Cooking

MMMMMMMM......food.

One thing about winter is it always makes me want to bake and eat, lol. Little wonder the weight I so desperately want to shift is hanging around, hehe.

During the last week the kids and I have tried a couple of new, and some old trusty, things in the kitchen...the results have been pretty good if I do say so myself.



We tried making bread for the first time, using a bread mix that I bought on special from coles about 5mths ago. We don't have a stand mixer or a bread maker so it was kneaded by us, left to rise, quickly kneaded again, smeared with some crushed garlic and then chucked in the oven. We had it with dinner last night, spiral pasta with a tomato and basil sauce, yum.



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We pulled out the trusty VVB recipe and made some choc chip biscuits.



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Late last week we needed dinner and the cupboards were bare, freezer was almost empty,the garden is only producing a few tomatoes, basil, sugar snap peas and lettuce and none of our usual meals were appealing.

So after riffling through the garden, freezer and cupboard I came up with:

500g pork mince
3 or 4 green shallots
a garlic clove
a bunch of shredded cabbage
2 or 3 grated carrots
Lettuce leaves



I browned the pork mince, added the garlic and shallots, cooked a bit longer, added the carrot and cabbage and cooked till they were softening.

Served in lettuce cups or leaves.....we are growing a more flat leafed lettuce so we wrapped ours around to eat.

Yum. The kids really enjoy it and I really liked that there was no added sauces or salts.

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I was mucking about on Wednesday....

2 cups of flour with 30g of butter mixed through with fingers, 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water......mixed.....rolled and twisted.

I chucked them in oven and hoped for the best.



Tasted like scones, hot from the oven with butter.

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Picklets never last long in this house.



I use a recipe from a family circle baby food book, they puff up nicely and are super yummy.

XOXO Hayley.

TMI Warning: Period

This time (June) 2 years ago I had my last period, 2 weeks later Ari was conceived....and the rest, as they say, is history.

Two years is a long time to go without, I am very grateful that Ari and I have a fabulous breastfeeding relationship that has helped keep my hormone levels up and my period away.

I woke up this morning and quickly realised that my dream run was over *sigh*.......not to sure how I feel about being "fertile" again, especially considering we do not, under any circumstances, plan to get pregnant again. Plus add to that I feel drained and my back is aching and I have 4 kids to look after....*big sigh*..

The one positive to come out of the return is that I got to use my Lunette Menstral Cup for the first time, and it went really well. I found it much easier to use then I imagined and although I felt a little uncoordinated I know that will get better with practice. I didn't even have to trim anything.

So anyway, now you probably know more about me than you wanted.

XOXO hayley

Fabric Buckets

I made these this week, actually last weekend...super easy to make.

I have put the larger one to use storing some fabric but the smaller one (which is made according to the pattern) is so small I am not sure what I will use it for.

Tutorial is here.

http://vlijtig.blogspot.com/2008/11/here-it-is.html

Sling Meet

I am a member of a Google group of Baby wearing parents, Baby Carriers Downunder.

Amongst the group they have meet ups (sling meets) in a few different places around Australia and NZ . The baby wearing capital of Australia seems to be Brisbane and while I was there on holidays I was really happy to be able to attend one of the meets.

I was a bit nervous to be meeting relative strangers, I mean we had chatted online but not in depth and I am quiet....quiet, lol. I feel so awkward in social situations and struggle to talk to people and always worry I have said the wrong thing, argh!!!

Despite my nervousness I had a lovely time meeting some of the parents (who were lovely) and the carriers....oh my!....of course I came home with one, lol.

Paulus helped me figure out my straight strapped Pod...



The Dream Carrier - I tried it, I loved it, Paulus told me he was thinking of selling it...so I bought it...





..and my new wrap, a Cairo Hopp...a very thick wrap, great for winter.



I am really enjoying carrying Ari (and sometimes Nate), can hardly believe my baby is 14mths old already though! He is getting heavier so some of the old carriers are moving on and these new ones are supporting his weight a lot better.

Wooly Goodness

We have been so lucky to of received some fabulous woolies over the last few months.

Nate and Ari got some longies and matching beanies from the beautiful Mel for their (1st and 3rd) birthdays. Nate is refusing to wear anything knitted at the moment but I am really lucky that Ari has no such problems, lol.

So here is Ari modeling both sets.....they have been worn a lot over the last few weeks - we love them Mel!!







And then....some amazing knits from Tracy of Desert Rose Designs. These were knitted for me using some lovely BFL yarn I had bought but was unable (due to lack of knitting talent) to transform.

Tracy had no such troubles in coming up with a spectacular outfit, she is a super talented crafty mumma (of 6) who sews, knits, crochets, quilts and I am sure could pretty much do anything crafty!.









Isn't it just gorgeous!!! I love it and it is beyond what I could of envisioned.

The weather is really cooling down here now - we have actually had the heater on a few times in the mornings. These woolies (along with the set from Shannon) will be getting a work out this winter.

A holiday to QLD

My mum invited us to her house, in southern QLD, for the Easter holidays. I had reservations but put them aside and told myself that the kids would have a great time and it was just for 2 weeks. Well the kids did have a great time and although I struggled it was all worth it to have the kids enjoy themselves immensely.

I think the highlight of the trip for the kids was visiting Dreamworld.....twice!

Liam especially loved all the rides, he even convinced me to go on the Tower Of Terror with him....eeek!! He went on the Cyclone Roller Coaster with Steve....if you look at the pic really closely I have drawn a small arrow and his name on the pic.....you can't actually see his face as he is just to little, lol.



Nate loved the train, the animals, the cars, the white water rapids and wiggles world. He got really upset that he wasn't old enough to go on the big rides, lol. Ari was not so trilled about the park but was happy in the DC (Dream Carrier) that I got from Paulus from BCD (Baby Carriers Downunder).



Bethany liked the Blues Clues ride, the tea cups and the Merry-Go-Round......basically she liked the ones that were quiet and sedate, lol.



When we went with Steve (Mums Husband) he shouted the 3 big kids a helicopter ride!



I enjoyed myself too......as I said I went on the Tower Of Terror with Liam and also the motorbikes and log ride.

I took a few photos of the animals there.....





and my little girl - who turns 5 in a 4 mths!!!! She said she didn't want her picture taken, but I saw her peaking out from under her hat........

So much to blog about......

Its been 2 months since I posted, OMG I am slack!!

My babies, Nate and Ari turned 3 and 1 in March....they had a party which was a heap of fun, they got so many great pressies, including lovely longies and beanies from Mel.

Ari started walking a week or 2 before his birthday and is just so grown up now. He is still breastfed on demand and co-sleeps, he is also still worn each day in our baby carriers.....I am kinda sad that he is getting older but also happy that he is learning so much and starting to give me a bit more space during the day while he plays.

I am struggling emotionally.....I think that it has been hard for me since Ari was about 5months old but I kinda expected it to go away.....it hasn't, and I have realised I need to make an effort to change things to make myself happy.

Liam started back at soccer which mean training one day a week and soccer Saturday mornings. And the 3 big kids go to swimming lessons so we go there twice a week.

We (kids and I) had a road trip to QLD which involved 2 days at dreamworld. It was a good trip and I have heaps of photos that I will have to upload (darn dial up it takes forever).

I got some delicious knitted items from Tracy (Desert Rose Designs)...they are just fabulous.

This weekend was mothers day - which was OK but not to different from most other days.....I did sit down and sew on Saturday afternoon though, as part of the Nappycino sew-a-long. I sewed the Heather Bailey Pin Cushion...quick and pretty easy. I should at least show one pic to make this post more interesting.



Thanks for reading....try to be back soon with more pics and in depth stories.