Monday 26 August 2013

"Chasing dragons with plastic swords"

Today we repeated one of our favourite family pastimes - tourist terrorisation.  This is also one of monster munch's favourites as he gets to misbehave without the prospect of a waggy finger from mummy.

We pick a local historical building (normally a castle) and take monster munch's plastic swords, knight's helmet and dragon costume (it's actually a toy story Rex costume, but it serves a purpose) then spend the morning being knights, slaying dragons and jabbing the odd tourist in the back of the knees.  Most of them don't mind and there are now many stranger's holiday photo albums that include pictures of the munchkins waging war.
Mini munch joins in and is usually made to be the dragon, but today he did get to have a quick chew on monster munch's second favourite sword.

Freshly squeezed orange juice in the castle cafe finished off the morning.  Monster munch declared the day "the best day ever", but then yesterday was also given the same tag line - I suspect he's picked it up from cbeebies.

Jen xx

Sunday 25 August 2013

Holy guacamole

Well it's been a few days since I've written anything due a number a events:

A horse themed party in which monster munch won the best dancer competition! His 'dance' involved wagging his finger and wiggling his bottom and has now (buoyed by the win) added the lyrics "no babies, no babies, no babies".

A trip to A&E for a phantom broken arm - mine, after a wet floor/slipping incident.  As eloquently put by one of the lovely ladies - I slipped in my own wet patch!

An impromptu night out which ended in table dancing.

Swimming lessons galore.

A wonderful BBQ at friends,

And a photo shoot with the  marvellous Billy of Precision Photography UK

Doing anything creative with the munches has been near impossible as when they haven't been down the pool or the beach they've been snoozing.  As a consequence you are being treated to my simple pimple guacamole recipe which I made for the BBQ we went to.
                                    
All you need is an avocado - make sure you find a squishy one or if you can't, leave it next to the bananas for a few days.

Take the flesh out, stick in half a teaspoon of easy peasy or lazy garlic (I have also used garlic purée in the past) and about the same of chilli flakes (or more if you want a real kick).

A good slug of olive oil and a good squirt of lemon juice (the oil is good for consistency and the lemon adds a tang and slows down the oxidation of the avocado).

Use a hand blender or food processor to whizz it up to the consistency you like (we go for smooth) and you are good to go.

I also made a yoghurt and mint dip which was just a heaped teaspoon of mint sauce (the stuff you put on lamb) into a pot of Greek yoghurt and give it a good stir.

Enjoy!

Jen xx



Wednesday 21 August 2013

Monster evacuation

We've all been there, munchkins tucked up in bed, sitting down for some well earned peace and quiet; then you hear it

"mummy help me....daddy help me". 

You sit for a few minutes more hoping they'll go back to bed and it comes again

"mum-meeee heeeelp meeee...dad-deeee heeeelp meeee". 

You realise they are not going back to sleep and you really need to see what calamity they have got themselves in to this time (usually it involves a botched escape plan and we need to untangle monster munch from the child gate).  Unfortunately, on this occasion monster munch had fallen foul of bedroom monsters and they were running-a-muck in his bedroom.  He was not best pleased, quite rightly so, and needed to be rescued.

The mature adult in me would love to dismiss the 'appearance' of bedroom monsters with a quick tut and put him back to bed.  However, we all know these pesky devils return and multiply.  Decisive action was needed, this called for biological warfare.  The 'Monster Spray' was deployed in vast quantities.

Monster Spray? What is such a product?  Well its my perfume liberally sprayed all over monster munch's room to fend off bedroom monsters.  He bought it, the room smelled less like a hamster's cage and he went back to bed.
Or did he - what can I hear now.....

Jen xx

Tuesday 20 August 2013

If Carlsberg made chocolate chip cookies...

I have a confession to make - I am a coeliac - no, not a celeriac as Mr S keeps telling people.  I am a non-gluten and non-wheat eating person, and not by choice.  Lovely crusty white bread is out of bounds, gooey chocolate cake is a no go, pizza is off limits, biscuits are banished, pasta is... well I think you are getting the picture by now - most nice food is not for me.  So when I am sent a link to a recipe claiming to be the best gluten free chocolate cookie recipe ever I had to try it.

Now I'm not a culinary goddess, but in true 'I know best' fashion I changed the recipe a bit as I went along as it was 10pm, I wanted chocolate biscuits and I didn't have the ingredients listed in the original recipe.  Here is my altered recipe:

Ingredients:
  • 200g ground almonds
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 50g room temperature butter 
  • 50g runny honey
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 bar of Green & Blacks 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate - chopped up
Oven Temperature: 350F or Gas Mark 4

Instructions:

Chuck the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix them, add the wet ingredients and mix until the mixture is holding together then mix in the chopped chocolate.  Try not to mix it too much as the combination of the honey and butter makes the mixture quite wet.

Roll the mixture into small balls and place them on a baking tray with greaseproof paper on.  Squish the balls down a bit and then put in the oven for around 11 - 15 minutes until golden brown (this is longer than the original recipe but they tasted quite doughy so I put them back in the oven) then leave them to cool on a baking tray.

Were they the best ever?  Well, they were pretty damn good, super quick, soft and chocolatey, so they will be made again.  In fact they were so good they disappeared super quick.  I didn't even get a picture of them, so I have borrowed the picture off www.healthycrush.com (I hope they don't mind).

http://healthycrush.com/wp-content/uploads/cookies-complete.png 
Jen xx

Monday 19 August 2013

Just a reminder

Today has been devoid of any craftiness (there is the paleo egg muffin debacle but I'll save that for a slow blog day), instead the day has been filled with swimming and snot.

Both munchkins and I have a cold (how you can have a cold in plus 30 degrees is beyond me) so there has been a lot of 'blow', 'don't wipe snot on your brother' and mummy covered in purée and snot sneezes.  We did manage to take both of them swimming today which was lovely to watch - especially monster munch's big smile as he swam on his own for nearly half a length.  Monster Munch also rode his bike on his own for the fist time - he can only go in straight lines but he's getting there.

I found a really lovely thing tonight, via Hands Free Mama, a love letter to parents everywhere on Core Parenting.  I think I will print this off and put it on the fridge for the days when I feel being a mum is too difficult for words.

Now to investigate what is going on outside, Mr S is drilling and monst munch is using a car seat as a ladder....

Jen xx

Sunday 18 August 2013

Turtling

Turtling?  Our family description of messing about with turtle conservation on our sunny island.  Now we are not hardened environmentalists, we got involved just so we could see a turtle.  So far after an excessive number of night time beach walks (on which I always loose a flip flop and break a toe nail), many sweaty mid-day nest excavations, morning walks to spot new nests and drilling holes in metal posts (Mr S's territory not mine) - we have seen the grand total of zero turtles.  I think monster munch thinks turtles only exist on Finding Nemo, but he does enjoy jumping in the sea while the nest is dug out.

Unfortunately, today was another fruitless excavation so the quest to prove that turtles really do exist continues.  However, I would like to share a quick bit of craftiness that monster munch and I made earlier in the year when he was learning about turtles in nursery.  Egg box turtles...


Egg box turtles are just pieces of card in a turtle type shape with a cardboard egg box stuck on and googly eyes.  They take minutes but are really cute and allowed us to chat more about what he had learnt about turtles.  Normally keen to splodge paint around, on this occasion monster munch decided he had a better idea for the turtle bodies:

MoM: "I got idea mummy"
Mummy: "What babe?"
MoM: "Use green card not paint"
Mummy: "We don't have green card just lots of white card and green paint"
MoM: (after a few seconds with his thinking face on): "I got another idea mummy"
Mummy: "Oh what babe"
MoM: "You go to shop and buy green card"

Whilst not a work of comedy genius, he has clearly decided that mummies don't have the monopoly on good ideas!

Jen xx

Saturday 17 August 2013

Sandy feet

After the triumph of the dinosaur iceberg yesterday (and the tidying) a rest was in order today.  Most of the day was spent lounging about in the living room, making good use of the air conditioning while the munchkins undid the tidying.

Mr S's no 2 has been staying with us this summer and monster munch wanted to make her a present (everything has to be a present or a surprise, or even better both, at the moment) as she goes tomorrow.  Now I'm not terribly imaginative so have continued the canvas/footprint theme for no 2's present.  It was meant to be foot prints in the sand but looks more like muddy splodges on a dirty floor!  Luckily she loves it and is taking it home (or at least that's what she says!!)

I was also brave today and took the munchkins to the beach on my own - at tea time no less.  Some of the lovely ladies and their offspring were meeting for some late afternoon sun and snacks at the local beach and it was really lovely.  Both of the munchkins were very good, mini munch devoured a chocolate croissant and managed to cover himself and my hair in gooeyness and the monster munch displayed his excellent sense of comedy timing yet again.

Picture the scene, setting sun, children frolicking in the sand and shallows, mummies chatting; then sploosh the monster munch strikes with a bucket of water and another; I then became a soggy sandy mess, much to monster munch's delight.  What did I do?  Retaliated in a mature and sensible mummy type way of course and threw him in the sea!

He is plotting his revenge already....

Jen xx

Friday 16 August 2013

The dinosaur iceberg

Today has been a good day on our sunny island.  For once I had an early night and was awake before the munchkins and Mr S.  What did I do with my spare time?  I have to confess I tidied, I sorted clothes and attempted to make the house look less like a bomb site.

My feeling of domestic control was soon destroyed when I realised that the only things suitable for breakfast were chocolate croissants and yoghurt.  The munchkins were happy!  After a quick supermarket trip (Mr S had the munchkins otherwise it would have consumed the whole day) I unveiled the DINOSAUR ICEBERG - da da daaaaa!

Designed to keep monster munch occupied for a couple of hours I had frozen plastic dinosaurs into ice cube trays and then into a lunchbox of water (the ice cubes stop the dinosaurs all sinking to the bottom).  The idea was he would use his builders tools to hack the dinosaurs out.  It didn't quite go to plan!



The tools were completely ineffective, so he then resorted to throwing a lump of ice around the patio and then hit on the idea that the hose pipe would be useful.  The ice melted pretty quickly and then I did manage to hold his attention long enough to count the dinosaurs, but from iceberg to dinosaur release took about 20 mins!  He did get to combine three of his favourite things - water, tools and dinosaurs.



The experiment ended in the obligatory soaking of mummy, himself, Mr S and mini munch and a family pool session so I can't complain at all. The munchkins even ate all their lunch!

Jen xx

Tuesday 13 August 2013

A little bit of L.O.V.E

So this blog is supposed to be about the things I have made...I hope you like the first one!

Inspired by some posts on Pinterest I wanted to create a canvas with monster and mini munchkin's hand and foot prints on.  This is what I created:

I stenciled the letters L and E on a canvas that I had painted red.  To make the stencil I just printed the correct size letters in a font I liked on to card and used a Stanley knife to cut them out. Once I'd painted through the stencil I then tidied the edges up with a fine paintbrush.  I think if I did something similar again I would use some spray adhesive to stick the stencil down as the wobbly bits were due to the stencil moving as I painted.

Then came the tricky bit - the munchkins' input!  Monster-munch wasn't too bad as it was one hand print to form the O and he has done lots of hand and foot printing before - just don't use too much paint as if they wriggle their hands you loose the print of their fingers and palm. 

Mini-munch was not so easy, he was only about 3 months old and I was trying to paint feet, hold his body weight and position the foot all at the same time without him getting agitated.  Needless to say the first attempt looked like a giant seagull had poo'd on the canvas as he had slid his foot as I put it down.  A quick bit of cover up with the red paint and a lot less paint on his foot made the second attempt much more successful - I crossed the heels so it looked more like a V.

To finish off I wrote the dates of the hand and foot prints on the edge of the canvas.

I used acrylic paint and made sure it was cleaned off before the munchkins were left to their own devices and in hindsight I would have used smaller letters to give the foot and hand prints more space as it does all look a bit squashed up.  Overall I'm really proud of the final result - I just can't decide where to put it!

Jen xx

Monday 12 August 2013

The important things


One of the lovely ladies that lives near us put me on to the hands free revolution - a mum trying to be a mum without stressing - something I think we all aspire to, but rarely manage. 

It's all about focussing on the important things and one of my favourite articles is 
'The day I stopped saying hurry up'.After reading the article, I realised that every 
part of the day I'd be bustling the monster munchkin around, rushing him, 
interrupting him and generally hassling him to conform to the adult desire to be on 
time for everything.  Every time we got in the car he'd ask if we were late and "why 
are you cross mummy"? 

So now I try and not bustle them (we are normally late for everything because I do like to hit snooze and never remember to pack a bag the night before) and go with the flow.  Lets face it the doctor's are always running late, crèche doesn't mind if you are not hammering down their door and real friends understand that the reason you are late for dinner is because everyone was ready but monster munchkin decided that a hosepipe shower in the back garden whilst fully clothed was a good idea and the mini munchkin was sick all over himself just as you were picking up the car keys.

However, I don't think I'll ever be calm enough as the wonderful Mrs B who no longer wears a watch and just let's things happen.

Jen xx



Sunday 11 August 2013

Starting out...

So this is it I have finally entered the world of the blog.  Why? Quite simply I want to record my experiments in all things home made and make people smile.
I've always enjoyed making things, baking and being a little bit crafty, but the birth of my second child has really made me slow down and do the things that are important to me and help me chill out.
I'm not promising this will be ground breaking, original or even particularly good but I hope you will join me as I continue the experiment.
Jen xx