7 Ways To Take Things Outside

Great post written by Moi! It says 7 ways but there are far more than 7 activities and ideas included. This is for a guest post I did for the lovely Lisa Nolan at Confessions Of A Montessori Mom, who I have know virtually, for I think, most of my blogging life!

Pop over and have a read (and leave a comment!) HERE

Don't Open Until 2025

This is one of those projects that has dragged on somewhat, until last weekend when I put a completion date on it!

The Time Capsule

This all came about from the Andy Warhol exhibition that we went to a couple of months ago. One part of the exhibit had a big pile of time capsule boxes that Warhol had collected, each having an array of oddments from one little segment of time. We decided when we were there that it would be a pretty neat thing to do. Maybe not 600+ boxes like Warhol had, obviously he didn't live in a Japanese house!

So Ebi-kun collected together various bits and bobs, local paper, the Ikea magazine we were featured in, some work from school, photo's and nicknacks. Then he decided to write a book to go with it.

In the book he wrote about the following:

• my favourite things
• shopping list with prices
• 10 places he wants to visit and why
• 7 types of food he wants to try and where he wants to eat them
• a typical school day
• and his predictions about his life when he opens the box in 2025, which leads to this page…

I think I might like tequila, oh, how I laughed! You'd have thought we were slamming back the tequila shots every weekend! Such a contrast with the goldfish, can't wait to see whether this predictions come true.

Once everything was finished, we sealed up the box and put it away until the big day. I entered it in my google calendar just so we don't forget!

Shhhh…What ebi-kun doesn't know is that both daddy and I wrote him a letter and sneaked that in the box too!

Don't forget to pop back in 11 years time for the grand opening!

Have you ever done anything like this with your kids? If so, what was in your box?

My Little One-Yard Wonders has arrived…

About this time of year, two years ago, I was asked it I would like to contribute to the latest One Yard Wonder book, this one would have the focus on kids. Although I was moving away from the sewing side of things I said yes because…well I just like making stuff, especially for kids!

I had sort of forgotten about the project until I received a recent email and I was chuffed to bits to have this delivered…

About the book, it's called Little One-Yard Wonders from Storey Publishing available on Amazon and the Book Depository (free international shipping). At the bottom of the post I will tell you how you can maybe get a free copy! Its spiral bound which means it lies flat when you are using it - great when you are sewing! 

There are 101 projects all using 1 yard of fabric and there is a good mix of fabrics too. If you like sewing and you have little ones you want to make gifts for, you'll love it because there are so many cute ideas. Boys get a good few projects too (I tend to find boys barely get a look-in usually) and I have already earmarked several projects, like this…

This is one of mine, a chair tidy and cushion, it is designed in a way that you can make it to fit any chair…

And the story cushion, great for telling stories or just for keeping special treasure in…

One final thing that I love, is the pocket with the patterns. It really annoys me when you spend good money on a book and then they expect you to go and photocopy and enlarge the pattern pieces, so I was really happy to see this feature. 

I haven't had chance to try any of the patterns out yet, I will keep you posted when I do!

You want to get your hands on a free copy? Well…next week I am hosting a 2 year anniversary giveaway over on My Organized Chaos and Storey Publishing have kindly agreed to donate 2 copies of Little One Yard Wonders. The giveaway bundle is worth over $3700! If you are not already on the MOC playbook list, hop on below so you can be sure not to miss out of the BIG giveaway!

Pink, Pink Pancakes…

A juicing update! Ebi-kun is totally hooked on these fresh juices, he can't get enough of them - no complaints here about that! I can't remember what was in this one but it was more veg based. He looks very grown up to me in this pic, my little baby, where did he go?

So, I tried using the fibre that is left over from the juice to make pancakes. The first lot didn't go over very well, it had quite a lot of veg in it but the suit based ones were popular, these were made with beets, looked great but the boys weren't fussed on them (didn't stop them from scoffing the whole lot, so they couldn't have been that bad!)

I used..

1 egg

1 cup plain flour

1 cup milk

Fruit fibre

baking powder

Make the batter as usual then add the fibre, put tablespoon dollops on a hot gribble or pan and you are done!

Ebi-kuns Aikido Training

I don't always go to Aikido training with the boys, it depends if I think the Dojo will either be freezing cold or way to hot and if I have other stuff to be doing at home. It was good to go any after a break and see how Ebi-kun is doing…

He's a lot more confident these days and much happier at school, which is obviously good!

Some well deserved ME time

I'm sure I'm not the only mom that misses having "me" time! Just time to do what the heck I want! With not having any family nearby and baby-sitting not being part of the culture; plus the stupid long working hours, it's really hard to get time off!

After the fun day at the football ground, I left the boys to fend for themselves and headed back into town. It was a beautiful day, warm but the humidity hasn't really kicked in yet so comfortable. took a detour through a Japanese garden…

And walked around the big shrine…

Where I spotted a wedding party all in traditional garb, she must have been so hot in that kimono, hat and wig!

Random shot of small bar, just because it looked kinda interesting!

I didn't have much time so after I had nipped in to buy a gift for a friend it was time to meet up with the girls, finally a girls night out! We went to a lovely restaurant to start with (you know it was a good night out when you go to more than one place!) The food was delicious and I'm totally going to steal this idea… lovely fresh veg served on ice and with a hot dipping sauce, which was anchovy based, so I skipped that….

We also went to an izakaya which wasn't worth shouting about, then the hardcore gals, carried on and the others went home! I managed not to miss the last train, thankfully! 

Getting up at 6.30am the next morning wasn't great though and since it was father's day I was on breakfast duty - really didn't plan that well! Looking forward to the next one though, hope we can organize a bit quicker this time!

Fellow Bloggers and Wanna Be Authors

I've been working on something new!

And it's almost ready but I can't sit on it any longer! 

I've had SO many questions about the publishing the Montessori Inspired and The Gallery Art book that I decided to turn the questions and answers into a program. Hop over and take a look, if it is something you are interested in, sign up for the VIP list and you will get the very-special early-bird offer when the program is launched!

Click HERE

Omiya Ardija Fun Day

Saturday was Omiya Ardija's family fun day so Ebi-kun and daddy had planned to go along and I was going to take some well deserved me time BUT Ebi-kun the won a spot to play with some of the Omiya team players, he was super excited so of course I couldn't not go! It goes in a lottery so it's a matter of luck to get a place.

We met up with some friends and were having a walk around when the Goalie, Kitano walked past, he did a double take at Ebi-kun and said "ohesashiburi" (long time no see)! He remembered Ebi-Kun from last year and we managed to get a cheeky photo even though they had a no photos rule!

Of course Ebi-kun was made up!

Then we went to check out what was happening on the pitch, they had 'blind football' where you have to wear a mask and try and score a goal using a ball with a bell inside. And there were other events going on for kids of all ages.

Then it was time for Ebi-kun to make his appearance, they had 15 kids, all 3rd and 4th graders and split them into 3 teams. Then they had a pro player on each team.

Girls and boys playing together too. The kids all looked as if they were having fun and the pro players were great. 

And here's Ebi-kun, taking it down the pitch, gets it past Shin Kanazawa and….

GOAAAAAAAAL !!

I'm not sure if these fun days are done back home, hard to imagine it happening but a great afternoon, the kids were absolutely loving it. When Ebi-kun was waiting for his turn I spotted one of the foreign players, so I went and asked for his autograph but had to get him to sign the back page of my novel because I hadn't got anything else to write on! Ebi-kun then managed to get a couple more, including Kitano the goalie so he was chuffed to bits and he can't wait to write about the day in his journal!

Words To Live By…

I was in town the other day and feeling rather inspired after seeing some t-shirts, which was a surprise because usually I am cringing at the awful English!

And this one is from Uniqlo I think…

I started to think that Japan had got it sorted, no more Japlish but then, as I head back home I spot…

Here comes the rainy season…

Quite possibly my least favourite season in Japan, cleaning is a nightmare and so is laundry because everything goes mouldy so quickly, the mosses arrive and I am a tasty bit of meat as far as they are concerned! Plus the temperature suddenly rises and it is horribly humid too blah!

On the upside, we get some cracking thunderstorms, who doesn't love a good thunderstorm! And the garden loves it…

I'm so happy that we will be escaping the heat of the summer and going back to the UK for the whole of August! Whoop-whoop. It is Ebi-kuns birthday whilst we are there, his first time to have an overseas birthday, I have something VERY exciting planned.

Have you got anything exciting planned for the summer/winter hols?

How To Make Goo

Ebi-kun came home from school the other day and requested to make goo or gloop or whatever you want to call it. We have done this before but he had the urge to do it again!

What you need:
Corn starch
water
food colour
bowl to mix

We didn't actually measure anything, not very scientific, I know but it's a good way for kids to learn that not everything has to be done perfectly correctly!

Then we decided to take it outside. We talked about the goo being an oobleck and why it acts the way that it does.

Neither of us know how he managed to do this gravity defying trick!

Definitely more fun outside but I'm not sure what the neighbours think of the strange goings on, I'm not sure I give us 'foreigners' a good name, like I care!

After lots of pouring, punching, squeezing and dripping he decided to make some artwork with it…

Quick, cheap and easy entertainment, can't shake a stick at that! Have you tried making goo with your kids?

Lots of free resources, printables and activities available in the free resources library

Click the image below to get free access pass to the jojoebi resource library

Bread Disaster

I promise not to turn into one of those crazy juice ladies who post 300 pics of juice a day and talk about it obsessively! But… I have just invested in a juicer, we only had a blender before so technically we have been having smoothies. What a difference the juicer makes and I have been trying some pretty odd blends but so far (apart from too much ginger in this pink number) they have all been delicious!

This has beetroot, carrot, pineapple, basil and ginger in it, next time I will skip the ginger!

But after you are done with the juice you are left with a big pile of pulp, which has lots of fibre in it, in the booklet that came with the book it showed bread made with the pulp. So, I did like any sensible person would do, I didn't read the instructions and just threw the pulp in with the mix to make the bread… not such a hot idea!

Total bread fail! Oh well, next experiment will be with pancakes, I will let you know how that goes…

It's time to party…

With the party hedgehogs! So, a couple of weeks back I had the Saturday at home to myself and fancied a bit of sewing. I looked through all my books, oh which I have plenty, but nothing caught my eye. Then I remembered about Jodie's cute party hedgehogs!

I knew I had the perfect fabric, some would argue it was Wookie fur not hedgehog but I disagree.

The pattern is a downloadable PDF which means you print and sew! And that is what I did, popped on some Project Runway and stitched me some little party friends. Super easy pattern, suitable for beginners, the actual pattern size is the small hedgy then I enlarged it to make mama hedgy.

I know there haven't been many sewing/crafty posts recently, I do have some big news coming soon so do stay tuned!

If you want to grab the pattern it is HERE

How To Make Your Own Granola

Like I said the other day, I'm trying to fill up Ebi-kun with healthy food for breakfast. In the winter we usually eat porridge but no-one fancies it now it is getting warmer. We don't have much of a range of cereals available either and most of them are covered in sugar (something we are trying to cut down on). 

Someone in the Japan cooking group posted about making her own granola so I thought I'd give it a go too. In a bowl I mixed together some rolled barley, oats, shredded coconut, sesame seeds & puffed rice. Heated up 3 tbsp of honey and 3 tbsp of coconut oil together then stirred it through the mix. Spread it out on a baking sheet and baked at 160deg C for 45 minutes. Giving it a stir every 15 minutes or so. Once it was cool, I stirred in some dried fruit. Easy!

We have been eating it with milk or yoghurt and fresh fruit, it is rather chewy but it got the thumbs up from everyone! We have been alternating some kind of eggs dish with granola but I could do with some more ideas. It has to be quick and easy, no baking, maximum of 10 minutes cooking time if it needs cooking and healthy. Ebi-kun doesn't eat much at night so it's important I fill him up with all the good stuff first thing!

Our Nature Table

I just found this half written post in the draft folder! No idea why I didn't finish it, better late than never hey?

Our nature table is actually the top of the book shelf, Ebi-kun love collecting things when we are out - are there any kids out there who don't? So the turnover of items is usually pretty high. I got this little display box from Muji a while ago, one of the Montessori principles is that things should be presented beautifully so I try to encourage that and ask him to display his treasure like it was a museum…

We also have a basket for treasure too big for the display box and keep a magnifying glass handy too…

The treasure changes with the seasons, sometimes it's fresh flower petals, which smell lovely…

And sometimes it's fallen leaves, decorating them with gold and silver pens and glitter seems to be all the rage in these parts recently…

Of course, these collections can be used as a leap pad into learning, asking open ended questions and encouraging research plus study drawings…

And the best bit is… it's all free!

Do you have a nature table? Where is it? What is the set up like?

Design Your Own Beads

Ebi-kun likes making things with the Hema (Perla) beads, if you don't know them, you put the beads on the little plastic grid then cover with wax paper and iron them until they fuse together. It's fun. But he was bored of doing the designs that came with the pack but when he started winging it he would get half way through and realize that it wouldn't work and then get really frustrated.

The solution! I made some paper grids for the size of plastic grid, which meant he can plan the design first on paper…

Works like a charm and we haven't had any meltdowns over the little plastic beads since. 

If you want to make your own, just open a word processing app, draw a cycle, then copy it until you have a row representing the number of pegs on the grid. Group the circles together the copy and paste until you have enough rows.

If drawing circles is too taxing, go old skill and just do a load of oooooooooo!