Queen of hearts' jam tarts - A post by Aesop.

In an attempt to get Aesop into a bit more writing, I thought I would tempt him with two things he enjoys - food and fame. Who ever said bribing kids with food wasn't a good plan clearly doesn't have a 7 year old : P
Aesop wrote this on paper and I typed it out for him - typing will be the next step in the plan!

Today I made jam tarts.
I found the recipe in my Kids Cooking book and wanted to make them.

Here's how I did it:



First I gathered all the ingredients.
Then I got a muffin tray and cut some circles in pastry.


And then I baked them.


And finally I poured some jam into them.



They were delicious.
I shared them with Mum, Dad, Aunty Holly, Uncle Ben and Otto.

I would love to make them again.

Mollies Chair : Five Months!

Mollie
Five Months

This month, Mollie has made leaps and bounds in terms of gaining control of her body.
There is a lot of grasping and holding, a lot of careful exploration with her eyes, and.. rolling! Couches and seats are no longer safe. (It took plenty of tries to take these photos without her trying to roll and climb down!). The other rolls are still making good progress, too. I haven't had her 5month Plunket visit yet, but she's well into the next size of clothes and definitely not getting lighter. Milk power!

There are little teeth moving around and bulging under her little gums. Rosy cheeks and slobbery smiles are the norm around here at the moment. Mollie is slowly working out how to get toys into her mouth to gnaw on, and loves those chewy fingers of hers. (I love them too, so pudgy and delicious!)

Sleeping? Hmm.. let's not ruin a lovely update, huh? Let's pretend we're all getting loads of it, and everything in hunky dory, so much nicer than reality!

We're very close to introducing tastes of fruit and vege into Mollies life. She is constantly reaching for, and staring at, the food we eat. We hope to (at least partially) follow the baby-led weaning route for the first time with Mol, so it will be an adventure for all of us.

The weekend that was.

An engagement party. Some finished sewing. Delicious snacks (some baked by me and some from the freezer!). Dress ups. Cuddles. Family.

Also, not pictured, a taste of roller derby... I get what all the hype is about. Rollerskating is a blast!
Alas, my body is just too had it from all this baby having and carrying, I think. Might leave it to the young 'uns (and young-bodied older lasses..)

Check the list - Change our bedroom curtains.

Sometimes such simple things make such a huge difference - especially when they have been bugging you for a long time.
I've been searching for plain curtains for our room for years now. The lovely 90's ones that come with the house are warm and clean, but hot-damn they are ugly.
I found these, nice plain, brown ones for under $20 at The Sallies and they were already the perfect size. Meant to be!
Tick!

(Photos are not great - the lighting in our room is dull on the brightest of days! But ypu get the general idea, aye?)

Mellow Yellow.

1. The coat of my dreams. Found at The Sallies yesterday.
2. Weeds, taking over my garden.
3. Peasant dresses in progress.
4. Contemplating spray painting my mannequin. Hmm.
5. A flower from a friend.
6.My constant companion, and hers.

Playcentre: A post in pictures.

This is what our Playcentre looks like.
I'm sure you can see why we love spending time there. Look at all those colours!

(I'm joining Deb in attempting to share more Playcentre love in blogland.)

Wardrobe - Nana dresses.

Nana dresses and leggings are my go-to outfit at the moment.
I've reached that point where I know the baby/pregnancy weight is not shifting anytime soon (is it just me, or is it impossible to lose weight on no sleep?!), so I'm embracing it and wearing whatever I darn well please.
Long may this frame of mind last.
I bought this top dress at the Sallies just after having Mollie. I love its uniform styling - I had two 'nurses uniform' type dresses in my 6th form year of high school. They were my favourite dresses then, too! I guess they designed them for comfort and easy wearing, and they won.
Leggings are Glassons, boots are Warehouse and brooch is Croutons.

This next picture, was quickly snapped on the way out the door - I didn't have time to try and get a shot where we were both smiling. I'm wearing a dress my lovely friend Amy sent me, leggings from Glassons and shoes from The Warehouse.
(those last two are nearly always the same - Glassons make the best leggings, and The Warehouse is unbeatable for cheap shoes in bigger sizes!)

Mollie is rocking some sweet Squidgyums pants, and a Cotton on top. Pink AS!

A review: LEGO Creationary.

Last week we were, very kindly, asked if we would like to review another LEGO product. This time it was the LEGO game 'Creationary'. We, naturally, jumped at the chance!
I have often looked at this game in the shops, wondering if perhaps it would be a good addition to our family games cupboard. It was neat to finally play it.

The boys were really excited about this one.
We opened the box, and read the instructions - seemed easy enough! We sorted all of the pieces into colours, and the cards into levels of difficulty. Ready to roll!
As a bonus, it looked so pretty all laid out in the box - the design is very attractive and inviting.

We decided to play with the whole family, despite the box suggesting it would be best for people over the age of seven. I guess I had hoped there would be some that were easy enough for Otto to make (he does play a lot of LEGO, after all...) but there wasn't really. He got bored pretty quickly, and ended up just building things for himself out of the pieces.
I don't really doing a lot of building with our bricks, I mostly leave that up to the boys - and I must confess, I found this game quite hard, too! The 'easy' cards had quite abstract/difficult things to build and I struggled to make them look like more than, well, blocks!
Aesop, the most practised builder among us, struggled a bit too. He struggled with building things far too big and detailed. One of his creations took 15 minutes! This means the game has the potential to take a long time, and it was quite boring in the meantime.
Abraham, on the other hand, aced it. He was able to build small and basic things, that actually seemed to have just enough detail to show what they were without taking too long to create.
(Decades of LEGO use paying off, huh?)

All that said, I think, with a bit of practice we will really enjoy this game. I think it might be one that gets better the more you play it, and the more you get the hang of it. It certainly uses a fair bit of brain power. (might be my problem.. not much of that around here these days!)
It will get easier as the boys get older too, I think.

My favourite creations for the day - Ottos only real guessable attempt, and one of Aesop's- very detailled - turns. Can you guess these two?

My favourite guess was from Otto. Aesop was building a playground, and during the slide building Otto suggested that maybe it was a 'marshmellow table!'. Hehe. Love it.

 

So, all in all, this game was a challenge - in a good way. I think with a few more tries (and maybe a timer involved somehow..) we will master it! I must say also, that I think it would be great fun to play with a bunch of adults.
Creationary and a few glasses of wine, anyone?

(You can get yours - perhaps as a family Christmas present?- from the usual places, for around $69.99.)

Check the list - Dairy-free ice cream.

I avoid eating dairy. Did you already know that? I forget.
It's not that I'm allergic as such, it just makes my throat and nose all yuck.
So, yeah, I don't eat cows milk products when I can avoid it.

One of the goals on my list was to make my own soy ice cream. Lite Licks is pretty good, but hard on the pocket and limited in flavours, I figured making my own would be awwwwesome.

I googled and googled, looking for a good soy ice cream recipe, to no real avail. What I did find though, was a bunch of delicious looking coconut milk ice cream recipes. Who knew?!
I decided on this 'Raspberry' one by The Nourishing Gourmet.



I borrowed this fancy looking ice cream maker from my friend Ashlee, and it all seemed pretty easy. 
I purchased the ingredients, chucked them in, and set it to work.

 It got to the texture of frozen yogurt.. sort of. But then it didn't get any harder.
I took it out and put it in the freezer, stirring it every hour or so.
It eventually froze through, but the texture is less than amazing, far more icy than creamy! Maybe like a badly made sorbet? Ha ha.

In conclusion, despite being very pretty, it was a bit of a flop.
I think it's for the best though, imagine having dairy-free ice cream at the push of a button - Helloooo weight gain. Plus, on special, Lite Licks works out about the same price anyway!

Either way, consider yourself ticked #2!

Father's Day.

I declare our Father's day weekend to be a success.

We've picnicked in the sun and eaten sausage rolls. We've relaxed and we've spend time together.
There was a (small) sleep in, a few gifts, and a lot of love.

I'm so appreciative of all that Abraham does for us. He truly is the best. I love that we have a special day where we can celebrate this (even more so than usual!).

Love you, bro!

Abraham's gifts this year were: The latest issue of Smith Journal, a huuuuuge pack of Jockey gold top socks and a grey, army-issue wool blanket. On the blanket I embroidered a picture of the ship that brought Abraham's Great Great Grandad to New Zealand, The Hovding.