chocolate nativities

every year we make a christmas built treat with the pinker family. it started off as ginger bread houses, then progressed to tim tam cabins and now we are on to chocolate nativity scenes, which we found the idea for here. (cannot reccomend enough reading this post before starting, as although i have listed what you need here, it is so much easier to assemble your scenes with instructions, than trying to work it out from my pictures.)

you will need: 

1 Block of Cadbury Chocolate (or a ribbed chocolate block)

3 thin Blocks of Dark Chocolate

1 Packet of Starburst Babies – for Baby Jesus

1 pack of Mini Flakes – for Jesus manger and decoration

1 Packet of Jelly Babies for Mary, Joseph and the Three Wise Men 

1 Packet of Chocolate Melts

1 Packet of Changs Noodles – for the hay

1 Pretzel Star or Frozen Cereal Star

i actually cannot tell you how excited i am that the original poster was an aussie, so for once in our lives everything is available to us instead of having to find substitutions.

so then we built! maddie and uncle theron teamed up 

and so did joseph and aunty dom and it was a war, with an instagram poll to determine the winner.

i must admit, the stables were pretty impressive and the way they were all mapped out, to be assembled with melted chocolate was awesome. the kids loved making them!

i love this photo of joseph too. he caught me trying to get a decent shot of his nativity and quickly jumped in to photobomb it. what a cutie!

they looked so cool when they were finished and i would say that's another activity well executed. they loved it!

happy days!

whistlers chocolate factory

my kids had made a very extensive list of everything they wanted to do during the school holidays and we got the last one done today, on the very last day. phew! just scraped in. also, i claim super mum right here, because even though doug was home for a lot of the holidays, all the kids requests and fun have been woven in around the endless appointments as both his parents deal with their cancer treatments. it's a hard road sometimes, but we are trying to make sure that it doesn't interrupt the kids too much. we seem to have done alright so far, although doug often has to miss things which can't be helped. 

anyway... their last request was the whistlers chocolate factory on great northern highway. we hadn't been before and although there is the one drawback of not being able to watch the chocolate being made (unlike the margaret river chocolate company), i loved it! their showroom was huge and beautifully set up, with free samples (everyone's favourite thing!), a gorgeous old fashioned chocolate lounge, an awesome gift shop (i wanted to buy pretty much everything), a cafe and a huge outdoor play area. i will absolutely bring the kids back next holidays, maybe with some friends to have an icecream and a play.

this kids thought it was the best day of his life... he is so addicted to icecream!

i am so sad the holidays are over, i love having the kids around, but i am sooo ready to send them back off to school, because they are starting to get on each others nerves (and mine!). bring on school tomorrow! hooray!

margaret river chocolate factory

it's madeline's sixth birthday tomorrow and it was doug's day off today, so i asked madeline what she'd like to do and received a very enthusiastic response of "go to the chocolate factory!!" apparently their bus had passed it each day during their two weeks of school swimming lessons at the end of the term and she was busting to go and check it out.

i think she may have been a teeny bit disappointed that it wasn't bustling and bright and cheerful like the chocolate factory in willy wonka and the chocolate factory but she was happy to watch them put the chocolate into moulds, make the chocolate balls coated in sprinkles and watch the machines stirring it about. both of my kidlets were especially happy to taste the free samples on offer... and happily picked an ice cream each (rocky road for joseph and bubblegum for madeline)

it was a fun little family outing for us... and i have a feeling we will be getting dragged back in the future. but for chocolate? i don't mind a bit!