Pond

Ivy and Hazel like making vases. To do this, you get a little jar or cup, then you pick stuff from the garden. Put water in the jar, then put in your pickings. It's best to include a really long tough pointy spike from a native grass.

Yesterday Hazel picked marigolds with really short stems, so I gave them a box of water. This morning she added more flowers. I like the contrasting colours. Apparently it's a pond filled with lilies, and the purple ones are POISONOUS.

Sounding it out

We were at the market buying chicken. As we waited, Ivy pointed to a sign on the glass case and said "Does that say 'chicken'?"

Aha! A teaching opportunity!

"Nope, it starts with O R, which makes the sound 'aw'. What's that next letter?"

Hazel came over to help. "That's a G which makes the sound 'gee'. So this says 'orgy'. What's 'orgy' Mum?"

Maybe I will let the next teaching opportunity slip by.

How many veggies would you like?

Many, or not so many?

Or perhaps NONE AT ALL.

I made my own (fake) chocolate

I made a batch two days ago, and I'm not sure how it lasted this long.
http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/2012/04/my-sugar-free-raspberry-ripe-2/

Ivy & Hazel both loved it, and Ivy kept cruising by asking for more. I'll make it again.
Next time I will do these things before pouring the chocolate mixture over:

• Toast the coconut.
• Smash the frozen raspberries into bits.
• Add some toasted sunflower seeds and maybe other toasted nuts (small or smashed).

Daddy Poo

Hazel has been grooving to Boney M recently.

She jives around the house, muttering Daddy, Daddy Pooooo; Daddy, Daddy Pooooo.

Tonight I am an amazing housewife

By 6:15pm the kids were in bed and quietly waiting for the sleep bus. Trudi is out at the gym. The house is fairly tidy, I've cleaned up the kitchen, and I want dessert. Problem: the fridge and pantry are full of buckwheat and broccoli, cream cheese and dried shiitake. Nothing decadent and nothing sweet.

I have a recipe for a chocolate pudding in a mug, to be made in a microwave, but I don't really feel like a doughy choc pudding. Tonight I feel like a light buttery cake in a big bowl of custard. Heaven.

This is the bit where I was an amazing housewife. I looked at the recipe for chocolate pudding and I tweaked a few things. I replaced oil with melted butter, I reduced the sugar, I skipped the cocoa and added vanilla, and I popped in some frozen raspberries. Into the microwave for a minute and a half. While that was nuking, I made custard sauce with an egg, milk and sugar.

In under ten minutes I was sitting on the couch eating a lovely dessert in a massive bowl while reading.

The bit that's making me feel particularly great is that I messed with a dessert recipe. I've never been confident about making sweets - I have to follow the recipe to the letter. 3.5 years of making muffins and anzacs has clearly given me enough practice to try.

I will never be a cook like Chloe (my friend whose mum would cook slices and cakes in massive tins for the shearers) or Liss (my sister who makes amazing cakes that look devilishly rakish and taste divine). But tonight I made a microwave pudding in a mug and thought I was awesome.

Snail blanket

Ivy asked for a snail blanket, so I made her one. She wears it when she is being a snail.
Here it is, on the end of her bed: