Catching the Magic

Travels in New Zealand and beyond, going back to 2003!

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Art

Easter eggs, masks & baskets

March 31, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 2 Comments Art, Charlotte, Sophie

A special Easter parcel arrived from Chicken Grandma and has kept the girls busy creating decorative Easter eggs (a fabulous Marks & Spencers kit), masks and baskets. With Charli off school due to a virus and eye infection the timing of the parcels was perfect. The girls are in their element being creative and turning […]

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Chicken Grandma in more ways than one!

March 31, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Art, Charlotte

When Charli was very little my Mum used to make animal sounds on the telephone and one sound in particular stuck – that of a chicken. When Grandma phoned, Charli would say, ‘Chicken Grandma!’. Well, Chicken Grandma has been doing an art course and sent the girls a copy of one of her latest paintings […]

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Sophie’s finger puppet

March 26, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Art, Sophie

She’s had a busy week and amongst other things she created this wonderful finger puppet: She’s also been cleaning the windows… And enjoying the sunshine in the garden…

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Sophie’s Quill Pen

March 20, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 8 Comments Art, Random Musings, Sophie

One sunny autumnal day last week Sophie and I were walking along the beach. She started collecting seagull feathers, which promptly joined the bottle tops, leaves, pebbles and sweet wrappers in the bottom of my bag. I mentioned that many years ago feathers were used to write with and were called quills. She didn’t believe […]

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Charli’s before school weaving

March 19, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Art, Charlotte

Charli never stops, from the moment she wakes until she reluctantly surrenders to sleep (and even in her sleep she talks – or screams!). She has such an active mind and is forever off in a corner of the house creating something, be it art, writing, a song or a dance; or in the garden […]

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Sophie’s Tulips

March 18, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Art, Sophie

We found a lovely quick craft idea to make tulips for Easter (we’re in total denial of autumn!). Sophie loved this little project. We started by painting old egg cartons green (as in the video demonstration on About.com), for the bud of the tulip, but then Sophie came up with the idea of covering the […]

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More whiteboard art

March 14, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Art, Charlotte, Sophie

Guess what we’re doing today? By Charli: And other whiteboard creations from Charli: And Sophie is so looking forward to seeing her friend at the museum… and has joined Charli in whiteboard art.

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Charli’s white-board updates

March 1, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 6 Comments Art, Charlotte

Charli has been cracking us up lately with her daily white-board updates outside her room. Here’s a few from the past week: She also uses her whiteboard to vent her anger and on occasion puts up a sign to say who can and cannot enter her room! The other morning she was fed up with […]

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One wet summer Saturday

January 17, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Art, School hols

What to do on a wet and windy summer Saturday? Get out the paints and get messy! We spent two hour’s on Saturday morning stepping in plates of paint and then soaking our feet in buckets of warm, soapy water to create a huge ‘Welcome’ banner for Grandma and Granddad’s arrival from the UK tomorrow […]

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Down-time

January 12, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 8 Comments Art, Charlotte, School hols

It struck me this week how valuable the downtime of the long school holidays really are. I’ve watched Charli settle into the joy of no routine and having freedom to utilize her time to her own clock. She has grown so much in the past school year and learnt so much, but this downtime gives […]

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Easing into 2010

January 5, 2010May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 5 Comments Art, Our pets, School hols

Five day’s into 2010… The weather in Welly is being a tad dicey for us, but we’re grabbing the good and sheltering from the bad (wild winds + late pregnancy hormones = unpredictable mother who should come with a ‘handle with care’ label). Monday morning on Oriental Parade was entertaining in high winds – cycling […]

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A dose of culture

December 21, 2009May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 4 Comments Art, School hols

On Friday morning we awoke with no need to rush for the bell and all felt quite strange as a result. We’d become so used to ‘the system’ that we all felt a little lost and miffed as to what to do. We decided to get up and out as per usual and take Daddy-O […]

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Advent castle calendars

December 5, 2009May 27, 2010 BritMumInNZ 2 Comments Art, Charlotte, Sophie

The girls spent yesterday afternoon and this morning making advent castle calendars. Daddy-O got in on the act this morning and helped Charli out with her ‘haunted’ castle – eek! Sophie has rainbow stickers hidden under the doors and windows of her castle, which I enjoyed helping her with. We’re really getting in the spirit […]

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Cards for their teachers

December 4, 2009December 5, 2009 BritMumInNZ 3 Comments Charlotte, Sophie

The girls transformed the dinning table into their craft base last night. Glitter and sparkles still remain, as though we’ve had a visitation from the fairies. The reason? Christmas cards for their teachers. Charli has done cards for the teacher aides, the headmaster and the school secretary. She’s really hoping to get through Wednesday’s audition […]

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