Camping

Being a single parent on a very tight budget I do worry that we will not be able to take family holidays. I have been lucky as there are a few families at my church that have holiday houses that I can rent, however, we need to work around when they are available. With that in mind I have decided to embrace camping. I have not been a huge fan of camping in the past, however, my experience is limited and a long time ago. I did not camp as a child. In my late teens/early twenties I camped occasionally with friends and only have memories of being cold, wet and sleeping on the uncomfortable ground. I last camped about 15 years ago when I took a trip through the South-West United States. I took this trip as it was a good way to get to the Grand Canyon and see other more remote parts of the country easily and cheaply.

So I don't have a lot of experience with camping, however, now is the time to start. I have a lot of friends that camp and they tell me that if you are set up correctly then camping is easier than you think and a lot of fun to boot. I have been planning this for a while so have been acquiring some of the things we need along the way. One of my favourite stores, Aldi, often have camping equipment on sale. I have got a camping stretcher (which is also good when I have extra kids for sleepovers), camping plates, bowls and cutlery. Yesterday, they had down sleeping bags for $100 so I snapped one up - they were very popular and not many left by the time I got there. I have a sleeping bag for B that a friend gave us.

But of course the major piece of equipment that we have been missing was a tent. A friend posted on Facebook about "Catch of the Day" during the week. They had Coleman 6 person tents for $60!! I had been planning to look for a tent in the next few months but when I saw this I thought I couldn't pass it up as it was a bargain and made by a reputable company. Well, it has arrived!!!

Front View

It is quite big, however, we will be having stretchers in there (my back would not enable me to sleep on the ground) and I also wanted a tent where there was plenty of room to just be in the tent comfortably during wet weather, etc. I think it will do just fine. It will also be big enough for us to have friends with us too in the future.

Back View

Of course the big test was if I could assemble it myself with some "help" from a 4 year old! I am pleased to say that YES, I CAN!!!!!! I put it up in the carport yesterday successfully. The instructions say that it is able to be assembled in 15 minutes (not the first time though). Now for someone that has limited experience with putting up tents I was expecting it to take quite a while but am pleased to say that it took me 33 minutes. For the first time I think that was quite impressive.

Inside View

As I mentioned we have quite a few friends that camp so initially we will go camping with them as it will be a while until I am fully equipped and also it will make it a lot more enjoyable than just the 2 of us. All my camping friends - let me know if we can join you on your adventures!!!

I would love to hear your tips for camping. What equipment do you think is essential? Do you have any tips to camping with kids? As a novice I am open to any and all advice.

Now if only I can get it back into it's carry bag!!!!

Handmade gifts

I love to give a handmade gift! To me, it says that I really have thought about what to give. I have always had intentions of doing handmade gifts but then let time get away from me and end up just giving a brought one. Now that B is around the number of gifts I need to give has increased. I am really making a conscious effort to be a bit more intentional and thoughtful with gift giving. Also, with handmade gifts I already have a lot of the necessary supplies already on hand so it is also a way to save money.

For the people who work with him regularly (child care staff, swimming teacher, etc) I have over the last few years made either gingerbread or shortbread and packaged them on a plate or in a cup as a small token at Christmas.

This was the gingerbread we made last Christmas

Valentine's Day heart shortbread for his friends.

 We have had a few birthday parties for B's friends lately. As they were for girls whose mother's are a bit crafty I thought that they could get their own sewing kit so that they could learn to sew like B (see this post). I made some bags to keep all their things together. Inside the bags I put some hessian, needles and a selection of wool. They have been very well received with one of the girls getting so into it that her parents had a hard time getting her to stop and go to bed!!

He loves using my stamps to make cards for his friends at Christmas and on their birthdays. However, with my creating of gifts this year B also got into the spirit of it too and made a car for one of his friends!

In addition to home made gifts I have also started to give "experiences" for presents. I got the inspiration from friends who have done that for my Christmas gift in previous years. This included a day at Werribee Zoo this year. So for one of my friend's son who turned 10 B and I took him to the National Sports Museum for the day. Being one of 3 boys they have plenty of toys (including a huge amount of Lego!) and really don't need any more "stuff". So instead I thought we could do something he would enjoy. It was a great day and was really appreciated. For his brother's birthday next month I am taking him to Geelong for a football game. He (and B) both barrack for Geelong so it should be a good day.

I'd love to hear of any suggestions that you have for handmade gifts that you have given to give me extra ideas!

Winter Veggie Progress Report

I haven't posted lately about my vegetable patch. Unfortunately I don't get a huge harvest over winter as my beds do not quite get enough sun during the winter months. Being in a rental property I can't alter the backyard too much (or chop down trees) and already the garden beds take up a bit of space and I don't want to take too much of the backyard away from B's use.

With all of that in mind I have planted some veggies in containers this year to try and get a little more sun and a bit more success over winter.

Here are my potatoes which have self-sown from last years crop. The gift that keeps on giving!!

I have used the tyres from the birthday party to help build the potatoes up to get a bigger and better crop.

Close up of potatoes

Home grown garlic - can't wait!

Broad beans

Broccoli

Silverbeet - one of my favourite crops. It just keeps giving!

My lemon tree is now starting to provide some fruit after my hard pruning last year. I'm so glad as I use quite a lot of lemons in my cooking.

I have also got some leads on community gardens to try and maybe get a plot so I can grow some more produce off-site.

I also really love that when it rains B doesn't complain he just says "our veggies will grow now". It is one of those moments as a parent that you realise you are doing your job! We had a lovely day today out in the garden weeding, rearranging and planting some more seeds.



Birthday Party Success - Planning Pays Off!

Well the Birthday Party has been and gone for another year. And it was a huge success!

With all the planning I did prior to the event it went quite smoothly (see previous post). Quite a bit of the food was prepared beforehand and what I had to do at the last minute was quite simple. I am very lucky to have some wonderful friends who take care of the kitchen on the day so it frees me up to organise the kids games and activities. As part of my planning I drew up a chart of which food to put on the kids and adults tables. Unfortunately there was something I forgot to put on the chart and I forgot about it during the party so it didn't get served! We then had it for dinner that night. I think it is really important and welcoming to have lots of food for everyone so I tend to go a bit overboard.

Firstly the cake. I love making and decorating B's birthday cakes myself. I definiately wing it in terms of my cake decorating skills. So if you have any experience in cake decorating don't cringe too much at my skills!! As the theme of the party was a sport party we had to go for a sport themed cake too. The cake was an orange poppyseed cake which turned out quite well considering how long I had to cook it due the to shape of the tin. B chose a soccer cake and placed all the soccer players on the cake himself. I am quite happy with how it looked:

With it being a sport party I organised lots of races and games for the kids and then an obstacle course in the backyard for them to have a freeplay. Being winter in Melbourne it was a bit stressful during the week as to how the weather would be on the day, however, there was no rain and the sun was out for most of the day. Praise God! I did warn all the parents the day before though that there was a good chance that the kids could get wet and dirty as the backyard was a bit muddy from the rain during the week. I did this so they could bring a change of clothes just in case they were needed. Unfortunately it was a bit stressful for one of the girls who got very nervous about the party. Luckily she had a great time and now says that she likes sports parties!

Here are some of the races:

Egg and spoon race. I got plastic balls and put blue tak on the spoon to keep them attached. We had done a practise run before the party and B could only get 1 or 2 steps before the ball fell off so I figured it would be a lot more fun for the kids if they didn't have to worry too much. Of course, the older kids and adults who had a race didn't get that advantage!

Relay race. I got these rods a few weeks ago in my free stuff at Spotlight (see previous post). There were enough for the kids to take one home in their party bags.

Bean bags. We used these for a balancing game where the kids had to balance the bags on different parts of their body - head, shoulder, hand, foot, etc. Then we did a bean bag toss into the hula hoops. I made the bean bags myself. I took 2 squares of fabric, overlocked 3 edges, filled with beans and overlocked the final edge. These also went home in the party bags.

For the obstacle course/free play I had these set up:

This basketball hoop was actually B's birthday present from me.

This is a toy I got from my Toy Library. They are just separate pieces which click together for a balancing beam.

These tyres were set up in a meandering course for the kids to climb over and just generally muck around on.

The hula hoops to throw the bean bags in or just play around in.

A tarp with holes cut out of it to throw balls through and climb through. Unfortunately the tape I used didn't stick very well so I ended up having to pull it off. Oops!!

Everybody having a great time!

I feel really good about being on top of the planning this year. There was quite a bit of work in the weeks leading up to the party but it was worth it for the enjoyment the B and all the other kids got out of it. I was also lucky in that B was able to help with quite a bit of the preparation so that I did not have to resort to parking him in front of the TV to get everything done!

Craft for kids

I have mentioned before that I love my craft. I haven't done as much as I would like since B has come along. I do make arm and leg wraps for children with disabilities so that has been a large part of the sewing/crafting over the last couple of years.

I am very keen to pass on my love of craft to B. He absolutely adores the messy stuff. We don't do much painting in winter as he makes so much mess that in summer I just put him outside with an easel and let him go for it. I then use the paintings as wrapping paper. We both think the messier the better!!

Recently we have started some sewing. He loves to "help" when I use the sewing machine but I thought some hand sewing would be a good skill for him to learn. So over the last few weeks we have been working on this:

The process is quite simple. I cut a piece of hessian with and drew a simple picture on it - of course B had to have a car! He uses a knitting needle and tapestry wool and has done quite well. It has taken a number of sessions as his attention span for this is quite short and he makes mistakes which are okay or easily rectified. I have had quite a bit of input to help him complete it but I would expect that this will decrease as his skills improve.

So this is our finished product.

I had the ends of the wool on the side with the drawing so that when you turn it over you get a clear picture without the original drawing.

This is a perfect way to craft together during cold and wet winter days like today. Another activity I will try soon is finger knitting.

I would love to hear of your favourite craft activities with your kids.

So Glad They Were Free!

If you have read my blog before you may remember this post. I got a free pair of shoes for B which I was pretty excited about. I am now so very glad they were free.

When we got them they looked like this:

Well, 6 weeks later they look like this and are too small:

So off we went shoe shopping again. He has gone up another size so I suppose that it at least justifies a new pair. Whenever I have mentioned this to friends (or even the lady in the shop) the response is "boys". Another friend said that I didn't time the growth spurt well! I can so totally get why my dad complained about having to buy my brother new shoes every couple of months. I'll be earning lots of new pairs at this rate!!

Unfortunately, B didn't like any of the shoes in the shop except these ones:

I tried to steer him away from them towards the ones with Velcro but was unsuccessful. They were the only pair with shoelaces and I can't believe he chose them. So we now have to learn how to try shoelaces. It's a process I was hoping to avoid for a bit longer. He's quite keen on the idea though so I made this to practice on:

Wish us luck!!

Kitchen Gadgets

I must confess - I am a big fan of kitchen gadgets! Unfortunately I don't have a big kitchen (either cupboard or bench space) so have to be really careful of what I have as some of these are quite bulky and take up quite a bit of space. I just thought I would go through some of my favourites that help me around the kitchen and make my life a little easier.

My slow cooker. I have come very late to slow cookers. We did not have one while I was growing up so I did not have experience with them. I also couldn't see how you could just leave it on while you are out and about during the day - didn't think it was safe. However, I have a number of friends who use them and one even said she couldn't understand how a foodie like me didn't have one!! I must admit after having one for the past year I am a convert. I can happily leave it on all day and not worry. I find it really useful for busy days or days where we are going to be home late and I need dinner ready as soon as we are home. It is also great to cook big batches of food to freeze for later. And the feeling of having dinner done by 9.00 in the morning is one I cannot beat!

And a perfect combination with a yummy slow cooker meal - fresh cooked bread. I don't make bread in the bread maker as much as I should. I do use it often for things like pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, hot cross buns and jam. I really should use it more often as fresh baked bread is so yummy.

My rice cooker. I love being able to just put the rice in, turn it on and know that the rice will be cooked perfectly with very little effort from me.

My ice cream maker. I got this many years ago and didn't really use it, however, this last summer it got a real workout. B has issues with his kidneys so I really need to watch his sodium intake. Commercial ice cream is really high in salt so I made all of our ice cream this summer. It is great as I can do sorbet, ice cream and frozen yoghurt. I like that I know what is in it and can really experiment with different types. I even made tofu ice cream which was really nice.

Other gadgets I like are my food processor/blender, stick blender and my popcorn popper (great for a quick, nutricious snack).

What about you? Do you have a favourite kitchen gadget you couldn't live without? I would love to hear what makes your life easier in the kitchen.