Dairy Free Cauliflower Frittata

During the last six months I've had to eliminate DAIRY from Miss M's diet and as a seven year old who use to be able to everything we've found it difficult at times. Since we started this journey we've had to add citrus fruit and tomato to the list of foods to avoid so I seem to be learning new things all the time. I've been Gluten Free for twelve years now and you'd think it would be easy to adjust our diet but unfortunately I've had a heap of hassles adjusting our way of eating so that it was 100% dairy free. That was until I discovered Paleo. Eating Paleo means we can both eat everything without me having to make changes to nearly every aspect of the meal. I've also introduced the rest of the family to eating Paleo and dairy free just to make my time in the kitchen shorter.

So after a busy day at the shops getting three kids eyes tested and then having them all fitted for glasses I ran out of time to pick up a few things for dinner. I knew that I had a head of cauliflower which was coming close to needing to either been eaten or thrown out, so I put together this really easy and yummy Cauliflower Frittata with cauliflower puree. 

I've also decided to cut down on the amount of SUGAR that's in my kids diet. To do this I'm going to change out the processed foods and replace them with healthier home made treats for the kids. I'm also hoping that this small change will impact on the kids behaviour especially around the time when I'm making dinner and trying to get them bathed. I was really happy with how this frittata turned out.

Cauliflower Frittata serves 4

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets

water to boil, retain ¼ cup of cooking water

400g can of coconut cream

10 eggs, beaten

300g ham or bacon, cut into large chunks

5 mushrooms, thinly sliced

onion, thinly sliced

5 sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

4 tablespoons of almond meal

salt and pepper for seasoning

oil for greasing

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 180°C and grease your frittata dish.

2. Bring water to the boil and when it's boiling add the cauliflower florets. Boil until tender you don't want them to be mushy they need to hold there shape.

4. Meanwhile whisk the eggs and coconut cream together and season with salt and pepper.

5. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms, onion, sun-dried tomatoes and the ham or bacon until it's cooked to your liking.

6. Grease your frittata dish and then sprinkle the almond meal over the base of the dish. Place the fried vegetables and meat onto the base of your dish.

7. Pour the egg mixture over the top of the vegetables and meat making sure that you've half filled your dish.

8. Place the pieces of cauliflower in the egg so that some of the cauliflower is sticking out of the dish.

9. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes, check after 20 minutes and if the cauliflower is browning too quickly turn the temperature down to 160°C for the last 10 minutes. 

Note: depending on how you like your eggs you might need to cook it for a further 10 or 15 minutes if the egg isn't cooking around the cauliflower.

Cauliflower Puree

Ingredients

remaining boiled cauliflower

¼ cup of cooking water

Method

1. Place the cooked cauliflower and a little bit of water and blend together until the cauliflower is smooth. If it's lumpy blend a bit more.

2. Add more water as needed until you have a smooth consistency that you're happy with.

3. Spread the puree onto your plate and place the frittata on top. Serve with a green salad and enjoy.

I'm happy to report that all the kids ate their dinner and I didn't have to prepare individual meals for any of my fussy eaters. This recipe is great because there is no hidden nasties in the coconut cream and it's also dairy free so I'm able to give the kids a healthy dinner without them knowing it.

Having tried Paleo last year I know that this recipe is also Paleo especially if you use coconut oil to grease your frittata dish and to fry up the vegetables and meat. The other change I'd make would be to use dehydrated tomatoes instead of sun-dried tomatoes. 

Overall, I'm really happy with the way this frittata turned out and my daughter didn't get a belly ache after eating it which was an added bonus. Hands down, what a great start to 2016. 

Happy New Year everyone I hope that 2016 is a great year for you all and that you are blessed with lots of great opportunities during the next twelve months. See you soon.

       Megan

Soccer Playing Peg Dolls

One thing I was never enjoyed at school was poetry and unfortunately it seems to have rubbed off on Mr C. Earlier this term he had to write a Limerick about himself and something he loved. SOCCER was his topic choice but he struggled to come up with a Limerick within the week he'd being given. Mr Opoes and I read over what he had, it was then that Mr Opoes suggested we all sit down and have a brain storming session and this seemed to help Master C write a better limerick. 

                                  I'm a local lad who's called ocker,

                                  I love to play me some soccer.

                                  I wear the green and gold,

                                  But my team always fold,

                                  'cause I'm shocking as a blocker.

Life went on and I completely forgot about his little Limerick until two Monday's ago when he came home wanting an adult sized shoe box for Technology to make a 'Diorama'. Now A diorama is a way to build an exciting scene in a small space and this is why we needed a shoe box. We ended up getting a box and two wooden pegs from Grandma to create his diorama.

After doing a bit of research Mr C knew what teams he wanted his players to represent, the colours of their uniforms and the general layout he wanted to create. I helped him get the things he'd need from my craft store stash and he set about creating his diorama. I helped him create the background of his diorama and I made sure everything got glued into the box so that it wouldn't fall out BUT he made the Soccer Peg Doll players himself.

To think that with a little thought, paint, glue, cardboard and a black pen you can transform a peg into your favourite soccer player. I hope that he hasn't offended Lionel Messi with his Peg Doll figurine. What do you think? I'm thinking that it's a pretty good resemblance. 

I'm so proud of Mr C and I never knew how crafty he was. I've always known that he's loved doing Art at school but with nothing coming home from school it's difficult to gauge his ability. I helped guide him with the hair on both his players and I wrote the number and name on the back of the shirt as Mr C's writing is a little big. I'm so glad I got to watch him today and I'm so proud of the effort and attention to detail he's put into each doll.

I'm hoping that when Christmas comes around I'll have made a few of these peg dolls with outfits so that I can give them to the girls as presents. I like my chances of gluing fabric onto a peg instead of painting the peg to create my dolls. The other lesson learnt would be to put the facial details a little lower especially when having to paint or glue hair onto the peg.

Have you ever painted a peg person before or do you know of someone who has. If you have I'd love to see some examples of what you've made. Here's hoping Mr C's teacher loves his peg people as much as I do. 

Megan

Playroom Organisation.

If you saw my playroom at the moment you wouldn't call it organised but it's something I'm working on, it's a pity my children aren't working on it with me. So what am I going to tell you that you haven't already seen on Pinterest or other blogs. NOTHING. Today I just wanted to share with you what I'm planning on doing in our multi-functional playroom. What I've achieved since I started this project sixteen months ago and how I'm hoping to have it finished before school finishes in December of this year.

Our playroom needs to be multi-functional. At the moment it's nothing more than a dumping ground and an area that the children haven't used since we moved in two years ago. This room needs to work as a play area, homework area, reading area and a chill out zone for all the kids, especially if they want their friends over for a play. Sixteen months ago I had a desk installed to create a homework area that eventually they'll all use once everyone starts school and that's were it I stopped. This year with three children at school the desk isn't being used as it's filled with things from their bedrooms that I uncovered when I decluttered their bedrooms. I've needed to get in there and get the area organised otherwise the kids will be graduating and it'll still look terrible. We're half way through Term 2 and I'd like to have it up and running before Term 3 starts, otherwise it'll be another sixteen months and I'll have four children searching for places to do their homework.

The first thing I decided to work on was creating a storage system and a reading area that would work for our toys and an area for the kids to sit and read. Our playroom is a good size, making it idea for various areas within the zone. The storage system I set up was fairly easy to create, however if I was buying everything new it was have cost us $310.00 and for many families that could be too much money. I was lucky that I already owned two of the Ikea Billy bookcases from our previous house so there were only a few additional items I to buy (minus chalkboard paint) to create our toy storage area.

Our curtains and rug have a heap of different colours in them, the kids love the rug's brightness so I decided to use some of the colours to help make the area fun, playful and timeless. I got rid of the toys that the kids no longer played with, those that were broken and any others that didn't fit within the criteria. I found some MDF coasters and fabric storage boxes at my local hardware store so that I could create labels for each cube.

The labels were a simple process of drilling a hole into each coaster, painting each side of the coaster with my chalk paint. Each coaster got one coat of paint and this took a while as I had to wait for one side to dry completely so that I could paint the other side. Once the paint was completely dry (I let them cure for 2 days) I then used my chalk to write on each label. I then cut lengths of black sheer ribbon and narrow white ribbon and threaded them through the holes I'd drilled earlier. To attach each label to the storage box I just tired the ribbon around the handle a few times and then I tied a bow or knot depending on the ribbons colour.

So the entire make over of this area cost me $130 which wasn't too bad but if I wanted to reduce the cost a bit I could have used less boxes or waited for them to go on sale. I paid $5 for each box but later found out that when the hardware store has too much stock they go on sale for $3.60 each so I could have saved myself a bit of money. 

Overall, for a minimal amount of effort I'm really happy how things came together in this section of the room. The kids can now find toys they want and they we know which books are there for reading which saves Daddy from reading the same story every night. I'm now hoping that within the next 6 months I can find a chair for the kids to sit and read on, some art for the wall and a few cushions to make it comfortable when reading. 

Megan

Last minutes Valentine's Gifts

I've never made a Valentine's Day gift before because it's just something that we don't do. So the other night while I was grocery shopping I found a bag of chocolate heart's and I thought that I could give them to the kids to give to their friends on Friday. Later that night I said something to Mr Opoes about how Valentine's Day was only seven days away, he looked confused and then he said 'oh I didn't even know it was happening again'. After that little statement I've made it my mission to make something cute for the kids to hand out to their friends on Friday.

As I have a 10 year old son I need his 'hearts' to be suitable for both sexes without being too lovely dovey as he'd die of utter embarrassment, the girls on the other hand would be happy with anything PINK. So with this in mind I set about organising some tags that I could print off to go with the chocolate heart. As I had NO idea what I was doing I used Abby's tutorial 'How to Make Pretty Labels in Microsoft Word' to help me place the pretty pictures I'd created in PicMonkey onto a piece of A4 paper. As our printer has run out of ink I took my creation down to Officeworks to get them printed off. In my hast I'd set my margins incorrectly so with a little help from the staff member I was able to print off my tags.

I then cut the tags down to size, placed them on some cardstock and cut them out with a little boarder around the paper tag.

 

Lastly, I attached the chocolate in place using glue dots so that the chocolate stays in place. If you can't get your hands on glue dots, double sided tape, sticky tape or washi tape could also be used. Your child could also personalise it by putting the name of the person receiving the chocolate tag and their name on the tag. The other option is to leave it blank and surprise their friends with a lovely chocolate gift first thing in the morning.

And there you have it a quick and easy last minute Valentine's Day Gift.

So are you making something for your loved one or are you just treating Valentine's Day like any other Saturday? We've got so many activities on this Saturday that we're just going to enjoy spending time with the kids and giving them extra hugs and kisses. So I hope you have a great Valentine's Day and that you get to give something special to those you LOVE.

Megan

Stress Free Lunch Box Planning

Last week I dropped three of my four children off to start of the new school year. To say that I have to be better organised this year than I was last year is an understatement. Each one of them has sports, library, music and swimming on different days so keeping on top of their timetables is essential for a stress free morning. Now knowing who's doing what each day has helped but organising their lunches everyday is time consuming and somewhat difficult at times. My younger sister told me about a great Lunch Box Planner that she had being using and she'd found it saved her time and stress in the morning getting ready.

While she explained the concept to me I realised that she was using a 'menu plan' which is a concept the two of us have been using for years. As of yet I haven't had the time to organise myself but starting Monday I plan on having a very similar set up so that our mornings are less stressful, better organised and this should then allow me to eat my breakfast at the table instead of on the way to the car.

The first thing she did was purchase a PDF file from The Organised Housewife and she then got it printed. To save time on printing it out each week my sister put it inside a picture frame and this allows her to write on the glass using a fine non permanent white board marker, once the week is over she wipes it off with a tissue and then starts again. It's that easy and the best part is that when she bakes she know how many muffins, biscuits etc she needs to make and it saves her time as these items can be frozen to allow them to be fresh when the kids eat them.

Pictures provided to me for use in this post

Now according to my sister, her children are going to have Mini Hot Dogs and a peach for lunch tomorrow at school. The best thing about her plan is that she can make her own bread rolls the day before so that they're fresh for the children. The planner allows my sister to cater to her children's eating requirements (also great for children with allergies). If she gets sick, her husband can see what the kids are having for the day and the planner also allows her to have everything on hand when she needs it.

Pictures provided to me for use in this post

The PDF file also provides other templates that you can choose from. There's one that has the fruit up before the morning tea picture and this plan would help me plan out the fruit that the kids would take to school each day. That PDF file would come in handy for me as two of my children have fruit snacks at the beginning of the day and I know that taking an apple everyday becomes boring after a while.

So this weekend I plan on sitting down and planning out what we're all eating for the week and what the children will be taking to school. I'll also know what biscuits I need to make and I can have these frozen ahead of time. The other great thing about doing this all together is if I'm doing sandwiches I'll be able to prepare them over the weekend, freeze them and pull them out on the morning they're needed.

Now I'm off to get new lunch box idea's from Pinterest, no one is going to want to have sandwiches 5 days a week like we've been doing. So do you plan what your kids are eating for the week or do you just wing it? I know that this is going to save me money when it comes to planning my grocery list for the week and it'll allow me to get into the kitchen some more instead of buying packet biscuits.

Megan

Cooking with Kids

A tradition I'm trying to encourage at the moment is having a special family breakfast every Sunday morning. I'm not wanting to do it every weekend but I'm hoping that this time in the morning will allow me to teach the children so cooking skills. At the moment my son and two daughters aged 9, 6 and 4 really want to help me when I'm cooking. Unfortunately this is normal at night when I'm at my most busiest with the evening routine. So I decided that last weekend I'd make something yummy and talk to them about taking turns to cook with me.

On Saturday after a visit to the local library my 4 year old borrowed a cookbook and when we got home she ran through all the things she wanted to cook then and there. I promised her that she could try something out the following morning and that I'd help her make it. The recipe was something that I didn't need a cookbook for but as she's starting school next year I knew using the cookbook would be a great teaching tool. I had enough eggs to make breakfast for just the kids as I'd forgotten to buy more when I'd done the weekly grocery shop. She was more interested in making breakfast just for herself but I was able to talk her into making a bit more.

So for our first cooking experience together we made Eggs and Ham from the cookbook which is a basic scrambled eggs with ham mixed through it. Although the entire cooking experience was less than 10 minutes she was able to see results quickly and this kept her engaged in the experience. I've included the recipe and a picture of the finished product. She was really happy with the outcome and she's looking forward to cooking with me again.

Eggs and Ham (Scrambled eggs with Ham) Serves 1

Ingredients 

small knob of butter

1 large egg

1 tablespoon milk

30 grams (1 oz) chopped ham, chopped

pinch of salt and pepper

1 piece of buttered toast

Method

1. In a small bowl, using a fork whisk together the egg and milk. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Chop the ham into small pieces. If doing this with your child make sure you help them when using a knife.

3. Place the toast in the toaster and toast until brown. Once toasted spread butter over warm toast.

4. Melt butter in the pan, over medium heat. Add the egg mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir continuously until the eggs are just set and still creamy. Depending on the child's age you might need to assist with this step.

5. Mix the chopped ham through the egg. Serve on top of your buttered toast.

I'm about to start negotiations with my six year old as she's desperate to make everyone 'stripey ice lollies' (they're frozen fruit blocks) for breakfast. I'm thinking that we could make these on Saturday for Sunday's afternoon tea. I know that the kids will love to have fruit ice blocks especially after they've been running around all morning. So tell me do you make your own ice blocks or do you just buy them from the shops?

Megan

Teaching craft at school

Two months ago my lovely son told his teacher that I'd love to come in and help make cards with the students for Father's Day. At first I was a little worried, working with 50 children sounded very scary and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. However, once I made the decision to help them create a card I got started on creating a simplistic card. I settled on a navy blue, red and white colour scheme with a wood grain stamp to make it more male orientated. Both year four teachers were happy with what I put together so I got started gathering the supplies I'd need.

After talking to my son's teacher, she advised me I'd be able to save time wasting if I cut and taped up everything first prior to coming into the classroom. I took three weeks to cut, score and stamp all 600 pieces that I needed to create the card. Early on I worried that I'd be sitting up the night before madly trying to finish things off so I could teach the kids. This time my pre-planning played off as I had everything bagged up and packed away 20 hours before I needed them.

During my time up in front of the kids I found it difficult with the amount of noise that the kids were making but with the help of my sons teacher the kids were soon under control. The best thing about making the cards with the kids was that I was able to help them when they got stuck but overall they created a card for their Father's that was unique to the card that was been made next to them.

I thought I'd share some photo's with you of the different cards that the kids made and some pictures of creating their envelopes. I enjoyed the 90 minutes that I spent in the classroom and at the end of the class everyone had finished making their card and envelope so this saved the kids having to finish the cards at home.

I had enough supplies left over that I was able to give another kit to a student because she had two father's and I also made another two cards. One for my father in-law and the other for my dad (sorry Dad it'll be in the mail sometime this week). All up each card costs $0.80 which wasn't bad and it was way cheaper than a store bought card.

The best thing about been in the classroom was I got to watch my son make his card and halfway through he called me over and gave my a quick kiss. Not bad for a boy who's going to be turning ten soon. I could see how proud he was to have me in the classroom, it's a pity that I've had to put off helping out in the classroom during the last five years. I know that I'm going to be making more of an effort to help out in the classroom next year.

Hope all the Dad's had a great day last Sunday and that you got to tell you're father how grateful to have him in your life. I think that I'll do this again next year with my children because they had fun and it'll be so much easier doing four cards compared to 50 cards. Do you make cards and if not have you ever thought about doing it?

Megan

Yoga Party Decorations

Earlier this week I showed you the quick and inexpensive birthday invitations that I made earlier this month for my daughter's Yoga Party/ You can find the instructions here.  So today I'm going to show you the other things that I made for the party. For months I'd listened to Mackenna talk about what she wanted for her party and all she really wanted was the girls to come and fun with her while they did some yoga, played in the playground and eat some party food. So I tried to make the decorations, cake and favours reflect the playful, happy and chilled theme that she wanted.

I decided a minimalistic approach would work well for her party as it would allow her to spend time playing, laughing and eating which meant that I could also interact with the other parents. We had planned on doing a few different pink and purple decorations, however the park we used can get really busy so the few things I'd purchased from the discount store didn't get used due to it been really windy. 

When we arrived the first thing I did was cover two tables with coloured plastic table clothes because the tables never get cleaned. I also didn't want to have any of the kids get sick because they'd touched the dirty tables. Luckily I'd bought a roll of stick tape with me so when the wind started blowing the table clothes off, I was able to wrap the table like a present and this ensured that everything stayed in place. 

As you can see from the picture above I kept the food quite healthy to work in with the yoga theme. The first thing that I made for the girls to tie in with the birthday invitations were water bottle labels. I made the labels in PicMonkey and then I printed them off at the local copy shop. After cutting them to size (I used the same measurements as the water bottle labels) I used a felt pen to colour-in the yoga ladies outfit, I then used clear contact to cover each label before attaching it to the bottle.

Mackenna had requested cupcakes for her birthday so I made her red velvet ones with chocolate icing just for something different. I made the Too easy chocolate cake from my thermomix Everyday Cookbook with a few changes to suit our party. Mackenna had picked out some cute purple polka dot cupcake cases so I made some cute cupcake toppers that would tie the theme together with the yoga. I used the same elements I'd used for the party invitations and the drink bottle labels. Each child was given the coloured cupcake topper that matched their invitation and water bottle.

The last thing that I made were the gift bags that we gave to each girl when they were leaving. Usually these bags are filled with sugary treats and toys that don't last very long. I thought that because Mackenna had a Princess theme for her Yoga class, I decided to include lots of princess things as well as a few stationery items.

I'm glad that I put all my effort into making these few things for Mackenna's birthday party. At the end of the party every little girl came up to me and thanked me for their water bottles and gift bags. I'm so glad that I went with the colour theme mixed in with the princesses because I think that was something the girls weren't expecting. Overall, it was a great party and I got to talk to a few mums and put a mum to a child's name. I also kept costs down with all the decorations and food. This meant we could take Mackenna out for a special dinner on her birthday which is something we've never done before.

Megan

Book Week 2014

Every year most Australian schools have a special 'Book Week' celebration that encourage the kids to read more books and fostering a reading relationship. The children are asked to bring a book that goes with their costume. Every year I leave organising a costume to the last minute so my son ends up wearing his everyday clothes and he goes as his favourite author. This year I was determined to be better organised as I now have two costumes to come up with. If I get it right this year then next year will be a breeze especially with three kids at school. 

The good thing about this years Book Week is that my son already knew what it was he wanted to go as and it wasn't an author. The bad news was I didn't have anything he needed to create his costume so I went off to the thrift shop to see what they had. I was really lucky to find an army t-shirt and army cargo pants for nine dollars. This was a little more than I wanted to pay but he would be more comfortable wearing a cotton outfit than the cheap nylon dress up outfit the local shop was selling for ten dollars. With a few extra accessories the entire outfit has cost me fifteen dollars but he's so excited to be going as a army private that it's money well spent.

My daughter started Prep this year so her costume requirements are different. The class had a theme so each Prep class was asked to come as a character from a fairytale. Many of the girls chose to come as a princess (Frozen was a popular choice). The boys had the opportunity to come as fairytale character, our class had more superheroes represented than Prince Charming. With this in mind I jumped on Pinterest to see what I could find for my daughter. We were thinking of dressing up as a fairy but we thought this fairy costume would be very different from all the other fairy costumes that might be worn on the day.

source

I found these instructions at Lilliedale for her Book Fairy Costume and the best thing was she provided detailed instructions that helped when I put the costume together. The best part about this costume was that all I needed to purchase were a few second hand children's storybooks, ribbon and a few glue sticks which cost me less than eight dollars. 

I made a few changes to the wings so that they looked more fairy like and less like the pages were falling out of the book. I didn't reinforce the book with wire but I did use two books to stabilise it so that it stayed in place. I also used a drill bit to make the hole as I didn't have anything else that would make a hole big enough so that the ribbon would thread through to tie around her arms.

1. Remove pages from book and glue to book.
2. Glue both books together making sure the cover is on display.
3. Drill through both books.
4. Insert ribbon so that it can be tied off.

The outfit was a great success, with a heap of parents stopping to comment on the costume and asking how I made it. The only negative aspect to the outfit was that it was impossible to sit in the car while wearing it. I ended up having to place it on the front seat and dress her at school. She loved wearing it and she didn't complain once. However with the weather being questionable the school cancelled the parade and they took the children into the school hall. Each year level had to sit down prior to been called up on stage, they showed off their costumes and then they returned to sitting down on the floor. As you can imagine she didn't have a big area to sit so the skirt was compromised. 

Although she had to sit down for the best part of ninety minutes. She did a good job looking after it, only a few cones came away from the ribbon. I'd bought my glue gun with me to school in case anything like this happened so I was able to fix it quickly without it causing any problems.

From the look on her face she had a great day and after the class pictures were taken I took her costume home with me. Having her wear it for the entire day would have resulted in her not being able to play and the costume would have gotten in the way. When I picked her up from school she was still wearing her crown and she told me that the librarian had come and talked to her at lunchtime. Apparently the librarian had never seen anyone like it in all the years she'd been working. Overall, it was a great costume and she looked beautiful.

Megan

Colourful Tulle Tutu

We have a heap of events coming up in the next few weeks at Kindergarten and school which require me to create outfits for the kids to wear. The first event we have is the Kindy Disco. Some of the lessons they've been doing is learning about patterns so the teachers have asked the kids to wear a patterned outfit. After looking through her wardrobe I soon discovered that she would be wearing solid colours so I decided to make her a skirt.

After talking with Viveca I soon realised that she didn't want an A-line skirt she wanted a tulle skirt so that she could look like a ballerina when she went to the disco. So I took her to Spotlight as I had a 30% off discount voucher which I was able to use store wide. Viveca decided that she wanted her skirt to have her four favourite colours in it so she picked out a glittery yellow, hot pink, red and a glittery purple. These four colours formed the pattern of her skirt. We also decided on a hot pink ribbon to use so that she could have a pretty bow on the front of her skirt. Originally, I was going to sew together a piece of elastic to make the waistband but after searching Youtube I decided to use the ribbon that I'd bought as the waistband instead.

After watching the video by NashvilleWraps I knew that I had the wrong sized ribbon but I thought I'd give it a try before rushing off to the shops again for more ribbon. I'd purchased one metre of soft tulle (1.09 yards) in each colour so in total I had 4 metres (4.37 yards). Using a rotary cutter I cut my pieces three inches wide as six inches didn't provide enough pieces of tulle to attach to the ribbon. I also used every part of the tulle so if I had two inches left over I used those to fill in spaces that needed it. I'm really happy with it and for $27.00 it might not be cheap but it's original.

Overall I'm really happy with our Tulle Tutu and Viveca loves it. She's going to wear black leggings so that the tulle doesn't itch her in any way shape or form as I'd hate to be halfway through the night and she's wanting to remove the skirt. She's already put her outfit together and she's counting down the the day's until the Kindy Disco. (Sorry about the picture but after been out all day the light wasn't working for me.)

I'm thinking that I might make a couple more for Christmas Day as I can picture both my girls wearing pretty glittery red and green tulle tutu's on Christmas morning. So tell me what you think does she look like she's ready to rock and roll on Friday night?

Megan

Yoga Birthday Invitations

Three months ago I decided to take the family to our local handmade market for a bit of DIY inspiration and to sneak in a bit of exercise as the kids had been spending too much time sitting down doing nothing. I discovered some really cute handmade clothing, nappy covers, soaps, toys and lots of lovely home baked goods. As the market was held on the grounds of a local school they had lots of stalls located near the playground.

Walking towards the playground Mackenna was stopped and asked if she would like to get involved in a Yoga class that was taking place. She jumped at the chance, so I sent the others off with daddy while I stood and watched her listening and participating in the class. While I was watching I was asked if I'd like to enter a competition to win a birthday party package valued at over two hundred dollars. We'd talked about having a party this year so I thought I might as well enter. The following week I received a message informing me that Mackenna had been the lucky winner.

Many of the parties we've been invited to this year the kids go and do an activity for two hours, mine eat too much sugar and then they come home with a lolly bag and the other children WANT something from the bag. As you can imagine this isn't going to work with a Yoga Party. I've had to rethink all the things Mackenna has wanted talked about all year, now I have to find a tranquil space to create a calm space, it also needs to feel like a birthday party and the food needs to be healthy so that the kids can be relaxed while participating in the Yoga.

After looking online I decided to make our own invitations as this allowed me to add the details that Mackenna wanted. To create the invitations Mackenna and I sat down together to choose the font, image and the size in PicMonkey. Caelan also helped with the wording which made my job even easier. I then took Mackenna off to Officeworks to print off the invitations.

After the printing was completed we walked across the road to a local scrapbooking shop to purchase some cardstock for the invitations. While we were designing the invitations Mackenna had already decided that she wanted to use purple, pink, yellow, blue and red as the colours for her invitations. So when we arrived at the scrapbooking store I had Mackenna choose her favourite colours in the cardstock and we purchased two sheets of each colour (leftovers to be used later). Each invitation ended up costing us twenty cents which is the least I've ever paid for an invitation.

With this in mind I decided to make my own envelope due to the size of our invitation. As the invitation is small (10 cm by 10 cm OR 4 by 4 inches) I needed to create an envelope that wasn't going to be to big. I had Mr Opoes print off an image from Google Images and then he reduced it in size to fit an A4 piece of paper. I traced out the first envelope I needed onto a piece of card (similar to what you would use to do a school project with) as you want something that'll bend easily. I then cut out the shape and folded the flaps inwards.

I then placed the invitation inside the envelope templet and using some double sided tape I marked on the inside of the templet were the tape should stop. You could also use glue for this part but I found the tape easier to work with. I also stuck a coloured jewel on the envelope with double sided tape so that the girls could open the envelope easily.

Mackenna was really happy with the invitation and as each invitation cost me fifty cents to make I was really happy. The girls enjoyed receiving them and they were small enough for the children to put on the fridge or noticeboard at home without it taking up too much room. I was also able to carry the colour scheme though to the rest of the party and each girl received additional items that matched their invitation. This also allowed me to do all the colouring in I needed to do in one go as I knew how many of each colour I needed. So tell me do you make your own invitations or do you buy them. Although this took time Mackenna was over the moon and that's all that mattered.

Megan

Sweet Potato Scones

Growing up I loved getting into the kitchen on the weekend and doing some cooking. When I first started on my cooking journey I didn't do so well but I slowly learnt how to make the basics. The one basic I never mastered was scones and it wasn't from lack of trying. My scones have been doughy, resembled rock cakes, crummy and not edible. So when we went out to Warwick for a Sunday drive during the school holidays I jumped at the chance to buy some lovely Pumpkin Scones for the children's morning tea.

The next day after purchasing four kilograms (81 pounds) of sweet potato I decided to make Sweet Potato Scones using the Thermomix, because there's no way the Thermomix could mess up scones. So after a little bit of research I found a light and fluffy gluten free scone on the Quirky Cooking Facebook page. I made a few changes to the original recipe because I didn't have everything on hand but overall I was really happy with the outcome of the scones. I also made them in a muffin tray instead of on a baking tray the first batch spread out.

Sweet Potato Scones

Ingredients

300 grams sweet potato

300 grams self-raising flour

60 grams butter

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 eggs

150 grams milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spray with a little bit of cooking spray.

2. Cut the ends off each potato and place in the oven until soft and roasted through, depending on the size of the sweet potato this could take up to 30 minutes.

3. Once cooked, remove from the oven, cut open the skin and scoop out the cooked flesh. Mash with a potato masher or set aside for later.

4. Add flour, butter and salt to Thermomix on speed 6 for 5 seconds.

5. Add eggs, milk, reserved sweet potato and mix 6 seconds on speed six or until just combined.

6. If the mixture is too wet add a little bit more flour and if it's too dry add a little bit more milk.

7. Drop large tablespoons full onto your lined tray, placing them close together.

8. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

9. Serve with jam and whipped cream.

There are heaps of different scone recipes so tell me do you have a favourite recipe that you use or are you lucky enough to be using a recipe that your grandmother passed down to you. I've always wanted to use my grandmothers recipe but with children who don't like cooked sultanas I'd end up having to eat them all on my own. So tell me what type of scones do you love.

Megan

Playroom Inspiration

We've lived in our not so new house for two years now and I'm presently looking to create a kid's area for the children to play in, create in and study in. With four children ranging in ages between nine and two it can be some what difficult to make the space work for everyone all the time. I knew straight up that I wanted the room to be multifunctional while also making it a fun and happy place to play in. So the first thing I did was search Pinterest to great some ideas of what makes a great playroom.

If you click on my Pinterest board you'll notice that colour, reading and homework area play a large roll when I've chosen the pins I've picked. In this post I thought I'd share my favourite playroom finds and the idea behind what I was thinking when I pinned each picture.

Love the colours and the amount of storage for toys.

Love the coloured canvas storage cubes and the little reading
nook between the bookcases.

A great bench seat that would be ideal for a reading nook.

Cushions for a reading nook to encourage
the kids to read.

Love the book cover letter to promote reading.

Long desk for all four children to sit at when
everyone is at school.

Love. Love. Love the colours in this room. It's so what I want for our
space because it would make you smile.

Love this rug and would love to great
something similar to it.

As you can see I have picked images that have a heap of storage within the room as well as lots of colour. If I had to describe my design criteria for the kids playroom I'd say that it might look like a 'Rainbow has thrown up in the room'. I'm wanting the colours to work within in the room without competing so I'm hoping that I'll e ale to pull this off when it all comes together.

In the coming weeks I'll share a few things that I've achieved so far within the room. I've got plans to paint a recently purchased bench seat using a new Australian made chalk paint that was released by a local business called Canterbury Blue Shabby Chic Furniture. The paint is called Chalk EZ2 Paint it's really easy to use and I'll go into more details when I get my seat finished.

I can't wait to share the things I've completed with you and I'm hoping that I get everything finished. I've now found the few things that I spent months searching for and I just need to find the time once school goes back to get this project FINISHED. Don't hold you're breath projects in this house seem to take forever to get completed. Wish me luck I'm sure I'll get there ha ha.

 Megan