A Very Medieval Party.

Archie's party was a great success. 11 knights and wizards charged through the farm facing all sorts of challenges and ended with a good round of archery (which was then repeated when all of the Dad's turned up). Archie funnily enough loves archery - my mum suggested when he was born that we name him Archer. Maybe we should have listened...

Straight through the chooks heart.

During the quest they had to rescue Princess Gania who had be captured against her will and tied to the fire crystal tree. Little did they know she was under a terrible curse and had to be freed from that as well. Which they did.

A few touches of prettiness. You just have to have them.

Candles floating in the (jelly) moat.

I think he liked his cake.

It took me a while to cut into it. I did in the end but with surgical precision.

Medieval Birthday Parties and other Scary Stuff.

A sneak peek of the cake. But first...

A nice friendly photo begin this post. The goody bags are made so now all the children have to do is fill them up with precious things from their quest.
Time for the frightening part. I finished the castle cake today and to my dismay, found it completely overrun by tiny, arms bearing skeletons. You know how it can be.

They started shooting at the troops galloping around the moat (which has since been filled with green jelly).

Merlin leaped onto the battlements and started working his magic. The treasure is too important to be jeopardised by a minor skirmish.

See what I mean. Good treasure. Tasty treasure.

Now can you guess what this is. Here is an eye.

And here is a tail.

That's right, it is the incredibly rare 'Snowblood' dragon from the frostiest peaks of the Snowbrides Mountains. It is hard to make out but her wings are velvety and her strange eyes are almost crochet-like which is a particular marker to this species. She will be the final prize to be found in the quest tomorrow. I hope she doesn't become too frightened... I know I am.

Golden Goblin Heart Cupcakes.

Why is it that I find it enormously difficult to think about cooking dinner but the moment I am required to find a way to incorporate edible goblin hearts into a recipe my mind races into overdrive?

Archie's party is tomorrow, 11 young knights will be charging around the farm facing all sorts of terrible and wonderful challenges in order to kidnap a dragon and rescue all of her eggs. I think it is becoming obvious that I really enjoy a good party. I hope you realise though that while I am someone who rises to the occasion the rest of the time I am in a state of sqalour and lethargy. Plus it is important to note that all of the other mothers know this about me and just find it refreshing that the house has been cleaned pre-party and therefore don't have to worry quite so much about gangrene and tetanus.

Well, I had better go and fill the moat around the castle cake with jelly and then put in the live baby crocodiles. They are so sweet.... (only joking if there are any concerned people out there).

Snuggling in Autumn.

Today we had the first truly cold, Autumnal morning. Hugo has Thursday free (he is very busy with pre-school don't you know) and snuggled on the couch with the blanket I began last year. Now with the weather changing I am beginning to look forward to finishing it, however, it will be firmly off my list until we return from the south island. At the moment I am busily knitting Hugo a vest which will hopefully be worn while we are down there.

Now a huge THANK YOU for all of the wonderful book suggestions. There were quite a few new ones I hadn't heard of and then some of my old favourites which does make me feel we would all be friends in real life. Please keep the suggestions coming in. I am such a book junkie and always have great big pile that I work through so you can imagine my distress when I glanced over at what I expected to be a happy tower and found virtually nothing... just a few word-crumbs scattered on the floor.

This was going to be a ginormous post tonight as there is quite a lot going on but as the computer was sulking for most of the day, I am now going to sign off and have my turn at snuggling on the big blue couch with the blanket. XXOOXXOOXX.

Your Favourite Books...

There is no time to craft just for fun and evolution at the moment and I am starting to climb the walls. As a result I thought I would post pictures of the things I am thinking about, colours I would like to use, projects I would like to finish and paintings I would like to add blossom to.

I am in desperate need of good books too (I am having a rare shortage) and would love, love, love to hear about your best reads of 2009/10. Please leave any suggestions in the comment section and I will be eternally grateful. In fact, I will post a list of my own as well. Thank you!!!

Feathered Friends.

The boys had their cousins to stay last night and as you can imagine, there was lots of excitement. They expressed this by sticky-taping feathers to their hands and feet, putting on capes and jumping off the picnic table for until dinner time. It was very hard convincing them to remove their feathers for dinner but you know, it just seemed wrong to feed them chicken while they were covered in feathers. So if you are in need of a weekend activity, I say get out the sticky-tape and pluck a bird or two (don't really, feathers on the ground or from the craft stash are fine).

And when they were all tucked up in bed I knitted a new winter headband. I am still crazy for the stripes. Have a good weekend XXOOXXOOXX.

Archie's Hat.

Archie is pretty happy with his hat. I wasn't quite sure whether to make it as long and goblin-like as he was insisting but I think he was 100% spot on now it is finished. He looks so cute in it, especially with that top tooth missing. The pattern was adapted from Susan B. Anderson's book 'Itty Bitty Hats' with quite a few adjustments to fit Archie's head (and aesthetics). Now it is time to start thinking goblin ears....

By the way, I spotted this little fella on the table today and wondered if this was beetle torture. All the flowers in the world but none of them real. Now I have written this I feel terrible that I took a photo of him rather than immediately rescuing him. Is this how journalists feel... Don't you sometimes want to say, "Put the camera down and pick the crying child up". I had better go and put that little beetle in the garden. Oh dear, I just looked over at the table and realised that I had been piling folded washing on it. I think the beetle has passed on... R.I.P. little beetle, R.I.P. I think we all know now what kind of journalist I would be in a wartime situation.