A hungry little butter-pillar...

Each year in the September school holidays, Ropes Crossing Church runs a week-long program to entertain school kids in the first week of the holidays. I was involved as one of the main helpers last year, around the theme of 'Who's the King?'. Our crazy minister dressed up as Tarzan, King Kong, a lion, and Elvis during the week, and it was so much fun! Even preparing was lots of fun, coming up with games and crafts and themed foods for each day.

Well, a whole year has gone by and it's the September school holidays again! This year, I was made responsible for Morning Tea Craft, and Craft. And because this year I have a blog, I will be sharing the creative things I've planned for the children to make, create, and eat this week at our 4FAMILIES School Holiday Program :)

The theme for this year is Magic.

MONDAY - The Magic of Creation (God's Power to Create)

I thought what I'd planned for today was pretty 'magical' (divine is a better word, but sticking with the theme, people). A tadpole turns into a frog; a caterpillar turns into a butterfly! Magic! :)

Well, I came up with some craft and morning tea craft ideas around that idea anyway...

After planning and shopping and more brainstorming; cutting, gluing and changing my mind too many times to keep track of; more shopping and triple checking my lists, I had 2 bags of ingredients and supplies for Monday's Morning tea craft & Craft.

Morning tea craft was Butterfly Biscuits! Ingredients included arrowroot biscuits, chocolate icing, freckles, glo worms, sugar straps, smarties and malteasers... More than 40 kids made these, and I think they loved it! Chocolate and sugar is usually a winner with, well, anyone? I had sooo many chocolate icing packets in my pantry (collecting them from packet mixes I didn't use the icing for because I made my own) - so what better use for them than this! Did I come up with this idea because of all the chocolate icing I had in my cupboard? Who knows.

I also made an instruction sheet to hang up for the kids to refer to; but really - the kids could have put the chocolate and sugar lollies on in whatever order they wanted... As a bonus, there were plenty of ingredients left over for some of the leaders to make butterfly biscuits as well! Yessss. Chocolate and sugar for everyone!

Here's my two making and eating their butterfly biscuits:

To add to morning tea, I made and brought some 'snap-lock-bag-peg-butterfly-things' (original, I know). The idea came from a Pintrest post that I had seen on Facebook, which I thought was really clever and groovy! Mine are modified butterflies, because I didn't want to paint them, or have time to attach antennae on 50 peg butterflies! But they were too cute not to make for today :)

Craft today was a caterpillar. My original idea was to use egg cartons for the caterpillars' bodies, but then I had the idea with paper folded to make streamers! How crazy would that be! The caterpillar could move and wobble about on the green cardboard leaf outlines that I had also made in advance. I think I'm pretty capable at drawing basic leaf outlines now!

This was my caterpillar & leaf craft that I used to demonstrate:

And here's my two with their caterpillars! One child had cut their leaf out - which didn't actually cross my mind as something to do, but actually looked really great! So others decided to do that as well! I also (since making my demo craft) found some giant craft eyes that a few children used for their caterpillar's eyes, while others preferred to colour them in.

There were some really amazingly creative caterpillars made! It was lots of fun, and all the kids did a fantastic job with making their caterpillars. There certainly were lots of wobbly insects on cardboard leaves that went home today! :)

If you would like notifications of when new blog posts go up, then please 'like' my Facebook page: Created Creative.

If you would like to see more photos of today's Magic, please visit Ropes Crossing Church's Facebook page. There's still 4 more days of creativeness and magic, so if you are local to Ropes Crossing, why not come and join us! :)

Aaaah Choo!

I helped my children get ready for school this week, making their sandwiches so that they didn't have to, and making sure their hats and water bottles were close by for easy access... This is rare, as they usually need to do all of this by themselves (not that I'm incapable, but my laziness of a morning teaches them independance).

... I then felt it come - a sneeze!

I moved away from the food, leant over, and... Ah, ah, ah... CHOOO!

A relief for that to be over (and as I was hunched over with an arm over my face), I looked up to see my two year old looking suddenly quite concerned for me...

As I stared at him for a few seconds, expecting him to say "Bless you" (as one would usually do whenever someone near them sneezes, and what I thought by now he'd learnt to say to someone), he looks at me and says "Good job."

I could not help but laugh out loud at his response!

The morning carried on, we finished getting ready for school, and with school bags packed, helmets on, and bikes at the ready - we left for school...

On our way back home, as Jonathan was 'getting tired', I picked him up onto my shoulders, so I could carry him (along with the helmet and tricycle he decided he no longer wanted to ride - awkward).

Two minutes into this new height in life, being able to see much more than he usually can, he SNEEZES ONTO MY HAIR... !!

"Thanks, mate... Good job"

Wild about Cupcakes!

A little while ago, I started making cupcakes from a recipe book called "Wild about Cupcakes" by Rachel Lane. To read about the cupcakes I have already made, here's the blog post. This post continues on, as the next cupcake I wanted to make from the same recipe book were called 'Sticky Date Cupcakes'.

I made these while my children were away on holidays, because I had one of those sudden inclinations to bake! Go figure. So without wanting to waste what I'd made, OR eat them all myself (tempting as it was, though!), I gave them to the staff at school to eat :) ... This is what they were supposed to look like:

And this is what mine looked like ->

I couldn't manage to take a photo while I was pouring the sauce on top, so my photo is missing the spoon :)

These cupcakes tasted so amazing! We (my husband and I) tried them once they were out of the oven (we figured they'd be best served warm), rather than follow the recipe and let them cool down... :)

I told the staff at school (as I had brought everything in separate containers - cupcakes, dates, and sauce), to warm up either the cupcakes and the sauce, or at least just the sauce! Yummy!

The feedback both from my husband and the school's staff was excellent, so I think I will certainly make them again! :)

Next on my list in the same recipe book (now that it's very much Spring) will be chosen from the 'Simple and Healthy' section I think! :)

De-cluttering Challenge - Part 5

I keep looking at my list and at all of those ticks! After a mental pat on the back, I look at Jonathan's room, and then back at my list... There was still a semi-adequate path to get to and from Jonathan's bed, so I decided that first I should sort through the many piles of paper on top of the piano, and the numerous boxes that had migrated there from all over the house...

And, well, just incase someone tried to come in through Jonathan's window to rob us, I'm pretty sure they'd break their foot on at least one of the many toys spread out everywhere before they even had a chance to. Or slip and sink into a mountain of clothes never to be found again... Safety first, right ;)

The list is getting smaller! (and possibly slightly more confusing):

19. Piano (a.k.a. Music area).

While I was sorting through the piles and piles of paper, and boxes and boxes of junk, it occurred to me that my motivation to de-clutter was similar to my motivation to scrapbook... It sounds like a great idea, and it will look amazing when it's finished, but once you have everything spread out over every available surface, and you've made a small amount of progress with sorting through it all and deciding what to do with what you have, somehow that fresh and keen motivation fizzles away, procrastination takes over for a bit, and suddenly it's time to pack it all away and go pick up the kids from school...

This happened for 2 days... Maybe I should have sorted Jonathan's room first.

I did slowly organise the papers into smaller piles (all over the kitchen bench and dining table), mentally labelling each as I kept adding to them:

-School notes
-Kids' school work
-Church related papers
-Scripture aids or worksheets
-Magazines (I seriously found like 20 That's Life magazines that I ended up ripping the recipes out of, quickly glancing at the craft and ideas sections, and then recycling)
-Bills, or anything else related to money
-Artworks
-Husband, to actually sort through
-Mail addressed to my husband that he has not opened yet or sorted through... And he says that I'm terrible? (I am).
-Me, to sort through later ;)
-Recycling

As I piled the papers (into their sections) right back onto the piano, and also into a spare box I had found, the area was at least looking much neater! I should spend another day finishing what I've started, but I am just a bit over paperwork and boxes of junk (that I don't want to just throw out because I'm sentimental and like keeping things that remind me of things or cute things my children have made for me, or bills and school notes in pretty colours etc)! And, well, it's de-cluttered enough for the moment.

Ahh, that looks better :)

Then... What was placed neatly or re-packed into boxes, were <head down> moved right on out to the shed to sort through when I get up to it...

Next?

20. Bookshelf.
DVDs... So many DVDs (that we don't even watch) it's ridiculous. I spent most of a day taking the discs out of their cases, putting them into a DVD file draw thing (that I found while taking a photo of the shed), and taking the covers out of the cases... We have saved so much space on the shelf! I kept the most watched (or most colourful) DVDs on one shelf, and tidied up the books, games and photo albums. Things that we didn't really use/read/watch at all went into the handy little (massive) storage space at the bottom of the bookshelf... I'm sure I'll get around to sorting that out later. So I kind of completed this area... If no-one looks in the bottom compartment, who will know that I didn't get around (or want) to sort it out?

I then skipped the Computer desk and finally moved back to Jonathan's room... I figured that we may need to buy a new computer desk anyway (thanks to Jonathan who had ripped the handle off one of the drawers), so I may as well wait until I can empty the drawers completely and go through them properly, right? Well, that'll do for a reason at the moment anyway :)

4, 5. Bedroom #2
I'm not sure if part of me was putting off Jonathan's room because he was growing up so fast, no longer needing any of the baby toys, stuffed animals, or baby blankets anymore, and perhaps I wasn't ready to give them away just yet, and admit that he wasn't my little baby anymore?

Or, perhaps it was just because I couldn't bear to face such an overwhelming monotonous (and what will probably be thrice-daily) task of putting things away neatly...

I can't help but wonder why and how on earth his room can become so messy in such little time... Is it because he is 2, and/or a boy, and that's just what they do? Is it because he's seen me as I tidy up (if that's what you can call it), by throwing things into the rooms -or general direction- they belong in <hold on, light bulb moment> to sort out later... Oh dear, what standard have I been setting for my children? A standard where the pile of clothes to pack away at the end of the bed just gets added to or pushed on to the floor, stepped over and inevitably spread out all over the floor... Or shoes just thrown into the wardrobe instead of lined up neatly (which takes about 5 extra seconds to do). He copies what I do! Which means he's seen me stand in the hallway and throw things down to Ben's room, just because it saves me walking that 6 metre round trip to actually do it properly...

Sorting through Jono's room probably only took me 30 minutes, but it had certainly gotten worse since taking that 'before' photo... And now, I think his room has potential to stay perfect if he doesn't touch anything ever again... For example his toy box that is overflowing with toys and stacked similarly to a half played game of Jenga, where eventually taking one toy out will make the rest fall down...

Also turns out that Jono wasn't kidding when he kept telling me (almost nightly) that his car (that he absolutely can't go to bed without) had 'fallen down'. This is what I found in the corner when I moved Jono's bed out to turn around for a bit of a change.

I've often had the crazy idea of stapling the corners of his quilt to the corners of his quilt covers, just so it stays as it should! It would save me a good 10 seconds each night if I don't have to fix it up...

I am now 2.5 weeks into my challenge and just about ready to give up, collapse, and finish the list next Spring... But, knowing that's not really an option, I will continue to press on (perhaps with some structured procrastination) with the hope of finishing the De-cluttering Challenge I set myself, even though I am really dreading the eventual task of sorting and organising the shed! Which has just gotten worse and worse the more junk I add to it!

I might do some baking to get back into the swing of Spring Cleaning.

Somehow that works in my mind :)

A weekend full of bubbly goodness!

Bubble: n.

1. a small globule of gas in a thin liquid envelope

2. anything that lacks firmness, substance, or permanence; an illusion

My son was desperate to try his new bubble rocket that I had bought for him (probably for Christmas) and had clearly not hidden that well (on top of the box in our wardrobe, uncovered, for all who go in there to see). There is only so long you can keep repeating the word 'soon' to a 9-year-old.

So this week, I had one of those rare days that I was completely calm and at peace with the world (like, for the whole day). I was pleased with what I had achieved, and not at all anxious or uptight in the afternoon, just wanting to be in my own personal space without any interruptions or changes in the 'routine' that cause unwanted and sudden stress...

Ben asked to use the rocket in the front yard (which meant that I would need to physically go outside to supervise, rather than just watch from the kitchen bench while I do other things)... His reason being: incase Deefa ate the rocket. A fair point. I agreed, grabbed my phone and away we went.

Because of my unusual calmness this day, I thought "why not bring Deefa out the front, too? I can get a ball and play fetch with him while the kids play with the bubbles." So I opened the back door and shooom, away he went, racing through the house and out the front door.

To distract him from the kids and bubbles, I threw the ball up the road (honestly, not that far, but far enough that I thought he would at least humour me by chasing it and bringing it back)...

But he was more interested in the bubbles! It didn't take long before Ben was inviting the neighbours to come and play, as they both have friends on our street. Usually I would think "No, no, just leave everyone alone, and we'll just do our own thing", but that day thought "Sure, why not." It also gave Jonathan a rare opportunity to try the new toy.

A couple of children, a dog, and playing with bubbles in the front yard soon turned into 6 kids racing through the house to play on the trampoline... So the party moved to the back yard, and I was absolutely loving it.

Deefa kept going absolutely crazy for these bubbles! I watched him jump in the air, twist around and even fall on his bum, just to catch those bubbles!

He was so patient waiting for more bubble mixture to be poured, and for the rocket to be prepared for launching. You could see the anticipation in Deefa's stance and expressions. Sometimes, I think Ben just teased him by taking what seems like forever at the time to finish this 2-step process...

It is the funniest thing to watch, though... Like, ever.

This weekend, we brought the bubbles out again so my husband could see how crazy Deefa goes over these globules of gas enveloped in thin (dishwashing) liquid.

And then it happened...

I took the perfect photo.

My family, on a weekend, laughing and playing together. Ben in goggles.

And my dog - stance of a professional diver, mid-air, mouth wide open, about to eat another bubble...

"Did I get it? Did I get it?
Hey, where'd it go?"

I don't feel so guilty anymore not taking him for a walk this week...

Catching bubbles is totally great exercise!

Not for me, though... I sit down, with my phone on camera, waiting for opportunities to capture awesome moments just like this :)

Did I really just sell my car?

It feels so surreal to have sold my car today... My very first car, that's been all mine for 6 years.

Three children have messed up that car... They've covered seats with jelly beans, chips and popcorn; and spilt juice, Slurpees, and milkshakes. Apple cores have been left on its floor (and forgotten about), biscuits have been crunched into its carpets, mud has been smeared onto the insides of its doors, and my latest favourite - Chocolate... Melted into the arm rest.

Two of my children have tried at different times to be helpful and clean it <cringe> with rocks...

It was a comfy car. All of my children have slept in that car... Simultaneously. But then, as they grew bigger and became more, it was a bit of a squishy car...

That car has travelled near, far, and very far. It's seen sunshine, rain, grass, trees, dirt, water, and sheep. Road trips have left it muddy and dusty, and sometimes smelling like pizza and Starburst...

 Which seemed to attract stray cats.

My kids have entertained themselves for hours and hours in that car... Because they had no choice on those long road trips.

I had laughed so hard in that car one night, when my husband decided it would be funny to take up the entire double driveway with his giant car on the way back home from a date night, so I parked him in...

 A pigeon has even nestled itself on top of that car... While I was shopping.

For a day, that car was actually driven into our garage! ... Now to my dismay, only toy cars are driven in there, because there is lots of gym equipment, and no room for a car.

Footprints were made - both in my heart, and on the back of the car seats...

It feels so surreal that it is no longer mine... It feels like I've just let someone borrow it... For a long time... And they gave me money for it... And will never give it back.

Lucky it had a professional detailing job by my youngest this morning...

With baby wipes.

Good bye, car. You have been wonderful to me.

A cake for Angel...

It's a strange feeling (for me) when someone asks you to make a cake for their daughter's birthday, and upon giving you ingredients and decorations to make it says: "Just something pretty. I trust you."

It was Friday night, I was feeling a bit exhausted, but I still started to make the cake... I read the instructions, and poured out 3/4 cup of oil. As I was pouring (into the measuring cup - not the cake mix), though, it occurred to me that this may be the wrong amount... I re-checked the instructions and had to pour 1/2 cup back into the bottle, because it said 3/4 water, and only 1/4 cup oil. Wow!

Not to self - it is not a good idea to try and make cakes when you are sleepy because you are likely to make mistakes like mix up measurements...

That could have been disastrous!

I made my own cake tray from cooling wire, cardboard, and aluminium foil:

With the cake mixture divided into one round cake and one square cake, I cut a hole in the round, and the sides off the square to somehow resemble an oddly shaped number 6.

Without knowing exactly what I was going to do, I mucked around with some ideas. I thought that I could sprinkle some of the fairy dust into cookie cutters to spell 'Angel', but I knew I was not going to try and attempt any icing and decorating until I had slept...

The next day, I made some pink icing and iced the cake. The parts that I had cut were the hardest as the cake would crumble into the icing, and so in some areas I do believe that the layer of icing is about as thick as the cake :)

I was given some little edible fairy things that I strategically placed around the bottom half of the cake. I thought that perhaps 'Angel' could be written in between where they stopped, but it would likely look a bit too squishy, so I wrote her name (a few times, scraping the purple icing off if it didn't look nice) on the top half. I then added leaves in between the fairies, and what was supposed to look like grass in between the leaves...

I spread the sprinkles all around the edges of the cake, and inside the circle of the 6, because I wasn't sure what else to do with them!

And now for some photos of the finished cake, once I'd neatened it up and there wasn't sprinkles all over the cake tray. Oh, I also added a purple flower in that blank spot and put some sprinkles inside the petals :)

I still think I prefer making cupcakes, but this was an interesting experience! I also enjoyed another reason to avoid housework and de-cluttering ;)

Finally, to transport the cake that I probably spent more time staring at wondering how to decorate, than actually decorating, I put it in my cupcake carrier, which was a perfect fit!

Happy birthday Angel :)