five brothers one sister

getting out

2012-01-28T11:38:00.000+11:00

Thankfully the flooding was only moderate and after it peaked at about 8am yesterday it started going down.

Between our place and town, going what we call "the front way" which sees us entering our town from the north, there are three places that the road will be cut.

When VCH was down at the cut closest to our house, about 500m away, our neighbour told him that people were able to get through the next two cuts, ours was still too high.

VCH thought we might try going to town via a rather roundabout route around 35km longer and with a good 20km of dirt road, this would bring us out close to the 3rd crossing.

So VCH and I left the kids at home and set off for town in his 4WD work ute (pick up truck).

We had to go through a little bit of water on the dirt road, but that is normal for that spot and when we came out onto the main road we found that the water was indeed low enough for us to cross safely in the 4WD.

The water was also still, there is no way VCH would have driven across if it was flowing.

So it took us nearly an hour to get to town instead of the usual 15-20 minutes.

We did our shopping and came home, thankfully the water had subsided enough that we could now come straight home without any detours.

(apologies for the poor quality picture, our internet is so slow that they are taking so long to load they come out wonky- when we get back I will fix it up)

flooded

2012-01-27T11:40:00.000+11:00

Yep, we are currently unable to get into town, the creek where we live has risen with all the rain and cut us off from town VCH gets to start his annual leave a day early!

Lots of people drove past this morning on their way to work only to go back past again 5 minutes later as they got to the water across the road- they get an unexpected day off!

Fortunately the water is actually dropping and hopefully we will still be able to leave for our holiday on Sunday.
This would not be the first time that we have left late for holidays due to flooding.

choc coconut bliss cookies

2012-01-26T20:06:00.000+11:00

I made these cookies yesterday as a little treat to take away with us on holidays.

I adapted this recipe for the tropical bliss cookies which I also made and froze to take away. I was going to make another batch but then thought if I took out the citrus zest and put in cocoa it would make a nice chocolaty treat.
You could almost call the a lamington biscuit- perfect for Australia Day!

Chocolate Bliss Cookies
2 C dessicated coconut
1/2 C almond meal
scant 1/2 C rice malt syrup
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
2 heaped T of cacao or cocoa powder

Mix all ingredients together
Roll into balls and press down
Bake at 180C for 10-15 minutes
Cool on tray for 5 minutes before cooling on rack

I amde some more today to take to an Australia Day BBQ and iced them with a little chocolate ganache and sprinkled the top with coconut

italian socca pizza

2012-01-25T07:29:00.003+11:00

This "pizza is very yummy and great to serve with a meal.

It is not a pizza with lots of tomato paste and toppings in that sense but you could perhaps use it like that after you have cooked it first.

This is another super easy gluten free grain free recipe from Grain Free Living.

1 cup chickpea flour (besan flour)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp, at least, ground black pepper
1 cup lukewarm water
3 to 5 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced, optional
1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, optional

Preheat oven to 230C.
Put a well-seasoned or non-stick 30cm pizza pan or cast-iron skillet in the oven (put foil around the handle if it's not metal to stop it melting)
Sift chickpea flour into a bowl; add salt and pepper; then slowly add 1 cup lukewarm water, whisking to eliminate lumps.
Stir in 2 tbsp of the olive oil.
Cover, and let sit while oven heats, or as long as 12 hours.
Batter should be about the consistency of heavy cream.
If using onion and rosemary, stir them into batter.
Pour 2 tbsp oil into the heated pan, and swirl to cover pan evenly.
Pour in batter, and bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until pancake is firm and edges set.
Heat grill, and brush top of socca with 1 or 2 tbsp oil if it looks dry.
Set socca 5-10cm below grill for a few minutes, just long enough to brown it in spots.
Cut into wedges and serve hot, or at least warm.

I am thinking of playing around with some garlic to maybe make a garlic bread to go with an Italian style meal.

Enjoy!

grain free cheese crackers

2012-01-24T08:30:00.005+11:00

I found this recipe just before Christmas and adapted it to be Gluten Free and because I used tapioca flour they are also Grain Free.

They are easy to make and the crackers remind me of the country cheese crackers that VCH's dad always has in a big jar in his kitchen.

Cheese Crackers

Makes about 70 1-inch square crackers

1½ cups grated Cheddar cheese

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces

¾ cup tapioca flour, plus more for dusting

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C

2. Put everything except the milk in a food processor. Pulse the processor, 5 seconds at a time, for about 5 or 6 times, until the dough is in coarse crumbs.

3. Add the milk and process until the dough gathers together in a ball.

4. Roll the dough out on a floured board with a rolling pin that has been floured until it is about 4mm thick or use two sheets of baking paper

5. Cut the dough into 2.5cm squares with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

You can put a bit of flour on the blade of the knife to keep it from sticking.

6. Place the crackers apart on parchment paper on a baking sheet.Use a fork to poke into each cracker. I like to sprinkle with a little paprika

7. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown.

8. Put the tray on a rack and let the crackers cool completely.

9. Eat! Or store in a covered container to eat within a day or two.

I am going to make a couple of batches of these to freeze for our holiday

Shared at

today...

2012-01-18T21:19:00.002+11:00

.... I attended a funeral, my second one in two weeks, both of them were for 47year old women who died unexpectedly, leaving behind husbands and teenage children.

This is the third funeral that VCH has been to in 2 months for wives of his friends.

The first lady was 45 and died of pancreatic cancer and left behind three older girls (early twenties- late teens) and a 13 year old son.

The second had suffered from an auto immune disease for many years and her body had been through hell, she simply died in her sleep one night 2 days after Christmas, she leaves behind a 12 year old, 14 year old and 16 year old.

Then today's funeral was for a healthy active woman who suffered a brain aneurism and died while on a camping trip with her husband and two son's aged 16 and 14.

B2 has had two of his friends lose their mothers just weeks apart.

Three fathers suddenly left to bring up their kids on their own- two of these men are golfing mates.

Imagine going to your friends wife's funeral only to have your friend coming to your wife's funeral 2 months later.

So everyone please keep these families in your prayers.

Hug your loved ones a little closer, tell them that you love them, spend that extra bit of time with them, be a little more patient, do not hurry, savour each moment and thank God that you have each other.

don't be afraid to try something new

2012-01-16T15:35:00.004+11:00

Do you like trying new foods or are you stuck in a rut?

When you first start eating gluten free you are presented with lots of new flours and tastes and textures particularly if you are trying to make bread substitutes.

If you decide to go grain free suddenly you need to find alternatives to rice and corn.

If you have limited your diet because of the foods you can no longer eat you might have found yourself getting bored of your usual salads or vegetables because they have now become a major part of your diet.

Well I am here to encourage you to try something new.

How about a new vegetable?

In winter our family discovered and fell in love with Brussels sprouts, I did a post about it here.

Have you tried eggplants, parsnips, swedes, asparagus, pomegranate, lychees?- these might be common to some people but would still pass as exotic to some Australians.

Growing up in Australia in the 70's broccoli, zucchini, sweet potato and capsicum were exotic vegetables but now they are common everyday fare.

Meat and three veg consisted of three of the following potato, pumpkin, carrot, beans or peas- maybe some corn if we were super lucky and had perhaps visited my cousins' farm where they grew it.

But back to our discussion...

Sometimes I see something new and I am tempted to try it- I might buy it but then procrastinate on cooking it - wondering if I will cook it the right way, if we will like it or not?

I was a bit like that with quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), I had seen it on blogs, in magazines etc. I thought I would try it for a wheat free version of tabouli- so I bought it and it sat and it sat, I forgot to get organised enough to make the tabouli in time for tea one day so it sat a while longer.

Then I did a mini detox and one day the lunch menu had quinoa - so I cooked it plain and ate it

Yum! gave some to the kids to try- 6 x yum!

Next time we were having a bit of a Middle Eastern meal I got myself organised and made tabouli - It was very yummy- even nicer than the wheat stuff.

Now I was sold on quinoa!

I went out with my Bible Study group to the TAFE restaurant and they had a salad made with red quinoa on the menu so I ordered that- it was delicious!

Last night we tried cheesy quinoa cakes.

These were really yummy and I served them with a salad.

Everyone loved this and it was super easy to make- just my kind of cooking!

The recipe says to use fontina cheese but I had never heard of it and I don't even know if it is available in Australia- my local supermarket certainly didn't have it, so I looked online and found I could substitute mozzarella, so I did.

I also used tapioca flour because the recipe used wheat flour.

I found it a little hard and messy to make into cakes so I divided the mixture between two fry pans and pressed it down flat, when the bottom was cooked I simply flipped it onto a dinner plate and then slid it back into the pan to cook on the other side, when it was cooked I flipped it out onto a plate and cut into wedges to serve.

The recipe has a nice aioli recipe to go with the cakes, which is that white dollop you see on top of the wedge.

Tonight we are having quinoa tabouli,

sweet potato pita breads recipe found here, roast lamb coated in harissa and and I will probably make a carrot and raisin salad.

This is quite a labour intensive meal because everything has been made from scratch and I do not cook like this very often.
My usual motto is "Keep it Simple" and often in summer we just eat salads with some meat, but I wanted to try these pita breads so I based my evening meal around them, thankfully it is a rainy day so it is not too hot to be in the kitchen!
So if you haven't yet tried quinoa please do.
Do you have something that you would like to try but haven't been quite game?
Do you have something new that you tried recently and loved?

easy yummy grain free buns

2012-01-14T14:31:00.001+11:00

Following on from yesterday's post about eating gluten free, I have a new recipe to share.

Some people find that eating gluten free is not enough to get their health back on track, some people have to take it a step further and become completely grain free.

While I haven't personally felt the need to go down this track I do get concerned that a lot of GF things use rice and corn as substitute grains.

Although you don't really hear a lot about people reacting to rice (although I do know some people who are intolerant) more and more you hear about people reacting to corn.

Now I figure that people are becoming intolerant to wheat because it is the main grain in our western diets, so if we substitute it for another grain, could it be that we will also become sensitive to that grain as well?

So as I am now quite comfortable eating gluten free and because this year our whole family- for the moment anyway is cutting out gluten and sugar, and as some of those family members were quite reliant on bread to snack on, they are feeling a little lost in this new eating regime, so I am exploring some options for these people as well as exploring some recipes using grain free flours.

I came across some great recipes on this site that I thought I might try.

Fabulously this is an Australian site which means that the ingredients Janelle uses will be available to Australians.

Sometimes I have found some great recipes on overseas blogs or websites only to find it virtually impossible to source some of the ingredients.

Anyway after my ramble you are probably wanting to get to the recipe.

I used this recipe for Grain Free White Bread Rolls

Let me say these are super easy and everyone in the family liked them.

Now a word of warning if you have yet to make GF bread of any description, it is quite different to cooking with wheat that has gluten in it.

Your mixture needs to be quite runny.

With this recipe you literally put spoonfuls onto the tray.

I sprinkled some sesame seeds over the top, because to me a bun is not a bun without sesame seeds on top.

Janelle states that they are great to go with soup.

Seeing it is summer and the last thing on the menu is soup we tried them with salad.

Everyone - even VCH liked them and a request has been made for some more to be baked for a fishing trip tomorrow!

I tried them toasted with cheese and tomato, yummy!

The beauty of this recipe is that as it doesn't use yeast, you can mix and bake and eat quite quickly.

It has been slightly cooler today so I have spent the morning cooking up some GF treats.

Stay tuned.

I will have a few more things to share with you in the next few days.

eating gluten free

2012-01-13T08:37:00.002+11:00

I have been essentially gluten free since October 2010.

I previously have had stints not eating wheat, but this is the longest I have gone without wheat except for the six weeks where I had to go back on wheat so I could have a coeliac test.

The test came back negative but I immediately went back onto a gluten free diet.

While I was back eating gluten I felt sick, my digestive system was not working properly, I was constantly tired and bloated and my hayfever was really bad.

Three of the children have at various stages joined me on this diet and have found health benefits from it.

I know of a few people who are needing to eat gluten free and I thought maybe some menu ideas might be helpful.

When I first embraced this way of eating I needed to look at the food we ate and see how I could incorporate gluten free into a large family without costing us a fortune.

Firstly go through foods that you already eat and list the stuff that is naturally gluten free.

So in our case I might put down the following:
Steak, potatoes and salad (our standard Saturday night fare)

Tacos (check any sauces you use are gluten free)

Chicken wings and salad

Roast and veges (make gravy with cornflour or arrowroot)

Harissa Lamb Cutlets
Scotch eggs

Then list foods that are not necessarily gluten free but can be easily adapted:

Fish and chips- I usually toss my fish in flour and shallow fry it so I changed it to a GF flour (coconut or tapioca work well) or finely crushed nuts.
San Choi Bow (Asian mince served in lettuce cups)- use GF tamari instead of soy sauce

Spaghetti Bolognaise- meat sauce is GF - change to GF pasta (to cut costs you can just use GF for the people who need it and regular pasta for the rest of the family) I have seen where people use zucchini finely cut in strips instead as well.

Enchiladas - filling is gluten free, I make my gluten free flat bread instead of tortillas, top with taco sauce, sour cream and cheese- cook until cheese is melted.

Then of course are some foods that bread is a main component like hamburgers, sausages and buns or steak sandwiches.

What we have done in the past when only some of us were GF was just ate the meat and salad component and maybe added something extra like a fried egg, while the others still had the bread.

Then there is stuff like pizza that is essentially gluten based.

We usually have pizza fortnightly on a Sunday night, so this presented quite a problem.

We always make our own base from scratch so for the GF people we have made a GF base adapting a GF bread mix (directions were on the packet) or tried a GF pizza base recipe from the net- there are lots out there, I just look for something that is easy and doesn't require too many obscure ingredients.

Since I have been trying to lose a bit of weight I cut out pizza so the GF kids just chose to have a wheat night. Now as we are only intolerant that works OK as long as it doesn't happen too often, but obviously this choice is not available to those who have been diagnosed Coeliac as this is an auto-immune disease.

I would also suggest that not only you look at gluten free sites on the net and there are heaps out there but invest in a gluten free cookbook that you like- I find borrowing some from your local library and trying them first before spending money on something you are not happy with a great way to start out.

For my money though I love the 4 Ingredients Gluten Free Cookbook- the recipes are easy- even kids can use them and they don't require 50 ingredients which is always a pain and can become very expensive.

Once you have tea/dinner worked out you need to tackle the other meals.
Gluten Free cereal and bread can be expensive and not everyone likes the bread (I personally don't, but the kids are happy to eat it), so here are some alternative ideas.

Breakfast:

Bacon and eggs

Homemade hash browns (grated potato, cheese, salt and pepper, press into patty in palm of your hand and fry in a little oil)

Tomatoes, mushrooms and onion stir fried, serve with an egg, or avocado and fresh herbs.

Boiled egg- serve with oven baked vege sticks (carrot, zucchini, caspicum, sweet potato)

Fruit with yoghurt (I use a goats milk yogurt)- sprinkle with a GF muesli or nuts for a treat

Fruit smoothie, based on juice, almond milk or yoghurt, or cows milk if you are OK with that.

Gluten Free pancakes with berries.

Lunch:

Wraps made with my GF flat bread recipe filled with salad or egg and lettuce.

Rice paper rolls - fill with salad and bean thread vermicelli

Cold meat and salad

Soft boiled egg with roast vege dipping sticks

Crustless quiche (use GF flour) or frittata by itself or with lettuce, tomato and cucumber

Leftovers from night before.
Home made Chips (french fries)

Snacks/ morning tea:

Can be the hardest things to change or adapt to a gluten free life.

Fresh fruit is probably the cheapest, easiest and most economical snack, stick to what is in season and cheap, buy in bulk if you can.
Vege sticks, nuts and dried fruit are also good.

I like to make my own dips and the variety is endless.
Into the food processor put cream cheese and some herbs from your garden with a couple tablespoons of yogurt or sour cream or you can use semi dried tomatoes or a GF relish or chutney of your choice.
The dip pictured above is made from spinach and cashews (the Jatz are obviously not GF but the other biscuits are)
Serve with rice crackers or vege sticks.

These homemade crackers are very yummy and I will be posting a recipe for these soon.
Yoghurt and fruit, or smoothies are also great snacks.

I have found it fairly simple to adapt most recipes by just substituting normal flour for Gluten Free flour.
I have found the Orgran flour to be reasonably economical and works well.
A cheaper alternative available from Coles is the FG Roberts brand, while it works well it does contain soy which I don't overly like and it does need to be sifted before you use it as it comes out of the bag lumpy.

Some of my favourite cake recipes contain almond meal.
Look for a bulk packet in the health food section of the supermarket rather than the little packets available in the cooking section.
Alternatively look for a wholesaler that you may be able to buy from in bulk.
A few of us go in together to buy from Santos Wholefoods which allows us to buy in bulk and share the freight costs.
If you have a mill you could buy almonds in bulk and grind fresh as you need them.

You can buy GF ice cream cones from Coles, or just serve ice cream in a cup or if you are game make your own.

Don't be afraid to try GF baking, all my baking is done with GF flour these days and I regularly serve it to guests who have no idea that it is made without wheat and they don't know the difference.
Because GF is more expensive than wheat flour you may want to limit your baking to special occasions or once or twice a week, your waistline will thank you for it as well!
To see my Gluten Free recipes go here .
I will be posting some more recipes soon so keep an eye out for them.

seven's heaven

2012-01-10T07:11:00.001+11:00

Happy seventh birthday B5

We love you beyond measure.

We love your style.

We love the way you explore the world.

We love hanging out with you!

Hope you have a wonderful fun day!

VCH and I had a date night last night- we went out for a late dinner 8pm- but it was $5 for steak and veges (carrots, corn and beans) and we shared a bowl of chips for $3.

Then we headed off to the movies we saw the new Mission Impossible movie, movie didn't start until 9:20pm so a very late night.

It is cheaper to go on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at our cinema.

I am taking the 3 little ones to the new Chipmunks movie on Wednesday.

Today we are heading off to the beach- it has been very hot here and B1 needs to get his driving hours up!

easy peasy sorbet

2012-01-09T21:46:00.002+11:00

As promised I am back with some really simple sorbet recipes.

I love ice cream and all frozen treats, unfortunately I can only eat a small amount of dairy these days before I get a reaction- usually hayfever or a mucousy cough, so I try to limit how much dairy I consume so a sorbet is perfect for our ice cream sundaes on Sunday when I am avoiding dairy.
This does have sugar in it, I may try and make a sugar free sugar syrup one day, but not today.
This recipe is perfect for those of us who do not own an ice cream maker.

I first made this very simple Mango Sorbet a couple of years ago and have since found that it can easily be adapted to other fruits.

First get about 3 mangoes and slice them up and put on a tray and pop in the freezer.
Then put a cup of water in a saucepan with a cup of sugar, bring to the boil and add the juice from a lime and the grated rind- put into fridge to cool.
When your fruit is frozen simply whizz in a food processor with the sugar syrup until smooth.
You can serve immediately or pop back in the freezer to firm up a little.
One day I decided to make a raspberry sorbet and simply did the same- I just used already frozen raspberries from the supermarket and instead of lime I added some fresh mint from my garden to the sugar syrup.
Now once you have whizzed it up you probably should strain out the raspberry seeds, but quite frankly I am too lazy so I just eat it as is, but if you don't like seeds in your sorbet or you are a bit Mastercheffy go right ahead and strain away.

These are very cool and refreshing and so easy to make- enjoy!

verse for 2012

2012-01-09T07:50:00.001+11:00

Back in 2010 I started claiming a verse to live by and focus on for the year.

That year the verse was "Be still and know that I am God," from Psalm 46:10.

In 2011 I claimed Jeremiah 29:17 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This year I have been contemplating what my verse should be, I knew I had thought of something a while back and then promptly forgot it.

But the other day we attended the funeral of a friend and one of the verses read at the funeral prompted me and I remembered being uplifted by this verse last year when we studied Matthew in our Bible study group and really meditating on it.

So here it is:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden light.

Matthew 11:28-30

While looking for a picture to go with this post I came across this article which sums up what we learnt about in our Bible study on this verse, as it is often misinterpreted.

happy new year

2012-01-03T07:18:00.001+11:00

It is so hard to believe it is 2012 - I remember when the year 2000 seemed scary and now we are 12 years into a new century!

We hosted a New Year's Eve party this year.

We take turns with 2 other friends and host either a Christmas Party or a New Year's Eve Party and one person gets the year off.

Technically it was my turn to do Christmas and my friends to do New Years, but it just worked out better for both families to swap around this year, so we ended up with New Year's Eve.

I emailed a heap of invites to people from Church, our home schooling friends, some friends from soccer and other walks of life.

Lots of people were away or had other plans, lots of people said yes.

A few people came for just a short time, some stayed and went home after dinner, some stayed a while longer and some stayed until midnight.

We ended up with 72 people including us, now I know this sounds huge, but it really didn't seem that many.

The kids had fun swimming in the pool, playing pool, running around and had a disco out the front.

The adults all just mingled and talked.

It was a fun casual night, we fired up the barbie, guests bought their own meat and a salad to share.

I provided dessert.

Ice cream in cones for the kids, mini pavs, fruit salad and cream for the adults and cupcakes for everyone.

I had fun decorating them with white and aqua icing and glitter and silver balls.

I also made some sorbets for those who can't have dairy and I will share how to do these- they are very simple with you in another post.

I still feel quite tired- one late night and I am cactus for 3 days- can't quite party like I used to!

you looked so pretty as you were riding along......

2011-12-26T08:33:00.001+11:00

Look what I got for Christmas ~~an ice cream maker~~ a bike.

My friends know I requested the ice cream maker attachment to my Kitchen Aid for Christmas, but then I saw this bike.

I have been in love with the new retro bikes since they came out.

Recently I have been reading how we should do both weight bearing exercise (walking/running etc) as well as non weight bearing (rowing, swimming and bike riding).

So when I saw this beauty I rang VCH and he came to the shop with me and looked at it- he couldn't quite understand why I would want such an old fashioned looking bike or a bike without gears (a. I have never ridden a geared bike, b.I read non geared bikes are better for you ie. you have to work harder), but being the wonderful husband he is he bought it for me anyway.

So yesterday after we came home from brunch at VCH's mother's I took a little ride.

Well let's just say it wasn't as idyllic as I had envisaged.

1. I haven't really ridden a bike for over 25 years- so I wasn't at all confident as I had thought I would be- I could invision the pain and the skinned knees if I came off.

2. Because I haven't ridden a bike for that long those biking thigh muscles are way out of shape and there is a slight slope as I headed up the road- so my thighs were burning big time.

3. I had just had Christmas Brunch

4. It was the middle of the day and way too hot for riding a bike in the Australian summer particularly after the morning storm- the humidity is a killer.

So I only went about half as far as I had originally envisaged and came home and thought I will leave that for another day- so tomorrow morning I plan to get up early and set out on another bike ride and now I realise that I might have to do a little training and build up to my goal!

But in the meantime I can look at my very pretty bike and smile.

By the way VCH's Dad said it was the most beautiful bike he had ever seen- isn't he sweet!

As for the Ice Cream maker- I asked VCH to put it away until my birthday in February- so I only need to wait 6 weeks or so.

christmas blessings

2011-12-24T19:26:00.000+11:00

Hi everyone,

Just quickly dropping in to wish everyone a very Happy and Holy Christmas 2011.

I haven't meant to be absent this week, but what with Christmas cooking, Christmas Colds- everyone has been sick! can't find the camera cord and don't have time to look for it, used up too much internet this month and suddenly everything is very slooowww etc. etc. it has meant that I haven't quite got around to posting anything this week.

We have just had our traditional Christmas Eve meal, roast pork and veggies, lots of yummy crackling and baked apples.

The kids are cleaning up and letting our main meal settle, then we will have some trifle before heading out to look at Christmas lights.

Tomorrow is brunch at my MIL's after Church in the morning and then we will come home to indulge in some prawns and oysters for lunch yummm!!!

Finally we are hosting Christmas tea so we are hoping that it's not raining so the kids can all have a swim.

So hope you have a wonderful day celebrating the birth of Christ.

"Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord"

LUKE 2:11

presentation night

2011-12-15T07:53:00.000+11:00

Last night we hosted our local home education groups first ever presentation night.

We had two graduates, one has gotten, at the age of 15, a chef's apprenticeship, the other at 18 is off to university next year.

Even though it is close to Christmas I wanted the night to have an educational theme rather than a Christmas theme, so I deliberately have not yet decorated our entertaining area for Christmas.

So I came up with a centrepiece of a blackboard with letters around it (I used my chalkboard pen), a bundle of old books and some apples and then onto the tables

I sprinkled gold stars.

On one of the smaller children's tables I wrapped a can in pencils tied it with red ribbon, put numbers on the chalkboard and sprinkled it with giant paperclips.

Here are our children with their certificates, each family was responsible for organising their own children's certificates and presenting them.

A very quick shot of my decorated pavlova before my camera ran out of batteries, cream, passionfruit, banana, mango and kiwi fruit grace the top of this beauty, it was very yummy too!

It was a lovely relaxed evening with a special feel to it and I am sure we will be having one again next year.

little christmas visitors

2011-12-14T08:05:00.000+11:00

These two little guys came to visit on Monday, it was rather hot and they flew into our undercover area.

One landed on our freezer and the kids were worried that it was injured.

The other stayed up high in the rafters.

The one on the freezer was panting and just sat there, it even allowed B3 to stroke it.

I managed a couple of photos then when I went to pat it, it flew off so it wasn't injured at all.

I thought they were a type of finch but when I checked out the bird book they are mistletoe birds, just visiting in time for Christmas, or maybe they were just after some of the mistletoe that like to get into our trees.

some end of year activities

2011-12-13T13:53:00.001+11:00

This time of year in Australia is not only Christmas but also the end of the school year, so we have lots of end of year activities as well as Christmas functions to attend.

The four youngest children have been involved with a kids club this year at another Presbyterian church in our town.

They have only just started up this year and it is a lovely little group.

This term they have been filming a version of the Christmas story and have also been getting ready for a parents dinner, making the invitations and decorations for the table etc.

Then on Thursday night they cooked and served the dinner to the parents and the film had its premiere.

It was a lovely evening and the film turned out great.

On Friday B4 and B5 had their gymnastics party and presentation.

Here is B5 getting his certificate

and B4 getting his.

We also got to see their cousin in the gymnastics club performance group which was great.

Then on Sunday was the annual service that the children have in Church.

This is the song the children performed, you can see B5 and B4, but B3 is hidden behind the trees.

The Girl performing another part of the song.

All the children are given books but when a child is high school age they are presented with a Bible as they "graduate" from kids church.

Here B3 is receiving his bible from our Pastor.

The children were fascinated with the budgie that our pastor used in his talk.

It was quite strange for me because this was the first time in 10 years that I didn't organise this service, so instead of being up the front, I got to sit in a pew and watch it all!

new front door....

2011-12-12T07:02:00.002+11:00

A little project I did last week was to repaint my front door, which really is technically now the door into my sewing room.

I got B2 to unscrew it for me and painted it on the table on my veranda, it was so much easier this way, and now that I have a glass sliding door on the old front veranda come sewing room it was fine to have a couple of days without the front door.

I painted it with Dulux Waterway, my new favourite colour.

I won't count Antique White USA as a colour because technically white isn't a colour is it?

I sprayed the gold door handles in chrome to freshen them up and make them match.

B1 informed me as he was reattaching them that I should have just used one of the spare chrome ones in the shed as we don't really need to use a key in here anymore!

Thanks B1 - next time tell me before I go out and buy spray paint and paint them!

B2 repainted around the door frame in white aqua enamel, to freshen it up.

Then VCH came along today and decided to remove all the bits that were there for the screen door that we obviously don't need anymore, so it had to sanded and repainted this morning, it still needs another coat.

As you can also see a strip of edging needs to be replaced that was removed during the floor installation last week, and if you look closely in the top photo you will see that under the bottom of the door step (what is the technical name for this?) was missed, I will have to get someone to lie down and paint this at some stage.

I put a Christmas wreath here,

I love the pop of red on the aqua!

Here is a close up of the wreath, look how different the door colour looks in the close up.

easy entertaining project

2011-12-11T12:20:00.005+11:00

I thought I would share a little project I did to help with our summer/ holiday entertaining.

I saw this on pinterest.

I liked the idea of using some terracotta pots to hold cutlery when entertaining a crowd.

So I went out and bought some pots at Bunnings, they were only a couple of dollars each and then I simply painted the rim with some chalkboard paint.

I labelled them with a chalk pen - so simple, so easy and I think they look cool.

I simply popped in a cloth napkin and then put in the cutlery.

With three big events in the next few weeks happening here they should see some use.

Sharing at:

a little decorating

2011-12-10T11:39:00.001+11:00

Finally I am getting around to finishing off my decorating and taking some photos.

This is in my dining room, I will show you my table soon, but for now you can see some of the other bits.

This is where my sewing table now craft table was, having moved to its new location I put the old sewing machine that I picked up at a garage sale here.

This will probably end up in my sewing room after I fix it up.

The pictures above are these ones that I made last year.

It was the perfect spot to add a little Christmas cheer to.

This basket is loaded up with some wreaths and pine cones, the wreaths may yet be hung on doors, but I haven't decided where yet.

One of my little spice angels has found its way here too.

This is the display shelf of my wall unit.

This is how it has looked for some time now, (without the Christmassy stuff of course) I quite like the white with the touches of burlap and wood.

For Christmas I have...

added a little tree, I bought the last 3 of these at the cheap shop the other day for $2 each, I will probably use the three of them as a table centre piece for Christmas when VCH's family come for tea (that's Australian for dinner/supper),

another of my sweet little spice angels and a few pine cones.

On my window picture frame I added some greenery.

I think it it so funny to see these being pinned all the time on pinterest but I have had this in my dining room for 11years now!

Some more spice angels and pine cones,

we went up the road a couple of weeks ago to get some laying on the ground in front of a neighbour's fence, she saw us and invited us into her yard to collect some more.

I also added some of these snowflakes for a bit of sparkle.

I usually don't do snowflakes, because it is Australia and it is summer and it doesn't snow here- even in winter, but these came in a pack with some other decorations and they add a little sparkle- I am just going to pretend they are twinkly stars.

If you would like to know how to make one of these beauties just click here.

insect mania

2011-12-07T20:22:00.003+11:00

Here are a couple of close ups of some insects found in our garden

I took these photos with my camera when it was new and we were doing a nature study in the garden.

A few weeks ago Karen had a photo of a dragonfly that she taken, I said how amazing and how I had never been able to do it- how wrong was I -I had already done it!

I found these photos when I was going back through my files looking for stuff for our home education registration.

Here is a ladybird also in the same patch, I love how you can see the furry bits on the leaf as well.