Mothers Day Bouquet's

My children are blessed to have both their grannies living close by and part of their lives... 

This was a fun easy craft that they did for their grannies for Mothers Day this year

 

  ...there is a lovely tutorial here...

we did ours a little differently and used some printed scrapbook paper to...

We also glued the stems down, and gave our vases a little bit of shape...

lots of bright fun and loved by their grannies...

   

Happy Mothers Day!

Our Knights 8th Spy Birthday Party...

Birthday time of the year again, when you realize that your children are getting too big...

too quickly...

We love planning and organising our children's parties...

it is much fun...

So the excitement started,of planning for this years party...

a spy party...

The invitation...

to get the spies excited... 

When the spies arrived, they had to go through the Secret Agent Registration...

 This involved, getting into disguise, having an ID photo taken for their ID tags and choosing a code name...

in the first tin, we had 15 colour names, in the second tin we had 15 names (i.e.- eagle, hawk, leopard, snake, scorpion, fire, spider, dragon etc). They had to stick their hands in each tin and receive their code name...

The tins containing code names

Our knights was "Black Eagle"

Black Eagle

After this they made their way to Headquarters (our lounge) where they were given their first set of clues to decipher...

 Each agent had a word or two to decipher using their Secret agent Cipher Cards...

  Agents hard at work...

 

 Their first mission was to make their way to the jungle (garden!) and find weapon parts, then head to the Assembly area...

(our dining room table covered with newsprint and a world map drawn onto it!)...

The agents then had to make their own Weapons - mini marshmallow shooters... 

While these were drying, they went back to Headquarters to recieve their next batch of 

   clues to decipher...

Their next mission was to make their way through the dangerous mine field...and look out for more clues...

(black balloons filled with clues)...

they had to stomp, stamp, jump and tramp...to BURST the balloons...

Agents doing their thing...

Once all the clues had been retrieved, it was back to Headquarters...for more deciphering...

Secret Mission No3...

"Secret agents need ammo. Can you survive the lazer field?"

Once through the lazer field (red wool tied outside!), they each got their bag of ammo

 (mini marshmallows) ...

and were told to go look for the baddies...

which were hiding upstairs somewhere...

Well done secret agents...you completed your mission...

your buddy had an AWESOME 8th Party...

Kaboom...bomb cake...

Happy 8th Birthday...

you are truly loved and cherished...
(There are lots of ideas on the internet...have a look on my Pinterest boards for more!)

Fridge Cheesecake

A dear friend of mine, Mrs G, also just turned 40, and with her husband being away, a couple of girlfriends organised a little birthday cheer for her. 

So loaded with cakes and gifts, we (8 of us) jumped into Mrs B's bus and drove around the mountain...What fun...

story to follow..."8 ladies in a bus"...

  

Mrs G's favourite cake is cheesecake, so I choose to make this ....

 

You will need

1 packet Marie biscuits - crushed

150g melted butter

20ml gelatine

100ml water

1 can condensed milk

12ml fresh lemon juice

250ml full cream smooth cream cheese

250ml cream - beaten till fairly stiff

Crush the biscuits well and mix with the melted butter. 

Press down into a spring form tin and refrigerate.

Sprinkle the gelatine over the 100ml cold water and clarify over hot water 

(stand one bowl in another!)

Mix the condensed milk and lemon juice until thickens, add the gelatine and cream cheese.

Fold in the beaten cream.

Pour onto the crust and refrigerate.

Once nicely set (a couple of hours), remove from the pan and garnish with fruit of your choice.

I used fresh strawberries and kiwi fruit...sprinkled with grated albany chocolate.

Happy 40th Birthday Mrs G!!

 

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

James1 v 17

He is Risen!!

 Some fun we had as a family to mark the occasion of The Resurrection of our Lord...

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. "

Matthew 28 verse 6

We made a ressurection garden...

(a month later it is still looking lovely and a constant reminder that HE LIVES)

We used:

 base from a large pot plant

a small terracotta pot (tomb)

bark chips

soil

stones

little pieces of wood tied together with string to make the crosses

a tray of seedlings from the nursery

Then we made a whole bunch of stained glass sun catchers, for our windows and for the windows of our loved ones...

We used:

Black cardboard

Tissues paper - various colours

Contact (sticky plastic!)

I cut out the shape of the design in the black cardboard...then placed it down onto the contact...my knight and his cute sister then stuck the little squares of tissue paper all over to cover.

I then stuck another piece of contact over that to seal the whole sun catcher...

A fun craft and very eye catching window display ;-)

 

... and last but not least....

He is Risen cupcakes...

We used:

this cake recipe

this icing

chocolate coated pretzels

chocolate buttons (the stone that was rolled away!)

cherries (symbolizing His blood shed)

melted chocolate to hold crosses together

The crosses were made by my very versatile and creative other half...

My knight decorated the cupcakes.

They were enjoyed with family after a Ressurection Sunday lunch...

  

"And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name." 

Romans 1:4-5

Someone's had a 40th Birthday...

 

yes its me...

Its been a week of celebrating and being spoilt...

and ofcourse one needs cake for that...

My dear family celebrated with me(a little early!), we had a lovely relaxed Sunday afternoon braai...

Lots of nephew and nieces and of course my 2 angels...so I thought I would bake some 

CUPCAKES...

always a winner...

I used this cake recipe...

just place cup cake liners into muffin tins(keeps them firm with the runny mixture), pour some mixture into each one, and bake...

Icing is butter, cocoa, icing sugar and a little milk (sorry terrible with quantities with icing!)- once beaten and combined, I pop it into the microwave and heat for a few seconds, then beat again..

makes it fudgey and pourable...

but then it hardens...

LOVELY!!

decorated with sparkle, hearts, chocolate buttons! (Woolies) and pearly balls...

all things girly and pretty...

They were enjoyed!!

Art appreciation - Mary Cassatt - one

 Our Art appreciation group has started up again this year, we have a new member, so 6 boys in total...a happy, lively, lovely bunch!

Before we begun our artist study, we started with a fun project and a bit of a refresher on colour theory 

...the boys each created a colour wheel pizza.

Colour wheel Pizza toppings

I gave them each a circle of white card board, they had to divide it into 6 segments - some needed a little help...

They then coloured each segment in the correct colour - first the 3 primary colours - 

red, blue and yellow...

then the secondary colours in between...

 purple, green and orange.

We used oil pastels for this.

Once completed they then had to decorate their pizza with colour coded toppings (pompoms, stickers, foam shapes, foam letters, pipe cleaners, sparkle shapes etc)...lots of fun...

Look at their brightly coloured pizza's...Wonderful!

We then started with our featured artist for this term -  American Impressionist and woman artist...Mary Cassatt.

self portrait 1878

 We read a brief biography of her and looked at some of her paintings (in books and online).

Lots of talking and sharing happens at this time... 

We also watched a youtube clip.

We learnt that she was passionate about the intimate bond between Mother and child, and was often referred to as 'The artist of mother and children'. 

She worked alot in pastels, a skill taught to her by her good friend Edgar Degas.

For this lesson instead of coping one of her works, I wanted to make the connection with the artist more personal...give the boys some freedom...

So the project for the morning, done with pastels on pastel paper was to create a special memory or time that each of the boys shared with their moms.

Create an artwork of Mother and child...

Each work has a special story to tell...Well done Boys!!

I sent each student home with a project to colour in their own time - The Boating Party

The Boating Party 1893 - 1894

Valentines - day of love...

 We love to bless those around us on days like Valentines day or any other day when we can...

So we decided to make some caped super heros for some special buddies of my knights and his cute sister...

This was lots of fun...

Cut out a cape and a mask from cardboard...we decided to use some googly eyes which we glued on...my knight punched out some hearts to glue onto each cape and then wrote his friends name and "....... you are a super friend".

...a little token of love for the loved ones that surround us...

For Grannies and Grandpas, some home baked biscuits, decorated with pink icing and lovingly decorated with pearly balls...accompanied by a beautiful hand drawn work of art...

From Best Friend and I ...to our precious kiddies...Love bugs (template here)...

a bag filled with worms and chocolate bugs, tied with a ribbon and love note attached...

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,but do not have love, I gain nothing"

1 Corinthians 13 verses 1 -3 

Raw Fudge

 This was the first raw recipe I tried and we were hooked...it is healthy (amongst other benefits!) and a great treat for the children - who love it...It is rich, so one piece at a time is great...give it a try...I know you will love it!

It comes from this great book - take a look,  and at all the other great things they do...!!

 You will need

1 cup pitted dates

1/2 cup water

1 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup cacao powder

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla powder

Soak the dates overnight.

Always remember to melt coconut oil first - never use as is in desserts. Place 1 cup coconut oil over a bain-marie (a small glass bowl in a big glass bowl!) and let it melt slowly...do not use boiling water, as you will lose the benefits of raw.

Once it is liquid place in a food processor with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth.

(It will be a  lovely thick chocolately mousse consistency!)

Pour into a shallow fridge dish and refrigerate...

Cut into square's and enjoy

30% Rye bread

Been wanting to make a rye bread but not found a really nice recipe, 

so I adapted the kita recipe to use with the rye flour...This is a lovely mix, a lovely soft bread...

(I am still working on a larger portion of rye flour bread!)

You will need:

300gr Rye Flour

700gr Stone ground white flour

10g dry yeast

500ml luke warm water

2 eggs

2 Tblsp honey

2 tsp brown sugar

120 gr butter - melted

1 Tblsp salt

seeds for topping  (sesame, poppy, sunflower)
 melted butter and milk wash

Place the rye flour, white flour and salt into a mixing bowl. 

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, add the 2 tsp of sugar. 

Whisk the eggs with a fork, add the honey, pour into the yeast mixture. 

Melt the butter. 

Pour both the butter and yeast mixture into the flour and mix to form a dough. 

It is quite sticky. Knead for a few minutes - not to long. 

Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with a towel and allow to rise (proving) in a warm spot for 1 hour.

Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into the amount of loaves or rolls you would like to make.Place in greased oven pans.

Brush with a little melted butter mixed with milk onto the breads and 

sprinkle with seeds if using!

Allow to rise for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake the breads for approximately 20 minutes - always keep a check because ovens differ.

This made 2 loaves and 9 rolls as in photo above

Give it a try...

Cheesy Haddock Pie

 Been feeling like haddock pie again... So decided to try something different...I made 2 pies, one I put the puff pastry underneath and one on top...just for fun... 

very delicious and got thumbs up from all family members. 

The filling has a very light 'n fluffy taste and feel due to the beaten egg whites...

give it a try!

You will need:

approx 400g smoked haddock (skinless, deboned and smoked!)

 spring onions (i used a whole packet bought from Woolworth's - salad onions!)

8 potatoes - peeled and cubed

900ml milk

200 ml milk

4 eggs

4 Tblsp mazina (cornflour)

 couple of squeezes of lemon

approx 140gr of cheddar cheese (more if you like a really cheesy taste!)

pinch seasoning

salt n pepper

roll puff pastry - ready made ;-)

pastry underneath

  Chop the onions and put into a large pot with a drizzle of olive oil, and simmer...

while peeling potatoes...cube the potatoes into small bite size pieces and add to the pot, 

saute with the onions. 

Add the haddock and 900ml of milk, some salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of seasoning,

I always use this stock powder for seasoning. 

Let this simmer away for a while, until potatoes are cooked - keep an eye on this, you don't want the potatoes to be mash!! 

Separate the eggs, add the 200ml of milk and 4 Tablespoons of mazina (cornflour) 

to the egg yolks and beat well. 

Beat the egg whites till stiff. 

Grate the cheese.

Add a few spoons of the warm milk from the pot to the egg yolk mixture, then add to the pot...

stir and it will become thick and creamy, add the lemon juice and cheese - check if it needs a little more salt and pepper. 

Take off the stove and fold in the egg whites. 

Spoon the mixture into a pie dish that has been lined with ready made puff pastry...or spoon into an oven dish and then cover with ready made puff pastry (give the pastry an egg wash with some egg that had been beaten and a pastry brush!)...

either way this is delicious...

Bake in over at 180 degrees Celsius until tops are browned...

pastry on top with egg wash

 Serve with a blanched mixture of fresh veggies...

(I initially thought, this is a pretty expensive pie, due to all the ingredients and milk but as you can see it made 2 big pies, so 2 dinners for our family, plus left over for my rocks lunch!!)

 Enjoy!!