Rainbow Cupcakes Tutorial (so Cute, so Easy)

I spotted these cute Rainbow Cupcakes over a year ago on Pinterest, and have been wanting to make them for ages. They looked like my kind of cupcake - impressive but deceptively simple. I was pretty sure I could figure out how to make them, just from the picture.

When I sat down with Scrag to choose things for his Just Plain Party, he spotted the Rainbow cupcakes and said, "Those ones, mum! I want the rainbow cupcakes!"

After all they are pretty darn cute.

Turns out they are also nice and easy.

Today I'm taking the guesswork out of making them for you, so you don't have to look at the picture and guess. Here's how to make the cutest easiest rainbow cupcakes ever....

First, My Never-fail Cupcake Recipe:

INGREDIENTS
125g butter, softened {convert measurement}
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1/2 cup caster sugar (fine grain)
2 eggs
1 cup of standard flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 cup milk

METHOD

• Cream butter sugar and vanilla together; I use a good old fashioned electric hand beater (works a treat)
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one is added
• Fold flour and baking powder into creamed mixture
• Stir in Milk
• Spoon into baking tins (patty pans) lined with cupcake papers or even better, silicone baking cups.
• Bake at 190oC (375oF) for 15 minutes or until golden and cakes spring back when lightly touched

Makes 12-15 regular-sized cupcakes.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, we can turn them into rainbows.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Blue buttercream icing/frosting (see below for recipe) for "sky"
• White Royal Icing for "clouds"
• Rainbow straps (for rainbows) available at most Mall sweets stands
• Optional: Coordinating/fancy cupcake papers (I used blue and white striped $3 from Look Sharp)

STEP-BY-STEP:

1. Pop the cupcakes out of the silicone baking cup (or the cupcake paper)
2. With a spatula smear on a generous topping of blue buttercream icing.
3. Place the iced cupcakes into the fancy cupcake wrapper
4. Make up your batch of Royal Icing and spoon some into piping tube/bag with star nozzle
5. Pipe two little "clouds" on opposite sides of each cupcake and allow to firm up or half-set

When the royal icing "clouds" are half set (after 3-4 minutes) position your Rainbow strap. You might need to play around a little at first to get the length just right. That's it!

You now have a bunch of glorious Rainbow cupcakes perfect to brighten up any party.

Blue ButterCream Icing
100g butter, softened
1 cup of icing sugar
1 Tablespoon of milk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Beat ingredients together with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Then add blue food colouring - the gel colours work best for vibrancy.

Royal Icing
2 egg whites
2 cups of icing sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice or water

Beat egg whites together with an electric beater until soft peaks form, then gradually add icing sugar and finally, the lemon juice or water.

This stuff sets hard as a rock and is perfect for "gluing" things, like our rainbows (and gingerbread houses).

.......................

MORE PARTY & CUPCAKE INSPIRATION

• Just Plain Party (our classic kids birthday party on a budget)
• Just Plain Party How To's and Free Printables
• My Party Index Page
• More Cupcakes

Mother Ducks Unite!

The other day on our way into school, Miss Fab and I got to witness something rather special.
Our school is located on a very busy road. Traffic zooms by nose-to-tail in rush hour and anyone attempting to cross really needs to do it at the pedestrian crossing.
Of course if you're a Mother Duck with a gaggle of ducklings waddling in your wake, you are probably completely unaware that such a thing exists. So if you find yourself on the wrong side of the road in morning rush hour traffic, you really are taking your life in your hands if you attempt to make it to the other side.

Such was the plight of this Mother Duck. She wandered up and down the curb, darting out into the road in an attempt to cross over, then turning back as the cars sped towards her, oblivious to her and her stranded ducklings.

As the drama unfolded, Miss Fab and I stopped to watch, with our hearts in our mouths. Hoping Mother Duck would either give up and wait for quieter traffic, or would achieve safe passage by some miracle. (My camera was in my bag and I whipped it out and started snapping, as you do).

A bunch of mums coming down the footpath with their human ducklings in tow, also spotted Mother Duck's dilemma, and in solidarity for a fellow mother in trouble, they swooped in to action.

These mums stepped out into the road, held up their hands and the river of traffic halted. While a couple of them played traffic cop the rest of the mums herded Mother Duck and her ducklings safely across the road.

It was a beautiful thing.

Mums united, stopping traffic, helping a little mother to safety. Mother Ducks United.
I'm so glad I had my camera.

Of course I knew I would share the pictures with you here on the blog, and as I thought about what I'd seen that morning, it got me thinking.

There is such strength in the Sisterhood of Mothers. We fellow-mothers are all on the same journey, facing variations of the same challenges. We all worry about the same things and doubt ourselves in the same ways. We all want the best for our kids, we all lie in bed at night worrying over the child that is struggling. We're in this together, really.

And yet if you go onto Facebook or Twitter on any given day, you will find mothers attacking each other, pouring scorn and judgement on each other and being anything but supportive Mother-Sisters.

I've been shocked and sickened over some of the things I've read mothers say to one another.
Too many people are quick to judge, quick to condemn and stick the knife in.
Too many have forgotten that we are actually all in the same boat, that we all want the same things: to shepherd our little ducks safely from one side of childhood to the other.

I read a brilliant article once (which I have lost and so sadly can't link to) in which the writer had a theory as to why Mothers are so quick to leap to the attack. The writer suggested that the reason we are so quick to attack others is because we are actually insecure about how good a job we are doing ourselves. She said if we see anyone doing things differently to how we do them we feel threatened and defensively go on the attack.

It rang true. It made sense.
How often do I doubt and second-guess the job I'm doing as a mother? I don't know many (if any) mothers who don't doubt themselves on a regular basis. Do you?
I guess if we were all a little more secure, and believed in ourselves a little more, perhaps we would be less inclined to feel threatened by someone who is doing things differently.
Different is not wrong. Different is OK.
There is plenty of room in this parenting arena for different ways of doing things.
What works for one kid won't work for another. What works for one family won't work for another.

And that's OK.
In fact it's great, because we can learn from each other. Take what is useful from what someone else does and leave the bits that don't fit, instead of feeling threatened.

These days we've got baby-wearers judging disposable-nappy mums (and viceversa); breastfeeders judging bottle-feeders (and viceversa); homeschoolers judging schoolies (and viceversa)... the list goes on. Really, there's no need for it. Bottom line: we all love our kids and want the best for them, but we all go about achieving that in different ways, based on our different values, priorities and circumstances.

Hopefully we can have enough confidence and big-heartedness to not be threatened by another's different methods or priorities. If we see someone struggling, maybe we can be like those mums who stopped traffic for the little Mother Duck; we can stand together, and see each other as allies.
Social media (and the world) would be a much nicer place without the vitriol of Mother Wars. Wouldn't it?

After all my mother-sister friends, we are all in this together, herding our little ducks safely through childhood. And sometimes we need the help of fellow mothers who will stand with us and help stop traffic.

•  More of my posts on Parenting & Motherhood

Sweet and Savoury Pinwheel Scones *recipe*

Yesterday I felt like scones. Wait, let me rephrase that: I felt like EATING scones. But I didn't fancy just any scones, I was picturing pinwheel scones, soft and warm, filled with cinnamon and brown sugar.

I'd never made them before but I reckoned I could figure it out. How hard could it be, after all? Take your basic scone recipe and make it a little bit fancy.
So I gave it a go and whaddya know? Pinwheel scones are easy AND delicious. Along the way I even tried something I hadn't planned on - a savoury version, perfect for the lunchboxes.

My pinwheel scones were a huge hit, gobbled up and exclaimed over by my kids and our after-school visitors. Plus, I felt like a "good mother" serving up home baking for afternoon tea and tucking the leftovers away for the next day's lunches.

I'll be making these again, count on it.

Here's the recipe, as promised to my Instagram followers...

Scone Dough
(adapted from the Edmonds Cookery Book; I have doubled the butter which gives a lighter texture)

Sift together...

• 3 cups of plain flour
• 6 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

With your fingers, rub in to the dry ingredients 150g of butter (softened), until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in 1 cup of milk and form a ball of dough (add extra milk if required) and knead briefly.

Now divide the dough in two: you are ready for the fancy part.

Sweet Pinwheel Scones (with Cinnamon & Brown Sugar)

FILLING:
50g of butter, melted
4 Tablespoons of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
(Plus currants or raisins to sprinkle)

1. Sprinkle flour on your bench surface, then take half the dough and use your fingers to spread and flatten the dough into a rectangle approximately 1cm thick. Spread the brown sugar mixture evenly across the dough and then sprinkle with currants or raisins
2. Carefully roll up the dough until you have a long "sausage" (roll it so it is long and thin not short and fat)
3. Cut the dough sausage into sections around 2cm thick and place these rounds on a lined baking tray (I ran out of baking paper so had to use foil); you can drizzle any extra sugar mixture on top of the rounds if you like for a crunchy topping.
4. Bake at 220°C for around ten minutes or until risen and golden brown. Mmmm, yum.

(Makes 10-12 sweet pinwheel scones.)

Savoury Pinwheel Scones (with Ham & Cheese)

FILLING:
chutney
grated cheese
shaved ham, diced
(Plus extra cheese to sprinkle)

1. Sprinkle flour on your bench surface, then take second half of the dough and use your fingers to spread and flatten it into a rectangle approximately 1cm thick, as before. Use a knife to spread the dough with chutney, just like you butter bread (I used Barkers "Ploughmans" chutney) then sprinkle with cheese and ham
2. Carefully roll up the dough until you have a long "sausage" (roll it so it is long and thin not short and fat)
3. Cut the dough sausage into sections around 2cm thick and place these rounds on another lined baking tray; you can sprinkle extra grated cheese on top of the rounds for a cheesy topping.
4. Bake at 220°C for around ten minutes or until risen and golden brown. Delicious.

(Makes 10-12 savoury pinwheel scones.)

Serve fresh from the oven for afternoon tea; store leftovers in an airtight container and pop them in the kids' lunchboxes or make a fresh batch for Saturday brunch. Enjoy! 

• More recipes on my Favourite Recipes Page.

Voila! My DIY Kitchen-Dining Makeover

Finally after months of DIY, blistered fingers and paint-in-hair, my kitchen-dining makeover is complete.

I've been wanting to do this for years but somehow it never got beyond the dreaming stage, until I spotted this lovely buffet hutch (above) in Early Settler and realised it was the solution to all my storage issues (not to mention the inspiration for a fresh new look). So bit by bit over the last few months I've been busy turning our wooden-overload kitchen into something fresher, cleaner and prettier...

Part of the reason it took years to get round to doing this was I needed to convince hubby to paint all that wood; he loved the wood as it was and felt it might be sacrilege but the hutch changed his mind...

It was actually really easy to transform my kitchen and dining room once I found out how to do it properly - it just took some sweat, time and elbow grease. I began with the windowsills and one set of cupboards, painting them in-situ....

It's amazing what a difference white paint makes.
Actually the colour is Quarter Thorndon Cream, from Resene, a water-based enamel.
To make the paint stick to the wood and set nice and hard, I first gave each area a very rough sand then applied a coat of Resene's "smooth surface sealer" and allowed it to dry for at least four hours before applying the first coat of paint, followed by one final coat.

I worked in sections, finishing one area completely (while the kids were at school) before moving onto the next.

The colour I chose for the walls was "Quarter Beryl Green" (also from Resene) - a lovely soft vintage green which is very soothing, fresh and clean. It shows up differently in different lights and is quite neutral, allowing other colours to pop. (It's tricky to capture the colour on camera, especially with my dinky point-n-shoot).

[I am in love with my new Summerhill Buffet & Hutch from Early Settler]

The previous wall colour was a mucky pinky-cream; the walls were in terrible condition with dings and nail holes, so before painting I patched them up with some plaster and a sand - not perfect cos I'm no tradesman, but a darn-sight better than they were before.

[Table base imperfectly painted with one coat of Smooth Surface Sealer and one coat of water-based enamel]

I also gave the table a mini makeover, painting the base to match the cupboards. The chairs are from the Early Settler factory shop (out near the airport), bought for $50 each.

[Vintage-style canvases $5 each on sale at Typo]

I love my new hutch dresser. It has given me heaps of new storage space for plates and bowls, platters and serveware, which had previously crowded into our inadequate under-bench cupboards. Now there are drawers for my cake decorating bits, tablecloths and those endless school notices. For even more storage I added cuphooks to the bottom of the kitchen cupboards and invested in some cute new mugs...

[Mix'n'match Mugs $2 each from Look Sharp]

I'm a huge fan of mix'n'match, vintage and retro, so my tin sign collection is right at home in my new scheme. I plan to keep adding to it and extent it into a whole feature wall going up and over the pantry and along the narrow space dividing the kitchen and dining.

The pantry has been panted white too and moved to the wall where the china cabinet used to be (my lovely china cabinet is now gracing the lounge). Our old vintage light fitting has scrubbed up well and now looks perfect over the table.

I wish I had a better camera so I could show you properly how awesome it looks. My previously wooden-overload, cobbled-together storage-poor kitchen is now my pride and joy. Every time I walk into it I smile. It's prettiness is inspiring me to do the dishes, keep the floor swept, fold the washing instantly.
And the best bit is that I did it all myself. Picked the colours (and chose well), painted every wall, every drawer, every cupboard (and did it properly)... had a vision and saw it come together at last.
Yay, me.

So there you have it, my DIY kitchen-dining makeover. A fresh new kitchen for the cost of the paint and a wooden hutch dresser. Brilliant.

MORE DIY STUFF:

• Pantry Declutter
• House Dreaming and Doing (where I first wrote about doing up my kitchen)
• At My House (the page with all my DIY posts)

Three Cheers for My Girl

I finally figured it out the other day: Life, parenting the whole shebang.

For years I’ve been frantically trying to get my ducks all in a row, hoping to arrive at the place where I know what I’m doing and everyone/everything is on track.

Duh. It’s taken me this long to realise that will never happen.

This side of heaven, we never “arrive”. There is no plateau where all is right and we can finally relax.

There’s just this neverending journey. A marathon run, where we are always learning and figuring stuff out. There’s always something you’re dealing with so you just have to relax into it, stop fighting it and savour the little moments, the small victories.

Which is a very deep way to say, "Yay, we finally made it to Cheerleading!"

No more broken arms or crutches to stop us, and this girl who has been waiting all term to be unleashed has finally made it to training.

She’s been practising, dreaming and cartwheeling everywhere. She’s been finding other girls who love to whirl and tumble, meeting up at lunchtime, constructing routines.

Which is all very well, but there’s nothing quite like the real thing.

Where you have a Coach, a team and a competition goal.

Miss Fab and her pal Yaz have been let loose in the Galaxy Shooting Stars, so Watch Out World.

Actually it’s not just Cheerleading I wanted to say “Yay Miss Fab” for.

I want this post to be a three cheers for my Girl in lots of ways.

Parenting is hard, but being a kid is hard too.

I have been admiring my girl and the way she perseveres.

She is gritty and gutsy; she has a work ethic that is all her own.

My girl is the middle child and the only daughter; sometimes she really feels it. Many are the times when she wishes she had a sister, as she drips wounded tears over her rough insensitive brothers.

She is quick to compare and keeps a mental tally of time spent (by me) with them vs time spent with her.

She is deeply affectionate, tactile and huggy.

My daughter has boundless energy… until she doesn’t. (She whirls and tumbles through life, collecting casts and crutches, until she collapses in a heap.)

My girl has a huge heart. HUGE.

I’ve never seen the like. Her kindness and fierceness are awe inspiring. Bullies and meanies better watch it around her.

At school she has a flock of little admirers, younger girls who adore her; I've seen them swoop down on her, calling her name and hugging her. (Probably because she is so kind, so loving and so much FUN.)

And that big heart I mentioned? It bleeds for those who are hurting.

So when the lady from World Vision came to school and spoke about the kids in Malawi who are starving, my daughter came home and begged me to sign her up for the 40 Hour Famine next week.

“Mum, I just have to do something to help them,” she said.

So next weekend, my girl will go without food for twenty hours (half the usual 40 since she’s only nine) in an effort to raise money for kids who have nothing.

Will you sponsor her?

It’s all online. You can sponsor her from anywhere in the world, and every little bit helps.

I want to encourage her that her big-heartedness can make a difference – will you help me?

Go here to sponsor her

Go here to sign up and join her in doing the Famine

Thanks my friends!

"The Days are Long but the Years are Short"

I couldn't let Mother's Day pass me by without contributing my two cents worth (even though I've been laid up in bed with the flu and didn't even make it to work today).

Motherhood.
At times it can feel like the toughest job in the world.

I've done some tough jobs in the past. I worked for years with at-risk teens, starting up an education programme, filling out endless funding applications, dealing with the police, drugs, suicide threats and runaways. I tracked down truants, visited homes where nobody cared, advocated for kids nobody believed in and tried my best to make a difference. That was tough. It was difficult. It took a lot out of me.

But even given all that, I've found motherhood to be more of a challenge, more difficult, tougher.
Motherhood has given me more sleepless nights, more grey hair, more wrinkles than that tough job ever did.

Because
As much as I worried about about those students of mine, I worry more over my own offspring.
As much as I cared about those students of mine, in the end they weren't really mine.
But the children I've been blessed with, who are mine to mother and nurture? They are nobody else's responsibility. The buck stops here.


Babies don't come with a user manual, but the world has no shortage of experts telling you what to do, what not to do. Sometimes all this information can be terrifying and paralysing.

The way my kids turn out will reflect on me, and whether I did all I could to help them grow into good people.
For many years this knowledge weighed me down with anxiety. Would I be a good enough mum?
Consistent enough? Firm enough?
I feared that I wasn't. No, strike that. I KNEW that I wasn't.

I even wrote a post titled "If consistency is the key to good parenting I'm stuffed" (2011). I stumbled across this post a few weeks ago and a couple of the comments my readers left me all those years ago really struck a chord with me in a fresh way, especially this one...

"You are consistent at loving and wanting the best for your kids...I think that matters most!!" (FROM REBECCA) 

A few years on, and with more years of motherhood experience under my belt and a deeper knowledge of both myself and my kids, I know that what Rebecca said in that comment really is what matters most.

I'm still not very consistent at other stuff but I AM consistent at loving them. 

I'm still an ideas person, I'm still crap at follow-through. We still have plenty of chaos and craziness in our household and I worry about my kids far more than I should. 

BUT. I love them and they know it. And I know they know it. And they love me too.

We talk. I listen to them. I know them.
I know what music they're into, who their friends are and what makes them scared. I know the things that set them off and rark them up. I know where we clash and I know the things that we'll probably battle over when they are teenagers (in just a few short years).

I am consistent at loving them. And that's what matters.

They know I am imperfect. I don't try and pretend I'm always right just because I'm the mum. When I screw up I apologise. When I overreact I ask for forgiveness. When they teach me something, I let them know it.

And I try not to have a thin skin.

I don't cry when they shout at me "You're the worst mother in the world" "You're so mean"  or "I hate you!" as kids sometimes do when you say "No". 

I know they love me, they're just mad cos they couldn't get their way. Those angry words just roll right off of me, they don't even phase me. In an hour or so they'll be snuggling up to me again, kissing my cheek and telling me they love me, I know they will.

In the not-so-long ago days when my kids were sleepless milkfed babies I thought this stage of parenting, (with kids who are no longer dependant on you for everything, who can make their own breakfasts and lunchboxes, get themselves dressed and bike or bus across town) would be the easy bit.

What I've learnt is that there really is no easy bit.

It's all one gigantic learning curve. 

Just when you think you know what you're doing and you've got the hang of this parenting lark, BOOM! a new stage hits you like a ton of bricks. 

Never do you get to rest on your laurels. Never do you get to gaze benevolently down at your offspring in a golden glow of complacency, with everything right in your world.

There's always one kid who is struggling with something. There's always someone who needs you more than the others. There's always something new to get your head around, some preconceived idea or misbegotten notion to kick to the curb.

None of us mothers are perfect, and never will be. But we are loved by the children who have been given into our care. And we love them with a fierceness that is unlike any other love.

This is the reality of Motherhood. 

Nothing stands still. Time waits for no mum. 

The days are long but the years are short. 

We do the best we can and have to trust that it's enough.

............................

My Favourite Motherhood Posts from the years gone (swiftly) by

Ten Cool Things About Motherhood

Confessions of a Lazy Mother (revisited)

My Ten Worst Mothering moments (and what I learnt)

New Mother Tips (and a few War Stories)

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

Sometimes (last year's Mother's Day post)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho - It's off to Work I Go...

Today the kids weren't the only ones heading off to school, starting a new Term. Today their mama joined them.

Today I went to school - to start my new job.
Yes, you heard me.
I got a job.
ME!

The last time I had a proper job I could hardly fit behind the wheel of my car with my giant pregnant belly full of Dash. That was 2002, which makes it TWELVE YEARS since I've been in paid employment.

I've always rather envied my friends who have actual careers, a qualification, a proper profession they can go back to. Teachers, nurses, accountants, journalists. People with the right bits of paper.

Me, I knew I could never return to the job I was doing pre-kids. Working with at-risk youth (whether running courses or hunting down truants) is something which requires immense amounts of energy and time; it's not something you can do half-heartedly or part time. It's not something I could ever see myself returning to.

When I've thought about going out and getting a "proper job" I'd start to feel slightly nauseous. I imagined myself rocking up to an interview (if I could even get one) at age forty-four with a 12-year gap in my CV and trying to compete with younger, better qualified, more energetic, more experienced people...

Plus, I couldn't even imagine what kind of job I might be able to apply for, let alone what job I could do that would also fit in with the kids.
I mean, what WOULD I do? What COULD I do?

I'm a very impulsive person, I do things on a whim. When I get an idea or inspiration, I tend to leap without looking (it drives my husband batty).
Which is how I came to get a job.

It was Scrag's birthday last term and I was heading to school for his cross country. I was thinking about a friend of mine who had been teacher-aiding at our school but who was finishing at the end of the term, and I found myself wondering if they had found someone for her position yet...

So what did impulsive Simoney do? She walked into the guidance counsellor's office and asked about the job. She didn't stop to think, didn't tell hubby she was thinking of doing it, just did it.

"Hey I was wondering if you'd found anyone for Mel's job yet?"

And the lovely guidance counsellor (who knows me from *ahem* dealings with certain members of our tribe) said, "No, we haven't, why - are you interested?"

The answer of course was a very impulsive "YES!" and I walked out of her office with a job and instructions to come in on the first day of term to begin work ("and bring your IRD number").

It was that easy. Right, place, right time, right job. No scary interview, no gappy CV required.

The job is just Monday to Thursday, 9-11am, which is perfect for me. Enough hours to get me out of the house, but still leave me time to work on my other projects: my Etsy shop, my writing for Parenting magazine, my beloved blog, book club - oh and I suppose a bit of housework, gah!
And since it's only during Term-time, we still get our lovely long school holidays. It couldn't be more perfect. (I'm helping a little boy with special needs in the classroom.)

Today was my first day - and I LOVED it.
L O V E D it.
I love my new job. I love that I have a job. I love that it's at my kids lovely school. I love that some of my friends work there. I love the hours. I love classroom I'm working in, and the teacher I'm with. I love the little boy I'm helping. I feel so blessed.

Just had to share with you all that I'm a working girl now. I'm a teacher aide at my kids' school.
I'm all signed up on Novopay (haha, let's cross our fingers and hope that works).
My mummy skills - that twelve year gap in my CV - are all coming to the fore. I can actually do this!

So yay for me, the working girl. With a paycheck (which will be saved up and used to buy us some new couches.) Woop.

Family Movies: Latest Picks by the Super-Cool-Fab Review Team

Movie Nights are back, and about time too. We love to share our ideas for family movie nights, with Movie reviews, fun theme night ideas and a month of FREE DVDs courtesy of our sponsor, Fatso (see below for details).

Sometimes to mix things up the kids take turns "hosting" a movie night in their bedrooms. We have a TV and DVD player on a wheeled cabinet which we can roll into the host's bedroom. Miss fab particularly loves to play hostess; she makes up her trundle bed and invites her brothers for a sleepover. There's usually a ticket box office at the door... (no stamp, no entry). A few times Miss Fab and I have had our own private girlie movie night in her room, while the boys watched boy movies with their dad in the lounge. And more recently Scrag has begged to play host, and invited the older kids for a sleepover on his bunk beds.

Here's some of what we've been watching...

Dash. B. Cool: I like lots of action and fighting in movies, and I love battle scenes, so some of my favourite movies lately have been The Avengers, Man of Steel, The Amazing SpiderMan and other ones like that. The Pink Panther movie was really funny, we watched the the other night and it was crack up. I thought my mum might of picked a lame one but it was actually really good. I also like The Hobbit and "Lord of the Rings" movies - there's a good story and lots of action on those movies so they are all good with me. My worst movie ever is probably Hop - It's so lame! And the old Spiderman movies - the guy who plays Spiderman is also lame. I hate lame movies.

DASH B COOL's coolest movie of all time: Anything with lots of action

Foxy Fab: These days I like funny family movies but nothing too babyish. (I gave away all my Barbie DVDs to some little kids) but I still like princess movies, if they are cool. Like I enjoy watching Princess Diaries, Princess Protection Programme, What a Girl Wants, Monte Carlo and other movies like that. I still love Enchanted cos it's so funny. A movie has to make you laugh. My mum tries to get me to like some of her favourite old movies like Emma and boring ones like that but I just tell her, Mum that's so lame. I do like having girlie movie nights with my mum but as long as I get to pick the movie! I'd rather watch Mr Bean or Johnny English cos those movies are really funny!

FOXY FAB's favourite girlie movie of all time: PRINCESS DIARIES 1&2

Super Scrag: I like super hero movies a lot. My favourite one is still The Amazing SpiderMan, and spiderman is my favourite super hero. I watched Man of Steel and it was OK but it was really loud, and I think Spiderman is way awesomer than Superman. I wish my mum would let me watch MARVEL on TV but she says I'm still too little. Other movies I like a lot are the Lego ninjago DVDs. I always ask my mum to get me ninjago DVDs from Fatso. I like ninjago, I think I would be a good ninja. I am good at Cardjitsu on Club Penguin. My worst kind of movies are the ones with lots of talking: BOOORING! I like Mr Bean's Holiday cos there was hardly any talking but he did heaps of dumb stuff which was really really funny. Mr Bean movies are very funny, and I like them a lot even though he's not a superhero.

SUPERSCRAG favourite movie of all time: THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN

What have you been watching lately?

OUR SUPER-COOL-FAB REVIEW TEAM...

If you haven't tried Fatso Online DVD rental before, check out my post about why I love it. Then click the box above and use the magic code FAMILY45 to get a Month's Free Trial on the Super Plan (worth $28.99).