we love wild mushroom: hunting...and eating!!!

mushroom hunting is like a treasure hunt!

since we have forests right behend our house, we go almost everyday :) ...Ji with his basket, me with baby St in my ergo(best baby carrier!), with a hiking pole (VERY helpful with carrying the extra weight ;) - used it during pregnancy too!) and even dad comes with us when he has time.

this photo is from 2 days ago. we only fould a couple but this one was worth it!

and they are delicious! - in soups, with scrambled eggs, pickled...yum!

p.s. for those of you who are not familiar with wild mushrooms, some can be very! poisonous!

log pillows

a little wedding present for our friends

to keep them  w a r m  and  c o s y!!!

- log basket from a local basket maker

- very large log pillows made by me :)

peek-a-boo :)

plastic-bottle-marble-rattle

St has learned to crawl......so i'm constantly in the need of things to keep him busy to get anything(!!!) done around the house. when Ji was little, i learned that most of the time ordinary household items are far more interesting than real toys....or a combo of the two :)...

just water in the bottle was fun, but the marbles

swirling around (or both :) were even more fun :)

make sure the lid is on really tight!

the shadow of the bottle was pretty cool also...

sock-pea-bags

i've had a bunch of boys' socks in need of toe-repair in my "repair basket" for a couple of months(!!!) and had been contemplating, if i should repair them or just up/down cycle them as cleaning rags, when the other day i got the idea of making quick and easy play pea-bags out of them...didn't have beans at home ;)

Ji had fun filling them.....and chasing all the run-away peas :)

we had fun throwing them into a basket and cardboard-box-lion's-mouth (easy!). and even dad joined us on this one!

1.sew the bottom seam with sewing machine

2. fill with peas ;)                         

3.pin the top part(to hold the peas in place)

4. sew the top seam

5. cut off excess fabric

(6. ...now use the scraps as cleaning rags :)

snack-sac

cotton is better than plastic :)!

antipasta salad :))!

it's asparagus season here now and i loooove asparagus! this is a wonderful recipe i learned from a highschool friend - it's easy, refreshing and very yummy!

serves 4:
- cooked pasta  500g
- steamed asparagus  500g
- cherry tomato 300-400g
- eidam or cheddar cubes 200g
- sliced ham (the real kind!)  150g
- homemade italian dressing - here (i use fresh basil and don't add peppers)


p.s. it's a cold (room temp.) salad - mix the "warm" ingredients together after cooled to room temp...the cheese is not supposed to melt!

dobrou chuť!!!

shoe box pull toy

Ji loves pulling and pushing things around our house all of the time, and i always save shoe boxes, so we decided to make a pull toy. we made our Mates :). a bus would be cute too!                                       

Ji puts all kinds of things in it: wooden blocks, stuffed animals, even his cars :) 

tip: we glued 4 feet on to the bottom - 3 squares of thicker cardboard glued together, so he would be a little elevated and wouldn't drag his stomach on the ground, plus a piece of felt on each to make it less :) noisy!

we also made a bowl of water and some paper dog food and 

Mates even came to see if it was real - it was so funny!:)) 

tiny glass cars :)

aren't these glass cars cute ? ! ! ! they were made as a custom

order for me by a czech glass artist David Johanes - his shop.

...two weeks ago when we were on a mini vacation with my mom and the boys at the Karlova Studanka spa(which was by the way super!) we came across a shop that sold the cutest tiny glass animals made by a local artist. we bought a couple of them - Ji picked out some fish, a snail for St a ladybug for me and some others as presents for upcoming friends' birthdays. and right then i knew that if the animals were so cute, that tiny cars would be also! so i contacted the artist and he was so willing and upon my request made these - they're a cross bug-citroen :) 

simple paper daffodils

tools:

- color paper

- glue stick

- scissors - straight and zig-zag

- cylinder of some sort - pencils

   or markers work well

- wooden skewers (optional)

directions:

- cut out yellow flower leaves - the easiest is to cut out circles and then cut triangle wedges :)

- cut strips of orange paper (one edge zig-zaged) long enough to wrap around your marker, having the short edges overlap a little. apply a "stripe" of glue to one short edge, wrap paper around the marker (zig-zag end to the center of the tube) and press overlapping edges firmly to let the glue set. then move your paper roll so that the end sticks out and start folding the end inward as i started on the photo to create the bottom of the "cup" - start with the overlapping glued edges). before you fold the last part, apply glue to it and then press to a flat surface to set glue and have it as flat as possible. then apply glue to the bottom of the "cup" and glue to the flower :)...when you glue it on, it should slip off of the marker.

- then make stems and leaves of your choice! - cut strips of green paper and tape daffodils to your windows and walls, or glue onto skewers and put them in a vase or for areas with low chance of rain (this is especially for my sis ;)!) "plant" them into your lawn :)....careful if you have sprinklers ;)

for green skewer stems:

- cut a strip of green paper, apply glue to the top end and start rolling it onto the skewer - use an angel similar to the one on the photo. tip - i use my bottom hand to hold the paper in place and the top hand to roll it.

- before you get to the end, apply glue to the end and roll the end on.

- cut up little yellow squares, and with the skewer in the center of it¨, glue it on to the flower.