Dot painting and practicing staying inside the lines!

Her birthday is just around the corner and she's been talking about it every day for months. I planned a little activity for her to get her even more excited about her birthday, not sure if that was the right way to go, but it did help her to practice staying inside the lines and making dot painting. It was so much fun that I wanted to share this idea with you guys.

Grab yourself a piece of paper (we used a proper canvas paper, but I'm sure normal would work just fine as well), a black marker to draw your picture with, Q-tips and paint. First draw a very simple picture, make sure that there's enough pictures with spaces to fill with dots. I'm sure older kids can draw the picture themselves, but for little people this is the spot where you need to do the prep work for them.

Then choose your paint and put one Q-tip in each paint so that your child doesn't try to take different colours with the same Q-tip. After that it's just time to make some spots. We actually did this together a little bit so that she was able to watch me doing it and take example from it. Then just admire your work when you're finished!

As you see, you don't have to be a very good drawer... And I tried to keep it really simple. This activity was so much fun, and I was amazed how she got the idea of keeping inside the lines, she never stays inside the lines when colouring. Recommend trying this fun!

Thank you Finland

Thank you everyone who made our holiday back in Finland so great.

It was wonderful to visit family and friends and we wish we could have seen more of you.

Thank you Finland for showing us your best parts, giving us plenty of sunshine.

It was great to visit and can't wait to see you again.

Shopping bags made by daughter and her mama

Before we went to Finland I got Emma to draw two special pictures on a piece of fabric, one for her mummi (grandma) and one for her pappa (grandad). They both had birthdays during the summer so this was going to be a present for them. I sewed the fabric into shopping bags. Good team work I say and we did a HI-5.

Inside of the bag is rather retro and on handles she painted spots. Pretty cute if you ask me, I might want one for myself too.

With cousins

We're already back in Australia, but I thought I'd share a few more memories from our vacation in Finland.

Running competition was so much fun, 

especially when Emma's cousins came along too.

 She would have wanted to keep running. 

Then on the cruise ship she got her first face painting,

that was exciting too. 

Again wonderful time with the cousins.

About trust

We were at a friend's summer cottage last weekend, so relaxing. Not a single thing that we had to do, not a single place we had to hurry to get to. We were able to just relax. A little bit of sailing and sunny skies, oh it was so peaceful to be in the nature. I was able to do a bit of good old pondering and I'm just going to share some of it.

Even though the wind was very strong, Emma got to go on the boat as well. She was so excited, but we couldn't find any life jackets at the cottage. Jeremy said he'd just row close to the shore and not go very far. Yet there I was standing on the jetty, fearing for her sake. I was so scared every time the wind picked up even though they were right there in front of me.

All this got me thinking of trust. Oh how much trust she had for her father. She wasn't scared at all, she trusted that he would keep her safe. In fact she kept waving to me and shouting "See you soon mummy, see you soon". I tried to keep a happy face for her even though on the inside I was afraid that something would go wrong. Her trust never failed, even though the wind was rough, she never got scared.

Her strong trust got me thinking about the trust we should have for our Heavenly Father. That kind of childlike trust is what we need to have for Him. Sometimes over lives can be very stormy and we might wonder why these things happen to us. We might get scared and at times and think that He's forgotten us. But at those times we might only see the smaller picture when He can see the bigger one and know what's best for us, or what we need at different times. All we need to do is show faith and complete trust in Him just like Emma trusted her father.

Foxes are the new owls

As much as I like owl patterns I think they have been way over used in prints and products. So I think it's foxes turn to shine. I found this super cute fox print jersey fabric here in Finland and made quick t-shirts for the kids from them. I don't normally like making matching clothes for them, it's just not my thing, but I thought I don't have to dress them in these at the same time after these pictures were taken. My too little cutie pies.

I made both of the shirts extra long at the back, so that when they are playing other people don't have to see their backs and bottoms and also that they could be more comfortable. Pattern is invented by me, yay. 

Food challenge

How exciting, I got my first blog challenge. I was challenged by Herb from Herbtravels. She's been travelling from Finland through Russia and Kazakhstan to China, Japan and Korea. Maybe soon she might even post some photos from Australia ;). Her blog is in Finnish, but even if you don't understand the language the pictures tell a great story.

She challenged me to answer 11 food related questions. It was really interesting to think about the answers to these questions. Of course I don't have many food pictures as we're on holidays and I don't have my hard drive with me, so for example the bloody picture of the dead goat is not here (yeah keep reading!), so I appologise that the pictures might not relate to the answers at all.

Me and waffles, a true love story right there.

1. How would you prepare and serve blueberries for a dessert?
If the blueberries are fresh and the sort that you get in Finland I would just give them as such, nothing else. There is no need to ruin the amazing natural flavour they have. Blueberries picked from the Finnish forest are amazing and I think people in Finland take it for granted a bit. In Australia there is only blueberries from a bush and they are very very different. They work great in smoothies or I also like a good blueberry pie. I don't have one specific recipe in my mind right now.

2. What is your favourite kitchen tool, the one you wouldn’t want to live without?
I love peeling things, my peeler is the best and I peel carrots just for the sake of peeling.

3. What are your favourite snacks for a road trip?
Carrot sticks, it's only natural after I've peeled them all day long with my awesome peeler. But for real, I do think carrots are awesome for road trips, as they are healthy so it doesn't matter how many you eat and crunchy so it gives you a lot of satisfaction when you can crunch away while sitting in a car. But it is important that they are in STICK form as they taste better that way. I do have a coke zero on long drives quite often too.

I think she loves carrots too. Picking them straight from grandpa's garden.

4. Describe a perfect dinner.
Perfect dinner is when we've got friends over and I've cooked something new at home and it's turned out amazing. It gives such good satisfaction when people like what you've made and the best part is if you don't wash the dishes after.

5. Most memorable food experience on a holiday?
This is so easy. This food experience is not about taste but about the effort in making it. It was definitely when I was in Zambia, Africa on a scout camp. Our group was in charge of the cooking for the day and in the morning we were brought a live goat and told that it was going to be our dinner. There it was going baa and kicking around and we had to kill it. Throat open, the goat was hanging from a tree for a few hours so that the blood would drain out. And in the evening we surely had some goat for dinner, amazing and discusting at the same time. Oh this memory makes me smile.

6. What Finnish dishes you miss the most while abroad?
Tough questions, I miss many different ingredients that you don't get in Australia, but a dish that I would miss... I think I'd have to say rice porridge. Having said that, if I miss some dish from Finland I usually then make it in Australia, so I don't have to miss that many dishes. 

7. What are your favourite dishes in your present country?
We cook a lot of Asian dishes at home and enjoy eating Asian food when we go eat out, but one of the best dishes in Australia for me has to be a good roast dinner. Nothing beats a good roast dinner, nothing! 

8. Share your healthy breakfast tip.
I love this one! Handful of spinach, one banana, two slices of pineapple, 1/2cup of water and few ice cubes. Blend them together and this makes an amazing green smoothie. I also add some chia seeds to give me an extra boost of healthyness and sometimes I add some natural no-fat yoghurt, that suits it really great as well. This smoothie fills me up pretty good and makes me feel refreshed.

9. What is your favourite cuisine?
I like Asian food, Indian is awesome, and Thai. I also love sushi. Pretty much all Asian food.

10. Have you ever tried weird diets?
No, I've never been very good in sticking to any diets. I have been able to lose over 10 kg though by changing my food habits and doing more exercise. Sounds simple but it's not very simple at all.

11. How travelling has affected your cooking and eating?
I've found my love for Asian food after I've moved to the other side of the world. I have learned to cook Asian food and our normal homemade food is now quite often Asian instead of the meatballs and potatoes that Finns eat. I've learned to taste new flavours as well and found many new and wonderful ingredients and spices that I wouldn't have tried in Finland.

 Because we're still on holidays and running out of time, I won't challenge anyone else this time. Instead I'm going to go and enjoy some more strawberries.