Easter food fun

Happy Easter everyone!
What a lovely time of year with family, friends, fellowship, fun and food.
This is often a tricky time for those with food allergies, trying to juggle through the chocolate mess, find appropriate eats, socialising and escape the season in safety.

I have been sick for the last 2 weeks and although I love cooking and baking have been dreading the baking involved in an allergy Easter. Thankfully I found most of our special Easter bunny chocolate in store and I didn't need to bake near as much as I thought.

I thought I'd share with you what was on the Easter bunnies list this year.

Pictured above is the items that will be appearing over this holiday break.

• Large Kinder hollow eggs for Mummy and Daddy with bonus toys inside for Mr 3 and Miss 2 (Mummy and Daddy wanted something that we could safely eat around Mr 3 without causing him any risk of a reaction. Thankfully some of the Kinder range is safe for nut and egg allergies as we don't have to worry about dairy allergies)
• Woolworth's Macro label  in the health food isle also had a packet of 12 nut free chocolate eggs available so I whipped them up for a egg hunt on Sunday morning :D
• Sweet William chocolate as usual had their bunny shaped Easter chocolates individually wrapped for the munchkins to enjoy too. I also got them each a special  Sweet William rice crackle chocolate Easter bunny.
• Mummy and Daddy could resist and also purchased some small cadbury milk solid eggs kept out of sight and reach for night time when the kids are in bed (as chocolate may contain nuts).

I don't think we will get through all this chocolate and will most likely share it with other family members but it was great to be able to buy all this and know it was safe to have in the house......nothing like seeing your child with a huge chocolate grin and know they are not missing out.

We were invited to a friends house last night for dinner along with another family with dairy allergies and also on the fail safe diet.
Our lovely hosts live a life with no food allergies but are extremely kind and understanding to our needs. All three Mummy's got together and organised the menu, who was to bring what and how to do it to ensure everyone would be safe and happy to make the most out of our night.

Desert was on my list which I love. My cold started getting better a couple of days ago so I was ready and rearing to get in that kitchen and do some baking.

So what do you bake to please a bunch of people with dairy allergies, anaphylaxis to nuts and eggs, four people on a moderate to strict version of the elimination diet and non food allergy friends?
...........this!

If you didn't see my earlier recipe post "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate cake click here to view.

This is hands down the best chocolate cake recipe for non allergy and allergy eaters.
It's dairy free, egg free, nut free and safe on the fail safe diet even with the decorations and was enjoyed by all last night.
The cake is decorated with white pascal marshmellows to make the Easter eggs on top, shaved sweet willaim chocolate, sweet willaim chocolate bunnies on the side and safe writing icing brought from the shops.
I figured it was good Friday and we were not going to go without chocolate to share just because of food allergy issues. So this was the answer and as well as tasting devine, EVERYONE got to eat their cake! :D

So what recipes are your staples come Easter time?

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree...

 Okay so I know that traditionally your meant to put up "the tree" on the 1st of December but we just couldn't wait :P

It's the first Saturday in a while that we had nothing planned other than a family day at home. We thought it was a great opportunity to embrace the festive season while enjoying some quality family time at home.

The munchkins were more than happy to get stuck into tree building and decorating, they proudly accepted their "elf helper hats" and helped Mummy and Daddy create our Christmas tree.

They have been soooo excited every time they have seen a Christmas tree in the shopping centres that they were almost beside themselves when we were finally building ours.

They did get a little confused though and thought that it would be just fine and dandy to take the finished tree, decorated and all from the lounge room out to the backyard for a play outside...lol

You can probably see from the photo's that they were very careful when choosing what decorations would go on the tree next and where they would go.

It was too cute when Declan found a small hanging wooden tree decoration that he insisted had to stand next to the big tree on the floor rather than hang from the tree.
Gees, how wrong would that be ...A tree hanging in a tree!!!lol

We got there in the end though and our tree is up, the special star put in place by Thalia, special homemade decoration's hanging and lights shinning.....yay Christmas is nearly here!



One of Declan's handmade decoration's- some green cardboard,
Mummy's help tracing his little hand, gloopy glue, special sparkles
and lots of LOVE :)



 



One of Thalia's homemade decoration's- a circle of green cardboard
transformed though her crafty little hands, gloopy glue, a love of all
things girly and the wonder of a child's mind :)





While packing up the toys tonight Declan made it clear that all the babies were to sleep under the tree!

Glorious Garden Goodness: Poppy's Corn

Corn Corn glorious Corn! but not just any corn...

it's Poppy's corn!! :D

Since moving house late last year onto a property that had an established orchard, fruit trees and lots more potential our family has embraced the way of growing our own food where possible.

There is nothing like going out into the garden and snapping of a snow pea, pulling out a carrot, twisting off an orange of the tree, picking some herbs, smelling the mango's

growing and all the things we now get to experience before we eat our own produce.

When my parent's moved onto the property earlier
this year they brought with them the wisdom and knowledge that comes along with 'a veggie patch'.- something that was lacking somewhat in our garden.

My mum grew up in the small country town of Stroud in NSW where her father (Pop) grew all manner of garden goodness...Pop has such a passion for garden life
and many look to him as master of the garden.

I may be a little bias but Pops produce was 'THE BEST' and simply could not be beaten, he shared the fruits of his garden with locals, family, friends and always gave to the local nursing home.

One of the things I always looked forward to when visiting Nan and Pop was to follow Pops footsteps around the garden as he tended,picked, groomed and showed me how it all works
.Nan simply was the icing on the cake as she magically turned Pops garden to a feast for your eyes and music to your mouth as the food headed towards the kitchen
Every meal was prepared with love from the seed, then harvesting, the food preparation and finally becoming a melody of tastes before you at the table.....taking every step on it's journey with the utmost care.

Without a doubt my favorite thing that Pop grew in his garden was 'Pops corn' - known my many ...I'm sure that if you asked anyone that had at least one cob of Pops corn "So what was it like?"...an instant warm smile would appear on their face, remembering that unique sweet juicy taste they will simply never forget.
Sadly Pop doesn't get out and about in the garden anymore as he is now a resident in a nursing home and Nan has moved house into a retirement village, but believe me the memory lives on.

I remember the last time I had Pops corn was on a visit to Newcastle in March of last year....Mum, Dad, Andy, Declan and I were seated at the table for dinner and mum in a soft voice announced that we were about to have the last of Pops corn, instantly I was excited, sad, happy, salivating and not wanting dinner time to end.

Excited: that after quite a few years living in Brisbane without such a treat :O
Sad: that Pop could no longer get his hands dirty in the garden :(
Happy: to share the experience that is 'Pops corn' with my hubby and toddler :)
Salivating: at remembering that very distinctive taste

These memories will always stay with me and the experiences very dear to my heat.
I hope to create similar experiences of garden life in my own children, planting, watching the garden grow, the excitement of harvest time and having fun in the kitchen with our own food.
The garden is such a great place to get dirty, explore, create, design, teach nutrition and learn about the world around us.
So far this year my children have really grown to share the passion of the garden and love going around observing and actively helping in the garden.

Since Dad, their own Poppy has moved and created the veggie garden- they have dubbed him Teacher of the garden.
Poppy's garden (the veggie patch) grows all manner of yummy: zucinni, carrots, lettuce, beetroot, beans, capsicum, snow pea's, tomatoes, broccoli, shallots and many more to come.
The munchkin's always ask when dinner is served if it's Poppy's broccoli or Poppy's zucinni and so on...I must say that their is a little disappointment when the answer is no.

Mum seems to have taken on Pops passion and way of garden life...everything has to be done the way Pop did it back in Stroud, the seed packets have to be placed on the wooden stick standing at the end of the row of seeds, the wind must be verbally abused at when it blows of the blossoms of a fruit tree while the shaking of fist is practiced and so on
It's beautiful to see Pops passion living on through my own parents and passing on these experiences to my own children.

This morning Mum called on the intercom letting me know that a very excited 'Pop' would be coming up to our house soon to collect the munchkins for a good corn picking....knowing that Declan just looooves his corn on the cob Pop felt it very important that Declan be present when the picking was done.
When Pop arrived at the back door and told the muchkins what was going on I don't know who was more excited, the kids or him...lol

Off they went with Mummy in tow with camera...they picked the corn along with some other goodies munching a few snow pea's as they went.
On Nana's request Poppy then showed Declan how to strip the corn of it's husk to prepare for steaming, Declan was filled with excitement and happiness that I'm sure the next block in the neighbourhood would have heard :P

Tonight I added 'the corn' to our dinner and the kids just loved it, Declan finished his off and just kept rotating it hoping to see another kernel magically appear. On seeing that Daddy had left a few kernel on his, Declan gave Daddy a big smile and slyly asked with him puppy dog eyes if he may have it...Daddy handed it over and Declan made sure it was all gone.
At the end of dinner a gorgeous phone call was made to Poppy himself Thanking him for the yummy corn!!!

It seems my own children will have a very similar love of corn as Mummy does, but with their own special Poppy!! :D

A week full of sickness,Party fun, cubby house's,new food and craftiness

well here I am typing from what has been of late the house of snot, sneezes and coughing......a week at home with a household of sickness isn't the best but we had a good go and making it a good one.

Andy as per usual had 'the dreaded cold' only for a 24 hr period unlike Declan and myself who have shared many snotty cuddles and nose blowing moments.Declan has become quite attached to "hanky"- he was given a couple of children's hankies from Great Grandma for Christmas and they have become like best friends this week, going to bed with Declan and being very loved.

Thalia as usual has been her usual moody self minus the sickness but in the last few days the nose has started to run and I fear she is cursed to share our despair :(

Declan and I are on the mend *touch wood* and although we have the odd cough or wipe of the nose we are hoping to get out and about more in this coming week!!!

To fill in our at home time Declan seemed to think it was a grand idea to spontaneously organise parties every say 3-4 times a day...lol....no really he found where mummy had stashed some party hats in the cupboard and decided he would take them out when he pleased and announced with great excitement "PARTY TIME!!!"
Yes it was party hats all round, not just for Declan but for every toy he deemed appropriate as well as Mummy, Daddy and Thalia :)
Then when it came to a time where he thought fit he suddenly announce "ALL DONE PARTY" and rush round collecting all the hats and packing them up....too cute.

here is a photo from one of the many parties Declan attended this week:

another activity we spent many hrs doing was cubby building.....a hard task when you are trying to build with a 1 yr old present who enjoys pulling the colourful bits apart and a 2 1/2 yr old who suddenly starts singing "there's a house with a floor, with a floor, with a floor....." (anyone familiar with this song would know that it ends in a crash....and "there's no house anymore" :s

We did end up making a house despite all this and the finished product was much loved complete with a door and all!!! which adds to Declan's new found skill of opening his bedroom door.

Our new food for the week was dragon fruit, from our own backyard it grew and we were eager to for ripening time to see what this fruit was all about.

It looks pretty awesome on the outside but on cutting it I was shocked, it almost looked fake...a white grey blob of jelly with black dotty seeds everywhere (pictured below)

it didn't look very appetising but we gave it a go....Daddy thought it was okay (somewhere between the taste of a kiwi fruit and figs), Mummy thought it was okay ( a tad bland needing to be eaten with other fruits), Thalia gobbled it up and had very strange poos the next day and Declan although very excited that it was something to do with dragons..smelt it, licked it tasted a nibble and discarded it.
I am yet to google dragon fruit and see what to do with them recipe wise etc.


The next thing on Mummy's agenda for the week was a spotlight shopping trip (always welcome :D) to get some materials for making Thalia's very own hair clip holder.
Thanks to Be a fun Mum for the inspiration, Amanda for reminding me when she posted Bianca's gorgeous clip holder on fb and Pretty things distract me for the beginnings of Thalia's hair clip collection :)

So here is the result to be either hung on the wall or displayed on her bookshelf in Thalia's room



The background is a floral material, covered in a weave of pretty pink ribbon on which the clips will be clipped..lol...framed in a purple frame (even though it looks a bit blue in the pic)
and hot pink buttons for cuteness.
Yesterday we enjoyed a visit to Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma and Uncle Dave as well as the family dogs Jodie and Kayla. Thalia was thrilled with the dogs and loved playing pegs while Declan bounced with Grandpa on the little trampoline and terrorised Jodie (Dog) by chasing her, or should I say hunting her down wherever she went.....we were forever hearing "COME BACK JODIE!!!"...needless to say I think Jodie would have had a big fat sleep last night.
Jodie soaking up all the attention:

Grandma.Grandpa and the peg Lady


The peg footed Thalia :P



Grandpa and Declan having a bounce!

so that was our week! onwards we go to hopefully enjoy a week of happy healthy times *fingers crossed*

Big Trucks, Oz day and the posessed potty boy!

Trucks- big, noisy and you can put things in them...all that a little boy could want and Declan does exactly that!

We were very excited when Uncle Darren (my big bro) rang on Monday and let us know he was at Yatla Truck stop with Josh (my nephew) for a few hrs and could was keen for a catch up.

Mummy got all excited - quickly packed the lunches, nappies, drinks, dressed the munchkins and got all sorted to get in the car and see all the big trucks!! Declan was so excited all the way in the car repeating "Uncle Darren BIIIIGGGG TRUCK!!" all the way there.

It was all excitement until the car stopped and Darren himself opened Declan's car door to say hi..."Ahhhhhhh" (with added tears and trying to pull away)...to say the least Declan was not impressed while Thalia starts waving and yabbering away.

We calmed down a bit and went off to see the Big truck...Declan was so shy,tired,hungry, hot that the last thing he wanted to do was sit in a truck let alone Uncle Darren's truck..:( so he just cried and made mummy feel sorry for poor Uncle Darren who was looking forward to a "happy little boy"....Thalia was quick to fill in and jump up in the Big truck with Uncle Darren and pose for a few pics.

Josh ,Darren and Thalia chillin in the Big Truck :)
I don't think was too impressed when Darren demoted her to the passenger seat! lol

After some lunch, a play on the playground and a lot of crying and fussing Declan finally had some smiles and laughs and had a second look at the truck, although he didn't want to hop in he was happy to watch the lights,look at the red engine and receive a awesome Mustang matchbox car from Uncle Darren.

Well that was the bee's knees then...on the way home it didn't leave his little hand, he showed it the passing cars on the road, the shy, the hot sun and finally our house. He was not going down for his nap without his Mustang!! even to the point of saying "Mummy Mustang tired, needs bed" (then in a little voice made the Mustang snore as it swayed up and down in his hand...so cute!!)

Of course by this time Declan himself was so overtired and flopped into bed (car in hand) and slept soundly side by side.

You see Declan is one of those children who scream his lungs out when he sees Santa, but after it's all over and Santa is out of sight he becomes the highlight of the week...very odd but that's children for you....that afternoon he proudly told Daddy how he saw Uncle Darren's truck as if it was the best experience ever while mummy sighed quietly thinking if only!

Declan giving his new mustang a massive cuddle after arriving home :)

We had a fun filled Oz day at the Newcombe's (Wayne and Louise's) with friends...bush bashing, drinking, good food, children playing, swimming in the pool and all that was promised...the heat wasn't so good but alot of fun was had.
I was just a little shocked when my husband came up from the car track (a big paddock with alot of trees!!) looking like he had just come out of an explosion zone....he was unharmed but covered and I mean covered in black and brown dust...how delightful!! :s but like any man all he could talk about was how he managed to get the car to do a 180/ big skid/lots of smoke ...you know the lingo :P
Of course I forgot my camera so don't have any photo's to show for a good Australia day but thanks to all those you made it a memorable one.....great to see all the munchkins playing

Warning : the following content may speak of bodily fluids and/or waste of the toddler kind :P
Read on if you can take it.

Today after a talk to Daddy it was decided that we are going to knuckle down with the toilet training...Declan has been potty sitting since roughly September/October now and although he is good at telling us before a #2 and usually getting it in the potty or big toilet he is not so good when it comes to wees!!
He is in Big boy undies during the day unless we go out shopping, friends houses etc and nappies for naps and through the night. He know exactly what is expected of him and understands that it is wrong to wee on the floor but still has alot of accidents and wet undies, telling us after the fact what has happened instead of letting us know he needs the potty.
We are exhausted emotionally, sick of cleaning up the mess and annoyed that everything we try isn't helping....stuck in a rut. Mummy today with the help of lots of cuppa's and a calmed mind started to focus on helping Declan "get it"...I am proud to say that we had two wees in the potty today, no wet undies, no accidents. He did wake up with a poo in his nappy but that's okay.
I think he was holding in wees a bit but it's a start hey.
I just know I'm going to be insane before long if this goes on for too much longer....at times I think Thalia might be tt before him!! lol well I will see what tomorrow brings.
Stay calm, stay positive and have fun...it's harder than it sounds.
Any tips from the parents out there would be welcomed !!!!

wish us luck!!

Our fun packed weekend

A busy one but a fun one!!!

weekends...so odd how you look forward to them every week, organise what to do, then by the time Friday comes you barely blink twice and it's Sunday night.
Well this was one of those weekends but we have done alot this weekend and can treasure lots of memories with friends.

Friday was an rdo for Andy so we made the most of it and got out to the shops (by passed the pet shop for the usual tour) and got some odds and ends at various shops while Declan ooooed and aaahhhhhed at all the lights and Thalia chowed down on the must have finger foods while chillin in the pram.

Friday afternoon/night we had the privilege of having some fab friends over ..namely "the Hanlon crew" (we used to live in Hanlon st) so it was a good catch up.
Bestie Austin enjoyed a good play with Declan and Thalia, before sitting down for a dinner, sharing a bath and down for bed.
The kids went to bed and the night began...had a lovely BBQ with Jim, Kim, Ryan and Kirsten while Lucky (baby burrow # 2) had a roller coaster ride in mummies tummy. I laughed so much that my belly hurt and I think just about every one cryed tears of laughter as Ryan continued on his way of joke/story telling...it was later agreed that if Kim was having any troubles in late pregnancy in regards to labour starting that Ryan would assist by telling her a few yarns to get it all happening :D
...I really thought Kim was going to pop out a baby then and there with all the excitement!!! :O
Sadly don't have any pics of the night as my camera batteries were needing to be charged :(

Saturday was even more busy...with a visit from Matt, Stu, Rach and their gorgeous girls Jasmine and Emily in the morning- the kids enjoyed playing with play dough and dinosaurs while picking at lunch while the big people had a much needed catch up.
All the kiddies went down for a nap and Matt was fare welled, lunch was eaten and the parents had a bit of chat time while we packed to go to Phoebe's 3rd Birthday party in the afternoon.
Stu, Rach and the girls said there goodbyes and got on the road and we got organised for the party.

Finally the camera batteries where charged!! hooray for the pathological picture taker :P

Declan was so excited to be going to a party, but even more so because Phoebe was having a dinosaur party (the latest Declan craze). I might add that Phoebe is a little girl from church that Andy's Grandma (93yrs) has decided will in future be Declan wife!! lol
All the way in the car we listened to the little singing voice of Declan singing dinosaur tunes as Thalia made her best attempt to join in.

The party was awesome, great cake, jumping castle, water play, drawing, land before time dvd, the all important toy's, a cubby and the best of all lots of little friends.

Cake time :D

Thalia had her very first turn on a jumping castle..(very fitting we thought for the princess to be in a castle at last) and Declan loved the water play and becam e very quickly obsessed with the cubby door ..open,shut,open ,shut..
It was quite funny when a boy perhaps a little older than Declan became attached to Thalia and wanting dearly to "put baby in cot" ,when he saw that Phoebes cubby contained a little cot for a doll...after much explaining that Thalia didn't want to sleep and she was a bit big for the cot he went up to Thalia's daddy and asked "you in the cot!!" bahahaha gotta love it.

After much fun, food and shrieks and squeals we parted ways and journeyed home for a quick dinner and bed.
Mummy and Daddy enjoyed a quiet night in with a few drinks..ahhh

Sunday Morning arrived and the usual everyone in Mummy and Daddy's bed for cuddles -well that's the idea but it soon changes to Thalia crawling over everyone giving the raspberry's, Declan attempting to read a story, lots of tickle and excitement, not the nice rest time that was intended by Mummy and Daddy :P

Declan decided that the dinosaurs wanted to play play dough again so off he went and the rush began to get ready for church. We trialed staying in the big hall today while at church and not the "cry room" that we usually attire to simply because of the volume of Noise coming from the Madame.
It actually went well..Phoebe and Declan played dinosaurs under the chairs while the meeting was on, Thalia ate and ate and it was only at the end that Daddy had to take Thalia outside when she got a bit loud.
We caught up with Great Grandma who was delighted to hear Declan had been to Phoebes party...ha ha her plans for their future are all coming into place :)

Our arrival home welcomed putting the kids to bed while we enjoyed lunch before having a Nana nap of our own....then after everyone's nap,watching Thalia's fave dvd (wiggles) we decided to have a paint...such fun!!!
Thalia found out that paint wasn't all that tasty and Declan carefully made his many creations- with "more paper" sounding every couple of minutes.

Thalia painting, tasting and practicing putting on makeup :D


Declan (the master) hard at work


Home made spag Bol for dinner and a bath for the munchkins and dinosaurs of course :P and at last bed. A much relieved Mummy and Daddy are now having some chill out time with beer in hand :D
Bath time: Declan washing one of the dinosaurs and Thalia playing peek-a-boo with daddy

What a weekend!! so thankful that we can have times like these with friends, looking forward to Australia day public holiday and fun at Wayne and Louise's
- bush bashing, chatting, drinking, good food, good company, watching the kids play, catching up with Duke (our old pet Labrador) and simply lapping it up!

An Introduction to the shananagins that is the life of Shell

To start I need to bring you up to speed...Shell, married my fab Husband Andy in the Chilly Winter of 2004, became Mummy in to Declan in July of 2007 and Thalia in Feb of 2009.

I have joined the blogging world in order to keep a record for myself and my children to look back on as well as any welcome readers who want to have a peek :) I want to attempt to capture those special moments of my family life, the funny tales and things my little ones say as well as the hard times, the learning curves ......it may be a roller coaster of a ride but it's sure to be a interesting one!

If you were to ask me my occupation, I would answer..
"I'm a research Associate in the field of Child development and Human Relations"
-to explain a little I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) in a laboratory and in the field (indoors and out).
I'm working with Masters, and already have 2 credits (a son and daughter).
Of course the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities,(any Mother care to disagree?).
I often work 14 hr days (sometimes more),the job is more challenging than most run of the mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.
My lab assistants- ages 2 1/2 yrs and 11 months are both in the child development program and very unpredictable at times but I love them to bits.
Motherhood!!! - What a glorious career.

I think it is only fair that I give you a word of warning: My family and children are my world and life,I'm sure they will take the lime light in my blog...if you don't like it, don't read it.Simple really

My day to day life include imaginary dragons, screaming, laughter, toilet training, the wiggles, baking, smelly little parcels, feeding frenzy's, washing, Thomas the tank engine, finger painting, Bobbie feeds, gardening, kiddy art, tantrums, gentle cuddles, fun filled baths, lullaby's, in the night garden, mountains of books, cloth nappies, play dates, demands, teaching, Bear in the big blue house, having conversations with random toys... the list goes on one of my faves being naps!! The good comes with the bad, but the good always outweighs the bad in the end.
If your reading this and thinking 'kids, not for me!'- do it, do it, do it, I promise you won't regret it- your whole perspective on everything changes, you learn so much and the experiences you will have are so incredible that words can't describe.

My plan so far for 2010 are as follows:
start my cert 3 in child services course through Tafe (distance education), volunteer at a child care centre (or paid work if they want me), swimming lessons for the two munchkins, start a blog (check :P), plant a veggie garden and keep my current garden alive (lol...still learning my role in the dirt), become more active with the QCSN (Queensland Christadelphian Support Network), plan a small child free holiday for hubby and I, keep attending mothers groups, mmm it's too late to think...how about I just fill you in as it happens :D it's a start though and I guess that's what counts.

So that's the plan!!! I will endeavour to find time in my crazy world to keep this blog somewhat updated on a regular basis and I look forward to sharing my experiences.
love to you all and hope you all have a happy and fruitful 2010

-shell