Baking with Boo.......

Today in baking with Boo we made caramel filled chocolate muffins which actually do not taste as good as they sound. This however has not stopped me from eating 2...................what was that I said about being healthy????????????????????????? Must try harder tomorrow!! Have you ever in your life seen such a happy baker?

The finished product, ready to be devoured....

A Crafty Afternoon

Remeber the papier-mache....well Kalem's mask didn't turn out too badly, so on Saturday afternoon we decided to get crafty. Kalem painted his mask..........................

......and Talia made beads by painting penne pasta and adding a glitter and a twitter!!

The finished mask! Ohhhhhhhhhh scarrrrry..... I think it is supposed to be scary anyway!!

The finished necklace! You can't really see in this photo, but the beads are all sparkly. Yes this does mean that our house is now covered in glitter................ (actually daddy went to work with some in his hair this morning, he did not realise, but am sure that his builder buddies will let him know pretty quickly, lol!!!!)

Just had to take a photo of this raspberry and sour cream cake, I found the recipe here http://katekiwi.blogspot.com/on this lovely blog. We had some friends come round for lunch and this was the perfect way to end the meal, yummy! I normally do not make anything if it does not have chocolate in it, but this was good and I definately recommend it! This was also like a final pudding as today I am starting my healthy eating, get fit regime...... Now people who know me will laugh, as I normally say this most Monday mornings, but this time I am SERIOUS it is definitely time to lose that baby blubber...... Wish me luck!!

Just thought that I would note that my blog seems to be dated a day behind, must be in different time zone..

Little Angel....

THERE WAS LITTLE GIRL WHO HAD A LITTLE CURL, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF HER FOREHEAD.

WHEN SHE WAS GOOD, SHE WAS VERY, VERY GOOD!

AND WHEN SHE WAS BAD SHE WAS HORRID...........!!!!!!!!!!!

This really sums up my darling daughter, who has been quite a challenge this week. Bless her little cotton socks...

Baking with Boo....

This week Talia was feeling up to doing a bit of baking, so in this week's 'baking with boo' we made Fudge-Filled Peanut Butter Muffins and yes they do taste as good as they sound.

Kalem joined in for the best bit... licking the spoon! Poor Lola looked on longingly from her bouncy chair.

The finished muffins, hmmmmm that is Talia's hand about to pinch one while I am otherwise occupied taking the photo. Well peanut butter is her favourite thing to eat EVER!!!!

Pretty in pink, a photo of our little princess for my mum and dad so they can check out her gooey gorgeousness...

This is my thrifted saucepan which I am thrilled with. I love ceramics in all forms and this pot is gorgeous, it even has pink daisies on it. I LOVE it, hubby however is less than enamoured with it and thinks it will be best kept in the cupboard.....ERRRR no way it makes me SMILE every time I see it..... and did I mention the pink daisies?????? ( by the way the photo does not do it justice)

No School Today....

Today Kalem has had the day off school due to a 'little' cough, apparently his teacher has told them they are not allowed to come to school if they are coughing or sneezing!!!! I guess this means he will be home for the whole winter term, in my experience as a mum so far, kids have a constant cough/cold during the winter. Anyway, he is not ill at all so it's back to school tomorrow. Today though he had fun while Talia was at preschool, she was off all last week due to actually being quite ill with a mystery virus...all better now though!

Kalem spent hours with his beloved Lego and is very proud (as am I) of the boat and plane that he has created. Definitely thought they were worthy of a photo...... Now I know that I have previously posted about the fact that I am trying to rid my life of plastic (this is proving harder than I thought by the way), but there is no way that we could get rid of Lego. We have seriously had hours of fun with this ingenious 'toy' and it is so great to see how Kalem's imagination works through these little colourful blocks of magic. I wish that I had taken photo's of his creations before, some have been really inventive....... here is my clever little man.

The boat actually has a below deck for cars that you can't see in the photo.....

After we picked Talia up we headed off to the library, a trip that we all love. I was lucky enough to pick up The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soul, she writes the blog SouleMama , very inspiring, full of great ideas, I would highly recommend it. I am definitely going to try the cloth book for Lola's first birthday.

The afternoon was then spent doing papier-mache........................ this was one of those crafts that I wish I had never started, K and T found it very frustrating. Probably should have tried to make something a bit easier than a mask for a first attempt. We used a balloon as a base, but they would not keep still (as is the way with balloons). T gave up and K and I tried to finish his, we will see what it is like when dry. This weekend we are making salt dough figures, hopefully we will have more luck with these!

Finished items..

Well somebody must have sent me some Happy knitting vibes, because instead of throwing the messed up knitting to the side and forgetting about it...in true Julie fashion, I actually finished it. Okay, so it's not perfect and if you look closely at the picture you will see that the neck is not quite joined, but you can't see it when Lola is wearing it. Instead of sewing the shoulder seam I added ribbons and this seems to work fine. I also removed the cute crochet heart from one of Talia's old t shirts and sewed it on here, all in all I am quite pleased. My lovely mother-in-law came and had a look (as hubby phoned to say I needed knitting help), she seemed to think that my casting off was to tight, I had actually thought that this might be the problem so will be aware of it next time.

I am looking forward to starting my next project (so many ideas), but Talia is still ill so have not been able to get to the wool shop. I am actually getting cabin fever as have not left the house for about 4 days...arghhhhhh, actually looking forward to going out to the doctor later (maybe we could fit in a quick trip to the wool shop) Our local wool shop is great, the ladies in there take great pity on my being a novice knitter and are really helpful, it also has a play castle so Talia loves going there to play princesses.


Here is the little model in her new vest... looking a bit shell shocked (obviously can't believe her mother's amazing knitting skills.......)!

.......and here is another finished product. Well almost, these 3 felt fish are going to become a mobile for Lola, Talia is playing with them as I type, so may have to make some more for her!

This blog is ACTUALLY motivating me to get things done....... and it is keeping my family up to date on things, when I spoke to my mum this morning she knew that Talia was ill. I thought that it was her psychic talent, but no she had been reading my blog, still working on that profile photo mum, promise to change it soon...x

A Quiet Day........

Apparently there are not enough photo's of Kalem on this blog (and apparently too many of Talia), so here is one of my boy making smoothies...... This one is simple, but tasty just banana, golden kiwi fruit and orange juice, (with a touch of flax seed oil slipped in when kids are not looking).

On Monday it is a national holiday here in NZ for the Queen's birthday. I find it strange that we have a day off for the Queen, especially as this is not celebrated in the UK, but who am I to complain, a holiday is a holiday..... Also isn't her birthday in April????

All plans for today went out of the window as Glastonbury 2007 was on the TV for about 5 hours......... (how jealous are we that my brother is going this year!) What a waste of a day, but it's okay as Talia has been unwell (not sure what is wrong) and just sleeping on the couch for most of the day, also the weather has not been great. Definitely going to get out tomorrow, but for today a quiet day at home was just what we all needed, it's been quite lovely actually just hanging out together. J and I even sat down and talked uninterrupted for ages.....can't remember the last time we did that during the day!

Other news........................ my knitting project has turned into a complete disaster and I am gutted! Maybe it was too difficult a pattern for such a novice, but it did say EASY!!!! I didn't think it was too difficult and what I did not know I looked up on the net, so I thought that I was doing fine, until I finished the neck line that is. Let's just say the neck is so small it probably would not fit one of Talia's dolls never mind my little chubby baby. I am determined to do something with it as the wool is lovely and a bit too expensive to be used for a doll. So I am sewing up the sides, forgetting about the moss stitch armholes, leaving one shoulder seam open (maybe add a ribbon/button???) in the hope that it will fit over her head. At least if it goes on it will keep her warm, even if it does not look great! Am saving the extra wool to make a hat, hopefully one that will fit. I am seriously not having much knitting luck so far. Anyway will post the finished garment in all it's glory soon........ Need some serious happy knitting vibes sent my way!