Q: Can you still eat a cupcake if a skink has run across it?

Or perhaps it ought to be should you still eat the cupcake...

The girls did a bit of make-up-our-own-recipe-as-we-go-along. Imogen’s version turned into ‘crumble slice’ [messy but yummy] and Alannah produced vanilla cupcakes.

A small member of the lizard family visited our warm kitchen on that rainy afternoon as they were cooling on the bench and I guess he thought a nice warm cupcake made a tolerable alternative to a sunwarmed pebble...

And so back to the original question - we did anyway and they were delicious!

p.s. That’s Ed’s hand in the back ground behind Alannah’s head threatening the classic dingo-family-patented ‘smell-the-cream-and-I’ll-push-your-head-into-it’ move... he didn't though - good daddy!

Dear Blog...

Do you remember me? Sorry for neglecting you lately [i even missed your birthday :( ]

Lately I’ve been doing stuff other than looking at the computer screen.

More knitting, gardening, sewing, school holidaying, renovating, cleaning, crafting, but most importantly mothering and wife-ing...

I just love these four more than anything!


 
 
p.s. I do promise more regular updates... but only if I get around to it ;)

One of THOSE days...

Yesterday was one of THOSE days! You know the ones, when things happen.

Getting up at 7:15 instead of 7 on the dot; rushing about the house clothing children, assembling breakfasts, filling lunchboxes, searching for school books, packing bags, showering, chasing kittens, layering family members against the frozen outdoors, using a loud, impatient voice* at children, scooping in mouthfuls of muesli between all of the above; having the small attached semi-permanently to leg while helping middle kid express her creativity at playgroup; strapping in and unloading of children countless times while running errands; providing a continuous supply of mobile nourishment to ravenous kid; arriving home after 1 in the afternoon to the impenetrable fog; frantic relocation from carseat to cot of exhausted, irritable kid; opening the back of the car only to see my box of beautiful hilbarn vegies tumble onto the gravel and roll down the hill.

Then the sun came out [albeit for only an hour and ¼], my darling came home early and brought me a bunch of gorgeous flowers – just because.

At least THOSE days don't last forever...

 * aka yelling – bad mummy :(

"UMMY" – that’s me

A little munchkin hanging onto my legs “Ummy... MUMmy... mum... mam... UUUMMMYYY... MUM... mama... mim... UUMM...
noong-a-noong-en?*”

Translation: feed me now mummy!

*noong-a-noong-en = finn speak for food.

Blanket Stitch

A warm, woollen, stitchy blanket for my darling Immy. It’s been cosy in front of the telly for the past few nights with this blanket warming my legs as I stitch. Now she can snuggle under her new blankie in that chilly upstairs bedchamber.

look at what landed on my lap on sunday morning...

delicious blueberry pancakes

heart shaped shortbreads

lots of lovely handmade pressies and cards from my darlings

alannah and imogen both wanted to "do stitching" for mother's day crafting - the results: a bag and embroidered rabbit picture from alannah and a pink and purple stitches embroidery from imogen [who at 3 can already thread her own needle!]

what darling girls they are x

hope you all had a lovely mother's day too xx

drumroll please...

a couple of candle-blower-outers lined up ready to go::

big blowy breathy breaths::

only one left [according to very specific stop-blowing-when-there's-only-one-left instructions]::

who could it be....

commenter number 4::

yay! Tara [and Janaya] you're the winners! I'll be posting your goodies soon...

thank you to all my lovely readers who left a comment - I've loved hearing from you - keep them coming - I hang about the computer entirely too much checking for comments actually ;)

Making Stuff For Eamon

There's a new little cutie around these parts. Eamon Thomas is my darling nephew - a gorgeous son for Katie and Ben (my little brother) born three weeks ago now.
We had to get busy crafting as soon as we heard the exciting news. As all my fabric is in storage at the moment we had to get creative with what I had floating around in the studio scrap box. A boyish bib for dribbling on and an Alannah-designed teddy made their appearance by the end of the day. Just right for numerous drools and chewings-on.

Hey That's Us!

Check it out - we sent a couple of photos to Hil and Barn from Hilbarn and now they're on the blog!

Imogen's Classic Quotes No. 4

MUM!!! Polly's bum fell off!!!

Yummy Vegemite (or Bacon) Scrolls

Yesterday the girls made scrolls for lunch. Alannah and Imogen had a bowl each to make their own batch. Imogen decided on Vegemite scrolls but Alannah was adamant about bacon in hers.

It's basically a scone dough rolled out flat, smeared with vegemite [or sprinkled with chopped cooked bacon], loads of cheese dumped on top, rolled, sliced and plonked in the oven.

Here's my recipe [I did a batch each for the girls]

Vegemite Scrolls (makes about 12)

~ 1 1/2 cups wholemeal self raising flour
~ 2 tbsp butter
~ 3/4 cup milk
~ vegemite
~ grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 200`c. Rub butter into flour with fingertips till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Gently mix milk into flour mixture with a butter knife till the mixture comes together in a ball. Turn out onto floured surface and roll out into a rough rectangle about half inch thick. Spread vegemite all over - thickness of this layer is personal preference. Sprinkle with cheese - also personal preference - the more the better. Roll up starting on long side. Cut into slices about an inch thick. Lay sliced side up on tray. Bake 10 - 15 minutes. Eat as soon as possible - YUM!     *variation* substitute vegemite for a couple of bacon rashers sliced and browned

I'm a bit 'whatever' when it comes to accurate measurements so Alannah's dough was a little bit too moist. Fixed it with tonnes of flour on the bench to soak into the wetness. Actually didn't really help much except to make concrete-like residue to scrape off bench!*

Also was a bit tricky to roll up nicely and squished around as we were trying to slice it up. Immy's batch was heaps better - a bit less milk in hers.

Finn decided that half way through scroll making session was the perfect time to wake from his morning nap. Consequently scrolls were hurried into the oven amidst loud protests from down the hall and promptly forgotten about. They turned out a tad dry [similar texture to eating a mouthful of beach]. No complaints from the taste testers!

* best way I've found to clean scone dough off the bench =
scrape off as much as you can with a wooden or plastic spatula [so you don't scratch your bench] then using COLD water only [warm or hot will turn it into glue] wipe with with paper towel - you may need to repeat this a couple of times depending on how much you scraped off previously - lots of water helps and a bit of dishwashing liquid too if you have some super-stuck-on bits. DO NOT use your sponge / wiping cloth for this job unless you want permanent gluey gobs stuck in it. Yes, that means you my Mr!

Meet Mr Shuffle Bum

It official. Finn is a bum-shuffler.

I had a sneaking suspicion that this might be the case. Classic example = put Finn on floor to play with toys - return a short while later - not playing with toys as mummy directed but rather with aunty leesie's frankie mags that mummy had yet to get round to perusing [don't worry lees - only slightly dribbled on and a couple of misshapen pages]

This morning Finn decided hanging out with toys was unexciting and proceeded to chase mummy and big sisters into the kitchen ableit at rather a leisurely pace.

Next on the cards: destroy big sisters' cafe kitchen set up in living room. Then off to yank out cable of laptop sitting on couch.

Oh what fun! I'm going to need to dig out that playpen again

Birthday Girl!

Our little darling Imogen had her third birthday a few weeks ago - my goodness that's gone quick! All of a sudden she's gotten all big and grown up!

I wanted to make her something special to play with, so Alannah and I decided on a princess and the pea playset - idea totally stolen from SouleMama. (we also gave her the princess and the pea book by Lauren Child - of Charlie and Lola fame)

Lannah was my helper - choosing fabrics, deciding which ones looked good together, colouring the paper princesses, sewing the felt pea [with a little help from mama], turning the mattresses and snipping threads.

Immy loved it! They've been playing princess and the pea all over the house. "MUM WHERE'S MY PEA?" is a common utterance around these parts nowadays.

I also whipped up a little tutu and she got real ballet shoes!

And a washing line to help mummy with the house work ;)

We had a yummy hedgehog cake created by aunty Liesey, dressing ups with little friends and treasure hunting - what fun!

Creative Update

So I've been a busy girl making lots of stuff!

Let me see... 15 little girls skirts, 8 marble bags, 2 pencil cases, a couple dozen button hair ties, ballerina tutu, a princess and the pea playset, and even a dress for me! Phew!

Plus there are a few half done projects that are still to be finished off: dress for a sweet little girl, few pairs of pants for Finn, bibs for Finn and I'm sure there are a few more lurking in the studio!

Things we made for Operation Christmas Child boxes we did last month. This was such a great way of teaching the girls about the huge need there is to care for poverty-stricken in this world.

The girls really enjoyed thinking about what a little girl their own age might like to receive and talking about how and why we should help, making a card and praying for the girls who would be receiving the boxes they made.

We are so blessed in our lives and to teach our children to share what we have with those who have nothing is so important to us. I highly recommend doing an activity like this with your kids.

And here's that gorgeous gypsy gal who sold skirts and button hair ties in the peddler's parade at the school fair.

Her costume was thrown together during a raid on my wardrobe - so much easier than trying to make something which was my initial lofty plan.