A major find.....

At the wrong time of year.  I found this sand and water play set on Craigslist, it is just a bit chilly out there to use it much right now (unless I add warm water each time!).  Finding new ways to play with it e.g useful for photo-shoots!

Roaaaaarrrrrrr

Isla's first Halloween outfit.  It is a huge event, nothing for Christmas in the shops yet - it is all about this one first.  A neighbour lent us this costume, her son wore it last year.  We will go Trick-or-Treating with them, nearby a whole square of houses all dress up and decorate the street.  Looking forward to it!  We have been reading the Paper Bag Princess lately so Isla is LOVING her dragon costume.

Roarrrrr!

Scary?

Nap time with Grandad

 Skype is an amazing thing!

Keeping it Local

Last time we were up at the cabin. 

We had been picking blackberries and apples so I decided to make them into something tasty and to keep Isla busy on a dull day.  We used this recipe from Jamie Oliver, pretty straightforward  - it is the first thing that came up when I Googled "healthy apple crumble".  We added the blackberries that were left after Isla's blackberry fest to the pan with the apples a couple of minutes before the end.

Ingredients

Mixing

Steamy hot!

Adding the topping

The verdict?

AWESOME! 

Yum, yum, yum.

A Couple of Projects

I bought Isla a table and chairs and a step to get up to the sink from Ikea.  They were nice enough - but I thought they would be soooo much nicer if they we stained a nice dark walnut with a chalkboard top so she can draw on it.  A simple procedure - I did it over a few nights as it needed some drying time between stages:

1) Lightly sand top of table and chairs

2) Paint the top of the table, chairs and step with a primer and allow to dry for an hour

3) Paint the top of the table, chairs and step with two coats of chalkboard paint, allowing an hour between coats for drying.  Hide these items so that Isla cannot get covered in paint.  Allow 7 days for the paint to "cure" and be ready for chalking on.  

4) Stain the legs of all items with as many coats of walnut varnish as you can be bothered to apply.  I could do with adding another couple of coats but Isla was SOOOO keen to get playing and chalking I had to cut this stage short.  Allow to dry at least overnight or it will stink the house out.

Now for the moment you have been waiting for - the before and after........ tah dah!!!  Plus a couple of pictures of Isla demonstrating how useful it is.  No shots of her helping herself to the contents of the cupboards on her new step.

PS - buy dust free chalk the first time, saves a lot of cleaning up