making and planning

 Last night I was listening to an audio book and cleaning my glass doors that are in the playroom. The old window stars were looking a bit sad and well loved so I made this picture by tearing kite paper (idea from pintrest, my new favorite site)
I also made some soap but its still too soft to take out of the silicone molds. I tried removing one and it broke. Any one know if it will dry out yet or if it hasn't yet would it be no good?

edited to add**

all good, I left them a few extra days and they turned out fine, phew!

 The one at the back is the first one I removed, can you tell why I was worried?:)

They are chamomile calendular, colored naturally with carrot juice. They don't look very bright so i'm not sure I added enough carrot juice. Might add the pulp too next time as I've seen others do. To think I was worried about them coming out bright orange!

 I've been drawing up plans for the soon to be play kitchen in my art journal. Not that I needed to as the alterations will be so simple and straight forward, but mostly just for fun. I found these paints that Mum gave back to me recently and had fun making the plans extra pretty

 I'm still deciding what design to cut into the door, what do you think? Which one is your favorite?

 I made some little oven mitts and plan on making some aprons too

Today I found some things for it at a local second hand shop and got wooden knobs for the taps and stove. I also gathered together some things I've slowly collected for our 'one day wooden play kitchen' at opp shops. These are my favorite pieces so far. The lidded pot this morning was my most exciting play kitchen find yet I think. You know, aside from the actual kitchen the other day. I'm feeling pretty lucky at the moment

'Jesus cross buns'

 We made hot cross buns on Monday (the last day I had all the little boys before Easter)
Often when Cameron draws he draws 'Jesus crosses' and he also makes them with building blocks etc. so to him they were called Jesus cross buns:)

 They were much enjoyed by all and I look forward to making them next year and the next. Benny loved them too so he will be waiting for next Easter too.

 I love this wooden lattice and gate in our outdoor eating area. It seems almost unbelievable that the plant growing up it has been there less than a year. I planted it soon after we moved in and didn't know how it would go because its quite a shaded area but its really taken off. I look forward to it getting big bushy and unruly!

I'm a bit late to yarn along because yesterday I was too busy knitting and binding off (and entertaining small children and keeping free range chickens off the garden etc.) to take photos
I finished my grey cable hoodie! Its pretty hot today so this is the only pic I've taken. Hoping for some cooler weather over the weekend so that I can wear it. It still needs some buttons, I might make some wooden ones perhaps.
I keep forgetting to add the book I'm reading with yarn along! This week I've been reading-

Work and Play in Early Childhood - being that my town has no book shop I often order books over the net. This book was a lot shorter than I expected but was a nice little read all the same

What is in a Waldorf  Kindergarten- Ive only just started this but its nice so far and has beautiful and inspiring photos (I couldn't resist looking at all the pictures before beginning it)

Ive also been getting some audio books on my IPhone. This is a fabulous new find for me as I have always loved being read to and I can do all sorts of things while I listen. It makes cleaning up the kitchen much more fun:) Ive listened to Jane Eyre which I found fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the language used and found it quite funny that I started thinking in sentences with large words quite naturally by the time I got a few hours into the story.

favourite moments from this week

 knitting with the teething babe. You know whats fun? Knitting cold slobbery yarn

Planting bulbs with the big boys.
Hopefully they will go better than the easter bunnys wheat grass that we started last week. I let out the chooks to free range forgetting that Id left our newly sprouted wheat grass dishes on the table. Apparently chooks like easter bunny grass just as much as the easter bunny

bread day

Mitch's 'baby chicken bread' (his snack board is the mum chicken)

 I love bread day!
I actually hadn't done it in a good while. Our rhythm somewhat disappeared when I started looking after the baby but I'm now finding that I can get back to some of the things we like to do that got a bit forgotten about.
I was reading Rebecca's recent bread making post in which she mentions making the dough the night before. Genius!
I can kneed bread dough happily in the evenings instead of trying to fit into my busy mornings. This works for me so much better.
So last night I made the dough, let it sit for an hour and a half and went to bed. In the morning I just got it out half hour before the children arrive to warm up a bit and then we had bread making fun.
 Now we can have bread in the morning and left overs in the afternoon! Mitch got up from his nap today and went straight to the kitchen instead of coming to me like usual. "Bread?!!" yep were bread lovers here:)

this is a snake, porcupine (similar to hedgehog but native to Australia) chicken, snail, bee and face. Good luck guessing whats what!

 The recipe (its a new favourite)
Spelt Bread
1cup spelt grains
1.5 cup white spelt flour
1 cup white plain flour
11/2 tsp dry yeast
2 tsp sugar (id usually use honey but id run out)
1tspn salt

2 Tbs olive oil
1 cup lukewarm water (i used a bit extra to make it a softer dough)

*Grind spelt grains to a course flour
*mix dry ingredients in a bowl
*add wet ingredients and combine
* kneed for 10-15 mins
* place in an oiled bowl, cover with a wet tea towel
*let rise for 90mins
(at this point I put it in the fridge over night)
*punch down and shape into a loaf, buns or shapes as like we like to
*Pre- heat oven to 210oC while bread rises for 30 mins
* Bake for 10 mins, lower temp to 100oC for 20-30 mins (are cooked when they sound hollow. A whole loaf may take a bit longer)

Were not big fans of crunchy crust so I cover them with a damp towel for a few mins as they cool. This may sound crazy but it doesn't make them soggy, it just makes the outsides a bit softer sort of like store bought bread.

We then cut them open and enjoy them with peanut butter, honey or Vegemite

 mmm, mines gotta be melty butter and Vegemite!

 The boys have been very into washing lines and cubby lately. I think this one was a cubby house. Then again, it may have started as a washing line!

Ronnie of Homemade happy gave me the idea of using the baby toy bar as a doll swing so we gave it a go today and it was lots of fun!

making a babies wooden toy bar

As I've mentioned, I've not looked after babies for 3 years. During those 3 years we've lived in small houses so in the interest of being able to 'breathe' in our little houses, everything that isn't currently being used goes straight to the opp shop.

I no longer have any of the baby things I've used for the bigger kids. I decided id like a toy bar for the baby (and possibly future babies i will look after and have myself)

my options were

 1)Find one at an opp shop

pros- recycled, can take it back when I'm finished with it rather than need to store it
cons- may take some time to find one, would probably be plastic and ugly

2)Buy a pretty wooden one

pros- pretty and natural, can find one handmade in Australia

cons- rather pricey for something that will only get used for a few month at a time here and there. I don't mind spending money on quality toys but they look so simple I could practicaly...

.3) make one myself!!!

Yep of course I went with option 3!

As I knew would be the case it didn't even take long to make. The longest part was screwing it together because the angles make that a challenge but my Dad was able to do that tricky part (while I was munching on apples from their tree:)

Because it screws together it can come apart and store easily when its not needed. Yay for the space it wont need to take up!

 I took a few photos of the process to share. Here the top piece is marked out and i'd started drilling holes for the toys to be tied to. I based my design on this toy bar.

 Next I had fun with my favourite tool the edge trimmer

 I hand sanded all the pieces silky smooth and polished them with home made beeswax toy polish. I went to visit my dad and...

It came back looking like this!
Ive not made any toys for it yet but as you can see our bell Christmas ornaments are doing the job for now. Turns out its not so bad having Christmas decorations still sitting around at the end of January afterall

how to jinx yourself in three easy steps

* 1* Take a baby to your favourite cafe. Find the loveliest outdoor spot beneth a big old pepercorn tree that is so lovely that you could quite happily sit there all day long. Order large muffin that will take a while to get through. Take out your stitchery and supplies.

 *2* Sigh to self and think, I have the best job, how on earth am I being paid for being here relaxing while the baby quietly naps?

 *3*when asked if you've just got one for day care today enthusiastically reply "yes Thursday is my easy day, I've just got this little guy and hes such a happy baby"

 Um yes.... oh my! Xavier was not a happy little boy this morning, in the two weeks I've had him in  daycare (full time) iv not seen him so upset. In fact id not really seen him upset at all apart from a grizzle to tell me he needs something. There was a lot of drooling and fist munching happening yesterday so I'm wondering if he might be getting a tooth.

I had a nice morning all the same, id first taken him to the little jetty and gone for a walk in the water and even with a sooky baby I enjoyed my muffin and sitting in the not-quite-as-peaceful-as -usual garden

 Here's another old craft project from a few years back that I don't think id shared on here. Its a little Waldorf doll with a wooden curtain ring sewn to its hat for chewing and teething on. I found it among spare kids clothes a few days ago, what perfect timing! Its a bit of a funny shape, the arms a but wide and its body a bit small as I just drafted my own pattern for it but its quite cute all the same

Ive not got much else in the way of baby toys (not that they need much) but I do have a nice project in the works which I should be able to share tomorrow

wood and wool (two of my favourite things)

 On Saturday the weather was so nice that Benny and I spent almost the whole day outside working on various crafts and projects and relaxing on the daybed. One of the things I did was add windows to the old doll house . I got to use my favourite tool the trimmer again to round the edges so I was happy:)

 With these warm days wool jumpers (sweaters) at the opp shops are in abundance. Ive been collecting them to eventually make a felted patchwork blanket but this lambswool/angora one really wanted to become a rabbit. After beginning this dear little bunny I realised that I was nearly out of wool for stuffing so he has a nice big bag of rice in his belly which turned out great and means that he can sit on his own. Now I've just got to stitch him together, add a face and maybe a peter rabbit coat

I got the idea for him from a post and a tutorial on Our Ash Grove

Garden Love

Every day in this garden we discover or make something new. Lately I've been trimming the low branches of this tree to turn it into a natural cubby house. Its hard to get a photo of  of it but by the fence its like a leafy tunnel and the trimmed twigs and leaves have been made into cozy pretend beds.

 Today we tied up some branches and added a door made of an old cot sized sheet

 The tree is a beautiful, its a gum tree that Benny planted when he was a little boy (for those who don't know we live in Benny's parents old house)

 This tree is in a cozy little nook behind my garden shed. We have a little temporary mud pie kitchen set up back here so that the children can make pretend food to 'eat' in their little tree house (still getting around to making a propper one but in the meantime this one is rather great fun)

I love this pretty moss:)

 We have plans for a rope swing, must get some more rope

 I love seeing the dirt creations

knitting, bells and rainbows

 Ive been making some progress on my tea leaves cardigan. I'm not sure if its the pattern, the yarn or the experience I've gained in knitting but this cardigan has by far been my favourite knit ever I do believe.
I'm finding it so relaxing so I take it where ever I go and knit a few rows here and there.
Today at nap time I was reading 'The Story of the Root Children' and Cameron said to me "look its you knitting!" when he saw the picture of mother earth with her yarn and knitting.
 Later in the book we decided that he and the others must be my helper ants because they always make sure my ball is perfectly wound for me:)
He was most happy with this as he is a real bug lover.

 Remember this cardigan I was working on way back here? I sure don't expect anyone to, Id forgotten about it myself!
Anyway, Ive finished the second arm (a place when many cardigan knitting halts I'm sure, that second arm gets a bit tedious)
So... hopefully I can get the button band and ends weaved in soon, although progress has halted just a tad since receiving the yarn for my tea leaves

Yesterday I dug the little table and chairs out of the shed and we are all enjoying eating all our meals and snacks outside. In fact were all having so much fun in the garden that we pretty much only come inside for nap times. Ive hardly been setting up any activities because they've all been so engrossed in exploring all the new play spots

 today we strung together some snack/lunch time bells which we will jingle when its time to cook, prepare food and eat at our little outdoor table.
 Its down at the children's level for them to take turns ringing so I think we may have a little meal times confusion until the novelty wears off

 last week we received this dolls hammock and some other rainbow goodness from my friend Alison. Its a great space saver toy as it hangs between two dining room chairs.
Funnily enough we have two wooden doll beds and I don't think either have been as high in demand as this simple little swinging bed

 At the moment we have limited space and lots of toys still packed away and I'm being reminded how powerful simplifying things is. We don't miss any toys, the children just improvise with what they have. Snails become playthings and old teapots become their homes. An old spade handle becomes a galloping hobby horse. The children have been packing up without me asking now that its not a big job. We make the train tracks slither into their basket home like snakes and the building blocks like to jump their way home. The dolls and animals get tired and run home to see their family.
I'm happy that we will soon have room to store whats not in use, I will continue having less out.

In case you were wondering who was being rocked to sleep.. about 30 wooden animals and people plus a few building blocks and trains. Sure, why not!