Glasses like Daddy

Geekling explored his craft box on the weekend, and is quite taken with pipe cleaners.  I offered to fashion him a pair of glasses from them, which were a big hit - "Glasses like Daddy!" and "Cool dude glasses!"

Geekling's bedroom - 2 years old

Now that Geekling is toilet trained, we've sold his nappy change table (for almost double what we'd bought it for! $45 second hand off ebay 2 years ago, sold for $80 on ebay recently).  We moved his chest of drawers to where his change table had been, moved his bookshelf to where his drawers had been and put up the play tent I made him for his birthday.  We've also now got an easel his Grandma gave him, and we blew up balloons for his birthday!

The playtent is just a hula hoop ($5), a queen bed sheet donated by Geekling's Grandma and a bunting donated by Lumpy's Mum.  The tutorial I followed is here.

Geekling LOVES the tent, loves his new Very Hungry Caterpillar bedsheets and pillow and his easel!

I love comparing photos and seeing how his bedroom has evolved.

Previous posts about Geekling's room:
Geekling's newborn nursery
Geekling's new bed

Geekling's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Geekling's 2nd birthday last weekend at our favourite park at Chermside - its huge!  The play area is under cover, and although not a priority for us there are lots of options for special needs kids too which is nice to see.  There are toilets and lots of tables and benches and lots of grass to run around on - its a wonderful space.

We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed party as its Geekling's favourite book at the moment.  We ate all the foods that the caterpillar eats in the book!

 

 

I've been struck down with Ross River Fever that I must have picked up from a pesky mosquito while camping a couple of weeks ago, which put me out of action in the lead up to the party.  A HUGE thank you to:

• my mum who made Geekling's awesome caterpillar cake;
• my mother in law who made the jellies and cupcakes and supplied drinks; and 
• my wonderful husband who did the rest.  

The only thing I managed was to pick up a second-hand single bedsheet from the thrift store and stamp it in greens and red with a cut potato.

Hoot Cupcakes

Geekling's 2nd birthday is near, so I had to send cupcakes in to daycare so the kids could celebrate.  These are what were made:

They are little owls decorated with halved oreo biscuits, halved malteasers and orange jelly beans.  They look a bit like Geekling's favourite character Hoot, from ABC's Giggle & Hoot.

It took 3 packets of oreos to get enough halves for a dozen cupcakes, but the remaining bare sides are sitting with the left over malteasers waiting to go through some home made ice cream, perhaps with a touch of my home made Baileys - mmmmm.

Confession: I used packet cake mix.  I normally make everything from scratch, but my mother-in-law made the most amazing cupcakes and when I asked for the recipe she confided that it was ALDI 'Hillers' brand vanilla cake mix.  That stuff is only 75 cents a box!  And it makes the most divine cupcakes!  So its my go-to for cupcakes now.

I did however make the frosting and it was awesome - creamy, buttery but not too sweet.  I posted the icing recipe on my new Thermomix blog I am going to use to post my fave recipes and my own conversions.

52 Uses for Coconut Oil

I came across this post recently on 52 uses for coconut oil.  I'd never realised Coconut Oil was so useful!  I love that you can use it as a base for so many home made cosmetics and medicinal balms - some of which would make lovely home made gifts.

(Image from the http://www.deliciousobsessions.com article linked above)

For those who haven't used it before, coconut oil isn't a liquid like most oils we're used to, its a thick balm like substance.

Ingenious uses for everyday household items and staples

I came across this list of household tips using items most people would already have and some are just brilliant.

My favourites are re-using aluminium foil to scrub casserole dishes, removing stains from chopping boards with cut lemon and using citric acid as a dishwasher cleaner (they said Kool-aid but its hard to get here and its the citric acid that makes it work anyhow).

What's your favourite?

Lumpy's 2nd Birthday Party

Yesterday Geekling and I helped Lumpy celebrate her 2nd birthday - what a lovely party!  Thank you Mara and Lumpy for having us!

 Adorable teacup treats

Geekling LOVES to play with sliding doors

Check out the cake - a joint effort between Lumpy's mum (who baked the six different coloured cakes) and friend Jaime who is a cake decorating queen and came up with the awesome marbled fondant.

 SIX layers of bright rainbow colours!

There was also had a DIY cupcake table that the kids just loved.  Geekling did a decent job of applying his own icing with a spoon and dotting it with m&ms and jellybeans before toddling off to eat it.  I was very impressed he didn't try to over-load it or sneak a few lollies in the mouth while decorating.

 Spreading his cupcake with icing

 Decorating his cupcake

 Ready to devour his masterpiece

The birthday girl decorates her cupcake with lots of crumbled oreo - yum!

I was also very impressed that he was able to communicate his need to go to the toilet in an unfamiliar environment and didn't get 'stage fright', including a stop on the way home just before jumping on the highway (which I was very grateful for).