Bit of a patty cake palette

Little Miss 11 has been home from school for a few days now... Nothing too serious just enough of a cough to keep us both up most of the night, enough of a headache to make her grumpy and enough of a runny nose to warrant shares in Kleenex. So what do we Freckles do when we are feeling tired and grumpy (or sick or stressed or any extreme emotion really) - we bake! 

So bake we did!

Miss 11 has a penchant for fondant icing so after we made our delicious chocolate patty cakes (I'll post the recipe for that one for you soon... Best...Patty... Cakes...Ever!) we cracked out the fondant icing and gave it a whirl. 

First up we roll and cut the icing into disks.

Next we brush the tops with some strawberry jam (I use IXL cause it's got no bits in it) that's been melted in the microwave for a few seconds.

Then stick the disks on...

Now here in lies the revelation... Bought these puppies at Spotlight and we use them all the time to do this:

 

So then little Miss 11 and I sat down to a well earned cup of tea and patty cake. And yes, I believe it did make us both feel a little better.

 

Medicine: Chart that is 3am, exhausted and crying baby on the hip proof... well, almost!

Hello, Freckle followers. Another exhausting week of highs and lows in the Freckle household.

There have been tantrums, vomits, ridiculous nappies (YOU KNOW THE ONES.... EEWWW!), late for schools, birthday parties and trips to the ER. All just another week really!

No, seriously, Baby Freckle has been quite sick, in fact she is the one that has had two trips to the ER where the beautiful hospital doctors take one look at my singing, playing delight of a child and tell me that she is fine! But, she wastn't like that 2 hours ago, I say calmly. But, she has hardly eaten in two weeks, I tell them slightly agitated. But, her nappies smell like there is a dead animal inside her. Doesn't this warrant exploratory surgery, a helicopter trip to the capital, a team of gastroenterologists???? They smile, nod and tell me she will be fine. She has gastro. Could take another week or two or three before she is back to normal. Anyway, enough of my sleep deprived ramblings. We have been sent home with anti-nausea medication and been told to use Panadol and Nurofen for the pain. Poor little Freckle!

So, in the minutes that I have between ANOTHER load of washing and changing another sloppy nappy I have devised this little beauty! Sanity saver for me... I have been using something similar for year that I would scratch on a piece of paper but here it is looking all pretty!

Get it here!

I have designed it with space at the top for your Child's name... may seem silly but if you have more than one child and you have ever had them sick at the same time you will know how confusing it can be to remember who has had what, when! Then there is a space for you to write the dosage that you give the child, save having to remember how much they weigh and look up the back of the box when they are crying. I have done the chart with four spaces for Panadol and 3 for Nurofen. I am no pharmacist but I know that this is the maximum in 24 hours that a child can have. Once again, saves having to remember how much of which medicine you have given them. Most of the time, of course, you wouldn't be doubling up the Panadol and Nurofen but I have had to many times as my boys seem to have fevers that don't budge just with Panadol. 

Here is how it has looked for Baby Freckle over the last little bit:

I am hoping that this week brings an end to the sickness in our household, and I hope no dreaded bug have made their way into yours.

Felicity x

My famous (well now it is!) Emergency "Everyone in the house is sick and I still have to cook dinner" Chicken Soup

Oh man, I hate it when the kids get sick. Colds and flus are one thing but when it is a vomiting bug it sends shivers down my spine. When there are so many of us it is like we are just waiting for the next victim to fall.. and hoping and praying that it won't be all of us at once!

This time the Freckles managed to get away with it quite well... although the little Freckles would not agree with me on that one. Only two out of seven is not a bad statistic! So while it was still a 36 hour marathon of next to no sleep, bleach, buckets, washing and vomit  - it could have been much, much worse.

So with one Freckle calling out to me every few minutes and another hanging from me needing "cuddles, Mummy, cuddles" and with about 3 hours sleep under my belt it was time to bring out the emergency chicken soup.

It must be bad when Chicken Soup is called for.....

In my wisdom I thought that you may all like to know my recipe for the chicken soup that everyone will eat, is good for recovering tummies and takes all of about 15 minutes to make enough to serve about 6-8 depending on appetites. When we have sickies in the house this can last us a couple of days.

My trick to getting it still to taste yum is in the onions. Most slow cooker recipes require you to brown off the onions and the meat in the pan but I didn't have time for this and if someone starts vomiting I knew I would need to go to them and not leave the hot pan on the stove burning the house down! So I heat the slow cooker first with a lug of olive oil in it and then add the onions when I remember... then leave them there till they smell good... then add the rest of the ingredients.

 I also do the veges in really big chunky bits... it doesn't matter because they get blended down later.

and voila! Dinner is served.

Check it out on my website to download the recipe here.

And update... all Freckles are back at school today! Hooray! Must have been the healing powers of the soup ;)

Felicity xx