easter wool baskets/ rice bubble slice

I peeked outside today to see this little scene.... apparently they are on a nature walk. Chatting, giggling, holding hands... I took the photo in case I need it in years to come to show them how much they love each other :)

I had Jumeirah home yesterday.. she'd woken up with a pretty horrible cough and so I told her she could spend the day at home resting ( ha yeah right). She was pretty happy with this and began to plan her day. She wrote a list ( hehehe more lists) of the things that would be good for her body to "get more healthy" which included broccoli, carrot and beans and also water. Unfortunately, she is way to aware of whats healthy and whats not after watching me and my never ending weight loss quest..... and working on fixing both of us so it doesnt become an obsession. I also realised, I am going to have to be SUPER organised in the holidays to keep all three of these creatures busy and happy. Jumeirah has been fast forwarded into doing more hard core structural things, Jared isnt a painter and Amahli is fast becoming Michelangelo ( although she cant quite reach the roof yet)... will have to write a list :)

Whilst She did her homework, I sat with Jared and Amahli and repeated the memory game of last week.



Repeating activities with the age group is great as it gives them a chance to practise it over and over. Most of the time, they love this repeatitive learning. He was much better today, whilst he had his own personal cheersquad helping him on ( thanks Amahli!)And although she hasnt quite got the language to fully play this game, she began to point to where the object was missing from. Clever one:)

After I put the littles to bed, I got out an activity I had wanted to do myself this week as an Easter centrepiece for our table. Using wool, a balloon and glue, I thought I could make a basket. Seeing as she was at home and willing and able, Jumeirah got involved too. ITs pretty messy and gluey, but I totally loved that. Jumeirah was more careful with the glue but really enjoyed making hers too.


To do it:



Cut up strips of wool

Put glue ( I used PVA but I was wondering if mod podge would work too?? Glue has to be fairly strong) in a bowl.

Blow up a balloon and put it int oa bowl to hold it still

Take a piece of wool and cover it with glue in the bowl.

gently slide your fingers down the length of wool to take off most of the excess.

Drape the wool over the balloon. No method here, you just need to make sure when its done that most of the balloon is covered evenly.

Allow to dry ( one of ours is still drying as its raining here today) then pop the balloon and you have the cutest little bowl.



They look pretty good when they are done!




We also had a crack at cooking something more healthy for lunchboxes today as well. I have never realised how much extra crap goes into the snack bars I buy for my kids until I saw it on the news the other night. Most of the time, they are happy with fruit and veggies, or rice crackers. But sometimes its good to have things like rice bubble bars or museli bars for something different. And so we tried to make our own rice bubble bars.

Melted the butter, added the marshmellows.

The smell was mouth wateringly delicious.

Once melted, we poured the mixture into a bowl of bubbles and stirred well. I put it into a tray and put it into the fridge to set.



And, whilst it looks really good, its way too soft and gooey and not crunchy and chewy the way we planned, was more like the soggy remains of breakfast when its been sitting there too long... ewwww gross, thats the worst kind of breakfast...

Anyone got any easy good recipes for things like this???