My oldest son just turned 12 on February 4th. We've found that on other years, the birthday celebrations get swallowed up in the beginning of the school year combined with hot summer weather so this year, we had two total surprises for him. His extra-curricular activity is archery. For the last couple of years he's used the bows and arrows at the archery range. We hadn't thought of buying him his own until we knew that he was serious about the sport, because even the cheapest are quite expensive. He's proved that he is serious, so we ordered him his own and went to pick it up for him.

Then on the evening before his birthday, my husband had arranged a laser-skirmish session down town with Logan's cousins, uncle and a group of friends. We drove to my sister's place to pick up her boys and meet everyone there, and Logan was certain we were just going to have tea with their family. It's good when surprises pay off.

Apart from the birthday planning, I thought I'd just post a simple little homemade paint exercise we discovered in a new book. Emma and Blake both thoroughly enjoyed it and I was surprised by how well it actually worked. Here's the recipe and process.

Tempera Egg Paint

coloured chalk (brighter the better)

muffin tin

egg and some water

spoon & fork

old bowl

hammer or round rock

paintbrushes and paper

1. Break off small pieces of coloured chalk and grind them to powder in an old bowl with the hammer.

2. Put the coloured powders into separate cups of the muffin tin.

3. Crack the egg and separate the yolk from the white.

4. Put the yolk in a clean bowl and mix it with 2 teaspoons of water. Whip it with a fork until the mixture is frothy yellow.

5. Add spoons of egg-water to the powdered chalk and stir with a paintbrush until you make a smooth, runny paint.

6. Now use the egg tempera paint to make a painting.