Being Australia Day, and being a bit peckish I thought I’d give damper a go.  I haven’t done this since I was a girl guide cooking mini dampers on the end of the stick held in the fire and today’s (thankfully) was much better.  I used this recipe from the taste.com.au site because whenever I want a recipe for anything I search there and 99% of the time I find something good.

Damper and gold syrup.

Happy Australia Day!

On the night before I found this activity that used the rain itself to help create an art work.  Daniel was roped in to being my test subject.  This is something that happens often now but he doesn’t mind at all.  Well there was one bit he minded but he soon got over it.  S.B. used coffee filters for her umbrellas but I only had paper towels so they had to do.  I drew umbrellas on the paper towels with a permanent marker – the fact that it is “permanent” becomes very important later on.  Then I had D colour and draw squiggles and things on the umbrella with normal (water soluble) felt pens.  Then I told him that he was going to stand in the rain with his umbrella to let it get wet.  This is where he became less enthusiastic – something to do with toads!  So we compromised and stood under a drip on the back deck.  We probably ended up with too much water because the ink ran a bit too much but it was enough to give my little people a good idea of what we were doing.

I learned quite a bit too when I put this activity into practice.  Chubby felt pens were way better for this because they were easier for little hands to hold.  Some little people even needed me to hold the paper towel on the table for them because it was a bit tricky to keep the paper still and the pen moving.  Then, after scoping out the playground again to make sure I could take kids out there without getting them drenched, I took out 3-4 little people at a time with their “umbrellas”.  At times the rain was so light we had to leave the umbrellas outside and come back in for a while and at other times the rain was so torrential that I could just hold the paper towels out for a few seconds to get all the water I needed and more.

Being paper towels they were actually still quite sturdy when wet so I could get them inside on a big sheet of scrap cardboard and lay them all out to dry quite easily.  They were all dry by about 3:00pm in the afternoon and I cut out most of them and handles by the end of the day.  If I had the opportunity to display them I think they would look wonderful on a glass window with the light shining through them.

Lots of learning was going on here.  Children were experimenting – some even did a second umbrella to try different things.  They were following a process and many were very keen to see what came inside each time and they were comparing (in a positive way) their pictures with those of their peers.

This process is formally known as “paper chromatography” and the water makes the ink run and if the ink has more than one colour in it the process helps the colours to separate.  That’s why black felt pen is a good choice for this activity because it produces “surprises”.  In fact if I were to do this activity again I would provide just black felt pens and let the other colours emerge.  We still had the problem of too much ink running and I’m thinking an answer might be to dry them quicker but not sure how to do this.

Another example of “winging it” that didn’t go so well was my orange coconut cake.  It called for 1 & 3/4 cups of coconut.  I only had 1 so I substituted more flour for the shortfall. Hmmmm. I should have got in the car, gone into Coles and bought more coconut.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty good around almost every type of cake making and I know my way instinctively around most of Brisbane.  But right now when there is so much going on, temporary job, Australia Day, permanent job, boys back at school etc etc I need to just follow the instructions in some instances because maybe there isn’t enough of my brain to go around!

I’ve got green paint stuck around my fingernails.

Looking for resources to put out for children was like going through my own personal toy library – amazing gear!

I had cuddles from many little people and even some of the older siblings!

I learned all sorts of things about how a Centre can be run differently and was greeted and welcomed by every member of staff I encountered and there were many!

So glad to be getting my hands dirty again!

I kid you not.

This is how it happened.

I enlisted his help with making an orange cleaning spray.  Back on December 31, we filled a tall glass jar 3/4 full with white vinegar and then every time he ate an orange (which is frequently) I peeled it with a vegetable peeler to avoid the pith and we put the rinds into our jar.  After three weeks it had brewed up nicely so this morning we strained it off, discarded the rinds and diluted it 50/50 with more white vinegar and hey presto! Cleaning spray!

Daniel couldn’t wait to put on the gloves (so that he looked more professional apparently) and tackle the toilet.  I’m already thinking of what other cleaning products we might concoct.

For anyone who is following our process we have our left over concentrate in a another jar under the sink and we’ve started a fresh jar of vinegar for our orange rinds.  We could have made this cleaner with lemons or grapefruit and any other citrus.

I’ve now a got a three day temporary Kindy teaching job next week and then on Monday January 30 I start a in a permanent position at a beautiful centre where I went for an interview just yesterday!  It is so nice to be going into a weekend knowing exactly what is happening next week and the week after!

To celebrate the temporary job (as I only heard about the permanent one alter this afternoon) I took the boys to see the Muppet movie. It was so much fun! Some new numbers and some of the old treasures like “Rainbow Connection” and “Manahmana” and good old-fashioned Muppet humour where people laugh at themselves, it’s good clean fun and no sinister overtones.  I couldn’t help but notice that in the singing and dancing numbers involving real people they were all around my age and I guess the age of people who used to watch the Muppet Show on TV.  That made it all a bit more special I think.  I’m not sure whether the boys liked it as much as me – they certainly didn’t get some of the jokes that I laughed out loud at and they were a bit mortified when I was swaying along to “Rainbow Connection” (because that is what you are meant to do people!) but they were certainly recounting their favourite parts afterwards which they often do.

One of the new numbers was “Life’s a Happy Song” and I’ve shared some of the lyrics here because by the end of the day they seemed quite appropriate.

Everything is great
Everything is grand
I got the whole wide world in the palm of my hand

Everything is perfect
It’s falling into place
I can’t seem to wipe this smile off my face
Of course not everything is perfect but it is VERY much improved

One of the lovely Down To Earth members Becci has this giveaway on her blog.  I would love to win it but I’m promoting it here in case one of my readers is lucky.  Two beautiful soaps and crocheted face cloths.

Now without mentioning the drive to Redcliffe in peak hour traffic the whole thing was awesome.  To quote the boys it was “the funnest restaurant we have ever been to.” I suspect that positioning myself next the 5 children there had it’s advantages too because the chef TC really performed for them.  Daniel went from almost covering his face with a plate at the start to demanding that the chef set fire to something else by the end.  And while I may not have ever been a success at netball it seems that I can catch three bowls in quick succession followed by a bowl of fried rice. Who knew?Click to view slideshow.