{The Countdown is on}

Children love to count down. We count down how many sleeps till Christmas, birthdays and holidays. They love looking forward to occassions. "Are we there yet?" "Is it my birthday yet?" "How many sleeps till...?" Sound Familiar?

It is sometimes hard for a young child to understand a length of time. Saying "its in two weeks" to a young child is as successful as if you were to say "oh, just wait a year".

So, years ago, we started helping our boys understand the various countdowns by using this visual aid. 

 
We simply place a sign on the fridge with what we are counting down to. Then attach a few paper chain links....one per 'sleep' until the countdown event. In our house, every morning, the boys love running down the stairs and tearing off a ring and they love watching the chain get smaller and smaller. It helps them to visually have a concept of something that is quite abstract for a young child.
We have 7 sleeps to go until a certain boys 7th birthday. This morning the first thing he looked for was to loose a ring off the chain. It has become a real tradition in our family that my kids look forward to.    


Lauren x

   

{An Egg-cellent Easter Dessert Idea}

I couldn't resist the joke above - lol! A few sleeps till Easter, we love celebrating in our house and here is a snippet from something I did last year.
It's perfect if your having a family dinner for Easter this year. After you've had the main course, a special occasion calls for a special 'ta-da' moment dessert.

I posted yesterday about the Easter egg hunt cake (click here). Why not make that for the kids and trying something fun yet sophisticated for the grown up's.

Easter Cheese-Cake Eggs:
This is a tricky recipe to give measurements for as it depends greatly on the size of the chocolate eggs you use.

Get Ready:
You could use fancy vintage heirloom egg cups. If you have them go for it. OR, use an egg carton and cut it up for individual serving.
Then unwrap a hollow chocolate egg and gently crack off some of the top and set aside (slash nibble on them for sustenance whilst cooking for your family - I know you want to lol).

The "egg white" filling:
Mix up done cream cheese, castor or icing sugar in an electric mixer. Add a teaspoon of vanilla, a splash of fresh lemon juice and some lemon rind. Taste test to make sure it has a good balance.
Spoon into the 'egg shells'.

Top it with the Yolk:
Strain some passion fruit pulp so you don't have the seeds left and place in the middle of the cheesecake mixture. You could also use mango pulp or lemon curd if you prefer.


I served these last Easter and they were very well received. The great thing is that they are portioned, so depending on the size of the egg, you may leave your guests wanting more! (That's not a bad thing ;)
Lauren x

{How To Make an 'Easter Egg Hunt' Surprise Cake}

Last year I made the teachers at pre-school Easter Egg Cake Pops (see here).
This year I wanted to do something fun and different.

Introducing the Easter Egg Hunt Cake! 

Start with the Cake:Basically you require a round cake with a whole in the middle. There are two main ways you could do this.
1. Use a ring tin. I didn't have a regular ring tin, so I used a bundt tin that I had on hand anyway. You also need to put some batter in a small cake tin/ ramekin to use as a topper.  
2. You could even bake a regular round cake and cut a hole in the middle afterwards with a cup or something else round. If you've cut a hole out of the middle, set aside.

Fill The Cake:
Buy a packet of candy covered Easter eggs (the ones without foil) and fill the hole with them. Place the extra cake circle on top of the Easter eggs.

Finish The Cake:
Use a vanilla butter cream (or similar - choices are endless) and frost the entire cake using a swirled kind of texture. This is so that you can't see the extra circle hiding the hole.

Serve:
As this was a gift I didn't get a photo of the finished product when cut. However, if you were serving this for a family Easter dinner, there would be such WOW factor at discovering the hidden Easter eggs inside as you cut it at the table!

How much fun is that! I hope that however you and your family celebrate, you have a great Easter!


Lauren x

{Forrest Gump Party}

Each year for our birthdays we do a joint themed fancy dress birthday. Since we are 2 years and 2 days apart, it's easier to celebrate together and we have been doing so for many years now.
This year was a movie theme and we chose Forrest Gump.

 

We were in awe at some of the costumes! The film gave so much scope for imagination and our guests definitely took advantage of the many ideas! We had people dressed up as peas & carrots, a shrimp, hippies, a box of chocolates, the feather, waitress Jenny, the bus driver Dorothy, we even had (an almost) naked Jenny! 

{You've Been Rack'd!}

Today marks one week until Christmas. I found an idea on pinterest (from tsj) that I adapted to our family. We are counting down the week by performing 'Random Acts of Christmas Kindness'. I have had so much fun with Mr. 6 dreaming of ways we could bless people just because. We may even have to "RACK" on the 12 days of Christmas next year! I will keep you updated on how this goes. A little bit of generosity always goes a long way and I think it is important to build this into our children at a time when it is commercially all about 'me, me, me' and 'get, get, get'!

 

  

Lauren x

{Childhood Treats That Turn Into Adult Aversions}

Final day of Kindy is tomorrow! I can hardly believe where that's gone.
Today the kids had a party for lunch and each family was sent home with a note with what to bring (saving 20 plates of cupcakes being brought).
I don't normally freak out at such a task. Until I read the note and it said 'cocktail frankfurts'. YUCK!
I have never bought these for my kids and I have never prepared it before either.
To me it is 'poached mystery meat wrapped in red plastic'. Again, YUCK! I could think of literally hundreds of things if prefer my kids to eat before I came to this!
I visited the deli, googled how to bring them and joined Kindy in their class party. Despite the disgusting "sausages" they had a blast.


But, this got me thinking. What else did I eat as a kid that I wouldn't touch now. My top 3 in no particular order:
- Cocktail frankfurts
- Devon
- Junket (anyone else remember this milky jelly stuff).
I guess this also happens in reverse too. For example, I never liked olives or zucchini as a kid, but I quite like them now.
Q: What did you eat as a kid that you won't touch now? Vise-versa?

Lauren x

{Nativity & Advent Calendars}

A few weeks ago, I visited 'The Yellow Dresser' for the first time. I picked up this gorgeous Advent calendar (and a few other gorgeous things) and couldn't wait to fill it with things to count down to Christmas. 
I searched for ideas, and there were a tonne of them thanks to google and pinterest mainly. I decided to keep it simple and I came across a lady who had a free printable on her blog of exactly what I wanted. All the hard work was done for me! {Here is the link} to the printable for the advent and this is an example of one of the days.





I chose not to add treats, as I wanted the excitement each day to be mainly about what happens next in the story. They definitely remind me to do it and it has become a real highlight for us.
Another good advent printable I found from one of my favourite bloggers, Be a Fun Mum, can be found {here} also. 

The other addition this year (which I wish I had found years ago) was an idea I had to make some visual aids to support the bits of the story we read each day. I found some images of the nativity online and simply printed them off, laminated them and glued magnets to the back.


Both my kids have been playing with them on the fridge and we sometimes use them to act out or help tell the part of the story we are up to. 
***tip: rather than buying expensive magnets form the craft store, save the large 'calendar magnets' you get given free in the mail from tradespeople etc... and cut up and glue on laminated pictures. Because of this and the laminating pouches I had, this cost me nothing***
{click for image of the nativity characters}
{click for image of the background}

I hope the lead up to Christmas isn't too stressful and you are taking some time to enjoy it with your loved ones.
Lauren x

{Extra Special Twinkle Lights}

So, December is in full swing and I hope your enjoying adding touches of festivity to your house. I have been a bit busy over here working on a special project that I can reveal soon, but can share a simple craft that added something special to our staircase this Christmas. 

Materials:
- 1 length of Christmas lights. 
- 3m of stiff tulle in your choice of colours (I chose red and white). I got mine for about $2 per meter.
- Craft scissors. 

{Breast Cancer Awareness Night : Pt 2}

At the planning meeting, we tried to think of a gift to bless every woman that came. Something, cute, pink and girly. Someone showed a picture of some 'bra cookies' they had seen on the Internet. I had seen a few variations of these before and thought I'd give it a go making them. They were totally adorable and fitted the 'brief' (hahaha boom tish). These would actually be totally cute for a bridal shower also!

I have never done anything like this before (especially in such quantities) so here is how I made them:
Cookies:
*Find a cookie recipe and make dough as per instructions. I chose a gingerbread cookie recipe {loved this one}.
*Roll out dough, cut out heart shapes with your cutter. Before you slide it on to the baking tray, cut off the tip of the heart. It will help with the end design.
*Bake and cool.

{Gift for a Chocoholic : Chocolate Strawberry Bouquet}

So my mother in law's birthday is today and she is hard to buy for. I know she loves chocolate though, so I decided to create a homemade gift that I knew she would love! It is only a little time consuming, a little messy but doesn't cost a lot, which is great considering the wow factor you get!
Here are my tips for making your own chocolate dipped strawberry bouquet.



I used:
- 2 punnets of strawberries
- 3 blocks of choc (white, milk and dark)
- 3 saucepans and glass/ stainless steel bowls to make double boilers for melting the chocolate
- bamboo skewers
- disposable piping bags
-a case (this one was $2 from Kmart) or you can reuse an old jar which I usually do but ran out
- tissue paper
- green cellophane
- sticky tape
- to help them dry : baking paper, rubber bands and a few vases or jugs


Hint 1:
Place some baking paper over your vases/ jugs and secure with a rubber band. Pre-poke some holes and use this to stand the strawberries in whilst drying.


Hint 2:
Cut cello into squares and poke a skewer through the centre. Then fold up around teens and tape the base to create 'greenery' for the arrangement. This also helps stabilize the strawberries. Trim some of these lengths so they don't all poke out the top and create a rounded arrangement.


Hint 3:
Once you have covered your strawberries with the base chocolate (1/3 of the qty with each different chocolate), go nuts decorating. Fill some of the piping bags with melted chocolate and pipe designs on them. Leave some plain if you like to balance it out.


Hint 4:
Line your vase/ jar with the tissue facing coloured side out. Scrunch another piece of tissue inside and use this to poke your skewers into. Foam would work best but I didn't have any ;)

I am sure anyone would love to receive this as a gift and it would suit almost any occasion too I think!
Lauren x

{Happy Easter Cake Pops}

Well, I wanted to say thank you to some very special teachers and friends that are a blessing to my boys.

This was the kind of activity that I did most of the prep for myself. Had my kids been slightly older, they could have helped with more than pouring the sprinkles on. But I just loved these do much, and was very happy with how they turned out!

If you need more detailed steps, click here for a good tutorial.

Basically it's done in less than 10 steps:

{Easter's a comin'!}

It's no secret to my family that I love to celebrate holidays and occasions. Whether it's Christmas, Valentines or in this case Easter...I love decorating with themed touches, and sharing a meal with those we love.

I have not really done many decorations For Easter in the past, but this year I couldn't resist. It all started with inspiration from this beautiful wreath.

So, here are a few things around our house that help to add the 'festive cheer' of this very special and significant calendar date.

{Happy Love Day XO}

Happy LOVE Day! In our house we have been talking a lot about love this month, it all starts with our February verse :

We have talked lots about different types of love and how we express that, not just romantic love!
So my big kindy boy wanted to send a card to do some special girls in his world.
So, together we made these cards which he hand wrote messages inside for his valentines. I think it's very important that he does most of it - as it was his idea and it isn't about me giving a gift. Rather, helping him do this and then using it as an opportunity to talk about love and use it as a teachable moment....whilst he is not embarrassed about talking with mum about it lol!



1. Take a photo of your child against a backdrop that is quite plain. Show them how to make a fist and hold it up.

2. Then at home or at your local photo developer, print it off on paper or photographic paper.
Cut it out and attach it to some card to make it sturdy enough to hold the lollypop.

3. Using a craft knife, cut a slit in the card above and below their fist.

4. Slide lollypop in and write on the card. Viola, it turns a 2D card into a delicious 3D treat for someone special!!!



I have to say that the recipients were very happy to receive these and they were a BIG hit!!!


Have a great LOVE day wherever you are!

Lauren x

{The Final Christmas Touches}

Well, this will be probably be my last post for Christmas and maybe for 2011. It is very busy around here as we prepare the trimmings for a great Christmas. There is a lot of carols playing, gifts being wrapped decorations and crafts being made and recipes being baked. I LOVE Christmas!

Here are a few of the things we have done to help bring the festive season to life in our house.

1. The Advent Calendar:
Ever hear of 'Real Estate Speak'? Terms like renovators delight or fixer-upper??? Well in 'Craft Speak' a labor of love means something that took much more work than I anticipated, was GLAD to finish but happy I did! This advent calendar was one of those type projects. I know I winged it and made it up as I went, but there was something that I had to contemplate or re-do at several stages along the way. I am very happy with how it turned out though.




2. Snow Dough Ornaments I made salt dough using this recipe from taste.com.au and we cut out mini circles using a lid in the kitchen. The boys pressed a thumb print into half of the circles each and then we painted them white and strung them on a ribbon to make a garland for the tree. 3. Gingerbread Houses: With two little boys 2 & 5 years old, making a full blown ginger house mansion complete with kilo's of sugar seemed a feat that would have me cleaning the kitchen for days and adding an extra coffee or 10 to my day. So, because I still wanted to do this activity WITH my boys, I decided to make it a little different and go 2D instead. This was a BIG hit!!!! (gingerbread recipe here) (pattern for house copied from here) (royal icing recipe here) There are a few other crafts like a hand print wreath and some other ornaments along the way.

So, from my house to yours, I wish you a VERY special Christmas and may your 2012 be blessed and fruitful!

Lauren x

{Birthday Card with a Difference : what an egg-cellent idea}

Recently a special girl in my world had a birthday. I saw an idea sometime ago (yes, on pinterest) and wanted to give it a go. It cost me nothing as I had everything on hand and it was stacks of fun.
I didn't get photos of the glueing and glittering process as my hands were messy and I was enjoying it so much I just forgot. I hope you get the idea though.



All you do is find an egg, a skewer, medicine or egg cup, paint, pva glue, tissue paper, glitter (the finer the better) and a paint brush.

1. Carefully put a hole in each end of egg. Scramble egg inside with skewer and slowly drain egg. I blew some out and let some drain into medicine cup. This takes a while. (I saved the egg and made a cake for morning tea - no waste here!)
2. Then I rinsed it with water and set overnight to dry.
3. Write your message on paper and finely roll. Slot it into the hole. I found making one hole a little larger helped here and with the draining process.
4. Using the pva glue and small squares of tissue (colour doesn't matter) cover up the holes on each end and smooth out the paper with more glue on top (like a decoupage technique).
5. Paint the egg a background colour. This you'll have to do in two steps. (this isn't absolutely necessary, but in my practice run I found that it helped the finished look in case you miss a teeny spot with glitter).
6. Cover with glitter one half at a time.

Voila!

I packaged this by cutting a section from an egg carton and laying raffia type 'straw' in the bottom. I then placed the egg on top and wrapped in clear cellophane. Attached was a tag "smash me". I had intended to box it up and post it to her, but I got to see her crack it in person which was a lovely surprise!

I hope you like the idea and I can see it being adapted for other messages too.


Lauren x

{Christmas 4 month countdown}

My favourite time of year is quickly approaching. Sorry if I scare you by mentioning the "Christmas" word too early. I am not a quickly shop on midnight Christmas eve kinda gal.

I like organisation.
I like order.
I like planing.
I am a list queeen!

So i have lists going on ages before the 25th of December. Lists of gifts, menus, shopping lists, time line to-do lists, lists for anything! So, yesterday as the 4 month mark arrived, I found some pretties online and swooned for a while.

In my 12 days of Christmas countdown last year I dedicated a post to the beautiful advent calendar.
I have been re-inspired from Pinterest and with 4 months to go until Christmas I have plenty of time to plan ahead and make one for us this year. Now to decide on the design. I want to do it in fabric so that it is something that will last and I can pass on. This is just the tip of the iceberg though....there are so many homemade Christmas decorations I want to do this year, better get planning ;)

Linaloo

Inchmark


Green Jello


Frugal Home Designs



Ucreate (guest post by wippleberry)



The House of Smiths

There were so many other pictures and eye candy I could post.....so if you want some inspiration for this (or anything) get onto pinterest!

I would love to know if you created an advent calendar idea at your place and what kind of design you have, please link it up in the comments or on the facebook page if you have ;)

Lauren x

{Where does the time go? 5th Birthday Celebrations}

I want to dedicate todays post to my first born child and my (as of today 5 year old) big boy.

The last few years of my life have been a roller coaster of emotions. This little boy has taught me so much about myself and has bought so much joy, love, laughter and adventure to this house. As many mothers can understand, that children teach you that you have so much more strength than you ever knew you had. There are times when you have had to summonse energy in order just to survive. You are constantly aware of how everything you do and say affects how these little minds will impact the world as they grow.

The first moment that motherhood really sunk in. After my first child was born, fed and he fell asleep in my arms. My heart was melted and I was forever changed!

However amoungst all the challenges and adventures, there are many moments every day that truley make this the best job in the world! Moments like when your little one grabs your cheeks and plants a big sloppy kiss on your lips, when they say "Your the best mummy in the whole world of my life" and when they finally achieve that goal after many very hard tries.

And it bought me SO much joy to fill the house with balloons and streamers in anticipation for the up and coming celebrations.

The house was filled with about 60-70 balloons and metres of streamers.....loved doing this!


God Morning birthday boy! This buzz lightyear toy has not left his side since then ;)

"Bellissamo!"

Picking the basil apart to go into the lasagna mix.

Making a traffic light swirly whirly cake (aka red, green and yellow marble cake).



After eating his birthday meal he built the racing track with his Pa and Uncles.

“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one” - Jill Churchill

“A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.” - Cardinal Mermillod

“Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see.”- Pope Paul VI

“Making the decision to have a child - It's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
- Elizabeth Stone

Lauren x

{Cooking Faux Pa and The Fluro Icing}

{image}

A previous post discussed the idea of chasing perfection. In the spirit of that post, here is a major kitchen faux pa of recent times. I had a small birthday party with my hubby recently and I was busy icing the cupcakes about an hour or two before the party. I had so much to do and it was one of the things I left to the end which i never normally do. I tried to put all the accessories in a black and red theme and I had black patty pans with personalised toppers I had made (and my brothers beautiful friend cut out for my whilst I was bathing the boys). So, I aimed to make red icing. But by the time I got past pink to the red shades, I had added a whole container of red pillar icing colour which had even splashed on my arms and dies a bit of my fringe too! The icing wasn't even red per say, it was fluro red! Using my little bro as a guinea pig I gave him half a teaspoon and thought that I could still save it if his mouth wasn't red afterwards.
However, not only did it turn his tongue red, but his teeth and lips too! I couldn't do that to my guests and turn their mouths red, but time was ticking away! So my darling brother drove to the local store and picked up a tub of Betty Crocker chocolate icing and saved the day. No-body is perfect and even though I LOVE entertaining, it can be a mad house here up until the moment the doorbell rings and you hear the calm and welcoming "HELLO" at the front door.

You just have to laugh sometimes!
Lauren x

{Paper Heart Garland}

A dear friend of mine had her wedding day recently. She saw my heart garland I made for my valentines day dinner for my husband and asked if I would make something for her special day to give it a handmade touch. I have to admit I made it up as I went and I was over the moon with the result.
The couple are a beautiful couple and are both sickly talented in so many areas, especially musically. The groom proposed to her after singing her a song in front of friends. He even gave the wedding guests an encore of it in addition to serenading the bride in front of us all in a truely tearful moment that moved us all!

So, to personalise this decoration I went to an Op-shop (Vinnies) and found some old sheet music and got to work (silently appologising to those who took to the time to write the music).

I gently pulled the staples out and folded the papers back along the crease. Then I cut strips of paper from the fold to the open side about 3cm wide making a V shape. To make the double heart shape you need to cut half the strips a few cms shorter (this allows the inside heart to be smaller and fit inside the outside one.

Slip the strips inside each other so the folds are snug and staple together. (bottom left hand and centre pictures).

Then fold the top stips around to make the heart shape and so that they are all aligned and staple the four of them together. (bottom picture right hand side)

WALLAH!


I repeated this many times over and then gently placed them into a box to transport to the wedding. Then using some gorgeous rustic twine (think it came from bunnings) I stickly taped them onto the string and created a bunting effect. This formed a banner the bride walked under as she stepped onto the red carpet of the isle and then we moved it to drape on the cake table for the reception. I loved the way it turned out and glad it added a little something extra to a friends' special day.

{the only shot of the hearts I have at the ceremony, and will have to get some clearer ones when the photos come out from the fantastic 1tree}
{Thanks to 1tree Photography for these photos - you are very talented indeed!}

Lauren x