Christmas Advent Ideas: Day 6 - Elf Pancakes

Credit for these goes to Mrs Knight, who brought these cuter than cute mini pancakes to Playcentre recently...  The sprinkles and everything, I was swooning away like a character from a Jane Austen novel...

We are going to have a pancake breakfast for one of our advent days, and we are planning to have E wake up to find Atticus with his own stack of pancakes.  With a milo too, because milo looks pretty cute when its in a tiny teacup!  Wow, I think that the month of December is going to be quite busy, with all this elf business, and advent activities... Maybe chocolates would have been easier...

p.s. we eat wholemeal pancakes, though I love how white flour turns them into thinner than thin crepes.  We have also been experimenting with savoury pancakes.  Yum.

Constructive Eating review!

Sometimes we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to review some seriously cool products.  This is one of those times.  Recently we were sent this awesome Constructive Eating set for Eleanor, and it's pretty ace!  There were two cute options, but I was most taken by the digger set, and the idea of a plate-as-construction-zone.  

Don't mind that messy-just-been-helping-Daddy-garden face.  At least her wee hands are clean.

Transporting is one of Eleanor's main learning styles, so this set is absolutely perfect for her.  She gets a bit particular about all the peas being in the right place, and loves that the plate has designated areas for things.  We didn't get much of a chance to use the fork with this meal, it being such simple fare (for a somewhat fussy eater), but the pusher/spoon combo worked a treat!  So easy for E to use, without any frustration on her part bonus or requests for help extra bonus.  She contentedly pushed and scooped up every single pea.  And also ate them extra, extra bonus. 

For our family, a plate like this will be kept for special occasional use.  For instance, on nights when there is a heavier than usual portion of vegetables, hehe!  I love having little rituals like that.  Things saved for rainy days and special events.  And sure, vegetables can be a special event. Why not.

The garden set is pre.tty cute too!  You can find both sets for purchase here - BUT if you are thinking of purchasing one as a Christmas gift, perhaps? send me an email at rutherbrad(at)yahoo(dot)com - because Penny is offering combined plate and utensil sets for a special price of $50 to Golden Adventures readers.  To quote my daughter, woowooop!

Sneaky Veges

This is something I've been meaning to do for ages, since reading this post.  We had some wilting spinach that needed using, so I unpacked the smoothie maker (that we inherited when my sister-in-law moved to Australia, woop!) and made a yummy (and healthy) smoothie.  Ours had: One glass of Almond Milk (we are trying Eleanor on this - wondering if she may be lactose intolerant), one banana, several gigantic leaves of Perpetual Spinach, a handful of frozen blackberries (picked last summer), some chopped parsley (yep, sneaky!) and some fresh pears from a local tree.  Um.  Yum.

It didn't even look too bad, thanks to those blackberries!  It wasn't super sweet, but I like it that way... And best of all, I froze some of it for ice-block 'treats' (E's favourite).  Yep, bribing my kid with spinach and parsley.  Awesomeness.

It was all about the treat table...

For me anyway.  The rest of the party planning was like this; "oh, we'll play pass the parcel, we still have the parcel we didn't use for her last party... And the kids can all just play.  Kids like playing..."  For me, the thoughts, the dreaming, the planning & preparing was all based around that little treat table (oh and the favours, but I'll get to those soon).  Mini food, it kills me.  Months ago I decided that her party would be all about mini food, which I am tempted to buy every time I step out to buy groceries.  I just like mini stuff.

Behold the mini food:

Then there was the cake.  I have a friend who designs and makes the most amazing cakes, and I'm afraid to say that my little efforts are absolutely nothing in comparison.  But, I was quite happy with how this little one turned out.  I figured that I'd just make use of my drawing skills for the cake design, and it was quite fun seeing what I could come up with.  I sort of recreated a scene from the book, but in a very basic way...

The actual baker of the cake was my darling big sister, who made the cute little cupcakes and the mini American Hotdogs too...  Thanks sis!

Food list:
(store-bought)
Baby carrots
Cherry tomatoes
Mini Gherkins
Mini Wafers
Mini Mallowpuffs
Mini Oreos
Mini M&Ms
Snack size cucumbers (for sandwiches & with crackers)
Savoury mince pies
Cheerio sausages (for hot dogs)
Mini Sesameal crackers
Small slices of cheese
Lemon & barley cordial + soda water
(homemade)
Lemon cake
Lemon cupcakes
Wholemeal hot dog buns
Ice bowl (all made by Ku)