Super Sunday

It was so delicious to wake up to the dripping rain this morning. I love this Autumn weather. It really makes us sleep easier too as we didn't emerge from the bedroom till 9.30am. Sooooo nice!!

When I walked into the kitchen I spotted this sight on the kitchen bench and it just made me smile.

Those beautiful, last of the season strawberries, some lemons to make a new recipe this week, some freshly baked cookies in the jar and the most welcoming sight - the coffee pot.

Look at the colour of these strawberries.

This was our morning tea this morning :: some homemade Anzac biscuits.

Onto those apple recipes.

A nice easy one to begin with :: apple crumble.

Rhianna helped me to peel the apples. Boy, that took a while.

We put the apple slices into some sugared water to stew them.

While the apples stewed, we got into some creative work - a bit of rainy afternoon card making.

After the apples were finished I put them into a pyrex dish and set about making the crumble.

The recipe is from the 4 Ingredients book. So nice and easy.

The finished product :: enjoyed by all with some lovely creamy custard.

10 apples down - only about 100 more to get through.

More Apple Fun

We headed to the other side of the mountains today to a place called Bilpin - famous for delicious apples.

Unfortunately we had only gotten to a place called Kurrajong when Miss Rhianna declared she felt ill and lost her breakfast on the side of the road :: a lovely way to start the day!!!


We decided to refuel her and popped into a local cafe for pancakes and fruit.

I had a little something myself. Well it seemed rude not to.

Ten minutes further up the road we are in Bilpin and easily find the orchard to pick some apples.

After full instructions we head off into the orchard with a basket to fill.

We are thrilled to find an apple that looks just like the storybook kind.

There are plenty of apples and they are so easy to pick. They are dropping off the trees.

We are allowed to eat as many as we like as we pick our basket full.

The basket is getting full and we still have to lug it back to get weighed. Luckily we had Bill with us.

Boxed up and in the car I think of all the apple recipes I know on the way home.

I think we'll be eating apples for a while.

All about Apples

A fantastic idea I found on the internet was making lapbooks.

A lapbook is a manilla folder opened up and then each side is folded into the centre to create a type of brochure.

As it is Autumn, R and I decided to create our first lapbook around the theme of apples.

The front of the folder

Inside the folder I tried to create one activity across each KLA (English, Maths, HSIE, science, art and PDHPE).

This is what the folder looks like when it is opened up.

On the right hand side you can see the art component which was a couple of different views of an apple made using felt pieces.

For PDHPE we googled "apples" to see what is actually in an apple that makes them so healthy.

Lots of water apparently.

For maths we made some playdough apples and cut them into halves and quarters and thirds and then did a fractions worksheet which we glued in.

We have English still to complete - Rhianna will do procedure writing and find an apple crumble recipe which we will then cook for Science - see how beautifully it all comes together.

On the weekend we are going to Bilpin to go apple picking for the HSIE part of the folder.

The lapbook will then be complete and can be something Rhianna has on her book shelf to revisit. She is already asking to start an Easter one. They would be good to make for holidays as well.

Google them on the net, the Americans do fantastic ones. (of course)

The New Cubby House

We've been flicking through our craft books again now that the weather is cooling down a bit.

We've seen this type of cubby in a couple of books so we combined a couple of the ideas to create our own.


We already had an old plastic picnic table in the back shed. so we cleaned that up and bought it into the lounge room.

I bought some cheap laminated tablecloth cover for the feature walls ($20).

The other walls and curtains were made from an old checked flat sheet we no longer used.

The whole project took just under 2 hours and about $20 all up.

Here's the inside view. You might remember the flooring as the first quilt I made using Rhianna's old clothes and the orange pillow is one Rhianna made during the school holidays at Christmas.

This is one totally home-made project.

I think I've got my crafting mojo back.

Weekend Away

There is nothing I like better than to get away for the weekend.

It's just so mentally refreshing to look at some sights that are different from the same old sights you look at every day.

This weekend I headed off with my BFF and her family to the coast for some last Summer frivolity.

We decided to stay at Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast.

We know from past experience on these weekends away that they can degenerate into a food and alcohol fest very quickly if we don't have planned activities to keep us focused.

So we drove straight to a place called The Entrance to hire some bikes to ride around the lakeside there.

Here are our two girls ready to go.

We cycled for approximately an hour and it was glorious. The weather was good, the bike path was nice and flat and the kids only whinged if you went close to them.

After bike riding, the food fest began with a picnic at a nearby park.

Luckily, Natalie had bought some plastic wine glasses so the drinking could begin. But only a small glass each as we still had to drive down to Terrigal from The Entrance.

Our group shot

The afternoon at Terrigal was beautiful. We quickly checked into the Crowne Inn Plaza and got the kids down to the beach for a swim. Then into the hotel pool. I don't have photos of this as I forgot to take my camera in the hurry to get to the surf.

After showers it was time for a relax, some nibblies and a few glasses of wine before we headed out for dinner.

Off our balcony was a courtyard with a giant chess board for the kids to play on as well as an area to run around in. What a godsend!!

I was a bit worried that we hadn't made a booking for dinner as Terrigal is a very popular weekend destination and there are not a heap of restaurants to chose from.

We ended up at a Thai place called N' Thai Sing. The food was fabulous, the service atrocious. Bill ended up having to go and complain about our meals which I think we had waited an hour for. The kids were starting to get hungry and tired and the place was packed and extremely noisy. We'll not be going back there again in a hurry.

Back to our room :: we had a lovely ocean view balcony to sit out on which we did to enjoy a little more wine and conversation while the kids kicked back on the beds and zoned out with technology.

Sunday morning was just as glorious as yesterday. Bill took the kids down to the pool while I got ready for the day. Breakfast was at a local cafe - again the service was very poor. Maybe we are just used to good Sydney service:)

When bellies were full we headed for the skillion. The skillion is an enormous hill jutting up into the sky from the local soccer field. Once at the top, the views up and down the coast are amazing.

Everybody headed up - some running, some ambling.

I had lie down at the bottom and waited for them all to get back.

I was still wrecked from bike riding and I have seen the view before!!!!!

A spot of local shopping and then we headed home. One of our best breaks away.

Latest Happenings at our House

Rhianna and I have been getting into some maths - this week :: fractions.

We made some playdough apples and then divided them with a knife into halves, quarters, eighths etc.

Much fun.

We had a wonderful time at a pool party last weekend.

Love this idea for a party as the girls spent hours playing in the pool and very little time gorging themselves on high fat party food.

Lastly, netball training started this week so we spent an afternoon at the school while the girls came to grips with chest passes, pivoting and wearing bibs.

Hilarious to watch - can't believe they are supposed to play their first game in under 2 weeks time.

Happiness Project

February Review

I don't know if you remember or not, but Feb was the month I was supposed to work on my relationship with my husband as part of my Happiness project.

More specifically I was to:

::Quit nagging

::Not expect praise or appreciation

::Fight right

::No dumping my troubles on him

::Give proofs of love

OK, I'll address these one at a time.

Firstly I asked Bill what I nagged him about. He replied that I never nag him and that's why he married me. Too easy!!!!

Expecting praise. I do like the family to thank me for making them dinner. They are all really good at this. Other than that I don't really expect praise and if I did I've got a feeling I'd be sorely disappointed.

Fight Right. I hate to say this but Bill and I rarely fight. The last time we had a fight was in October last year. I remember because we were on our Adelaide holiday and we were having a fight in the car in the middle of a hail storm. So this month I didn't have to fight right because there were no fights.

No dumping my problems on him. Yep, I do this all the time I'm afraid. Even the trivial stuff. This month I tried not too. I had an "altercation" with an Ebay buyer and I was furious. I tried so hard to hold it in and not tell Bill. Finally I had to wake him up in the middle of the night and vent about this buyer as I just couldn't sleep. So no, I failed at this task.

Give proofs of love. I think I failed at this too. I didn't "do" Valentine's day.
But I do make him coffee every morning when I get up. I do pick up all his dirty laundry from the floor. I do everything that involves the kids so he can relax when he gets home from work and I do all his posting, banking and errand running for the business.
I personally think this qualifies as proof of my love but I did not do any overt proofs.

Bill and I do have a great marriage. We are totally in sync with each other and understand each other pretty well. He is my best friend as I am his .There really wasn't a whole lot to work on this month as I am blissfully happy in my marriage. I don't know how Bill feels about our marriage but hey, this is MY Happiness project not his :)

March in the happiness project is all about Work.

Since I rarely work I will have to bend the recommendations to suit the work I do at home.

The main parts of the quest are:

:: Launch a blog. (Gee, I'm already ahead on March aren't I?)

::Enjoy the fun of Failure.

:: Ask for help.

:: Work smart.

:: Enjoy now.

I'll read this chapter, implement the changes and let you know how I go.