Pickle Time!!!!

So thanks to my generous neighbor we were given some cucumbers and I decided to try my hand at making pickles, surprisingly easy, boil canning jars, boil 1/2 vinegar 1/2 water pack jars with cucumber slices and 1 tbsp of pickling spice and top with water vinegar mix, then you boil everything in the packed sealed jars for 15 minutes.
Great activity with the toddler he loved packing the jars and ate a few cucumber slices as well.

Yumm!

I have been a stranger lately...........

With the daycare running i seem to have lost all extra time we are enjoying the summer and the weather has been good to us, the tomato's are ripening and fall is on its way..... Here we are at the parks museum in Tobermory Canada. Its amazing what a child can understand they have a lot of stuffed animals in the museum and my son at 2 was looking around horrified and I asked him what was wrong he replied 'there all dead mummy' as if I was oblivious to this information. Just goes to show you kids know more than we think.

Sticks & Twigs is now Open!

Sticks & Twigs is now OPEN!

Sticks and Twigs has been a dream of mine for over a year now and I am proud to say has finally opened its doors as of April 2011! We are a small licenced home daycare located in Newmarket Ontario and I am pleased to announce that we are currently full. I look forward to serving the community of Newmarket and helping young children grow and flourish in a safe and loving environment.
We are located near main street, close to schools, library's, and the ever beautiful Fairy Lake.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me through this blog.

How to make a GNOME HOME

Well the weather didn't cooperate with us last weekend so we got crafty............

Last weekend we made a Gnome Home.... and it turned out great!
Supplies needed:
Paper Coffee Cup (no joke you need one time to grab a timmys!)
Kitchen Paper Towel
Newspaper
Watered down white glue
Craft Moss
(Put some in a blender to make it finer, it will stick to the home better)
Tape

Cut the coffee cup in 1/2 and tape it down to a thick piece of card, and start paper mache over the whole structure, when secure, add kitchen towel over top to smooth out the surface.

Let it dry and paint the whole thing brown. Cut it to shape and let it dry again.

Then cover it with glue and sprinkle it with the moss add some femo mushrooms if desired and there you go.
( Two year olds love to do the sprinkling!)

Add your Gnome and if you live where it snows decorate it seasonally as shown:

Hope you enjoyed this little project let me know how they turn out!

Knitted Pants!

My first pair of Knitted Pants for my son!
I used the doodlepants pattern and they turned out wonderful!
A tip if your wool is a bit scratchy add some hair conditioner to the water, mix it in warm first then add to the pants in cold.
Allways leave them flat to dry.

Hanging Mobile

Hanging Mobile

Our mobile is a centerpeice in our home decorated to mark the seasons and holidays, It hangs over our dining table and is a craft that we have come to love completing together.
Currently we have beeswax dipped pinecones that on a nature walk in the fall we collected, felt harts for Valentines day, and some felt birds, along with some crystals off of an old chandelier that were rescued.
I hope this can inspire you to create some traditions with your family and decorate your home with some natural beauty.

Natural Mamma

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

Just finished a craft for the mobile hanging over the dining table, thought it was about time to take down the winter decorations and bring some love and color to our centerpiece. This weeks activities will include making valentines day cookies in heart shapes to give to those we love.

Natural Mammas Awesome Cookie Recipe:
(nut and egg free)

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar organic cane

2 tbsp Molasses

1/4 cup soy or rice milk

1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup oatmeal ground and sifted

1 1/2 cups arrowroot flour 

1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

 

 

Beat together butter and sugar. Add molasses and milk mix well. Sift together dry ingredients and add gradually to sugar mixture. Add vanilla.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until dough is easy to handle (at least 2 hours or overnight).
Roll out on arrowroot floured board or a silicone baking mat and cut into desired shapes using a cookie cutter dipped in flour before each cut.
Bake in a preheated 350°F until slightly brown around edges. Freezes well for up to a month.
Frost and decorate as desired.

Hope you enjoy making them as much as we do in our family.