threelilprincesses.com

Category: Life and laughter

The Shed: The reason I ditched a date with Princess Mary

My li'l Tasmanian princess

By The Bloke in The Shed

IT’S NOT every day you get a chance to snub royalty. Yep, a letter arrived inviting me and Princess Kel to dinner with our Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Princess Mary and Prince Frederik of Denmark.

While it was an interesting offer, it did not take me long to respond in the negative – I’m enjoying spending some well-earned holidays with my own little royal family, the three princesses. There was also the little matter of forking out for the airfares to Canberra.

Now I assumed Princess Kel would be delighted when I told her I’d turned down the chance of a lifetime to spend as much time of my first holidays in seven months with her and the kids as possible. How wrong could I be?

“YOU DID WHAT?’’ she exclaimed.

“Get on the ‘net and check out how much the fares would be,’’ she followed.

“But what would we do with the kids?,” I countered.

“We’ll think of something.’’

Luckily, given the dinner was only a little over a week away, the airfares were the equivalent of the USA’s GDP and it made my original decision the correct one. Phew.

It soon became clear of Kel’s motive. “That would have made an awesome blog post,’’ she sighed.

Work, life and family commitments (not in that order) have made me a little scarce from www.threelilprincesses.com in recent months (is that the sound of cheering I hear?). A lot has happened in that time as I’ve worked hard to establish myself in a new position at work, a busy family and community life. Our little bubba Holly turned one and is growing at the rate of knots. Princess Ella has turned four and is far wiser than her years.

After a bath-time, um, disagreement between Kel and I tonight, Ella sided with her mum and said to me this:

“Daddy?,’’ she said.

“Yes, darlin’,’’ I replied.

“Sometimes I go with mummy’s team and then sometimes I’m on your team,’’ she said.

“Tonight I’m on mummy’s team and I’ll be on your team tomorrow I will. Will that be good?’’

“Yes darling’,’’ I replied unable to disguise my smile.

I guess after four years I should be happy she wants to be on my team … sometimes. I’m quite happy with my own little royal family thankyou very much.

Would you have ditched Princess Mary for your children?

November 17, 2011
Alphabet Photography Challenge – G

G is for girl, green frog and giraffe. Can you find these three g things in this picture? I wonder if you know where the letter g is.

By Rosie

Rosie likes to dabble in all manner of things. But her main aim is to find ways to capture life’s precious moments. Sometimes this is through words, and others, it means catching a moment as a picture and framing it. Times passes by so quickly. Everything is in the process of change. It’s the only way she knows how to freeze time. Capturing people in their natural environments is what she loves the most. People are fascinating and beautiful.

You can visit her blog, Rosie’s Growing Snow Peas or follow her on twitter

Don’t forget to head on over to the Alphabet Photography Challenge page, where you’ll find a series of “look and find” photographs to help your child learn the alphabet.

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys’ Wordless Wednesday. Click on the link to check out more photo posts.

November 16, 2011
How to make a princess tiara birthday cake in two hours

WHEN I say you can make a princess tiara birthday cake in two hours, I’m including the baking of the cake too. Oh yes, this was definitely not in the realm of the princess castle cake.

It’s fair to say she was pretty impressed!

Although, that only took about an hour longer and heaps of extra muscles.

I actually was super organised and had the cake cooked the day before for Princess Ella’s birthday on Saturday. However, due to a teething Li’l Holly who refused to let me put her down while I cooked the cake and a recipe that I really doubt was up to scratch, the cake ended up feeling like rubber.

So Saturday morning, the day of Princess Ella’s fourth birthday, I ditched the rubber wheel and went for my trusty old Women’s Weekly rich chocolate cake recipe. I swear it’s foolproof. If you need that recipe, visit the princess castle birthday cake tutorial.

Adding to the drama of the morning, we realised we didn’t have a tiara anywhere in the house. Kind of crucial for a tiara cake. The spin off was I got some free time while The Bloke in The Shed and Ella went off to buy one. They came back with a pretty tiara and a rather ugly princess wand.

This is what happened while they were gone:

After the cake is baked, knead and then roll out the ready roll icing on a bench dusted with icing sugar. Lay the icing over a rolling pin and transport it to the cake so it doesn’t break. Smooth it down around the edges and cut off any excess.

Add some colour to leftover icing and knead in well. I had two small batches of icing and put more colour in one than the other deliberately. Cut out letters with cookie cutters and any other shapes. The word “princess’’ was spell checked before assembling.

Boil some sugar water (one part sugar, to two parts water). Brush over cake and letters. Add silver balls in a pattern. You can add lines with a knife as a guide. I started to do this, then changed my mind. Hmm, always a nice effect.

Add the tiara. And presto, a quick birthday cake

Oh, and I forgot: blow out the candles

and then lick the tiara.

Need a tiara? Click the image below to grab this gorgeous one!
How long do you usually spend making birthday cakes? Or does the local supermarket do your cooking for you?

NB: Please note, some links are to products I’m an affiliate of. This means if you click through and choose to become a customer of that business in the future, I may receive a commission. This doesn’t mean you pay anything extra.

November 14, 2011
What would your last meal be?

BREAKFAST has suddenly become a big deal in this house. And I’m not talking about the fact I have breakfast once in the morning and again about 8pm. That’s just normal. Right? The big deal is that when Princess Ella, Li’l Holly and I sit down to breakfast, The Bloke in The Shed now joins us.

Following up Weetbix with toast

We’re going on nine years of marriage and during that time I’ve only seen him eat breakfast a dozen or so times – and it usually involves eggs, bacon and a holiday. So when he started going to a personal trainer to find a thinner version of himself, he came home the first night announcing “apparently I’m not doing myself any favours by skipping breakfast’’. Really? You don’t say. (Sorry, can’t help the sarcasm).

The fact Li’l Holly and I were flown all the way to Adelaide this week for breakfast just shows you how important it is. OK, so the trek was for a Kelloggs Bloggers Brunch, but still. The aim of the event was for Kelloggs to garner input from mums on its brand and breakfast in general.

Three Li'l… on a cereal box!

The breakfast topic for me was the search for a transitional food now Holly has moved from baby rice through to “big girl cereals’’. I had to confess that the princesses have been brought up on a diet of porridge and the cereal that starts with W and ends in X. Well, what other options are there?

Ernie, enjoying Weetbix

At the bloggers brunch, as I was deep in conversation with the hilarious Lucy and fresh from The Morning Show Jodie, a packet of Sultana Bran Buds was pushed under my nose. So I pushed some under Holly’s nose. She devoured the lot. Jus like a snack. While Kelloggs has gained a bad rap (and still is from some corners for its so-called pester power), the company has capped the amount of sugar its new products contain. So, while I’m not advocating eating Coco Pops every morning, some of its newer additions can eradicate early morning mother guilt – or boredom if you’ve been lacking brekky inspiration. Like me.

Breakfast is important. And if I had to choose my final meal, it would be a bowl of cereal. A bowl of Be Natural Pink Lady, Flame Raisin, Fruit Flakes and Clusters cereal to be precise. And, just so you know, Be Natural is part of the Kelloggs stable. That’s a coincidence, I promise.

What generally gets served up at brekkie time in your house – if anything at all? And what would your last meal be?

PS. So sorry, but I didn’t take photos at the event. Something to do with carrying a baby around. But you can see a whole host of gorgeous shots of the mum bloggers and Holly on Flickr. Or you can just visit the blogs of mother to a tribe Tatum, super sweet (without using sugar) Alyce, the girl with the awesome name Kellie, Kelloggs new product development team member Bianca, all-natural Cat, Super Nanny educated Glowless, too funny for words Georgia and my roomie and inflight entertainment Louisa.

November 11, 2011
Alphabet Photography Challenge – T

T is for twins. Can you see the T?

By Elisha Squire

I have loved taking photos for as long as I can remember. My husband jokes the kids will remember me mostly for always having a camera in my hand. I have five beautiful children, who are over me taking photos – even my seven-month-old looks away. One of the happiest days of my life was the day I got my Canon DSLR. Happy to report my now 10-year-old daughter is following in her mother’s footsteps

Don’t forget to head on over to the Alphabet Photography Challenge page, where you’ll find a series of “look and find” photographs to help your child learn the alphabet.

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys’ Wordless Wednesday. Click on the link to check out more photo posts.

November 9, 2011
Grateful for marrying daddy
THIS week I’m grateful for:
- Marrying Daddy: Princess Ella was particularly upset on Wednesday, because she “wanted to marry her daddy’’. “I don’t want to marry anyone else,’’ she said, with real tears streaming down her cheeks. Over the past few months she’s been keen on marrying the boy she goes to childcare with. The reality of being locked into a loveless marriage for the rest of her life had obviously sunk in. I tried to explain that we don’t marry our daddies (no, Tassie jokes, OK!) and that it would be a long time before she’d have to worry about that anyway. After more tears and more “but I just want to marry Daddy. Please?’’, I’m grateful The Bloke in The Shed stepped in and agreed to marry her. Ah, to be that innocent again.
- Parenting Line: I didn’t post earlier today. Did you notice? You see, there was a bit of an incident last night that I have been scolding myself over. Li’l Holly was in her cot, waving her dummy at me, while I tried to get her white noise CD playing. I couldn’t get it to work with my toe, like usual. The next thing: THUD. Then loud, piercing screams. When I turned around, to my horror, she’d fallen out of her cot and hit the floor hard. The rest of my night was spent having to wake her regularly to check she was OK. I’m ever so grateful she is and that the Parenting Line was there to reassure me. However, I’m also upset with myself that I would do something so stupid as to leave the cot side down and turn my back. Just when you think you’ve done an incredible job of keeping your children safe, a split second can change everything. There’s (some) comfort in knowing I’m not alone. But still…
- B1 and B2: In happier news, thanks to the Bananas in Pyjamas, there’s been much hilarity in our house this week. Out of the blue the other night, Ella asks: “Do you know what I’m thinking, B1?’’. I responded with: “No, I don’t , darling’’ and was promptly told that wasn’t the right answer. I tried again. “Yes, I think I do, B2’’. It’s at this point we have to try and see if we’re thinking the same thing. The combinations have been absolutely ridiculous. Apart from the time we were both thinking about chocolate.
I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.
November 4, 2011