...name pikelets...

 ...another fun afternoon snack idea... one from my own childhood!! Had to use nicknames so each child got the same number of letters.... have to think of tricky things like that... they loved them! Ate themselves twice over!!

...back to school party...

...strange school started them back on a Friday... but I decided was great opportunity for after school feast to celebrate with friends... muffins, afghans, popcorn, juice and fruit.... we gobbled it all!! ...think I'm going to make it a traditional feast day... so fun...

...back to school...

 ...I remember learning to sew zips in... pencil cases were project #1... this year my boy asked for blue... his current favourite colour... and as you can see most his school supplies are blue too...

...I love covered books... usually use recycled wrapping paper, but this year one of the larger books we used an old poster that had a small rip... he was very excited about that one...

...muffins...

 ... I have at at least two blueberry muffin recipes... but this is our fav... came from a library picture story-book from Whakatane library... a modified Little Red Riding Hood story... so we call them Little Red Riding Hood Muffins (although my son was too young to remember the story now!)....

...this version I used mixed berries, vanilla essence and flaked almonds as well as sunflower seeds... and they work just as well with marg or butter... if it wasn't for the sugar they'd almost be healthy!!

Little Red Riding Hood Muffins

125g melted butter/marg

2 eggs

1c sugar

1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond essence

1c wholemeal flour

1c white flour

1teaspoon BP

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2c blueberries

1/4-1/2c sunflower seeds

Mix butter, eggs, sugar, essence
Add flours, BP, salt.
Stir until just combined
Gently stir in seeds and berries
Spoon into lined muffin tin (very sticky and tricky to get out of pan otherwise)
Bake at 180 degrees Celcius (350 F) for 20-25mins.
Enjoy!!

...christmas cookies...

...mmmm.....spicy crunchy cookies...he helped me roll these out and cut them out and EAT them!!... they're from a recipe my mum traditionally makes with a hole punched prior to baking to thread with ribbon and hang on the tree... since we not having a tree until get back to NZ didn't bother with the holes....might have to make another batch before we go though - they're disappearing pretty fast..."Who ate the cookie from the cookie jar?!" - remember that song/ rhyme!

...lil sister...

 

Proud parents and little girl - 2830gm (6 pound 4)

...she's here!!!... finally....breaking my waters didn't work (1.30pm) ... so had to have synto drip (2.30pm) ... which made contractions happen, but then my cervix didn't wanna play the game... got given IV Pethidine (?10pm) (which SO had not planned on - but then again didn't plan on getting induced either)... anyway - THAT worked - dilated from 4 to 10cm in just over an hour... pushed for all of 5 mins.. and DADA (11.30pm) ... no doozy baby thank goodness... no fainting dad... no stitches... skin to skin straight away, latched on within minutes... home aged 12 hours... pretty happy with ourselves really... and to think I was so scared of induction...

...first morning light... ever...

 ...big brother snuggles...

...he was so excited to meet her... but now (day 6) he's jealous of all the attention and snuggles she gets... particularly from dad... "Do you love her more than me?"... but as dad is going back to work today hopeful a more "normal" routine will help... he's still a brilliant, helpful, good, kind, loving boy - making his own breakfast/ lunch, getting stuff packed and unpacked for school, fetching mum drinks/ nappies/ wraps/ kisses on demand... all the effort this year getting him more and more independant is paying off...

...our lil girl...

... sleeping well, has sorted day from night already (hope it sticks)... feeding well... excess milk in the freezer already...regained her birth weight by day 5... dark navy eyes and light hair - very, very different from her brother... and very fair considering her heritage (half Tongan - with a bit of German thrown in a couple generations back, quarter Samoan/ quarter Scots/English)... we're very interested to see what colour her eyes turn out to be...

...and isn't that shawl gorgeous!?!... nanny knitted it... should show you the remaints of her brother's one that he loved to pieces... literally...

...colour co-ordinated nesting...

... so nesting AND crafting?!?...trying to work some stuff and things (and activities) around the 7 year old so it's not ALL baby sister constantly.... we revamped (and scrubbed) his desk area to colour co-ordinate with other bits and pieces in his room... recovered old tins/ containers and the "works-in-process" holder on his door is recycled toilet rolls... and he tells me there is now a code which you have to touch the rolls in the right order the right number of times to get in.... hehehe.... told him if I can't get in (i.e. don't know the code) he'll have to keep it all tidy himself... oh and decided I must be nesting after I washed the front door...lol...

...birthday cake...

...he INSISTED that he make me a birthday cake...I gave him a few choices from my favs (Nutmeg Love Cake, Spiced Apple Cake, Choc cake or first attempt at one that looked great in Edmonds - forgotten the name)... he choose Edmonds One Egg Chocolate Cake... the plating instructions were very precise also... lucky we had strawberries in the house!!

... canvases...

...big brother loving... he brought home an awesome creation from school... so I asked him to do something similar... on canvas... in bubba's colour schemes for her room...