Cupcake anyone!

Mollie found this cupcake pattern in a Handmade Magazine. She asked me to make them so three days later, here they are. Knitted using 100% wool and filled with wool fleece!
I sewed little beads on the top to represent sprinkles!

Chore pockets and cards.

I have made a pocket for each of the children and a pile of job cards. Every morning I will put in three job cards that they have to do for the day. At the end of the week, I will make them a little treat as a reward. There is also extra pocket money jobs they can do if they want to!

Mollies first weaving

Mollie is so wanting to learn to knit. She hasn't got the skills for it yet so i introduced weaving. After a 2 minute demo, she spent the next 30 minutes on the lounge making it. She is so proud of it - straight to the nautre table!

January Vintage Swap!

I participated in my first swap on my favourite crafty site.
Theme : Vintage!
It was interesting and fun. Here is a photo of what I made. A cushion cover, scissor case, covered and padded book, some vintage material, a vintage pattern and a pin cushion. I will definately participate again!

HAPPY AUSTRLIA DAY - lamingtons

From these - coconuts over the washing line
to this - we cut three open last night and I grated some
to this - Australia Day Lamingtons - yumm!

Sticky Date Pudding

Sticky Date Pudding
The recipe above is beautiful. I made it to take to our neighbours for dessert and they loved it too.
A must for the dessert recipe folder!

Our favourite Banana Cake recipe

BANANA CAKE

• 125g butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 185g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 185g flour
• 3 small very ripe bananas
• 1 1/2teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda

* Cream butter, sugar, vanilla essence and eggs.

* Mash bananas and add

* Sift in flour, bicarb and baking powder

* Mix together and pour into greased cake tin

* Bake 180'c for 40 minutes.

Vintage pin cushion

I made this for a vintage craft swap for Crafty Mamas
It is made from 100% wool felt, all hand dyed and absolutely beautiful to work with. It is filled with wool fleece too. One of those crafts you can easily do in front of the telly, watching the kids in the pool or relaxing on the lounge with your morning cup of tea.
Pattern is from a Vintage sewing book I borrowed from our local library. I will post the name of the book when I find it lol!

Homemade Ice Cream tutorial

Simple Ice Cream Tutorial!
* 2 egg white
* 8 Tablespoons of icing sugar
* 600mls cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
* slurp milk

Things you need, also a handmixer (forgot to put it in shot)


Separate eggs whizz till soft peaks form
Add half icing sugar and whizz till dissolved. Set bowl aside
In another clean bowl, pour in cream, other half of icing sugar, slurp milk and vanilla essence

Whizz till thickened
Add in egg whites and stir gently
Once all stirred in either cover the bowl with plastic wrap and out in freezer or pour into container with lid and put in freezer to set

I never stir it mid way freezing time like some recipes do with ice cream.
I have also added strawberries and made strawberry ice cream and another time I added mango and made mango ice cream.
YUM!

Sewing for Mollie!

Here is a couple of things I made for Mollie over that last week or two.





I nightie and skirt!

The tank top I made

Following this pattern
See how I added the link - I learnt that last week from a friend at Crafty Mamas!
Thanks Cinn

Watch out below!

And guess what is below - the washing line LOL!
I have learnt to stand on the far side of the line - out of the danger zone.
Can't wait for them to be ready though - yummo!

All ready for February planting!

I have spent a week getting the three vegy gardens ready for Feburary planting.

I pulled out spent plants, turned the soil over, added heaps of horse manure and now letting it settle for planting in a couple weeks time.

Plan for 2008

Plan for this year. Lucas is 6 yrs, Mollie 4 yrs.
Three mornings a week for about 2 hours
* Lucas 'phonics Pathways'
* Maths workbook
* Keeping a nature journal so one walk a week. I suspect lots of garden, seasons, temperature adding for the rest of the week too. I plan to add these books to our nature table display
* Music lesson 1x 15 minute session - piano
* 2 - 3 craft activities a week
* Science 1 experiement a week with added discussion.
* Homeschooling morning once a week and lots of visits with school age friends in the afternoons
* As well as the normal - gardening, baking, jobs, animal care, holidays away.
* Theme nights with the neighbours might be fun too. We make food, decorate, craft, dressup, learn a little of the language in the selected country.
* Also thinking of weekly visits to the local nursing homeAnyway we will see how we go. We do alot of this already, just adding a little more structure.

Importance of toys

Rainbow Made: IMPORTANCE OF TOYS

Toys:
Children don’t require a lot of toys but the few they need have to be of good quality and well chosen. These toys need to be ‘open ended’ which means each toy presented has multiple uses. This lets the child use the toy as a tool in their imaginative play.
They need to be strong, made from natural materials and if any gets dirty or broken, remove from play and clean, fix or replace. Children need to see their toys being cared and looked after so they can model appropriate play behaviour. Providing cane or wooden baskets for storage helps the packing away process at the end of the day to be stress free and fun.
Many of these things can be obtained quite inexpensively, made at home or bought from online Steiner inspired websites. Opportunity shops are excellent for baskets, kitchen things, materials etc.

Suggestions:

* Cane basket filled with wooden building blocks of all shapes and sizes. – Particularly ones that lend themselves to road building and castle construction
* Wooden / knitted/ felt animals – firstly farm animal, particularly family groups i.e. cow – calf. Then expand to zoo animals,
* Families made from simple wire, wooden beads and wool felt.
* Dolls – made from natural materials and accessories i.e. hammocks, cradles, slings.
* Cloths and silks – pastel colours. These are used for dress up, with dolls and for room decoration.
* Wooden puzzles – tray, nature based concepts
* Wooden or metal cars and trucks
* Home Corner – wooden or made from boxes – stove, sink, wooden table, felt food or glass beads (for older children), wooden bowls, small cane baskets, utensils.
* Wooden Instruments – simple claves, xylophones, bells, triangles, ribbon sticks
* Books on a wooden bookshelf – there should be a well chosen selection of book with topics ranging from fairy tales, animal stories, nature stories all with gentle calming illustrations. A couple of cushions in front of the bookshelf helps the area look inviting and relaxing. The location of the book area should be away from the more active areas to preserve the calming atmosphere.

Art and Craft cupboard – stocked with beeswax crayons, good quality pencils, clean white paper, wool felt, wooden beads, paints, glue, pipe cleaners, wool fleece, ribbons, natural cottons, hessian, child size needles, cotton thread, coloured paper, cardboard, paint brushes, dolly pegs, paddle pop sticks, knitting pure wool, tissue paper. A large box, which can be used for a ‘useful’ box, is always handy; this is where the recycling cereal boxes, paper towel cylinders, can be stored.

As the child ages older you can add wooden train sets, dolls houses, dress ups made from cotton or silk, wood working, knitting needles.

OUTSIDE
* Sandpit – with a small selection of cooking utensils, buckets, spades.
* Waterplay – large round buckets with a small selection of plastic containers and spoons – use butter containers, old plastic containers – particularly if the lid still fits
* Gardening tools – good quality ones as flower, vegetable and fruit growing as it is very important to feel part of the earth for all people.
* A selection of balls, cane hula-hoops, skipping ropes, cubby (can be made from cardboard boxes) or old tent, kites, flags, carts, bikes,

Most importantly of all, the environment for play is calm, creative and fun!

Ok, where did December go!

Wow, and that was 2007!!!!!
Our home
Well, it was fairly quiet at home from the 8th December as the kids and I boarded a plane and headed south to NSW for a couple of weeks at Mum and Dads then Christmas with Dave's family. After some frantic planning and buying we finally got Christmas organised and it was a lovely time. The children caught up with all their cousins and enjoyed their time playing and swimming. Lucas and I missed Monty alot but he was getting excellent care from our kind neighbours. He did decide to break out on the last day but Dave and the kids found him a couple hours later running alongside the highway heading south. We were so so lucky to find him. He didn't know how to get home and he is still getting over it - poor thing!
A little funny from while we were away
While at the beach Lucas asked "Where does sand come from daddy"
Dave replied "it is crushed up coral and glass from the bottom of the ocean"
Lucas added "yes and when it is washed up on the sand, the glitter is added"
One for the book as Ruth would say lol!

Learning at home (and on holidays)
Between Christmas toys, getting to know cousins again, experiencing the movie theatre for the first time, it was a learning packed month. We went to see the 'Bee Movie' while visiting Mum and Dad and it was excellent, the children are still quoting it. It was the best movie to introduce the big and loud viewing of the movies to the kids. It is such a lovely wholesome story - no scary evil parts which is refreshing.
Lots of talking, reading and planning for the homeschooling year ahead - lots of holidays planned too - yeah!
Will add more tomorrow - am a little tired right now!

Oriental Salad

Oriental Salad
- Recipe can be found on the back of Changs Original Fried Noodles-
* ½ to 1 chinese cabbage - wombok
* 6 green onions, chopped
* 100g lightly toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds
* 1 packet Changs fried noodles

Dressing
* ¼ cup white vinegar
* ¼ cup sugar
* 1 Tbls soy sauce
* 2 tsp sesame oil
* ½ cup oil
- heat dressing ingredients slowly till sugar is dissolved and then leave to cool.
- mix salad and dressing together just before serving.

Tortillas

This recipe was a favourite at our family christmas. Served with a chilli con carne, salad and sour cream - yummmmmm!

Tortillas
- From Family Circle Tex Mex recipe book -
* 3 C plain flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup oil
* up to 1 cup warm water.
- mix together to form soft dough
- knead for 5 minutes on floured surface
- cover and leave in warm place for 1 hour
- divide into 12 pieces and roll each out into (about) 20cm circles
- heat heavy pan or BBQ to medium temperature and cook for 1 minute on each side.
- If there is any left – can be frozen when cooled.

* To make corn tortillas, use a mix of polenta and plain flour.