police cars and ambulances and wants to be a fireman when he grows up.  I think we have something like 20 fire engine related toys, books, dress up costumes and props floating around the house.  We always look for them on the road and the plus side is that I know where all the extinguishers and hydrants are at our local haunts.  “Look mum!” he will often say, pointing in the direction of his latest find, normally as I push the trolley around the supermarket!

5. So you’re from Perth? We are considering a family holiday over there sometime this year… Can you give me any tips of where to take the kidlets? (Miss will be 3 by then and Mr will probably 9 months?)

Perth is very family friendly and awesome for kids.  If you want to find colour for any wall rocking, I’ve shared my faves here:

In terms of areas, Fremantle, Leederville, 140 Perth and the Perth Cultural Centre are my faves; not just for photo opps but there are so many options and areas to explore plus fantastic cafes nearby, and most often, playgrounds too.   If it’s your first time here then you must visit Kings Park – it’s a massive, elevated park right on the city’s doorstep and has sweeping views across the river and to the hills.  Families are often here picnic-ing and there’s heaps of playground options to choose from too, if you don’t want to wander through the natural gardens.

The Perth Zoo is really good and for just $5 you can feed the giraffes behind the scenes from the main public areas {Have you ever been eye to eye with a giraffe}.  The kids need to be at least 4 so this is just one for Mum and Dads but the whole area is great for little ones and it has a massive playground inside.

6. How do you take your coffee?

REGULARY!   Ha!  I have a flat white {no sugar} everyday and always order it in a takeaway cup even if I’m dining in.  It’s my little quirk, I think it just tastes better like that, plus I like to collect cool cups… see…

Grid created by @sayhellojo and used with permission

7. Highlight of 2015?

Oh gosh!  Launching the blog was fun, holidaying with the fam to the Gold Coast was awesome {we particularly loved our trip to Dreamworld} , finding time to focus on me again after coming out of the “mum” phase has also been pretty good.

8. Where to next for Say Hello Jo?

I hope 2016 will be the time when I get to focus on the blog a little more.  I have so many ideas – time is just my issue, like everyone else I guess – but I want to make that a priority this year.

We also want to holiday somewhere so would love some inspo from your readers!

Until then, the reality is that my next stop will be kindy drop off or, if you’re reading this on a Saturday, think of me saying hello to the morning vortex!

9. Favourite quote?

When nothing goes right, go left!

10. Social media links ☺

Blog
Instagram
Facebook

Thanks so much for your time Jo! So pleased to have you on the blog…
I always get a takeaway cup too - so much easier when you have kids!

Thank YOU for having me!  So glad to have connected with you here!

☺

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