School holiday fun...who needs money!!

So school holidays have officially ended with term 1 starting up tomorrow. Usually I am very happy to see the end of the holidays with 6 weeks on my own with 4 children it is usually a difficult time in trying to keep them all entertained and happy. In the past I have dragged them round all over then place in an attempt to keep the masses happy... children's shows, the movies, shopping trips, special lunches and dvd hiring, not much time had been spent really playing at home or at a park as this is seen as boring. But this year with the expense of Christmas for 4 children plus 3 family birthdays in January and the returning of school for one child and the starting of school for another our cash resources have been a little light and so trips out and about have not happened much these school holidays.
Now here's the kicker...the children actually didn't mind it!!! I am left pondering if my shelling out loads of cash in the past to keep them tribe happy on holidays was a big waste of money hhmmmm.

This year we have had some great family fun just hanging out at home. Spending very minimal amounts of money yet the children have had a blast. One afternoon was spent blowing soap bubbles which was awesome. It was amazing to hear the shrieks and giggles as the 2 older children blew bubbles and Mikey (almost 2) ran around trying to catch them ( also eat them and pop them) I was very surprised at how long they actually spent doing this as in the past outside activity's usually lose their appeal within 5 minutes, but this went on for nearly 2 hours.

We have had several visits to Ballam park and also to our local parks, we are very fortunate as where we live there are 3 different parks all with about 5 to 7 minutes walk from our house. On one of our Ballam park trips we met up with Megan and her 3 boys for a play and some morning tea. It was an awesome morning not to hot and as usual the children all got on beautifully. After the park my 4 cherubs and I walked up to Karingal Hub and we were treated to a free Ninja Turtles concert/show which was a huge hit with the 2 boys but not so popular with Malinda who is 10 and so NOT into Ninja Turtles.

We have also been a bit more social in our hosting skills and have had several friends around for morning tea and of course playing!! One morning was spent with Jo and her 3 little ladies Molly, Lucy and Ruby. Peter and Molly are betrothed and very in love so they always relish time spent together. This visit started out as a morning tea catch up be we ended up eating hot chippies in the park and having an awesome time on the swings and sea saws near our place it was a wonderful day.

We have spent time with my gorgeous Goddaughter Iris who I got to babysit one day...this is a rare treat as Miss Iris is usually very attached to her mummy so I felt honoured that she was so excited about coming to have a play for the day at my house. She enjoyed spending time with my children, lunch, trying out Mikey's cot and also a bubble bath at the end of the day, I really loved having her for the day.
So apart from park trips the kids have enjoyed using up a bucket of chalk on the driveway..now this can get a little aggro as Mikey loves to scribble and draw anywhere...including over the "awesome designs" of the 5 and 10 year old so directing him away from their art work and into a space for his own was a bit tricky and in the end the older 2 children realised it n unreachable goal to shoo him away and allowed their work to be enhanced by Mikey's creativity. Again this was a very cheap activity and one that the kiddies did every couple of days with great joy and enthusiasm.... our driveway remains covered in chalked up hopscotches and the beautiful creations my cherubs came up with. (Just a tid bit...watching my very uncoordinated 5 year old try and hopscotch was a highlight of my day..it was hilarious but I kept the giggles in, in an attempt to continue to encourage him to be active and not glued to the t.v) As you can see the children got on really well together had lots of fun playing/drawing with the chalk. It really warmed my heart to watch them all play together at home and actually enjoy and want to spend time together...for those of you who have kids we all know that some times this isn't the case especially with Malinda who likes lots of personal space..and Peter likes to right up in that space can often be a source of friction.

We also celebrated Peter's 5th birthday whilst on school holidays and he enjoyed a visit from his buddy Seth and my bestie Meegs, Nanny L dropped in and we had cake when Hubby got home from work. Again we were fairly low key with this some time at home and a homemade chocolate cake. Malinda and Peter spent the morning drawing together and having birthday cuddles it was awesome and very touching to again see them getting on so well. Malinda and Peter also enjoyed having sleep overs at Uncle Adam and Aunty Pam's place (my big brother and his wife) spending time with their cousins and also had their cousins sleep over at our house. Which makes for crowded, loud delicious fun!! Over all I would have to say this has been the best school holidays yet and whilst I am very excited for my 2 eldest cherubs to be starting school this week I will miss them loads.