The Babies Arrived!

They were born on the 14th April .... eight kits in total though one has since died. The children were absolutely over the moon when they saw the new rabbits after what they had been through the last few weeks.  The rabbits are now almost four weeks old and they are brave enough to leave the nest and explore the run.

One week old.

Two weeks old.

Three weeks old.

The Wrong One

My eldest daughter had been asking me for ages to get her ears pierced.  I told her that if she wanted them done she would have to convince me that she really did and it wasn't just a passing phase.  When she was a bit younger she had them pierced and it was clearly too much for her.  She cried about them a lot, refused to clean them and so on, when we went on holiday one came out and she wouldn't let me near her to put it back in again, so the hole closed up.  Anyway, three years on here we are revisiting this.  After two weeks of begging me I took her to the shop to have them done.  Just as I thought Toni bowed out and didn't go through with it.   Meanwhile our youngest son had asked about getting his done 'just like big brother', this morning I suggested that he might ask dad, just to see how serious he was.  He asked dad and daddy agreed too so Seb got his left ear pierced.   Its funny now that the boys have their ears done and the girls don't, it almost felt like the wrong child was getting his ears done today.

RIP Dillan

R.I.P. DILLAN

Well, I hate to report this sad news but the children have been so upset I felt I have to share.

Our neighbours two dogs broke into one of our rabbit hutches and murdered one of our pet rabbits. Now you have to understand that these are no ordinary rabbits, they are real pets. The rabbits come in the house and are really tame. Since this happened the children have been terribly tearful, its traumatic for them to have their pet destroyed like this. I was surprised at the depth of the children's feelings as we have experience natural causes deaths before and they had been really accepting of that. I am only glad I was there as I caught the dogs when I did as they were starting on another hutch, it doesn't bear thinking about what would have happened if I was away from the house. The hutch they started on second had our pregnant lion head bunny in, a Dutch rabbit and two young girls, the devastation would have been awful. On a lighter note the lion head bunny is due her litter on the 14th April so we are looking forward to that. We have decided, (if its okay with the person who is taking the babies) we are going to keep one if there are any male offspring.

Chocolate Orange Pavlova

Okay shoot me, the photo isn't the best in the world but it is all I have because the pavlova is long gone.  I made this one because I was off to visit my friend and between us we were making a lunch for us and the children.

I used the Nigella Lawson recipe as inspiration for this, its pretty much tried and tested in our house so I can say hand on heart it works.

for the base
8 egg whites
500g caster sugar
4 teas spoons cornflour
2 tea spoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

topping
2 tubs of cream for whipping
tin of mandarin segments
some chocolate to grate

method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and draw a 25cm circle on it.

Whisk the egg whites till they have peaks.
whisk in the sugar a spoonful at a time,
the meringue should be soft and shiny.

Sprinkle the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla over the egg white mix and gently fold in with a spoon.
spread the mix onto your parchment to the edge of your circle, smooth over the surface.

Put the meringue in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 120 degrees.
Cook for an hour then switch the oven off.  Do not be tempted to open the oven and look as you will spoil it. 


When the meringue is cooled, whip the cream and pile it on top.  Decorate with the orange segments and some grated chocolate.

Soda Farl Pizzas

Well I do love how plans can change (not).  The whole thing with the car in the garage has thrown me off my game this week.  Anyway that's another tale of woe and it includes an oil leak.  

I didn't make my table runner as planned, didn't even start it.  My other plan was to tidy that tip that I call the TV room and that didn't work either.  I had visions of throwing open the doors, as two of the doors from the TV room go straight into the garden, and letting the fresh air in and the rubbish out.  Well, it was foggy all day, and cold, and damp so I tackled the craft room instead.  The craft room was probably worse than the TV room yet a quarter of the size.  I cleared out two large bags of rubbish and two crates of stuff to be donated.  I sort of rearranged it, opened the window for a while and now it is fresh as well as changed around. 

All this effort got us out of puff, we didn't even attempt any lessons either.  So for lunch we raided the freezer for our stash of soda farls  and turned them into soda farl pizzas.,

Recipe

8 Soda Farls split in half

blob of BBQ sauce on each
topped with a slice of salami, some peppers,
mushrooms and finally cheese.
I sprinkle a few mixed herbs over the top to give them a pleasing look.

Bake them in a hot oven for 15 mins or so until they are cooked how you like. 

Five Mile Trek - just for fun!

                                                                                                                                                                         Where I live it is really pretty.  I mean not just pretty but beyond that.  It's the sort of place you would settle down in to if you want to slow the pace.  We are so fortunate to live here and every single day I count my blessings.

Today I took the children for a treck!  And they are now all sleeping very soundly in their beds, tired and happy.  I have to confess that my feet hurt a little and my thighs ache.  We walked almost five miles over rocky coastal paths. We wandered through marshy fields and explored several deserted coves.  I took loads of photographs, far too many to share on this page, it was hard to chose which ones to share. 

One of the beaches had a couple of old wrecked boats on it, they made an interesting resting spot for the children while they had some refreshments.

We collected many shells and sparkly stones.  

I love the boats in our village.

 

Walking out to the sea, it had to be done. You can see Sol getting her balance before she attempted to walk along the concrete slip. 



Tomorrow I am hoping to be working on making a table runner for my dining table.  I have some red and black patchwork pieces, all pre cut and ready to go.  That's the plan anyway, but anyone who has a few children knows only too well that those plans are subject to change at very short notice.

Meet Fred

I had another attempt at the French Fancies, they turned out pretty good, still not too sure about the icing but they will do.  My friend is visiting tomorrow so it will be interesting to see if they meet her approval.  

I have to introduce a new member of the family today. Meet Fred .....

Fred is a Seimens Dressman TJ10001 shirt ironing machine.  I had some rather interesting and funny conversations with some friends at a home ed meet up last week. I came home to share them with my other half. The conversations were about one of the other home ed mummies owning a shirt ironing machine and how it just blows up and your shirts are ready to wear.  Well my husband loves shirts, he had at least 70 in his wardrobe much to my dismay.  If I didn't iron them he would go out and buy more, he is a real one to watch for that.  I told him about the machine and he promptly went out and got one.  It cost a few pounds I will say that much, but after already test driven him I am sure he will earn his value back in the very near future.   Since knowing he was due to arrive today I have affectionately called him Fred, that of course caused further debate as my husband reckoned he should have been called Charles.  Of course I am going to win this battle.