Disappearing Photos?

I am quite new to this blogging business and not sure how everything works, but I've just noticed a peculiar thing.
My most popular post has stayed pretty much as one of the first posts I made, the Rainbow Party post, which you can see at the top right hand side of my page. Something strange has happened... I noticed today (though I have no idea when this actually occured) the photo I had up there has changed to the 2nd photo in the post. I went to the post to have a look and only the 2nd photo is there. The original one (a closeup of wonderful rainbowed playdough in a jar) has disappeared! Gone! No little empty box or anything - just gone.

Very strange.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Lego Quest Kids

Station Base built by the Big M 2 years ago.

Soon after I begun blogging a couple of months ago, Big M decided he wanted to as well. He loves looking at what others make with Lego, and shortly after I helped him set up his Lego & Drawing Gallery blog I came across a really neat blog called http://legoquestkids.blogspot.com

 If your kids are into Lego and like looking at what others have made and would like to send in their own creations this is a great place to do it. They run a theme each fortnight which you can send your photos in or just use it to get new ideas for your kids when they come asking "what would you like me to make with my Lego today...?" 

There are also links to other Lego places your kids will enjoy visiting.

Sticky Rice + Kids = Lunch

 

Big M loves sushi. I love sushi. Little D seems quite into it too (always a handy bribe for good behaviour when kids sick of shopping).
So today when Big M suggested we make sushi for lunch I got straight onto it. Usually he asks at lunch time - which is not enough time for prep. But he asked during breakfast so I got the rice on soon after.

Ours never quite looks like the professional jobs from the sushi shops but it tastes pretty much the same.
You should use sushi rice and sushi vinegar to make it stick properly and have the best taste.
Other than needing to remember to get the rice on earlier so it can cool down enough to use its pretty simple to organize and clean up. Food is fresh and colourful and kids can pick out what they want themselves. The whole rolling bit is kind of tricky but good for motor skills. Its good for learning about quantities - too much filling it will all spill out, or too little and your basically eating just a chewy sheet of seaweed. Another bonus is making your own sushi at home requires few ingredients. A little goes a long way and today the boys experimented with sliced up left over chipolatas. Yea, not my kind of sushi but they enjoyed it.

1 in 100 chance to win!

I have some clever friends and one of them is Hannah of Locket. Check out her website & blog and join her Facebook page  because she is doing a giveaway when Locket gets 100 likes - currently less than 20 more people needed before someone wins something cool from Locket!

So go on,  have a looksie  - her stuff is very cool! Tell your friends and lets see who's going to win http://www.facebook.com/pages/Locket/181544838536029

Mystery Le Métro Music

When we left NZ to move to Australia we came via a trip to Japan, England and France. We were hoping to visit a few other places but we found out we were expecting Little D a few days before our flight out of New Zealand and decided we need to get settled into Melbourne before I got too preggie.

While in France we were staying just out of Paris and one day I went into Paris by myself. Navigating my way around the Metro to find The Louvre I heard something I couldn't ignore. Maybe I'm a sucker for the emotive romance of folk music? Or perhaps it was the amazing acoustics in the tunnel? But like a mouse to the Pied Piper I left my platform and came across this band busking. I stayed and listened and recorded and then during a gap asked them who they were? But I cant remember what they said! They were not French, but Russian, Slavic, Croatian or something?! Wish I remembered. I had only 20 Euro on me and they were selling CDs for 20... I nearly brought one but as I'd just arrived into the city I thought I'd better hold onto the cash in case I needed it for something more urgent (I ended up with that 20 still in my purse when I arrived in Aus).

So, I dont know who they were. And I used up all the space on my camera filming them and didn't get any photos of The Louvre. Thought I'd share it now (my first youtube upload!). Perhaps someone else knows who they are?

The Doily Tree

My dad taught me how to make lace when I was a young teen. He even hand crafted me some lacemaking bobbins out of bits he found around the house, used toothbrush handle, wooden and plastic chopsticks etc. He threaded wire and beads on the ends and they were quite cool. Regretfully I chucked them out years later when I was sifting through things to come with me overseas and things I didn't need anymore.

I haven't made lace for years, and I've never learnt tatting and proper embroidery. But my dad knows (among many handcrafts) these things. I do not know how to make doilys, but thats ok. I don't know if I'd have the patience for it anyway. And after seeing this amazing tree on Gertrude St in Melbournes Fitzroy soon after we moved to Australia 2 years ago, Sam and I decided I'd collect 2nd hand doilys to one day create our own doily tree. 

We don't have the right kind of tree yet, but the collection is growing. Some will one day go on a tree when we get the right house with the right tree. Some I am keeping for making other things to give them a new life. Some I just want to collect and look at every now and then. I think I'm drawn to the fact that someone sometime sat down and spent time making these. There is a sort of life - an untold story in them. 

"Artificial" - Martha Tilston and the Woods

Love this video and song. So great after a hectic city drive this morning where I got incredibly lost.

Today he is EIGHT.

Zombie Juice. Eyeball Cake. Pin the Bogey on the Monster. Dem Bones. Green nails. Egg & Spoon & Target (for eggs). Wormy Spider Jelly. Ghost Town. Wrap the Mummy. Pass the (body parts) Parcel. Mini Monster Pizzas. Party Poppers (why do kids always point these at each others faces?). Magic Candles. Ice-Cream with Slime. Time Warp. Bobbing for Apples (I can only guess this game derived from witch hunts?). Too much Sugar. A lot of heat (yes after a week of constant downpour we have had 2 beautiful summer days this weekend - thank goodness, I dont know how the egg and spoon race would have gone down inside;) ).

Tired but it was fun.

I'm now on clean up duty while Big Vampire goes to Lego Brickvention in the city with his dad and Little MOnSteR (rahhh) has an arvo sleep.



Also some (better) photos here at lalahiprism :) Thanks Kym. I forgot to get any of the cake with candles and birthday boy!

Curry Rice Loaf

I found a recipe for Curry Rice Loaf a few days ago and as I love brown rice and know how much better it is for you than white, I gave it a try.

It took a wee while to make (because brown rice takes twice the time to cook as white) but its has a nice nutty flavour. It is an easy recipe but not quick. So, I'd say give yourself up to 2 hours from when you put the rice on the stove top to when it is ready to serve.

I substituted the sesame oil for a few spoons of Tahini since we are out of oil, and you can very easily make this dish vegan by using soya or rice milk. Next time I make it I might try using a can of Nutolene insted of the peanut butter and mixed nuts, just to see what it comes out like.

I'd be interested if anyone has any variations on this - comment below or email me if you do.

We had it served with Satay sauce and salad as suggested by Lou of blog Seaside Siblings. The recipe is here.

Sad Potatoes

We finally managed about a week and half of sunshine and no rain. It was lovely and great timing for Xmas and New Year. We are back to no sunshine and too much rain, which I figure is at least good for helping the veggie garden, but the intense heat we had around New Years was a bit much for some of the veg plants. The Potatoes had been in the ground long enough I suppose so dispite the heat killing off the plants it was about time we dug them up. We left one row which is still looking green and dug up half of another row and all of the Kipfler row. 

It was not good news. We got enough Kipfler for one meal of boiled potatoes with butter and green salad - so yum, but really  - one meal worth?! Oh dear. The other half row was a little better. I cant remember the variety but I'm sure they should have been twice the size they came out. 

You can see the in the pics the soil is pretty poor. We had tried improving it before we planted but I guess it required a lot more work than we put in. 

We agreed to try again next year in another area of garden, but if they are as measly in return 2nd time round then we wont bother again no matter how delicious our one meal of fresh from the garden boiled spuds were.

                                   

Lego & Drawing Gallery

http://miloslegodrawing.blogspot.com/

My first baby is nearly 8. He has two things he loves to spend most of his time doing. They are Lego and drawing. Lego has been a love of his which he puts hours of play and design time into, and drawing has just been something that he got into over the past year. He loves it so much we have a kids craft room in our house and he has his own quite largish desk for drawing at.


Inspired by a blog he recently read http://www.leoslegolab.blogspot.com/, he decided he wanted to have his own blog to document and share some of his creations.

He'd love it if you took a look and commented. He likes to look at what others are making and I figure its a good way to encourage his computer and camera skills. I thought it would be pretty cool to see some other kids share some of their work on blogs too. Know of any? Or think your kid might want to start one?

You can link directly to his blog  HERE!

Felted Blankie

Today has been "one of those days".

Sam was back at work and it's over 4 weeks till school goes back.  D has been a handful and M has tried to be helpful with his younger brother but I felt like he was being the parenting police towards me and D in his attempts.
We got this years school supplies this morning though, so thankfully thats all out of the way. And I got something finished for the baby.  I have 3 months to go. That feels like ages, but I have a feeling it will probably go quite quickly.

So, I made a little felted blanket. Before D was born I made him a patchwork cot quilt, but it wasn't very useful until he moved into a cot at 10mths...yes, I know that sounds very late to transfer to a cot but we lived in a little 2 bedroom villa and he was a refluxy bub so he slept in our bed and a hammock or in a sling most of the time. We simply didn't have the room or need for a cot earlier. The quilt was good for playing on while he was having tummy time, but it is only recently that he has started to use it like a proper quilt.

 I wanted something small to be useful for a tiny baby and made a bassinet size blanket. Its 26"x20". Later on if Number 3 is like M & D it can become a scrunched up dragged around blankie, or I was thinking as it is so colourful and textured it will make a fun wall hanging, a keepsake for Number 3's bedroom. I do plan on making a quilt for the next bub, but I am selecting fabrics and considering a design that will be for once they move into a single bed... so giving myself heaps of time to make it too ;)

Toddlers Dress

I just finished a sweet dress with over nappy knickers on my new machine. Nice to get sewing again and feels good to get my first listing on Made It for 2011.

Made It.

Just a bit before Christmas I had enough of looking at my stash of fabrics, threads, wool tops, ribbons, buttons, snaps, patterns and well, all general crafty bits n' bobs. My collection is modest by many standards, but I thought it were better to make use of these things rather than letting them sit there being 'Nice Nothings'.

Little D wearing a Bandana Style Bib (and some reversible shorts I made him). 

So I've starting to make some basics. Just a few little pieces. There is only so much I can make for me and friends, so I opened a MadeIt.com.au store. I have already sold some things which is fun!  And now I have a new machine (yes, I took a deep breath and got a new Brother NS50 to replace my precious Janome). So I can get sewing again and continue to see where this re found creativity takes me.

End of another year.

We had a quiet Christmas and New Year. Quiet but fun.
It was D's 2nd birthday during the week too (lucky little fella got a Wishbone bike), and with Sam home from work we have been out and about doing few visits etc but also just hanging at home, realizing how much we need the rest.

Off for a walk soon, but here are a couple of pictures of my lovely boys during the past week.