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

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

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

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

Our Willy Wonker and his Chocolate Factory

As the shortest month of the year you'd think that time wouldn't whiz by at double the speed it usually does. I'd like to know where February has gone? It seems like only yesterday that we were finishing up with January and now we're about to wave goodbye to February. This month we've celebrated four birthdays, had a big party for my mother's sixtieth, driven long distances for events, started dance lessons for a four week trail period while still going about our day to day lives.

The temperatures here in my part of Australia have been hot, humid and really uncomfortable especially when you don't own an air-conditioner, but we've managed to work through them. I've worked on a few little things this month that were food related which I planned to share with you but unfortunately with the heat I've forgotten to take pictures or save leftovers so all my great blog ideas have literally been eaten up. However, I've managed to try a few new recipes which have been well received by four of the five food critics I have living with me. As always I'm yet to receive a perfect score with my dishes but I'm still trying because one day soon my two year old will love what I've made at the same time as the other children. It'll happen and when it does I'll have the camera ready.

School is in full swing at the moment, the eldest two are adjusting to the change in routine and they've also embraced the changes made to the homework program. We're loving the fact that we can do a small amount of homework over the weekend which frees up time during the week to play in the afternoon. Mackenna is enjoying having her violin and she practises every night plucking the strings, however ask me in a months time what I think especially when she starts using the bow. Caelan's teacher is lovely and I think she'll encourage him to focus more this year which should help him in the coming years.

One of the activities he could do from his homework sheet this past fortnight was to create a chocolate bar anyway he wanted. As this activity requires some adult supervision I had the pleasure of helping him create a chocolate that he'd share with his class. Initially many of the ideas he had were already available and with the majority of his classmates also doing this project he was running out of ideas. While walking through the lolly isle at the supermarket he choose two different chocolate bars that he was going to mix together with the melted chocolate in the hopes of creating something edible.

After a bit of brainstorming and guidance I helped him create a cute little chocolate that he took to school to test out on his class mates. Later in the term he'll work on branding, a logo and an entire marketing campaign for the chocolate bar he's created. At the moment he's named it 'Crunchy Heart Bar' but once he's been given more direction and an overview of the assignment I'm sure his little chocolate bar will get a new name, packaging and a cute little logo.

So what do you think of his little chocolates? I love how he's used white and milk chocolate while also incorporating little candies I had in the pantry, when you bit into them its nice to see tiny little pieces of colour. I'm very proud of his efforts, who knows maybe I'll talk him into making chocolates for Easter instead of going with the traditional Easter Egg thing. I'd love to here if you've ever made chocolates before.

Megan

Special Fairy Cakes



Pretty Dancing Fairies

 

A Fairy Dance.

Dance along to the fairy beat,

wave your wand and tap your feet.

Dance along as the fairies sing,

twirl around in a ring.

Dance along as the fairies play,

point your toes then fly away.

 

This little song is one of Mackenna's favourites and you will often see her dancing around the house with her fairy friends which Mr Opoes and myself can't see. Caelan is also on the outer now because he's becoming to old and fairies don't like boys according to Mackenna. This whole fairy thing started when Mackenna bought herself a fairy kit just over twelve months ago. She talks all the time about her fairy friends and when they will be arriving in our garden which we have to design, price and construct first before they can even think of move in.

 

So as I'd previously promised the girls I'd make Fairy Cakes with Mackenna and Viveca. Both girls were really excited and they rushed about going to the toilet, washing their hands and trying to find something safe to stand on so that they could reach the mixing bowl. They took it in turns to put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and I was the safety officer.
 

The girl's looking very happy with their efforts.

 

Fairy Cakes
 

Ingredients:

125g butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup sultanas

1/2 cup self-raising flour

icing sugar to decorate

12 paper cases

 

Directions:

1. Ask an adult to turn the oven onto 180°C.

2. Mix the butter and caster sugar together using an electric beater.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well.

4. Stir in the sultanas and then mix in the flour.

5. If the mixture is too thick add a splash of milk to make it runnier.

6. Place the 12 paper cases inside the muffin tin. Spoon equal amounts of cake mixture into each one.

7. Ask an adult to put your fairy cakes into the oven and let the bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

8. To decorate, sprinkle the top of the cakes with icing sugar.

 

The hardest part for the girls was waiting for them to cool down. I decided to have the cakes for dessert as we were having a meatless meal and usually the kids tend to complain that they haven't eaten enough. Everyone loved their fairy cake, Mr Opoes gets to take one to work and Quinlan also loved his cake. I was able to save four of the fairy cakes so the kids have something for their morning tea tomorrow.



The finished Fairy Cakes ready to be eaten by my Hungry Hippo's

These fairy cakes aren't bad for only 5 ingredients. If you want to change them up a little bit you could try to add other dried fruit instead of using the sultanas. I'm thinking that next time the girls want to make them I'll try using dried cranberries and see how the kids like them.

 

Megan

Mini Easter Egg Surprise

After the kids had their annual and rather small Easter Egg hunt in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard I had 12 small Easter Eggs left. Not long after marrying Mr Opoes I found an Easter egg inspired recipe that I was meaning to try. As everything we own is in a storage shed I thought I'd have a go and try to remember what I'd read years ago. I've also seen a heap of rainbow cakes on Pinterest and other talented peoples blogs so I thought I'd try to create the layered rainbow effect instead of having a marbel cake effect. I ended up only using three colours (white, purple and red) to create my Mini Easter Egg Surprise Cupcakes. I have since learnt that the Rainbow Cake to made up of several coloured layers of cake that are then joined together with frosting.

So here is the recipe I used to make my cupcakes. I wanted to see if I could make the batter a little more creamer so I added 1 tablespoon of vanilla yoghurt and 1 tablespoon of apple sauce. I used the apple sauce as it add sweetness, I reduced the amount of brown sugar to ½ a cup because of the apple sauce. If you aren't using apple sauce still use ¾ cup brown sugar.

Easter Egg Surprise Cupcakes

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ cup milk 

12 solid chocolate Easter eggs, foil removed

blue food colouring

red food colouring

Icing:

50g unsalted butter

2 cups icing sugar

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180°C.

2.  Using an electric mixer, beat butter for 2 minutes until pale in colour and creamy. Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition. Add eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each addition. Add the vanilla essence and beat until combined.

3.  Add half the shifted flour and baking powder to the butter mixture. Then add half the milk to the butter mixture. Mix well.  Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Mix the batter well until its well combined.

4.  Divide the cake mixture into three separate bowls. Add the desired amount of food colouring to two of the bowls. Make sure that the colour is stirred through the mixture really well.

5.  Spoon 1 tablespoon of vanilla mixture into each cupcake holder. Place the Easter egg in the centre of the cupcake pan.

6.  Using the two remaining mixtures spoon them over the egg. Fill each greased cupcake pan so that its ¾ full (an ice cream scoop is perfect for this).

5.  Bake muffin size cupcakes for 20-25 minutes and mini cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

6.  Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely.

Icing:

1.  Cream butter and icing sugar until pale and smooth. Beat until well combined.

2.  The mixture should be light and fluffy. The mixture should be a spreadable paste; if it is too dry add a little bit of milk, if too wet add more icing sugar.

3.  When the cupcakes are cold, generously spread icing over the top. Alternatively, you could pipe the icing onto each cupcake. Decorate as desired.

The finished cupcake with hidden Easter egg.

Megan

5 days of Cupcakes

Recently I started sharing some of my recipes on various link parties and the lovely Carolyn from Homework featured my 'Yoghurt and Apricot Cupcakes' on her Inspiration Pinboard Springtime Cupcakes. So now I have the privilege of putting her featured button on my blog for all to see. Yah. I'm so happy because there are people out there beside my family who are looking at what I'm doing, they are liking it and I'm getting a pat on the back. So thank you Carolyn.

After this happened I decided that I'd save you from all the boring building things that are happening and I'd do '5 Days Of Cupcakes' starting on Monday. So because it's Easter and chocolate eggs are all the rage I'll start with an Easter egg inspired cupcake. To enable these cupcakes to be used in school lunches there will be a couple of mini cupcakes, large one for hubbies' lunch or morning tea with friends and lastly I try to make a large cupcake that's suitable for a birthday party.

Here is what I'm planning to do during the next five days.

Monday:                  Mini Easter Egg Surprise

Tuesday:                 Date Cupcakes

Wednesday:           Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes

Thursday:               Strawberry Yoghurt Cupcakes

Friday:                     Cookie Monster Cupcakes

I'm going to show you the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm still learning how to use this gas oven and when we move into the new house I'll have another gas oven to learn how to use. I'm hoping that by using this older model gas oven I'll be an expert when we move into the new place. My plan is to get the cooking done the day before, ice them after the kids go to bed and then write up my blog before posting it the next day.

That's the plan whether or not it works out that way I guess we'll have to see. I'm sure that babies will need feeding, nappies will need changing and then there's things that might happen with the build. I know I have to meet with the tiler but that'll only happen after he contacts me.

Here are some really beautiful cupcakes. Leave a comment and let me know what cupcake you or your family like the most.

find the recipe here

 find the recipe here

So I'll see you tomorrow with the first of my cupcake creations. I hope you are having a safe, happy Easter and I'll see you tomorrow with my Mini Easter Egg Surprise.

Megan

Healthy Lunch Box Fillers

It seems silly to be thinking about school lunches but I thought I'd test a few lunch box recipes out while the kids were on Easter holidays. I'm trying to limit the amount of hidden sugar that the kids are getting in their lunch box so this term I'm going to do more baking. The other week I found a recipe for these Yoghurt Apricot Cakes but I can't remember where I saw them and what's even better I didn't take any photos of the process.

So I'll share the recipe with you and the picture I took at the end before I had the kids come and taste them. I'm also looking forward to getting into our new house and trialling our new gas oven and taking advantage of the large bench area I'm going to have. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups of plain flour

¾ cup of caster sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoons of baking soda

¾ cup of chopped, dried apricots

80g melted butter

2/3 cup of skim milk

2/3 cup of plain yoghurt (you could use a fruit yoghurt e.g. strawberry and add additional strawberries to make the cakes more fruity)

Icing Ingredients

2 tablespoons plain Greek yoghurt

1 ½ cups of icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced). Lightly grease 24 patty pans (2 tablespoon capacity) or line with paper cases. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and apricots.

2. In a small bowl, combine butter, milk and yoghurt. Pour into the dry ingredients, mix until just combined. Do not over mix.

3. Distribute batter evenly between cases and bake for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack before icing.

4. Once cooled you can freeze them inside a plastic bag or ice them.

5. Combine yoghurt and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat until thick and smooth. Add a small dollop of icing to each cake and finish off with a few pieces of dried apricot pieces.

6. ENJOY.

Megan