How To Entertain Children

Buy A Bucket

Fill Bucket with Soap and Water

(There goes a few hours of your day)

Get out some paint

(Who needs paper when there are so many other things to paint?)

Now fill up a clam shell pool and sit back while they clean themselves off.

(They are clean enough we can skip the shower, right?)

Getting restless?

Bubbles!

Blow some bubbles and they will laugh as they pop them one by one.

(Simple pleasures in life, hey?)

So there it is, the cheapest, and easiest way to entertain two small children, without leaving your home.

Obviously outings are a good thing too, but when the temperature soars to a sweaty 32* inside, being out in the sun is the last place you want to be!

Soaking Up The Country Sunshine

Hello?
I'm here!
Yes, I didn't disappear into the dark abyss of the internet, I am here!
I have recently relocated to a bit of a remote area in country NSW.
It is lovely.
My kids are happy.
I am happy.
I have decided to start work on my cookbooks.
Finally!
It will take a long, long time to cook, photograph and edit, and then finally they will be available to purchase through here and if Facebook allows it, on my page over there too.
I will divide the book into sections so if you only want one part, you can pick and chose exactly what you are interested in.
Forewarning: There will not be much meat in these recipes, if any at all.
There will be butter, lots of butter.
There will be sweet treats, as well as healthy salads and even a bunch of kid-friendly recipes to get those little ones involved.

For now I will leave you with some photos of the beauty that surrounds me...
See you soon!

My 3yr Old Watches YouTube More Than I Do

Yes, it is true.
My daughter has discovered YouTube.
Mostly for music videos.

She has some time every day where she can play on my iPad.
Instead of the puzzle, stories or other children's games I have on there, she chooses to go straight to YouTube.

Her biggest obsession?

Gangnam Style.



Oh yes, she LOVES it!
She mumbles the words and dances along.

Her other obsession?




She bounces and grooves along.
(Here's a little video to giggle at)

I am sure that she has contributed thousands of views to the count!

There is one more that she loves...



It's a bit of a funky Disney's Alive in Wonderland mash-up.

Do your kids love YouTube?
Do you?
I know my husband can spend hours on there!
Not me though!

Goodbye Holiday, Hello Home.

Good morning!
Today I feel great.
I feel well rested.
Finally!
Our weekend away with my family was amazing.
Good food, good wine, so many laughs and in a stunningly beautiful place.
If only the kids had slept a little better then it would have been total perfection.

We packed ourselves up and jumped in the car, ready for a short 1 1/2hr drive down south.

We travelled with my brother and sister-in-law, playing leapfrog and sending silly messages to each other as we watched the weather turning...

 It started to get dark, and cold...

We arrived at our destination and it was cold and blue...

We huddled inside and turned the heating on. I panicked at the thought of what I had packed for our supposed sunny holiday.
The girls pulled out their manicure kits and my darling girl was enthusiastic on joining in...

That night was pizza night, and we all took turns crowding into the kitchen creating our own masterpieces.

They were delicious!

The next morning we started with a coffee...

Then headed out the front gate for an adventure...

At the end of the street, mere minutes away...

We headed down the steep hill...

Then more steep hill, followed by stairs and finally...

We reached the shore!

We walked, collected shells, splashed in rock pools...

It was cold and windy, but clear skies and crystal water. Perfect for snorkelling!

We got home and the kids were exhausted from their long trek...

Then the men watched the footy...

Even later it was birthday party time for my grandpa. 

We had a big dinner followed by the birthday cake I had made for him...

After another rough night with the kids, it was a busy father's day morning followed by the local markets.
We saw interesting things for sale...

Bought lots of olives (of course!) and the kids had to have an ice cream from the Mr Whippy van...

Sadly it had to come to an end, family photos were taken, and then bags were packed.
Home we went!
It is so nice to be home again, the kids sleep well in their own beds, and I love having my own kitchen to cook in again.
But it was a lovely weekend, I can't wait for the next family holiday away!

Family Weekend Away

I am so excited for this weekend.
It is my grandpa's 70th birthday and the whole family are going down the coast to spend a weekend together.
It is a beautiful place, only a few hours South of where we live.
Our family have always spent holidays down there, my husband & I used to take many camping trips before we had the kids. It is such a beautiful place to relax and unwind.

The last time we went down was years ago, before I had any fancy cameras, but I still snapped up some lovely photos at sunrise...

I have been put in charge of the birthday cake.
Apparently my baking is up to par, so I have designed, and started to bake, the custom creation.

My rough sketch is a bit messy, but you get the idea!
Since my family is rather large, I chose to use the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt recipe that I used for my boy's caterpillar cake.
It is rich, dense, and tastes divine!
I figured that it would be good since we only need small pieces, it will go far!

I have to use my huge square cake tin to make two squares, and cut them into a football field shape.
With the remaining I will be making some delicious cake pops, hopefully in a football shape!

So my week will be full of baking (I also need to bring a dish to share for dinner one night) and hopefully a quick dash to the shops because I have come to the realization that I do not own a swimsuit!!
Oh dear!

A Fluffy Addition To The Family

After weeks of discussion, my husband & I finally settled it.
We would get a puppy.
We called the surrounding animal shelters that we knew had small puppies (can't have a big dog here especially with little kids) and we were put on waiting lists.
We received message after message...
Puppy sold.
All gone to homes.
Sorry, none left.
We did want to rescue a pup, but it seems there were plenty of others who wanted to as well!
We had done some research into what breeds are good with kids, and found one that we both fell in love with:
Japanese Spitz.
Fluffy, puffy, balls of white fur with rounded bear-like ears.
Gorgeous!
But they were expensive, very expensive.
We put it off, and decided that we would wait.

One afternoon we decided to go for a drive with a friend of ours to the local pet store so Eve could say hello to all the animals.
She had heard all of our puppy talk and was so desperate to see one.
We got the to see an empty shop.
No puppies.
We had a quick chat to the man who runs the place and he said new pups would be arriving the following week.
Oh, what breed?
Japanese Spitz.
REALLY??
We couldn't believe it!
The one pet store was getting the breed we were after.
And for a bargain price, much less than every private breeder.
We went home and thought about it.
We had a week to decide.
We had shocking nights of sleepless kids and gave up on the idea of looking after a puppy.
But then we had Eve making up "The Puppy Song" and they began to settle.

So now, say hello to Bailey...

The kids are madly in love with her.
Eve loves to cuddle, and Eli loves to run around and play with her.
Perfect!

Wild & Windy Weather

The weather has been a little crazy lately.
A big old gumtree in our neighbours yard came crashing down with an almighty crack and fell into our backyard.
It didn't reach the house (Thank God!), it didn't damage the fence, but it crushed my father-in-law's shed with all his car bits and pieces in it...

Not good!

But it is ok, nothing terribly valuable in there. 

But we are now facing the mammoth task of removing the tree!

It's a big complicated mess with our neighbour, solicitors, and the not so helpful council.

But my task, lately, has been trying to keep the kids happy while being stuck inside!

We have been getting a bit crafty...

Eve has figured out how to take photos of herself with my phone...

We have taken the kids to the local shopping centre for play time with other kids in a big, fun play ground...

The really love these days!

Our cat, Cedric, has been super affectionate lately, he just can't get enough of me!
(Maybe he knows what is coming.....)

I gave the kids hair cuts, and decided to go back to having a fringe...

And for the first time ever I went and got acrylic nails!
I have very thin, weak nails that I have been trying to grow forever but they always peel and chip off, no matter what treatments I try.
Now I have super strong nails, but I still kept them short, so I can function!!

(I treated myself to a Lindt Cafe coffee afterwards!)

And when the sun shines in through the kid's bedroom window...

 We all lap it up!!