Sparkling Adventures

The girls and I were having dinner at the kitchen counter when Brioni caught site of a flying fox climbing up the ladder outside our house. Fruit bats are very common in this part of Queensland, and we have hundreds that squawk and fight in our trees.

We're still not sure why this black flying fox flew to our ladder and then started climbing onto the roof of our house.

So, when there’s a creature about, who do you call? David!

David climbed the ladder and caught the flying fox, using the towel to protect himself from bites and scratches.

They both checked each other out.

This was the first time David had ever caught a flying fox. They’ve never been within arm’s reach before, and if the ladder wasn’t there — he wouldn’t have been able to get the bat on this evening either!

We all had a good look at the mammal. Although originally transitory animals, flying foxes have happily adapted to urban environments where watered and manicured gardens mean a year-round food supply of nectar, blossoms, fruit and leaves.

The flying-fox has a hook on the end of its thumb which is used to invert themselves when they go to the toilet, as a defensive weapon and to reach and climb. The bat's four other "fingers" provide the structure for its webbed wings.

When David released the flying fox, it climbed rapidly up the nearest tree by using its hooks and feet.

Before there were houses and roads and shops and playgrounds, children played. They didn’t need toys or electricity — nature was their playground and they played with whatever they could gather. How often do I give my own children that gift?

Sometimes I become so comfortable in suburbia that I forget what it can be like for children to play in a truly natural environment. And I’m not just talking about an outing to the outdoors. How often do I let my daughters roam and explore a place that’s not landscaped for safety?

Today we took a walk on the wild side and trekked across cow paddocks, uncertain of what we would discover but enjoying the fruits (passion-fruit) and flowers (jasmine) along the way. We were led to a natural playground just fabulous for children to explore — a collection of fallen trees in a shallow, swampy marsh.

Earlier on our walk, we picked bouquets of jasmine, and the scent surrounded us as we started to play.

There were some big trees that kindly provided shade for me and Delaney (without too many fresh cow patties around).

The girls clambered over fallen melaleuca trees whose branches provided pathways over the water. They tested their balance, found their own handholds and forged new games.

It was interesting to watch how the veneer of civilisation slowly fell away. At first, the girls were hesitant about getting wet. Soon it became inevitable, and their shoes filled with mud. Then the girls removed their shoes and played so much more freely.

After observing these steps to freedom, I should remember next time to simply suggest the girls take off their shoes in the first place! But, I, too, am often bound by the constraints of society and find myself out in the wild, still trying to locate a “clean” spot in which to sit down, so I don’t get sullied by the good, clean dirt that covers this whole Earth!

At this point, the girls were still trying to stay dry and clean — carefully inching along the branch.

Exploring a different, natural playground with excellent climbing equipment.

Brioni delighted in finding new plants to show me, and Calista spotted a frog.

This was a fantastic spot to discover — our new favourite playground. And it’s just an easy walk away from our house! David’s talking about taking the girls camping here, next time I’ll definitely bring my camera and try to capture some “arty” shots, and the girls — well, they won’t even ask before they take their shoes off and wade into the swamp!

On the way home, we picked some mushrooms and cooked them up for lunch. This is what life should really be like — exploring and enjoying nature and then feasting on its delights! Thank you, God.

(This article was shared as part of the We Play link-up and Show and Tell.)

Last night I had a vision of the future for three of our daughters — and I caught a glimpse of the type of men they’ll marry. I wanted to record it — not just because I think I’m right about this — but because if I’m wrong, it will be hilarious for the girls to read in the future!

They're learning the poses, but will they grow up into dancers?

Aisha will marry a bookish, nerd type, someone who works on computers rather than with his hands. He will connect so completely with her, that she will have no trouble in realising she has met her soul mate. She and her husband will work in the city, and we will need to come to visit them because they’ll have busy careers.

Brioni will marry a big Maori bloke and be adopted by the whole clan. Her husband will be into rugby and any other sport, and she will eagerly go along to all his games as a cheerleader. She’ll live with his family in the country but not very close to us.

Calista will stay close to us, geographically-speaking. She will marry the man who is most like David, someone who works with his hands — possibly on a farm or in a trade. He’ll be easy to get along with, and we’ll enjoy having him around.

Delaney, well, I haven’t yet discovered her personality, and so I am unable to picture her with a man. It’ll be wonderful to see how she grows and develops!

What about you? Have you caught glimpses of your children’s futures?

With Brioni’s current desire to be a ballerina, I’ve been thinking about ballerina cupcakes for a while. I’ve done my research and it seems like the best idea anyone has come up with is to simply poke a ballerina or tutu topper into a cupcake and call it quits.

Surely — I thought — it’s not that hard to make a tutu cupcake! So this is my version that I wanted to share — in case there’s anyone out there who would like to make some ballerina tutu cupcakes. Take my idea and run with it!

The "prima ballerina" wears a dual-layer skirt.

When trying to assemble the ballerina tutu cupcakes, I tried to keep the ingredients simple. All you really need is white chocolate melts, heart lollipops and paper cupcake liners.

The necessary materials include heart lollipops, chocolate melts, paper cupcake liners and whatever you want to use for decorating & dyeing the "skirts" & "bodices".

The hardest part about this project was sourcing the heart lollipops. I did see several versions online, and so with a bit more time, I could have possibly bought some that were a better size.

Melt the white chocolate. You’re going to use this to make the tutu skirts. (If the chocolate gets gluggy, add some hot milk to help soften it.)

Add dye to the melted white chocolate.

Then pour a small amount of the chocolate into a paper liner — just work on one at a time.

Use the spatula to cover the edges of the paper liner with the chocolate.

Once your cupcake liners are covered in chocolate, put them in the freezer for about fifteen minutes.

If you flatten the liners, you’ll get a wider skirt. Make sure the skirts are fully hardened before you try taking the paper off.

After the chocolate is hardened, you can carefully peel away the paper to reveal the "tutu skirt".

While you’re waiting for the skirts to harden, you can decorate the “bodice” of the skirt. Before you unwrap your lollipop, break off the stick so only about an inch is remaining. I covered my lollipops with the same white chocolate because I wanted them to be the same colour as the skirts.

Embellish the heart-lollipops to make them look more like a tutu's bodice.

That’s it. Pretty easy, right? Then bring all your elements together.

Finally, collect your cupcakes, skirts and lollipop-bodices together.

When making these cupcakes, I used my favourite brownie recipe (modified to use chia seeds instead of eggs) and baked it in ice cream cones.

If you want to sink the heart-lollipop into the cupcake, you'll need to trim a hole in the top of the skirt.

Here's the finished product. I wasn't very happy with the proportions — I needed to source smaller heart lollipops or make bigger skirts by finding larger paper liners (maybe muffin-size).

One other idea that I thought about was to incorporate fairy floss (cotton candy) under the skirt as more netting. And it would be gorgeous if the skirts were also decorated with icing and silver cachous. Who’s up for it?

I hope you’ve gotten some ideas from my little ballerina tutu cupcakes. Many of you are so creative, I know you could turn these elements into really fantastic tutu cupcakes. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!

David has a fun game he likes to play with Calista.

He asks her, “Do you have any oobles for me?”

Oobles is just a nonsense word David created in playing sound games with Cali. Together they run through a selection of consonants, adding it to the suffix ooble to create words like “booble”, “cooble”, “dooble”, “fooble”, etc.

It’s been a fun, spontaneous way to encourage the development of her speech. It encourages two-year-old Calista to think of consonant sounds she may otherwise ignore and is a great first step to introducing phonics.

I love the way play-based learning enriches our way of life — especially when I see David create his own games to enhance the girls’ learning!

What are you going to be when you grow up?
A ballerina. …………………………………………….
What’s that going to be like?
Dancing. …………………………………………….

What are your favourite toys?
Little people. [Playmobil]…………………………………………….

Who are your best friends?
Aisha and Calista. …………………………………………….

What makes you happy?
Ice cream. ……………………………………………………………

What makes you sad?
Spice. ………………………………………………………..
Spicy foods?
Yes. ………………………………………………………..

When you dream at night, what do you dream about?
I don’t know.

What do you like to do with Daddy?
Go to work with him. …………………………………………………………

What do you like to do with Mama?
Paint. …………………………………………………………

What’s your favourite colour?
Yellow. …………………………………………………………

What’s your favourite book?
I don’t know. …………………………………………….

What does Daddy do during the day?
Go to work. …………………………………………………………

What does Mama do during the day?
Work on the ‘puter. …………………………………………….

What do you do during the day?
Play (with little people). …………………………………………….

Want to see how she’s changed? You can read Brioni’s interview when she turned three here.

As I parked the car in front of our house, I noticed a movement under the bushes ahead. A shadow obscured the animal, but I knew something was there.

Very carefully, I approached the bush and examined the grey bark and branches lying on the ground. Soon I realised that I was looking at one of Australia’s large lizards — a dragon!

I called the girls over, and we all had a look at the eastern bearded dragon. This placid reptile uses camouflage as its main defence, and it was very good at staying still. Even from very close, it looked like a branch, and its colours blended perfectly with the mulch around it.

David came out of the house to help carry the shopping in, and the girls excitedly called him over. “It’s a lizard, Daddy!”

I am so thankful to have a husband who is good at catching wildlife because it means that we get to examine many of these beautiful wild creatures up close — and I don’t have to be the one holding them! It didn’t take long before David had the lizard in his hands, carefully holding it behind the head so it couldn’t bite him.

David held it still while the girls examined the lizard.

We all got to touch it. It didn't feel particularly rough, and even its spikes were bendy and soft.

David even turned it upside down so we could see its belly.

We released the dragon onto the grass, and it refused to move for a while.

When feeling threatened, the eastern bearded dragon extends its throat region and puffs up to make it appear larger.

This eastern bearded dragon is related to the water dragon (which we’ve seen before), and it eats leaves, berries and flowers with a couple insects thrown in for some variety. Now that we know where this one lives, we hope to see it again!