Lets face it! The weather sucks, well for most people anyway - but especially if you have little ones. The afternoons when it’s too hot to nap, too hot to be outside and sweaty, sticky fingers just want to curl up in your lap when all you want to do is lay in front of the air conditioning! What do you do? I don’t have much patience on days like this. Instead, I have an idea on how to beat the heat and occupy the kids!

What is it? I hear you ask.... well, let me share with you a way to make the little fingers in your house cool down. Ice painting. Yes, it’s that simple!

You may have seen them in the “Reject Shop” or cheap stores, but there are heaps of shapes and styles of ice cube trays in a variety of animal designs. You don’t even need those, just a regular ice tray is fine! The more fun you make it though, the longer you will keep the rug rats busy.

Lets add water, and different food colouring colours to the water, and pop in a toothpick. Carefully, pop it into the freezer. During the heat of the day, and the crankiness that goes with it - grab them out. And lets start to paint! Here, I am showing them being used to paint paper. Why not try concrete as well? Why not put them in a glass of water and watch the shapes melt? 

Its fun, cheap and most of all something you can do to cool down on a very hot day. Thank goodness there are only a few more weeks of Summer left! This is one of the original kiddy chill pills! 

Written by guest writer Alice Slamani. Known as The Laundry Fairy and also Creative Consultant at gFocus Photography (www.gFocusPhotography.com)

Now that my kids are teenagers, I look back fondly and realise what a stress head I was in the beginning. Knowing, learning and believing what is right for your kids is all you ever think about when the first one comes along. When the second comes along, you think you’ve got things under control - until you realise the work load is actually doubled! Only then do you learn some short-cuts, and by short-cuts I mean you stop giving ALL of your time to stressing! Here is my top list of things I wish I would have listened to, if I could have my do-over.

• Kids don’t die if they wear mis-matched socks!
• Nutella is a food group when eaten off a spoon with a glass of milk
• You will survive if you don’t have a change of clothes in the car for each hour of the day
  
• Forget the nappy bag! If you cant carry it in your pocket, you don’t need it! We are never too far from home that we cant get something
  
• No baby died from not having a nappy change in the middle of the night
  
• On that note, if you boob-feed and sleep with baby in the bed, you really don’t need to get up in the middle of the night! WINNING!
  
• Alcohol is bad for children, but rubbing rum on the gums of a screaming teething child works
  

• Take photos of random stuff anytime. But don’t publish them ALL on Facebook. Show off on social media! Its all about who is the most awesome!
  
• Keep lists in the car, kitchen, toilet. (yes! Stick paper on the wall with a pencil. Crayon on the back of the door works too!)
  
• Put a lock on one room of the house. Its important to be able to lock the buggars out of somewhere
  
• Never buy a highlighter! If a kid draws on a wall with yellow highlighter, it NEVER comes off, no matter how many coats of paint you use! (true fact! trust me!)
  
• Breakfast for dinner is fun
  
• Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for your parenting. If so, tell them their kid is fat, then ask them how they feel?
  
• Everyone lies about how often they changes their sheets.
  
• Ear plugs work
  
• Let your kids make a mess, build a fort and sleep on the floor. 
  
• Keep a book by the bed, and write a memory every day. Write down everything funny - because even though you think you will never forget, you will
  
• Don’t blog or publish online the extra special moments. Keep them private, they will never be forgotten
  
• Undies and socks can be turned inside out
  
• Don’t brag about how awesome your kid is. You will never win that conversation with anyone. All of us think our child is the most special.
  
• Try not to be a “gunna” with your kids. Gunna go the Royal Show, Zoo, shops or anywhere just spoils a kid’s respect of you. Be a do-er, if you can. Although, kids need to live with disappointment
  
• Laugh when your kids remind you of yourself. Then remember to call your own parents and apologise!
  

Remember always, they are your kids, no one else’s! And, you are always the parent and THE BOSS!

If there is one thing my son loves more than food it's definitely trains! So this year for his birthday I decided to do a train themed birthday party - however - I didn't want a licensed or character party so had to avoid the massive range of Thomas the Tank Engine & Chuggington. Because of this, I made all my decorations by myself :)

We'll start off with the biggest decoration of all - the pinata! I made this bad boy with 3 pieces of large poster cardboard, some tissue paper for decoration, masking tape to hold it all together, some string to tie it up with & glue. I miscalculated my measurements so I had to tape some extra cereal boxes lying around to add length & I used a toilet roll for the chimney of the train.

Here is the before decoration & finalized.

For the games we are doing simple ideas because the little ones will all be around the 2-5 year old mark. So we have chosen the pinata & a small game of pass the parcel. I was browsing through the shops the other day searching for pass the parcel goodies that fell into the theme of trains but couldn't find anything I liked that would suit both boys and girls. Just as I was about to leave I came across these pop up books which were on sale for only $1 each! I thought they were perfect but way too heavy for little ones to pass around 15 pop-up board books so I improvised. In each layer of the pass the parcel there is 2 candy rolls & a little note tied around them that reads "Choo Choo Choose A Book! :)" They will then at the end of the game go to the table where the books will be set for them to choose one of the 3 types of pop-up books available.

Below is the self explanatory stuff - the cups, crayon boxes, colouring in sheets, party hats, the birthday banner & the snack containers.

Finally the take home party favours - I kept it train themed & made a DIY Train Track Candy Bag - It contains 6 m&m's, 2 strips of licorice and 6 chocolate coated licorice bullets. They look like the picture on the left & get set up like the one on the right.

The rest of the party remains a surprise until after the party on the 16th of February. :) There is loads of food fun & decoration ideas to share with you after that! :)