"Bloody Squirrels"

"Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man,"  is  meant to a Jesuit saying and it's one I remember from My History A level when I was knee deep in seventeenth history  getting to grips  with the likes of Richelieu. But like most quotes , it is often misquoted and the real words and meaning lost in time.

But this does have a true sentiment at its  heart you are actually guiding your child from the day they are born. Not sure if we would call it moulding as you have to allow free choice as they grow up. The choices and actions you make as parents etc go a long way to shaping the character of your child.

So for example don't get wound up if you have a cross word with your child just sit down and talk about it , when you've all calmed down. They will come to know that situations can be resolved by talking.

So its this week I celebrate  my blog anniversary and my son talking.. puzzled aren't you? Well its one year since I started my blog and ten years since my son started talking. Why is that monumental ? You see my son is thirteen now and didn't start talking till he was three and a half. And his first words were "Bloody Squirrel" So if you would like to see the story behind it you can click here. And you will see whilst that event shaped my son into the happy go lucky albeit still shy teenager today. yes we still have the problems that teenagers bring knuckle dragging, untidy room fridge raiding.


So I shall pat myself on the back to the fact I have done a good job with my child . I must go as I have to wash to football kit, rugby kit, cricket clothes.. you get the picture don't you?

Washing rugby kit.

Silent Sunday #silentsunday

Children are so literal...

As I work in a school children are always falling over scrapping their knees etc. its usually a quick sniffle and they happily skip to first aid but occasionally  so very occasionally you have a serial offender who thinks their world is going to end. And who can blame then the other day I stubbed my toe , I had to eat three biscuits have a cup of tea and watch mind sapping  day time television just to recover .

I usually joke with the children if they have hurt themselves ( obviously if its really serious I don't) as it diffuses the situation.

This is how the conservation when..

Child crying "I have hut my leg..." (It wasn't that bad )

Me attempting to diffuse situation " Shall I chop it off then..."

Child wailing a lot louder "No that will hurt EVEN more "

Me.."It's a joke.."

So I gave up and just sent them to First aid where they probably had the same conversation all over again with another teaching assistant.

Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


I've linked this up to Thinly Spread 's The Funny Things Children Say and Do.. you should too !

Easy Cupcakes

I set  Alison a challenge to try and help me to cook so I shall be having a go at this on monday so over to Alison 

" If you have read my blog Dragons and Fairy Dust  you know that I love baking and will share recipes on a regular basis. Being a regular read of Claire's blog I know that she has had a few cupcake disasters so I thought I would try and share a very easy cupcake recipe with her and give her the challenge to make them herself! I am going to try and make the steps really easy to follow and hopefully nothing will go wrong.

I had a fruit bowl full of bananas which were not being eaten so I decided to try banana cupcakes. These are a first for me as well but I was pleased with the way they turned out in the end. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3½ oz (100g) butter
• 3½ oz (100g) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 oz (125 g) self raising flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ripe banana, mashed up - if they are small use two
• 3 oz (75g) sultanas

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4 and set the cupcake cases out on a baking tray.
2. Make sure the butter is soft before you start. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and mix together until it looks fluffy.
3. Add the eggs and mix them in.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
5. Add into the cupcake cases, they should be about half full as shown in the picture. The recipe is meant to make twelve but I got a couple more.

6. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until just risen and form to the touch.

7. Leave to cool.

This is what they looked like when finished:

yummy cup cakes.

I then decided to ice them with a simple buttercream icing but to give it a little twist I added a banana. This is how you make the icing.

Ingredients

• 5 oz (150 g) butter
• 8 oz (250 g) icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 mashed small banana 

Method

Make sure the butter is soft before you start and gradually add the icing sugar a bit at a time, mixing as you go. Continue until all the icing sugar is mixed in and it looks smooth and creamy. Finally add the banana and the vanilla essence and mix them in. If you add the icing sugar all in one go you are likely to get a huge cloud of it flying out of the bowl and all over the kitchen so it is best to do it slowly. Finally dollop on the cakes and if you have any decorations add them as well. I used chocolate chips to make smiley faces. This is the finished result

Now the challenge is on, can Claire follow the instructions and make lovely cupcakes? I am waiting in suspense to find out."

I hope I can live up to Alison's great looking cakes...!

Saturday Caption #Satcap

Took this whilst going round London Zoo we all need to relax at some point in our day. Don't you just want to go up and tickle its tummy ?