Baby Cloth Shoes

Little shoes are so cute. I finally cracked it. Excuse the unmatched material, it was a bit of a experiment.

I used this tutorial- it was fantastic, even being a beginner I could follow it easily!

Next on this list some warmer weather cloth shoes- cute. Tutorial Here.

Nursery Printable in Pink

I've been working on this printable for Poppet's (ever a work in progress) nursery wall. The lyrics are from the Dixie Chick's song Lullaby- it's beautiful.

Day 22- Pink.

Where you Stand.

Day 21- Where you Stand.

So it made me Think what have you bought that you really didn't use?

I have been busy pricing up little people's clothes to go in a sale next week. While I hand down alot of my clothes(often those are handed to me), I still find I have some to sell! There are so many ways to get decent second hand baby items, and considering how much they use some items, it seems crazy to buy too much new!

I was glad I bought 2nd hand clothes when this man grew a size a month for a time there!

 The parents centers in each region of NZ often run sales, here in Nelson, Plunket also runs a huge sale. My favorite is the pretty smart sale, they put all the clothes together by gender and size, so all you  can compare all the sized clothes you want at one table rather than searching multiple stalls throughout a hall. Of course Trade Me here in NZ and overseas Ebay are great ways to find second hand items.

There isn't much that we haven't bought second hand, and most of it was like new. Some of the things we actually bought new I have regretted paying what we have for them as they just didn't get the use I expected!

I was reading a blog the other day talking about what items they had bought for baby which they could have done without. What I hadn't heard of that made me giggle was a wipes warmer, really? luckily my children seem to be immune to un-warm wipes. (phew!) 

So it made me Think what have you bought that you really didn't use?

For me it was a porta-cot, because although we do travel its usually to our respective parents who both had spare cots! For the amount of time we have used it we could have easily borrowed one!

With my son it was the sling because he was just too heavy for me to carry for any length of time and after having a Caesar my back wasn't very strong.

Oh and my biggest one was the doubles kit for our Phil and Teds- seemed like a great idea at the time, pre-planning and all, planning for number two when we hadn't even had number one. However little man was too heavy and when he was above the newborn part, he touched the baby, because she was too long!

So what did you find didn't actually come in handy!

Photo a Day May Day's 16,17,18!

Day 16- re-reading the series, yup I'm a serial re-reader who tends to have multiple books on the go at the same time

Day 17- Snack. Argh take them away they are supposed to encourage toilet training...

Day 18- something you made- Mothers Day birds nest necklace
 I have seen a few tutorials for these cute bird nest necklaces around, but this one caught my eye.

Things I'm Loving

Linking to MNM's things I'm loving, yay!

 

That someone finds me fricken hilarious!

So it got cold. And I have been freezing, yay for thermals with 40% off.

This is why I was SO cozy last year

 

 

  

Bargains, nothing over $3 thanks Sally army store. Usually so hard to get tidy boys clothing!

Cute Cards, Thanks Your Home and Garden, but where's my entertaining section? 

Heartland Chips- love that they are a NZ South Island success story and they taste super yummy.

 

Beetroot Chocolate Cupcakes- hidden vegies

Linking in with Fatmumslims photo a day challenge. Day 15- Something you Love....

Love little man eating a tasty chocolate muffin that's full of Beetroot,  sneaky veggie alert!


Beetroot Chocolate Cupcakes-

We have just harvested our beetroot before the cold weather truly sets in, since they are already starting to go soft we have been on the look out for tasty beetroot recipes. One that caught my eye was a recipe for beetroot chocolate cupcakes, sounds weird but we thought why not try it especially if little people will eat it.

Ingredients-

3/4 cup firmly packed Brown sugar
1 Cup self raising flour
1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Tsp Bicarbonate of soda
125g butter melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 small (200g) beetroot, peeled and grated

1. preheat oven to 160c and line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder and bicarb into a large bowl.
    Combine butter, egg and milk in a jug. Pour into flour mixture;stir. Add beetroot. Spoon into cases.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Verdict-

Professional sweet tooth's in our family thought there was not enough sugar in the cupcakes, this probably could have been remedied by the chocolate frosting suggested to go with them.

I found the beetroot flavor pretty dominant, just grating the beetroot led to biggish bits, so next time might chop them in a food processor ( of course this would have been a lot easier and cleaner!)

The surprising thing was that little man 2 and 3/4 loves them, he calls them nuffins and doesn't seem to notice the beetroot, so they were a hit on the hidden veggie front.

Of course I'm sure there are people out there who can get there little ones to just gobble the beetroot up as normal, I'm glad to say little man will eat some veggies...beetroot was not one of them. ( till now).