For all you do for me, all you’ve given me,

I really appreciate you . . .  Thank You.”

As The Polkadots, we are finding one of the really lovely aspects of meeting more and more children at our concerts, is seeing the devotion and love shown them by you, their mothers. We know that you have to be the cook, nurse, bus-driver, coach and team-mate, artist, tutor, singer, dancer etc., most of which you never trained for, but you still keep on giving and trying and working.

On behalf of all the children you share with us, for all you do for them, for all you’ve given them, we really appreciate you . . . Thank You.

Happy Mother’s Day.

From The Polkadots

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”

We have had quite a number of mums recommend this blog to us, saying how inspiring it is and how much they love to go back and visit it. So we thought we would pass on the recommendation to all of our mum readers.

The Power of Moms describes there blog as being ”all about moms helping other moms become the mothers and people they really want to be. We’ve got over 70 writers, 50 trainers, and 30 board members (all “regular moms” who want to learn and share with other moms) working together to create the great new posts, podcasts, videos and programs available every day.”

There is sooooo much inside this blog/website that we don’t really know where to start with reviewing it for you… lets just list a few of the features here to tickle your interest.

• Family Building Resources (tips and ideas on how to build strong families)
• Parent Forums
• Book Reivews
• Articles about parenting
• Online parenting seminars
• Links to other blogs and websites of interest to mums

One of the aspects of this blog/website that we liked and that other mums have told us they like is the fact that it is written by more than just one mum, its got a broad view and perspective on parenting from its various different writers.

It celebrates motherhood, looks for ways to empower mothers in their day to day parenting journey and gives a forum for mothers to share and collaborate over the issues that are relevant to them that day.

Enjoy!

A very funny moment that happened just recently, was when I was trying to get the girls to bed early (because we had something on that evening) but it seemed like the harder I tried to settle them, and get them to sleep they just kept  doing the opposite. Finally, I had enough and decided it was time to ‘drop the hammer’. I started into my stern voice “This is not okay! You girls are not listening and you’re making me feel very frustrated   .. etc etc. Then as I am sort of dying down because I can see that they are starting to get the point, my two year old Ellie jumps up and shouts in a voice fully mocking my own “GIRLS, THIS IS VERY I M P O R T A N I N T!” As frustrated as I was it was hilarious!

OOOooh too many! I’d have to say most of them are most definitely not funny at the time but when I look back are hilarious! Especially when sharing these kinds of stories with other mums, it’s like ‘Phew, I’m not the only lunatic!’ At the moment i don’t think I can pinpoint a specific one as a lot of them happen on a regular basis! So one I just have to share, (and I’m soooo sure you all do it, please just say yes!) is when I’m driving in the car with Brookie and Charlotte and Brooklyn always seems to have a spaz whenever we leave either her Grandma’s or cousins’ house. So if I haven’t already prepared her beforehand to be pleasant when I tell her it’s time to leave, she’ll often throw a tanty and I’ll end up literally picking her and putting her in the car. So we’re on our way to pick up Daddy from work at about 4.15pm which is when we’re all tired from the day and Brooklyn’s howling which gets Charlotte crying and everyone will be crying, then (if I’m too tired to try and sing/be happy/ speak ‘calmly’) I’ll just start crying/howling/screaming to join the choir and add some volume for the whole trip and as I’m writing this I’m just cracking up because it’s just too funny the thought of it! Then we get to Linc he opens the car and he’s like “oh man”.  That is SUCH a Mummy moment for me! Like I said, not funny at the time but funny now.

Just a week or two ago I had one of those mornings where I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and no matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t shake it. And I don’t know if everything kept going wrong because I was in a bad mood and it just seemed worse, or if it was just a morning of bad luck, but either way. . . it was bad! Things kept spilling and breaking, phone calls with bad news to mess up my plans kept coming in, Ashton was taking what seemed like HOURS to eat his breakfast! I finally got out of the house and was getting into the car when the final calamity of events was set in motion. . . As I stood and tried to recover I sensed Ashton (my 2 year old) standing watching me, waiting to see how I would react. I threw my hands up and said, “Ashton, I just don’t think this morning could get any worse.” He then put his hands on his hips and said, “I know Mum, I just can’t believe it!” This response was very unexpected and was just what I needed to snap me out of my mood and make me laugh… and I couldn’t have said it better myself! He then proceeded to tell me he loved me as we drove up the drive way!

Just RIGHT click on the links below and select SAVE AS to download the songs to your computer. Then maybe you could use the songs as a background song to your very own mothers day photo/video montage for your mum/grandma.

We hope you enjoy our little freebee today and hope you, will help us spread the love by sharing the songs and links with those that you love!!

I love you this much mp3

Thank You Song mp3

Glee did a popular remix of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ now The Polkadots have their own ‘Mummalicious’ version.  Watch and have a laugh.

Also check out The Polkadots Tribute to Mums CLICK HERE

Have you ever read a story book to a child and had the thought “I could have written that!”

Possibly the only difference between you and the author is that they actually did write it and submitted it. Possibly another reason that you haven’t written a story is that you think it would never be published so what’s the point. Unfortunately, this reasoning has meant that many, many wonderful stories are never told.

So, let’s forget about having something formally published and instead, I want you to start on a journey today, a storytelling journey that has a wonderfully unconditional audience . . . your young children and grandchildren.

My 4 year old grand-daughter was unhappy the other day and didn’t want to talk. She was lying on the ground so I lay down beside her and began to tell a story about when I was little. I didn’t say it was about me. I called the little girl in the story ‘Pamela June’ (my name). It was a very simple story of how I had sneaked a very chewy lolly and my tooth got stuck in it and came out and how I sat for several hours without opening my mouth which was a real challenge because Pamela June LOVED to talk. When I finished, Anika looked at me then touched my face and said, “Was that you, Grandma?” When I nodded, she cuddled closer and said, “Tell me another Pamela story, Grandma.”

Every one of us has thousands of personal stories to tell but we mostly never tell them. When we do tell them, especially in a simple way to a young child, we’re able to speak confidently because it’s REAL! It actually happened to YOU. Inexplicably, young children identify with that, in fact, they love it!

I have a passion for helping people share their histories and especially in simple stories for young children. Through your stories, your children and grandchildren can get to know you better but, even more importantly, they will gain a better sense of who they are, a sense of belonging.

So, today you can become the main character in a whole series of wonderful stories, composed especially for your family.

Topics: Think about what is important to your child/grandchild right now. A new bike? A pet? Disliking vegetables? New shoes?

Remember what it was like for you in the same situations?

Now tell the story (and remember to write it down.)

Keep it very simple in the telling.Your audience doesn’t want to know THAT much.

Don’t use “I”. Did you have a nickname? Write or tell ABOUT yourself as the main character.

I’d love to hear how you get on.

What adventure has this little girl been on?

First bike?

Happy Storytelling!

My all time favourite book is ‘Sometimes I like to curl up in a ball’ by Charles Fuge. I love the simple and fun storyline, and the illustrations just make it such a pleasure to read as well! Whenever I read it the children listening love to copy all of the actions the little wombat does on each page. Actually I love all of Charles Fuge’s books! They’re worth looking at if you have never heard of him!

 I LOVE childrens stories that rhyme, have fun illustrations and a super cool message. Our favourite book is ‘Giraffes Cant Dance’ by Giles Andreae. Its a fun story about a Giraffe named Gerald who turns up to the annual Jungle Dance to have a boogie. But all his Jungle friends laugh at him and tell him that “Giraffes Cant Dance”. Gerald leaves the dance upset and convinced that dancing isnt his thing, untill a small little Cricket convinces him otherwise and that he just needs to find the right music to dance to. Gerald learns to do his own kind of dancing When he finds the music that he LOVES!

Harry The Dirty Dog’ By Gene Zion. I love it because it’s a classic! It was first published in 1956. The way it’s written is quite old fashioned so the tone of it is quite proper which i kind of like. The storyline is very simple but I love the way it builds. The illustrations are definitely something just plucked out of the 50′s! It uses just black, white, olive and mustard colours, they’re surprisingly attractive – I love it! The whole book is really quite a contrast to what is out there today so I really enjoy reading this to Brooklyn and she really enjoys it too.

I think that one of our favourites is ‘I love you Stinky Face’ by Lisa McCourt. It is very lovely and great for prompting imaginative stories and play.

So, today our free download is what we call an Action Story! Its a story that we put actions to as we go along, so that not only does your child get a story read to them, they also get to play and get active!

This is a story that we have used many times in different shows and the children always love to see it in action! We have since made up many more stories that we use in our Junior Explorer classes and find its a great way to get children up and about!

Download your FREE Action Story here!

Maybe you could write your own Action Story! If you do, we would love to see it. Send it to us at info@polkadots.co.nz.

For those of you who may have just joined us on our blog, in March we ran a competition asking children to finish a story sequence inspired by a short instrumental piece we gave them. We had a lot of fabulous stories sent to us by ver creative Polkadottie Storytellers, but there can only be one winner ans that was Madison from Seattle, Washington. And this is her story!

Enjoy! And thank you Madison and Mr Bop for sharing your talents with us!

Naomi’s blog, although it is very much a blog about motherhood, focuses on a slightly different angle of motherhood to those blogs we have spotlighted up till now. Focusing more on looking at the challenges, joys and special moments of motherhood, Naomi writes about finding happiness when it seems … really hard!

You will find a number of blog posts about post-natal depression and how Naomi has dealt with it and her feelings on accepting it. She also suggests some other great blogs and websites that she has found helpful and inspiring. While writing about all the things she loves that bring her happiness, she also writes about the day to day journey and keeping it real!

 If you have a favourite Mum Blog that you follow and would like to reccomend to us to do a Mum Blog Spotlight on please e-mail us with the details. info@polkadots.co.nz.