Reindeer Food with Reindeer Topper Printable.

 

Aside from the usual making of the Christmas cards, we kicked off our Christmas creativity this year by making some Reindeer Food.  I first stumbled across the idea of Reindeer food about 3 years ago when a friend of mine made some for the kids to sprinkle on the lawn.. Last year I bought some from a shop, but this year I decided to give it a go and make some myself..

I still had the poem tucked away in the draw so I simply created my own bag topper to go with it. 

 

Download your copy of Reindeer Food Topper for free: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7pe3wq93TPRcHNfSzV1Q0NERnc

 

What you will need;

 

* Bag of rolled oats.

* 2 ramekins or small bowls 1/2 filled with raw sugar

* Food colouring of your choice (we used red and green)

* Glitter in assorted colours of choice

* Some festive sequins (optional)

 

How to make:

 

Start by placing your rolled oats into a mixing bowl.  You can add as many as you like, depending upon how many packets/jars you plan on making of the Reindeer food.

 

Next add a few drops of the food colouring to the ramekins of raw sugar, mix it in until the sugar turns the desired colour.  Set them aside to dry.  (Instead of this you could also use jelly crystals also)

 

Once the sugar is dried out, add the sugar, glitter and festive sequins to the mixing bowl and give them a good mix through.

 

Once all mixed and your happy with the amount of goodies you have through your rolled oats, you can start placing it into your ziplock bags...

 

Once you have closed them all, print out the provided topper and staple it over the top :)

On Christmas Eve, take the kids outside and sprinkle it all over the lawn, leaving a beautiful sparkly trail for the reindeers to find your home :)  We even recite the poem while we are doing so..

 

Because it makes quite a lot of mixture, why not give some to friends, family or neighbours to spread the magic around.

 

Enjoy & Merry Christmas.

xoxox

 

Christmas Comes but Once a Year..

December 13th! Already?! Where does the time go?  We are well & truly into the swing of Christmas around here (I think I have been since late October..lol) but now with the tree/s up, lights on & house decorated there is something magical about this time of the year that I just adore!

I am a bit of a stickler to traditions and it's our family tradition that we put up the Christmas tree on December 1st, unfortunately this year I had to bend my tradition ever so slightly and put the tree up on the 2nd as we were at the in-laws celebrating a rather early Christmas on the 1st.  It was still our intention to put up the tree that night but after a big lunch & rather exhausting day we ended up heading out to look at Christmas lights instead. Although all of the kids were asleep in the car very very quickly! 

 

So our tree went up December 2nd and we had a big roast dinner to mark the occasion like we do every year, roast pork with all the trimmings.. The kids got a kick out of the Christmas dinner set this year and loved getting out their Christmas cups/mugs and placemats.. After dinner we popped on a Christmas movie 'Beethoven's Christmas' and started to decorate the tree...

 

I love our tree, I bought it at a Target Christmas sale on Nov 30, 2010 ~ just in time to put it up the next day.. The only down side of my beautiful tree, it is impossible to decorate! I really think they should have put a disclaimer on the box saying so, its branches are so thick it makes hanging ornaments impossible unless you have metal hooks and even then you have to bend them out of shape and clamp them back down over the branch to secure them!

 

Nevertheless I love my tree and it really is a representation of our family.. we each have personalised baubles and baubles that mean something to us on it and I love how it 'grows' each year and accumulates more and more character! 

 

So after about 4 hours the tree was up and decorated.. It is only decorated from part way up this year so little hands can't get to it and we also have a baby play pen surrounding it.

Despite all of this baby proofing im still really happy with the way it has turned out and could stare at it endlessly.

 

So aside from the house decorating we have been driving around looking at others Christmas lights, this has been quite a regular event as our youngest has taken to ONLY falling asleep in the car at nights.. which will be rather boring after everyones lights have come down.. at least we have something to look at, at the moment on our nightly trips.

 

With just a little under 2 weeks left til Christmas this next week is going to be jam packed with lots of Christmas activities to really make the most of this season.. after all Christmas comes but once a year!  Enjoy xx

 

 

End of School Year Excitement!

Well we're counting down to the end of the school year in our home, only 1 more week to go with the kids finishing up next Thursday. It's always a mixed emotion time of year, the kids are tired & exhausted, there are always so many events/ceremonies to attend & I guess I start to panic & feel anxious about who they might end up with as a Teacher the following year.. So when the holidays do actually arrive, it's such a sigh of relief!

Some of the things we have been doing to be prepared for the end of the school year are;
1. The kids wrote out their Christmas cards last week ( I picked up a packet of 25 beautiful cards for just 99c from Aldi!) teamed with the Aldi Candy Canes & some stickers (1000 Christmas stickers from Big W for $1!) they were all set! I ask my kids teachers for a class roll list so they don't forget anyone :)
2. Teachers Gifts, this year I had 3 Teachers to buy end of year gifts for and I have kept my eyes peeled for quite some time & the other day I stumbled upon these 2 pretty reindeer mugs for just $2.19 the pair! I was also lucky enough to score a 12 pack of Ferero Rocher Chocolates for $5 from Woolworths & divided 6 each into the mugs (I didn't even eat any!!! ~ mega willpower on my part!) & then popped in a cute $2 ornament from Target. To finish just simply wrap in cellophane & pop a card from your child attached to it.
3. End of year class parties; this year we will be tackling 3 'bring a plates' so watch this space in the upcoming days for how I dealt with that. I'm thinking 2 lots of Christmas cupcakes & mini hotdogs, but I'll keep contemplating a little longer.
4. This year with my eldest Stepson graduating year 7, I have found there are a lot of end of year events such as liturgies, walk out ceremonies, graduations, BBQ's etc, so in order to keep on top of all the dates/times it is essential you note them down in a calendar style format or enter them into your phone with set reminders etc.
5.Another thing we have been doing which isn't nearly as exciting is ordering next years school books & uniforms. Always good to get in early and as far as the books go, most places let you lay-by them which is useful for 4 lots! :)

A Few Things to Keep Me Busy and On Track for an Organised Christmas (as if I wasn't busy enough already.. lol)

Over the past couple of days I have stumbled across a few great initiatives/challenges (I think they are challenging.. LOL) keeping people on track and organised for a hassle free Christmas.. Here are a few I will be trying to keep up with

The Organised Housewife's 'Organise Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'

Day 1 of the challenge started today and involved organising all of your parties/appointments into a Calendar/Diary (some great free printable calendar's on the blog..) Organise Babysitters (Unfortunately we don't need one as we don't have a terribly exciting social life here) and last but not least organise yourself a Christmas station which I am proud to say I did :)

 

 

 

And this one that I stumbled across about 10 minutes ago on The Mommyhood Memo's which involves decluttering your entire house by Christmas in 50 steps (how many sleeps there are til Christmas!)

 

 

 

And I also love the ideas that Bianca over at A Little Delightful has over at her blog for gift giving ideas! :) Although Im never that great at sticking to those limits.. but ill try a little harder this year..

 

 

 

And Jen over at Lovely Living Love the Life Your Living, has the most darling Christmas Planner Printable which is FREE! Along with other printables in the pipeline that are sure to be just as darling..

 

 

Jump on board and get your house into a decluttered, festive, organised state before the jolly fat man comes this year :)

 

 

Photo A Day - October (#fmsphotoaday)

The past month I have been participating in the 'Photo a Day' challenge outlined on the blog of 'Fat Mum Slim' Its been a lot of fun and whilst some days my posts are far from creative and I miss a day or two here (better than September where I managed to take 2!)it's been something fun to participate in and I plan on joining in again this month too..

Here was the list from October..

 

Day 1: Where You Stood.

Day 2 Lunchtime

 

Day 3: This Happened Today  

 

Day 4: What You Read  

Day 5: Shadow

 

Day 6: Im Thankful for..

 

 

 Day 7: Light

 

 Day 8: Angle

 

Day 9: Red

 

 

Day 10: Emotion

 

Day 11. Something Close Up

\

 

Day 12: On the Table

 

 

Day 13: Landscape

 

Day 14: Makes You Laugh

 

 

Day 15: Dinner

 

 Day 17: Fruit

 

Day 23: The View from Here

 

Day 24: Weather 

 

Day 26: Listening To 

 

Day 27: Morning

 

 

 Day 29: Moon

 

 

Day 31: Whatever You Please..

Here is this months list; You should check it out if you dont already play along. It is good fun and it's just another way to notice how fast the days are zooming by, it will be Christmas before we know it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



My Reflection ~ I Heart My Body 2012

Today i'm participating in 'I Heart My Body 2012' post from over at 'I Heart Life' as I believe it is such a beautiful idea to celebrate and appreciate who we are. We are often all too quick to judge ourselves harshly and find lots of negative things but there are also so many positives to be found..

I first started to take notice of my body at age 9, before that I was oblivious to it.. I was a kid, but the day I asked my Nan if you measure how fat your tummy is when your standing up or sitting down, my relationship with my body changed. From that point in, I became its slave.. At 10 I had developed and been diagnosed as having an eating disorder which followed me throughout much of my teenage years. I obsessed over my body, recalling all too often Mum & I standing in front of her bedroom mirror comparing our bodies, poking, prodding, measuring and criticising ourselves (never each other).. our size 10-12 selves.. If I could go back in time & slap myself I would..

Today I stand before you all.. 31 years of age, hearting my less than perfect, no where near size 10/12 body (alas it left me years ago) Although I haven't always loved everything about my body, lessons in life and love have taught me to start appreciating it for what it is.. Because you never know what tomorrow holds.. So its best to just live for now & appreciate what we already have;

My top 3 things I heart xx
1. I love that my body has sustained life by blessing me with my 2 precious baby boys. Both pregnancies were truly beautiful & I was amazed at how our bodies adapt to grow our little people. Whilst pregnant I loved the shape of my bump & the dark pigment that emerged..
2. I love that it is the body that my husband desires over all others (sometimes I annoy him by questioning his admiration or brushing off his compliments) but I secretly love it and am grateful that he see's that in me. And 3. I love that I am blessed with good health (nice eyes & a good bum never hurt to make one feel good about oneself either!) but seriously since my Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago (thankfully she beat it!) each day that goes by where you are in good health, I cherish it.. Because it can change in the blink of a second. The other week when I felt a lump and had to wait a couple of days for an ultrasound felt like a lifetime.. Thankfully it seemed to be all clear, but I was just so overjoyed to have good health.. so I heart every day my body is in good health.

I'm glad I'm not back in front of the mirror pinching my thighs, measuring my waist & sucking in my tummy as i was in my younger days. My Dad was a very wise man for saying he wished he could cover up all the mirrors in our home because it truly is what's inside that counts and how you feel about yourself is the true reflection of who you really are.. Xoxo

Pop on over & read all of the other ladies inspirational stories.. :)

Meal Planning Monday W/E Sunday 28th October

I can't believe that October is nearly over and that we are less than two short months away from Christmas! This week my meals are for 2 adults and 3 kids aged 9, 7 & 1. I had a full house over the weekend with my eldest 2 Stepkids home & one of their friends also slept over which totalled 6 kids.. I think they nearly ate us out of house & home which is usually the way when their all home! So we had a few of the bigger meals such as lasagna & salad, baked fish & salad & tuna bake with garlic bread..

On this weeks meal plan is;

Monday: Soft Taco's with seasoned beef, tomato, lettuce (from the garden), cucumber (from the garden), grated cheese & olives.

Tuesday: Devilled sausages (using the low fat sausages from Woolworths) served on rice.

Wednesday: (Slow cooker day) Silverside with veggies & cauliflower cheese.

Thursday: Tomato & herb chicken served with pasta.

Friday: Home made pizzas on pita bread.

Saturday: Home made steak & egg burgers.

Sunday: BBQ :) or roast chicken & veg.

Bake List:
Banana Muffins with maple syrup icing.
Pikelets