This week

This week although made short by our Monday public holiday has been jam packed...
three days of work, a 3 year old birthday party, a church connect group meeting,2 playgroup sessions, all the household duties and before the week has ended.....

Yes I know a very strange collection of things to photograph but it sums up the weekend ahead for us as a family.

More after the weekend.

Have a great one.

Playgroup this week

Butterflies were the subject today...I just love how I can provide a set of materials and each creation is different.
I purposely don't make a prototype to look at so that it encourages the mums and their little ones to create their own unique piece.
So with these lovely heart shapes and some glitter and glue we had an assortment of beautiful butterflies.

A Day Near The River

Today was a public holiday in lieu of ANZAC Day. We spent the day with friends along the Canning River. The kids had a fantastic time on bikes and scooters while we endeavoured to keep up by foot.
Once again the hobby of Geocaching kept us moving along all day. On returning home we had some very tired members of our family...pity it wasn't the youngest who was in need of convincing that bed was a good option.

(it is nice to see that someones kids are still free to have some fun...a cubby we came across on our journey)

ANZAC Day 2010

Saturday

A spot of geocaching at an interesting place not far from home.

Friday

While my car was at the garage today I got to spend some time with my sister and her littlest guy.(he is the only one of our 6 not at school now). We don't get to spend much time together where we just enjoy each others company, it is usually between dropping off kids or at a activity that is common to both of us. So today we dragged out the sewing machines and worked on some small projects together....

The question was asked today whether we thought little people get bored all by them selves.....this little guy didn't stop chattering either to us or off by himself....I don't think he was bored ,I thought he probably enjoyed the chance to be in his own company.

All that chattering and busy work finally caught up with him though...

So we used the opportunity for me to teach Merran some crocheting......the verdict by my sister was "I think I will knit that dishcloth and leave the crocheting for another day"

This was a lovely way to spend the day before the busyness of Friday afternoon / evenings set in.

Melon?

Not quite the melon we were expecting from the vine growing in the garden.....
but what a beauty of a butternut it is.
The satisfaction of picking your own fresh produce is great.

Cake in a mug?

With the school term off and running it is time for all the other things that keep me busy during the week to start back...
Today was MOPS and we had an inspirational talk on how we sometimes can be polar opposites with our partner and if that is the case not to despair but there is a way to make it all work beautifully.
Waiting for us at the create time was all the ingredients to make a
"Chocolate Cake in A Mug"
The idea being all the dry ingredients are in the mug which we packaged up nicely and attached a list of the remaining wet ingredients and how to cook it in the microwave for 5 mins.
Before I left my workplace I had decided that someone needed that sweet fix more than I and so gifted them with it.
I will though be trying my own very soon as they were so easy to whip up and would make a fabulous gift.

Clever cooking

I am loving this book at the moment.....

Unfortunately I have to return this copy to the library but I have had it long enough to be convinced about going and buying my own copy.

It is full of clever recipes that help load easy meals with lots of hidden extras and still make them tasty as ever. The title implies that it is only for little eaters but I have tried a number of the recipes on the whole family and big and small we agreed that they were winners.
Here is one of the things I tried and remembered to photograph....

Muscle Power Balls
2/3 cup Dried Apricots
1/2 cup Pitted Dates
1 cup Sultanas
4 Tablespoon Boiling Water
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 1/2 cups of Dessicated Coconut
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Place the dried apricots, dates and sultanas into a food processor and pulse until finally chopped.
Add the boiling water and leave fruit to soak for 10 mins or so.
Add the ground almonds, 1/2 a cup of the coconut and the vanilla essence and blend until it forms a firm paste.
Roll the mixture into small balls and coat in remaining coconut. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

Other recipes I have tried and we have loved...
Beef Sausages
Chicken Nuggets
Easy chicken Snags
Tricky Pumpkin Soup

You can pick this up at your local ABC Store.

What Season??

Summer came back for a visit today...so ice cream was the must for the arvo.

(Meg was spending time with a friend-just for the record so not to be accused of biased photo taking)

Chickens, Bees and Vegies

We spent a fun day at some friends place today. We enjoyed picking their brains about chickens, vegies and just generally being inspired to get on and make ours happen. Yes even the chickens...Meg (who has a bird phobia) has come around to the idea of a couple of chooks in the yard. Our friend has come up with this genius of a plan and is currently in the manufacturing process of these mobile chicken coops.
We signed up for one of the first of the ranks today!
It was also nice to check and see how the bees are going...we also gained some great vegie growing tips...

and a bonus up close look at these 2 day old chicks...

How blessed were we to even return home with a dozen fresh eggs.
Thanks guys for a lovely day.

Can't Stop

No time to stop and chat tonight......unfortunately it has nothing to do with the photo and all to do with a new pair of joggers and a mammoth pile of paper at my front door....oh and wanting to teach Meg some valuable life lessons.
But oh I wish it was because I was frolicking on the beach somewhere.

Shapes Galore

I first saw this fantastic puzzle game here and knew that I would love to get this for Fraser for his birthday.
I was finally able to track one down from here . It is called The Shapemaker, a Miller Goodman product.
It is such a well made toy that I knew would challenge him ( all of us). It is made from wood of the rubber trees and printed with non-toxic paint. There are 25 blocks that can be used to create thousands of patterns and pictures.
Here are a few of the ones we have done....

This is the type of toy I would love to see my grandchildren playing with one day.

War and Peace

It has been like war and peace around here today...having 4 nephews come to play always requires a referee. They have such good game plans but the execution of them can sometimes come unstuck resulting in war then they get back on to the plan and we have peace.
It continued with just my two into the afternoon long after the boys had gone....there was a flurry of toys and blankets as the cubbies were made then taken down then moved to another location.
Are you exhausted yet? Because I sure am !

In between all the refereeing I did today I was able to finish off a batch of Treasure Bags...I still have hopes of making a market some time this year.

Something Old Something new

We have been waiting for the rain to visit us for awhile and it appears that it is here at last. What that then makes us realise is that we have no or very little warm clothes. This was especially the case for one 5 year old who has quite the growth spurt over the summer.
So what better fun than start searching on eBay for some bargains...these arrived today and they were a hit. Sometimes it is hard work to score any kind of bargain but other times it comes easy and we are rewarded with some great buys.....Fraser actually couldn't care less where they came from ....I think he is just pleased that he hasn't traipsed around a dozen stores looking and trying on.

Organised??

I long to be organised and live life much more simpler....I just don't seem to be able to carry it through as far as I would dream for.

I read these interesting articles that I thought maybe you too would find some inspiration from them.

Allowing a new world to emerge


Setting goals for yourself as a home manager


5 reasons we love living small.

Choices

The purple or the pink?
We had an invitation to a 50th birthday for last night and had the dilemma at what was to wear....not ones to go out anywhere semi formal very often my wardrobe was looking very under-suitable. So a mad dash to my favourite and always good for a quick rescue dress store, I found a choice of two tops both on the heavily reduced rack (even better of a rescue job)
Then to decide which to wear...I went with the purple although my first choice would have been black but that wasn't in the final equation.

My next dilemma flat or heels...I so don't do heels at all very well so I decided I would arrive in heels and then quietly change into my flats. But I did surprise myself and managed to stay in my heels all evening and successfully dance with my handsome husband on a very slippery floor!

As for the pink top we managed to have another free night to dine on our own thanks to very generous grandparents and so I had my opportunity to wear my other pleasing bargain!

Snippet of time

A full day at work today, half of that spent in the city on a mission to restock the bookshop, from there making sure Meg was at an extra dance class on time...Her regular dance teacher was back in town for the holidays-she is currently in Melbourne at Jason Coleman's School of Dance. So it was a real treat for Meg to have this lesson.

It also gave me a small snippet of time to sit in the quiet and read a book I am enjoying at the moment....

It is actually a series that belongs to Meg and I thought I would read a little to see what it was that she was reading...turns out it is quite good and certainly appeals to my treasure hunting bent....

Meg hasn't actually had a chance to read book two because she needs to wait for me to finish it first!
So one more snippet of quiet time and I should be able to pass it on to her!

No lazy day

No lazing in the hammock today...

• 1/2 day in the office
• winter clothes shopping for the kids
• treasure to find
• never ending amount of chores at home

• dinner to prepare

ahhhh finally some time to sit and contemplate...or watch "So you think you can dance"