Fires, scarves, rice pudding

First Fire of the season is starting to become a little special tradition.
{see here and here too}

We collect the wood, make sure we have marshmallows, choose a good night, dim the lights and lay/sit on the ground and move the couches around.
{we did it as part of Family Home Evening this year}

All to remind ourselves that yes! we love this!
and to remember to try and do it more often throughout winter. More! More!

{A good reminder on being organized. No good wishing for fire and wood/kindling at night when you haven't collected it during the day!}


This year I am determined to make our fireplace actually radiate some heat. The lovely thing is pretty much for appearances only and does not actually heat our house in any form. I am determined to change that! I've researched and have a few ideas on how to make a 'gaping hole in the house' actually heat.  I thought I had come up with a temporary solution to cover part of the hole. It seemed to be working but alas smoke was filling the house. The fire alarms just wouldn't quit! We had to open all the doors and windows and run a fan to get them to turn off.

Negative result in attempting to heat my house with wood!!

Fireplace 1.....  Me 0


And four day later after being shut tight, the house has a hint of lovely burnt smoke smell.


But I'm going to keep trying
{well I will keep telling The Mr what he has to do to get us some heat!}


I also made my first baked Rice Pudding with success. Yummy and Easy and a little different from how I usually make it {rice pudding is an easy snack, dinner, dessert, winter warmer etc in our house}

I've also begun in earnest my scarf obsession. Think I've worn one atleast 4 times this last week. I've been wearing them for weeks now. Love Scarfs. Love that it will be cool enough to wear one all day soon, instead of just when I'm cold riding our bikes to school, or in the shade. I have to take it off too much during the day still when it warms up. I've been experimenting with different tying styles. Wore a regular scarf tied into a circle scarf last night to a birthday party and recieved lots of compliments.  My favourite youtube scarf tutorial - lots of ideas and so good!

Some of my favourites

the fake knot
the european loop

the figure 8
the french knot

I just rewatched that youtube video.
I think it is a must that I try the bunny ears, the magic trick, waterfall, X, keytie, hidden knot!


Enjoy the cooler weather!

{though I think its been quiet hot this week!}... its coming. The cool is coming!

Feeling Blue {the good type}

{not edited in anyway. Randomly chosen from photos taken this past month}

Blue skies.

Blue Blue skies.


I {LOVE} this time of year.


Cool Crisp mornings.


Warm sunny days.


Have barely seen a cloud in about 2 months.


It's delicious isn't it?


I feel pretty lucky to live in a place with such wonderful weather.


In fact it makes me feel bad that I don't attempt to get out in it more.


This past couple weeks I've made a greater effort to take Miss N to the park, to eat icecream by the cliffs, to play badminton after school in the street {what a mothers day present, to sit and read on the deck, laying in the grass, biking everywhere.


Outside is where its at!


Soon I will be cold.


So its good to remember how perfect it is.


Then I will longingly wait till my next favourite time of year. September - November.


Perfection.


You can't always have it in all aspects of life. So its nice to have even in small simple doses.




{I wrote this earlier in the week and now after publishing.. the clouds are a coming! lol}

Mothers Day Duality

The tale of two Mothers Day:


The Snarky Mothers Day:

How can it be Mothers Day when woken up at 6am 
Children begging you to eat breakfast in bed even when it is the worst thing in the world
Forced to eat a cold breadfast that's been repeatedly touched
Copious amounts of handmade cards and presents which you are required to love and admire when perhaps you think they should be destined for the bin.
The 5 fererro rocher flowers you were given at church were eaten by said kids
Chocolates are a must give present only because the children know that they will get some
Begging children to get themselves ready for church, clean up around the place, go to bed early, ----- insert any prefered behaviour ----- as gift to you.
The holiday itself makes you depressed because it is far from the serene, kind, full of willing helpers to do your work while you laze the day away dreaming of just how perfect motherhood is. When in fact the best mothers day would be one where you are no where near your children. We do that mothering thing 365 days a year... how about a No Mothering Day...


The Sentimental Mothers Day:

Little ones climbing into bed early with squeals over making you breakfast in bed
Happy breakfast laid table sitting around it together 
Beautiful handmade cards with heart melting sentiments with ' If I could wish for just one present it would be you' 'You are the best mum in the world' 'My mum is special because she makes me my favourite chocolate and strawberry cake' (this made me laugh because 1- I didnt know they had a favourite cake and 2- I don't think I've ever cooked said cake ever) 
Presents from the heart, funny things they think you've always wanted, some surprising insightful. Handwritten signs welcoming those into our house on mothers day.
Tears shed at church from wonderful talks about motherhood
Afternoon tea shared with family.
Lots of kisses and cuddle


A child composes their own song for you and your heart melts. {to tune of this song }

I want this to be a good mothers day

I really really love you and I just want to say

I would not be here if it wasn’t for you

I really love you to
So I want you to love me as much you do

I don’t care about anything but you

I don’t want anything but love from you

If I had to choose a present it would be nothing

But to see you all the time
I want you to be happy because you’re  very lucky to have me

Please love me, please care for me,  Please care for me A lot because I love you

I want love from you, from me to you

I give you my love from me

Perhaps each Mothers Day is  a little combination of both. Too Snarky is just plain sad {and rude}. Too sentimental can feel so far removed from reality it seems a lie. Some years full on snark, some years full on sentimenal with tears and all. Some Mothers Days are hard, some easy and blissful. An emotional rollercoaster - Just like motherhood really!

As I gather my cards {to be stored in a special file I keep all my cards from my kids}
I see pure love and innocence, kindess and wanting.

The act of me as their mother will be to turn their words into actions.



Low key expectations, some food, and a little family love are keys to a successful Mothers Day in my book. Extra helpful Daddy and Kids makes a day. Don't really expect a day off.
And early bedtime certainly helps too! {please a gift you can give me.. go to bed early!}

and a Mothers Day Photoshoot. A must have.

I must have been a good mumma cause I scored lovely presents of tulips, a whisk, a large serving spoon, a smoothies cookbook, an egg timer, coloured cutting boards, mascara and a badminton set!

Weekending

I think we participated in perhaps our last swim of the season? It's always nice to have a last goodbye to the lingering summer.  I'm unsure of saying that though because when you live in a temperate (sometimes crazy hot) climate you just never know! But the weather is turning chillier... so I'm safe to think it was our last..... I think ....... we shall see.

I went out to this restaurant for my brothers birthday. Haven't had a 'just siblings' date in  a looong time. I moved out of home (got married) when my siblings were all still young and fun. I sometimes feel like I missed growing up as teenagers with them (my youngest brother was only 10 when I left!). It's always fun to get together. I tried really hard not to order the creme brulee. I know that's what I want. But then I think of all those other desserts missing out. I think of how I could be missing another good dessert from my lack of experimentation at restaurants. How it would be great to be adventurous and not boring in menu decisions. But we all know how fail that turns out!?! {why?} The churro's with caramel dipping sauce were good, but after the last two visit of trying not to order creme brulee.. I think it's time...next time I will!

I wore my snazzy earrings. For my birthday my sister got me these lovely expensive earrings. I put them aside for special and promptly forgot about them. We all know how rarely special comes along.... My birthday was in January! Well that was long enough a wait. So the earrings were bought out for the special occasion of wearing my 80's bling sweater to church and teaching the Young womens. Bringing a touch of class to my everyday. Thank you for making me smile dear sister!

We made a last minute trip to the country to stay with and annoy some lovely friends of ours. Love their home, the views, their hospitatlity, the warmth and love that comes from them.  I love when you can visit another family with 5 children and each child has another to play with whom they enjoy being with and are well behaved. Who would have thought there were 9 kids in the house {barring food time ;} Visits like that remind me how I want to be, how I want my family to be, how I want to warmly embrace each individual who visits my home and hope that they feel as welcome as I do at my friends places. It truly is a wonderful feeling to feel welcomed, at home and relaxed in another's space. To me this is one of life's greatest blessings.

The Mr made the best homemade custard on the weekend. All sweet and smooth. So good I ate it cold for breakfast the next day. Two days later I was still thinking about it and decided to try and make some more. His tasted better. But I shall have to wait for him to come back from jail to make some more {He's working in a high and low security prison for a week! yikes}

Love the weekend.

Milk froth and other goings on.

Nothing is happening.   NOTH.ING.

Maybe that's what happens this time of year.

It's a bit of a transition time.

We've had free saturdays for the past month {what the? that never happens!} and have just been kicking back, sitting in our jammies, cleaning the house....

That transition from summer to winter.

Time to tuckle in {our bedtime word. Tuckle in. Tuck and Snuggle}

It rained all weekend and we read books, watched movies and drank milo

For those that are interested I have learnt how to make awesome milk froth. I feel so fancy! I get a half cup of milk and put it in the milkshake maker/wizzer thing. I discovered that Lite Milk froths up like marshmallow in seconds! Regular milk or Trim milk does not work. ONLY Lite Milk. Anyway that little bit of milk turns into a huge cup milky goodness full of air! I then heat the cup in the microwave briefly to warm it.. DO NOT warm the milk first. I will not froth. This then makes enough froth to be scooped over six cups. YUM. I feel like I'm in a restaurant/cafe!

We had our first fire of the season

{They did it without me while I was at a meeting. So I shall blog the next one as if it is the first}

I've been sewing Rice Heat Bags {mmmm I luff them! tutorial here }

{It's not cold yet but we could not live without ours as we don't have a heater. We put them in our beds to warm the sheets, we put them down our shirts, we put them in the bottom of sleeping bags the girls walk around in. They make little cold children EAGER to go to bed :) They are safe and the girls heat up their own as they need. 1-2 mins microwave is perfect, little packets of heaven they are}

We've been riding everyday since someone learnt to ride their bike.

{it keeps me warm! sweating even! with a bike with broken gears I'm pushing hard the whole way. I have such a lazy disposition. I am so grateful for kids who push me to do more}

Quiet afternoons of homework afternoon tea and computer time

{I'm always up and down with this! I know as a kid I loved my easy afternoons of coming home from school and watching a little tv, so I feel bad when I don't want my kids to. I'm learning to relax and let go and realise they have probably played enough at school and might not want to {but I want them to!!!} As we don't do any organised sports or classes I feel I should be schlepping them to parks, doing crafts, biking, running around outside, playing with balls, cricket or something, building cubbies... but getting them to do that.... and then I feel bad ... you didn't do that as a older kid I tell myself..... oh well... we shall have the manic of up and down depending on mum's motivation}


....and that has been my life the past weeks.


Along with lots of warm food making

- minestrone, herb loaf bread, Beef and Barley Stew, Chinese Dumplings, to name a few.

What I have learnt...

We had a wonderful day. Good traffic, good weather, good food and good friends!

This was the first time doing/watching fishing for some of my girls. Our friend kept catching this small fish and throwing it back. We're pretty sure that we were just recatching the same fish. 5 times we caught it. Miss N wasn't too sure about the kissing the fish part :)

It's funny how we have to be taught the same thing over and over.

Once again {again!} I was taught that:

new surroundings, water, nature objects, animals = hours of quiet from my children.

add a mix of  fun friends/other big kids and adults and you won't see them all day except to eat.


I muse sadly that if I passed a stick, some shells/rocks, water and string to my kids at home

and said 'go have fun for the next five hours'

...it probably wouldn't work. {dang!}

Yet while camping or at the beach or nature day trips this is what we get.

Children out running, playing, building, swimming, building animal habitats

and not bothering me one bit...


At home when I try to kick them out of the house it's usually to get something done, or a rest cause I'm feeling unwell. They seem to just know I need space which turns to even more hovering.

What a blessing then, that their lack of hovering is linked to me not having access to things I need to do.

It's like an ultimate blessing for all around.

Kids might be occupied...

but now you get to sit and watch.  {or join in}


We ran in waves, swam, drew in the sand, dug tunnels, went fishing, caught tiny crabs, ate food.

Such a wonderful day.


A reminder to do it more often. {not that I don't} but a reminder to force it more often. I find in a larger family there is ALWAYS someone who doesn't want to do what is planned. There is often complaining, a tussle, even a fight.  More walking, trips to the park, art, bike riding, laying in a field, walking along the water, day trips etc is what I want ... BUT there is always someone being a pain and preventing us from doing more, more often and I sometimes let that prevent me from getting us out of the house.

No more! Be strong. Be tough. Get OUTSIDE...... its for their own good! :)

The beach NOT in Summer is my favourite!!
So Nice and now's the time to organise some more visits.

{ It's too hot in Summer... blerg. Say no to hot sand, burning sun, so much suncream everything sticks to you, sweat and more sweat. Our family are vampires.. burnt to a crisp by mere mention of sun. Autumn beach visits are perfect for us!}

Anzac feelings

Anzac day  parades at school always bring a tear to my eye.

The talk by a Soldier

My kids singing in the choir { this song}

The little children walking to the front and humbling bowing their heads


As they lay the wreaths

The Last Post and minute silence


The Rose bushes full of thorns on the school anzac memorial with just 2 roses at full bloom symbolically barely hanging on, to fall as the fallen soldiers.

I made 3 classes worth of Anzac Biscuits to take to school { this recipe}


And for Anzac Day we are off to the beach to celebrate this wonderful country they fought for.


We love and appreciate it.

A Single Saturday

The weather was perfect and we had no plans! That is plain crazy.

Having a big family, lovely friends and heavily involved in church usually fills nearly every Saturday in our year. Birthdays, parties, potlucks, weddings, engagements, baptisms, conferences, church functions ~ the list goes on.  We usually {happily} follow a schedule determined by everyone else.

We rarely have to create our own calendar {kinda sad when I think about it?}

With nothing to do we followed a friends lead about a free community festival
{not our community though.. almost felt like an illegal interloper...like someone was going to guess any minute that I actually did not live in that area.}

Apart from being so hot I thought I was going to faint!
{ummm hotter than summer weather in Autumn? This is crazy}
 The girls had an enjoyable day.

Had to blog it cause I had cute photos.

And a Saturday to ourselves.

Rare.

Everything except lunch foods was free. There were some long lines, but worth it for FREE Fairy Floss, Pony Rides, The Big Slide, Mini Ferris Wheel, Helium Balloons and Baby Farm Animals.

The snake and repile show was a favourite with my animal loving girl who spent easily 2 hours on her own watching that and playing with the baby farm animals.

Video killed the Radio star...

Her cuteness is killing me. 2 and half year olds are just too precious!

I'm turning into one of those parents.


The ones who make countless videos of their children. Endless family movies!


I've never really been into videoing my kids ( Christmas Movies aside ;)

I've always felt they were kinda pointless as I rarely/ if ever would watch them. I'm more happier looking at photos. Plus home videos make me cringe. I hate it when someone puts a camera to your face and says 'say something..' which is followed by a lot of um's and a wave and a 'hello' ... LOL pointless!

I might even have pyschological isssues because one of the few video's of me as a kid is me singing Kokomo by The Beach boys. Badly. Very Badly (I have mentioned here before that I cannot sing at.all. )  Obviously I couldn't sing as a child either..  *shudder*

So I've never really been big on subjecting my kids to the same
(Christmas movie is hard enough to pull off!)


This leads me to this week where I have videod my 2 year old .....

singing a crazy version of round and round the garden like a teddy bear, pretending to be a baby with lots of wah wah wah's,  running commentary about cars on our walk home from school drop off, chatting on a toy telephone telling strawberry shortcake that there just ISNT any more room!, her commentary on her favourite book, a big "I Love You and smooch session with lots and lots of slobery kisses all over me..... I just can't stop!

and I'm getting annoyed when she is doing something supercute with cute talking and she STOPS the minute I start taping! I have lots of video's with me prompting her to say what she was just saying seconds before! or short 20 second snaps of nothing..... wherein I turn it off with a pffffft! Yes a crazy video orientate parent! Someone stop me!

Maybe I am really feeling the loss of toddlerhood. (when you're pretty sure its your last child so many issues come up!) That squeaky breathy baby talk will be gone soon! OH NO! I love misprounciations! I love baby lisps and crazy talk! Gone! All gone and since I can barely remember what my older children were like as little ones it makes me sad ... and desperate!

I love it when she calls softdrink FRONK FRINK my new favourite word of hers. Makes me giggle every time. (more often on Monday nights as that is the only night they have fronk frink) I loved it when she was being super adorable in a lift the other day and the other ladies in there just sighed with happiness and cooed over how cute my daughter is!

She always been shy of strangers and not a big talker so this cutesy talking phase is doing my heart in!

In keeping with parental mistakes - I'm joining in. First child has most photos. Last child has most videos and perhaps photos too and newest clothes (handme downs rarely make it four jumps) . Middle children miss out on everything. Gotta keep up with the normal so my children have something to complain about. "I'm the youngest and spoilt..." "Im the middle child and got nothing.." "I'm the eldest and I'm not bossy at all ;)"

I'll be out there with my phone videoing all the mundane things. The songs, the picking flowers, the endless chatter about nothing.

So my kids can cringe when they are older.

Maybe I'll even get someone to sing a better version of Kokomo.




*don't feel bad for my other kids.. I've got several videos of them as little kids. Self Videos. Love kids filming talking to themselves and doing house tours with your phone. Plus its not really true about the photos thing. We didn't have a digital camera till our 3 kid. SHE has the most photos. So I don't wanna hear ANYTHING about the middle child missing out!

Stories. Life Stories

One of my favourite hairdo's at the moment..

you know if anyone cares about how I liked hair in a hundred years...

Lately I've been thinking about journals. Writing out some history.

Last month we had our Annual Relief Society Commemoration.

We had a sit down dinner and discussed our favourite parts of this book.

daughters in my kingdom

One sister commented on a favourite section. page 32-33

It was about a womans journal entries.

July 14, 1846  I am very uncomfortably situated for a sick woman. The scorching sun shining on the wagon through the day and the cool air at night, is almost too much of a change to be healthy

October 15, 1846 We have taken posession of our log house today. The first house my babe was ever in. I feel extrememly thankful for the priveledge of sitting by a fire where the wind cannot blow every direction where I can warm one side without freezing the other. Our house is minus floor and many comforts but the walls protect us from wind if the sod roof does not from the rain

December 6 1846 My baby is sick and getting worse. Has cried all day but I cannot see what ails him

December 12 1846. The baby is dead and I mourn his loss. We have done the best we know for him, but nothing has done any good; he continued to fail from the time he took sick. My sister caroline and I sat up every night with him and tried to save him from death, for we could not bear to part with him, but we were powerless.. I still have friends who are dear to me. If I had not I should wish to bid this world farewell, for it is full of disappointments and sorrow. but I believe there is a power that watches over us and does all things right

June 1 1987 Sister Elvira Holmes baby died. Recieved an invitation to come and spend the day with her which I accepted.

The sister said that this reminded her of the importance of keeping a journal. Even though the woman was from a different time to ours she felt connected to that sister from hundreds of years before. Even though years seperate us we often have the same feelings and challenges!  We too have felt cold or sick. We too have complained of the weather. We too have put up with substandard cheap accomodation.  We too have sat up all night with an ailing child. Hopefully none of us will go through the loss of a child but we can understand her pain and see that we do make it through trials, and then we are required to help others and strenthen those who may go through similar trial. She felt strengthened that other sisters feel the same way she has at times.

We never know when OUR words may bouy up another!


YES! Oh yes I so needed to hear that. I want to leave something interesting behind for my family to read about me. That my children and grandchildren may see that our lives are in different times but can still be similar. I also want to leave advice or feelings to them, that though I might not be there I understand!

Ever since starting this blog I have been terrible at journal keeping. I supposed that is what this is meant to be. Except that this can in no way be personal enough. I'm not sure I'm that vunerable to put those things out there for everyone to read. As much as crafts and cooking and photos are great, it might not be the only thing of importance I need to pass on to subsequent generations.

It doesn't help when a famous blogger { C. Jane } is doing her life story in posts. I've been pondering on this before that (so don't say I'm copying :) but her posts are definately making me think MORE about it. Some of my favourites were the posts about her first  5 loves . I would love to be able to blog something like that without embarrassing myself or hurting people's feelings! Sometimes I think there is so much to learn from the difficult, hard, embarrasing, or just plain different times of our lives!


And I KNOW it must be something important because I have had no less than 5 experiences lately to do with family history, journal keeping etc.

As I sat with my Grandma last week she was telling me war stories with her time with Z special unit. She mentioned her father was an accountant (I've always seen photos of him in his army uniform so I never really knew he had other career). I knew her family was from Cairns but somehow my Nanna was born in Sydney. She told me her father had a bad kidney ailment and at the time the only hospital that could do the needed surgery was in Sydney. They moved for the operation and ended up staying (her mother had family in Sydney).

Then another occasion  talking with my mother in law about another Grandma and how she was injured on the back of a truck going to a dance. A train hit their truck and a few people were injured. Grandma was unconscious so the hospital just left her be! When she woke up (days later) instead of dying THEN they worked on her! She had to have half her head shaved and then when she was better she had to start at a new school and everyone thought she was weird! {Poor thing how embarrassing} The train was in the wrong and she received a pay out which at the time was to pay for her to go to business school! What an interesting story about some of our relatives.

This week we came across old family photos of my childhood. The girls asked 'who is that?' I stated that it was grandad's father and mother. I then said 'well actually that is grandad's stepmum'. They turned and said 'Just like you mum! Grandad is just like you. What happened to him, then happened to him so he was a step parent'. It bought tears to my eyes that they realised how special grandad is to us. That even when someone might not be a blood relative they can still indeed parent you.

These are some simple reasons that have happened to me just lately. How important to keep these stories. However my own stories will be important too. If I'm not here who will be able to say what I thought about anything!


I have a terrible memory. My sister tells me stories about our childhood and I have no idea. Perhaps because she is 6 years younger and these stories come from a child point of view looking up? Also I was married by the time my younger brother was 11. I missed growing up with my brothers and sisters as teenagers. They have memories that I just do not. I find writing my history hard.

But it must be done!

A few years ago I cleaned out a carboard box that held all my childhood journals. It was dirty and dusty and I put them in safer and cleaner place. I decided to read through these books I was keeping. To say most of it is rubbish is an understatement! Scribbles, fights with friends, boys and more boys! and mundane info! They are funny and they will be kept as a reminder of who I was BUT....

These are not the things I want to leave behind to my children! It will truly be sad that the years where I can leave an important message behind I have let time get the better of me. That the silly musing of my youth will be all that they have! I believe an adults take on what I can remember will be beneficial. Comments on how I stood strong, did the right, how my faith has shaped me, how I am able to bear trials, the wonderful childhood I had, righteous examples and friends and leaders and teachers who cared about me and shaped my life. They deserve to have a little recognition for all the hard work they have put into ME!

So now.... How do I go about it?

What are your tips for journal keeping?


Here are some of mine.

Start chronologically and write my life story
Use photos as a writing prompts
Try to write weekly in my own journal about things that are happening right now
Ask older relatives to tell me a story from their or their families personal history
Write them down!
I found going through photos with my  Nanna prompts her to talk about that time



and perhaps if I get up the guts I'll post some things here.

You know that's if I get around to writing anything.. PLEASE let me not procrastinate!

Easter 2012

It's been easter overload here on the blog the last few weeks.
So I promise this will be the last Easter Post!

We had a quiet leisurely Easter that seemed like we did nothing....
we stayed home most of the weekend
{I was feeling bad for not organising a holiday or camping or fun things to do!}

but the photos tell another story. Phew!


Hope you had a Happy Easter!

Suprise Eggs

After a month of attempting to collect every eggshell I cooked with (some didn't make it)
I had about 30 eggs to play with to make our surprise eggs.

To make surprise eggs:

When cooking just slice the top off the egg to preserve more of the eggshell.
{alternately you could blow the eggs but I find that too much work and too many eggs to use up at once}

Leave plain {like here } or decorate.
This year we decided to dye our eggs.
We used a few lidfulls of food colouring, a cup of water and 1/4 cup of vinegar for each colour

When dry fill with birdseed, confetti, cereal, glitter or anything small.
This year we tried birdseed for the first time. Very good!

Glue 2 small disks of tissue paper over the hole on each egg.

When dry turn over the other way so it is not visible in your egg carton

Enjoy having an 'egg fight' with family and friends and smashing them over your head.

or you end up doing a funny dance with your hands in the air

{To avoid hurting eachother I make the kids smash the egg in their hands a little before throwing it}

Pretzel Bunnies

We have made soft pretzels for Easter for the last four years.

Usually we do the regular pretzel shape (as it is to be said the shape of arms folded in prayer - and we talk about Prayer and Christ Praying in Gethsemane for us)

This year we made regular pretzels but we also made these Bunny shaped ones. Easy and Cute

I found the original idea  here in the April 2011 friend magazine

Here's how to do it:

I use this recipe to make our soft pretzels

(though be careful with the bicarb - I use less as the taste is quite strong)

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

                    

1/2 cup baking soda

4 cups hot water

1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.            
   
In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.               

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.               

When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.               

Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.               

(we used currants for the bunnies eyes)

here are our regular shaped pretzels.

Easter Countdown Calendar

Inspired by this idea found via pinterest


Yesterday my mind just couldn't rest until I had made this easter countdown.

I had all necessary items except little magnets. A quick trip to the shop fixed that!

It's a very simple idea but I think will work well.

--------------

These plastic eggs are quite large{around 8cm tall}. The only size that Woolworths was selling. Which is perfect because I hope to squeeze four treats into each egg! Countdown calendars can be tricky for big families! {I wonder what people with LOTS of kids do?}

Basically hot glue gun a magnet onto the back of each egg.

Add numbers, stickers, decorate each egg.
{I looked for easter stickers and found none. Last year I saw lots!?! - so ours are plain}

Attach to your fridge and you have an instant Easter Countdown!

Fill with daily activities, scriptures and treats!


*** UPDATE
It seems my glue peeled off easily from the plastic eggs that were filled too heavily. So I covered the magnets with tape as well to ensure the eggs didn't come apart/fall off the fridge.


We've changed the direction of ours so it starts at 7 so when each egg is used you know how many days are left to easter - We changed our christmas countdown last year.. made it easier to tell there was 15 days to go etc...


some ideas:

Palm Sunday activities
{we get palm leaves from our neighbour and wave them around and make palm crosses}
Dye Eggs
Make Easter Cards for Grandparents and family and friends
Make Chocolate Easter Nests
Make Hot Cross Buns
Do a Passover Dinner
Egg Hunt
Watch Easter Movie

Easter Grass

Our Easter grass is done and grown. I think we even have time to grow a little more. Personally I want to try this one


How to grow Wheat Grass

I purchased my wheat grains from a health food store. Cost me all of 30 cents! You can grow wheat grass on paper towel without dirt if you wish! Here is how we did ours.

Place a thin layer of dirt in a dish/container. You can line it with plastic wrap if you wish esp if you are growing it in a cardboard container. Place wheat berries all over the dirt. You can bury them, we did a little of both, some under the dirt some above.

Water every day! I placed a water bottle mister/sprayer next to the dirt. The girls were to spray it three times a day {It got sprayed a lot more than that! Just too hard to resist for little girls!}

The wheat will sprout within one day! I swear that stuff grows while your back is turned. I really felt like it was an alien thing growing growing. It was almost creeping me out! {can you tell we don't do living things often?} One day it grew one centimeter within a couple of hours! We didnt keep exact measurements but if you keep a ruler near by the children could measure it as it grows.

To extend the life of the wheat grass trim it regularly.

Here is how ours grew in only ONE WEEK.

I had someone ask me: What the heck is easter grass and what do you do with it and why?

If you need some justification in you life {I often do} here are some reasons:

:: watching seeds grow gives room to talk about new life.
For christians Easter is the ultimate time to talk about life, death and life after death.

:: Even though it is not spring here for many people it is.
After a cold winter some lovely greenery in the home is welcome.
I also told my children that chicks, bunnies and plants are used at Easter as it was spring when The first Easter occurred, even though it is not here.

:: Easter Bunny believers will love leaving it out as a fresh snack for their visiting bunny

:: I've seen people use it in easter baskets instead of the plastic/paper fake grass
It's alot cheaper and is natural and will compost.

:: Makes great table centre pieces

:: Wheat grass takes about a week or so to grow.
Children can anticipate the coming of easter while looking after their grass.

:: All my school age children have been following lifecycles at school this term. They have grown grass heads, alfalfa sprouts, tadpoles. Another example at home is always good and they wanted to take it to school to show how much faster it grew than the school ones!

Enjoy creating different scenes with your Easter Grass! Ever evolving.

*note do not leave inclosed for long periods of time. I left my cake stand dome over the grass for a couple of days and spider web like mould started to grow. Wheat grass likes air! Wheat grass will be perfectly fine if covered for a few hours though if using for table decoration.

Easter Tree

Our Easter Tree is up.

It's not the most beautiful or perfect but each egg and picture of Christ was hung by the girls {I'm sure I might even it out over time or add more ;) I love it when the girls say things like, Easter is like Christmas. We have a tree!

This year we have two trees. The other one is housing the 30 tags for the Living Christ Easter Countdown . Previous years we have used the branches to hold things we've coloured for family home evening from the life of Christ. Some years it just holds eggs and bunnies. Whatever you choose to put up the kids will love.

I've done a tutorial previously found here. But it is so easy. This year I didn't even bother painting the branches from our yard. I liked it au natural. When we trim our hedges, trees etc we leave it in a pile in the back yard to dry out.  This gives us stacks of branches to use throughout the year for decorating and fire! When I'm done I'll throw them back. Place branches in a vase or something to keep them anchored and decorate.

Its always fun unboxing things that have been put away for a year. My easter wreath is missing though (I think I threw it away, it had lasted through two easters and was a bit sad looking) so another thing on my easter to do list. Our wheat grass spouted in one day. Today (day three) there is definately visible little green fuzzy roots. Though I wish I saw THIS! before we planted. What a fun idea to do with Easter Grass with a spiritual message!

Lots of easter things going on here.

Sometimes I feel sorry for him

Sometimes I feel sorry for him.

Not often. But Sometimes

Especially when I find these pictures around the house.

They make me do an eyebrow raise, huh?


Is that what our life 'really' looks like?


HA HA HA HA HAH!!

Even though he's outnumbered I think our house is pretty fun. Our girls are sort of tom boys and enjoy computers and many of the interests of The MR. So life isnt THAT BAD for him.

But it still makes me do a double take everytime I find a family drawing by the girls.

OH my dear Mr... You are a rare man!!


*wondering if I've had an extra child? - my sister lives here and gets included in lots of pictures.

Cornflour BiCarb Soda Dough Ornaments

There are just so many beautiful white ornaments around lately.

LOVE LOVE the look, not the price tag.

Even homemade with air drying clay can be too expensive especially if you want to make a lot. Those tiny slabs of moulding clay for $5 each won't get me many.

I've used salt dough before - especially if it is the kids using the dough it's a good cheap alternative.
found here and here

But it still looks a little too homemade- ish

I came across this dough recipe that uses cornflour and bicarb soda and I think the end result is a little more professional looking. The dough seems to be a little more white clay- ish. It will cost about $5 for the ingredients and will give you 50 or so ornaments.

Cornflour Bi-Carb Dough (this will make alot. I did a half recipe and got 20 ornaments)

 

2 c. baking soda
1 c. cornstarch (cornflour)
1 1/4 c. cold water

Mix soda and cornstarch together, in a saucepan, blending well. Add the cold water and mix well until mixture is smooth. Cook on medium heat for 2-4 mins until it has consistency of moist mashed potatoes. Stir constantly. Spoon out on a plate. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to cool. Knead dough and roll out on waxed paper. Cut out designs with a cookie cutter or shape by hand. Let dry until hard, 1 or 2 days. Paint ornaments with Tempra or water colors. Dry well and coat with clear shellac or clear nail polish. Hangers may be mounted on back with glue, or pressed into dough before it dries

 

I don't have the patience to wait days for it to dry so I dried mine in the oven on very low heat for 1-2 hours. (be careful though - I know have some brown ornaments - lucky I can just paint over it)

 

 

For these I used cookie cutters. Roll out dough, cut out shapes.  Using rubber stamps, stamp in any letters or pattern you want. Doilies can even be pushed into the dough to give a dainty look.

 

I used an alphabet rubber stamp set a friend gave me {I am so blessed to know so many wonderful people who give me stuff! That and I have a lot of ex pat friends who move alot who gift me their craft supplies because they can't move it all! I don't think I have had to purchase any craft things in years! I am truly blessed!}

 

I can't wait to make more. I'm thinking people's initials for present tags, personalized gifts, cute sayings stamped into everything.

 

I'm going to make more and experiment with painting them. Something nice and sparklely.

 

Show me if you make some too!

Preparations :: Easter

tutorial on how to make these coming! So easy and cute!

It's 30 days till Easter! {well its 28 now... I'm late in posting!}

We started off with this 30 day countdown which uses excerpts from The Living Christ

Last month I was saying to a friend how I need a calendar that runs before things happen. Like reminders two weeks or more before a birthday, before valentines, Pancake Tuesday, Easter ... all the holidays that you need to prepare for well before the day actually hits.

Easter confuses me with its changing dates. Especially when it is at the beginning of April because in March I think I have plenty of time, turn the calendar page and BAM Easter is in 5 days! I've been doing fairly well this year in being prepared but I'm thinking a calendar with those little printed reminders... before the day would be awesome. One day I'll be organised I swear.

So to help myself and maybe you if you wish I'm writing down easter preparations here

RIGHT NOW::

:: Suprise Eggs
I started this week on my {Surprise Eggs}  I find I can collect more eggshells the earlier I start. Each year the girls seem to need more and more (12 is no longer sufficient!) The hardest bit is remembering NOT to crack eggs in half when cooking. I use a sharp knife and slice the top off the egg. Empty the egg into your cooking, then wash the eggshell out. I store them in an open egg carton so they can dry out. I found some gorgeous surprise eggs over at O Happy Day . Filled with Gold glitter or birdseed or cereal so the mess can be left behind in a park without worry. Great idea! My kids really enjoy this easter activity. One of our favourite Easter Traditions.

:: Easter Tree
Decorate with eggs, religious things, whatever you wish really. I made names of Christ birds to hang on ours this year using this dough recipe

:: 30 Day Living Christ Countdown



TWO WEEKS OUT::

:: Easter Countdown Calendars
Easter Week Activity Countdown
12 day treat or activity Easter Countdown

::Growing Easter Wheat Grass
Pretty Wheat Grass Tutorial at Ecoki
Our previous wheat grass

:: PINATA!
Egg Pinata
Chicken Pinata
Easter Basket Pinata

ONE WEEK OUT::

Palm Sunday - we read the story and act it out with real palm leaves and make palm crosses
Passover - celebrate on the real date or the thursday before easter as Christ did
Hot Cross Buns - We've made these Easter Friday for the last few years
Soft Pretzels - we make these around the day Christ prayed in Gethsemene
Dying/Decorating Eggs - A must and fav with the kids.
Easter Candle Ring - we love candlelight and quiet thoughts and a devotional if I can sneek it in


 "Without Easter we would have no Christmas" - this was our starting quote with the children. They had to think really hard why it was so! If Jesus had not given his life so we can have eternal life he would have been just another special but ordinary person. Because of Easter and his ultimate gift we want to celebrate his birth.

Easter seems to be a much more solemn holiday than christmas. I hope that I don't cheapen that, but my goal is to try and put as much if not more effort into Easter than I do at Christmas. It's such a special holiday {and a lot less commercial -if you ignore the cocolate eggs everywhere} that there seems to be a lot less stress associated with this holiday. I'm hoping to use that to my advantage to give the girls lots to ponder on at this time of year. { no end of years parties, no presents for others to buy, no work/christmas parties - therefore ideally I should have lots more time and focus for Easter}

Enjoy! I hope my efforts will result in a greater love of Easter and Christ for my children

Growing. me and her.

6:30 am birthday morning. Very excited over an unexepected drawing tablet for the computer

I've never really had any problems having a bunch of young kids.
I know kids, surrounded by others with kids and it just seems normal to have a gaggle of little children.

But as my eldest just turned 11 things are dawning on me.

I felt fine having kids under 10. I'm a young mum and I have kids.

11 just seems so old! I feel like I am entirely too young to have any children over 10 years of age.

I associate with so many people with little children. I'm at the school for hours daily amongst children. It just seems like teens are so far away for me (even though bizarrely I work with the teen girls at church - so I should have SOME idea!) I never had much of a problem sending my kids off to school (there were always a bunch more at home) I was more excited about that stage of life. They still seemed to be kids and that was a part of kid life.

But it seems like everything changed over night (not really, she's still acting the same)
but it was just really bought to my attention like BAM!

She received money for her birthday from her great grandma. Immediately she wanted me to take her to Toyworld to spend it. Funny thing is we strolled the isles for ages and she came up empty handed. She found maybe one thing she wanted but didn't want to spend all of her money on this very small item. I stood there realising that she has perhaps realised she is no longer a child. Last year she found plenty of toys to spend her money on. This year she found none.

She is in that tricky place of no longer a child yet still not teen or woman. She is not really into makeup or clothes or music quite yet. It left her thinking hard about what would she actually spend her money on. I could only come up with two options. I said 'lets leave here and head to the bookshop and smiggle. You like reading and drawing I say, maybe you'll find something there?'

I avoid the shops on Saturdays, and the centre we were in was really busy. She got briefly separated from me in my the crowd. I said 'here hold my hand and we'll walk fast through this crowd.'

I'm used to small hands.
Tiny hands of my two and five year olds in my hand.
Keeping them safe and allowing the older girls to walk on their own.

I grabbed that 11 year old hand and felt shock. {instantly to my heart}

Her hand was as big as mine.

It felt so weird and out of place. It took a bit of manoevering for us to get comfortable.

Even she felt weird.

Growing. It happens.

To the child and the parent.

And we cannot stop it but must continue on, following the ride.

Albeit, running from behind to catch up! My child is gone and I'm scrambling, refinding her.

But luckily and hopefully its just a better version each time.

And maybe we'll even hold hands a bit more often.