Belgrave Lantern Parade

Every year for the Winter Solstice, the local community art society run a lantern parade. It's a huge event. The main street is closed off for a couple of hours and hundreds of people come with their lanterns to join in the procession. There's a real community spirit involved with the whole event. This was our first year to go as a family. It was a fun evening watching all the beautiful lanterns that individuals and community groups had put together for the event. However, I think I got more out of it than the kids did. Jacob was more excited by the train trip to the event than the actual thing! I guess that's the way it goes with kids though ;) Here's a collection of photos from the evening...

Yummy chocolate treats

Last night we had a pamper night for our ABA group. It was a lovely evening of fun and friendship. We were pampered with lovely massages and hand treatments. And what a perfect excuse to eat some yummy chocolate treats! Above is a photo of the things we made: chocolate truffles, Baileys chocolate fudge and chocolate mice. I say 'we' but actually Chris did most of the making. I only decorated the chocolate mice although that took me a while so I do think I made a contribution to the effort ;) For those of you that are interested I will share the recipes - they are all very easy to make really and taste so yum! Thank you to my sister-in-law for the recipe for the chocolate mice!

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:
225gms dark chocolate
3/4 cup cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Creme De Menthe
Cocoa (for coating)

Method:
1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil.
3. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
4. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur.
5. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).
6. Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, melon baller or small spoon form the chocolate into round ball Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm.

Baileys Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:
one tin sweetened condensed milk
100gms butter, cubed
1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons glucose syrup
150gms dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup Baileys

Method:
1. Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper
2. Combine the condensed milk, butter, sugar and glucose syrup in a saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, for 10-15 minutes or until mixture thickens, turns a caramel colour and leaves the side of pan. Remove from heat.
3. Add the chocolate and liqueur, and stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour into prepared tin and smooth the surface. Set aside for 1 hour to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for one hour until firm. Cut up when firm.

Chocolate Mice

Ingredients:
150gm dark chocolate
1/3 cup cream
1 cup (125g) chocolate ripple biscuits
Silver balls, licorice, pink balls and flaked almond to decorate

Method:
1. Melt the chocolate and the cream together in a saucepan
2. Crush the chocolate biscuits until fine
3. Mix the crushed biscuits into the chocolate mix, refrigerate for no more than an hour, to firm up. If left for too long, it is really hard to dig the mixture out.
4. Roll small amounts of the mixture into balls, tapering one end to look like a nose.
5. Add thin licorice straps for a tail (pushed into the back end a fair way so it doesn’t fall out), two flaked almonds for ears, two silver balls for eyes and a single pink ball on the tapered end to make a nose
6. Refrigerate overnight

ENJOY :)

Do you like to baby wear?

I wrote this poem some time ago, as an entry for a competition. I meant to share it here a while ago but forgot all about it until today. So here is my baby wearing poem...inspired by Dr Seuss (just in case you can't tell!)

Do you like to baby wear?
We do! We do! We like it here.

I have done it on a bus,
It didn’t cause a lot of fuss.
No heavy prams to lift or fold,
On my back I like to hold.

Would you, could you, on a train?
What would you think about a plane?
I have done it in these places.
’cause for a pram there’s not much spaces!

I have done it at some rallies,
About homebirth mamas and pregnant bellies.
Cradled to my chest I need not worry,
About my daughter amongst the flurry.

What about on holiday,
It really is the only way.
Pram wheels won’t get stuck,
On all that sand and muck.

I have done it at the shops,
Waiting in line it is just tops!
In the sling, I can feed my baby,
And she’ll go to sleep, maybe!

Really, there’s no other way,
To baby wearing we say ok!

Just in case you're interested, I did score a pair of baby legs for my effort. Unfortunately not the main prize which was an Ergo but the person who won was a good friend of mine so I was somewhat mollified!

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

Jacob turned four last Monday. It's hard to believe that our little boy is growing up so quickly! Although he kept reminding us how old he was going to be for weeks leading up to his birthday this year! 'Jacob's going to be four!' we heard numerous times complete with holding up four fingers.

We celebrated his birthday by sharing some birthday cupcakes and dinner with Nanna and Grandad the night before


Then on the Monday he got his present from us. A basket of felt vegies that Chris and I had made (which he absolutely loved!), some wooden food and a wooden microwave.

On the Sunday we had Nanna and Granddad come round and our good friends, Lisa, Andrew, Ella and Bethany. Chris made a wonderful Thomas cake which Jacob (and Esme) were very excited about!



The birthday celebrations went on for quite a while this year! Jacob also enjoyed celebrating his birthday at kinder too this year.

Winter Festival

Wattle tree, Wattle tree, will you lend me, pray,
a little glowing lantern to light me on my way?
My Summer friends have vanished from the paddocks and the lane
and I would fain go seeking till I find them once again.
Oh, lend me now a lantern that I may bear a light
to find the hidden pathway in the darkness of the night.

Last night we spent a magical night at Jacob's kinder celebrating the Winter Festival. We arrived at the kinder and were greeted by lanterns lighting up the entrance and the room. In the centre of the room was a spiral of vegetation with a candle burning in the middle. The children took turns walking into the centre of the spiral with a parent and lighting a special lantern that they had been making in kinder during the previous weeks while the rest of us sang or sat quietly. It was beautiful to see the kids smiling and their little faces lit by the glow of the candles only. The spiral of vegetation is to signify the shortening of the days in winter and then the lengthening as the season passes.

After all the kids had lit their lanterns we put on all our warm clothes and went for a walk with the lanterns to guide us. It really was beautiful, the path was marked by small jars with candles on either side to show us the way. After the walk, we returned to the kinder and shared a meal of pumpkin soup and bread together which the kids had helped to make earlier in the day.

For those that don't know about the Winter Festival, the Winter Festival is all about light. It's a sharing of the light and the lanterns are an outer manifestation of our inner warmth and light. This is what we need in winter; community warmth and a recognition of the light within us which warms us all.

The girl who never stops

Our little girl is always on the move. Seriously. If I weren't breastfeeding her, I don't think she would ever wind down and sleep! Yesterday she spent the day partying for Jacob's birthday and missed her sleep during the day. She was sitting at the computer with Daddy in the evening and he suddenly noticed that there were no annonying fingers trying to push buttons. She'd fallen asleep in his arms! She must have been pretty tired because she NEVER falls asleep in our arms! Chris laid her down on the couch and this is how she stayed:




Our little sleeping angel! We almost managed to put her in her pyjamas too without waking her up! Luckily she only woke a little and a quick breastfeed put her back to sleep. She was in bed by 6pm, that's got to be a record for her!!

A Steiner birthday

Today we celebrated Jacob's birthday at Kinder. Birthdays are a special occasion at Steiner kinder. It was so lovely to see all the little details that go into making the day special for the birthday child.

I made a simple cake for the children to share the night before (as well as my allergy cupcakes). When it come time for circle time, a special mat was laid out with the cake and some flowers. We then sang a song and said a little verse about Jacob and what he could do at each of his ages. Then Glenys, his kinder teacher, gave him a special cape and a crown to wear (Jacob refused to wear the cape though!) and lit a candle which they carried around the outside of the circle together. It was lovely to see Jacob's face, he was just beaming the whole time and all the other kids were smiling too.


We then lit the candles on the cake and sang happy birthday to him and then Jacob got to lead the kids over to wash hands and sit at the table for morning tea. We shared the cake, as well as the lovely apple crumble that the kids make each Tuesday morning.



At the conclusion of the morning session at kinder, the kids gathered together to share a story that Glenys told. Because it was Jacob's birthday, she told a special story about Jacob and how he had come to choose us as his parents. It was such a lovely story, all the kids were sitting there entranced as Glenys told it. I know I have said this a million times already, but I'm so glad we chose to send Jacob to Steiner Kinder. To see him grow and flourish under the care of his wonderful kinder teacher, and the style of teaching is just wonderful.