Maria's Seventh Birthday

Time has flown by and it is now the summer holidays but a few months ago it was Maria's birthday. We had a cake made by me and the" best present ever!"

The Cake

This is the cake I made for Maria , it's just a normal chocolate cake cut in half with chocolate ganash icing , which was confusing to make, and cream in the middle (very yummy I would say but  who does not like chocolate cake.) If you look close then you will see that the candles are  in the order of the rainbow red , orange , yellow , green , blue , indigo and violet.

This is when Maria was blowing out the candles and we were singing happy "birthday to you" to her.

The Best Present ever

Maria was given a big box of things for potion making, there were mini graters, little jars for storage, special papers to make 'tea bags', some citric acid and bicarb of soda for a fizzy element, herb plants, dried herbs, some essential oils and much more. Even 2 books about herbs and things to make with them - like drinks and healing medicines.

Here are the herbs mummy brought for the present - there is Fennel , Mint , Oregano and many other things for us to use and dry. My favourite smell is the ginger mint. 

Mint and Loganberry puree

This is just a made up potion I made with chopped up mint, squashed loganberries, a bit of lemon juice and lemon grass oil. I found it really fun. I chopped up the mint with a special thing that you twist to move the blades that chops up the herb, this was hard to put together but Mummy did it in the end.

Lemon balm stew

The lemon balm stew was made by chopping lemon balm into small pieces then adding water, lemon juice and lemon grass oil. Later on that night we thought this smelled so good we drained it then took it up to our bath to make that smell beautiful.

Here's us at work.

This is the extra lemon balm I had when I was chopping it for the lemon balm stew and some garlic that Maria squeezed.

What it looked like

I think we'll be making lots more potions from now on.

Venetia

Watermouth Castle

Last week in half term, we went to Watermouth castle theme park. We had a fantastic time! My brothers say they are too old for it, but how can anyone be too old for fun!

Flying aeroplanes 

This is me on the flying aeroplanes it has been one of my favorites on previous visits and still is (although my legs are getting to big and I can barely get in) I'll probably be too big next time, but fantastic for younger ones.

Swinging boats

This is definitely one of my top 3, not  sure whether it's my favorite though very fun and I can just about fit in. The thing that makes it fun is that  you do actually go quite high, 1 or 2 meters at the least. It could also be done with two people which makes it double the fun.

Carousel 

The carousel is fantastic fun and the things you ride around on are different animals and things, like swans, pigs, horses and even a hot air balloon. It also has gentle pretty music in the background which is lovely.

seal boats

The seal boats are boats shaped like seals that go round in a circle on top of the water. as you go round there's a walrus that has a red nose and squirts water at you I think it's very fun.

spinning cups

Sorry that the picture is blurry but I was going so fast that it was hard for my mum to take pictures, it makes me very dizzy and sometimes even slightly sick but its still fun so it doesn't matter.

Boat ride

The boat ride is a circle boat that goes around on top of water with different animals and creatures from  monkeys to bears to singing ducks to a crocodile. Another fun thing is that the monkey and bear squirt water and get you by surprise. As you go round the surroundings are like a jungle with palm trees.

snail ride

This is me on a giant snail, our particular one is graduating with a cap and a tie. You go round listening to 'todays the day the teddy bears have their picnic'.

This is why you listen to today's the day teddy bears have their picnic, because you go through a tunnel and  there you see many different teddy bears, some doing flips some fighting and many other things, very sweet and cute.

Tobaggan

This is a brand new ride and there was a huge queue as you would expect. You go up a hill and then down as fast as lightning, I really enjoyed it, a great new ride.

Fountains

This is me on a rock with a ball this also has water running down the side which makes it a fountain. We (me and my sister Maria) usually get into swimming costumes and run around sticking our heads under the water (sometimes we just go in in our clothes and then change into spare clothes afterwards).

Pottery and Olaf

Pottery bowls

This is my sister, Maria, and I holding our pottery pots we made on a wheel. We made the pots at Tarka Pottery in Torrington. I deffinetly did not think that it would turn out as good as it looks, a fantastic experience for any child or adult. After we had made the bowls we cut out little bits of clay in different shapes, I mainly used butterflies and flowers. Over all I am very happy and proud of my pot.

Olaf

Olaf is a dog from a farm just down the road. He is a cute, sweet playful dog, very happy and friendly. He follows us everywhere we go and whines when we are not there. I love him, and would love to have a dog but we already have a cat. I am not the only one who loves him, my sister Maria and brother Theo also adore him. However my mum is not so happy about him because he ate her sausages and she had to clean up his poo.

Pottery Picture Frame

Here is a picture frame I painted at Appledore. I designed it as a kind of secret garden with a picture in the centre, it is now sitting up in my room on my bookshelf. It is the perfect spot and I gaze at it all the time.The picture is of my sister Maria and I at the river, a fantastic memory to save.

Pottery Owl

This is another thing I painted at Appledore for my mum on mothers' day. One of her favorite animals are owls and she has a whole collection of wooden and pottery owls. I love having bright colours that you would not have on a owl, it just makes it stand out.

My Crotchet So Far And Ballet Performance

  This is my very first post, and I am very excited about having my own blog!

Granny Squares

Here are my 3 colour granny squares, a very simple first thing to do in crotchet. They only take about 15 minutes to make, perfect for a quick project. These particular ones are going to be crocheted together with others to make a blanket for me.

Ever lasting granny square baby blanket 

This is just a very simple granny square, but lots of different colours and rounds.This took a lot of time and effort but in the end I am very proud of it. Its a shame that this first blanket is actually a present for my ballet teachers baby, but I know she will love it herself, and I can always make myself another one.

My Ballet Performance

This is me and my sister before our performance I was nervous and excited at the same time. I think I danced really well and I was proud of myself. My sister did very nice dancing as well; it was only her second  show. The blanket above is for my teacher who taught me to do ballet and she really deserves that blanket. I am also very upset that they have had to close the ballet school but at least we are going to a new one.

All my crotchet so far

Here is all my crotchet so far (except for the baby blanket, which I have already given to my ballet teacher).the biggest granny square is one for me which I will keep going at to make a blanket, with those colours all repeated.The next biggest granny square I am going to keep going at to make a cushion cover. Then there are all the little granny squares for my blanket, and if you can see it there is a little white, and green thing in the corner next to the basket and below the blanket. This is a little flower.