Celebrating 300 Planetarians while waiting, waiting...

Oh, my gorgeous Planetarians, all 300 of you – woo hoo! That was a delightful way to start my day, cracking the big three-oh-oh club ☺. As well as thanking my oldest supporters, I’d also like to extend the warmest of welcomes to the newbies for hopping aboard this busy planet and especially Planetarian #300, sweet Simone. Stay tuned for a giveaway soon! However, at the moment, I am *so* distracted by whether our life-changing decisions we made the other day (see here) will turn out as hoped. The suspense is killing me! I promise to reveal all if it comes off, okay? So, to distract myself, I thought I’d share with you a few little snippets of what’s been going on at Planet Baby.

Our Family Rules

I thought I’d show you ‘Our Family Rules’ which the older pixies decided upon, verbatim.  My dear and clever friend, Janette at My Sweet Prints (Planet Baby’s Honorary Graphic Designer or HGD for short!), then twirled her magic wand and here’s the result (please ignore my reflection – I couldn’t avoid it, whichever angle I tried!).

Janette was a dream to work with, collaborating by email until we had the exact shade of green I wanted, just like an old-school blackboard. The chalky font was her inspired choice. Unfortunately, given IKEA’s absence in Tasmania (don’t get me started on that topic!), I couldn’t frame it with my usual IKEA Ribba version but a plain Spotlight one instead. Do check out Janette’s website for the charming array of prints she has on offer and her cute blog here. I also posted here about her adorable ’Bedtime Bus Roll’ which has pride of place on the older pixies’ mantel.

So, do the rules work? Well, in the main, they’re a guide which aren’t always followed but it does help maintain a *degree* of order on PB. Rule #1 is invoked (and broken) regularly, unfortunately, despite our best efforts. Mr PB is often at fault here and gets sent outside by the older pixies for 5 minutes to reflect upon his actions. It’s a great rule which covers an array of scenarios. Rules #2 and #7 are to encourage the pixies not to yell and speak to each other respectfully (Mr PB, again, is an offender). Rule #3 is necessary in a house of toilet trainers. Rule #4 is a testy one. Rule #5 was written when Joshie was having his night terrors. Rule #6 seems to be blithely ignored, in the main. Rule #8 is *mostly* observed. Rule #9 was a one-off incident – ropes are kept in the shed now! And as for Rule #10, well, that’s followed as the exception, rather than the rule!

The Great Curtain Affair

Hmm, I guess this photo tells the story. For some reason best known to herself, Miss India decided to swing off one of the curtains here while I was hanging out the washing. That was two weeks ago. Mr PB is off to the hardware store this weekend to look for replacement brackets. Ah, the joys of renting (and children)!

The Great Bath Splashing Affair

Lately, Sam has been the leader of the pack at bath time, delighting in pouring and splashing water all over the bathroom floorboards. I have a very cute photo of the three pixies, peering over the bath at their handiwork but to protect their privacy, I’ll post this close-up of the carnage wrought instead.

Notice the reflection of one of the culprits in the pool of water on the floor which extended out the bathroom for about two metres. That was but one of the many sodden bath towels I had to use to clean it all up.  Hmm, the things that occur when you leave the room for a short moment…

The brownie recipe

Okay, so I saved the best bit for last! Since so many of you asked for it following my last post, here is our brownie recipe, courtesy of Marie Claire Cooking.

We dust them off with icing sugar. Do share how you go with making them! They’ve never failed us yet. Just make sure not to over-cook them or they won’t be yummy and fudgy.

Okay, time to finally get the older pixies to bed. Somehow witching hour is lasting longer than usual tonight. Ooh, I hope I have some exciting news to share with you tomorrow!