We have so much going on at our Facebook [Family Value & Large Families] and Twitter [Family Value & Large Families] pages and we realise not all our readers are a member of these 2 social networking avenues, nor do we expect them to be, so here it is - the week in review….

Things to do at home with the kids

• Nicole at Planning with Kids has inspired with some Christmas Themes and planning for Christmas 2011
• Catherine at Squigglemum has an awesome idea having a Backyard treasure hunt
• Childhood101 has listed Playopedia Picks : Play Ideas for BIG Kids
• Tricia from Little Eco Footprints via Childhood101 has written an inspiring article on Creating Children’s Spaces in Every Corner of Your Home
• How to make magic sand
• Lego Quest Kids is a blog dedicated to children and validating their lego creations & imagination.
• Jean has written an article for Toddler Times 11 Activities to try with your toddler
• Ohdeedoh home, design & children has presented a wonderful article on How to make ‘clean’ play slime
• Grace has a step by step guide on how to make Fizzy milk bath bombs

Recipes & Cooking

• Chicken Balls by Planning with Kids
• Nicole has suggested ‘baking days’ with the kids to fill the freezer with lunchbox snacks (yes! we have learnt muffins CAN be frozen)
• Vegie Smugglers is a new blog / website we have discovered which has lots of recipes (lunchbox stuff too!) to sneak the good stuff in!
• The Organised Housewife has a very yummy recipe for Choc Coated Oreos, Oreo Cookies & Carrot Muffins
• Childhood101 has a recipe for a different brekkie Bacon & Egg Muffins

Things to do out and about

• To spend or not to spend on school holidays……… do school holidays have to be expensive?
• Family Capers has listed a comprehensive list of zoos around Australia.  What to do this weekend - playing with animals

General issues & conversation

• Jane from My Life At Home has written a timely article 10 Things I consider in buying toys for my (young) kids
• Awesome article by Kate at Picklebums on Won’t they miss out? , discussing about our children and whether or not they need to do extra-curricular activities.
• Moving Smart has an easy explanation why You can’t run uphill indoors
• Treating worms
• WifeSwap Australia is coming soon to our TV screens, and although I won’t be applying, FYI applications are due by 15th July.  All details for applying are here
• Motherhood the Musical is currently touring, soon to be in Sydney and we have secured a very special offer especially for our readers.  For more info click here
• WIN a night out with your Mothers Group to Motherhood the Musical

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: [5 year old boy]”There’s one thing good about having lots of brothers and sisters!” [Proud Mum] “What’s that?’ [5 year old boy] “Because I get more presents!”

Today I opened a discussion on Facebook about the expense of school holidays and some of the activities that add up quickly.  Here is a list of activities that our members have been doing these holidays.  Although some may not be local to you, there are plenty of good ideas to assist in grasping the creativity to enjoy the school holidays without getting too stressed and overspending.  With a little planning and a touch of creativity, school holidays do not have to be expensive.

Here is a list of all the activities our families have been doing which will give you a rough idea of expenditure required for each activity.  ENJOY!

• $120 [6 kids - $20pp] Ten Pin Bowling at one of the Oz Tenpin Centres, for 6 children including 2 games & lunch (hot dog & fries, or nuggets & fries) it cost  $120 for 2 - 3 hours entertainment.
• FREE PJ day at home, lots of Wii ‘Just Dance’ and board games
• $25 PLUS $7.50pp Queensland Air Museum OPEN Cockpit Day & Caloundra Central Cinemas
• $22 Family Ticket at your local indoor heated pool (check your local pool for prices)
• $100 [for 4 people]  to go to the movies (cheaper alternative - each of the kids can choose a new DVD for $10 each)
• $2 if you have one locally go to the an All Abilities Adventure Playground (sometimes gold coin donation entry), cook up a bag of popcorn for $1 for snack and the day has cost just $2!
• FREE get each of the kids a TOY CATALOGUE from one of the big toy stores and they can cut & paste into their scrapbooks or on recycled paper from old school books.  Will keep them occupied for hours even if it is indulging them with their ‘wants’ (they can dream can’t they!)
• PICNIC LUNCH Museum of Brisbane & Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art [GoMA]
• $59.95  KidPix Deluxe 3D for MAC available at the Apple store keeps the kids occupied for hours on the laptop making movies and pulling lots of funny faces!
• $20 Village Cinemas Coburg Drive-In is offering $20 per carload every Monday night! (Check out your local drive in for some cool deals!)
• FREE  Locals within the shires of Townsville, Charter Towers, Burdekin, & Hinchinbrook enjoy FREE entry at the Museum of Tropical Queensland , then head on down to one of the playgrounds in the shire.
• $6 [$1 pp] Pilot’s Cottage Museum, Kiama
• FREE City Circle Tram
• $15 per family PCYC [Police Citizens Youth Club] NSW , QLD , WA , TAS , NT , ACT , SA ,VIC
• Kids FREE, Adults $8 Immigration Museum School Holiday Program July 2011
• Kids FREE, Adults $8 Melbourne Museum
• FREE State Library of Victoria

 The great outdoors

• camping
• bushwalking
• parks
• playgrounds
• beaches
• bike riding

Handy items to have on hand in an emergency to entertain

• craft stuff (don’t have to purchase, just save stuff around the house)
• science kits
• DVDs
• jigsaw puzzles
• chalk (for outside drawing) & liquid chalk (for drawing on windows)
• dress-ups (kids can practice for a concert that takes all day, then it’s only a short time the parents endure the ‘performance’)
• playdough

Family Value Article: Keeping the children entertained on school holidays without sending you broke!

Do you have any other ideas?

Today was spent with the whole family in ‘domesticated bliss’.  I decided it was time to work as a family and clean the bedrooms TOGETHER as a family, and today was also declared a ‘NO Nintendo DS or computer technology day’. So it is with the voices of Justine Clarke ‘I Like To Sing’, SNACK ‘Oh Have You Heard?’ and the CD ‘When I Grow Up’ by ABC in the background we began & completed our tasks with TOTAL SUCCESS!  3 clean bedrooms, a kitchen, a laundry and a living area. 

So how did I do it?  With the promise that if we all helped each other we would celebrate at The Pancake Parlour.

And so it was we enjoyed a meal at The Pancake Parlour.  We highly recommend the Pancake Parlour for kid friendly fun with the ‘funny mirrors’, the ‘pancake train’ that runs on the hour every hour, colouring pictures for the kids with crayons to use, and fast and friendly service.  We had a lovely time and it was a lovely reward for all our hard work.

The Pancake Parlour is exclusive to Melbourne with the exception of one in Canberra.  Also, we managed to get 25% off using our Entertainment Book coupon.  Bargain! It’s also worth subscribing to the Pancake Parlour e-newsletter for exclusive member offers.

• Have you been to the Pancake Parlour? 
• I’d love to hear your experiences and your favourite ‘family eating hang outs’

P.S.  Hoping today’s exercise teaches the kids that rewards do come with hard work…….

Watch out models - hear I come! I won some Dr. Lewinn’s Private Formula Line Smoothing Complex S8 Night Intensity Night Cream 30g valued at $99.95. Look out! Apparently an alternative to botox! I am generally  NOT a night cream person, ‘nor do I have a large amount of wrinkles however maybe I should just begin. If it’s anti-ageing it’s got to be worth a try! I’ve had a fetish for entering competitions of late and so far I have won a book and now some night cream! Both 25 words or less competitions. I’m on a roll. My secret? Pop on over to the Australian Competitions Club and the world of competitions is only a click away. The club is free to join and has a massive amount of competitions! This particular prize was through a Marie Claire competition. My book was won through Missy Confidential. Go on! Give it a burl - you never know, you too might win some night cream! I’d love to hear stories of what you have won!

Today I am going to have a little grumble!

Firstly, it was school photo day today. I have 3 children at school. I ordered 3 full sets of photos at $27 each, however, I only have to pay for the first two packages, the third is free! This is fantastic! A company that recognises large families! However, I always like to have a copy of the school photos on disk (in fact I like all my photos on disk), as the quality is much better and in case of fire, everything is easily accessible. (Paranoid I know!). Anyway, I rang the company this morning asking how much it would be to purchase as disk. Last year with the same company I paid $50 for the disk for all photos (bearing in mind I had already paid the $54 for the 2 sets of full photos). I was blown away. I had to pay $16 per photo to have the photos e-mailed to me! - now hold on to your seats! - BUT if I wanted them to post me the photos on a disk it was going to cost $30 per photo! How is that justified? (Of course I chose the e-mail option - they’d better be good photos!)

I’d just got over that and I went into our local supermarket to purchase a Morning Fresh & 2ltr bottle of diet coke.

The total came to $9.58 so I handed the ‘checkout chick’ my MASTERCARD. She looked at me pathetically and said. Oh! Can you just buy a fudge or something you need to spend at least $10. You’ve got to be kidding! Sometimes I fall for this but this time I took a stand and walked out of the shop - didn’t purchase anything. I’ve had it with businesses wanting that last little dollar squeezed out of me! Now I’m a good shopper and I feel I give a lot to the retail world, but beware, I don’t usually go back to the stores who do these itty bitty petty annoying things! The world is taken over by greed! I found an article that the Sydney Morning Herald wrote back on December 21st 2007 entitled Rules on Credit Cards Ignored . Does anyone else get frustrated by this rule that is imposed by some businesses?

On a lighter note - this is a picture of Lachlan & Corey with the freebies that arrived in the mail for them today! They were so pleased with themselves! Corey & Lachlan got a membership package from the Red Hot Riders Club, and Lachlan also received a Shell Motorsport Sticker Set - awesome! They both watched the DVD with interest and as you can see, Corey proudly pinned his new additions on his pinboard. The Family Value Forum has an up to date list of freebies on offer. Do you know of any freebies for kids?