Creativity at work!

I love watching my kids play.  Especially when they are really using their imagination and creativity.  It can often take a while for them to get into this sort of play.  Lazy days at home on school holidays can often induce the kind of play where they can use their creativity.  They can often go a day or more playing with the same things, just using their imagination to create different uses for their 'toys'.  I'm sure I've written before about my dislike of cheap, generic toys so I won't bore you again.  Suffice to say, I don't like that they all have the same look and feel and that they break easily.  I prefer my kids to have fewer but good quality wooden toys.  Or things from nature that don't cost anything!  Although we are not purists in this respect - we do still own some plastic play things ;)

 The play 'scene' - natural objects, plastic and wooden toys combine to make a creative space

About 6 months ago I put together some baskets of things from nature which has turned out to be the best thing I ever did.  We have a basket each of shells, pinecones and river stones.  There is also a basket of tree blocks that my brother-in-law made.  They are always out for the kids to play with and often when they set up a 'scene' for play they will include these objects.  Shells become a 'beach', tree blocks and pinecones become a 'forest' and stones become a 'river'.  It's amazing how they incorporate all these everyday objects into their play and I think they've become the most played with toys out of everything.  I'm looking forward to adding some more things to our collection.  Play clothes are next on the list (once muslin finally comes back into stock at my local fabric store!)

More of the play 'scene'

I think it is important to let kids use their imaginations and creativity more widely and to give them the time to do so.  We always seem to be rushing around and taking our kids to different activities without giving them time to just 'be'.  I know for us, we are usually so busy during the school term that it takes the first week of the holidays for the kids to wind down and start playing together creatively (I seem to spend the first week of the school holidays yelling at them!) I'm looking forward to the rest of the school holidays and seeing what my kids create next! 

New carrier!

I'm very excited about my special new carrier (please excuse the not so great photo of me!)  This is my custom made Olives and Applesauce carrier.  It was made using a Girasol snow rainbow diamond weave woven wrap.  With Gideon getting bigger and still wanting to be carried often, a toddler sized carrier was well overdue.  The Ergo just wasn't comfortable enough for us anymore.  As soon as I put it on I knew it was perfect.  Gideon snuggled right in and fell asleep instantly - always a sign of a good carrier ;)  It was rather a long wait to get this carrier made and cost a fair bit of money but I'm so glad I did.  And it's very appropriate that it's made with a rainbow wrap seeing Gideon is my 'rainbow' baby. 

I made an 'eye spy' bag!

I happened across some pictures of 'eye spy' bags on the internet many months ago.  Ever since then I've been meaning to come up with a pattern to make one of my own.  I finally got around to it the other day.  It took a bit of experimenting (including almost finishing one before I realised that the plastic was too thick to topstitch through!)  but I'm very happy with how this one has turned out.  There's a layer of plastic on the front and the back so it is surface washable (very important in our house as everything seems to get grubby from little hands!) 

The idea behind 'eye-spy' bags is that kids have to look in the window and move the rice around inside to find 'trinkets' which can be easy or hard depending on the size of each trinket!  There's a laminated list attached to a ribbon on the bag that tells the kids what to find.  I made it in the hopes that the kids would use it in the car on long trips but it didn't quite work that way.  They were very interested in doing it when I first made it but then ended up losing interest before our 5 hour trip to Hotham!!

Anzac Biscuits

Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free

Ingredients
1 cup blanched almond flour
1 cup GF rolled oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup rapadura sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 cup hot water

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Line 2 trays with baking paper.
In a mixing bowl combine your almond meal, coconut, rapadura, cinnamon and oats.
Melt the coconut oil and golden syrup in a small saucepan.
Combine the bicarb and water then add to the coconut oil and golden syrup.
Add the frothy mix to your dry mix and combine it well.
With wet hands, shape small balls of the dough.
Place them onto the tray and press down to flatten them a little.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Original recipe from this blog but I have made some alterations in my version.  

Little owl set

 

This little set was a gift for my friend's son's 1st birthday.  In my usual fashion, it was a bit of a belated gift.  A 'bit' belated being an understatement, it was actually over 6 months late - oops!  Anyway, I'm really happy with how both the t shirt and the pants turned out in the end.  That's the end of my own fabric now though, I shall have to go looking for some more cute owls! 

 

 

The recipient was very happy with his little owl set and, of course, looked super cute in it!

Gideon is two!

Wow, my little boy is TWO!  How did that happen?  He's still so much of a 'baby' to us mainly, I think, because he is so much littler than the other two at the same age.  He is so very loved, still spending his nights sleeping with us (for the most part right on top us still like he did as a newborn!!) and still loving being worn in the sling.  He still loves his milk - I don't think there's any chance of him weaning anytime soon!  He likes to assert his authority around the house.  Particularly with the big kids!  If they're doing something they're not supposed to or something he doesn't want them to he'll scream 'noooo' and push them away.  Legacy of the third child I think ;) He's talking a lot these days and telling us lots of things.  I love hearing his little voice or have him chase us for 'hugs' - his favourite thing at the moment!  Two is such a magical age and I'm enjoying every (mostly!) moment of seeing Gideon grow up. 

Here's a few photos from his birthday...

Opening presents

Wow, a marble tree.  What do I do with that?

An impromptu 'Hungry Catepillar' cake ;)

Blowing out the candles. 

Happy Birthday beautiful boy! 

What to do with a jumper with a broken zip?

I bought this jumper at an op shop recently but after a couple of wears, the zipper broke.  Apart from the zip though, the rest of the jumper is in good condition and I didn't want to just throw it out.  My solution: upcycle it into some pants for Gideon!  Remember these pants I made last year?  Well, that's the basic format I used to make these ones. 

Front of the pants

They're really quite simple to make, no hems or side seams to sew! I simply cut out the sleeves of the jumper, cut out the crotch and sew them together.  Then (to give a bit of a roomier butt seeing Gideon is still in nappies) I add a panel in the middle and put in some elastic.  Simple!  A nice quick and easy project for a Saturday. 

Back of the pants with an extra panel added

Who can resist a cute photo of a nappy butt in tight pants?