A couple of firsts for Fraser

Since the first of these firsts is the happiest one then let's start with that one.

 

At the weekend Fraser cracked sitting up on his own.

 

He seemed to go from completely unable to do it to managing just fine in no time at all!

 

 

 

He could sit upright in his Bumbo before, as in the photo below, and would be quite happy there for a wee while, but soon he would get fed up of the fact that he couldn't reach his toys on the floor properly and try stretching to get at them. He would then get a little frustrated that he couldn't quite get to them, even though he managed to get himself into some quite unusual positions trying to reach them!

 

Oh, and those Tunnock's tea cakes weren't his! I can neither deny nor confirm where they went!

 

 

Now, though, he can reach everything he wants perfectly.

 

 

 

His favourite thing to do is to sit with his bucket of blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He loves to tip them over and use the tub as a drum!

 

 

 

 

The boys built this great wee den for him yesterday to shelter him from the sunshine. It was big enough for anyone else who wanted to cool down to pop in and join him! See those blocks again?

 

 

 

 

Whenever I sit him down, I position his cute little dinosaur cushion behind him, as he does still topple backwards occasionally!

 

 

 

 

Now, onto the second first.

 

We received the results of Fraser's allergy tests about 6 weeks ago, and they showed exactly what we had suspected. He has the exact same allergies as Calum (11) and Alasdair (5) - dairy, wheat, egg, nuts and soya.

 

In one sense I sighed a little when I saw it written down officially. I mean, I know quite a few families with one child with allergies, but three with this many of them and a fourth with a nut allergy?!

 

But I'm not the kind of person to dwell on that kind of thing. With the exception of his allergies and his eczema, Fraser is the picture of health. He is thriving, meeting his milestones and continues to delight not just me but the whole family. And he charms everyone he meets with his infectious little smile. So what if he has a few allergies? Albeit fairly major ones!

 

Generally, this is my attitude to all of the boys allergies. We know how to cope with them and we have our ways of avoiding contact with them.

 

But sometimes you get a little reminder of how careful you need to be.

 

A few weeks ago I was making Sunday lunch. Our meals are mostly allergy free but I do make non allergy versions of things for those who can have them. Like a nice cheesy sauce for the cauliflower for Sunday lunch. I serve the cauliflower without the sauce and put the sauce in a jug for those who can have it.

 

That Sunday the boys had been taking it in turns to entertain Fraser while I made the sauce. But he got a little fed up and so, as I often do when I need to get things done, I put on the sling and put Fraser into it while I finished up making the lunch. I had finished making the sauce with the cheese, milk and butter in it anyway.

 

Only, there must have been some milk or butter on my apron. It is an oilcloth one (a lovely Cath Kidston one) which meant that whatever it was hadn't soaked in but instead was on the surface. When we sat down to eat I noticed that Fraser's leg was very itchy. Then when I looked closer I saw he had broken out in hives. It was only on one leg, the leg that would have been against the apron (the sling carries him slightly to my side so his other leg was more round my back).

 

You can't see it all that clearly in the photos but it was the first time he has broken out in hives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little feed from mama soon distracted him from the itching, and the hives calmed down on their own, but it did highlight to me again how quickly and easily an allergen can cause them to react.

 

However, going back to my earlier attitude of delighting in the little man, let's not finish on that note but instead how about this photo of the train Calum made for his last week out of one of Alasdair's toy boxes!

 

 

And there's those blocks again!

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Makings - with pattern & recipes!

Last week was the last week of school here. As well as attending all the usual end of term events - sports days, assemblies and such - I was also busy making some last minute presents for the teachers and other staff at the school.

 

 

For the teachers I crocheted these little flower key chains. I used a pattern for flower embellishments from Attic 24 which you can find here. For some of the flowers I added an extra layer of petals on the back. Then I just sewed on the key chains that I bought at Hobbycraft.

 

 

 

I also think it's good to say thank you to all the other staff who are involved in the successful running of a school - the office staff, the classroom assistants, the janitor - and we are very fortunate that our boys' primary school is a really lovely school!

 

So I made up a couple of batches of fudge to give out to them.

 

The first batch is my old favourite that I make up every Christmas, both to use as presents and to have in ready for any visitors who might pop in. I absolutely love this fudge recipe and it's so straightforward to make.

 

It's Baileys & White Chocolate Fudge and you can find the recipe here.

 

 

 

The second fudge recipe is one I found on Pinterest a while ago and have been looking for an excuse to try out.

 

It's a Malteser Fudge and you can find the recipe here http://pinterest.com/pin/104497653828850329/

 

It was a nice enough fudge, but extremely sweet, even for my sweet tooth, so bear that in mind if you plan on making this one. One piece is most definitely enough, which is maybe not a bad thing, but out of the two of them I would always choose the Baileys fudge over this one!

 

Speaking of which, I think I might rustle up another batch of that today.

 

Just to have in, of course!

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Recipe of the Week - Lemon & Coconut Cupcakes {gluten & dairy free}

 

 

 

It's been another of those busy weeks. I had a few things I was going to post this week and I just haven't had the time. Most evenings I was busy crocheting the little gifts for the boys to give their teachers as end of term presents. Tomorrow is the last day of term for them - hurray! I'll show the gifts off tomorrow though.

 

Tonight, though, there are these little experiments.

 

 

I had been wanting to try using coconut oil instead of dairy free margarine in a recipe for a while now. I'm a great believer that butter is much better for you than margarine, as it's so much more natural, but for those on a dairy free diet then there isn't that option. I've read all about the health benefits of coconut oil but the main reason I haven't tried using it in baking before is that Calum (11), who is one of my allergy boys, just doesn't like the taste of coconut! I don't actually understand that though, as one of his favourite dinners is a chicken curry I make with coconut milk in it! Still, I suppose the taste of it in a curry and in a cake is different.

 

Nevertheless, I wanted to try it out in a cake.

 

I was a bit concerned that the coconut might dry out the texture a bit, and with gluten free flour you need all the moisture you can get, so that's when I struck on the idea of adding lemon. Besides, with all this lovely warm weather we've been having, Lemon is a perfect summery flavour, don't you think?

 

One more thing that has put me off is the price of coconut oil. It certainly isn't as cheap as margarine! But if you have a Holland and Barrett store near you they have one of their Buy One Get Anything Else Free offers just now. That's a pretty good offer when you consider that coconut oil is £15 a jar!

 

For the cupcakes you will need:

 

4oz coconut oil

5oz sugar

6oz Doves Farm wheat free self raising flour

2 eggs

2tpsp rice milk

Grated rind of 1 lemon

 

For the icing you will need:

Juice of half a lemon

Enough icing sugar to make up a thickish icing.

 

 

All you need to do is put all of the cupcake ingredients into a bowl or freestanding mixer and beat well until everything is combined and smooth.

Spoon into cupcake cases and bake at 180c for about 15-20 minutes until golden.

Make up a spreadable icing while they cool down. Add enough icing sugar to the juice of half a lemon to make a spreadable but not too runny icing.

When the cakes have cooled then cover with icing.

 

And if you're wondering, these little cakes did indeed pass the Calum test!

 

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Visiting the Royal Highland Show

Once a year Edinburgh hosts the Royal Highland Show, the biggest agricultural show in the country. I think I read somewhere that it's been running for over 150 years, but perhaps I misread that so don't quote me on it! It is held over four days on the second last weekend of June, from Thursday to Sunday, and on Friday we headed along for a day out.

 

We used to go along to the show most years but for one reason or another we hadn't been since Alasdair, now 5, was a few weeks old and so everyone was really looking forward to it.

 

 

The show is really, really busy. Especially on beautiful days like it was on Friday and so to avoid the queues of traffic going into the show car parks we took the special bus that was provided from the centre of the city. I would highly recommend this to anyone in future years. It cost us a little bit more than it would have done to park the car but it was so very satisfying when the bus, in it's priority lane, passed the long queues of cars heading to the show!

 

There is so much to see and do inside the show ground.

 

One of the first things we watched were the blacksmiths in the forge.

 

 

I don't envy them their job, working so physically in such a hot environment and it was quite impressive to watch. James (14) said he would actually quite like to do that as a job as he loves making things. Actually, I think he quite fancies making some medieval weaponry!

 

 

There were lots and lots of free tastings in the various supermarket tents, as well as activities for children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were, of course, animals galore to see but pigs are my favourite.

 

 

 

 

Although I did rather like these impressive big Clydesdale horses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys found something to do in most of the tents.

 

 

 

 

 

We saw some more displays of traditional skills, like drystane dyking.

 

 

We met up with my husband's sister, who was attending the show for work rather than pleasure. She works in the rural affairs department of the Scottish government but it looked to me like there was more pleasure than work when we met her at a lunch reception! There were no complaints from us though, as she invited us to join them for some of their buffet lunch.

 

 

 

 

One section of the show that I think appeals to little (and not so little) boys is the vehicles section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show really is huge and my photos don't really give the scale of how big it is. We spent 7 hours walking around and there were still things that we missed!

 

After all those hours walking in the sunshine, nearly all of them with me carrying Fraser in his sling, it was lovely to find a relatively quiet, shaded spot and sit down for a while on our picnic rug.

 

 

 

A lovely end to a lovely day.

 

 

 

 

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Recipe of the Week - Marshmallow Truffles {Dairy Free, Wheat Free, Egg Free}

 

 

 

You know how certain smells, songs or tastes can instantly transport you to a place or time in your past?

 

Like the day I was walking along behind a lady and the scent of her perfume took me back to our wedding day and those early days of our married life, as it was the same perfume that my husband bought me for a wedding present. Tommy Hilfiger's Tommy Girl.

 

Well, whenever I eat one of these truffles it reminds me of the days when I was about 14 years old and my friends and I used to go to a girls club every Thursday. It was run by some ladies at one of the churches near us and we used to love going along. There must have been about 30 of us in total and those ladies must have had the patience of saints! We used to do all sorts of activities at the club and one night we baked these truffles. I just can't eat one of them without the taste reminding me of those days and those lovely ladies.

 

When I began my allergy free cooking journey this was a nice easy one to convert.

 

You will need:

About 8 marshmallows

3oz dairy free margarine

2 oz drinking chocolate (make sure it's dairy free), or cocoa if you like things really chocolatey

3oz desiccated coconut

3oz sugar

5oz rolled oats (not oatmeal)

4tbsp rice milk

Extra coconut or drinking chocolate to roll the balls in.

 

 

- Begin by cutting your marshmallows in half. The easiest way to do this is by dipping a pair of scissors into a cup of boiling water. The marshmallows will then not stick to the hot scissors. Dip the scissors into the water after cutting each marshmallow.

 

 

 

- Melt the margarine.

 

- Stir the drinking chocolate, sugar, coconut and oats together in a bowl.

 

 

- Pour the melted margarine onto the dry ingredients and then add the rice milk.

 

- Mix everything together until well mixed and sticky.

 

- Take about a big spoonful of the mixture and flatten it in the palm of your hand. Place one of the marshmallow halves on top of this and then using both hands squish the mix right round the marshmallow to make a ball. You will need to squeeze the mixture together tightly so that it holds it's shape.

 

 

 

- Roll each ball in either some extra drinking chocolate or some coconut.

 

 

 

You don't need to worry about the marshmallow being exactly in the middle, as long as it's all covered up by the truffle mix.

 

I like to think that with such a large proportion of oats in these they are pretty healthy!

 

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Little Music Maker

Every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon I have a few piano pupils come to the house. While they play through their lessons, Fraser sits quietly on my knee.

 

He seems to enjoy listening to them, his brothers or myself playing.

 

But what he really enjoys is the chance to play the piano himself, as you can see from this clip of him and James. Just look out for his grand finale!

 

 

I'm pretty sure you couldn't watch the end of that without a smile on your face!

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Weekend Happenings.

This weekend James (14) went away for two nights to Army Cadet camp. It was his third weekend camp with the cadets since he joined them last August. He has enjoyed all of the camps but this one was the best yet he said.

 

He looks so much older once he puts his uniform on and, in my rather biased opinion, extremely handsome. Although he'd be extremely embarrassed to read that!

 

 

Being at camp meant that he missed the annual Boys' Brigade prize giving which took place on Friday evening.

 

David (8) and Calum (11) are showing off their prizes and badges here. David's squad won the 'best squad' and Calum won the 'most points in the company' trophy.

 

And of course they look just as handsome as their oldest brother in their uniforms!

 

 

 

 

I love to come across photos that the boys have taken of each other on either the iPad or my phone. These ones of Ally and Fraser were taken at some point over the weekend. I think Calum was the photographer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday mornings we always have pancakes for breakfast. I think even the little routines like this are so important in family life.

 

 

I like mine piled high with berries at this time of year. In the winter, when fresh berries are out of season, then we have them with sliced bananas.

 

 

In other food happenings this weekend, I saw an ice cream maker on special offer and so treated us to one. The first ice cream I tried out in it was this dairy and egg free mint choc chip one. We had it with some of my trusty Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake as part of our Father's Day dinner. Roast pork, apple sauce, roast potatoes and cauliflower with cheese sauce (for those allowed the sauce) was our main course. If you're asking!

 

 

The ice cream was a success and I promise to share the recipe soon. That makes two recipes I've now promised to share in the last few days!

 

 

Once the biggest boy was home from camp he was far more interested in catching up with his youngest brothers than anything else. I don't take his helpfulness with them for granted, he is missed by them all when he is away.

 

 

 

One more photo I found on my phone from the weekend. This time it was David's turn for cuddles with Fraser.

 

 

And that was, mostly, our weekend. Not nearly as hectic as last weekend, or the one ahead of us either!

 

 

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