Alphabet Cookies

James has suddenly started to show an interest in letters and numbers. So with that in mind, yesterday for our cooking session we made alphabet cookies. I have a huge stash of cutters for cake decorating so it was good to be able to use them. Since we were making them for a snack on the plane I wanted him to be able to play with them a bit as well as eat them. I also wanted them to have less sugar in them! I adapted the recipe that I used for my lolly pop cookies. So instead of using a cup of sugar I only used a tablespoon and to sweeten it up a bit I added a bit of apple puree. Ok so that is still sugar but it is a better sugar in my opinion. I didn't need to add the milk as it was wet enough with the puree. We had fun with the teeny shapes and my little taste testers like them so thats the main thing!

Busy Book

The nights have been very cold lately so I have really enjoyed snuggling up on the couch under my blanket, watching TV and sewing the boys busy book. I have made some progress. It is still what you would call 'rustic'! So please for give me there and remember to squint or take off your glasses like I said before. Anyway I have had fun. I don't think I will get a chance to do anymore before we go away so now I have got to work out how to bind it together. hmmmmm

Here are the finished pages (well near finished) 

 B is for button. The pouch is filled with giant buttons for counting or threading and big enough to chew on too!

C is for counting. Little beads on lengths of ribbon

        E is for eggs. Three little eggs with press stud tops on to match, with chickens underneath.

F is for fish. Each fish has a magnet inside, and I will add a little fishing rod.

G is for Games. The pocket has pieces in it for tic tac toe which is a favourite for James at the moment.

                  H is for hair. Play with or braid the hair, or chew on. (sensing a chewing pattern?)

A is for Ark An ark filled with felt animals.

I have no idea what to do for I- Z but for now I think I have had enough fun to keep them occupied for 5 seconds. 

It's Play School

The kids and I went to the Play School concert yesterday. The verdict? ........ It was awesome and I highly recommend it as a fun outing for littlies (and also big kids at heart!).

This is why I recommend it:

1. It is good value at only $14.50 per ticket. Perfect. I think that price is very reasonable for a live show.
2. It is kid length. 45 minutes is just enough for all toddlers and preschoolers.
3. The actual show was engaging. Great stories and songs that are familiar and easy to sing along to. 
4. It is local! They play them at your local RSL, so I didn't have to trump into the city with two kids. Big bonus.
5.  The actors are very talented, with captivating stage presence. (You rock Tao!) There were no over the top squeaky kiddy voices that so many kid entertainers have these days ( they make me cringe!). There is even some humour for adults thrown in if your listening close enough. 
6. It is not over stimulating. I like that they used simple creative props, with a piano and two actors. That's it, and it is really all that pre schoolers need. 

Whilst these pro's are important to the ease and success of the day, the bit I loved most was seeing James up dancing with his friend Liam and singing his favourites songs. So cute and priceless really. So as I write this I realise it sounds as though it is a bit of an advertisement. I wish I was being paid to review it, but alas no that is not the case. We just had a great time! A big thanks to my friend Karrie for organising it. Put it in your diaries peeps as something to do that is well worthwhile, if not for this year, for next  :) 

Busy Book

So I mentioned in my last post that I am making a busy book for Ben and James. It is mainly so I can take it travelling with us as I hope is it will entertain them for more than 5 minutes. Maybe. It is also pretty much my first sewing project. Eek! So when I post photos please view them with either one eye squinting so it is a bit blurry, or take your glasses off.  The latter would be preferable. Lets just say I am going for the 'rustic homemade' look!

"What is a busy book?" I am so glad you asked! There are hundreds of talented sewers on the internet with wonderful examples of busy books, sometimes called quiet books. But it is essentially a soft book that young kids play with. So you include flaps, buttons, zips, tags to pull etc to make the pages interesting. You sew each page into a special unique book.

Now I am not that fancy, or  a sewer at all, so my book is a basic easy book. I have used felt as it seems quite forgiving, it is cheap and durable. And lets face it, I could not work out how to sew a proper page from the you tube examples! So I decided on felt and then on a theme. I am making the alphabet book. *Cough if I get that far, cough.*

So far I have:

1. Cut out 10 inch squares of brown felt (who knew the sewing world uses inches!) To do this I used mum's quilting set squares and her rotary cutter. This makes the job much easier and more accurate!
2. Cut out 8 inch squares of coloured material. It is preferable if you can make more than one page at a time otherwise it would be too time consuming. So I have made 10 pages so far. (You can get scrap colour material/offcuts and its cheaper) 
3. Then sew the material onto the felt (try and do it straighter than I did, I did get better at it though) 
4. Then decide what you would like to do on each page.

So here is an example of my 'D' page. "D" is for dressing up. I will keep posting about what I decide to do for the other pages as I do them. So bare with me. Soon I will work out how I will make the pages into a book. Fun and Games on these cold wintery nights! 

Tea Towel Apron

I have very little ability to sew. It is not something I have previously been keen to do, but I am gradually seeing that it might actually be fun. So up until now my experience of sewing has been limited to making a t shirt in Year 8 home economics! I am a fair bit rubbish at sewing, but I suppose everyone has to start somewhere and the only way is up! So for my first project I am making a quiet book for the boys...... but more on that later.

My Mum has made the boys some beautiful quilts and I must remember to post pictures of them! She has made an impressive amount of 'sewy' things that look awesome and she is only just started to learn.

But to get to the point of today's post, my Mum made this cute little apron for James. He loves cooking and the French theme is very appropriate at the moment (22 days to go for those playing along at home!) The thing that I thought was very clever is she sewed this out of a tea towel! I thought it was such a nifty idea. Now I am not going to attempt to tell you how to make it. But Mum assures me it was easy and took very little time to knock together and there are some great instructions on Youtube. (these modern grannies!) So here is James proudly modelling it. Nanny and James had a lovely afternoon making pancakes and I enjoyed eating them. Yum and I didn't have to clean up the mess :)

Bordom Busters

We are heading over seas in 23 days. (not counting or anything!) I am trying to get together bits and pieces that will help to entertain James. We have the iPad and colouring in books but I wanted some 'throw it in just in case' games. I probably over think things. But it can't hurt. The criteria:

1. Light
2. Small amount of space in the bag
3. Not too many pieces to roll around the plane
4. Not too expensive

Looking around the shops there were a lot of games, but many were so expensive considering all they were essentially just bits of cardboard. Either that, or they were just too bulky. I do my best thinking in the shower. It was here that I realised that dice games could be good and small enough to chuck in an envelope. James is just getting the idea of a dice and dice faces. So I made up this game for him out of bits I had around the house. Cost me pretty much nothing. Though i am going to buy a bigger dice, one of the squishy ones so it can be safe for Ben and double as a toy for him. 

Monster Dice Game

2 or more Players

• Print off a picture. A picture of a favourite character or a photograph. or even cut up an old birthday card.
• Cut into 6 different strips the width of a thick paddle pop stick. (or just cardboard even) 
• Add a dice number picture for each stick.

Aim of the game

Each player has a turn at rolling the dice. Which ever number they get, they can get the corresponding stick. Without doubling up, the first person to get all six sticks to make their picture, wins! 

I am looking forward to playing this with James. Either on the plane, train or in a cafe waiting for lunch. It will be handy to have. Now to think of some more........

Baking cupcakes

A little while ago we had a celebration for Ben. His room if decorated with elephants, so I went for this theme. I love making cakes so I thought I would share my buttercream icing and tips today

Buttercream Frosting

*1 cup of unsalted butter
*1/2 cup milk
*vanilla
*8 cups of icing sugar

1/ Mix butter, at room temperature, using beaters. Mix for two minutes.

2/ Add vanilla and slowly add up to 1/2 cup of milk for another two minutes or until creamy.

3/Add 4 cups of sifted icing sugar and then mix slowly at first and then on high until creamy.

4/Keep adding cup by cup until quite firm.

So my tips...... I know that my frosting is not perfect but its not too bad. So this is what I have learnt-

* To make icing as white as possible use a light coloured french butter. Also to step 2 add a squeeze of lemon juice. The acid in the lemon acts to make it whiter without flavouring the icing. Once you have more white icing than yellow, you can add colours that end up more pure.

* Place mixture in the fridge for a few minutes so it starts to set so that it is firmer to pipe.

* Use quite a large piping tip

* Pipe with a 90 degree angle to the cupcake. I pipe around the outside first and move to the middle. Don't pipe too fast otherwise the ribbons will go flat.

It is lots of fun, and the best bit is eating the ones that didn't work that well! Here is a pic of the party table x.