Silly Season Update featuring our Elf on the Shelf: ELFIE!!!

Okay... 

so life can get a little crazy around this time of year.

It doesn't lessen one bit my love for it though - the magic and joy of children at this time, the Christmas carols playing at home, the sparkle of my girls eyes as the watch in awe of the Christmas lights.

And of course there's Elfie! 

My girls are MASSIVE believers and they ADORE Elfie and his antics.

Here's a quick photo montage to bring you up to date (I'm such a slacker at keeping you posted!):

DAY 6:

The art of the Elf

Elfie found the toothpaste tube and thought it was the perfect way to remind the girls to be good (whilst still getting to release a little elf mischief at the same time). 

Oh and yes, why thank-you! I do have the most lovely retro grey-green, black and salmon pink vinyl tiles... urgh! I do love retro but just not my bathrooms style of retro! It matches the lovely pink hand basin and bathtub... my bathroom screams renovation - but it needs to get in line and take a ticket! Hopefully our kitchen will be getting a facelift in the next month or so... then, maybe then we'll start the bathroom!

DAY 7:

Just Hanging About

Elfie was taking it easy today... just sitting about in the Christmas tree with a couple of new jingle jangle baubles.

DAY 8:

Sleep Over with Elfie

We were in the city visiting my brother and his daughters and Elfie of course was along for the ride. The girls awoke to find he'd been digging into the Christmas candy and thought the perfect way to introduce himself to the cousins was to spell out his name.

We all had a great day with my brother and his two girls... park picnic for lunch,

 feeding ducks, on the swings and slides and then off to the berry farm to pick some berries...

How gorgeous is this entrance to the wonderful family run bramble farm?

So after an afternoon of berry picking the girls and I set off on the 4+ hour drive home and with a bucket full of berries Elfie got busy that night!

DAY 9:

A berry berry nice pie

1/2 way there

How pleased does Elfie look with himself?

And out of the oven...

Then presented to the girls... oooh, that Elfie knows how to impress!

And so we are almost (okay maybe not really) caught up... but it's super late and I need to be catching some Zzzzz's so I'll continue with the catch up REALLY soon...

If you are ultra keen to catch up on Elfie you can always head to my facebook page: 

SpaNGle*

or follow along on Instagram: 

the_spangler

Take care and I hope you are staying safe, being merry and spreading joy and cheer!!!

xoxoxo

Time to decorate...

Well, it's all about Christmas... 

Some Chocolate Brownie Christmas Trees I made last week using THIS   brownie recipe - a nice recipe but just a bit too cakey rather than brownie for me... I'm thinking I'm going to try these in a Chocolate Fudge next time!
Candy cane and tree idea courtesy of that Pinterest addiction so many of us have ;)

Elf Radio is playing non-stop here (www.eflradio.com.au)... my girls without even thinking about it have been playing, eating and getting about whilst dancing, foot tapping, humming and singing along to all the carols. Listening to their renditions of Christmas tunes and seeing the happiness that is Christmas oozing from them is simply pure BLISS!

Elfie had been up to his Christmassy fun and games last night and had "trapped" the girls in their bedroom whilst they slept with some genuine elf-made streamer decorations... Maybe it was a hint that we should put up more decorations? It was fun for the girls - they had a great time experimenting with different escape and re-entry methods and agreed that we should put up more decorations... One can never have enough decorations can they?

So as the sun sets on another day you can be certain that the next page of the Elfie diaries is about to be created!

I hope you are enjoying the lead up to Christmas as much as we are here!

Do you do Elf on the Shelf? If so, what has been yours or your childs favourite Elf antic?

xoxoxoxo 

My little sk8er, baker, biker, rainbow jello loving girl...

Today was fun...

The sun was shining and the girls and I loved it.

Big Little Miss M received a new cookbook for her 5th birthday and was so keen to pick out a recipe to make.

She chose and made a Pecan Biscuit Crumb cake... kind of like a grooms cake (but girl-ified with pink dusting sugar) - it's yummo!

The girls were keen to do some bike riding...

We only have a small concrete area in the back yard so I bundled their bikes, scooter and a new skateboard in the car and we headed to the local courts which were deserted and perfect for biking and skating fun...

Big Little Miss M had not used a skateboard before and to say she was super-excited about it is a massive understatement... here's my little skater girl in action - she LOVED it...

In that middle photo above on the right she's doing a super cute, double fisted hand pump - she was busting with happiness at her new toy! Normally my big 5 year old gets pretty frustrated at things when she's learning (she wants to be perfect at things first go) but oddly enough she was too caught up in the thrill of trying out the skateboard that she must of forgotten to get frustrated! She's going to be awesome - and of course I'm not parentally biased :P

The girls spent nearly 3hours this afternoon at the courts biking, scooting and skating... it was bliss - I'd packed a huge thermos of coffee, so I got to laze in the sun, sipping coffee and watching my girls be girls... I miss being a kid on days like this - I gave the skateboard a tentative go but it didn't come with any weight rating and I was nervous that I would snap it and forever burn a devastating memory onto my girls first skating experience!

Speaking of being a big kid... I bought a new cap and on the inside as a pre-sale shaper it had a cardboard insert with instructions on how to do 'The Worm' ...ahhh... now I just need a party to be a fooligan at so I can bust a move across the floor... lol - yeah right, I think I'd more than likely end up with a back spasm looking a tool on the floor - forever to be labelled as the infamous geriatric worm!

Jokes aside though - how tempting is it... the 'how to' makes it all look and read so easy ☺

Well, the girls are sleeping extra soundly tonight after all their pedalling fun... plus they've bellies full of our new favourite dessert...

Rainbow Jello... a time consumer to make but the looks on the girls faces when this gets plopped all wibbly, wobbly on the table makes it more than worth it. I think we spent at least 15 minutes just watching it wobble and laughing at what wacky things we could do to get it to wobble some more. Plus... it actually tastes pretty awesome too!

Till next time

xoxoxo

Five. FIVE!!! A party, rainbows and a unicorn cake.

So my big girl just turned five today.

My mind is still trying to comprehend how that can be...

I can still recall the very moments of her coming into this world and my first cuddle like it was only mere months not years ago.

My girl gave me the most special gift I could ever be given - she gave me motherhood. Watching, sharing and creating memories with my girls compares to nothing else.

I love being part of what I hope is happy memory creation.

Here's my girl:

The cake (that took hours and hours over a number of days to create) that she went nuts over... and lets face it - there's a little bit of a lot of vicarious enjoyment on my part):

The candy/cake buffet:

and another:

 And for now, after having the party today I'm so exhausted... so I'll be back in a day or so (once I clean, clean and then clean some more - just can't deal with it tonight and yes, tomorrow in the morning I'll wish I did - but I go to bed with the awareness my cranky morning self will kick my own butt).

I'll have more photo's. I've become a lazy phone camera photo taker - thanks Instagram! But my SIL had her whizz bang camera on hand so I'm hoping she got some good shots so I'll be back to show them off and to dish the info on inspiration sources, the how to's (and the how not's) and to gush a little more about my gorgeous little girls who are growing up...

 WAY. TOO. FAST.

xoxoxo

Getting ready to PAAAR-TAY!

Only 3 more sleeps till my big girl (aka Big Little Miss M) turns FIVE!!!

FIVE!!!

Hasn't quite sunk in yet and I'm not sure how the years went quite so fast...

The theme for Saturday's party is rainbow's and Unicorns. Here's a peek at what we've organised so far:

The invites... (not as pretty when I've 'jittered' out personal info but I'm sure you get the idea) I mounted these on rainbow coloured corrugated card stock with a brad.

Some of the tissue paper pom poms:

The chupa-chup lollipop ball... the pops are covered with crepe paper (Still a bit of prettying up to do but it's almost there:

Chocolate spoons (yep, she had some of these on last years birthday candy buffet, but they are so easy and pretty that I had to make them again)

Test run on a good old favourite... marble cake:

Rainbow fondant curlicues:

More candy than you can poke a stick at:

I've been wanting to try this for so long... it took pretty much the whole day with all the layers and waiting for the jelly to set. Many recipes refer to the opaque layer being cool whip but since I can't get that anywhere convenient here in regional Aussieland I just divided each jello mix in half before the step to add the cold water, and in one half mixed through a generous dollop or so of cream to achieve the pastel opaque layer in each colour. Obviously the use of dairy product does impact the longevity of the jelly but this stuff won't be sitting around for very long I'm sure!

It's still all stations go with plenty more to be done before party day... a unicorn costume, cake pops, cupcakes, a unicorn cake, a photo booth backdrop etc etc... all to create a wonderful, magical, unicorn filled day for my very special little lady - after all we only turn five once!

Oh, it's getting late, I'm rushed and my brain is somewhat frazzled but I had to let you know that the sources of my rainbow inspiration can be found over on my pinterest boards - link over on the right side bar - (I wish I could come up with this stuff but mostly I give the highest praise to those creators through the act of imitation and modification - go check out the originals and be amazed at the wonderfully talented and creative bloggers that give us the ideas that allow us to create the magic for our own little ones).

Much love and magical rainbows and unicorns to you!

xoxoxo

Seriously.... Trivia night with some lady friends rocks! For real... Okay, maybe one or two glasses okay, okay, bottles of red and I think, my friend and I are the official drunkards at the local school... quietly glad I don't have any children enrolled at the school (yet)  for I'm absolutely Positive (with a capital P) that my 'busta-moves' at the end of the night did not win me any P&F friends or fans!

But most importantly of all folks, I had MAJOR fun!!! At a trivia night of all places... I'll be a regular bingo lady before you know it... sad, I know... but hey... a highlight is a highlight and life is what you make it (even if it does entail crumbly cake - inside joke... I guess you had to be there, rockin it! )!!!

And because today is day 4 of FatMumSlim's photo challenge... here's a little fun - DAY 4; Topic - Fun

Is there anything more fun than being four and catching bubbles????

Ask my very own four year old... I think not!

To all you trivia freaks... goodnight! Something tells me I will not be feeling so chipper in the morning... wait! It's already morning... something, most definitely tells me I WILL NOT feel so chipper in a few hours!!!

Goodnight lovelies and I'll catch you with the sunrise! ☺

(or maybe a little later if I can convince my munchkins it's a good morning for a sleep in!)

How about a little sugar, sugar?

Sugar - you evil but oh, so sweet fiend!

It's a love/hate relationship.

I'm not sure what to call these cupcakes... I'm thinking they are the lazy ladies cupcake. I truly was lazy in the creation, preparation and baking of this sweet, shhhaha-weeeeet, creation.

Seriously, it was MEGA sweet. Don't like sugar? Diabetic? Health food freak? Close the lappy, shut down the screen, back away from the computer because these cupcakes will bring you no joy!

Okay, maybe just a little... especially for cutesy finished factor.

Here's a peek at the heinous ingredients:

I had heard about pink lemonade cupcakes but had not heard of the main feature ingredient in the recipe, lemonade concentrate. Lemonade concentrate? It read like it was a liquid because many recipes stated that it was to be used frozen... but my brain imagines it as a powder like 'Tang'... I don't believe I have ever seen lemonade concentrate here in Aussie-land. Feel free to leave a comment at the end of my post and enlighten me. 

Please? 

Can I get it anywhere in Australia?

Well the recipe pretty much goes like this (and please bear in mind lazy = very generalised and loosely thrown together instructions)

Place your box mix, instant custard pudding powder and half the packet of jelly crystals into your mixer bowl and stir to mix.

Add 2 lightly beaten eggs, a drop or two of pink food colour (totally optional as the jelly crystals will provide some colour), then add in a cup and a half of the creamy soda (or whatever flavour soda you choose to use... I might try a purple grape soda version next time after a convo with my SIL)

Blend in your mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides to ensure all ingredients are evenly combined.

Divide into patty pans or cups and bake in a moderate oven for approx 16 minutes.

Check out these super cute waxed patty cups:

My girls and I like pretty, pink things... so the pink cupcakes then got prettied up a little, and went from this:

To this: 

The icing again was a lazy lady recipe... you might have noticed my box mix came with a sachet of ready made frosting... well, I simply whipped it up some more in the mix master, added a little extra icing sugar and some fresh cream together with the remaining sugar crystals and whipped until the crystals had all dissolved and the frosting was light and smooth.

Then my girls and I got busy with a piping bag.

Ah, love. Now, I'll be honest and tell you that I'm not someone who really is a fan of packet or box mixes - whether it be for sweet cakes, breads, desserts, sauces, meals or whatever - I am so normally, totally a 'from-scratch' girl. This sugar abomination however was a nice and brief departure from my usual cooking ways. Whip some up - they couldn't be easier, or more loaded with all things sweet... well, actually, I had thought to sprinkle these cute delights with some rose coloured sugar crystals I had left from another baking escapade but I was already starting to freak about how much sugar was already in these babies!

So, there you have it. 

Cheers xo

Relegated to eye candy only... plus a bit of a revamp!

So yesterday I did a spot of baking...

Hummingbird Cake - Oh my goodness how I LOVE hummingbird cake. It is so, so easy to make, smells divine all the way through the making and baking process and also tastes sensational. But, alas today's hummingbird was relegated to the ranks of EYE CANDY ONLY!

But WHY? (and my brain screams in answer - in the style of the line from the movie, What happens in Vegas... "YOU KNOW WHY!!!" 

Its just that since November last year I've been on a bit of a mission to strip off extra weight that I stacked on during both my pregnancies... and we weren't talking a few baby blubber kilos here... try having peaked at over 40kgs in excess of my pre-baby weight... that's a MASSIVE 88lbs that I let past the keeper under the misplaced guise of "eating for two" and then life with children took hold and I never seemed able to find my former fit, motivated, and slim self... I seriously thought she'd packed up house and disappeared over that far away, rosy tinged horizon, forever to be prefaced with, "Back in the good old days..." 

Now, I'd lost and gained and lost again on a bit of a rollercoaster of sorts for a bit... but last November, circumstances led me to be mentally, slapped in the face with a dose of reality... I was fat, over-weight, unfit and at the heart of it quite sad because of it all.

So, with a bit of hard work, some running, gym and an awesome eating plan I'm now back within a few kilos of my pre-pregnancies weight... I want to be back into running fun runs and more again whilst also maintaining my new found healthy self... so long story short = Hummingbird Cake is now eye candy only (for looking not for eating!)

Recipe link following - but take heed, I do not follow instructions or recipes (my own included) with any rigidity and use my 'calibrated eye' ☺ for measures along with a substantial dose of guestimates and tend to mish-mash and collaborate recipes!

To access, read and print the recipe for my Hummingbird Cake please click THIS LINK.
If you end up baking it be sure to let me know what you think - my taste buds will thank you for the vicarious enjoyment!

I also did some long overdue and needed revamping...

About a month or two (maybe three) ago I picked up a great four drawer filing cabinet from the local secondary schools carpark sale... Apart from visual imperfections the cabinet itself was in pretty good nick and was lockable PLUS was an absolute STEAL at only $35!

Now as I said visually it was in a bit of a sorry state... old blue tack, yellowed and cracking sticky tape, gummy labels and some superficial scratches and scuffs.

But with a dose of elbow grease, eucalyptus oil (to clean all the gummy, sticky delights), some spray-n-wipe (to remove any traces of the oil) and a couple of cans of el cheapo discount store spray cans of super red gloss and my bargain filing cabinet has a new lease on life and I can finally clean off and file the mounting piles of chaotic papers on the computer desk.

Check out my 'hot red' filing cabinet... I almost feel so proud that I have the urge to give her (yes my filing cabinet is a girl) a name - Crazy, crazy I know... but tell me you haven't given inanimate objects about your place a name or gender before?

I realised whilst painting her that lately I've a bit of a thing for red... there's flashes of it popping up everywhere about the place (I even redid the house numbers when I did the cabinets and once I get them back up on the front of the house I'll give you all a peek)...

Oh and just because I can (plus being somewhat slimmer I'm not such a camera phobe anymore - or maybe I'm just getting older and not caring so much what other people think of my exterior! Plus, I guess  it's about time I actually showed my face around here from time to time... here's me:

And LOOK - flashy red phone cover... oh how coordinated am I? Now if I could only lug my filing cabinet about I'd be oh so stylishly matched  ☺hahaha... (sorry it is getting pretty late here and my lame-o lack of humour, or rather lame-o attempts at humour are a little embarrassing I'm sure).

Boy, looking at that photo I really must clean that mirror... can you see all those smudges - I had to go all grey-scale just so it wasn't as appallingly obvious!

Well, to wrap it up tonight, some brilliant words I love, tacked with a photo I took tonight on my phone (you know, the one with the flashy red cover - cause it goes faster... oh my, I really do need more sleep! My insomniac self apologises... but continues - and yes, my ellipses abuse is in full swing tonight).

Isn't the sky awesome? I love how the steeple bell tower is silhouetted... I'd stopped at the intersection with my phone hanging out the car window to snap this pic because the sky just looked so emotive and this Les Miserables quote suits it perfectly I think!

With that, I'm off to try to get some sleep because before I know it the sun WILL be rising and with it my two terror munchkins at the crack of dawn I'm sure!

Are you serious? Look I hate mopping as much as the next time poor mum out there but really???

Cleaning Mop Slipper Shoes - Clean Floors As You Walk 

Anyhoo, maybe by the look of my floors I need a pair of these . . . or not!

At the moment I have a great big, HUMUNGOUS pot of home made tomato sauce bubbling away on the stove . . . 

This is the first time I've attempted home made tomato sauce and I'm using a recipe of my mother in laws. The upside? It smells somewhat divine in my kitchen right now. The not so upside? It's as watery as anything (and it this is due to my own error in preparation - I'll tell you about it when I do my big tomato sauce reveal ☺ ) and my google escapades lead me to believe this can be solved by more simmering . . . not so bad you say . . . well one suggested simmering for approximately 12 hours!!! It's already past midnight and I have no desire to spend the night stirring my pot. Is it bad to just turn it off, sit it in the oven and revisit it early in the morning? If I had a massive crock pot I'd just throw it all in there . . . hmmm.

Hopefully my next post will be showing off some gorgeously bottled and delicious home made tomato sauce!!!