Back to school! - A school themed baby shower

Again its that time of year again. Starting tomorrow morning 7am it's back to alarm clocks, packed lunches, uniforms, homework, drop off's and pick ups.  It's with mixed emotions.... great that routine and structure will commence again and of course more uninterrupted time to manage our upcoming functions will be a blessing, but unsettling also, as we can't believe how fast they are growing up and our youngest little boy is off to pre-prep so there is sure to be tears (from mum...) when he steps into his new class room!!

Anyway -  to celebrate the return to school, We thought we'd re-share this school themed baby shower that we featured last year and with so many new followers on board we are sure it will be well received!!

This baby shower was put together by Whitney at Whitney Smith Photography for her friend, who is a primary school teacher.

It is filled with all sorts of cute details; blackboards, cookies and milk, lunch bags, apples for the teacher, school books and a gorgeous personalised baby shower book. All the guests left notes for the baby in here, along with a list of gifts and other mementos.

Another adorable feature was prepared by the mum-to-be's class. They all wrote down pieces of advice on parenting for her - maybe not overly helpful, but certainly amusing!

Enjoy!

And stay reading as next week we will be featuring another baby shower that we managed recently, think sage green, lemon, white and birdcages!!

Till then - The Inspired Occasion

A new school year begins

Today Alex's daughter began prep (she was very brave; no tears from either of them!) and my daughter is back to school for her first day of Grade One. With the school term starting, so returns our crazy schedule of school drop offs, pick ups, work, events and school commitments.

We are both pretty organised girls - it's one of the things that makes us good at our jobs. But we are always open to new ideas and better ways of doing things, so when I came across this fabulous blog by Jade, I knew I was onto something good! This girl is SERIOUSLY organised!

Jade's son is starting kinder this year and she has done a really fabulous run down of her preparation for this. Over the past week or so she has shared some great recipes, all freezable and even better, all easy, that would be perfect for school lunch boxes.

So far we have made the Oat and Chocolate Chunk cookies and the yummy scrolls. In fact, we did a big bake-a-thon today and froze a heap of them in individual serves, which will make preparing school lunches a breeze.

I have included both of these recipes here - but make sure you pop over to Jade's blog to see what else she has to help you get (and keep!!) organised.

Oat & Chocolate Chunk cookies

Ingredients-

• 150g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 80g (1/2 cup, lightly packed) brown sugar
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g (1 cup) plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 180g (2 cups) rolled oats
• 150g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used chocolate chips here and it worked well)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and combined sugar in a medium bowl until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until well combined.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture. Add the oats and chocolate, and stir until well combined.
4. Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Place on lined tray. Flatten slightly. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden.
5. Set aside on the tray for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe for Vegemite and cheese scrolls
(This can be modified to make ham and cheese scrolls, chutney and cheese, or like my daughter tomato sauce and cheese scrolls!)

Ingredients -

• 2 cups (300g) self-raising flour + extra for dusting
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g butter, coarsely grated
• 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
• Vegemite
• 3/4 cup (90g) grated cheddar

Method-

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Rub butter in using fingertips. Add milk and mix to a soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth. Roll into a 25 x 30cm rectangle.
2. Spread vegemite over dough and sprinkle with cheese. Roll up starting from a long edge. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut roll into 10 even slices. Place scrolls on trays and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees.

Big thanks to Jade for letting me share these recipes and images with you. 


And finally, you know we love parties... and earlier this year we featured a fabulous school themed baby shower party - drop by for some school themed loveliness!!

Back to school special!

It's the last day of school holidays here. Tomorrow it's back to lunch boxes, uniforms, drop off's and pick ups. For me, it's bitter sweet.... sweet that my daughter is back at school, she is starting to get bored (and therefore whiny), but bitter as well, because we only have one more term of Prep then she is off to Grade One next year... can't believe how fast she is growing!

Anyway -  to celebrate the return to school, I thought I would share this super cute school themed baby shower. It was put together by Whitney at Whitney Smith Photography for her friend, who is a primary school teacher.

It is filled with all sorts of cute details; blackboards, cookies and milk, lunch bags, apples for the teacher, school books and my favourite - the gorgeous personalised baby shower book. All the guests left notes for the baby in here, along with a list of gifts and other mementos.

Another adorable feature was prepared by the mum-to-be's class. They all wrote down pieces of advice on parenting for her - maybe not overly helpful, but certainly amusing!

Enjoy!