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. 

Rock Monsters!

For our craft activity this week, James and I made rock monsters. For a little boy who is obsessed with collecting rocks, this was an easy yet very entertaining little activity. All you need are some smoothish rocks and some acrylic paint. The acrylic bit is important as kids paints don't seem to stick onto the rocks. Then paint to your hearts content and decorate. Green is James' favourite colour so he made green rocks sticking on a monster eye. If i had some I would finish them off with some gloss but he was very happy as they were. He has been playing with them all week! I think I see more rock creations in our future! x

Tourists at Home

Today we had planned for a Sunday family bush walk but the weather was pretty drizzly and cold so we had to think up a plan B. What to do what to do?  Pete had a stroke of brilliance suggesting we go into the city to have lunch and go up the Centre point Tower. Excellent. We used it as a bit of a snapshot /practice run for being tourists when we go over seas next months. So two kids, two Ergo carriers and a backpack and we were off for a day of adventure!

The boys loved catching the train which was a good thing as we are going to be doing a lot of that in London. (Did I tell you we are going to LONDON!) We went to the food court in Westfields Pitt street mall. I must say it is one swanky food court with a very nice view. Really yummy food and not a McDonalds in sight. My only complaint was that there were no high chairs at all in the whole food court. Step it up Sydney! Then with excited littlies we headed up the Tower. Now I think I have only been up there once a very long time ago. It is a very impressive tourist attraction these days. Of course that means you have to pay but for a rainy day special outing it was a great thing to do. Handy hint for next time.  The bar opens at 4pm so if you go up there and pay for a drink you don't have to pay the tourist entry fee. But it was worth the fee as we spent a long time up there playing "can you see a" with James and looking at the whole city. Even Ben loved getting out and walking around looking out the giant windows.

So we learnt that the Ergo's a really great for both kids, though things still take a little time in adjusting and keeping food handy is very important. My raincoat works and is lightweight but the backpack is too big to carry for day trips. We also learnt that it is great fun to pretend to be tourists for a day in your own city. Well worth the effort and a lot of fun.

30 days to London baby!

Pros and Cons of Play Centres

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Play Centres.  You know, those mad places that are filled with giant slides, ball pits, climbing thingamies and lots of kids running wild. Yep there are heaps of them around so you get the idea without me naming names.

So firstly the pros. Oh how I love Play Centres! To paint the picture, it feels like it has been raining for at least 50 days in a row and it is not just the kids that are climbing the walls but I am too. There is only so much play dough cooking and craft that a Mum can do without going as mad as a hatter! These are the times that I just about cry with relief that there are such things as play centres. Where my boys can run off steam and I can generally sit and watch them whilst enjoying something hot and yummy. Ah bliss. It is at these times where I gladly pay the $14.50 per child entry fee that my closest play centre charges and in fact some days I would probably play double. Happy boys = happy Mum. The other times I love play centres is when I am meeting up with my mummy friends. Yes, even when the weather has been good or it is too hot to be outside. They are brilliant and it is great to organise  to meet somewhere where we know everyone will be happy and you don't have to rely on the weather. The kids play together and don't fight over sharing toys and us mums can generally hang out by the slide and have a very good natter. I think these times have been my sanity savers. Many problems have been discussed by the ball pit or jumpy castle and I have learnt many valuable things by talking to my friends without our sentences being interrupted every other second. So how can you not love play centres?

Ah well the Cons. Play centres are really quite expensive. Not just the entry fee. Lets face it they are businesses and I think that the fee is quite reasonable when you compare it to other outings. (How much is it to see a movie these days?)  No it's actually the 'no food' policies that bug me. Many centres in my area don't allow you to bring your own food. So you are left with two options. Buy the over priced, unhealthy foods that they sell or leave when the kids get hungry. (which is generally 10 minutes in for my kids) It frustrates me that I can't pack snacks for my kids that are cheaper and healthier when we have already paid to get in the door. I would happily pay for a coffee or a treat but I feel like I am committing a crime if I sneak in so much as a rice cracker.

 The other thing that gets my goolies is actually 'those' (raises eyebrows) kind of parents. You know the ones that go there and let their cherubs run wild without so much as glancing up from their novel that is bigger than "War and Peace"? Most parents supervise but there are just those few that just use these centres and rely on other mums like it is a baby sitting service. I know my boys are no angels but we have come away from centres with our war wounds.  It can be a bit like 'Lord of the Flies' in those tunnels where you can't see in very much even if parents are supervising. My last con is perhaps the germs. I hate to think of how clean the ball pits are, especially when my 1 year old is sucking on one of the balls. I am sure we have picked up many a snotty nose from these places. But I suppose you get as many germs from a shopping trolly so perhaps that is not really a con. 

So the verdict? Whilst they are expensive compared to going to playgroup, the library, the museum, the art gallery and all those wonderful type of options, sometimes I just need something else that is easy and kid friendly and these places fill that hole.

So what are your thoughts  on play centres? 

Lolly Pop Cookies

I saw some really cool cookies somewhere on line the other day. I only saw the picture and I can't remember where I saw them but they inspired me. They were two coloured doughs rolled together to create little round swirled cookies and they had sprinkles around the outside. So yesterday afternoon I decided to give it a try. James was my little sous chef of course and Ben my keenest taste tester. I didn't have the actual recipe, I just used my shape cookie recipe that I know the kids love. I  also though the swirls looked like a lolly pop without a stick, so I decided to add my own touch and make them so you can eat them on a stick. Lolly pop cookies! ( I didn't get a good photo but its on a stick.)  And they were a big hit!  I think next time I will make them with the cream colour and then a bright colour as the two colours was a bit much. They were fun and whilst they have a bit of sugar in them it is a treat and I would rather my kids eat these knowing what is in them, rather than buying sweet cookies from the shops with extra preservatives etc. A bit of baking fun on a rainy day.

Recipe

2 cups of plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
125g butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons of milk

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg then the dry ingredients till smooth. I then decided the mix in half and added different food colours. The put it in the fridge for a little bit so it can roll better. Then roll each colour out and put them one on top of the other. Then roll it into a sausage and put glad wrap on it back in the fridge. Then you can slice it up into small rounds. I just put a lolly pop stick in and then in the oven to bake for about 10/15 minutes. 

Craft day Tuesday

I aim to do a craft activity on Tuesdays with James whilst Ben is a sleep. As I say it is an 'aim'. We sometimes get there, sometimes not, but its good to have aims! Today's activity was a cheap messy one that I remember doing when I was a kid. I loved them. I think James loved getting messy in the flour more than the end result but that is half the fun! 

For balloon squishy monsters you need

Flour

Balloons

googly eyes 

Glue

Pen

5 hands

Find a way to get the flour in the balloon. That is the fun part! Then you tie it up and then put a second balloon over the top to make sure it is secure. Then decorate to your hearts content. 

Our finished green monster :

now can someone come over and clean up the mess? 

First Birthday

My baby is one! I can not believe how fast a year can go. From a little tiny baby to a walking (more like wobble wobble step step crash) cheeky little boy full of joy. First birthdays are very special so we had a family party to mark the occasion. Ben shared a birthday party with Richard and Abbey, our families other  May birthdays. We decided on a Wiggles theme and a date and we were blessed with such a sunny day. I got a pretty good deal with this party. I got to do all the fun kids stuff and Nichole my cousin helped make a tonne of yummy food for everyone. Including a spag bol that I still "can't believe it wasn't meat"!

So what do you do for a Wiggles party? Such a colourful theme the imagination can run wild! We had Henry the Octopus Jelly,  popcorn, Wags the Dog cookies, wiggles coloured cake pops, fruit salad (yummy yummy) Rosy (cordial) tea, and Wags sausage rolls. Of course no party is without cake! I had a lot of fun making this one, with Dorothy made out of fondant for the top and bright colours dotted everywhere. For the other food we had spaghetti and hot potatoes to continue the theme. Captain feathersword was not forgotten as we had a captain feathersword treasure hunt. The kids really loved following the clues to find a treasure map and then the hidden treasure of chocolate gold coins and wiggles coloured smarties.

 

The food was yummy, the kids had a great time and it was great to have family all around us. My favourite memory of the day though was Ben's new word and excitement. Everyone was sitting around watching presents being opened for Ben by the big kids. Ben was having so much fun being the centre of attention and starting to take a few steps he kept stopping and throwing his hands in the air saying "Horray!" In that one word he summed up the whole day, I couldn't have said it better myself. :) 

First Post!

I wanted to include a bright and colourful picture in my first post for my new blog "Life with Littlies". So the above picture is of some food that I made for my sons Wiggles party last week. Hopefully grabbed your attention. Maybe?  But maybe not since I have no followers (yet!) except perhaps for my Mum. Which totally counts! Hi Mum thanks for reading :)  Anyway, more on the Wiggles Party later.....

Hopefully from the title you can kind of guess that this blog is about my life with my two gorgeous little kids. I have two very active boys, James ( 4 years) and Ben (1 year) and there is also my wonderful husband Pete ( probably best to leave out his age.) In case you are still wondering what this is about; my aim is to post about all things family. The adventures we get up to and the fun we have keeping our two little boys happy, busy, fed and clean. Well sometimes clean, I haven't given up trying yet! 

Oh and Me! Sorry to be rude and not introduce myself earlier! Hi! I am Emma. I am a 30 *ahem* something year old Mummy and I work part time in a school as a Music teacher.  I love cooking all things sweet but I also have discovered *gasp* that I also love running! Probably a good thing in light of all the cooking.  I am a blogging novice but I look forward to posting and learning as I go.