organic markets

We ventured out as a family last Sunday to the organic markets. It is not that we actually needed anything in particular, it was a new fun thing for us to do on our family day. Interesting enough I found there was not too many organic products at the markets, but they had a wide variety of different produce, plants, gifts and fun things for the kids to do.

We had to have a mission and the mission I had was to find something yummy for dinner. I found great selection of chorizo sausages. They had the regular chorizo through to the hot spanish chorizo. I decided to get the hot spanish and use it in a risotto with some lemon, herbs and peas.

My daughter Keely had some fun on the rides at the markets and while she was having fun with dad I had a walk around, did some people watching and had a closer look at all the delicious produce. How fantastic it was to see someone selling blossoms, it is lovely to see that Spring is coming.

One thing I noticed with my people watching is there seems to be the market goer who only comes to the markets to eat. They go around from one stall to the next eating all the samples of food. I followed one couple, which was quite funny to watch as they pretended to have the intention to buy the product, but really they were just having their lunch!

I really love going to a fresh food market as you are supporting local businesses and buying Australian products. Although I did buy arborio rice that is from Italy, but I enjoyed eating it!

blossoms at little pinwheel

We are all eagerly awaiting for the summer stock to arrive for Little Pinwheel. It is all going to start coming in a couple of weeks and it is going to feel like Christmas! I thought I would share some of my excitement by giving you a sneak peek at some of the stock that is coming. This is only a little glimpse of what I have coming. Seriously it is going to be HUGE and Little Pinwheel will be in full bloom before you know it!

Yesterday I received the gorgeous bean bags and some lovely shoulder bags from Cocoon Couture. I am very excited to be stocking this label as I have one of the bean bags for my daughter and I think they are divine and become a great design feature in any child's room.

Here is a peak at the summer stock coming. There are styles from Polka, Rittenhouse, Sudo, Three Little Trees, Chalk n Cheese, Mill and Mia, Heavenly Creatures, Tiny Mammoth, Itch Design and Nature Baby.... I can only show a few of what is coming, not all brands are shown in the photos! In a few weeks you will see more!

a sweet treat

Being addicted to all things chocolate I really need to watch how much I eat in front of my children. I like most parents would like to teach them all about healthy eating and that treats are only a small part of their diet. But, I also believe that they are allowed to have treats and enjoy those wicked things we all do now and then.

Our wicked thing is to make strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. My daughter and I made some on the weekend and it was a lot of fun.

I think Keely enjoys the licking of the spoon more then the making of the chocolate strawberries.

Also for the record I was the one who ate the remaining chocolate that was in the bowl!!

I heart nature baby

There is nothing like organic cotton on your babies skin. I just love their range, you can mix, match and layer it. There is fun to be had with the colours and there are so many different looks you can achieve. Nature Baby has just released these fantastic organic cotton printed tees and they go up to toddler sizes!

We had fun shooting this little project and I think it really shows how lovely Nature Baby looks on your little people.

hopscotch

Our family Sunday was full of exciting and wonderful things. Firstly we went to the Polka photo shoot for winter 2010...wow, it was fabulous! This is top secret though and I will share great things with you closer to the season next year. I know I am cruel, but we do have summer to play with first!

Yesterday I had bought big chalk to draw on the concrete from our local craft shop. When we arrived home from the Polka shoot we went downstairs and put it to good use with hopscotch and drawing pictures. I love the games we used to play as children and this used to be one of my favourites. Although I am pretty sure I had the hopscotch drawn wrong, I still remembered how to play. It was great to watch Keely throw her rock and hop and bounce away. The best thing about it was the giggles we had!

After all the hopping we drew pictures of people, which is Keely's favourite thing to draw. I have not shared mine with you as the enjoyment is not from my artistic ability, it is from our children's imagination.

finger food

My son Taj is 9 months and is right into the swing of things with finger food. It is messy, fun and very interesting!

Little people grow up so fast, to think I started him on solids at 7 months and it was all mashy, to me unappetising and not that interesting. I started off with rice cereal, expressing the milk and he loved it. Why wouldn't he, he is a boob man!

Once he had mastered the art of eating we moved onto the veges. I started with mashy potato, which he made the hmmm noices with! From that reaction I based all my mixed vegetables around potato. I really have come up with some great combinations all to my lovely Annabel Karmel' book, Feeding Your Baby & Toddler. This is the bible of cooking with kids. Taj's favourite would have to be the spinach, potato, parsnip and leek puree.

Spinach, Potato, Parsnip & Leek Puree

30g butter

50g leek washed and finely sliced

250g potatoes peeled and chopped

100g parsnips peeled and chopped

250ml of boiling water

100g fresh spinach washed and tough stalks removed

40g grated cheddar cheese

melt the butter in a saucepan, add the leek and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the potatoes and parsnips, saute for 1 minute, then pour over the boiling wate. Cover and simmer for 12 minutes. Add the fresh spinach leaves and cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain the vegetables, reserving the cooking liquid. Blend vegetables together with 50 ml of the cooking liquid and the grated cheddar. Add more liquid if necessary to thin the puree.

Now we have moved onto wanting to feed ourselves and this comes with his first assertive behaviour! This morning we had yoghurt rubbed through the hair with weetbix. Kind of cool as it was a natural hair gel! For this new stage I am going with the flow and understanding that he is going to get messy, I am going to have food thrown at me and all over the floor. I have already been in trouble for trying to feed him and he does some kind of grunt, I think this is his way of being assertive, or telling me he is a boy! He is also being assertive with not wanting to wear a bib by taking it off at every meal time. I am pretty much getting him changed after each meal!

Some great finger food ideas that I have tried are bread fingers with avocado, pasta, cheese (grated or a slice), avocado fingers, potato fingers, sweet potato fingers, banana, bread with avocado and cottage cheese and I must say most of these things end up squished between his fingers, mashed through his hair and thrown around the kitchen. I am not too sure how much gets eaten!

I am really enjoying this stage of his development. I now look forward to exploring more foods and tonight I am introducing meat balls!

Just a quick added extra, Taj loves the meat balls!!! He is up to his second one!

skout interview

The lovely Lou from Skout Trade Fair did an interview with me and posted it in 'the inside scoop.' For those of you who do not know about Skout you are missing out, especially if you are a creative person. It is your online playground to hang out, show off, hold hands, make best friends, eat your play lunch (mine is always chocolate) and even join a club!

I personally have made some great friends and fantastic contacts. So if you are in the an industry that could connect, share, learn, grow and prosper then Skout is so the place for you! Head on over...to Skout

mama pinwheel....

How would you describe your business?

An online baby and children’s boutique that offers beautiful clothes from Australian and New Zealand designers.

What promoted you to go into business for yourself?

I am not sure what happens to a woman when they have children, but there is something that makes you love everything little. I fell in love with little peoples clothes and being an online shopper myself I felt there was no one that really offered Australian based designers. As I had a love for fashion and being a creative person I thought I could mix the two and come up with a website that offers a great range of designers.

What is the hardest part of running your own business from home ?

The balance between the housewife and the mumpreneur. I find it hard when I am busy and have deadlines to keep focused with piles of washing, dirty floors and the ever growing obsticales of toys on the ground.

Whats your number one tip for working from home with kids?

Involve them in some way, my daughter loves to help me photograph new ranges, try things on for me, unpacks boxes and she even helps gift wrap the orders. This has helped for me and she understands that I need to get orders packed each day. Keely even roll plays with her dolls and talks about shopping on the website, Little Pinwheel. She even writes lists of clothes that the dolls have bought for us to pack when we pack the other orders.

How do you start each work day ?

The workday starts as soon as I get out of bed. I am obsessed with turning on the computer and checking what has happened over night with Little Pinwheel. I then have my shower, feed my little ones and once my son, Taj, is asleep I am right into the swing of things. If my daughter is at home and not at pre-school I have a balance with her and Little Pinwheel. We have our thing we have worked out when it comes to mummy working and she loves to help anyway she can.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

I actually don’t think I would change anything personality wise, cosmetically maybe as having children does weird things to a woman’s body!

What do you love the most about your husband /partner?

The fact that he is so encouraging and supportive. I don’t think it would matter what I decided I wanted to do he would support me 100%.

Do you have a dog ? Whats his/her name, breed and why ? If not what sort of dog would suit you best ?

We don’t have a dog as we live in a two bedroom apartment. We have 6 fish, which have all been named after my daughter’s friends. If we did have a dog I think we would suit a golden retriever. I think they are gentle, fluffy and they would make for a great cuddle.

Do you have a vege patch ?

We actually don’t and I wish we did. I have always had one growing up and they are a great way of teaching children where our food comes from and maybe that would help with fussy eaters? Ooh now there is a thought! Time to plant that vege patch in pots!

Whats your favourite day of the week?

I love Sunday, it is our ‘family day’ and the day where we try to do something worth doing. Although Sundays are not what they used to be, I do miss that lazy sleep in and the Sunday paper down our favourite café! Now it is a morning of chaos as we try to get organised to get out of the house.

How do you describe your work ethic ?

I have a very strong work ethic, I always have. I don’t do things in halves, always has to be 100%. I sometimes get myself into too much and have trouble digging myself out of holes, but if I keep organized with my diary of things to do and when by I generally do ok. It is all about time management and I think having children has made this a great skill of mine.

What would be your dream weekend away – hubby alone ? Kids? By yourself?

My dream weekend would be with my hubby and children. I love them all so much and would miss them too much being away from them! I would take them somewhere where it did not involve car travel, a plane to minimize the stresses of ‘are we there yet?’ It would also have to involve a beach, love the beach, and a nice 26 degrees.

How many children do you want ?

I thought I would always have two children, but when I was pregnant with Taj I didn’t ever think it would be the last time. I absolutely adore my two children and I think having another one or two would be quite nice. Keely would like me to have a girl, a big girl. I have tried to explain to her that mummy cannot have a 6 year old baby. She would have made a great little sister, but she will grow to see that she makes a fantastic big sister. I think we would like to have at least one more, we quite like the challenge of fitting us all in our two bedroom apartment!

What is the biggest lesson your Mum taught you or piece of advice she gave you ?

She taught me that you can do anything you put your mind to. She encouraged me when I made choices in life and she let me learn from my own mistakes.

The advice my mum gave me was to be happy. She didn’t really care too much what I did as long as I did it with a smile on my face. I think that in itself is something I will pass onto my children. Happiness means so much and my mum taught me how to be happy with anything and everything I did.

Pinot Noir or Sav B ?

Pinot Noir, great chilled on a hot summer night. I think I have an obsession with anything to do with the warmer weather!

Finish this sentence … My children are …the reflection of my love for my husband.

What are your plans for Little Pinwheel ?

I am introducing new brands this summer and I am very excited to add to the range I already have. I would like to grow the sizes I stock up to. I think that it would be nice to give teenagers some cool clothes to buy. The accessory and décor side of Little Pinwheel will grow over time, but for now I am concentrating on getting the best designed clothes for the little people out there. I am loving every part of Little Pinwheel and I really enjoy talking to other mother’s out there that have their own businesses online, we are all doing what we love.

divine simplicity

My super photographer husband has been at it again taking amazing images of this beautiful house in Pine Street Manly. I am sharing this house with you for the simplicity of the children's bedroom. I adore a room that is well designed and hides all the clutter that we have when we have children. This is one thing we are trying to come up with for the design of our 2 bedroom apartment. That in itself is a whole new story and I will hopefully share that with you all when we find the time to do our interior design renovations. Like this house I think it comes down to great cabinetry work, which this house has lots of. I am in love with the door in the kitchen, such a sucker for the old with the new. I also have a huge obsession with red and wish I could take the children's bedroom door off to bring home to my house! Actually I think it would be better if I just moved in! Do you think they would mind if we swapped?

sunday brunch

We threw a brunch for my lovely girlfriend Pip today as it was her birthday during the week. It was a great excuse to get together over some divine food and a cup of tea as the kids had a fabulous play date. My husband is not only the fabulous photographer for Little Pinwheel but he is the chef of the house and he has a talent there too.

I really am enjoying this new family sunday thing we have going on!