Citrus Ice Cubes

I've been wanting to drink more water recently but i just find it so boring and tasteless, give me a diet coke any day! Upon searching the web on how to make water more interesting to drink i came across...fruit ice cubes! I just had to try them so ran out to pick up some citrus fruits, lime and orange this time. I went for citrus just because it seemed the safest bet because you have lemons and stuff in drinks all the time.

I just started out by slicing the fruits then cutting out the individual segments making sure they were small enough to fit in the icecube tray. I then filled my tray with water and popped a segment of fruit in each, then just left it to freeze overnight.

They actually have a lot more taste than I thought they would but it's really refreshing, and a really nice idea for parties or BBQs it even if you just fancy adding a bit of flavour to your water like I did.

A trip to Whitby!

As I've been pretty quite recently i thought, I'd update and tell you all about our trip to Whitby, a lovely little seaside town near Scarborough, We (Aria and I) went with my Dad, Grandma and cousin Rebecca, Simon was working so unfortunately he couldn't make it. Here are some of my favourite photos of the day:

I think we all had such a lovely day, especially Aria she was such a happy little bunny all day ;)

Where have I been?!!

Wow, so it's been over a month! Naughty  Danni!! I just really lacked motivation as I always do when starting a new blog, hopefully I'll be back for good now and I think I'll set myself up with a routine where a post maybe 3-4 times a week? I haven't decided yet, as I also have the makeup blog I share with my cousin, thetwotwentysomethings.blogspot.co.uk where we manage a daily post.

Anyway what the heck has been going on in my life? 

As usual D'Baby...

She can now sit up for real! - 12th July, that morning she could only sit up for maybe 5 seconds but after taking her to a soft play area and sitting her in the ball pool, when we brought her home she was sitting like a pro. I swear she learns things in the snap of a finger it's so strange!

Cut her first peggy - 30th July, could quite well have been before then but it was the day it first stabbed me! 

Learnt to crawl - 7th August, completely out of the blue really, again snap of a finger! Now I definitely can't  leave her for a minute, it's all USB sticks in mouth, making friends with plug sockets, and eating foreign objects off the floor from now on! 

8 months on the 8th of the 8th - how did I only just realise that?! We could have had a celebration at 8.08 too! 

So me, I went back to work on the 11th. Don't know how I feel about it yet. It feels strange to be walking without pushing around a pram! I really miss Aria though, B is having her for the time being. The good thing is i really appreciate her a lot more, not that I didn't before but I just give her so much more attention, I got in from work the other day and she was sleeping, I so wanted to wake her up just so I could cuddle her! 

I've also enrolled at the Open University studying Psychology and Child Development, it starts in October and I am beyond excited about it! I'll keep you updated on how that goes. I feel a mahoosive stationary haul coming on! My second favourite haul to makeup! 

I feel like I have so much to talk about but I'm going to end it here for now as i'll be here all day
so for now buhbye!

Avocado Cupcakes

The other day i woke up and was like, I'm gona make some avocado cupcakes today... I had no idea how it would turn out but figures i would just substitute butter for avocado and hope for the best. Avocado is quite an oily food and doesn't have a really strong taste to it. The other week i mashed avocado and banana together for an experimental face mask. Ok and yes I had to try it, all you could taste was the banana. So for that reason i thought avocado would work perfectly as a healthier option to using butter.

You can check out this post for my easy 'cup' recipe, use the same recipe but it's just a cup of mashed avocado instead of a cup butter (that's about two medium avocados mashed), to incorporate it in to your own recipes just switch the butter for the same amount of avocado!

They pretty much taste just like normal cakes, in fact they're nicer, Simon said they were really nice and he's fussy when it comes to baking... especially mine -_-
They're really light and a much healthier option to using butter!..The cake does come out a little bit on the green side, but i didn't find it of putting at all.

Easy-peasy Sponge Cake

This is probably the easiest, tastiest sponge cake i have ever made. I much prefer measurements in cups, i know it's often seen as the lazy way to measure and isn't as accurate but hey, if you've found something that works stick with it!

So to make about 12 cupcakes you'll need:
1 Cup self raising flour
1 Cup caster sugar
1 Cup butter
2 eggs
1 tbs of vanilla flavouring (optional)

That's the ingredients sorted, how simple is that? And it's so easy to remember!

Here's how to make:
Preheat the oven to 180C
Soften the butter in a bowl and mix in the flour and sugar.
Add the eggs and flavouring and mix until smooth
Pour in to whatever cake/cupcake tin you choose and place in the oven for 10-15 mins until it starts to brown on top.

From here its up to you whether you ice or leave plain.

Hope you enjoyed today's quick and easy recipe, look out for a more experimental/healthier version of the mix in the next couple of posts.

Aria's Food Diary #2

To be honest i was debating even writing this post because we seem to have gone backwards in the weaning department. Aria had been struggling to poop for about two weeks, i felt so sorry for she would literally scream from the pain. On top of that she's started teething again and she's become such a little grump.

So it was advised that i put her back on her formula for a couple of days, which i did and she eventually got better. Now we've started back with solids but a bit slower than last time.

Toast is her favourite thing at the moment, although I'm a little wary about her choking she seems fine and wolfs it down. 

I tried her with avocado as suggested in the Cow&Gate weaning book, as you can tell she really wasn't happy with it.

The last two  pictures are just of the park where she enjoyed a munch on an ice cream cone.

The this one is probably the worst mess she has ever made so far, she's normally quite a tidy eater, if she likes what she's eating, she loves carrots but for some reason it seemed to go everywhere but her mouth, in her eye, up her nose, all over me!

So like i said, there really wasn't much to say in this instalment, but were getting back on track now so hopefully next time there will be more news!

Backwards Worm and Pink Hair

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, i just don't seem to have had a minute to myself at the moment. Simon and Aria are both in bed so now i have a little quite time.
Well what's new? Seen as though this is a mummy blog I'll give you a quick update on Aria, shes still not sitting up, but has started to crawl (worm as i like to call it) backwards. it means i can't just leave her to play on the floor without watching her as shes always getting in to mischief!
Also she's started trying to climb out of her rocker! She rolls on her side and cocks her leg over, but then she gets all nowty and strain faced when i strap her in!

Caught in the Act!

She's started sucking her toes which is super cute, the first time she did it i was changing her nappy and she just started giggling when she managed to pop her big toe in her mouth.

And! DunDunDun!!! i have finally got her drinking water. Hallelujah! She's getting there using her sippy cup but she prefers it just out of a normal 'big person cup' she kinda laps it up like a little cat bless her.

So what else, or errr i dyed my hair pink... please excuse the shameless selfie, i never normally take them... honest! What possessed me, well i kinda promised a review of a pink hair dye I'd recently bought, on my other blog so i couldn't chicken out could i? I also kinda hate it.. alot, well not the pink, the pink is awesome, but it makes the rest of my hair look really orange! I'm thinking of gradually going blonde all over, but a really light white blonde. Sometimes i really question my sanity...

I really need a project, I've got my scrapbook, but i get so bored easily, I'll eventually go back to it, but I think i need to build up my stock a bit first... hmm time to get on Pintrest for inspiration.


Until next timeee!