Hello magical people! I’m posting this late for the past couple of weeks or early for Monday, since it looks like we’ll be out of town.
Baby Fiona and I are doing great. She’s up to 9 pounds (she was 8 1/2 at birth) and she’s an extremely happy, sweet baby. We all adore her, and her older siblings rush to kiss and care for her.
I am recovering very well from the surgery, which is a huge relief. Fiona’s birth made five C-sections, which is a truly alarming number! We had planned on only having three children because more than three C-sections is considered so risky, but I am quite happy that Alex and Fiona thwarted our intentions. 😉
In any event, I thought I’d dash off a list of ways to make a little magic this week. Here’s a few ideas…
1. Leave a spooky family message on the answering machine or voice mail.
2. For a fun twist on bobbing for apples, hang donuts from strings and challenge the kids to eat them without using their hands.
3. Make junk drawer pumpkins. These are so cute!
4. After Halloween, let the kids go nuts smashing pumpkins. It’s surprisingly fun! 😉 For more fun pumpkin ideas, click here.
5. Add water balloons to your child’s bath. No, you don’t throw them, but they’re fun to play with!
6. Go hiking someplace wild and wonderful.
7. Start having an international day once a week for lunch or dinner. Play music from a chosen country and serve a traditional meal from that region. If you like, try to dress family members in suitable clothes or add some games or traditions too. You can start with relatively “easy” countries that are pretty familiar to most of us in terms of cuisine and culture or dive right into new and different ones. Some possible countries are China, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Greece, Australia, Ethiopia and Iceland.
8. Learn the polka, hokey pokey, macarena or another silly dance together.
9. Have a pajama party with another mama friend and her kiddos. Everybody camp out in the living room or head home at bedtime. Pop popcorn, watch movies everybody loves, play games and be silly.
10. Rake a leaf maze in the backyard and take turns running it.
And with that, chickadees, I’m off to snuggle a little girl and feed some masses.
Have a magical week!