Blue Morning Tea

We had a 'lovely' blue morning tea on Tuesday...  It certainly tasted great, but I have to say I'm looking forward to our Think Pink morning tea next term! 

Cupcakes, Melting Moments, Star Biscuits, Lollies and REAL coffee all made for a sweet indulgence.  And the best thing?  We got together another $46.20 for the Community Garden Project in Maradi, Niger!  So with the $50 that we previously sponsored, we're almost at $100.00.

Well done girls!

Wai Walk for Niger?

The Start Line of the 2km

Wow - what a turnout! About 80 people participated, and a good 60% of those were families. Familes from WonderMums, along with those from Kiddy Winks, MBC and our community all got together and walked 2km carrying their water (wai is Maori for water ie, 'Water' walk for Niger).  Others walked 5km and some even 11km.

Walkers, then a picnic finish!

Why did we do this?  In Niger, people are dying. Far too many people. And simply because they don't have water. Parents carry grief for children who died way before their time. It really is heartrending.

We feel truly lucky that we 'happened' to be born in a country with loads of fresh water. We want our children to realise this is a huge privilege not shared by everyone around the globe. So this was a chance for our kids to get actively involved in 'doing' something that will help these families in Niger. 

I am so proud of all the kids who did this walk today. They were excited to be doing something as a group, and the older ones were really proud to be doing something to help kids who have no clean water to drink.

So far $50 sponsorship has been given by WonderMums!  Awesome stuff!  We are really hoping that as a group we would be able to donate $100 towards this awesome cause. We still have till the 7th of Oct to collect sponsorship/donation. 

Very excited kids!

World Vision is running the Maradi Community Vegetable Gardening Project in Niger. The direct beneficiaries are 560 women and men farmers. In total though, this will benefit 4200 people, 1,470 of which are just children.  Amazing isn't it!  Did you know that 50% of the population does not have access to safe drinking water, with 44% of children under-5 years being underweight? Those are scary percentages...

One of the main reasons for this project is this:  "Producing horticultural crops such as fruits and vegetables for cash and food, other than their staple grains, should become a more sustainable mechanism to reduce dependency on continuous food aid distribution when available water is appropriately managed and used.  Shifting the situation from perennial food insecure communities into producers of food that will relieve malnutrition levels and provide available cash to households to access other basic needs has potential in Niger."

The picture on the left is the project area in Maradi.  The picture on the right is an example of what this will look like upon completion. This is another project World Vision has finished in Mali.

Messy Play!

It just goes against the 'Mummy' grain, doesn't it. Putting out a whole lot of gloopy, messy, sloppy stuff and then encouraging our littlies to actually play in it! Eww! They do love it, though! The Mummies secretly love it too. ;)

We prepared an ice excavation block, slime, gloop, cloud dough, and textured playdough. The kids were very interested in exploring all this weird stuff (probably wondering if their mummies had gone nuts!). Some were hesitant, but it was great seeing them all get into it with a bit of encouragement.

These things are REALLY easy to do at home too. You can find the recipies on our Messy Play tab at the top.

For more photos, see the album.

Cupcake Night!

 This picture says it all!

We got all our gear out and played around with heaps of stuff! We did some moulding from fondant icing (roses, bows, and flowers). We also tried our hands at some pretty piping. The aim of the night was to have fun, share some knowledge, and discover that anyone can make a cupcake look great! We were lucky to have Fleur's input with all sorts of handy tips - thanks so much, Fleur!

Here are some links to some of our knowledge spots:
1.Loose swirl tutorials (Simply Sweets blog) & (Bella Cupcakes blog)
2.Vintage ruffle flower (Jessicakes blog)
3.Buttercream tips (Cooks And Cups blog)
4.Cheats fondant roses (my blog)

You can download the recipes we used for our icing here.

Supper was a hit too: Creamcheese Brownie, and Lemon Cake complete with Hot Chocolates!

Till next time!!

Welcome Baby Joseph!

A huge congratulations to Chelsea & Matt on the safe arrival of little Joseph Jeremiah. How cute is that little mouth!

He was born on the 4th August at 1.35am and weighed in 3.33kgs (about 7lb 5oz). Chelsea is doing well.

We look forward to getting some snuggles with your little guy!

Card Making & Origami

Last night we joined a card-making group and got our craftiness on! We had the opportunity to use so many fab materials: cuttlebugs, embossing tools, stickers, stamps, many different papers and cards - you name it, it was likely there.

We also tried our hand at a bit of basic origami.

And of course, all this was enjoyed along with a lovely supper. ;o)

If you couldn't make it, and would like to have a go at home, you can view the instructions for these origami designs on the following links:
Dress
Kusudama Flower
Kirigami Bow

Photos for night can be viewed here.

A Visit to Tin Tin's

Wow - we had SUCH a great time at Tin Tin's today!  19 of us went out there and enjoyed hanging out and chatting while our kids all ran around playing. 

It was so lovely to see so many of our sweet lil newbies there too.

With the weather being so confining, lately, it was perfect being able to let the kids loose in a large space where they could make lots of noise, do heaps of running and do a fab job of being kids.

We love days like that...

Check out the rest of the photos here.