Shaving - Just Like Daddy

There's no doubt about it, kids love to imitate the adults around them. Just today, I overheard the girls playing a game of bedtime/ sleeping where I'd set up the beanbag and my tall bedroom lamp. Miss H (2.6) said, "goodnight sweetie-pie", just like daddy says as she switched off the lamp for Miss M to go to bed. Earlier Miss M was telling Miss H to go to bed and stay on her bed, just like mummy + daddy would. Bedtimes with our littlie are a little tricky.

I knew that today was the day to bring out this fun shaving activity which I'd told Miss M about last week. She's been excited about it ever since. We just needed a good day at home to give it a go. To make it happen we had to find some shaving cream in a container, some plain paddle pop sticks, a mirror, water and a cloth/ hand towel to clean up with. The bathroom was the perfect place to do it. Once everything was ready, the girls could pretend to shave, just like daddy.

Put the cream on with hands. It feels soft and goopy.

Scrape off using the paddle pop stick 'till the cream's all gone.

Do you think she enjoyed the activity? YES!

When your kids play, what have you seen them do that's just like you? Let's enjoy a little giggle.

Train Whistle Blowing

"All aboard!"

The girlies and I are playing together with everyone over at Childhood101 for We Play.

Two girls, different ages, same toys sometimes means squabbles so when I see them creating together, playing together, problem solving and being team players, I have to stop and enjoy the fun filled, lovely moment (and take a photo or two).

I've been collecting these fruit boxes for a while now and they came to good use when the girls decided to make a train for themselves and their toys. They made an old style train which had to have a whistle but when we couldn't find our sports whistle something else need to be used instead. Their little wooden recorders made the perfect sound. This was such a lovely game and it lasted for what seemed like ages on our cosy, homey, Sunday afternoon.

"Train whistle blowing, makes a sleepy noise. Underneath their blankets go all the girls and boys."

Come and play at the Childhood101 We Play link up.

For the Love of Baking

A cake made for "Aunty Symon" (Uncle Symon)
by my littliest, Miss H, with some help from me.
Both girls had a great time decorating it.
It's a layered chocolate mud cake - the cheat's version!

I have a passion for cooking that is absolutely unstoppable! It's what gets me up in the morning (like this morning) to try a new pancake recipe (for us). 1 cup plain flour. 1 cup milk. 1 egg. Mix and cook in a warm pan 'till golden.

It's what has me buying new recipe books and trying out the recipes.

And,it's what keeps me up late at night decorating chocolate cupcakes for the next day's function. 11/3 cups SR flour, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 125g butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 11/4 cups caster sugar, 2 eggs and 2/3 water. Mix, pour in greased cake tin and bake in moderate oven. (Women's Weekly Kids Party Cakes Recipe Book)

I just LOVE to bake but where my passion is growing deeper is when I'm passing on the great love of cooking to my girls. We read cookbooks, borrow cookbooks, talk about cooking and all the different ingredients. We discuss how things work, what ingredients will do to the taste of the food and then of course, the best part....we taste. Sometimes our cooking experiences are spontaneous and sometimes they are well planned and you'll find our ideas on the shopping list. One thing I've found though is the more we cook, the more I can start to step away from the bowl.

It's such a joy to see the girls love to cook. Will it be a case of "like mother, like daughter"? We'll have to see but for now I'm enjoying this time with my baking beauties.

Do you enjoy baking experiences with your kids? What's their favourite recipe?

A Visit to the Zoo for Free - Queen's Park Ipswich

There is so much to love about a trip to Queen's Park, Ipswich. Firstly there is the gigantic playground which has every sort of play fun in it. Then, there is the cafe which overlooks the playground but what is most unique and special about Queen's Park is the animal enclosure.

Entry to this area is completely free although a donation is encouraged to help with the ongoing work there. In the last year they did up much of the enclosure and added some new features so it's even more interesting to visit. You'll see many animals from Australian natives, to birds in the walk through avery, to baby farm animals. Feeding in the farm area happens twice daily at 11.30am and after 3pm.

We love seeing the spotted quolls, the bilbys and the emus but you'll also see dingos, cockatoos, kangaroos and many other animals. It's a wonderful way to spend a day! Of course you can pack a picnic morning tea or lunch or enjoy a bought lunch as you sit on the huge deck.

Queen's Park is in Goleby Ave, Ipswich and there is plenty of parking to be found .

This is definitely a favourite place for us to visit. We really don't get there often enough but that's ok 'cause it makes it such a special place. If you live in Brissy, it's worth a trek to Ipswich to see the animals. Go and say "G'day!"

Glow-worm Adventure

The Natural Bridge, Springbrook

I cannot go without telling you about our trip to The Natural Bridge in Springbrook, Queensland. To get to Springbrook takes about 2hrs from Brisbane and some of the trip is spent enjoying winding roads and beautiful views. Springbrook is a magnificent place but a most spectacular sight is found when you visit The Natural Bridge in the Springbrook National Park.

Last weekend we packed up the family and headed out of Brisbane for a day trip to the Natural Bridge. It's amazing as it is - a waterfall flowing through a huge hole, made in the top of a basalt cave but what we planned to see was the glow-worms which have made the cave their home. Having two little girls in tow, we didn't leave our trip till too late in the afternoon but just late enough so we would be able to see some of the glow-worms lit up. They are incredible - lots of little lights on the cave walls which almost look like fairy lights. The girls were amazed and even though I'd seen them before, I was amazed all over again.

Venturing out a little later allows you to to enjoy seeing the glow-worms along the paths too but we'll leave that for when the girls are a bit bigger. As we left the cave area Miss M asked me when we could see the glow-worms again. How could we not go down and take another look before leaving!

It's a great journey and a manageable sized walk for littlies - Miss H (2.5) happily walked the whole track. If you would like to see the glow-worms I would suggest arriving at dusk and be sure to take your torches to see the path ahead (the glow-worms don't appreciate torch light). Pack a picnic afternoon tea or early dinner to enjoy in the forest surroundings as there are picnic tables nestled in the forest, beyond the carpark. There are toilets too (not my favourite kind) but they are there.

We'd definitely give this family outing a glowing report!

PS I would have loved to show you a picture of the glow-worms but they seem to be quite camera shy.

Hello!

Ice-creams at Picnic Point, Toowoomba

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted on Busy Busy Mum! I guess I lost my blogging voice for a little while. Things have changed a lot round here so I've had to work at finding the time to fit my usual family fun and blogging time into the new routine life has thrown at us.

The year started off in an unexpected way with the floods happening so close to home, in our two streets and the neighbourhood (we live on a corner block). Miss M's kindy was flood damaged terribly but we can now look forward to starting back at the "new old" kindy for the start of term two. What a blessing! So much generosity, so much kindness and a great deal of team work has got us there.

I'm finally back to blogging and have a few fun things up my sleeve to get the ball rolling again. I'm also working on another project which should be up and running very soon. I can't wait to share it with you! Sometimes my creative brain works overtime so this should be a great avenue to put it to good use.

I look forward to catching up with you all and sharing fun times this year. Have a wonderful Easter.

What have you been up to?

The Dolls House

before

This has been a long time coming!

Well over a year ago I purchased a wooden dolls house while out "treasure hunting" one day. It had just come in to the store and the price on it was only $10. The house wasn't a flash one and to look at it, it seemed to have been well loved by it's previous owner. The curtains, wall paper and flooring choices told me that it had probably been made a very long time ago and I'm sure it was made with lots of love. It was the perfect project for the parents of two little girls!

So I took the house home and it sat and sat...and sat down under the house just collecting dust but recently we decided it was time to give the dolls house a make over, ready to give to our girlies for Christmas. We have spent many hours downstairs painting and sanding and doing more painting while the girls slept - the house had to be pink, Miss M's favourite colour! We purchased the groovy furniture and a little family online and made little curtains and here it is....

....our labour of love - the dolls house.

after

Making Stamped Cards - Creating a Gift

Yesterday I posted that we were making our own stamps to create some thank you cards for friends. At the time the stamps were happily drying in the sun. By the afternoon they were ready for the stamping fun and the girls were able to create beautiful and very colourful homemade printed cards.

Stamping Printed Cards

You will need...

Plain cards - I buy these from a craft shop, cut to size but you could just as easily use paper or cardboard you have to cut yourself.
Acrylic paint - we used Crayola washable paints
Paint trays - we used plastic plates. Take-away container lids are also great.
Stamps - we used our homemade stamps!!!

Pour the paint onto the paint trays - we put one colour on each plate and spread it out.
On each paint tray we then placed a stamp. This made sure that the colours stayed fresh.
Begin by dipping the stamps into the paint and then placing them on the card.
I lay our cards out flat so the girls would only put the prints on one side. It also gave them more space to be creative.
The folding and writing can come later when our printed cards are dry.

And here they are...

These are our homemade cards to say a BIG thank you to our very special, giving and helpful friends.

Do you like to get your kids to make gifts for their friends and family? What have they created? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Making Stamps - Creating a Gift

Recently we've had new friends and wonderful old friends (separately) do some amazing things for our family. Each act of kindness was to bless the girls but really through their kindness we have all been blessed in various ways.

Their kindess has prompted us to give a thank you back and considering that the gifts were for the girls, I thought it would be great if the thank you's came from them. We have started a two part process of making our very own thank you cards using homemade stamps. The girls made the stamps this morning and this afternoon will use them to decorate cards. I'm excited to see how they will turn out and I think the girls may enjoy using something they have designed to make other creative things.

Making Stamps

You will need....

Small blocks/ off-cuts of wood

Various raised collage items - bubble wrap, milk bottle lids, pipe cleaners etc are some of the things we used - look for interesting textures and shapes.

PVA glue

Making stamps is easy enough to do. Simply attach a collage item to one side of a block of wood using the PVA glue then repeat the process 'till you've made as many stamps as you would like. Some items like pipe cleaners may need added weight on top while they dry. This will stop them from springing up.

Here are some of our homemade stamps. I'll show you our thank you card creations tomorrow.

This Absolutely Was an Extremely Special Party

We don't do big parties every year in our family and really we are trying to work out how often we do have them. We do however work to a theme most years and we do have family and one special friend over for a little party/ get together for afternoon tea. Seeing family makes for a lovely time celebrating together.

From my last blog post you would know that Miss M turned 4 on Friday so yesterday we had her Charlie and Lola afternoon tea party. This was a great theme to work with as everything to do with Charlie and Lola is so cute. (My favourite and my best!) I researched the books and came up with a list of foods Charlie and Lola eat. We had donuts, triangle sandwiches, pink milk and choc chip biscuits and of course a Charlie and Lola cake.

We played totem tennis like they play in 'My Picnic Sticker Book' and the kids all took home party bags made to look like the ones Lola makes in 'It's Actually My Party'. They were filled with marbles, toy dinosaurs and other fun things found in 'My Collecting Sticker Book'.

All the Charlie and Lola goodies such as the table cloths, napkins, cups, balloons and bubbles came from Pink Milk in the UK but I actually had the extremely good idea to cut the side off one of the table cloths (where it overlapped) to decorate the cake board and make some bunting.

It was actually an extremely lovely afternoon.

My Big 4 Year Old Girl

As I sit here to type I think about where the last four years has taken me. This time 4 years ago I held my own tiny baby girl in my arms for the very first time. She was such a precious little bundle and I'm so glad she came into our lives. We now have one very lively, confident and fun loving 4 year old girl!

To celebrate we (the E girls) went to Nourish cupcake shop for morning tea (just so beautiful and yummy!) followed by a play at Portside Reserve Park so Miss M could try out her brand new "big girl bike"! It's only what she's wanted since..... FOREVER!!

What a special day. Happy Birthday my beautiful Miss M! You really are a "big girl" now!

xxoo

Five For Friday - 5 Things That Made Me Smile This Week

Once again I'm joining in with Aspring Mum for her Friday fun. It's great to end the week with some grateful, smiley thoughts. Here are my five smiley things....

Cute as a Button....


I love to cover buttons to make clips and hair ties for my girls and friend's girls. This lovely little package was ordered by my friend who also enjoys this addictive crafty activity. I can't wait to get stuck into making them look cute and pretty, particularly the very tiny ones which I haven't tried before. There may be a girly crafty afternoon coming up which will make me smile even more!

It's All in the Routine...

Our afternoon/ evening routine has been quite difficult for months now and recently I was inspired by one of my Mums on the GO mummy friends to change things. I've gone from feeling like I'm a stressed out and tired mummy to being a lot more stress-free and happy. So far the new routine seems to be working. I am grateful for a group of wonderful mummies who inspire me.

Stepping Out...

Oh how wonderful it felt to go on an outing to Queen's Park, Ipswich yesterday! We are finally getting back out and about after weeks of sickness. Queen's Park has so much to offer. The girls and I had a lovely morning tea at the cafe followed by a play in the amazing playground. Animals next time! I enjoyed seeing the girls go down the huge (but very tame) slides, especially since Miss H was daring enough to give them a go. All of a sudden she's not seeming so little anymore.

Mums on the GO...

Mums on the GO is our usual weekly Wednesday outing that we look forward to and it was just so nice to see everyone and enjoy the group fun again.

Birthday Fun...

Miss M's special friend had a birthday on Tuesday so she gave her a call to sing "Happy Birthday" and have a chat. This made me smile so much as the two little girls tried to make conversation. So cute.....and a little awkward.

Do you have five things that made you smile this past week? Why not take the trip over to Aspring Mum to see her list and link in with your own.

Playing Along - Wash the Dishes, Dry the Dishes....

The girls and I are playing along with everyone over at Childhood 101 We Play this week.

Washing up...

always seems fun...

when you're little!

*****

You could extend this activity by...

• Singing and playing 'Wash the Dishes, Dry the Dishes'
• Singing and dancing to 'Mrs Knife and Mr Fork' - Justine Clarke

Come play at the Childhood 101 Link up.

Make Your Own Hamburger Meal

I've mentioned before that we are living in a reno house. The kitchen has been a quarter of the way done since I don't know when. This means no oven or stove so we've been using a two burner electrical stove top. I have to be creative when it comes to cooking.

This was a meal which was able to be made with the appliances we do have and it was a creative activity for the girls as well. My little helper was little Miss H who had a great time being busy mixing mince meat in flour. (So much messy fun!)

Make Your Own Hamburger

We followed this rissole recipe which was perfect for littlies. Next time though I might add a few herbs from the veggie patch to add a bit of extra flavour.

You may also like....

Wholemeal rolls

Tomato or BBQ sauce

Butter/ Margarine

Carrots

Lettuce

Tomato - from our veggie patch

Cheese slices

I sliced up and arranged all the ingredients into separate bowls on the table and we each helped ourselves to what we would like on our own hamburger. This was a great activity to encourage independence, which Miss M is asking for all the time now. It involved spreading butter on the bun, picking up the rissoles with the tongs (this was tricky) and squeezing sauce (always a favourite).

The hamburgers tasted quite delicious and were an easy way to put a bit of fun into our night time meal.

Just talking about food has made me hungry. What's on your dinner menu tonight?

Five For Friday (on a Tuesday) - Five Things That Made Me Smile

We've been experiencing some lovely weeks here so lots to smile about. (Even with sickness hanging around!) Here's my (very late) list of Smiley things to add to the growing list at Aspiring Mum....

Hooked on Sesame Street?

My girls and I share a great love for watching Sesame Street clips on Youtube. I'm sure we could sit for hours if nobody stopped us. We love the singing clips and the funny clips, clips with celebrities in them and the clips I remember quite clearly from my childhood. Sometimes the older the clip, the better! It makes me smile to see my kids singing along. Remember this one? Daggy I know. I love the way the boy in the groovy checked pants breaks into a robot dance. Too cool!

One cool Sesame Street clip leads to another so we keep finding ones that we haven't seen before. Some of our other favs are...

Jason Mraz
Celebrity Lullabies
What's the Name of That Song?
We All Sing With the Same Voice (How weird is this one!)
Mahna Mahna
Pre-school Musical
Adam Sandler
Robin Williams

Somebody please stop me.....I could keep naming them!

Treasure Hunting

Oh the girls and I {heart} a good treasure hunt and we love it more when we find a great treasure. We took some of our own pre-loved goods to the "treasure shop" the other day so we couldn't let the opportunity pass by for us to rummage through to see if there were any treasures for us to take back with us. He he! Daddy came along for the ride too. We found a bag of Fisher Price Little People for $2, a beautiful book called 'Together' in brilliant condition for 50c (we have the first one 'Always') and a hula hoop from Daddy for $3. How excited was Miss M to bring home that hula hoop. It makes me smile just watching her try to use it. Treasure hunting always brings a smile to my face!


Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning

I don't know what has come over me but somehow I've managed to keep on top of the cleaning and tidying this past week or two. This is not at all like me. My creative brain usually takes over and the house is filled with projects that cover table tops and other areas of the house. I think it's largely due to the toy rotation I put in place over the last weekend - yippee! Can it last? I hope so. I'll continue to smile while it does!

The Sun Has Got His Hat On

Like Debbie, I have been so thankful for all the beautiful spring-like weather we've been having. The girls and I have loved playing out in the sunshine riding bikes, watering the veggie patch, swinging and fence painting.

Old Times (Really not that long ago!)

We stumbled across some footage of Miss M opening her present for her third birthday last year. I can't believe a year has almost passed. This made me smile as I remembered our little girl who is no longer very little at all. She is nearly four!

What's on your list? Why not head to Aspiring Mum and link up.

Three Words That Helped Make a Change

These three words have changed each and every day for our family.

These three words bring a smile to my face.

These three words are wonderful!

And they are....

Three yummy things

How could you not love these three words?

They tell you that what you're about to eat for morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea should taste delicious.

You don't have to stop at one or two.

And, you can't possibly argue or ask for more because three is enough. More than enough!

Did I tell you that I love these three words?

If I could put them up in lights or write them in the sky I would!

These three words work.

You'll find them written on our fridge.

Spoken from my lips.

And now from the lips of my big girl, Miss M.

No more "more food" discussions.

No more running out of snack foods.

I can keep presenting food in a fun way, which I enjoy doing.

The grocery budget looks better.

And so does the food!

It looks like this.....

Just keep an eye out for my book and DVD.

Just kidding...but seriously, these three words were the change that needed to happen in our house and it's been positive, smooth and yummy too! I can't wait to see how it goes when we are out and about. It's always been tricky to manage the girl's food intake when it's diplayed on the table as one big spread at play dates and parties. They usually can't stop but now there's a new rule in town.

Three cheers for three yummy things I say!

This is our new rule. What do you do to keep the snacks to a minimum and the grocery budget stretching further?

Five for Friday - Five Things That Made Me Smile This Week

I am joining in the Five for Friday fun over at Aspire Mum today. Here's my list of smiley things.....

Baby Love

The next best job to being a mum is definitely being an aunty to my beautiful niece and nephews. At the end of last week SJ, my gorgeous new nephew was welcomed into the world. Seeing all the pictures family have been sending has made me smile. I'm sure I'll smile even more though when I get to meet him in person and give him a squishy cuddle. He is adorable and I am certainly one happy aunty!

The Windy Kindy

2011 will be Miss M's kindy year so we have been attending all the open days for the local kindys we enrolled Miss M in. This week we received a letter asking us if we would like to accept an offer at one of the kindys we were hoping she would attend. She is very excited and I am so pleased it has all worked out. The Open Day for this kindy happened on a very crazy windy Brisbane day but we could see how great the kindy set up was and what a lovely time Miss M will have next year. Yippee! I think she's going to love it which makes me smile just thinking about it.

"Daddy, Are You?"

I think it will always be a little sad when we have to say goodbye to some of the special sentences and words our littlies say when they are learning to speak. Miss H (21 mths) goes around the house saying, "Daddy (or Mummy), are you?", when she is looking for us. Daddy has been in Melbourne for work so early in the morning she has been wandering around the house asking, "Daddy, are you?"

Miss M (3.11) has been saying "tobally" for totally and making up all kinds of intresting songs - hilarious. How can a mummy not smile at these things!

God at Work

Just over a year ago my brother was in a motor accident where his right leg was broken in several places. We had reason to smile this week after hearing that he has been able to move his foot just a little. His leg has been in a metal frame and the bottom half of it was recently removed. Thank you God for this little glimmer of hope. This makes me smile a grateful smile. I've been so proud of my brother. He has shown great patience, determination, strength and faith over the past difficult year. We don't know what lies ahead but we know God is faithful and will look after him.

Painting Day

Today the girls and I have just enjoyed each other's company whilst playing together in the play room. One of the activities included was painting, both easel painting (to clean out our bowls of Cel mix paint from the body painting) and some simple cotton bud painting.

I love days where we can enjoy arty fun together so it was a very positive morning painting away. The girl's bright and colourful artwork drying on the outside line has made me smile ever since.

It's been a special week. What's on your Five for Friday list? Please head over to Aspire Mum to link up.

Five For Friday - Things That Made Me Smile This Week

I am joining in the Five For Friday fun over at Aspire Mum today. I love this blog! Debbie gets me thinking about all kinds of topics and I love to read about the joy that comes from her beautiful family. Here's my list of five things that made me smile this week.....

Sister Love

We decided not to send Miss M to kindy this year for her year of being three. For us it is important for Miss M and Miss H to build a great relationship because it won't be long before each of them will go their separate ways for most of the week. I've never doubted this decision even though at times it has been a bit full on having a big girl who wants to play "big girl games" and a little girl who very much wants to join in the games of her big sister.

This week I have seen some beautiful moments of sister love and have enjoyed watching as they've included each other in their own play. Miss M will be off to kindy next year and things will change. I'm glad my girls can be together now.

Playing horses

On the Move - Making Room

After talking about this for a while now, we decided to move our girls into the same room. It has seemed apparent to us that both the girls needed a little more company. We wondered how this would go and so far so good. Moving Miss H into Miss M's room has freed up Miss H's old room, so for the time being it has become "the quiet room" for quiet games and reading books. (The bookshelf didn't fit in their room!) Miss H LOVES reading books with family members. We read the same books over and over, all day long! She also LOVES to read books by herself so this room has become a great spot for her to enjoy her love of books.

I found her reading there this morning. This made me smile. Just having the new space also makes me smile. It's a happy room.

My Little Girl is Growing Up!

We've had a few weeks of sickness here. It's gone from one family member to another to another (thankfully I didn't really get it!). There had to be an upside to all this staying at home due to illness. Miss H (21mths) decided that she'd like to start toilet training. It has completely taken me by surprise. I hadn't even thought about starting her yet. She asked for the potty to be brought upstairs from under the house two days ago and has been going ever since. Of course this has made me smile from ear to ear.

Too Many Tomatoes

Our veggie patch has been giving us tomatoes on a daily basis. We get big ones and cherry ones so we're pretty excited because tonight's plan is to use them all to make a soft taco meal together. Getting things we've grown from the veggie patch always makes me smile but this makes me giggle just a little bit too. I've never been a huge fan of tomatoes but I'm sure Jamie Oliver would be proud of me as I've been eating them in all kinds of things since we've been growing them.

"I will not ever, never eat a tomato". ~ Lola (Charlie and Lola)

Miss M's People

I get a lot of joy out of seeing the people and other things Miss M draws. She enjoys drawing so much that there are always lots of pictures around the place for me to find. This drawing of Miss M, daddy and Miss H made me smile greatly. What makes me smile most is the stripes on daddy's clothes, their hair and the shoes on the feet. We're starting to see more detail in her drawings this week so for this creative mummy it's a wonderful part of her drawing development.

"Daddy, Miss M and Miss H".

So there you have it - my Five For Friday. It's a great feeling to be able to smile about things in amongst a week of sickness and to be honest a little bit of frustration. Thanks Debbie for encouraging me to do it!

What have you smiled about in your week? Why not head over to Aspire Mum and start your list too.

Date Night on the Agenda

Sometimes when your days just seem to be all about the kids it's such a blessing to have one night in the week dedicated to being Date Night. No kids, no jobs to do, just you and your partner on a date.

We have always loved Date Night although we haven't always kept up with doing them for one reason or another. Our Date Night is a Tuesday which back before kids would fit in with two for Tuesday deals or cheap night Tuesday for movies, pizza, DVDs etc. For the time being our Date Nights don't include time away from the house and we're ok with this but we still like to keep them on a Tuesday and as regular as possible. Maybe it's just a tradition thing. Having Date Night at home can be just as lovely, although I have to say I do miss going to the movies or having dinner out. Here are five of our ideas to put Date Night on the agenda....

1. Dabble in some Scrabble
2. Fondue for two
3. Yahtzee Party
4. Snuggle up with a movie on the TV
5. Eat a sweet treat and chat on the couch

It doesn't have to be anything too out there or romantic to be a wonderful night. The opportunity to stop and chat can sometimes be the best thing. We love our board games and found ourselves quiet boggled with Boggle for date night recently.

Do you and your partner have Date Nights? What ideas could you share?

From the Patch

We're experiencing a glorious warm day here in Brisbane today so with the weather just right the girls and I spent plenty of time enjoying the outdoors this morning.

Miss M saw mud pies being made on Playschool earlier this week. This seemed to inspire her so off she went to get herself a pie tin from the recycling box and a spade from me before she headed straight for the veggie patch. She made herself a gooey mud pie but it wasn't long before another idea started. In the spot where my basil plant once was, she made a little flower garden by putting nasturtium flowers from around the yard into the soil.

Miss H enjoyed picking the cherry tomatoes, unfortunately some before they were ready. I am trying to teach her to pick the red ones instead of the green ones. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it soon. She seemed happy with her little harvest and carried them around for most of the morning. Mmm...squishy squashy tomatoes!

Counting her harvest

We've been so excited by the food we've been getting from our veggie patch. You may recall us constructing it and planting back in March/early April. The tomato plants have been very kind, giving us a continual flow of tomatoes both big and small. I enjoy putting them with breakfast or lunch and we really loved adding them to our soft taco dinner. My favourite lunch meal is making a sandwich with the rocket. It is added to cooked chicken and mayo - yum! Just talking about it makes me want one.

We have also enjoyed adding the tasty herbs to lots of our dishes, especially the dill to our scrambled eggs and the basil to our spaghetti. I was not much of a green thumb before having this garden so it has proved to me that there is lots to learn. It was a bit scary picking the corn, not knowing if it would be ready but it turned out to be absolutely delicious!! We're so excited about our small corn crop that we'd like to plant some more now.

One of our cobs of corn

Look who else we found having a nibble on our tomatoes. Obviously we're not the only ones enjoying our garden. He was a very happy catapillar after eating the centre out of the tomato. Well maybe not that happy after being held captive 'till daddy came home but we returned him to another part of the garden so he could nibble elsewhere.

"Cheeky Mr Caterpillar" taking a nibble

After just a few months we've really started to see the difference it makes to grow our own veggies so I'm super keen to construct another patch and then hopefully another. Could I be turning into a green thumb mum?

Do you keep a veggie patch? If so, what have you been growing and eating?

* * * * *

Tickle the earth with a hoe, it will grow a harvest.