Pirate Costumes and a Picnic

More information on the pirate costumes here.

With the nice weather this past week, I took the girls on a picnic at the river and then for a play in the park.  They brought along their dolls from Rainbows, it is our turn to show them a good time this week!

7 Days (in pictures)

Taking inspiration from The Barefoot Crofter

My attempt to take a picture of the full moon.

I'm going American redneck here with a tractor tire for a raised bed.  

Free = happy!

The snow drops think it is spring.  I can only hope they are right!

The girls made a Valentines decoration

 

I finally sewed the handle on my felted bag

The girls were very curious what I was doing taking pictures of the snow drops.

7 Days (in pictures)

Putting the Clover Wonder Knitter to good use.  Thanks Grandma!

Look at all that winter sunshine, I love it!

I think we might have the first ever chicken mechanic.

You  know she is telling him he is doing it wrong.

Deer in the early morning.  

 Action shot!

The Polytunnel!

Here is what we were up to this weekend--putting up our polytunnel.

First we put the frame together

Then we moved it into position, and anchored it using ground spikes.  Then we dug a trench around the outside.

Next we put the cover on, and buried the ends of the cover in the trench.  We filled the trench back in with the soil and sod, then covered over with cement slabs and heavy rocks.  We live on top of a very windy hill and are hoping this will help keep it from becoming airborne!

Here's the inside--ready to get dug up and planted!

Easy Brioche

I've been struggling lately with food for the girls.  They are currently incredibly picky about what they eat.  I can't help but feel I did something wrong and it is my fault.  Deep down I know it is just a phase, about them controlling things, and this too shall pass.  They are like me however, and demand variety in their diet.  The other day I made brioche in my bread machine for breakfast, and it was pretty much a universal hit.  I for one, loved it.  Here is the recipe I used.  Brioche with chocolate chips

The modifications I made to the recipe:

 I used my bread machine for the dough.  I used 1/2 plain flour and 1/2 bread flour.  I added everything but the chocolate chips into the bread pan and set it on the white dough cycle. My machine doesn't have a sweet bread cycle, but some do and you could use that.  After it had gone through the first bit of kneading I added the chocolate chips.  They didn't melt, and it worked well this way.

After the cycle was done I took the dough out and divided it into 12 portions.  I put these in a muffin tin (I used a silicone tray and didn't need oil).  Then I allowed them to rise for another 1/2 hour while the oven heated and I got on with other things.  Right before baking I brushed the dough with egg white and sprinkled with demerara sugar.  I baked at 180C for 20 minutes.  Viola!

7 Days (in pictures)

In the spirit of the Barefoot Crofter, here is a peek at my last 7 days.

We got some snow again, not too much, and soon melted.

 Enough that after quite a bit of begging we took the girls to the hill for some sledding.  Their first sledding ever!!  It was great fun, even in not much snow.

Then the girls and I stayed in PJ's all day, and made this!

7 Days (in pictures)

In the spirit of the Barefoot Crofter, here are my 7 days.