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

Recent Snaps

 Trains. Always trains.

 Date. Boy gets my phone. Beach. Crazy smile.

 Tea time.

 Don't let the sweetness fool you.

 My favorite!

First day of school and losing teeth.

Annmarie started Year 1 the last week of Jan! All went well and she is happy to be back at school. 

Oh this picture.

She started back up on a Wednesday, so it was a nice short school week. We went for a after school swim at the beach that Friday and it happened to be low tide. Always awesome when you can time that.

 Ben misses Annmarie when she is at school and pouts after we drop her off, it's pretty cute.

Then the following week Annmarie lost her upper tooth, her two top teeth have been wobbly forever. Jamie pulled it out, I couldn't look, and Annmarie was happy to have it out.

 

Then a couple of days later her other tooth went. Jamie pulled this one out as well while Skyping with Grandma and Papa. I still giggle a bit when I see her smile. Oh I'm going to miss those baby teeth.

So back to school and losing teeth, it's been a big couple of weeks for that girl of ours.

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

From my Kitchen Window

We have these large kitchen windows that look out to the back garden.  It's great because the kids can go out there and I can keep an eye on them from the kitchen. These days they either get along like little angels as seen in these pictures or the opposite. It's a flip of a coin kind of thing with these two. Here Annmarie is showing Ben how he can draw with chalk rocks.

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!

Ben at the Beach

He's having a fun summer down under.

5 things

Let's start with Annmarie.

1.  She completed her first year of primary school - kindergarten.  She had a great year and the best teacher. It was an adjustment (for all of us) and there was plenty of drama a long the way, but overall it was a success.
2.  We kept the extra curricular activities to a minimum this year - swimming and nippers are the two things she participated in.
3. When I asked her what her favorite things to do are and she said; playing with friends, making things with the beads from Ikea, riding her scooter and the ipad. I asked her; what about swimming and she said "we do that all the time" with a eye roll. 
4. She has become a pro at Go Fish (the card game).  She can't hold all the cards in her hand so we have to set up a little block-aid for her, but she's fierce.
5. For her Birthday she flipped back and forth with having either; pies, tacos or sushi for dinner. She went with pies.

xx

Now this little man.

1.  He's a mamas boy.
2.  Bugs, dirt, garbage trucks, trains, dinosaurs, water - obsessed.
3. He's a mad man on the scooter. Santa got him a balance bike for Christmas thinking he would love it like the scooter, but he pretty much wants nothing to do with it. Annmarie likes to potter around on it, but it's like five times too small for her.
4.  He still has a mean appetite and if he does skip a meal or not eat a lot, he'll always, always make up for it. 
5.  He has a temper. I guess the books would call him spirited. He's a bit self absorbed.

xx

Summer Holiday {More Video}

I know - I have I thing for making videos right now.

Here are moments from the beginning of our summer holiday (basically the time Jamie had off from work). Annmarie is still on summer break and goes back to school at the end of Jan.



Song - The John Butler Trio - One Way Road.

Here are some pics that didn't make it in the video.

We went into Sydney to see the Dinosaur exhibit - it was loved by all.

We also played tourist and went to Manly for the day. It was crazy full, but we still had fun. We got there early enough and managed to find parking. This picture was taken as we were leaving. We brought the kids scooters, had lunch and walked/scooted over to Shelly Beach for a swim.

 Too sweet. And I think he didn't even push her away or pull her hair.

 The one day I brought my real camera to the beach.

It's a shame Jamie had to go back to work.  

Christmas

Here is a video of our little Christmas just the four of us. It was a fun, simple, special day.



Jamie sadly goes back to work tomorrow after having two weeks off. We had nice holiday at home and activities included: almost daily beach swims, a trip to the dinosaur exhibit in Sydney, a full day in Manly and we entertained friends at home a few times. Unfortunately, Jamie got some crazy stomach bug and missed out on a few fun days, but he did bounce back and was able to end his time off with a ocean swim in Newport today. I'll need to sort through pictures and post more.

Annmarie is SIX!!!

Annmarie turned six a few weeks ago now - on the 11th of December to be precise.  We all know I haven't been the most timely blogger, but that's life. So let's just go back a bit and remember the fun we had.
 
For her actual birthday, she went to school and had cupcakes delivered to her classroom from the Canteen. Yes, I could have done them myself, but it's really a win win situation for all this way. After school we picked up meat pies per Annmarie's request and waited for Dad to get home. We opened some pressies and headed to Clareville beach for a swim and picnic. It was a beautiful night.

A couple of days later we had a Birthday Party at home. It was crazy and fun and more crazy. There wasn't a particular theme to the party, but we made bracelets, played a couple of games, danced, had a barbeque lunch and of course had cake.

I ended up putting together this video because I didn't take a lot of pictures, but Jamie took some video (he's such a Dad). And Annmarie requested the song.



We love you too much Annmarie!