Everything in the mouth!

Master 16 months puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.  I seem to have my fingers in his mouth 100 times a day.  Does anyone else have this problem?

We have chewed books, toys, clothes, crayons and chalk.  When we paint I have to hover as he will pop the entire paint brush in his mouth.  He even pops rocks and sticks in his mouth.  Also I hate to think how many moths have been ingested.  Ugh!

It's not so much the gross factor, but more that I'd hate for him to choke on something one day.

Any remedies for this?

Rainbow Cupcakes

I do try most of the time to ensure Master One eats super healthily, however, occasionally we like to break out and have  bit of junk fun!  This weekend I tried Rainbow Cupcakes.  They were delightful, messy fun! We had a ball making them, although Master One did need a bath when they were baking.  What's fun without some mess....right?

I basically made a Basic Vanilla Cupcake Recipe from Taste (my 'go to' website for quick, yummy recipes).

Then I separated the batter into 4 containers and coloured them using the instructions on the side of the food colouring bottles.  I was missing one crucial colour so my colours could have been better..  I then popped some cupcake casings into the muffin trays and carefully layered the colours, smoothing each layer out to the edge with the spatula.

Then a quick spurt of simple icing and a sprinkle of hundreds and thousands.

So gorgeous, a bit messy to make but well worth it once you see the looks on the kiddies faces when they bite into them :)

Vanilla Batter, ready for colour!

Coloured batter.

Voila!

Inside our Cupcakes...yummo!

Ideas and Sources of fun for the family.

I am always looking for fab ideas to play and do with the family.  I want to keep my little mans brain alive with adventure and fun.  I want to make sure that his Daddy and I are both 'invested' parents and not miss a thing.

Every day I try and think of a fun activity for us to do.  He loves drawing with crayons, playing on his pirate ship, licking the bowl when I cook and reading books (his favourite and mine as I get to snuggle up nice and tight).  But what about some more adventurous play?

I have recently become a huge fan of Pinterest, it's a website that allows you to find and 'pin' all your favourite ideas and categorise them anyway you like.  I spend most of the night after Master is in bed dreaming soundly on Pinterest ooohing and aaahing at the wonderful ideas some very imaginative parents have come up with.  I need other peoples ideas as I am not a very imaginative parent myself I fear...

I have included some of my favourites and am busting to try them out over the following weeks.

What are your best ideas?  What are the best home-based fun play ideas you have with your kids?

Bubble Bath Paint & Recipe to make it!  The joy, the joy of making a MESS!  Awesome blog too!

Gorgeous backyard bowling, so easy!

Home made Xylophone.  Master One loves to make noise, I'd love it to be more tuneful ;s

I think we have to add a 'Car Wall' to Master One's bedroom!!

Now to convince that incredibly handy hubby of mine to help me.  I have the ideas, he has the ability!!

If anyone would like an invite to Pinterest please leave a comment below.  Be warned though, once you get started you are HOOKED!

Have a great day everyone!

Aye aye me hearties!

My dearest Mister spent two weekends making our Master One the most gorgeous Pirate Ship outdoor play area.  This all started with a conversation surrounding making a play area, near the house with a floor  and a sandpit.  Mister can't do anything by halves however and got a little bit carried away....I do love him for it though as the ship is awesome!!

A ships steering wheel is on it's way and I am making an activity board (I'll pop a photo of the one I want to make at the bottom).  The big question now is do we paint it or leave it as is?

Master One has headed straight out the door at every opportunity to climb aboard!

What are the small projects at your house that  wound up bigger than Ben Hur?

Gorgeous 'anchor' Mister made

Nearly finished!

Master One approves.

What a FAB set of steps!

This is the activity board I want to make!  How gorgeous is it?

Chicken & Vegetable Soup Recipe is up!

Links to the recipe can be found here!

Warming the cockles of my heart

It's starting to get colder of an evening, even here in the glorious Whitsundays.  Although our friends and family have no sympathy when I complain about 14 degree celsius overnight and 22 degree days, hardly REALLY cold but cold for us tropical folk.

One of my favourite winter warmers is chicken and vegetable soup!  Yummm!  We usually keep some to eat immediately and freeze the rest.  I've also taken to freezing small portions for Master Jack as he loves it!

Chicken and Vegetable Soup ready to serve.  The house smells soooo good!  Delish!

Master Jack's portions for freezing.  I picked these really cute, colourful, CHEAP containers from Woolworths for freezing.

There's nothing naughty in it, and if you make your own stock I think it's even yummier.  This is the best Chicken and Vegetable soup I have ever eaten.  If you've had a better one let me know, I'm always up for trying a new recipe!  The gauntlet has been thrown ;)

It's one of those great meals that tastes as good when you re-heat it as it did the day you made it.  For Master Jack I just throw in a few noodles to keep his little fingers occupied (what's toddler meal-time if not messy right?).

What are your favourite winter warmers?

Enjoy!

Photo of the Day (POTD)

I'm a bit obsessed reading other bloggers at the moment, usually late at night when the Master and the Mister are drifting off into dreamland.  I am, and have always been a night-owl, and soooo not a morning person!

A couple of lovely Mummy bloggers are blogging about POTD (some call is 365).  Taking a photo every day.  Its a good idea too if you are taking part in Project Life too I guess.  I simply love taking photos of our little boy, my stepsons, our home and the area where we live so it's a breeze, right?  Well not exactly, I mean your don't want to take a repeat shot every day...

So I found this really cool list of suggestions to assist with your POTD.  I love having guidelines!  I think I've mentioned before that I am not a very creative person and need direction.  The list can be found here thanks to Rebecca Cooper.

I haven't picked one from the list as I managed to take a pic yesterday that I just LOVE!  It's another of Master Jack (surprise, surprise!).  Today I might start taking pictures of other things, the Whitsunday Air Show is on today so fingers crossed for great photo opportunities (The Mister will be shocked!).

So todays PODT....drum roll please...

My baby, looking far too grown up.

What's yours?  Can you think of any other great POTD ideas to add to the list?