Babies in winter

The downside to winter babies - they're so wrapped up you forget just how cute their legs and arms are...And we have actually managed to have a baby with rolls on her legs and fat knees this time...

Sticky snow

We got a light dusting of sticky snow overnight. Very hard to clean off your car, but beautiful for the landscape. All gone by 10am.

Milestones

We are moving through those important milestones and achievements in the baby world - poking out tongue, sucking on fingers, trying to suck on other peoples fingers, grabbing hold of interesting things and trying to suck them, licking peoples jumpers (they might taste interesting?), pulling socks off (and sucking them), and today, real progress on getting a foot into that mouth.

Lifes little lessons

Todays lesson: Always check the gully at the bottom of the big hill before you ride down it.

Mr 7 and I went for the worlds shortest bike ride today, gaily heading for the biggest hill first. Problem is the afore mentioned gully is around the corner from the start of the hill, and neither of us tweaked that it would be Full of water owing to that mornings rain.
He was sopping, with a funny expression on his face (couldn't brake due to the slippery path, so rode right into it at full speed). We went home to get into warm clothing. It was a great adventure!

New big boxes!

I think the kids and I outdid ourselves... This is a castle, with a drawbridge (right) and a secret passage out (left). Mr 4 is holding a torch so that Mr 7 can see while he draws flaming torches on the sides of the secret passage.

We love our dishwasher and microwave...

It has been a long week - we noticed that the dishwasher was leaking into the basement ceiling, around the same time the microwave stopped heating food.
Today, the new appliances got installed. I am looking forward to trying them out, especially the dishwasher. I think hubby will be very happy to have the microwave, as he kept on forgetting and trying to microwave food (so then we had to wash up the microwave dish, as well as the pot).

Spitting babies

This was a particularly spectacular spit up, that missed the brand spanking new outfit I had just dressed her in, but unfortunately was a home run on my top.

Box Mac and Cheese

I feel a bit honoured to have joined the (I assume) elite club of those who have failed at making a packet cheese sauce for the mac and cheese.
The feeling I had when the sauce separated, into oil and some sort of hard orange gunk is one I will never forget - at least not very soon. I emptied the sauce sachets out of a couple of other boxes of mac and cheese in the cupboard, and ruined that lot too, just for good measure.
On consultation with a friend, I realised the pot had to be cool - ie, you shouldn't melt the butter for the sauce in the pot just before emptying in the sachets of powder.
Mr 7, who was helping with the cooking, has been gaily telling everyone about how we were meant to have mac and cheese, but ended up with pasta sauce instead (lucky we had that in the cupboard).

Cakey brownie

Hubby received a rather amazing cook book for Christmas, and it is paying off, as today he made a 'cakey' brownie. This is as opposed to a fudgey brownie - it is all about the consistency, and whether it is shiney or matt on the top. The house smells great, and I love learning little details like this!

Spring in Winter

70F today. Felt ridiculously happy (got enough sleep last night? and a sleep-in in the morning), opened windows, stripped our bed and washed our sheets, and took the baby for a walk in the pram with no socks on (previously she has been wearing a warm suit covered with another even warmer suit).

Granola by formula

I have been wanting to make granola for a while, but generally feeling overwhelmed about the huge amount of recipes there are, and not quite sure how to start. I tried asking for someones recipe, but they just throw stuff together. Then, I found a column where the author described her formula for making granola!! This made it completely accessible to me, and means I can use whatever is in my cupboard.

6:1 dry:wet ingredients
of the dry - 3 = oats, 1 = nuts, 1 = seeds and 1 = something else
of the wet - 1/2 = oil and 1/2 = sweet (she recommended coconut oil and maple syrup)
mix together dry, whisk together wet, mix wet into dry, add flavourings (I add cinnamon), and a little salt, then roast in oven, spread out in an even layer, in as many batches as required.
I tried it, and it is so working! I am feeling really accomplished.
This is going to sound thick, but I didn't realise granola was really just toasted museli. Not even after having it in a restaurant for breakfast once. Because in Australia, you eat untoasted museli (in my family, atleast), and if we did get toasted museli, we would eat a bowl full of it with milk, like any other cereal, rather than eating a couple of spoonfuls on yoghurt with fruit. I like the US way better.

Some school work

This might not show up well in the picture, but Mr 7 brought home a stencil where they were learning what states produce what products. Pink = Airplanes or Airplane parts, Blue = oil (crude or refined), Green = computer and computer parts. I was kind of impressed that a) the US still appears to have a manufacturing industry and b) they're teaching the kids about it.

First Hockey Practise

Practise starts at 7 am, so hubby gets up at 5.40 am for a shower, the kids are woken at 6 am, and leave at 6.20 am, to have time to put on all the equipment. First impressions - lots of fun. Lots of little (and not so little) kids, bundled up to the nines, skating unsteadily through a whole heap of drills, bouncing and crashing all over the place! Boys love it.

Proper snow

Our second lot of snow was better - about 3 inches, on a Saturday, so everyone (dads included) could enjoy it.

The kids sledded down the path out the back

And in the evening we went for a walk (the boys took their shovels). There were the most beautiful sunset colours I have seen for a while.

First snow!

A light dusting fell overnight. Not really lots, just enough to make the place look cute for a bit.