Holidays and baby illness

We had a fantastic time at the lake and the weather was even pretty good. However we had to come home early because my son had a fever and it just wouldn't go away.

So we trundled him off to the doctor, making the appointment in the camper on the way back and it turns out the poor mite has tonsillitis. He is just completely miserable.

Last night was our worst nights sleep ever. Every 20 mins he would be upset. In the end he slept in my arms because he just couldn't handle being away from me. I don't think I got more than 3 hours in 20 minute stretches, so today I'm completely wiped out.

To top it all off I had to drive my husband into the city to drop him and work - will have to pick him up this afternoon and we have dropped the car off for a service.

I think I need a cup of coffee or 7!

Unplanned week

This week is one of those weeks where I just have no time. My grandfather in Australia was admitted to hospital and it turns out he needs a pacemaker - which he should be getting today. He lives 4.5 hours north of Sydney where my parents are and 2 hours from the nearest hospital that can do it.

This means my parents have had to cancel their trip over here to join us fishing down the lake, they were due to arrive yesterday.

My grandfather will be in that hospital for 2 days and then back at one near his home for another three, then he can go home, so my father will be up there for a while.

Our plans are in complete disarray and now we are only going away for 5 days, leaving tomorrow night and I had my market on Sunday which I did very well.


I'm looking forward to a few days of unplugging for a while and just trying to relax as much as I can with the 4 of us in a campervan and the kids on holiday.

I hope everyone is doing well and I hope I have lots of photos when I get back!

Kat

Cookie Decorating for toddlers

Today we had my neighbour in with her two kids and did some cookie decorating. To do this you will need:

Gingerbread cookies, royal icing in different colours in squeeze bottles, Accessories - I used m&ms, coloured choc bits and silver cachous.

The kids sat around the table and had a great time. There was surprisingly very little mess. I think the best bit for them was they got to eat what they made! :-)

It's just a shame my little pocket camera takes such terrible photos!

The nursery / childrens room

I wanted to share with you the nursery where I have both my children. I love this room - I think it is the best in the house. It is the smallest but it has lots of windows and light. It is approx 3m x 3m - 10ft by 10ft, so it is small, but it has the air conditioner which is so handy for sleeping in winter and cooling in summer.

Both the kids just squeeze in here, I think we will have to change them to another room when my son moves out of the cot.

We have my daughters bed, the cot, a chair to read stories and for calming duties in the middle of the night and a bookcase. There is also a little stool my father in law made for me for feeding, but is now used for my daughter to climb into bed.

We have a cat, so we bought the cot canopy. I think it makes the cot look gorgeous and it keep away the bugs and we have actually found the cat on it trying to get to my daughter when she first came home, so it was money well spent.

The only things I would change about the nursery will be the wall colour to a sky blue and maybe the curtains to match, and then it will become a real little boys room for when the kids eventually get separate rooms. For now they get upset if they are not together.

I know I was supposed to do a quiet book page today, but I'm out of materials so have to go shopping. I'll have to do two next week if I'm going to get the book finished for my daughter for Christmas

Oil Disaster

Wednesday is normally my day for a new Quiet Book Page, but today is different. I feel I need to talk about this - New Zealand's worst maritime disaster.

Almost a week ago the oil and cargo ship Rena hit a CHARTERED reef off our main deep water port in Tauranga and the heavy seas are now breaking the ship up and 1700 TONNES of oil is leaking.

Over the last few days small amounts of oil have been washing up on shore, but all that changed overnight with the heavy seas. Some of our most beautiful beaches are now being ruined.

It is a sad time for us here, with not much we can do but wait to clean up and try and save as much of the wildlife as possible.

I will post my new quiet book page tomorrow :-) Kat

A kitchen helper for the kitchen helpers

I love looking at the Internet for cool things, especially for the kids, and when they started to pull stools over to get up to the kitchen bench to see what what going on, it was time to look again.

My daughter used to love getting up on a bar stool to watch me and try to help, but one day she fell straight on her head and we ended up with hospital and she had a huge bump on her forehead. No more I said.

So I looked and looked and looked. I found an awesome product called the Kitchen Helper. Yet again - not available in New Zealand - but for all you lucky people in the US, you are set. It is an awesome device that allows you to change the height of it and it can fit two children on it to get them to the bench.

So I got my fantastic father in law to make one, and he just got it finished last weekend. The kids are in and out of it all the time and love being able to see what is going on and I know that they are safe. Happy all round!!

All aboard the Step2 choo choo wagon

Well well the kids got an early Xmas present from my parents yesterday (well the day before but with assembly) and here it is, the Step2 Choo Choo Wagon. They are rare as hens teeth here in NZ, but it is oh so cool. The kids love it. It has been sitting in the lounge room and they have been all over it. Here is the pictures from our first outing in the neighbourhood with it

They had the most fantastic time and have still been climbing all over the wagon. My son even learnt to say 'wagon' yesterday as well as 'playdoh'.

I'm going to have to get crafty and make a canopy for eachof the carriages I think to give them some decent shelter before summer. Watch this space! :-)

Childs overnight bag tutorial

I have been doing so much sewing lately, that I thought it was time to share some with you! This pattern was developed by me, and it posted here for personal use only.

You will need:
1m outer fabric
1m lining fabric
1m medium/heavy iron on interfacting
35cm dress zip

Cut out the following sets with each of the fabrics for the bag body:
Long sides - 37cm x 25cm quantity 3
Short sides - 25cm x 25cm quantity 2
Top - 37cm x 14cm quantity 2

Cut using bag fabric for handles:
62cm x 8cm quantity 2

I am using a 1cm seam allowance

Your outer fabric pieces will look like those above

Next iron on the interfacing. The interfacing should be as close as you can get it to the edges of the fabric without going over. I have left a gap to make it obvious in this tutorial. Ironing can be easier using a scrap piece of cloth over the top. Make sure you iron the outer fabric first for an even finish or the creases will iron onto the interfacing.

Fold and pin the handle pieces wrong side out lengthways. Sew down the long edge only leaving the ends open.

Turn the handles right side out. This is most easily done using a safety pin attached to one edge and fed through

Once turned out iron flat and sew along the both long edges of each strap

Take your lining and outer fabric pieces and pin together as shown, putting together the main base of the bags

With the lining, pin a piece of scrap fabric onto one of those short edges you just pin. This will make sure you don't sew it as it is needed to turn the bag in the right way when finished.

Sew the other 3 edges, making sure you start and finish a seam allowance width from the edges

Now stitch up the four sides again leaving seam allowance at the top

Inner lining will now be finished apart from the edge reserved for turning out

Repeat with the outer fabric, yet do all edges.

Pin handles to bag as shown, making sure the bag is currently inside out.

Now the zip - I have laid over a drak zip in the photo to make it easier to see. Lay out lining, zip face down and outer fabric right side down and pin

Sew using a zipper foot, so you can get nice and close to the zipper teeth and repeat with the other side. You will then have a top piece like this

Attach to the outer fabric bag by pinning as shown - you may find it easier to do the lining first as it means less bulk around the sewing machine with the interfacing. Make sure the zip is at least partially open.

Now attached the lining in the same way

Remove the pins on the open edge and using those and the open zip, turn the bag right side out

Pull out the edge with the pin and fold the edges in to give a nice edge. Sew that with a matching cotton. Tuck inside the bag

Quiet book page - spots on the ladybug

This weeks quiet book page is putting spots on the ladybug. To make this you will need:
Felt in green, brown, red, blue, black and white
Wonder under
Some sort of material for the page

The page will look like this:

Trace out the pictures onto the back of the wonder under and iron on

Cut out the green and blue for Layer 1 and iron on

Put on the page the red and brown and iron on, creating layer 2

Add the black strip down it's back and antennae and the white of the eye and iron on for layer 3

Iron on the black in the eye for layer 4

Cut out spots to stick on and a storage pocket in green

More quiet book pages can be found here

I am working on getting the templates uploaded :-)