Big Bikkie Baking

This week is a big baking week. I am in the middle of baking big batches of yummy biscuits which are part of a blessing bomb project our Mums on the GO group is working on together. I absoloutely LOVE this recipe and have always pulled it out when I need to bake in big quantities, so I thought I'd share it with you. These biscuits are delicious, so easy to make and you can bake 60-70 from the one mixture. It is the easiest, yummiest biscuit recipe I know and I found it years ago in an old fundraising recipe book from a kindy I used to work in. The book was the kind where everyone contributes their favourite recipe. This one has become my favourite.

Yummy Biscuits

You will need...

5 cups self-raising flour

1 cup sugar

1 tin sweetened condensed milk

500grms butter

Pre-heat oven to a moderate heat.

Mix all the ingredients in mixer until they are combined and smooth in texture.

Line oven trays with baking paper. (I like to keep a few trays on the go)
Roll the mixture into balls.

Put the balls onto the trays and press down slightly.
Leave enough room between the balls of mixture to allow for them to spread in the oven.
Decorate the tops with your choice of decorations. I like to use the following...

Either....1 freckle in the middle OR 4 smarties OR 4 peanut M+Ms OR 4 plain or crispy M+M's.

Put the biscuits in the oven until lightly golden.
Take the biscuits out of the oven and rest them for a few minutes on the tray before lifting them onto a cooling rack.

Once cooled these yummy biscuits are ready to eat but the best thing to do with them is package them up and give them to someone who needs a great big blessing bomb.

No Mess Finger Painting

It's every mother's dream to find an art activity that doesn't make a lot of mess. This activity is easy to put together and makes no mess at all. That's right - no mess! You can also keep it set up for days at a time to allow the kids to play with it when they like.

To do no mess finger painting you need...

Plastic sleeve for ring binder

Paint - I used acrylic this time but you can use Cel Mix too.

Sticky tape - good quality - or use masking tape.

Pop a few squirts of paint inside the plastic sleeve. You can use one colour or as many as you'd like so you can watch the colours mix.

Seal up the sleeve by folding over the open end and taping it down.

Stick the sleeve to the table top with sticky tape or masking tape. It's best to secure it all the way around.

Have the children draw on the sleeve using their fingers.

It's really important that you show the kids how to use the tops of their fingers and not their nails. Nails can pierce the sleeve and then paint goes everywhere.

Extend this activity....

• Add fine glitter to the paint for a sparkly effect.

We still have our no mess finger painting stuck to the table from last week so Miss M has enjoyed lots of playtime making pictures in the pink and purple paint. The great thing is that when we finally pack it away, we will lift it off the table and put it in the bin.

Get Your Gumboots On For Rain Painting!

A lovely rainy day - a great opportunity for some quiet activities as we listen to the rain fall. I was thinking about what we could do to enjoy the day and decided it was a rain painting kind of day. Miss M and I found it interesting to watch the rain mix the paint colours as it fell gently on our paper. Not going anywhere? While the rain is hanging around why not try this at home with your kids?

To make a rain painting you will need...

Powder Paint - a few different colours
Large White Paper
Spoons
Rain - gentle rain is best


Using the spoons (one for each colour) sprinkle small amounts of powder paint over the white paper.
Carefully put your paper on the ground in the rain.
Watch as the rain falls on your paper and creates a beautiful, colourful painting.
Hang up your painting inside to dry.

Be really careful when using powder paint as a little bit goes a long way! If it spills it can be very tricky to clean up.

Extend the activity....

• Sing 'Rain is Falling Down' or 'Drip Drop, Drip Drop, Rain is Falling Down' (found on It's Playschool CD), 'It's Starting To Rain' (found on 'I Like To Sing' - Justine Clarke CD)


• Talk about primary colours mixing to make other colours eg. red + yellow make orange.


• Read 'White Rabbit's Colour Book'

Enjoy your rainy day fun!

Look out for...
Rainy Day Fun - Rain Painting
Following an Interest - Butterfly Printing
Spray Bottle Painting
No Mess Finger Painting. Yes it's true!

Playdough Three Ways

I really enjoy watching a few cooking shows and one way chefs like to be creative is to use an ingredient, cook it in three different ways and present it decoratively on a plate. Today I will show you playdough three ways, not how it is cooked but three different ways it can be played with. This is just the start! There are many ways to play with playdough and many things to put with it just for added fun. Let's start with three.

Plastic Scissors - playdough is so easily manipulated which is wonderful for little hands wanting to be creative. Learning to cut with scissors however can be a tricky thing as they are not so easy to manipulate when hands are tiny. Using scissors with playdough is a great way to teach littlies how to hold a pair of scissors and make simple cuts. Cutting paper to start off with can be a difficult thing to master. I like to buy the safe-t-cut scissiors for playdough play and you can find them at supermarkets and newsagents. They are plastic and rather blunt so they don't really cut other things, like hair. Cutting playdough is easy with a pair of these. Let your child have a go without help so they can discover and learn. Remember that even though these scissors are terrible at cutting paper you still need to watch your child as they use them, just in case.

Paddle Pops - it's great to vary your child's playdough play. Simply add paddle pops big or little to the playdough and watch the dough turn into cakes with candles, little people or whatever your child chooses to create.

Plastic Knife - this is an activity that requires a close eye even though the knife is a plastic one. Add a plastic knife to the playdough play and see what games your child plays. Miss M likes to chop up the dough and makes meatballs to put into her little oven to cook.

It's all about letting your child try a range of creative experiences. With each one they'll try something different and learn something new which is all great for their development.

To Market...To Market to Buy a Fat Pig

Today's little adventure was to a favourite pick-me-up spot of ours and since Miss M has been sick since the weekend it was lovely to be able to bless her with a special cupcake treat. The Cupcake Parlour is found at Shop 5/60 Vulture St, West End, Brisbane. There are special cupcakes of all kinds but today we picked up a pink pig for Miss M and I couldn't go past trying a Toblerone Topper to take away. Yum!

The Cupcake Parlour is very pink which is just perfect for a mother and her two girls. Next time we will dine in on their lovely furniture and discover some other yummy cupcake designs and flavours. We highly recommend you do too.

http://www.thecupcakeparlour.com.au

Kites For Little Hands

Do you remember making a kite when you were a kid? I do. We've had a little bit of wind blowing in Brisbane lately but only little hands to fly a kite in such good kite weather. An easy way to make a kite with toddlers is to use a paper bag. Here's how to do it.

To make a kite you need....

Paper bag - I bought some lovely white ones from Riot but brown will do too
Crepe paper streamers
String
Stapler
Scissors or small hole punch
Sticky tape
Whatever you'd like to decorate it with - we used water paint because it will dry fast and won't add to the weight of the kite

Decorate the paper bag.
Before punching a hole in the top (open end) put some sticky tape where the hole will be, centre top, about a centimetre down. This will make it a bit stronger where the string will pull.
Thread string through and tie. The string should go through both sides like a handle.
Cut streamers to a nice length and staple to each corner.
Your kite should now be ready to fly!

Being a little kite for little hands it won't go high up in the sky but it will look fantastic flying behind your child as they run along.

Toothbrush Painting - Recycle Your Old Brushes

Rather than using your old toothbrushes for yucky cleaning jobs why not give them a fun new creative job. Toothbrush painting is as easy as painting with a paint brush. Clean up your old toothbrushes with disinfectant or Milton and instead of using a paintbrush to paint, use a toothbrush : ) They will give a completely different effect to your child's painting and you're recycling at the same time. You can use toothbushes with acrylic, water based,

Cel Mix paint (from an art supplier) or any paint you like really.

Bubble Printing

Bubble blowing is so much fun! Painting is so much fun! Here's a way to have fun with both - bubble printing.

To do bubble printing you will need...

A container - ice cream ones are great for this activity

Colouring - powder paint works best but you can also use food colouring

Water

A drinking straw (per child)

White paper

Detergent

Fill the container with water to 3/4 of the way up.

Add a good squeeze of detergent and a bit of colouring.

STOP! - Make sure your child is ready to blow through the straw, not suck. Teach littlies first.

Using the straw blow lots of bubbles in the water until they rise out of the top.

Gently put the paper on top and press on the back, making sure not to immerse it.

Lift paper up and admire the bubble print you've made!

You can repeat this process until bubbles are all over the paper.

Change the colour of the water for a colourful effect. Watch the colours mix on the page.

Hang your print out to dry.

This activity makes great wrapping paper, bubbly paper cut up for collage or just a wonderful painting for the wall. Mums you can even enjoy doing this arty activity without the kids!

Tea Cups For Tea Parties

What a lovely way to spend an afternoon, playing ladies at a girlies afternoon tea party. This occasion was a Grandma's Girls Afternoon Tea which was for all the girls on my mums side of the family. My cousin and I had fun organising this event together. We asked everyone to bring a plate so I made little tea cups. I thought you might like to see them and find out how they are made. Note how I also made sure to get my cousin's beautiful flower cupcakes in the photo too. I was in cupcake heaven! This simple tea cup recipe was passed on to me by my beautiful sister-in-law. It doesn't involve any cooking just sticking together.

Tea Cups

You will need...

Arnotts Tic Toc Biscuits

Icing made to a paste or use Betty Crockers Vanilla Frosting

Pascalls Marshmellows

Musk Lifesavers

Allens Freckles

Use your icing as the glue to hold the tea cups together.

The biscuit will be the base/saucer. I like to use a different colour to the cup.

Stick a marshmellow in the centre, it will be the tea cup.

Add a freckle on the top for a froth effect.

Cut the musk lifesavers in half and stick one to the side as a handle.

These sweet tiny treats are as cute as can be. They are perfect for little girls parties....and as I found out yesterday, the grown up girls like them just as much!

Friday Night Fun - Dinner in Our Beanies

Family night is becoming a regular thing in our household with Miss M now being old enough to enjoy the fun and with her cousin Miss L coming for dinner while her daddy is away for work. Friday nights theme was wearing beanies to dinner. This was great fun in the freezing cold. We ate take-away fish n chips before we snuggled on the couch for a photo. Daddy has the best beanie 'cause his is very very long and stripey. (The one he wore to our Mad Matters themed engagement party 6 years ago - oh the memories!) This week is mexican so look out for the pics to follow.

Look out for...

Tea Cups for Tea Parties
Friday Night Fun - Beanie Dinner
Bubble Painting
Playdough 3 Ways
Toothbrush Painting

Hot Dogs for Lunch

It has been a cool day in this cute but cold old house. Time to make something warm for lunch.

Mini Hot Dogs

You'll need...

Little dinner rolls from the supermarket - to go in the oven

Cherios

Butter

Grated cheese

Tomato sauce

Follow the instructions on the rolls packet and cook as many rolls as you need

Butter the rolls while warm

Heat up the cherios in the microwave - 30 seconds is good

Butter the rolls

Add the cherios and tomato sauce

Grate some cheese and add on top

This is a very simple lunch idea, one that most little hands can create and little mouths can eat. Miss M assembled her hot dog all by herself today, as you can see by the picture. That made the cooking experience all the more fun but it seemed like the most enjoyment was found in eating it.

Australian Animal Cupcakes

With my new Woman's Weekly Kids Little Party Cakes book I am now ready to create kids cupcakes of all kinds - hooray! I just LOVE to make cupcakes. Since we were off to Walkabout Creek today I thought it would be a good idea to take 24 little cupcakes to match the theme of the day. Here's just a quick pic to show you how the koalas and cockatoos turned out. The cupcakes in the WW book were bigger so I had to put my thinking cap on to make these work. Medium sized cupcakes definitely work better for little mouths!

As a mum I find it easier to have recipes that don't require much work. These cupcakes are just a throw it all in and mix it round recipe followed by some very easy assembling. Here is the cupcake recipe I like to use....

Cupcakes

1 cup SR flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup caster sugar
90 gr softened butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees.
Line medium sized cupcake tray with patty pans.
Mix all the ingredients in a mix master until smooth.
Spoon into tray.
Bake in the oven until golden.

Cool on a tray before decorating.

The secret (or not so secret) ingredient is Betty Crockers frosting found in the baking section of the supermarket. It is every mums dream! I always have some ready to go in the fridge.

These cupcakes used...Mini M+Ms, Natural Confectionery Jelly Beans, Nestle White Chocolate Buds, Black Jelly Beans (from the Chemist) and Queen Writing Fudge.

Walkabout Creek Wildlife Centre - A Fantastic Outing

Today's outing was to Walkabout Creek. This fantastic place which is practically in our backyards is part of the Brisbane Forest Parks and is found as you head up towards Mt Nebo, at the end of Waterworks Rd, the Gap. (60 Mt Nebo Rd) It really is just around the corner and you are there before you know it!

What a great place to take the kids. We were so excited about visiting Walkabout Creek because it was a new adventure for us. There are lots of animals to look at both indoors and out amongst the beautiful gum trees. We had a lovely time.

On our walk inside we saw snakes, fish, sugar gliders, lizards and frogs in natural enclosures but the highlight was the spotted quoll. On our way through the quoll was sleeping but as we came back later he (or she) was running and jumping about. This was wonderful for the kids (and mums) to watch. We got a great deal of enjoyment out of seeing where he would bound to next. Inside was quite dark in parts as there were lots of nocturnal animals snoozing. Another highlight was seeing the platypus, such an incredible creature.

We went on a walk through the avery outside and saw ducks and birds of all kinds. The tawny frog mouths were amazing. They were huddled together on a branch, probably trying to keep warm since there was a cool breeze blowing. Outside we took a walk down past some very friendly wallabies and paddy melons (oh and of course the bush turkeys too) all they way down to a lovely lookout. That's where we stopped and ate the animal cupcakes for our morning tea picnic. Back up the path we came across a wombat having a sleep in his enclosure. That wasn't at all surprising!

Upstairs there were displays to look at and one in particular that you could touch. Miss M and I were not brave enough to touch the old snake skins but we touched and talked about the banksias and other interesting bush things.

Walkabout Creek is definitely worth a visit. Can you believe that all this fun and learning cost $5.70? Admission was $5.70 for adults and free for under school age kids. What a great way to spend a morning with friends. You can also enjoy the cafe/ restaurant set amongst the trees. We were there with mums group so BYO Australian animal cupcakes it was!

Some follow-up ideas after a Walkabout Creek outing....

• Leaf printing - paint leaves from your garden and print them on to white paper


• Collect nature on a walk around your neighbourhood - see what you can find - make a collage


• Make animal cupcakes - wombat, snake, fish - find in the 'Woman's Weekly Kids Little Party Cakes' book (a favourite of mine)

Noise In The Library?

Ever since Miss M was a baby we have spent time exploring the library and what I have discovered is a whole range of wonderful things for kids and parents to get involved in. For us the library has become more than just a place to borrow books. On most weeks we have attended Babies , Books and Rhymes. They run a great program which teaches the children language skills through simple songs and rhymes and the kids develop a love of books through the reading of wonderful age appropriate stories. The great thing is you're learning the rhymes too so you can do them at home for extra fun and child development. Our Babies, Books and Rhymes introduced little musical instruments for the kids to play so the fun was endless - you've never heard so much noise in the library! Maybe that's why the program was run before opening time!

Miss M has graduated from her time at Babies, Books and Rhymes and we now enjoy the next step up at Toddler Time. We love the fact that we have a few great libraries nearby so I must admit that we have tried them all out and enjoy the different strengths of each. Toddler Time is for littlies and parents or carers but grandparents are very welcome too! Many Grandmas go to ours which is fantastic. At Toddler Time they do similar songs but the kids are able to try the songs and moves themselves. This morning at the library Miss M enjoyed The Hokey Pokey and a game of London Bridge where we got caught at the end. Guess we just weren't fast enough!

To find where and when Babies, Books and Rhymes or Toddler Time is happening near you pick up a monthy Whats On brochure from the library or check out the Brisbane City Council Library website. Make sure you also check out Justine Clarke's song 'Off To The Library' from her I Like To Sing album. We love to sing it, especially on our way there! Off to the library 1,2,3.....

Look out for...
Animal Cupcakes - cooking this week!
Visit to Walkabout Creek
Sharing Kid's Crafty Fun with Another Mum

Ducks and Turtles

Today being the Queen's Birthday holiday we set out for a family morning at "Duck Park" (Sherwood Arboretum) along with some friends. This park can be found in Jolimont St, off Dewar Tce in Sherwood. Brisbane has so many wonderful parks and this is just one of our favourites. The thing that makes it so special for our family is that we can say hello to the ducks in the pond and we always hope that the turtles will come and say hello too.

What a lovely morning together enjoying the Winter sun. This park has so much to offer. Madeline spent the morning enjoying the two large playgrounds, one that has two great climbing frames with slides side by side to race down. There are rocking animals and swings for both the littlies and the big kids. (or parents!) Madeline had one regret however, she forgot to take her bike! The park has a great track leading from the car park to the playground and it is just perfect for little kids bikes, trikes and scooters. It's also lovely to take a walk over the hill and down to the huge fig trees, along past the river bank and back over the hill again.

I can remember many events I've been to in this park over the years but the most enjoyable ones were those with the cardboard toboggans. Back in my younger days you were able to get a good run down the hill and race your friends on home made toboggans and billy carts.

This morning we went to say hello to the ducks and the turtles. No turtles today! Madeline told me that they must have been sleeping. There were plenty of ducks having a swim so that was great.

It's going to be a fun week ahead!

Ooey Gooey Slime

It was an inside day today and a lovely visitor came to play. "Big girl Miss L" and Miss M had some ooey gooey fun together. We made slime!

To make slime you need...

• I cup Lux Flakes (found in the cleaning aisle of the supermarket)


• 3 cups of warm/ hot water


• food colouring - we made ours green


• clean kitty litter tray (or something similar)


• egg beater

Put the Lux Flakes, water and a small amount of colouring into the tray and beat until the flakes are dissolved and the consistency is gooey. Leave to cool before the kids play with it.

Miss M and Miss L enjoyed the slime for quite some time and as you can imagine it was all over messy...but being soap it was good clean fun too. I found it a good idea to have the girls in aprons. A nice calm activity to share with a friend.

The Brighter Side

Let's get this out of the way....I'm going to share lots of experiences with you as I blog along and I would like them to be of a positive, happy and resourceful nature. I want to blog ideas to use with kids so really you're not going to see much of the harder things we are working to achieve in our family eg: baby sleep routines, toilet training or tantrum delights. We deal with these kinds of things on most days and they challenge me a lot as a mum. Of course having a 2yr old I'm right in thick of it as you can see by the knicker sticker chart. Well now that you know that it's not all rosey I'll continue on my happy blogging path so you can see more of the fun side of things.

An Enchanted Adventure

Miss M (2.5), Miss H (6mths) and I enjoy being in a mums group that a friend and I run as part of our church. Our group is called Mums on the GO so as you can imagine each Wednesday morning we are out and about enjoying all that Brisbane has to offer.

This mornings outing was to The Enchanted Forest in Ashgrove. You'll find this wonderful park at 48 Frasers Rd, Ashgrove, just at the bottom of the driveway. It's set up underneath the shade of many trees with lots of seating and lots for the kids to do. What a lovely time we had with the other children enjoying hills leading up to slippery slides, tricky bridges to cross, a talking toadstool and lots more enchanted fun. There was so much to do that we'll have to go back for another visit but even with all that was on offer the children had an even better time finding all the puddles after the rain - very amusing!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog site! I am very excited to have somewhere to share the outings and activities I have fun doing with my two little girls. Being a stay-at-home mum for me is something I cherish greatly. Each and every day can be interesting as we find things to do together. I'm always looking for what's on around town that will help grow my girls and help us to have fun along the way. And because we're doing it on one income I like to try and find things that are free or low cost. Brisbane has so much to offer!

My background is in children's work so I like to bring much of what I have learnt over the years into my day to day parenting. I hope you enjoy reading my posts. It's great to be amongst other mums who are creative so I look forward to meeting you all as I blog along. I'd love to hear your ideas too!