playdough revisited

Wednesday is our no kindy day and today we made playdough. Very very blue play dough. It's been a long time since we played with our big collection of cutters and it kept the wee guy busy for a good hour or so till we had to go out.
We have alphabet and number cutters which we've used for biscuits and they're great for learning too.  I packed up a boxful for school because we rarely use them these days and had so many (picked up from opshops and school fairs).

at last!

Finally after many years of lusting after Kitchen Aid mixers I have one my very own sitting on the bench.  It is so pretty... red like our heart shaped knife block.... and my favourite colour.  I wanted to show you my super cute measuring cup set too (the white doll on the right).  A gift from my in laws.  There are three dolls and each one is two different measuring cups (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup, 3/4 cup etc).  They're really fun.  I have been using the mixer lots... meatballs, mashed potato, cake, meringues, eggs (a bit of overkill but why not?) and today... play dough!  I think I'll blog those photos tomorrow.

snuggles with poppa

I think they were watching the Tour de France cycle race on tele, 

or maybe one of the Fooball World Cup matches.

birthdays everywhere

We've had a lot of birthday celebrations recently, some here at home, some down South and many wee friends have been celebrating theirs too.  On his real birthday we had pink icing buns with candles, as a kind of cake/treat at lunchtime... the only thing (dairy free) available from the supermarket.  He chose fish and chips for dinner.  I baked cupcakes for the party and they were yummy with lemony icing.

this moment

{this moment} -  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Thanks SouleMama for the inspiration.

absolute bliss

The kindy guy and I had a wonderful morning tea today which almost had me crying. Didn't think a cafe would ever move me to tears! I went there with my Dad when he was in town lately and enjoyed a delicious coffee. It wasn't till later that I found out that it's a vegan cafe... that means DAIRY FREE!!!!! They do have milk and cream which they keep separately in case people want it, but none of the food will cause our sweet boy to have an anaphylactic reaction!

Anyone with an egg allergy would be able to eat there and they have gluten free options on the menu. Their philosophy is to make food so that everyone can eat together.  How wonderful.

Unless you have food allergies yourself (or your kids do) I'm quite sure you wouldn't understand how amazing it felt to let him choose freely from their yummy range of baked goodies. That's when I almost cried.

I did question them about the "butter" spread that they served with his passion fruit muffin but of course it was "oliviani" - vegan. Asking about ingredients is second nature these days and so it felt so strange and liberating. He got to share a bite of my chocolate truffle too, probably the first time that's ever happened. Ahhh Cosset how we love you.... we'll definitely be coming back.

wee benjim

Our 2mth old nephew, isn't he just lovely?  I took some newborn photos of him about 6 weeks ago but think these two from the weekend are my favourites.  His hair has a mind of it's own ;o)

His big sister calls him "Benjim".

helping her out

Our four year old adores his wee cousin.  He is constantly giving her smooches and wanting to hug her or pick her up.  We saw him helping her with her shoes the other night and she just lay there sweetly... for a while anyway.

He has always loved babies, sadly he's not destined to have younger brother or sister of his own.  He does however make up for it by stroking and kissing lots of other peoples little ones.

this moment

{this moment} -  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Thanks SouleMama for the inspiration.

school holidays

The school holidays have almost over already! We've had a full on time visiting our lovely families and making the most of the awesomeness that is the KidsFest in Christchurch.  We managed to see the Brass Band Academy, go to Fairytale Night at the Museum, do a scavenger hunt in the Botanic Gardens, go to a special library story time and the Playcentre Playfest yesterday.   #2 keeps wanting to be in all the photos these days.

Plus the boys have been whisked all over town (without me) to Science Alive, Willowbank and Clip n Climb.  Add that to three birthday parties and we're all in need of a rest I think!  It's been nice to be here so long and be able to spend a lot of time with our cousins and siblings.  Miss them already.

fairytale night at the (canterbury) museum

Last night we went to the museum for a crazy night of fairytales and torch light.  It's on three more times during the holidays so if you're in Christchurch with littlies it's a bit of fun.  Not the easiest place to take photos though being in the dark!!  We found cinderella's glass slipper, rapunzel in the tower, the three bears house, an elf helping the shoemaker, a potion for alice, fairies and a huge dragon (dinosaur) skelleton.

super cute

 A wee bit of birthday crafting, the tutorial is here at Rhythm of the Home, a sweet blog full of crafty goodness.  They have all sorts of seasonal crafts and fun stuff to inspire at Rhythm of the Home.  Mum (NanaD) is teaching me blanket stitch here, it was a little fiddly but turned out very cute.  The boys both think it's lovely and I think so too!

pirate bunting

Since I started sewing early last year I'm often suprised just what a little bit of fabric can be turned in to.  I've been having trouble sleeping (waking much too early) and the other morning decided to get up and do something rather than just lie in bed awake.  So it was time to tackle some birthday party bunting with a bandana sized bit of pirate fabric that I had lying aroung.  I'll get a photo of it when we put it up but I thought it looked cute on my almost matching ironing board.  I was inspired to give my tired old ironing board a makeover last year sometime.  B painted it red for me and I covered it in t shirt material which has worked fine so far.

rainbow magic

There were fights this morning over our rainbow blocks.  A toy that has not seen much love until today.  Today was the day that they became an object of desire and grabbing and disagreement.  The boys interest and inspiration was due to the lovely and colourful childhood magic blog and her post about their blocks.  We just have this small rainbow but it is lovely to touch and look at.  There is something really nice about wooden toys, some days I would love to just trade in all the plastic in the house for wood!

this moment

{this moment} -  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Thanks SouleMama for the inspiration.

scones with cream!

I was admiring the scones on my friend Simone's blog the other day, and kinda invited myself over for some.  After more than three weeks at home, either sick or caring for sick people, it was wonderful to go out and hang out with another adult!

We had a lovely time playing ladies, drinking tea and chatting.  And yes those scones have real cream on them, something that we just don't do at our place (the kindyboy has a life threatening allergy to dairy).  They were delicious thanks Simone!

kidsclick

"soap rack" by kindyboy (4 1/2)

a closeup of the soap rack in the bathroom 

held in front of a green tile

using flash and macro settings

for kidsclick kids photography blog