Oh My - AWOL for 12 months!

For those of you who have stuck around over the last year, waiting for another post, I applaud you. I can only apologise for the lack of input on my part. It's been a funny 12 months.

Whilst a rather long and mostly dull story, I'll try and condense it into a few basic facts.

We've spent the last year trying to get a diagnosis for our eldest daughter after she was having some 'settling in' issues at school (now in year 1) and finally happy to report we have one. Turns out she has Aspergers Syndrome which is on the Autistic Spectrum. I don't think it came as a shock to me or my better half but it will take a while for a lot of the family to get their heads round it. As I keep telling everyone, she's still our little blondie no matter what the label says. At least they don't mind so much at school now that she spends most of her day drawing pictures (when she's supposed to be writing or reading!)

So, in other news... well, not much else really. I've started doing some craft fairs to keep me busy (because looking after a 4 & 5 year old and keeping house just don't take up enough of my time)

oh, I have a new Facebook page to show my wares.... MumsABitCrafty please do visit and like if you should happen to enjoy it :)

This years batch of wine is on the go (didnt think much to last years, too much like rose for my liking)

Jam making and whatnot has been a success so far...

...and the kids made some cracking Halloween biscuits....

 

Hope everyone is all good and crafty :)

Wine-making and Children...Two Things You Dont Often Hear In The Same Sentence!

Whilst I wouldn't really consider this a craft activity it fits within my basic remit of 'fun, free,educational and useful'. I don't normally suggest the use of alcohol around children but this week I've made an exception. Together with the children's assistance, I've been making wine. My parents have a monstrous grapevine that used to give me strange body snatcher dreams in my younger years, but the grapes aren't that great for eating. My Dad suggested making some wine and in my current 'why not, I'll have a go at that' state of mind, I agreed. So, after school yesterday we went down to my Mum & Dads and the kids had a ball picking as many grapes as they could, 10kg in total. As this is my first attempt at making wine I bought a kit with all the necessary bits in to make life a little easier. After cleaning the grapes I then let my little darlings loose on the wonderful business of 'squishing'. Not wishing my finished product to taste like small children's feet I made sure their hands were VERY clean and gave them a lovely big bowl each with a suitable pile of grapes to mulch. I can honestly and quite sadly admit they haven't had this much fun in ages! What a delightfully disgusting experience it is to pop each little berry between your fingers - delicious! With all the grapes squished they were then added to a large vat containing a huge amount of sugar and a seemingly small quantity of water. Sachets of various things were added (don't ask me to get technical - there's plenty of sites for that!) and by teatime tonight it was frothing away quite nicely. Unfortunately I know I am now going to have the question every morning 'Mum, when's our wine going to be ready?'  Hmmmm, sorry kids.