cooking with Gran - Christmas cake

A friend of mine gave us these old scales! They were just perfect for cooking-with-Gran day :o)
The kids really wanted to make some more pasta so the flour was measured out.
eggs added and mixed in.
Once the pasta was resting in the fridge the kids got on with the Christmas cake.
The smell of this cherry brandy was divine!




oh the colours and smells, glorious!

Making some gingerbread biscuits while waiting for the pasta.

Kiki didn't have many biscuits to bake in the oven, the dough somehow disappeared before it could be cooked.



Busy bees.
They finally got on with making the pasta.

We normally break the pasta in smaller pieces but decided to leave it long for fun. Some of the pieces we almost a meter long!
hmmm how to eat it? :o)

Riding, creating and monsters!

Yet another bits and bobs post.
First things first though, Googs is riding without stabilisers!!!! Hubby just took them off and told Googs to ride, and he did!
I wish that I could take them all riding more often though. We do have a roof rack but I just can't reach to put the bikes on them :o(
Look at him go!

At home Googs made himself a skipping rope after his eldest sister wouldn't share hers. It actually worked surprisingly well!
Tricky to eat, puff pastry and apples.

Constructing ships
and horse carts
and drawing dinosaurs
I bought some maths cubes. The day we got them, the kids played with them for yonks :o)

Actually, the best purchase was that blue tray. We have used it almost everyday for all sorts of games and learning.

Wow! look at those colours!
And finally, my little monsters :o)

The kids had a fancy dress party so we needed to come up with some costumes. We still had Champ's Grim Reaper costume from last year but the other three needed some pondering.

Googs was so hard, he had a specific idea in his mind. He didn't want a costume just his face painted. He was happy with it though. A Reptilian monster.

Having just read Percy Jackson, Boo agreed to be Medusa. I say agreed because at first she said that Medusa was too pretty to be scary! Anyway, once she saw the snakes I crocheted she was more than happy to go as Medusa.

For Kiki, I crocheted some horns, filled them with sheep fleece and attached them to a hat. We made her a sword to go into her belt and she carried her pet dragon. A scary/friendly viking :o)
lol Boo always throwing herself into the dramatics of it all :oD

Ice and Mud

The boys had their trip out with Gran to see the monster trucks so the girls got to go and see Disney on Ice. The pictures aren't that clear because no flash photography was allowed.
















On the way home they stopped off at the stables.


And that night Kiki insisted on going to bed with her wand and her rose :o) While the girls were out with Gran, and Daddy was out fishing with Grandad, I took the boys out to the reservoir. I asked the boys what they would like to do and this is what they asked for; to be out throwing stones for as long as they wanted.
It was quite chilly so I brought along a quilt and my book. We spent hours by the water.
and slowly the boys were seduced deeper and deeper into the mud and water :o)




water over the top of the wellies!

Everyone slept well that night, even me :o)