March....

as you would say was full-on. The month started out with a overseas trip for Jamie to Japan. While it was only for four sleeps, it was the longest five days.  Jamie traveling is nothing new, so I'm not sure why it was so intense, but it was. The kids were at each other constantly, and with me.  Ben who never has any sleep issues, was not sleeping.  Nothing was going right for Annmarie and oh the drama. When Jamie got home, he heard a mouthful, it wasn't pretty. Like everything, it passed and we moved on.  However, Jamie was only home for four days and would have to leave again. This time to the US.  I prepared myself and the kids and we took things really slow, I canceled some commitments, did take away for dinner a few times and really just enjoyed March. March by far is the best month here. The weather is mild, the sea warms up, all the tourists are gone, it's just very pleasant. So we took advantage of a beautiful start to March. We spent a lot of time at the beach, did what was necessary, and made sure Ben released enough energy so he would sleep. It ended up being manageable.  Jamie came back to a beautiful sunny day and literary hours after a fourteen hour flight did the Bilgola ocean swim, which then was followed by a crazy fierce storm and a black-out.

Four days later, we had the great pleasure of having Uncle Jon and A visit us. It's been a long over due trip, one I'll write up in another post.

The month also brought great sadness with the passing of Jamie's grandfather.  More thoughts on this in another post.

Here is a look at some pictures from the month.

Puzzles. Both kids love them.

Beach time with mates.  The best.

More water time. The first pic is from last week.

Selfies with my best lil man.

From the Bilgola swim. Seriously, when we got down to the beach it was sunny and then this storm rocked in during the actual swim. Moments after I snapped these pictures we made a run for the car and buckets of rain fell, it was like a scene from a movie with everyone running for cover. Crazy.

When you ask Ben to smile. And a coffee break.

Annmarie all dressed up for Multicultural Day at school, Jamie picked this up in Japan. 

Sunset.
And this recipe, great meal to bring to someone. I like to add sweet cherry tomatoes.

xx

Summer Holidays, Other Stuff and a Recipe

For the remaining Summer Holiday from school we had a good balance of activities, going to the beach and time spent at home. Here is a look at some of it.

We did a nature/frog walk at a local wildlife garden with some friends. Annmarie was very proud of her little craft (a frog pond) that the kids did after the walk.

Annmarie loves making things with these beads from Ikea. I would often set her up during Ben's nap and this would keep her plenty busy. Coloring together, the best.

Annmarie got her hair cut! It was out of control, this was much needed.

Holidays call for puffed pancakes (recipe below), perfect for lazy mornings. We made these a few times. And isn't this picture sweet, too bad he had just bashed Annmarie over the head and he is apologizing.

We live in the bush.

Ben is always trying to trap a bug. We were a bit off schedule during the holiday, the kids were staying up late and Ben would often take three hour naps. Awesome, but if I ever wanted him to go to bed at night I would have to wake him up after that three hour mark. He's still in his cot. I plan on keeping him there until he's 18. There are only a few predictable things with this boy, his general behavior is not one of them, but sleeping in his cot, that, he loves.  We'll go with it as long as we can.

Probably the most exciting thing that happened over the holidays was Annmarie learned to ride her bike sans the training wheels! Yay! I take no credit for this. She did it all herself. For about a week she kept saying she was ready and wanted to learn to ride her bike (she had previously been too scared), so Jamie took off the training wheels and pretty much that was it. She got it really fast. Her balance really improved when she got the two wheel razor scooter, so it was just a matter of mastering the pedals. Obliviously, the bike is small for her. We'll probably wait until after summer and look into getting her a new bike. In the meantime, she is still having fun on this one.

Annmarie started back up with nippers (they took a break during the Christmas holiday). And lots of riding and scooting in the street.

Other happenings not pictured during the holiday include; a swimming intensive class for Annmarie (basically she went to a class everyday for a week), painting, other crafting and puzzles. We had a couple of barbeques with friends. Jamie went to Japan for five sleeps and I drank a lot of wine by myself. 

The summer holiday/break was a little over six weeks and it ended up being the perfect amount of time. I thought for sure I would be counting down the days for school to start back up, it helped that Jamie was around for the first two weeks. I know I enjoyed the time and I'm pretty sure everyone else did too. It wasn't all perfect, but there was more fun than not.

Any who.

Here is the recipe for the puffed pancakes:

Enjoy!

In other news. Annmarie started Year 1 and has lost some teeth. I'll be back with more on that!
xx

Peanut Butter Cups (Recipe)

These are so yum! They're vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free, all those words they are using these days. And they are very good.

Chop seeds or nut of your choice either by hand or in a food processor. In a blow add coconut oil (soften), peanut butter, vanilla, honey, salt, and seeds and mix until well combined.

Scoop mixture into lined muffin cups.

Place muffin pan in the freezer.

While that's chilling, make the chocolate sauce for the top. In a small pot, melt coconut oil. Turn heat to low and add remaining ingredients. Stir until everything is well combined. Spoon chocolate sauce over the chilled peanut butter cups and place back in freezer. Freeze for at least 20 minutes, then pop them out of the muffin pan, and store them back in the freezer. Keep frozen until ready to eat. I also like to sprinkle a little sea salt on top before eating.

Makes one dozen big peanut butter cups or you can make some small and some big.

Enjoy!

Last week

Pictures from my phone. A lot of them.

Mondays - it's our day to walk to the beach.  
Birds coming to say good morning.
Tacos from our date last Sunday.

Artichokes - yum. Even Ben liked them.

Every time I look at her she looks older.
I made play dough for Ben, he played with it for maybe  5 minutes.

Crazy huge surf last Sat.

We found a pinecone on our walk and made this cute little owl. Idea found on Pinterest.

Sunday morning breakfast at Dunes.

I've been making pizza for dinner once a week and then Annmarie takes it for lunch the next day. One less sando or wrap I have to make - yay! I've been making this pizza dough.
Banana muffins. I really like this recipe, it's for a banana bread, but opted to put them in the muffin tin. Also, I don't use all the cinnamon sugar swirl in mine.
Guinness cake for St. Patrick's Day. Recipe here.
Colorful curry.

That's it. ;)

Pictures with Words

 Recipe -> here.

Notes: Everyone got sick. It started with Annmarie, then Jamie and then Ben. It was ugly for a bit, fevers, glossy eyes, snotty noses, coughs, yada yada. I somehow managed with only a cold. I owe Ben a 10 month post. He really hasn't been in the mood for a photo shoot. Ben handled his first virus like champ, however having his nose wiped and taking panadol are probably his least favorite things in the world. I somehow caught this cute moment with Annmarie and Ben sharing this Aussie counting book, as we were having yet another jammy day. Everyone is on the mend with lingering coughs. I also did a lot baking.

Lately

What is going on?

We've been settling into a good routine around here after summer break. Annmarie's in preschool three days a week. The other two days she is taking a dance class and swim lessons. Ben has a solid routine going on. Ben and I meet up with a great group of Mums and Bubs on Tuesdays. I'm trying to exercise a little bit more, even took a Mum and Bubs class and I try to walk down the beach when the weather permits. However the cappuccino that I get at the beach probably doesn't help the effort. The weather can't seem to make up it's mind. One moment it's sunny and beautiful, the next it's raining. Apparently it's one the wettest summers on record - it's been crazy. If we see the sun we head for the beach, because in a matter of moments it could change.

Here are just array of pictures that I have taken recently.

Australia Day. The sun finally came out late afternoon. So we headed down after naps and enjoyed some swimming and sunshine. I even got in the water. Ben took his last little evening nap.
Another sunshine moment at the beach.
We put Ben's little piggies in the water. He wasn't so sure. And look at those legs! He's all chunk.
Annmarie modeling my hat.
The other day I had to get Ben up from one of his naps because we needed to be somewhere. I took a couple of pictures before waking him up.
We call this - Annmarie's dance hair.
Annmarie's not so little piggies. Still pretty cute in this picture, but most of the time they are filthy dirty and frankly pretty stinky.
I made these Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins - very good. I recommend you make them. Recipe - here.
That's it.

Brownies

We made some yesterday.