34 weeks and 4 days

Taken this afternoon :)

Claire and Craig went for their Ante Natal class this morning and Claire's now packing her bag as she was the only one there who hadn't done so already lol! We're also washing all the Newborn baby clothes, blankets, Moses Basket sheets, muslins, etc. It's certainly making it feel much more imminent :)  Can't wait to be putting baby photos up instead of just things for Baby!
xx

Garden Centre Visit

Yesterday, Mum and I went to a local Garden Centre. I wanted to have a look at some of the gift ideas they had there and, as they have a nice little coffee shop, it seemed like a good idea to go for a coffee/tea while we were there ;o)

 We sat out on the verandah and had coffee/tea and fruit scones in the sunshine. There was a bit of a breeze but it was still pleasant enough to sit out.

 You have to walk past some of the displays on the way to/from the coffee shop and the autumn colours on this bench caught my eye.

 The elephants in the garden have been there since Emily was a toddler .

 They had a display of colourful pots which was quite bright.

 These bird cages were beautiful and reasonably priced but I don't know where I'd put one in our house.

 Mum's wreath is made the same as this one but a circle - very pretty.

 I liked these trees that were on display.

 Perhaps the sheep would like to be part of a nativity scene?

 And before we ended up spending too much, it was time to leave :)
xx

5 1/2 weeks ...

Yes, 5 1/2 weeks is all that's left till Claire's due date! I have a few bits of baby cuteness to show you :) today.

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First of all, THANK YOU to Deb of Paper Turtle who sent Little Baby Alice Rose one of her cute little birds :D, isn't it beautiful!  At the moment it's hanging on Alice's little wardrobe but once Claire and Craig get their own place it'll be going in her nursery.  Deb, this was so sweet of you and Claire was delighted when it arrived so Thank You again :o) 

 Next up is this cute little Baby on Board teddy who will likely be hanging in Craig's car :o).

 And finally, her "My First Christmas" sleepsuit.  Claire reckons this is what Alice will probably wear on Christmas morning for present opening before she's changed into a Christmas dress for the day :o).

 Did you notice the little feet?   How cute are they!!!

xx

Chocolate Banana Bread (with Walnuts)

This morning after coming home from work I was in the mood for baking. Craig (Claire's partner) passed his Driver's Theory test this morning, so I thought I'd make some Chocolate Brownies for him and because we had some bananas which need to be used up, I tried a new Banana loaf recipe.

 Chocolate Banana Bread

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250g    Self Raising Flour
A good pinch of Salt
150g    Castor Sugar
100g    Butter, melted and cooled
2          Medium Eggs, beaten
250g    Peeled ripe Bananas (2 large or 3 medium)
75g      Dark chocolate, chopped
100g    Walnut pieces

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A 900g loaf tin (about 26 x 12.5 x 7.l5 cm) greased with butter and the base lined with greaseproof paper

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Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4

Mix the flour with the salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the melted, cooled butter and the beaten eggs. Roughly mash the bananas with a fork - there should still be some lumpy bits - and add to the bowl. Add the chocolate and walnut pieces and mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and spread evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, until the loaf is a good golden brown and a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool before slicing. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe from: The Great British Book of Baking (I can see there'll be a few more recipes for me to try from this book :)  )

As you can see in the first photo, I didn't wait for the loaf to cool before cutting the first slice - hence the smeared chocolate across the loaf ;o)
I put the flour, egg & banana into my free standing mixer and mixed that first then added everything else and mixed again. That seemed to work out fine.
The loaf was really easy to make but I did end up having to leave mine in the oven for an extra 10 minutes because it wasn't cooked through properly after the given time - you would just  have to do what's right for your oven.
I had mine with some butter on and it was really yummy! Hope you enjoy :o)
xx