Go Fish

Age recommendations frequently underestimate children.  This has been an awesome present for Mr 4 and little Miss 2.

When we've been playing together I always ask for the colour on the card and also follow up with a name for the colour that they are more familiar with, I like that they have less obvious names. Chartreuse, maybe I'm a total pleb but I have never had a reason to use this term to describe a colour.

Twelve days of christmas

I am a recent convert to the twelve days of christmas.  Having the time with just one toy, no matter how flashy and fabulous, gives a chance for children to appreciate them a little more than the toss to the side treatment they get during the present opening frenzy of a large family christmas.  No doubt reducing all these gifts to one special teddy for the duration of your childhood, instead of the population a small outback town perched precariously on a chest, would do the same but industrialisation, a throw away society and grandparents have done away with the chances of that happening.

On the first day of christmas my parents gave to me a fairy sitting on a horsie.

On the second day of christmas my parents gave to me two dogs in a truck and a fairy sitting on a horsie.

Bunting...advent...school fairs...advent bunting...I have truly been possessed by the domestic spirit.  four years ago when I was twenty kilos lighter and dancing til my eyes adjusted to the surreal tangerine sun rise I would certainly not have believed that I would fit so nicely into a domestic routine and be enjoying it so much.  I didn't even know what bunting was but thought those little flags that people strung up were a useless and ciche waste of fabric.  Now I draw with erasable marker on the back of my children's laminated cards a map to where they will find tomorrows present and tuck it into the advent bunting which I am so proud to have made myself from the beautiful example set by Sew Sweet Violet whilst I plan the time I will need to sew some christmas themed bunting for my daughter's day care and bake a gift of shortbread for the good folk at work.  Merry crafty christmas mums and makers everywhere.

Lark a treasure trove of retro booty, sweet and precious things.

 

Handmade Christmas - Sight Words Books

One of the christmas gifts I aim to get organised to finish is a small collection of sight words books.  The beginnings are a bunch of sketches which I aim to manipulate with GIMP and the mouse track pad.  So tedious.  I cannot wait to get my Bamboo stylus and Sensu brush for christmas.
I want to bind using the japanese book binding method, Tinker Labs has a great tutorial here.

Gigi and the Bear

So I heard there have never been any bears in Australia or Antarctica?

 

Dog Birthday Cake

great recipe to do with kids.  Especially the younger ones as it seems they gain the greatest pleasure from creating something for someone else, in this case one of their favourite creatures - the family dog.

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/4 cup of canola oil
1 tbsp golden syrup or honey
1 carrot grated
1 cup of wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder


1 pack of cream cheese frosting
1 container of pate

Method
1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees centigrade.  Grease the ramekins with butter and place a circular cutout of baking paper, the diameter of the ramekin at the bottom.
2. Add the eggs, this is fine for little hands to do even if they are new to cracking eggs, egg shell is good for dog coats and they are not going to mind the texture of a little egg shell if they happen to have some of it touch their tongues while ducking down their throats in literal break neck speed.
3.  measure and allow your little one to add each of the ingredients one at a time and mix until completely combined.  You may need to take over after they have had enough.
4. Separate between ramekins to give each party member their own cake.  This mix makes three cakes.
 5.  Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes.  Checking the mixture is cooked through.
6.  Once completely cool cut in half and spread a nice thick layer of the pate in the middle of the cake.
7.  Ice with the cream cheese frosting and serve for twenty seconds of madness.

Dog Birthday Party

We decided to have a birthday party for our house guest, Louis the spitzoodle (or whatever).  Mr 4 told me someone had sent a message saying it was Louis' birthday on the 1st of December.  This seemed very specific so I thought my partner must have had an email from Louis family letting us know that.  It wasnt, they hadn't, he is four so he has a very creative grip on reality.  It was awesome!  Kids and dogs loved it.  We had doggy birthday games (just one, bones hanging by a piece of wool laced over a pagoda beam, very funny to watch and every dog ran away with a prize).  I had bought a Spot book while I was out and just left it on my son's bed getting on with the party preparations.  This worked out perfectly because neither of them had seen it until after the festivities and it looked like it had magically appeared there.  So now we have the magic animal fairy who delivers special gifts to boys and girls who treat animals like the special little people they are.

The dog cake was great to prepare together with my little Miss doing all the adding of ingredients and mixing.