Tie dye t-shirts

I know, an entire month went past and it never made it to the blog. 

We did stuff, lots of stuff, like crochet poppies, netball tournaments, football, swimming, and lots of school stuff.

In addition there have been so many dermatology, rheumatology, neurology, acupuncture, physio therapy and an array of other appointments that I do not really discuss on this blog.

Becuase this blog is about our life, and those sorts of things are filed sternly under 'stuff that gets in the way of life', but are still very neccesary.

Anyways, one of the many projects we tried out was tie dying.

The hatchlings loved every second and now wish to turn every linen in our home multi coloured.

And to announce our news, see that teeny little baby vest at the bottom...

As well as our advent calendar of activities, holidays, concerts and more; we are rather hoping that unless this brand new person is as tardy as the ones before, this month will see that vest filled with our newest family member.

On the first day of autumn

We began with the start of our autumn tree.

We went through the bag of leaves collected from the town park,

to make leaf prints.

Then a little cutting,

a lot (5 sticks worth) of glueing,

to make a family of owls

to perch in our tree.

Now the hatchlings, with new glue sticks to hand, have started on hedgehogs, to scurry along the ground.

Happy Autumn

Autumn soft dough

The idea was to make autumn leaves.

Scented in cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

We thought they would make nice ornaments to fill clothes drawers with nice smells.

The practice has been quite a bit different.

2 Sonic the hedgehogs, 4 snails, and an entire flock of angry birds.

Nonetheless, it sure smells good in here.

Hanging the wreath and more more mince pies

Hatchling no1 has been shopping extensively for the perfect wreath for our front door.

This has become of great importance.

Do not mess with a house proud hatchling, especially the pre - teen variety, and I say that lovingly.

She finally found THE ONE.

At the quiet sum of £58.99

Yeah, that was not going to happen.

We have like a whole lot'a lot'a windows to buy and all sorts of other places to spend money.

But motherly guilty, and joy that she takes pride in our home, made me very keen to indulge her.

So, I bought an 'ugly' £1 wreath from the pound store, and a ±£1 string of lights.

And I set about knitting up the ends of old balls of yarn and came up with a snowman and two little owls.

And thankfully, my hatchling is please, she hung it on our front door today, and sighed happily.

Which makes me happy.

Mince pies also make me happy, and I have been making trays of these again most of the day long. 

I am going to be snowman shaped, by the end of this holiday with all the brandy cream and pastry I have eaten...

and it is so worth it!

Just in case you fancy some mince pies, here is the link to our recipe:

http://followingourrainbow.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/mice-pies.html

Windy, wet days need rainbows

It is wet and windy,

everyone has colds and the car is in the shop.

So we mixed up rainbow bubbles, 

to cheer a grumpy hatchling.

Once we had gotten the food colouring out,

it seemed a good idea to bake cake,

and make more play dough,

and try out making rainbow spaghetti.

Now, half the hatchlings are busy playing play dough while the other half are making crafts with the spaghetti.

Through the sound of the music playing we have playing, I hear laughing and happy chatter. Which is exactly the change we needed from this mornings congested grumping and back ground whinge.

Wishing you a happy day with rainbows, regardless of how hard the rain comes down.

Advent day 11: Peg angels and Stockings for the cats

This year's peg angels turned out rather well, I thought.

And then the older hatchlings spent the afternoon sewing stockings for the cats.

Advent day 10: Easy crafts for little hands

Candy cane mice.

Pipe cleaner snow flakes.

And snowy ornaments.

Advent day 6: Snowy day Snowglobes

The weather has been cold and very windy.

Too cold to spend anymore time outside, than is really necessary.

Thankfully, today, the wind eased.

And hatchlings could get outside,

and burn off some of their cooped up in the house,

bored with all things indoors

energy.

Some of the ducks came out of their house

and followed the hatchlings.

Never seeming to mind being the target of many a snowball.

This guy here,

he does not accept his ducks being turned into targets.

After giving his siblings a very loud lecture, he herded the ducks to safety.

Ducks do not listen to good advice.

Hence, they were back out chasing snowballs and lying down next to the hatchlings' snow fort projects within minutes.

The hens found the best sunbeam.

Before too long the wind picked back up.

When the girls declared they were cold, I made the boys come inside to dry their mittens. (I am so pleased with these. I've knitted at least a dozen pairs this year.)

Kitties snooze by the radiator.

Today's craft was snow globes. 

Made with clear plastic bowls.

So much easier than leaky, water filled jars. 

No broken glass either. Should your three year old throw his snow globe in the air with excitement.

Happy snowy day!

Advent day 4: Crafts on a windy afternoon

The hatchlings had dentist appointments today.

After which we went to the garden centre to amble through all the pretty decorations.

That alone would probably have been sufficiently seasonal.

However, we soon saw the pretty cakes, and the festive menu; hence, we stopped for lunch there too.

Turkey, stuffing and wensleydale with cranberry paninis for the boys, and roast pork and gravy on thick white bread for the girls. 

Finished with cakes so pretty, I really ought to have brought my camera.

Little edible works of art.

Anyways,

Home we came to make the following:

http://static.spoonful.com/sites/default/files/3D-Paper-Snowflake-Christmas-printables-0110.pdf

http://static.spoonful.com/sites/default/files/christmas-train-playset-printables-1209.pdf

and these,

http://static.spoonful.com/sites/default/files/clf-3d-character-christmas-printables-1209.pdf