MORE BACKYARD CAPERS...

Otherwise entitled "It's your birthday chooky-la-la's and I'm making you a cake.."

This child rarely pauses for breath. There doesn't necessarily have to be anyone listening for her to continue talking.

At first 'Scratchy' & 'Flappy' weren't interested and she was a little disappointed....

so we laced the cake with chicken pellets...

...and they may have been a little too enthusiastic for her liking!

I quite enjoy our times in the backyard.

The little things.

Head on over to Childhood 101 for more kids at play.
Imaginitive play is my favorite.

THIS SATURDAY I'M GRATEFUL...

...for joy found in small moments.

...for weekends away as a family

where sand mermaids never go out of fashion,

and walks on bush tracks bring welcome sweet treats

and the classic game from my childhood - 'Pooh Sticks'.

...for joy in the everyday things that make up my life.

I've written this quote before on this blog, but its still profound.

The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.

Sir Thomas More (1478 - 1535)

What are you grateful for today?

* These events happened last weekend, but as I was busy having these moments, I did not have a chance to blog about them until this week.

IN THINKING OF JAPAN

As you know, we have many paper cranes around our house at the moment.

Everytime I see one of these little birds, I am reminded to send up a little prayer for those in Japan.

So, so heartbreaking.

We have packaged some up to send to Maddie from L'il Magoolie in Christchurch. She is trying to collect a thousand for her beloved city as well as another thousand for Japan. So far, she has 55 - if you can give her a hand - please head over here.

Paper cranes are a symbol of peace and harmony and the Japanese believe that one thousand of them can grant a wish. A wish that this kind of devastation will not happen again and as a tribute to those who have lost their lives. A simple gesture to say that we care.

I've just come across an idea via this lovely lady...

I'm actually not sure how you can make a picture in the actual post link to a website, so you'll have to click here to get there.

MY {daughter's} CREATIVE SPACE...

Inspired by Lou, at Christmas time Goose made a few paper garlands and decorated the house in Christmassy colors. Since then, we've gone a little crazy.

She had a friend's birthday party a few weekends ago and made a garland to match the colours in the girl's bedroom.

A handmade pressie for her friend. It looked gorgeous, all packaged up.

I have a huge stash of papers and old books that have been sitting there for years and I love seeing them being put to use again.

We've made lots more using old books from op shops & Granny's old sheet music.

I love a quick, easy craft, particularly one that uses recycled materials.

Couldn't go without showing you Goose's favourite - made with wrappers she'd especially saved from a box of Rose's chocolates...

For some more creative spaces head over to Kirsty's highly creative space.

DIY TELEPHONE FUN

This week we have been having a bit of fun with the old fashioned tin can! We made our own telephone.

Not quite as loud as I thought but I was surprised when it did actually work. The trick is making sure the string is as taut as possible. I also read somewhere that if you attach a button to the inside of the can it enhances the noise slightly, which it did.

I'm playing along again with We Play at Childhood 101. So many great ideas for kids and play!

As sometimes happens, on the odd occasion at our house, this telephone is now on a high, high shelf...

... because I got a little sick of seeing faces like this and hearing the noises that accompanied it...

Does that ever happen at your house?

DIY BATH PAINT

Back when we first started having colored baths someone suggested that we try making our own body paint for the bath.

I finally got around to giving it a go....

Just add a drop of food coloring to some bubble bath or liquid soap in a cup and mix together - voila! Bath body paint!

The kids had an enormous amount of fun!

However, as we have lovely white tiles and white grout, when they started painting the tiles it left a slight stain on the grout, so not sure if we'll be doing this again in the near future... If you have a grotty old bathroom or you don't have tiles, but a shower screen, then go for it! Otherwise I'd suggest using it for bodies only.

If you'd like to read more about colored baths click here for a super easy, stain free way of having some bathtime fun!

I'm joining in again today with 'We Play' at Childhood 101.

Yes, we have a very squishy 3/4 sized bath which barely fits the kids in... hence my need on occasion to entice them in... although Goose often has showers or has a bath on her own and we work around it.

What fun bath time activities do you have to share?

EASY PEASY DINNER WINNERS ... & lunchbox dilemmas

During a conversation about lunchboxes and Goose's 'like it one day, but not the next' approach to school lunches, it was realised that Mr FGB and I are both actually the same as her when it comes to eating! If a meal is served up twice in a fortnight it just feels a little boring...we are not so enthusiastic. We need a bit of variety. While Mr FGB and I are a little more grown up and will eat it anyway (and Goose needs to suck it up girlfriend and do the same) I feel that it may be time to broaden and expand the mealtime repertoire.

I found this hard for most of last year and just too much pressure as quite frankly, if you're on your own with three kids, you're exhausted, your brain feels like mush and you're trying to do a thousand other things at the same time it is much easier and peasier to prepare something you've done many times before and just go on autopilot. Preparing something they might like, as opposed to something you know every one does like, has much more appeal! Now that Mr FGB is around a little more I might be able to manage one new recipe a week. That's the aim anyway.

With the abundance of basil in our garden, I was inspired this week to make homemade pesto. Super easy and so delicious. Head over to Alice Becomes for simple instructions on how to make your own pesto and ideas on how to use it in different meals. I can still smell the basil in the kitchen as I type and the thrill of using lemons and basil from your own garden is priceless.

I have a few more easy meal posts in the pipeline, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you're after easy dinner inspiration, and you've checked out all of mine, a blog that I like to frequent is Crumbs - they even list recipes by the time it takes to make them. Check out their pesto with a difference in the 5 minute recipe section.

If you've written a post about an easy peasy recipe - leave a link in the comments.

How often do you try new recipes?

Do you have any ideas for healthy lunchbox sandwich alternatives?

All suggestions gratefully received!

KIDS CRAFT - RECYCLED CRAYONS

Yesterday we recycled our old crayons into fun new crayons that the children are now fighting over.

First it involved a lot of peeling, but surprisingly this was the part they enjoyed the most. We placed the broken crayons into some small silicone muffin trays. We also made some heart shaped crayons using a heart shaped silicone ice cube tray.* The possibilities for shapes are endless.

We put them into a 130 degree oven for approx 8 minutes, put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes and then just popped them out of the moulds. See here for more detailed instructions.

They work very well when doing rubbings...

...and apparantly can also double as glasses!

It may have just become my new favorite party favor or gift for kids!

Via some new favorite blogs, I have recently discovered another new great blog called Childhood 101 and every Tuesday people link up their posts about kids & play. Head on over there for some playful inspiration!

and on Thursdays a little more creativity is shared over at Kootoyoo.

* I was concerned that the silicone ice cube tray may not work in the oven, but it was not a problem at all, maybe due to the low heat. Certainly can't guarantee that all silicone ice cube trays would work, as there are no doubt different qualities out there! There are so many fun & interestingly shaped silicone ice cube trays on ebay. Probably a good idea not to use the trays for anything edible afterwards though....