Thermomix Rice Milk

I made my first rice milk today, and am pleased with the results. I used the recipe from here but modified it a little:

1. Place in dry TMX bowl and grind:
- 50g rice
- 30g raw almonds

2. Add, and cook at 60 degrees, 5 mins, speed 4:
- 1 litre water
- 1 T apricot kernel oil
- squeeze of honey
- pinch of salt

3. Puree on speed 9 for 1 minute then strain into jug.

I used the leftover thick bits in a leftover rice pancake batter I made up next.

Valentine's Day

I think this might be our first smile on camera! I took this on the way out for a Valentine's Breakfast with Dh that included a surprise babysitter! Dh had organised for our lovely receptionist to meet us at breakfast for a coffee then take the Baby while we had a leisurely meal and a little shop afterwards!

It's raining!

We haven't had that much rain lately, so it was a great novelty for the Little Prince. Not so much fun when we had to head out and collect Ginger Rose from school though!

As you can see, the gutters overflowed nicely, making lots of lovely rivers for splashing around in.

Despite the thunderous noise of rain pelting on the roof the New Baby slept happily. Once he gets to sleep he's very happy to sleep through all sorts of noises - which is fortunate as our renovations started on Monday.

The New Baby

Just a few quick photos because it's already week 3 and he's not been visible here yet!

Week 2 having some awake time on the floor.

Just new and home from hospital.

A photo from the first day or so.

First day of ballet

Ginger Rose had her first ballet lesson yesterday after begging for lessons for the last couple of years. Sadly, shopping was difficult with a new baby so she didn't have the requisite pale pink headband to keep her hair out of her face but I think she still looked gorgeous and there were plenty of other little girls in pink with assorted hairclips for the first week.

I was so sleep deprived that after the lesson (during which the Little Prince and the New Baby went for a walk to a nearby playground) I drove off leaving the baby's pusher neatly parked beside the car. Fortunately it was still there an hour later...

Small children and dog

Suki is very fond of the younger children and very gentle with them! I remember when she was just a tiny puppy, but now she more than holds her own. She is an enthusiastic participant in all sorts of games - and is currently supposed to be pretending to sleep with Ginger Rose on the couch, but the Little Prince is not so keen on pretending to sleep...

Guess what...

Somebody's getting a visit from the tooth fairy tonight!!!

Ginger Rose is pleased as punch to have lost her first tooth, and is eagerly awaiting her largesse. She literally lost it - didn't know it was gone until she looked in the mirror, but we tracked it down to the hair clip container on the bathroom bench.

Another birthday cake...

Possum turned 14 while I was away in Melbourne for a seminar, so the celebration was a little delayed. It amazes me, looking at the photographs, that my children are growing up so fast!

The Ginger Ninja is showing off his new braces.

It's a tough life...

After a particularly tiring couple of weeks, the little ones were running down - so it was ideal to have an armchair that cuddled them back as they had a pre-dinner rest in front of the TV. I'm particularly impressed with the grandparental attention to the Wiggles - above and beyond the call of duty!

The actual fifth birthday

Ginger Rose turned five the day before some of us left for a trip to Perth, so it was a bit rushed! But she still enjoyed being a princess for the day in her special tutu from Grandma E, special crown from Grandma L and special toys from Briar Rose.

Grandma L was here ready to take over the household from 5am the next morning.

We gave her an electronic globe that has been getting a really good work out ever since, but mostly from the Little Prince - who loves to hear it talking back to him! At least Ginger Rose has got Northern and Southern hemispheres all sorted now...

Ginger Rose is Five!

And her birthday party was only 3 weeks late. Oops! As you may notice, she's been hairdressing again, but thankfully only half a fringe this time!

She selected a local party room as her venue, and they had a lovely time dressing up as mermaids, painting plaster moulds, dancing the limbo and playing musical bops.

And eating cake, of course!

Siblings weren't really in the target age range for this party, but the Little Prince and Briar Rose came along to watch and take photos. It was a great party, and Ginger Rose has a large collection of Disney Princess dolls to remember it by!

Earthbox Brassicas

This is my first try with a "real" Earth Box, and I'm pretty happy with it! Grandad B donated some brassica seedlings so I planted 2 each of broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts.

There have been some grub issues - I have to remove the green catterpillars almost daily or they take over - but I've been otherwise impressed with how healthy they are.

Both broccoli plants have well established heads and secondary heads developing below. I'm not counting my chickens too early, but am quietly confident that Earth Box gardening may be the way to go for our family!

What happened to the green futon?

It was so old and grubby we knew it had to go, but it was a very sudden departure.

Ginger Rose had a cough last week so I banished Suki from the girls' bedroom. She was clearly driven crazy by her banishment and also destroyed two pairs of shoes (not pictured).

It's a little hard to see, but roomba is still my best friend - because foam couch stuffing is horribly hard to get off carpet - without roomba we'd still be working on it!

My little adventurer...

Hmmmm, wonder why the garden's always so messy and I seem wash about five sets of clothes a day for one small child?

Waking up the big brothers in the morning is one of the Little Prince's favourite jobs! He loves climbing up their ladders and surprising them. They're usually good natured about it.

There is no such thing as a childproof room now that the fine art of moving furniture has been well and truly mastered. I'm just grateful that cupboard doors open outwards, adding a degree of difficulty that *usually* means he's distracted before he gains admission.

Easter 2009

We missed the Ginger Ninja, who was away camping with friends, for this year's Easter Egg Hunt but Possum did a great job playing Easter Bunny. And the girls did a great job hunting.

The Little Prince was quite unwell over Easter, but cheered up just a little for the Easter Egg Hunt. Sadly, he escaped without his shoes and got wet socks yet again.

This was the way he spent most of Easter - snuggled up to somebody big. Grandma E doesn't look as though she minds, and fortunately we have many hands for light people so his feet barely touched the ground for a good three days.

We did one of our periodic wardrobe tidies, and the Stitch costume was finally deemed too small for anybody but Ginger Rose who looks very scary and cute in it!