Chicks and Chocolate

These little easter nests are something that we used to make for easter when we were children.  I have always thought that they are just the sweetest little things. I haven't made them for years and years, in part because I couldn't find the right ingredients in Australia.  This year however I managed to find both Shredded Wheat and mini eggs with a sugar shell! Ella had a lot of fun breaking up the Shredded Wheat, mixing in the chocolate and placing the eggs on top. I think she enjoyed eating them at afternoon tea most of all though!

Easter Chocolate Birds Nests: makes 8 - 10

4 Shredded Wheat

120g Chocolate (milk or dark or a combination of both)

40g Butter

3 tbsp Golden Syrup

Mini chocolate eggs to decorate

Crumble the Shredded Wheat into a mixing bowl. In a heavy bottom pan, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup. Pour this mixture over the Shredded Wheat and stir well until it is all coated. Dollop the mixture onto a baking sheet or greaseproof paper, shaping each mound into a nest shape, with an indentation in the centre to hold the eggs. Place a few chocolate eggs into each nest and refrigerate until set.

'Mowling' the lawn

Cleaning up the grass cuttings..

'Twinkle, twinkle, little star...'

 'Look mumma, a bee!'

'Decorationing' Jacob

'Hey, this is fun..'

Or maybe not...

'Jacob's got green hair!' 

'C'mere you!'

'What? I'm just cleaning up!'

She looks so sweet and innocent..

'It's raining grass!'

That's All Folks!

The sun'll come out tomorrow..

It's been a trying sort of week. Nick has been working super-crazy-only-coming-home-to-sleep-hard and besides missing him massively it can be rather tiring doing the single-parent thing. The kids have both been pretty grumpy this week - I think they've both been feeling a little under the weather, but that has resulted in Ella being particularly bossy and rough with Jacob and Jacob being extra whingy about it. *sigh*

It's also been raining more than it has for weeks (although that's not saying much!) so we've been somewhat confined to the house. It's actually been sort of nice in a way. We've had to slow down a bit and I've enjoyed just hanging out with the little ones, not worrying about having to be 'doing' something (always a challenge for me!) We did manage to escape the house for some fresh air once the rain eased off and we were treated to this beautiful sunset. A perfect reminder that the rain never lasts forever and lovely surprises are usually just around the corner...

Toddler Snacks

Ella has been helping me cook for a good year now, it's such a great thing for us to do together as I need to get our meal prepared and she wants to have my attention and spend time with me. This way we both stay happy and even thought it might take twice as long to get the dinner cooked, there are at least no tears!  Plus there are so many lessons to be learned in the kitchen, we measure, weigh and count; pour and stir; chop, grate and sieve. We taste and we talk - about what we're cooking, about our days.

However much Ella enjoys helping me with the cooking, it gives a whole new level of satisfaction for her to be able to make a snack for herself almost entirely on her own. I'm trying to compile a whole lot of toddler friendly recipes. These banana popsicles were a big hit - needless to say she was very enthusiastic about her first taste of Nutella!

Rain

Last weekend we lucky enough to be able to share a really magical experience with our little boy. We took him to Drop Bear Theatre and The Seam's production; 'Rain'.
It was a beautiful performance installation / sensory experience for babes in arms and crawlers. Jacob was simply mesmerised from the minute we stepped into the space - and you can see why!

Picture from Shine Little Light

Our little man wasted no time at all setting off to explore the room, clambering over the actors, and inspecting the beautiful cello which accompanied the performance.  I think his favourite part was the huge bladders full of blue water - they were wonderful to climb over, or bury your face in; you could jiggle the water to make waves, watch them move and listen to the sounds they made, you could beat them like a drum or just watch the beautiful reflections!

To see him so engaged and interested, so full of wonder and delight was an amazing and moving experience for us as parents! It was a lovely reminder that the best thing that we can do for our babies is to be present in the moment, to notice what draws their attention and interest and to try to see the world with their eyes, to experience everything as if for the first time.

At the end of the session we were handed a poem, which is too beautiful for me to not share. It's by Cheryl Lawrie, I haven't seen her work before but I think I might be a fan...