Blissful E

10 Mar, 2010

watercolour painting

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Nikki asked to paint, so I set her and Michael loose with the watercolours.

Nikki also painted the reverse of that same page.

Her current style could be called 'saturation.'

2 Comments

Tags: preschooler, toddler

09 Mar, 2010

artisan bread in five minutes per day

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

In the spirit of doing less this year, I plan to periodically share some of the shortcuts that allow me to parent more efficiently and work smarter.
~ ~ ~

So I got really excited about making my own beautiful bread with very little effort and mixed up a batch of artisan dough (enough for four one-pound loaves) in the largest container I have in my kitchen.

Then I left it to rise for a couple hours.

Realizing my mistake, I moved the dough to a big stockpot and stuck it in the refrigerator as the next step.

After the older kids were in bed, I removed a grapefruit-sized pound of dough and transferred the rest back into the yogurt bucket to take up less room in my refrigerator. I formed the dough into a free-form ball, let it rest on my pizza peel, and slashed it.

Into the oven, and thirty minutes later - well, if I hadn't seen myself make this bread I wouldn't have believed it.

Ben sliced into the warm crusty loaf, and we each ate a delicious piece before going to bed. This was easy and fun, and after we devour this batch, I'm looking forward to trying the healthier version here.

4 Comments

Tags: food, shortcut

08 Mar, 2010

pink and blue stripes

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

A happy Baba home from work and holding baby Vi.

3 Comments

Tags: Ben, months 4-6

05 Mar, 2010

jam session

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Percussion instruments are all the go in our house!

Ben asked if I initiated the jam session. Not at all - my only contribution was getting down on the floor and pressing the "record" button. Nikki and Michael set up the instruments and began playing on their own. They just love music!

1 Comment

Tags: music, preschooler, toddler, video

04 Mar, 2010

the spoon is better than the food

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Vi has tried banana, avocado, and apricots.

She still prefers the spoon!

4 Comments

Tags: food, months 4-6

03 Mar, 2010

Michael Foreman’s Nursery Rhymes

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Nursery rhymes are "the bottom-most layer of the comfortable hereditary clutter of mottoes, proverbs, and half-remembered tales that we use to ornament conversations throughout our lives, knowing that they are common currency." - Iona Oprie

Michael Foreman's Nursery Rhymes was a fabulous find on our latest trip to the library.

Nikki adores the funny sayings and memorable incidents recorded throughout. Michael enjoys the visual humor, for instance a rat shown walking from one relevant rhyme to another on the next page.

Nikki happily recites the rhymes for Michael, as in the video below.

She is also beginning to create scenarios of her own with the characters.

Fun-loving children + a book of silly rhymes = good times.

1 Comment

Tags: children's book, preschooler, toddler, video

27 Feb, 2010

learning from Jonah

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Ben and I like to ask each other what we learned from the sermon during our drive home from church. Tonight we got distracted, recounting our conversations after church instead.

image :: original artwork by Fred R Shepard

When we got home, Nikki took it upon herself to ask me what I learned. I told her, and then she asked me to ask her what she learned! Of course I asked and she told me that she learned about "growing our hearts to be more like Jesus, and prayer [Pastor Mike talked about Jonah's prayer in the belly of the big fish]."

A few minutes later Michael asked me to ask him what he learned ("Mama, what Michael learn?"). So I asked him and he sat up very straight in his chair and forcefully enunciated his answer: "worship God!"

3 Comments

Tags: Christian life, church

26 Feb, 2010

have you any S-N-O-D?

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

With sharp-eared small children around, adult conversation can be a bit limited. Sometimes Ben and I spell things rather than say them.

That means, of course, that when we're spelling, it must be important.

Nikki heard some spelling and thought we were saying "S-N-O-D". She now thinks that S-N-O-D is very important.

Ben and I have no idea what we were spelling when our daughter heard S-N-O-D, but the acronym has clearly taken on a life of its own.

Sometimes when we're about to eat, Nikki will ask if we're having S-N-O-D. Or she'll ask if we're going to get some S-N-O-D. Click here to listen to Nikki's imaginary phone conversation about S-N-O-D (transcript below).