Fathers Day

I've always enjoyed baking but I'm trying to be a bit more creative, so when fathers day was approaching I decided to make a shirt cake. Now I'm the type of person who would rather try to make something myself to avoid the many preservatives that are in so many of the foods we eat and this is what I tried to do with this cake. I tried to make my own roll out icing. As you can see I didn't succeed as I'd hoped to. 

I now know that there are a few more ingredients in roll out icing than just icing sugar and water.

Although Husband was very happy with his shirt cake all I could see was drippy shirt. So I made the decision to make any future cakes with pre-made roll out icing.

As you can see the girls had fun helping me with the clean up, Middle Daughter was actually lying across the island licking all the icing sugar that she could.

 

I found some  ideas from other sites to make some great gifts for fathers day, one was this photo of the kids, I can't remember where I found it but I will search for it so I can give credit where it's due.  Husband really loved this gift and and I must say I do too.

JAMES 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Keeping Secrets

There is something that I do with all of my children individually and none of them know that it's a universal thing.
I keep secrets with them.
Every now and then I will go out with just one of them so they can get some mummy time without having to share me, it could be anything from going to the supermarket, to the post office, into town or simply going for a drive.
While we are out we get to chat, laugh and have fun with each other and I get to know that particular child better.They have my undivided attention and they can be extremely helpful in the process if I am doing chores. They love it and they really don't mind where we go  it's not about where we go but the fact that they are out without the others and having one on one time.
During the course of our time out comes our secret. It's usually a sticky cake from the bakery or a hot chocolate and biscuit in a nice little cafe' . Of course it must be kept a secret from the other siblings because we don't want to hurt their feelings by making them feel left out. But they can't wait to whisper to daddy all the fun things we've done together as soon as we get home.
This has been going on for quite a few years now and I've been wondering for a while if they've sussed me out yet, and today middle daughter was having some extra cake ends (you know those sweet crunchy pieces that are so tasty) and she asked me "mummy does anyone else have secret treats". Firstly I said  "I can't tell you" and her response was " I bet they do" and I thought 'the cats out of the bag now' so I said "if they were having any secret treats I wouldn't be able to tell you because it would be a secret". She looked thoughtful after that as if she wasn't so sure.
I think my secret is still safe but not for much longer I suspect.
The reason I began doing this was because we do a lot of fun things as a family but I wanted each of my children to have special happy memories of their very own that only they would remember.
I never make a big deal out about who I'm going to take with me and I don't have a rota or anything like that, it's just very natural in the way that it happens. I may be just popping to the shop and say to one of the kids when the others are preoccupied with something " do you want to come with me" and it's as simple as that.
Being a christian gives us a special unique relationship with God that is very different to all the other Christians over the face of the earth He is the most caring, nurturing and loving parent we could ever want or need. And even though we can never reach His level of parenting skills ; We can try.

This Is What Happens When You're Not Looking

As I said before I have a new camera and I'm really enjoying taking photos of as much as possible, trying to figure out if something will look good as a picture or not. So after tea Teenager was doing homework, girls are eating dessert and Baby Boy is in his high chair having some milk which he LOVES by the way, tea time for him means yummy food and a bottle of milk.

Husband was in the garden doing garden stuff and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take some photos, and it was. The sun was shining and everything looked so fresh. I got some great shots. Have a look at my photo gallery my favourite so far are the bee pictures.

Anyway I was outside for a little while and when I came back in this is what I see. Baby Boy has made a mess. My first reation was "Oh no" but then I thought "photo op".So here he is in all his messy glory, and it wasn't so bad to clean up. After all "No use crying over spilt milk"

Hooray For New Life

So I have a new camera, it's great; I can finally get some fab shots of the family.  I'm taking pictures of everything, close ups of flowers, of the kids, even of husbands eye! Don't ask me why maybe it's just because I can. Then today I saw a bird on the feeder and wondered if I could zoom in and catch it (through the window).

Now I'm no professional photographer but I think considering that I took the photo through the window and had a very shaky screen as I was zoomed in so much it turned out pretty o.k. But all this is beside the point the point is that when I looked to see the photo I realised that it was a baby Goldfinch.

You can see from my last post why this is so exciting for me. I have been seeing the Goldfinches on a daily basis for about a month now but this was the first baby I have seen and to capture it on camera feels great.

It is so wonderful to be able to appreciate the beautiful creatures God has made.
"My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one,...For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come.." Song of Solomon 2:10-12