and some Easter chicks too...
I even stole some some chickens from my Mum's house last week and they've turned out to be quite cheeky chickens, jumping up on our table to lay their speckled eggs;
When my Mum bought them, she was told that one of the chickens had lost a leg in a skiing accident (true story!). She never quite recovered from the fright, so she spends her days guarding the eggs in the basket....
More soon...
I stayed up late last night, baking and icing these little houses (and a few doggies) for our wonderful neighbours. We are very lucky to be surrounded by older neighbours, who are parents and grandparents themselves and who all have quite large families and utterly adore children. They often call to me, over the side fence to ask how our girls are doing and frequently remind me that, 'They grow up so fast!' and to 'Enjoy them now, because before you know it, they'll be all grown up!'.
Our neighbours always remember the girl's birthdays and have such lovely gifts for them. Last year, Santa apparently left an extra stocking for each of them next door! Our neighbours bring our garbage bin in for us every Friday, pick up our weekend newspapers from where the paper boy has thrown it into the hedge every Saturday and Sunday and deliver it to our front steps, they watch our house when we go away and even offered to babysit Liv when I went to hospital to have Elly.
On one side, we have Rita and John (5 children, 12 grandchildren) who have a little white dog named Mickey. Rita is a self-confessed 'home-body' who tells me she loved every second of raising her children and still enjoys making her house a 'home'. She recalls having children in the 1950's when there was no television and she used to turn on the wireless and have impromtu dancing sessions with the kids. She also loved sitting them up on the kitchen bench to watch her cooking... but her favourite thing to do was read them books.
Rita always looks different (I hardly ever recognise her if I see her walking down the street) and it's no wonder, because as she admitted today, she wears wigs - when she can't be bothered doing her hair! She says it's much harder to have kids these days and in the same breath, tells me she hopes that if we have a third, it will be a boy.
Her husband John is a quiet man who is very polite and smiles and nods to me a lot over the fence. I only ever really see the top half of his face and his hat, so he reminds me of 'Mr Wilson' from the TV series, Home Improvement. Their little dog Mickey is a source of delight to our little girls, so I made a Mickey cookie, with a little note from Liv saying, 'You are such a nice dog. I like making up stories about you, Mickey!';
On the other side, we have Jo & Frank (6 children, 7 grandchildren) who live in a large Victorian home they cannot bear to sell, as although it is quite big for them to manage during the week, they enjoy having their extended family visit and stay on the weekends. Jo is such a kind lady, who has more than once dropped in on me at inopportune times - when the house has been in a complete shambles!!! She does, however, have a knack for making me feel at ease amidst the sea of toys that litter the floor and the mountain of laundry that seems to take up the rest of the room! 'It's nothing I haven't seen before' ... 'I had six kids, remember?' and 'I'd be more worried if your house was perfect, I know, you have kids to look after!'
When we dropped in on Jo and Frank today, they invited us in to meet their son's family, which included a 4-yr old girl whom Liv became fast friends with. I don't think I have ever seen Liv form such a strong connection to another child in such a short time. But it was amazing today, to see these two little girls run and wrap their arms around each other immediately. They were inseperable for the rest of the afternoon (we stayed for quite a while!), holding hands, squished up and snuggling on the rocking chair together and blowing kisses to each other when we left. We have promised to organise another play date for them at our house in the near future...
It's so nice to have neighbours like these! It's nice to discover who is living (or visiting!) next door...
Do you know your neighbours?
...on an ironing board, if need be!
Hers was a combined Cake, Pizza and Sushi shop...
And it did the trick!
All the dolls (and monkey) were well-fed, amid much arranging and rearranging of stock and only a few slightly noisy (but amusing) price checks: the mouse-nibbled cheese -see top left, next to the worm-riddled apple - was fairly pricey at $250!
Today we tried making some Easter Chickens. I didn't have a picture or pattern so I quickly drew up two chooks as fast as I could;
...while Liv whined, 'Hurry Mum, I want to do CRAFT'. She has come to expect some sort of hands-on, get-messy activity as soon as her sister is in bed and has very little patience for the setting-up. However, once it's all on the table, she dives right in;
Liv loves craft. Nick says that when he calls home during the day he can hear her in the background saying 'I want to do craft' then begging, 'Please, can I do craft?'. She seems to think most things can be made from a few toilet rolls and some cotton wool, I think after we made these sheep before Elyssia's birthday.
In fact, she's even taken to telling me at random times during the day, 'I want to make [insert something random] . Last week it was a boy. She actually said 'I want to make a boy. I think I'm going to need some toilet rolls, Mum' (I thought that was hilarious!)...And after we got back from our holiday at the farm, she turned to me before bed one night and in all seriousness said, 'You show me how to make an Alpaca tomorrow, Mum'.
Which we then hung up, in the garden;
I made her Owl Softie into a door hanging for Elly's door. As seen above, for when she is awake (with her big eyes, opened wide!) and this side (below) for when she is asleep, with the owl shadowed by the moon and a tree.
I still have a long way to go in my sewing, but I think she got me off to a great start. Thank you Saffron!
I tried my hand at another Toddler Smock during naptime today (only takes 30 mins to cut and sew.... NOT including the dreaded bias binding! I used ribbon this time);
Liv sat beside me and practiced cutting paper with sizzors, she's quite good now. She also tested out the first smock, while doing some painting;
She loves painting with water and it's a lot easier to clean up after too!
Only problem is, there's nothing to show for it, once the water dries and evaporates. It's magical, disappearing art!
If only I knew how to quilt!
Reds
Pinks
Dolls Clothes.... Upside-Down Fairytale Dolls...Soft Toys....Rag Dolls....Stuffed Pigs
Score!
I designed a little set of invitations (I always like to make my own), using Elly's darling little baby face as my inspiration for a silhouette, Andy-Warhol style;
I love silhouettes of children and after seeing some beautiful Customised Silhouette Pendants at Craftsbury Kids (They also do pillows and plates) and NieNie's gorgeous silhouette prints, I knew this is what I wanted as the background.
So I took a photo of my daughter and played around with the image on Foto Flexer and simply added the party details in text over the top of the above picture. It was fairly easy and I got them printed as photographs at a lab. Total cost for personalised party invites: $3.50.
[I'm hoping to make a silhouette (in black and white) for each of my girls every year from now on, so we can see how much they have changed. But let's see if I actually remember to do that!]
The cake was...
...a lesson in patience!
I drew many, many ducks before I finally thought I had something that would look recognisable. Then, icing it took quite a while. What can I say, except I was making it up as I went along and that once I had started, there was no turning back!
I had hoped for something more 'baby' in mind (like a rubber ducky!), but I think it came out looking a bit like a Leunig duck (though without a teapot on her head)....
I also made chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing, because really, no party is complete without cupcakes!
...the flowers being chocolate-dipped marshmallow with pink, red and white sprinkles;
And instead of lollybags for each guest, I made baby duck cookies for everyone to take home;
The party was made perfect when all our family arrived to celebrate and little Elly had the time of her life playing with balloons, opening presents, eating cake and just generally being spoilt... as she so deserves!
