The art of air kneading

In preparation for the arrival of my wonderful new Kenwood Chef with dough hook, I've been experimenting with baking in the oven rather than the breadmaker.

This has the advantage of making the bread much easier to slice and use, and has encouraged me to experiment with a few different bread recipes.

The Ginger Ninja has become very helpful in the kitchen, and has perfected the art of "air kneading", which prevents the bread dough from sticking to the counter by encouraging it to stick to fingers instead! He kneads for 15 - 20 minutes at a time, making me wonder if I really need a machine...

And speaking of kneading, Briar Rose and Possum both go through stages of wanting to become chiropractors, and trade treatments with each other. Some of them are quite innovative - I'm sure the Bear treatment will become very popular some day!
 

The fabric stash finally diminishes!

Briar Rose and I took some time together this week to strip piece these rectangular blocks into rows. They are fabrics that had been hanging around my fabric stash for too long, and it feels great to finally get a home for them!
The colours are a bit more vibrant than they look, and I'm unexpectedly pleased with the result.

Sadly, my old machine is faltering - the tension is more than a bit wonky, so some of the stitching leaves a bit to be desired, but at least it's mostly straight! 

Music camp memories!

Music camp for the three older children is bringing back so many wonderful memories for me - of course, when I went to music camp we lived in and there were no such courses as circus skills, pinatas, digital music, didgeridoo or African drums!

My heart is truly glowing at the enjoyment my children are finally experiencing in a musical environment!

Ginger Ninja is enjoying learning Blues improvisation on his flute, circus skills, pinata (he's making a pinata of John Howard - gotta love his sense of humour if not his sense of discretion!) and digital music.

Possum is focussing on drums, doing two streams of beginner drums and African drumming, but he's also enjoying digital media.

Briar Rose is thriving in the junior school, where she's singing, playing recorder and learning all about music around the world.

The weather has been stinking hot, and the commute to the other side of town has been grueling for Ginger Rose and I - even though we're car pooling! But it is so worth it to finally feel that I've found a way for my children to share a love of music with me! Even if it's only for this one precious summer! 

They breed in the night...

One of my New Year goals is to declutter. Which one do I start with? Sadly, this is after I've removed all the remotes for items no longer in active use, or that we can totally operate from the box itself!

And just in case you don't recognise it, the remote on the right is the remote control to control all other controls! I just need to learn how to use it...

And on the other side of the screen, we have the living room the morning after a riotously messy dinner party involving an extra toddler who enjoyed playing with lots of soft toys, toys that made noise, toys that moved...you name it, each toy was new, wonderful and *had* to be removed from the cupboard and played with for at least 30 seconds! 

Belated Christmas morning shots!

We had a great Christmas morning at MIL's house. We are so incredibly blessed with mothers who have taken on grandmotherhood so gracefully.

MIL bought a house on a river with an attic so the children can boat during the day, then have their own (very low ceilinged!) living quarters at night. We had a few days before Christmas at her house, then left after Christmas lunch.

We drove down to Sydney where we enjoyed my mother's newly landscaped garden. Previous visits have been a little stressful as the house is festooned with fragile objects placed at toddler height, and the garden used to contain a rarely used but constantly dangerous swimming pool. The pool has been replaced by a perfectly sized lawn, surrounded by gardens and courtyards, with outdoor dining at tables for 8 and 4 people (so adult and children tables are easily arranged!), and a gazebo will soon be installed for even more fun! I was so impressed to arrive and find that Mum had even arranged for a small bike for Ginger Rose to ride around the new paths!

The best Christmas present was the Ginger Ninja's new flute, which makes a big difference to his playing, and which he was surprisingly delighted to receive.



 

Toddler wearing

It's been a while since I've carried Ginger Rose in a wrap, but after realising that she's been a little needy lately - and finding it impossible to tidy the house while she's running away and rubbishing it at the same time - I thought we'd try hanging some washing using my old trusty Bear Hug Baby wrap.

Briar Rose thought it was funny enough to grab the camera for, so we have a record!

The middle photo shows me changing the wrap from a cross-over to a back-pack tie because the cross-over position was making it difficult for me to lift my arms high enough to peg out the washing.
I have been reminded that it is easier to proactively carry a toddler in an ergonomically comfortable style than to try to work one-handed with a wriggling heavy toddler on one hip. But as my stretchy wrap works much better for front carries (you can see the she tilts backwards no matter how tightly I tie her because of the material's stretch), I think I might need to look for just one more baby carrier! 

Role play for the girls

While the boys played on the "Sideshow" games at Questacon , the girls played at being vets. It was the first time I've really seen Ginger Rose role playing with something other than a doll, and may have been inspired by the fluffy toy puppy Grandma E gave her for Christmas.

I really enjoyed watching how seriously the girls took the responsibilities of measuring the animals, checking inside ears and inspecting x-rays!

It was particularly impressive when you consider that the girls haven't really seen doctors or vets in action! 

And Christmas begins...

One of the very nicest things about Christmas is catching up with family. Dh's grandparents welcomed us to a pre-Christmas lunch yesterday. While the meal was absolutely enormous and delicious, what was most heartening was seeing again that it is possible to live a good and healthy independent life even in your nineties!

Nana J loves to spoil her grandchildren, and the gift bags she prepares each year probably contain as many little treats as they see in a year - although I must confess to removing as much sugar from their bags as I can once they're out of sight!

I've included a shot of three generations all working together in Grandad D's study to get his computer back up so he can keep track of his online share portfolio. He's certainly living proof of "using it and not losing it"!

After the truly enormous meal, the children were able to lie on the spare bed and watch one of the DVDs that were in their Christmas bags. I was so proud of the way they negotiated with each other to find something they were all happy to watch. 

The joys of homeschooling

Since bringing the Ginger Ninja home for educating, I've been getting much better at finding fun educational opportunities for all of us.

On Thursday, we went to the CSIRO discovery lab and the children had a ball identifying acids and bases using red cabbage juice, making wind turbines and isolating pea DNA.

Of course, it took a long time to drag them away from the machine that let you convert kinetic energy (by turning a handle) into electrical energy into solar energy into stored energy then back to kinetic energy to operate a handle that scoops out a candy coated chocolate ball!

Ginger Rose just liked being able to wear a funny big white coat - I predict a big future as a doctor on TV ;). The boys, of course, enjoyed perverting the acid/base experiment by mixing vinegar and bicarb to see how high they could make it pop a plastic lid. 

My matched pair!

Ginger Rose loves the Ginger Ninja so much! And of course it's mutual!

Two nights ago, Ginger Rose hopped out of her cot (she's quite skilled at that!) and silently crept into bed beside me. Then she just as silently left the bed and padded off down the corridor into the pitch black.

After a few minutes, I followed - just to see where she'd ended up. And found her all the way up in the Ginger Ninja's top bunk. In his sleep he'd flung an arm around her and made sure she was tucked on the safe side :).

Ginger Ninja roused briefly to tell me she was in his bed, but neither protested when I asked Ginger Rose to come down. She went back to her cot quite happily having experienced how the other half sleep :). 

A quiet weekend

Poor Possum has totally overdone the sport - he's given himself an impact fracture in his heel, probably from his fast bowling on a hard pitch last weekend, exacerbated by a sideways kick in the pool on Thursday night.

He'll be in pain for another 12 hours of so (according to dh, who has a 99% success rate with these predictions) then on crutches for another couple of weeks.

Am I a baaaaad mother for feeling a twinge of guilty pleasure at the thought of two less sporting events for the next two weekends?

How sarcastic am I?

You Have Your Sarcastic Moments

While you're not sarcastic at all times, you definitely have a cynical edge. In your opinion, not all people are annoying. Some are dead! And although you do have your genuine moments, you can't help getting your zingers in. Some people might be a little hurt by your sarcasm, but it's more likely they think you're hilarious.

How Sarcastic Are You?

Toddler humour!

I found the Ginger Ninja sitting outside Ginger Rose's door waiting for her to wake up from her sleep because he was sure she'd hidden his book. When she finally awoke, Ginger Ninja asked her if she knew where the book was, and she shrugged her shoulders, raised her hands in the air and said "Why do-no" ("I don't know"). Ginger Ninja pretended to be heartbroken, and wailed "Nooooooo". So Ginger Rose said "Oh awight" and toddled off to retrieve it from underneath a pile of the Ginger Ninja's school books.

What a sense of humour!

Here's a photo of her today after Grandad had left his stereo unattended on the couch.

No-knead bread

• 
  I've been trying to perfect the New York Times No-Knead Bread recipe, which is about the simplest recipe I've ever seen for bread!
  
  The stages shown here are the:
  
  1. original quick mixed dough with my previous loaf shown to the left of the bowl,
  2. dough after sitting for twelve hours,
  3. dough covered in plastic wrap ready to sit for 15 minutes, and
  4. dough tipped into the preheated so-hot-it-burns-through-the-oven-mits casserole pot.
  
  
  I've used spelt flour in place of regular flour which I think is playing with the moisture content (I've reduced the water, but need to reduce it further), and polenta for the crust, which works beautifully.
  
  I'll report back when this loaf comes out of the oven!
  

Joy at the breakfast table

The children were just such happy campers that I had to grab the camera and share it with the world! As you can see, we're not exactly morning people.

Possum and Ginger Rose are our two bright sparks in the morning, the Ginger Ninja is generally slow to warm up then cheerful, but Briar Rose is shocking! She resists brushing her hair until the very last minute and mooches around the house in bare feet until it's absolutely positively time to leave the house!

Then she magically changes her attitude and becomes bright and bubbly again. "Oh, so I have to ask the front office to write "bad temper and slow" on my late note. Sure, Mum. I LIKE getting late notes at the front office". Argh! 

Another school lunch

Week 4 Term 4 and Briar Rose is still going strong with the relatively healthy lunch box! We have:

* an organic fruit spread on home made selenium enhanced wholemeal bread,
* Cherry tomatoes garnished with a sprig of parsley,
* Rice crackers with cheddar cheese,
* Kiwi fruit with fancy pink knife/spoon, and
* Apple juice.

I know lots of people seem to think fruit juice is akin to junk food and devil worship, but I think it's a nice touch that helps keep the lunch box cold and provides a low GI energy burst.

Also packed with a blue serviette and a bottle of frozen water for cooling and drinking if the juice isn't enough!

 

Mums for Modesty

I really like this idea! If anybody else likes buying clothing that doesn't make their daughter look like a prostitute, please feel free to sign the Moms for Modesty affirmation here!

Briar Rose is tall and thin, and finding age appropriate clothing is increasingly difficult as she has just moved from the toddler girl sizes into the teenage girl sizes! Hipsters and crop tops are such a tacky look on a girl who still likes pretending to be a fairy - and don't get me started on the hunt for a pair of sandals that don't have heels, straps or spangly bits that get in the way of actually walking in them!

Floriade

We went to the last day of Floriade 2006 yesterday only to discover that after a two day heatwave had faded the flowers, the brightest objects in the park were very expensive rides that simply weren't in our limited cash budget much to the childrens' disappointment.

But we did find a great Kids Carnivale tent which let the girls make their own masks, while the boys learnt circus skills in another tent. 

Back to school lunch

Term four began today and so begins the morning lunch box ritual. Today, Briar Rose has taken an organic fruit spread sandwich on home-made whole-wheat bread, rice crackers interspersed with cheese, a raspberry and apple Fruit Smash (a special treat with fruit puree and no added anything) and an apple juice.

Last term, she took a home-made yogurt each day, but has suddenly decided that she hates home-made yogurt and only likes yogurt in a nasty disposable commercial containers. Hence no yogurt in today's lunch box. 

Book binge

Dh flew interstate from Thursday lunch til 11pm Sunday night, leaving me with four children, their assorted playmates and a rather unpleasant cold and headache. So I ended up reading...

• 3 novels from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series
• 2 novels from Kate Forsyth's Witches of Eileanan series
• Dick Francis' Under Orders and
• Mungo Macallum's autobiography.

I've ended up with a slight hangover due to the late nights required to get through that volume of junk reading while taking children out to various end-of-school-holidays activities, but it was worth it :).