Upcycled Buzz Lightyear costume

If you're on FaceBook, you've already been spammed by this, but tough luck - here it is again.

Caleb, like most preschool-aged boys, adores Buzz Lightyear. He is slightly miffed that the version he was given for Christmas was the el-cheapo one that doesn't do anything except stand. Sometimes. If you get the angle of his legs right. He has been repeatedly asking for a "Biiiiiiiig Buzz", but due to my current anti-plastic kick (and the fact that it is absurdly expensive) it ain't happening. Neither was a Buzz costume at $50 a piece.

We just happened to have a hand-me-down purple fleece hoody and a green t-shirt in roughly his size. We also had a huge cotton knit baby blanket that we used to swaddle him as a baby, to try and prevent him sitting up and climbing out of the bassinet. It was a tad ridiculous in retrospect, but hey, his sister was using the cot!

So I whacked the hood off the hoody, the bottom off the t-shirt, attached some sleeves and body made from the cotton knit and that was about it. To get the sizing roughly right, I traced around some inside-out items of his clothing.

Using a decent overlocker made the job a pleasure rather than some of the other serging experiences of my time, which endangered neighbouring wildlife (or small children) as I came close to hiffing the POC out the window. It really was genuinely easy - I didn't even bother with pins, thought I possibly should have **darty-eyed glance** It isn't astoundingly fabulous, but Caleb loves it and keeps declaring "I'm a BIIIIIIIG BUZZ!!"

I elasticated the back to prevent it looking too much like a sack and attached various buttons and bits made from fleece and knick-knacks I had lying around. The T-shirt I used was a polo type, so it removed the need for zippers or snaps, as he can squeeze comfortably through the top opening.

Too much stuff

I've been pondering this post for some months. It's a ranty one, so feel free to ignore it, roll your eyes or post your disagreeing comments. Of course copious amounts of praise and adoration would also be well appreciated.

Our kids have SO MUCH STUFF. When pregnant, I fell into the trap of reading, researching, browsing in stores, and making purchases that other people said were necessary to keep your baby alive into toddlerhood. Not only that, every source indicated that it was also vitally important to buy stuff that brought this change about AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. There were an amazing amount of devices needed to extend your baby toward the next stage of development - things to help them sit, things to help them crawl (and you can imagine the fervour with which I research this when I produced a child that **gasp** BUM-SHUFFLED. Google it - she's scarred for life ;)), things to make them eat, things to make them stand, walk, etc, etc. It's no longer okay to have a baby, just be... a baby. That's another post altogether though...

My brother and SIL (I'm getting good at these acronyms) were pregnant at the same time as us, and we jokingly made a deal to see who could buy the least baby 'stuff'. I think we won, but living in NZ, we weren't under quite the same onslaught of consumerism than they were in the US. Just. Even so, I sure made some unnecessary purchases, thanks to the cunning guilt marketing of 'stuff sellers', that advertised their products in glossy magazines, baby stores, everywhere an excited mother-to-be / struggling new mother might wander unawares. I can remember genuinely WORRYING that our bottom of the line baby gym didn't play music - I mean REALLY??? Are they scarred by this? Actually, don't answer that - maybe a little more Mozart and a little less Gwen Stafani may have made them more docile babies. Lets not dwell on this.

Recently I have been asked by some friends expecting their first babies what they need to buy. I suggested very little, because I truly believe now, that less is more. And this is coming from the woman who, though she bought fewer baby items than most, ensured that she bought the 'best' ones. The ones (aside from the baby gym **sigh**) that looked fabulous, were made locally, and built to survive a nuclear holocaust... and look fabulous while they did it. Did I mention that?

Now, after successfully managing to bring 2 children into preschooler-hood without serious mishap (don't mention the road incident) my list of 'essentials consist of:

* Somewhere for baby to sleep.
* A carseat - preferably one that rear-faces beyond 12kg. Google this if it sounds insane. It's NOT.
* Something to carry baby around in. I have always been a huge Mountain Buggy fan, but having a child with severe reflux, as well as a 16 month age gap, caused me to look at other options. These baby carriers are AWESOME. The Manduca still gets very regular use, and I expect to be using it until my kids are school aged. I am petite, yet can carry a 13kg toddler around on my back whilst wearing heels for several hours quite comfortably. Though there is the fact that I am Wonder Woman in disguise...

Moby Wrap, containing a rarely sleeping Caleb...


And the Manduca - it does front and back carries, and is much, much kinder to the body than the traditional front packs, such as the Baby Bjorn, that I persisted with for far too long.


Google both of these if you're remotely interested in the benefits (which are surprising) of baby wearing. And yes I'm a hippy.

* A mat for baby to lie on whilst on the floor.
* Clothes

And that's the list.

So this morning, I was tidying up the kids playroom. I was muttering about the screeds of mass-produced, gimmicky branded, plastic lying about, when I came across 4 cardboard boxes. I was about to throw them out, until I suddenly realised what they were.

My children have been playing with these boxes for weeks. They have been cars. They have been dolls houses. They have been boats. They have been beds. They have been picnic baskets. They have been jack-in-the-box-boxes. They are every conceivable item that a cardboard box should be to a pair of imaginative preschoolers, and I thought they were rubbish. Because they weren't plastic and colourful, with a logo on them.

Sad, huh? I've noticed with interest that since producing Sophie's play kitchen, her play has changed. She's using it far less than the crates and boxes that she used to 'cook' with and I wonder if we spoiled the imagination and fun by giving her a fancy one. Even if it was homemade. Tough luck anyway, Missy, I like it and it's staying!

It's so easy to buy toys, because they are so cheap these days. But just because we CAN, isn't a good enough reason for me any more.

I'm going to clean out the playroom. Thomas is going away, as are many of the other bits and pieces that limit play. I bet my children don't even notice.

Watch this, if you care to. It provokes a few thoughts...
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Recycled crayons

I've been meaning to try this for ages!

This is a great way of getting rid of all of those wee bitsy ends of wax crayons and is lots of fun too.

I tried to get Sophie to give the instructions for this activity too, but she was far more interested in going for a walk to the river with Daddy than educating you all. She did, however, take a few of the photos, while I cringed and prayed for the safety of our precious fancypants camera.

1) Sort crayons into 'like' colours - or random collections of colours if you prefer - and place in silicone muffin moulds. Ours here just happened to be in the otherwise useless shape of bear heads.



2) Bung 'em in the oven for 15 minutes or so. What temperature was the oven, you ask? Dunno. Hot. Maybe 180 celcius??

3) When melted, remove and allow to cool.

4) Remove from moulds - Ta-da!



And the bear heads - after being used for quite some time, hence the flat faces.


Some of these ended up with a layer of clearish wax near the top. This was worse where we used cheap and nasty crayons, rather than the ancient school editions that I purged from dark corners of my classroom earlier today. In any case, it picks off, but actually draws okay in most cases anyway, giving a lighter shade of the 'main' part.

And the proof that they work - a drawing of flowers. Because she draws very little else these days!



I'll add this picture of some of the wildflowers that Sophie picked from her garden that we planted back in October. She really enjoys picking them and arranging them in wee vases on her windowsill. I'm not sure what type they are, but they come from a packet called 'Beneficial Insect Blend' or something similar.

Making pasta

A few years ago, I discovered the wonder of fresh, homemade pasta. In the beginning, I was using a rubbish, cheap machine from a homewares store (beware of the 'Avanti' brand - they should stick to bikes!) but I soon traded it up for the mother of all pasta making beasts. Here she is...



Since then, I have purchased but ONE sad packet of dried pasta, and most of it ended up being dyed and used in a failed craft endeavour. It is just so easy and cheap to make, and so much tastier than the other stuff. Try it! You can use a rolling pin if you're keen and don't have a pasta machine.

Some weeks after purchasing My Precious, I received test results that declared that half of our family shouldn't be eating gluten. Since personally, I find the taste of cardboard preferable to gluten free pasta, I choose to ignore this advice when it comes to pasta (and bread, pastry and very often cake. The odd muffin also) and deal with the consequences. We aren't Celiac, but allergic - probably to wheat, rather than the whole gluten family - and though Caleb's diet is strict (I'd be a cruel mother to do otherwise!) I tend to spend more time off the gluten free wagon than on it.

Anyway... Lately I've been doing a bit of oral storytelling with the kids, and encouraging them to do likewise. I've also been asking them to retell favourite stories, and it's amazing how precise their attention to detail can be at 3 years of age! Retelling is a vital skill in reading comprehension, yet one that is easily overlooked.

So tonight, I was whipping up some pasta for the adults' dinner and Sophie was - as usual - sitting up at the bench and ordering my every move. I asked her to give me instructions of how to make pasta, and she spoke as only one who has closely observed something many times can.

Writing or giving instructions is a fun activity you can do with children around any task - making a sandwich, drawing a person, making a puppet, folding laundry, etc. It not only reinforces the skills being used in the task itself, but promotes the use specific language features (such as 'joining' words, like "next", "then", "after that" etc) and teaches them itemise steps within a process. By following a child's instructions exactly, a hilarious (for observers) fit of hysteria strikes as the child realises that they actually have to tell you EVERY detail, or you will not have the information that you require to complete the task.

So here are Sophie's instructions, given with many frustrated sighs and corrections and complete with photos. She didn't do bad for a 3 year old!

1) Make a tall mountain with one scoop of flour. Put a hole in it and put a little spoon of salt in the middle.


2)Break an egg into the hole. ** You can imagine the hysterics when I followed her poor instructions for this one! **


3) Mix it, mix it, mix it! With a spoon. No, I mean a fork. ** Additional info: Try and keep a wall of flour around the egg, or it will zip out of bounds and slide all over the bench! **


4) Squash it with your hands **Some would say knead, but lets not be picky **


5) Put it in a bag in the fridge ** Just for 20 minutes or so - gives it a bit more elasticity **


6) Turn the handle and make it go through ** Do this on the widest setting a few times - air bubbles should snap when done. Then progress through the other levels until you are at the skinniest one **


7) Put it through the other bit to make wormies **Mummy notes the dreadful unpainted blue skirting boards in the background and hopes you don't. Now you have. Darn! Who primes skirting boards in BLUE, anyway??? Muppets... **


8) It's finished.


One egg and slightly less than 1 cup of flour makes enough pasta for 2 adults, depending on what you're eating with it. For a family lasagne or canneloni, I double the recipe.

Tonight, we had this with pesto, a squeeze of lemon juice, and fresh basil leaves with shaved parmesan.

Gardening geekiness

Steve and I set up another garden bed this weekend, and planted leeks, onions and another row of carrots. May do spuds too, but I'm not sure if there's enough room left to do them justice. Our intention is to have 6 beds up and running by October, plus the additional one we built this weekend, which will eventually have a galsshouse plonked on top of it.

In my haste to get planting early this summer, I deliberately ignored the nagging voice in my head that was telling me to think carefully about what I planted where. This particular season, it hasn't mattered, because we had exceptional fresh soil in raised beds and we had a perfect growing season, weather-wise. We have literally been snowed under with produce, but if I don't shake of my habit of willy-nilly planting, we'll deplete our soil of growing goodies pretty smartly.

As a certain sign that I really need to get back into the classroom, I made a vege garden planner. Here it is:




In theory, this should allow the garden enough variety of 'types' to allow the soil to regenerate and rest between seasons, resulting in fewer pests and better yields. We shall see. We are also composting, so I've been shoveling that into the soil as beds empty, and will continue to do so. Am thinking our composting needs more thought too. Will make it the next project.

I can already see issues, as some beds will be used for winter veges and some won't, resulting in some beds being further along in the cycle than others... Gaaaahhh! Will just muddle away and see what happens. Hopefully veges of some kind of edible quality!

Ballet dancing elephants...

The kids are right into dress-ups at the moment. That's nothing new for Sophie (though my life would be much easier if she would limit her outfit changing to 3 times a day) but for Caleb, the old man child who would not touch an unfamiliar item of clothing without hysteria, this is quite a change.

We have a few increasingly small dress-up things about, but I really need to make more...




Two Cinderellas - one gender-bending...


Today I had the sewing machine out after making some pocket nappies with a friend, and Sophie reminded me that her beloved elephant Bella was tragically devoid of couture. I had some tulle handy, and whipped up this wee tutu, in a similar fashion to one I made Sophie a few years ago. Easy peesy, and very cute!



Here's how to do it:

Sew some elastic to form the waist of your desired model's tutu - be it child's, doll's or elephant's. Do it tighter than you think it should be. Trust me, I'm right.


Cut strips of tulle roughly 5cm wide, and twice the length you require your finished tutu to be. You need lots. As in at least 5 times what you would think. At least if you are a chronic underestimator like myself.


Double the strips legthways, and loop over the elastic. Don't know how to explain that any other way. Sorry.


Do lots.


Zig-zag stitch over the elastic and loops to make the tulle sit flatter. This takes out a lot of the stretch of the elastic, so right now you're feeling thankful you took my earlier advice of having a tight elastic, aren't you??? ***casts knowing look at people furiously hacking lengths of elastic**

Ta-da! Just like a bought one.


It may be useful to attach tulle onto a length of elastic, then attach ribbons to tie it on, so that it can be a bit more one-size-fits-all. I didn't bother for an elephant, but I see merit in the idea.

Cute aye?

Harvesting the spoils continued...

Look what I made!



And beans...



Carrots, spuds and tomatoes - suffering the effects of a somewhat aggressive watering!



The never-ending courgettes / marrows...



Broccoli going to seed before we can eat it...



Pumpkins taking over the universe...



Our first and only apple - heaven help the 2 year old fingers that dare to pick it!



A beefy-looking Minty. Can a sheep look 'beefy'? Maybe she should be described as 'muttony' on retrospect...



And... more preserves!

Apricot and Ginger Jam and Spiced Apricot Chutney.



For the jam, I used the trusty Edmonds recipe, but added grated ginger:

2.75kg apricots, halved and stoned
* 2.5c water
* 12c sugar
* 2T grated fresh ginger
* 10-12 apricot kernels (give husband or naughty child job of extracting these without crushing them)

Slowly cook all but the sugar in a preserving pan until pulpy. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Boil briskly for 30 minutes until the elusive 'setting point' is reached**. Remove kernels and pour into hot, sterilised jars. Makes 10 large jars. Or 8 large and 6 small :D

** Whatever this nonsense about 'setting point' actually means, varies according to which website / cookbook you read. Without a cooking thermometer (will buy one one day - unless a kind soul feels the need to buy one for me, in exchange for treats :D) it is fair to assume that it means 6 minutes longer than you think it needs, but at a slow boil, lest you burn it, which smells and tastes nasty.



And the chutney was made to this recipe:

* 3kg apricots
* 1kg onions
* 750g sugar
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon whole cloves
* 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
* 1 teaspoon ground mace
* 1 teaspoon curry powder
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 4 cups malt vinegar

Remove the stones and coarsely chop the apricots. Finely chop the onions. Combine all the ingredients in a large saucepan and boil slowly for 1 hour, stirring often, especially towards the end of cooking time.
Pour in hot, clean jars and seal.
Makes about 3.5 litres

They are seriously good. I may or may not share.

Boredom busters

Ahhhh, the holidays...
Despite my best intentions, the latter half of the school holidays generally resound in choruses of "I'm boooooored" and "Muuuuuuu-uuuuum, he (she) just **insert heinous crime of siblinghood here**" while I snap, bang my forehead against the wall and generally model ineffective parenting practices while trying to maintain order in the household and a clear kitchen benchtop.

For the sake of my sanity, and yours (though I'm sure you don't need it ;-) ) I'm going to make a list of stuff to do with your kids that is fun, cheap, and relatively stress-free. I intend to refer to my own wisdom a lot over the next few weeks!

1) Paint stuff with water - the deck, the house, the driveway (for those lucky sods who have sealed ones), the footpath (for those lucky sods that have one at all) or in our case, the playhouse.


2) Turn on the sprinkler and play under it. Or squirt stuff with it - preferably the garden, rather than siblings. You could even get particularly diligent souls to wash the house exterior or car, if you played your cards right. If you manage that, courier said child here. I will feed it and send it back, I promise!

3) Make playdough. This is a fabulous recipe:
http://www.ticklymoo.co.nz/?page_id=263
* I make half the suggested amount, and by adding glitter, sand, rolled oats etc, you can alter the texture and make it more fun.
* Try mixing several colours, and turn it into an art lesson!
* Wrap your rolling pin with string, or an old beaded necklace, and watch what happens.
* Get our your fancy cookie cutters, muffin and cake tins and let your child play. You can even bake your creations at a low heat. They look a bit white and flakey, but it makes them solid!
* Using rock salt makes interesting texture, as well as giving fun shiny bits in the dough.
* Find some interesting sticks, stones, seed pods etc to imprint your dough with.
* Donate some old birthday candles to the cause and make birthday muffins.

4) Fill the baby bath, or a large tub / bucket (or heck, even the normal bath!) with water tinted with food colouring and dishwash suds. Let them play with containers, seives, tea pots or whatever you find that might make the water and bubbles do interesting things.

5) Cut out pictures from supermarket circulars to make shopping lists. Ensure that they understand that YOURS is the one that actually gets followed though, as I discovered today - "But Muuuu-uuum, ice cream IS on the shopping list!"

6) Play 'Snap', 'Snakes and Ladders' or other simple games.

7) Get some chalk, find some concrete (I'm still looking - but I'm not nagging, darling!) and draw some hopscotch grids.

8) Make an obstacle course.

9) Make a tent using the dining table and a large sheet. Get cushions, torches, blankets etc and read stories.

10) Make stained glass windows with paper paste, tissue paper and a window you don't care about. Ours wasn't finished before something else stole their interest, but it is so horrendously hideous that I think I'll scrape it off tomorrow. I may finally feel repentant towards the numerous school cleaners I've brassed off by pasting things to the window after I've done it!

I had visions of adding coloured letters and shapes that they would enjoy 'finding' in weeks to come, but nah. It's ugly.

11) Make pizza together.

12) Invite friend over with like-aged children, eat cake, drink coffee and close the door!

Happy holidays...

Harvesting the spoils

Though it's construction is yet unfinished (I'm not nagging, darling husband, I swear!) our vege garden is out of control. We literally cannot keep on top of the broccoli and courgettes, and are partaking of reckless amounts of new potatoes every day. The celery and lettuce have turned into rabbit food, as no-one other than me will eat it, unless it's well camouflaged, and the beans and tomatoes are just a few days away.

We had a fabulous holiday over the new year in Queenstown, and returned to courgettes (are they meant to be called zucchinis? Or is that an Americanism? Must find out...) the size of small cats. And similar shapes, too - you don't see things like that in the store. What was IN that compost?! I have always been meaning to make a courgette cake, but paying for a vegetable that is to be used in a cake always felt wrong, in case it was hideous, so I figured if I tried it with some our excess crop, I wasn't wasting money or produce.

I adapted a recipe I found online, and it was fabulous!



Lemon Courgette Tea Cake

Ingredients
200g (7 oz) grated courgette
150g (5 oz) caster sugar
1 egg
125ml (4 fl oz) vegetable oil
200g (7 oz) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 lemon

Preparation method
1. Preheat oven to 160 C. Grease a loaf tin.

2. In a bowl, beat together the courgette, sugar, egg and oil. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder; stir in the cinnamon and lemon zest. Stir the flour mixture into the courgette mixture, adding the juice of half of the lemon and mix just until blended. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.

3. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from heat and glaze with a mixture of lemon juice from the other half lemon and 1/4c sugar, warmed.

Am planning to attempt a gluten free chocolate and courgette brownie in the next day or two. Nag me if I forget!

I've also been chargrilling courgettes with other veges (experiencing some difficulty with this technique since our BBQ ignited itself a few months ago, but I'm not one to nag about getting things fixed / finished, as we know ;-))and layering them in pasta dishes. The kids aren't so fussed on veges overtly parading themselves amongst their beloved pasta, but as they are so starving and exhausted due to this fabulous summer weather, they eat them eventually.

I had a dabble with blanching and freezing some of the broccoli today too. Hope it works!

My greatest achievement today though, was making JAM! The kids and I managed to pick a full 2L icecream container full of raspberries this morning over at Mum and Dad's, in about 10 minutes, leaving loads to spare - mostly the tricky to get at ones, as those canes are scratchy! Actually that's a lie, I picked them, they ate them from the container while I bellowed and yelped and threatened them with dire consequences, before giving up and letting them feats their lucky wee selves silly on the spoils. With that many raspberries, we ended up with 5 and a half jars of jam. It was so easy and fun that I might make more tomorrow :D



Sophie was supposedly helping me make the labels, but when my back was turned, her paper squares hastily acquired horns, eyes and a mouth and were snipped and stuck together to form a giraffe. He lives in a cereal box and was not allowed to be stuck to any jam jars ever. A more domestic-typed goddess would make more labels, but I couldn't be faffed. Two will do!

Anyway, fresh bread with jam was consumed in copious quantities at tea time during our picnic on the lawn.

Really must post some bread recipes, too...

Here are a few holiday snaps of our camping trip to Queenstown:

Monkey on Daddy's back - with the coolest pair of shades around ;-)


On the Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu


Family photo


Amazing sunset


Have I mentioned that I love our new camera?