Saturday, February 1, 2014

Return to school.

We survived the school holidays and the kids have returned to school. 
We covered all their school books with brown paper and it was the left up to the kids as to how they were going to decorate them this year. 
Mr 6 chose to glue magazine pictures to his covers.
Miss 8 did drawings on each of her 31 books. (Yes 31 books) crazy huh?
Miss 12 decided on a few simple typo stamps on her covers for the first year of highschool.
The day before school started we baked a large batch of basic muffin mixture and agreed on 4 different flavours to add on top to keep everyone happy. After they cooled down I put them into a container in the freezer. We take them out each morning to add to lunch boxes. I think we'll continue to do this on a Sunday. More economical and a healthier option to store bought prepacked snacks.

Camping on school holidays.

We entered the school holidays with sick kids either sore throats, ears or eyes of some sort. All 3 kids managed to share their germs and it seemd like it was never going to end. 

Towards the end of the 6 weeks holidays we went camping for a week.
We enjoyed kayaking, swimming, bike riding, campfires, fishing, catching red-claw, campfire and camp oven cooking (including roasts and pizza) relaxing and lots of sleep ins. It was great to unwind and get some well earned fresh air. 

Mr 6 made a little friend with this little cutie.
Mr frog was even lucky enough to enjoy a few laps on Mr 6's arm as he rode his bike. I think he was happy when he was safely returned to his tree. 

The creek was filled with amazing things to see, among them this beautiful water lily.
We also got to see about 6 black swans and their brood of babies. Lots of other water birds too.
I'm glad our children get to see and experience all these things that we sometimes take for granted.




Baking.

I celebrated my birthday inearly January. 
Miss 8 asked what my favourite colour was 
and made me this lovely butter cake with blue icing and cute bunting.
We enjoyed it with a scoop of ice cream for dessert, the night before my actual birthday.
We have been enjoying lovely mangoes, 
either on their own or frozen and blended into delicious smoothies by adding ice and a little milk.
Miss 8 loves that fact that it's almost like eating 'healthy' ice cream for breakfast.





Happy new year and welcome back.

Here is a little look at what I've been up to lately.

I had a go at making some simple crochet granny squares.
I used Paton 8ply 50% cotton 50% acrylic.
They are lovely and soft.
Still not sure whether to use them as wash cloths or join them together at some stage.
I also had a go at some crochet owls. I made up my own pattern as I went along. 
Still not quite finished in this photo, but you get the idea.