It's science experiment time!

Monkey-Moo was still getting over his chicken pox when Science week started at school. Monkey-Moo was a little upset at the prospect of missing out on any experiment fun that might be had so I promised him we'd do a little experiment of our own to make up for it.

A simple enough experiment to do with little monkeys.

You will need:

• Three glasses
• Two different food colourings (we used red and blue- as I didn't have yellow)
• Two paper towels
• Water

Experiment:

• Fill two glasses with exactly the same amount of water.
• Add Blue food colouring to one glass and Red to the other.
• Line up the three glasses with the empty one in the middle.
• Roll up a paper towel and place one end in the empty glass and one in the Blue water. Repeat the process with the Red water and empty glass.
• Now wait and watch as the coloured water travels up the paper towels and into the glass in the middle.

 

You should find that all three glasses end up with exactly the same amount of water, and fun for Monkeys is seeing what colour the water ends up in the middle glass (see we crossed over into some art related education with this one- mixing colours)

 

The best part of setting up the experiment for Monkey-Moo was seeing that little Monkey-Moo was just as interested in what was going to happen. It kept them both entertained, interested and most importantly quiet for some time. (it does take a while for the water to travel into the middle glass- so I do suggest setting it up and then leaving for a few hours)

 

Embracing Science week our little Scientist Monkey-Moo wrote out an experiment report to take to school and share with his class. Happy Monkey!

Pantry Staples.

Without a doubt these fabulous goodies from Sweetpea Pantry are going to be firm staples in my pantry cupboard. I found these little gems on Yumbles, and since Monkey-Moo had just been diagnosed with the Chicken pox, I swiftly placed an order!

Lets face facts, what was I going to do to keep him entertained for as many days as it would take before he was cleared to get back to school! There are only so many games, toys and movies before the Monkeys start to work on each others nerves!

I must have been putting out some seriously good karma, as the goodies arrived within 48 hours, and were greeted with great enthusiasm by both Monkey-Moos!

The bubble wrap was game number one (yay, that's one less game I had to think up to keep them busy) and on the menu for lunch, without a doubt were Grainy Brainy Pancakes! 

Once I had manged to get some work done for the morning, we all headed into the kitchen and got ready to have a go with our lovely Sweetpea Pantry mix! 

In one, two, three easy steps we had pancake production on the go!

 

These pancakes were so scrummy delicious,packed full of good stuff, the Monkey-Moos simply loved them! They were gobbled up before I could snap a photo of them looking all lovely and ready to be eaten! Here's the best I could do! 

Simply can't wait to try out the Sweetpea Pantry Ginger Giggles! 

Perfect Presents

There's nothing more stunning than a beautifully wrapped gift, one that looks almost too good to open, a gift within a gift itself. I simply love the creative and wonderful way some people can craft wrappings into works of art. I thought it was about time I stopped envying those that can, and gave it a good old bash myself.

With a lovely Baby shower to attend, there was no longer a reason to keep putting it off, have a go- what have you got to loose?

I decided to go with good old brown paper as the base (basically because that's what I had to hand, and tissue paper would have just torn with all the loose baby bits I needed to put inside) and accessorise with brightly coloured ribbon. It's a baby boy, so no bows and frilly flowers or anything girlie for this wrap!

I went simple, three ribbons, double sided tape and a gift tag.

In hindsight, I should have placed the gifts in a box, or wrapped something less awkward in shape, but I'll tackle that next time. Hope you like it just the same! I can hardly wait to have another go with the next gift that needs wrapping.

Back to Basics

Sometime we forget that the simplest things, the old fashioned things, are the things that can keep our little Monkey's entertained for hours.

I'd been out shopping back in January on a rare occasion without either of the Monkey's, yes all on my lonesome, it was awesome! (Mommy's you know what it's like, nothing better than a few hours without the incessant questions and jabbering of Monkeys in tow)While I was out I spotted two pairs of scissors, you know the kind that cut in patterned wavy lines- when I was little that meant, zigzags and only zigzags- but here were two that were a little different. I snapped them up, with the thought that at some point I'd need to entertain the Monkeys on a rainy day.

This was that rainy day, I fished out some coloured paper the new scissors, the box of crayons and a glue stick. With my fingers firmly crossed I set it all out on the little table, and prayed it would keep them out of trouble for at least 10 minutes.

Too my utter amazement, it was hours of entertainment. Littlest Monkey was having the time of his life working out how to cut, he littered the floor with hundreds of tiny bits of paper from cutting to his hearts content. 

Monkey-Moo One surprised me with an art work, not quite sure why we needed meteors crashing into the house but he worked quietly away for such a long time trying his hardest to get the shapes cut  just the way he wanted and colouring in all the extra little details.

I'm so pleasantly surprised at how such a simple activity brought them so much joy!

Sunny Weekend Mornings.

Blue sky and bright sunshine, after all the blustery winds and rain this winter and top that off with two Monkey-Moos letting us sleep in till after 8am - Is simply the most perfect way to start the day!

Sunny mornings call for impromptu batches of banana muffins! (do you really want to argue?)
Since it was still "Valentines" month, what better muffin cases to use than these gorgeous heart ones I received for Christmas. (all the way from New Zealand I should add)

You remember the vegan recipe I totally rave about. Well that's the way I started the morning. Filling the house with a warm baking smell. (I'd like to claim that it would remind me of mom's kitchen, but lets face it, she was never one for baking unless it was necessity! Don't get me wrong, she can whack out a batch of totally to die for muffins, biscuits, and loaf cakes, she just wouldn't choose to bake without a reason)

You can find full recipe and method here

Cup of tea and freshly baked muffins and we are ready to start planing our day. 

We couldn't possibly waste the glorious weather! Wellies on and out into the sunshine,we head off to our nearest city farm. We weren't the only family with that idea this morning.

It was busy.
Monkey-Moos didn't seem to mind. Owls,bunnies and cows, a couple pigs some sheep, horses and goats plus a stroll round the community garden and time to head home for lunch with four pairs of really muddy wellies!