Favourite Pin Friday

Hello and welcome to a new regular feature....Favourite Pin Friday!!  I love pinterest.  It is my favourite source of inspiration at the moment and one of the best ways I know to waste a couple of hours!

I've been pinning a lot of activities to match our themes for the summer holidays.  Kinda makes me wish the summer holidays were a few weeks longer as there are TONS of things we can do.  Needless to say, thanks to pinterest, we wont be bored over the next six weeks, which coincidently, starts TODAY!!!  Have just picked my oldest up from school and my youngest had her last day at pre-school today so the holidays have officially started!  WOOO! Think we're all ready for a break from the school year routine.

Anyway, here are a couple of my favourite pins from the last week or so.

Weather vocabulary from shenaniganinsecondgrade.blogspot.co.uk.  These will be perfect for M in the Weather theme we are doing.

Going to make this a rule in our house!  From http://www.swtblessings.com

Ok, so not had a go at this yet (as you probably can tell!) but had a look at the instructions via http://howtonestforless.com and it looks like something I could do!  So I will do it....I will!!

For our "In The Garden" theme.  I have two little girlies who are going to adore making this.  From http://www.ohmy-creative.com.

If you are interested in following all my boards, they can be found here!

Looks like this weekend is set to be another scorcher.  So I'll be busy putting the finishing touches to our Summer Holiday Themes (more about that next week) on my sun lounger, in the shade, watching my girlies play in the pool!

Recipe - Oh So Simple Banana Muffins

I'm no great cook.  Infact, I wouldn't even go as far to say I enjoy cooking.  Its something that involves patience, which is not something I am blessed with.

I do however, enjoy baking cakes with my children and hell, if I can incorporate some sort of fruit or veg into baking all the better as my oldest is what we call a "fruit dodger" in that she dodges anything that resembles, smells like or looks like a piece of fruit.

These quickly became a family favourite because a) they are simple and b) they are YUMM-MEEE!!  What else do you need from a muffin recipe, right??  These are perfect after school snacks, lunch box snacks, anytime snacks really!  

Ingredients

Makes 4 large or 8 mini muffins

1 large over ripe banana
40g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
1 small egg
65ml milk
100g self-raising flour

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190c/375F/Gas Mark 5.
2. Peel and mash the banana in a bowl using the back of a fork.
3. Mix in the sugar and oil.
4. Crack the egg into the bowl and pour in the milk.  Stir it all with spoon.
5. Pour in the flour to the wet ingredients and fold in well.
6. Spoon the mixture into your cases until they're almost full.  If you're using silicon moulds spray with a little oil spray so they don't stick.
7. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Eat and enjoy!!

Summer Holiday Planning

Ok, so not a lot of tidying has been going on around these parts....mainly due to the amazing weather we've been having!!

Here in the UK, any kind of extended spell of dry sunny weather is cause for celebration.  So we've been having a lot of fun outdoors, spending time in the pool, playing in the garden and generally anything we could normally do indoors, we've wanted to do outdoors!

Im pleased to say I've got into a routine of keeping on top of the kitchen.  Getting up half an hour before everyone else works wonders as I manage to clean up all the dishes, put a load in the washer and out to dry, get all the lunches done and breakfast prepared before anyone else surfaces.

However, my organising has not gone out of the window completely!  I am in full on "Summer Holiday Planning" mode.  Which may or may not involve new schedules, themes and LOTS of fun activities to do over the six weeks holidays (which start here in the UK this Friday).

With two very active girlies, who are prone to fights and squabbles, its important for all our sanity that we have some sort of structure to our day.  So, I have planned out the six weeks with a theme each week.  Each theme will include craft activities, books to read, writing and reading practice for my oldest and colouring and counting practice for my youngest.

You can visit my pinterest boards here and see some of the fun activities we'll be up to.

I've also found some awesome printables from some of my favourite blogs to help me plan our days.

Daily Summer Schedule by IHeart Organizing

This one will be our daily schedule, how I would like our days to run (roughly) hour by hour.  It avoids me doing chores for hours and the kids watching rubbish tv for longer than they need to.  It sets our lunch at a certain time (unless we are having way too much fun!) and will help the day run a little smoother.

Weekly Summer Holiday Planner by Netmums

I plan to incorporate a day trip at least once a week, incorporating where I can our theme for that week.  So one week we're doing "Under The Sea and On The Beach" so naturally I want to visit the beach, weather permitting, and also an aquarium as the girls love looking at fish!  This will help plan which days we do what so we're not getting up in the morning thinking "what will be do today".

I will be back with more about our themes for the holidays and other bits I have been planning!