Digest: doing, did, done.

Been a bit slack on the blog front of late, so thought a quick round up of what we've been up to may be the best way to go about things.

Woolies Ramp: customer feedback rocks!

I recently noticed that a suggestion I made last year to the Manager of Woolworths on Illawarra Road Marrickville - has happened! If you know the Woolies, you know the ramp you walk down with your trolley to get to the underneath carpark - there was a big enough step in the concrete, which made me have to lift the trolley when preggers with O and my shopping in the trolley - it was all very heavy work at 35 weeks! A strip of yellow checker plate has smoothed over the concrete bump! Wonderful.

Photo Books made by Grandma

My Mum has made a few photo books for O in the past and the latest is possibly the greatest. On Mum's recent trip to Melbourne she documented all the earth moving vehicles she encountered as well as a few motorbikes for good measure, about 20 photos. Mum popped the pics in a cheap little album from BigW and then narrates a story while showing them to O. Very cool and wonderfully personal and unique.

Carrot Cake Muffins

We've been making carrot cake muffins lately, a modification on what should be a carrot cake! I think this recipe does taste better as a carrot cake in cake format - O likes 'muffin serves' and it makes it easier for me: "you can have one muffin" rather than debating the size of the slice of cake... somehow there is easier closure with the muffin format!

Federal Park - a find!

We went to our friend's sons birthday party a couple of weeks ago at Federal Park in Annandale. It was a lovely kids party. The kids play park is fenced and set within the larger Federal Park which is a dog park - so there are lots of dogs about. I did not know about this pocket of parkland. It's a great kids play park with some cool play kit - this digger with levers to play with which O loved, a slide which rolls you down on a conveyor of tubes, a rustic fort like structure. Parking can be tricky, so check out the link above and you'll see where to aim for a car spot.

Ian Thorpe Pool - great kids waterplay 

We've been going swimming a lot lately, it's been a long while since we were in the pool and O needs to reacquaint with swimming and water. J is coming up to eleven months this week and loves the water, and has had a good time splashing about too. We've been going to the Ian Thorpe Pool for it's great kids waterplay area - it's got depth and is large enough for the number of people.

Our first (scary) Panto!

In the school holidays we took the kids to their first Panto at the Canterbury Hurlstone Park  RSL Club. It did not turn out as anticipated! O was all very excited beforehand and looking forward to going and then when the lion came out on stage it was all over for us! He really did not like the lion and so we watched by the door, and then through the glass panels in the door, and then we eventually left. The initial spectacle of the lights, smoke and singing captivated him.

"I want to make a castle, TODAY!"

We made a castle today. O led the cut 'n paste. He wanted to make a castle, he rustled around and came to me with two tissue boxes asking for masking tape and scissors (the two ingredients which make everything possible!)

He also wanted to make it outside, which we did. I suggested a turret, the request came that it house a bell. The bell (pink ball) we enabled with string to be lowered or raised. The drawbridge could also be raised/lowered with string (it was already a bit broken through play by the time his picture above was taken).

My cousin gave O these little dudes as part of a set, a pressie from the UK, when she visited last year. The Beefeater was perfect for today's castle and the bell ringing grandpa too. The castle was super quick to make, as you can see, but I delighted in the fact that O is now so keenly coming to me with ideas of things he wants to make... He played with the castle in the yard, in the shade, in the 30degree hot day and he had lots of fun.

All abilities playground: our new FAVE park!

My Mum has been urging me to visit Timbrell Park - Livvi's Place for sometime now. We went on Saturday and really had a super duper bodacious time. It's a playground with kit that kids of all abilities can enjoy.

There is fantastic equipment to play on - it is SO well designed throughout - and it was so busy with enjoyment. The pics don't show how packed it was - I tried not to include kids in my pics. The park is in Five Dock / Rodd Point: it has an automated merry-go-round which a wheelchair can ride on and also has seats (which I sat on with J); there is a bird nest swing; wide ramps with baubles in the ground which when stamped on 'ding'. There are three levels of climbing nets - nets on the floors for babes, a net pyramid which rotates for toddlers, and a tall tower for older kids. J and I had a ride on one of the three bull-riders (I've not seen these before) - where you sit behind a younger babe and hold them while you rock back and forth. The murals are wonderful - textured - and there is braille beneath the texts. It's definitely worth a visit - even if you have to drive and it's the destination in itself.

A happily exhausting time we had - so much so, O had a three hour sleep that afternoon - for a dude who stopped having day sleeps at 2 years (and is now 2years 8months).

Cloudy day carrot cake

Today we made a carrot cake - the recipe is from Roar Sweetly's blog. Many thanks. This is the second time I've made it. The first time I made it solo and today O and I had great fun making it together while J napped.

I am not a natural at cooking, practise makes better... I am definitely improving! Good simple recipes have also been key. Living with three hungry boy-men, who all love eating means I am always looking for new things to try; healthy snacks, full-them-up meals. 

We did not ice the cake today as the cream cheese icing did not sit too well with my D's tummy (a personal sensitivity to cheeseness) last time. We still very much enjoy the cake, we serve it with a spoon of vanilla ice-cream! I discovered a good trick today when baking with O - we made the cake over the sink. It was easier for O to stir the bowl, as it was trapped in the sink, the mess was contained. It's a good recipe to make with kids, we took turns in whisking the mixture and then grating the carrots. O was great and even insisted on washing the dishes once it was in the oven.

Many (yummy) thanks again to Roar Sweetly.

A posse of eggcups: Wilkins Public School Fete

We had great fun at the Wilkins Public School Fete today. Being close to home, we managed to arrive early. Leaving home is an event in itself these days... I've left home a few times sans shoes for little people and have had to let O walk the streets wearing only his socks! But today, we were booted and ready to go; and after over two hours of pretty much non-stop fun we had to p.u.l.l. ourselves away - as the little people amongst us were going wild in that frenzied I've-had-too-much-of-a-good-thang kinda way!

What did we do: the mega slide ride, the jumping castle, listened to the fab sounds of the school bands, played the fishing game, ate Portuguese tarts, played on the school jungle gym, and then we saw the fire engine! Yes, apologies - that was our son sitting in the fire engine driver's seat for too long - unable to pull himself away as the queue to drive the fire engine grew longer and longer and longer...

I also bought these egg cups. Made by kids at the school. I think they are gorgeous, a little community of colourful egg cups which will decorate our dining table.

School Fete's - YOU ROCK!

Diggerspotting

Today we did some trainspotting and diggerspotting. At Marrickville Station you can look across at a building site, that used to accomodate the Marrickville RSL (where we went to gigs in our Uni days). The diggers have cleared the site quite fast - on Monday there two large diggers - today it's razed to the ground with a couple smaller diggers mopping up the last bits. We stood on the City outbound platform - as this way you don't encounter stairs with a double pram.

On the way home we walked down Arthur Street and had a close encounter with a mini excavator. It was not in use, but good for an intimate look. Not sure how long it will be there, but if you have earth moving vehicle obsessed kids and you have a moment, include it on your walking route.

Adora and The Rug Expert

My visit to Adora's and The Rug Expert has been months in the waiting. On Tuesday I finally got around to taking a walk with J while he napped in the pram. It was a gorgeous spring day and I popped into Athena's en route to grab a spinach and fetta scroll (highly recommend) for lunch and some of our fave almond and honey biscuits (for after dinner treat). It took about twenty minutes to walk to Adora's (from home).

Adora's is the handmade choccie shop just over the Cook's River from Steel Park; and opposite it at the roundabout is The Rug Expert a shop selling mainly Turkish rugs and kilims and a few Nepalese pieces too. I love a good rug shop. We bought a great Boujad rug from Morrocco when we spent a few weeks there in 2009, and since then we have loved looking at rugs. Ours is wool pile, geometric in pattern and vibrant in colour - it's not very refined technically as far as rugs go, but it's a happy rug, it's about fifty years old, a large rug, a rug we now spend time with on our lounge room floor. The Rug Expert also has patchwork rugs made up of many squares all sewn together. I'd like another rug to go under our dining table, and cover the copious number of tiles we have throughout our house. It takes a while to find the right rug. It's like buying art I guess. The man at the rug shop was very helpful and told me of a scheme they have where you can take the rug you want to buy home - to see how it feels - what a great idea!

After looking at the rugs, I popped over to Adora's for a takeaway milk hot chocolate, which they serve with a complimentary choccie (and I bought another for Mum who had come along for the walk). The hot choc was not too sweet, it could have been a bit more velvety for my liking though and the almond truffle was yum! Then we took J, who was now awake, for a play Steel Park.

Child's Own Studio

We did not make it to Bondi to see the Festival of the Winds today and all the kites in their soaring glory. Next year. I did find something equally exciting which has made me smile endlessly today. Lots of folks may know about this site already, but I stumbled across it for the first time today.

Childs Own Studio: making custom soft toys with children. A fantastic idea, kids send in drawings and this woman turns the drawings of creatures into soft toy creations. I love it for so many reasons, harnessing the sublime creativity of kids' imaginations and turning it into reality. Can you imagine the joy of opening the mail one day and seeing the dude you drew come to life! Happiness.

I am not sure O's drawings are figurative enough to contemplate a soft toy transformation just yet. We are still in the fusion oeuvre of stickers and abstract expressionism.

Fleuressence

The annual spring flower display is on at David Jones in the City and Mum and I popped in with J this week to have a peek. We've taken O for the past two years and this year we took J (while O was at daycare). This year's theme is Fleuressence, a celebration of fragrance. Ooh, I'm so late with this post... as it ends today!

A retreat. A fete. A (new) park.

I've not been doing many new crafty things with the boys of late. Since J started crawling, standing and now cruising at 8 months - the boys have started to play with each other and I've taken the opportunity to make our long awaited (parents) retreat in one half of the garage. Here is a pic of the wall above the couch, in progress. I'm doing a wall of our pics that don't work in the house.

I bought the blue bird cushion (above) from the Drummoyne Public School Fete. We had a fun quick one hour at the fete this year, as the kids were tired. D and O went to check out the rides, while J and I looked at the clothing hall where we bought some good gear. I also bought several handmade cards (the same stall was there last year) to use throughout the year - such great little cards they are too!

We also found Beaman Park recently. It's not a destination to seek out for the playground gear alone, but if you are around these parts and need a park stop then give it go. It's on the Cook's River.

Spring Diary

We saw beautiful flowers starting to peep out today on our walk to the park. Which got me to thinking of upcoming Spring things to pop in the diary.

The Drummoyne Public School Fete is on Sunday 26th August this year. We had a ball last time, so we'll be going again this year. The Festival of the Winds down at Bondi flying kites. We've not been before and are going this year - Sunday 9th September from 11am to 4pm.

Biennale of Sydney: adventure #2

We visited the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) biennale offering today. We had a great time and enjoyed the works more than those we saw at the Museum of Contemporary Art a couple of weeks back. There is more installation, video and sculptural pieces at the AGNSW. Works we liked were large scale, recontextualised the everyday, and imbued a materiality and execution of intrigue. O really got into exploring the works, asking lots of questions.

Pictured is one of O's fave works. Small Business Karoke by Jun Shi, 2009. Reading the artwork info, we learnt that it's from the White Rabbit Gallery Collection too.

We drove into the City and parked at our fave little car park, Interpark Domain Car Park for a day flat rate of $10. Took a packed lunch for the boys and ate at the extra bench tables the AGNSW have placed alongside their cafe, recently. All good.

First colouring comp entry! Fingers and toes crossed.

Today we are posting off O's first entry into a colouring in competition. My Mum brings the Funday Telegraph section (from the Sunday Telegraph) over every week for O and it always has a picture to colour in (which I think its always part of a comp). O coloured this weeks in with great gusto and when I took a closer look it was because it was a Wiggles picture. So we've decided to post it in and enter the comp, in the hope we might be lucky enough to score a Wiggles prize pack!

Lots of Lego & White Rabbit Gallery

We always leave our visits to White Rabbit Gallery exhibitions to the last minute, today we went to see Down The Rabbit Hole (which ends tomorrow). I find the shows here consistently good and we always find new works which we love. White Rabbit Gallery showcases contemporary Chinese art, is privately owned and receives no public funding and entry is free. The gallery is easy to get to (in Chippendale) and it's a good size for the kids (not too big): 3 floors, all accessible by a lift. O loves exploring the art... This work of the pristine garbage truck's rear protruding from the wall was O's absolute fave today! We spoke about it at length, viewed it from above in the lift...scrutinised it's every detail, we did.

After the gallery we popped over to Sydney University to see the Lego Colosseum in the Nicholson Museum. We learnt that the Nicholson Museum has the largest collection of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere, wow! Entry is also free. The Lego Colosseum was cool, but somehow I had visions that it was going to be larger. O loved it though; there was life outside the arena (stalls, people milling about) and then the amphitheatre... I had to soften some of my stories - some Lego bears and crocodiles were suggestive of gruesome colosseum goings on. Then we spent some time letting O run about Sydney University and its grounds.

"I ate the suns rays": a silly sunny breakfast.

Ferrys and fish 'n chips

It was a glorious Saturday yesterday and we made an early start for our ferry adventure. O had not been on a ferry - we've talked about it about, Grandma and Grandpa live on a ferry route and when a Play School episode last week featured a ferry ride - well, it was high time we hit the (harbour) high seas!


We did it the easy (er, lazy!) way - we drove to Circular Quay and parked at the Sydney Opera House. It's a flat rate of $15 a day on Saturday and Sunday. We caught the 10.40am ferry to Watson Bay stopping at a few stops along the way. O and Dad had great fun on the ferry - out the back, out the front, wind swept, 'waves', sailing boats passing by. Once at Watsons Bay, O had a great play along the beach, we had fish and chips for lunch and then caught the 12.49pm ferry back to Circular Quay. Flocks of people were arriving on incoming ferrys by the time we were leaving, and we were home by 2pm.


I had wanted to walk up the hill to The Gap, to look out across the sea - but I thought best not to push it and make the little folks over tired. Next time though. Another next time will have to be - go on Family Funday Sunday, for great public transport savings.

Paper Pom-Pom*

I had a request to find out how to make the paper pom-poms in the window display of the ribbon wholesaler, Pan Pacific Distributing. I called up Pan Pacific and the welcoming lady I had met there told me she had learned how to make them from a Martha Stewart video. The video is on YouTube, but I found the step by step guide more useful.

We had friends over today and winged it a bit in the making of these tissue paper pom-poms. I bought a few packets of tissue paper from the local newsagency. So the pom-poms you see pictured are flat on the back (they are each half a pom-pom) as we made them with only 5 sheets of tissue paper (not the 8 sheets required), however the paper dimensions are pretty much the same as Martha's.

You just concertina the paper, cut the ends rounded, tie in the middle with string/wool and then tease out the sheets - to create the volume of the pom-pom. The success of your pom-pom depends on the teasing out of the sheets. It's delicate work for the little ones to tease the paper out sheet by sheet, but if bits get ripped along the way it doesn't matter. We decided the pom-pom's make great party decorations, I am already thinking I'll do pom-pom party decor for J's first birthday this year (instead of balloons). In the meantime, the little ones 7 months and 4 months, liked the temporary pom-pom mobile I suspended above them.

* We've indefinitely abandoned our half made wool pom-pom.

18th Biennale of Sydney

Wow, I've just looked at the date of my last post and its been a month to the day - 22nd June - since I last blogged. We've all been so sick with a catalogue of illness this past month - I know lots of folks who have been caught in the feedback loop of colds - it seems to have been a more virulent winter this year.

Today we had our first taste of the 18th Biennale of Sydney. It's on at several locations (Cockatoo Island is always a fave, with a ferry trip to get there, the kids love the adventure), we ticked off the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). It's on Level 1 and 3. There are some works I really enjoyed and O had his faves too - like this one pictured. Although a darkened and brooding room - he loved the horse man and strange characters created... There are a few biennale family days too - though a friend went to one at Cockatoo Island and said it was extra super busy. I think we are going to skip the family days this year - probably better if your kids are bit older when they can endure queuing a bit more patiently! Oh, and the biennale is free.

It was also my first visit to the MCA since it's refurbishment. So we checked out the building as much as the biennale. I worked at the MCA for a short while (after art school) as a gallery attendent, and seeing the gallery refurb several months after it opened made me realise how local my life has really become. Well, this year anyway with new bub and toddler.

Ooh, and my little tip for mum's taking kids to the gallery... I took photos of the artwork title/descriptions (the works which I really liked) as I did not have time to read them in situ. I'll have a flick through them tonight when the kids are in bed having their own horse-man-head dreams.

Mash, sift, stir

I was not keen on going out into the cold windy day today - so suggested to O we bake some muffins. O loves cooking and eating, so my suggestion was well received. We made Annabel Karmel's carrot and pineapple muffins.We've made them lots - but never with the pineapple... I always substitute whatever fruit we have around. Today's muffin flavour: banana and raisins.

There is so much good fun to be had with muffin making: mashing, weighing, sifting, whisking, stirring, patty panning... We made large and mini muffins - the recipe below filled one large tray and one mini tray. I had wanted to pretty the muffins up a bit with some icing and sparkle, but with a six month old babe in arms who is teething and clingy this was not going to be possible. We had the muffins and we were happy with that!

We decided to have a teddy bear (muffin) picnic in O's bedroom. O set the picnic and we scoffed the muffins! To tell the truth, today's batch was not super tasty... I usually use six banana's but only had four...perhaps that was it?

What?

100g/4oz plain flour                        100g/4oz plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder                       ¾tsp bicarbonate of soda 
½ tsp ground cinnamon                  ½ tsp salt 
200ml/7fl oz vegetable oil               90g/3½oz caster sugar 
2 eggs                                          120g/4½oz finely grated carrots 

100g/4oz raisins                            225g/8oz tinned crushed pineapple, semi-drained 

How?

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Sift together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Beat the oil, sugar and eggs until well blended. Add the grated carrots, crushed pineapple and raisins. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating just enough to combine all the ingredients. Pour the batter into muffin trays lined with paper cases and bake for 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

A rapture of ribbons

A rainbow of ribbons. A wriggle of ribbons. A wrangle of ribbons. A rivet of ribbons. I wonder what the collective noun for ribbon is?

This morning Baby O and I made a trip to Pan Pacific Distributing, 162 Marrickville Road, on the corner of Meeks Road. The name is a little misleading - I saw this ribbon wonderland a few weeks ago and have been wanting to pop in. They are a ribbon wholesaler, recently located from their Leichhardt premises and now taking up residence in Marrickville. So they do big jobs supplying florists and corporates and the like, but they are very welcoming to craft nuts (like me) who happen to find their showroom.

They have sale tables and we scored; a forest green grosgrain ribbon and a lilac satin ribbon (20metres each roll and $2 each ex.gst) and then I indulged and bought an imperial purple satin ribbon for $6.50 (not on sale). They don't sell by the metre. So be prepared for reams of ribbon. Which I think is good, I use it for wrapping pressies, endless craft gigs... we have a high rate of ribbon usage in this household!

They sell ribbons in all shapes and sizes; double satin, grosgrain, polka dots, zebra print, from very thin to thick...and more! Next time I am in need of a race of ribbons I will definitely pop back!

Note: there are five hefty stairs at the front door to pull the pram up, however once inside the lady (who I think is one of the owners) was very accommodating and friendly, taking us through the back door when we left - avoiding the stairs.