Holiday happenings at Little Sister's...

After some post-visitor blues, we have had a lovely week of 'at-home' holidays this week. We've been out and about a bit: swimming, eating ice-cream and bowling. But we've also spent many happy hours at home. I haven't caught up on as many things as I'd hoped...but have enjoyed doing some crafting with the kids.

We ventured into the world of papier-mache this week! I have great memories of messy making-days as a child, smearing wall-paper glue on balloons and lumps of newspaper; it's still wonderful as an adult! After cooking up some flour-based glue we ripped oodles of newspaper strips and got messy. The humid weather made the drying a little slow and I was required to undertake one balloon transplant (successful!). After 3 days the 'eggs' were sufficiently thick and ready to paint. Miss Creative decorated some little 'eggs' beautifully and then put together an Easter basket for our table. The giant 'eggs' are being painted as I write - Miss Creative (10yrs) is using a lovely combination of pastels; Mr Energy (7yrs) is using bold black and orange. Mr Sport (9yrs) is outside on his ripstick...

This afternoon we have some friends coming over to help us colour some boiled eggs with some shiny, metallic paints that Sister-In-Between sent us a few years ago! Last year over Easter, Dengue fever struck down 3 of us and it was a less than joyful season with no crafting. We're making up for it this year and revelling in good health :)

I've particularly enjoyed baking a few batches of hot-cross buns this week in preparation for Good Friday and a couple of expat gatherings we're attending over the weekend. With no supermarkets decorated in Easter-trimmings here we need to make the effort to remember special times and make our own traditions. I find the lack of comercialisation makes the celebration much more special and home-made buns are much tastier than mass-produced ones, as well as filling the house with a wonderful smell! My biggest challenge has been keeping the buns out of the reach of the ants that have invaded my kitchen, achieved by balancing them precariously over water traps as they rise and cool. We enjoyed warm hot-cross buns for breakfast this morning with a pot of tea and the Good Friday story. I have to admit the kids and I had done a little taste-testing when the buns came out of the oven yesterday - who could resist!?!?

I enjoyed reading my siblings' stories of changing seasons! Hot season has sprung here and we are sweltering in high temperatures and humidity. Last night it was 32 degrees celcius in my bedroom and had only dropped to 30 when I woke this morning. Everyone is a bit grumpy this morning after a restless night. Althought there's no snuggling under blankets or stomping in colourful leaves here at the moment, we do have 4 mango trees brimming with ripening fruit and it's lovely weather for swimming :)