Looking For....

a really funky menu planner...

I've seen one on someone's blog but I can't remember who or where... if you know of some cool ones, please send me the links

Thanks heaps guys

photos from Christchurch

just a couple of pictures from our recent family holiday in christchurch

We did so many things...

Orana Wildlife Park

Paris feeding a Giraffe

Josh feeding a Giraffe

Cam sleeping through it all :)

Hanmer Springs

Asleep on the way there {surely he can't be comfortable}

LUNCH!!!

Cam kept licking his lips cause of the taste of the minerals

Antartic Centre

And my favourite picture:

The sunset as seen from the window of the aeroplane on the way home

Italian Chicken Casserole in the slow cooker

Ingredients


1kg chicken drumsticks
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed {I just pop a teaspoon of crushed garlic out of a jar lol}
3 medium potatoes, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/4 cup flour
500mls chicken stock
4tbsp tomato paste {I used sauce today lol}
2 tsp dried italian herbs

pop the chicken, onion, garlic, potatoes, zucchini and carrot into the slow cooker.

In a jug combine flour and stock until evenly mixed. stir into tomato paste and herbs. Then pour over chicken.

cook on low all day, or on high for half day

serve with rice, pasta or mash

This is our dinner tonight, my kids LOVE it

Home again..

Well after 8 long, amazing days, we have returned home from Christchuch.  We caught up with so many friends, saw so many sights, and I even managed to fit in time to attend my Investiture ceremony to be presented with my insignia of the order by the Duke of Gloucester!

I am tired tonight, but promise I will post some pictures of our travels tomorrow... xx

Packing... Packing... Packing...

We are off to Christchurch for a week's holiday in the morning, and as usual, I've packed the kids bags, made sure Ian has the right gear, and have completely run out of energy for packing my own bags lol...  I don't even know where to start for myself either *sigh* As long as I don't forget to pack my St John uniform, otherwise I will be unable to attend the awards ceremony I going to on Sunday, and that would be really sad considering I am getting an award haha

However, I have lovely new clothes to pack, thanks to Ian buying me a few new casual items for my wardrobe this evening. 

Oh well - back to packing for me... Will update you all from Christchurch :)

Dont forget to vote...

in my new post divider poll which can be found here.  I've extended the voting time by 24hrs due to technical issues with the poll box...

My first fabric purchase

yesterday on trade me - i bought this gorgous fabric By Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics.

while I don't actively sew, and I don't own a sewing machine, what most of you don't know, is that I am actually quite a competent sewer, having made 2 out of 4 of my school ball gowns, altered all of my jeans in high school and turned them all into flares, shorts and skirts :) I'm taking up sewing again, and am currently saving up for a maching.  I have big plans for this fabric - so watch this space, because what I make with this will most likely become my first giveaway.

error

so for some reason the poll option that i put up on here doesn't actually work too good... some people can't vote, and it is forever telling me that "I am not logged in" even if I log myself out and in again and again and again... lol

so in regards to this poll can you please vote by commenting on the post.

Thanks heaps.

Another Fantastic giveaway...

from Kelly at reclaiming me...

Head over here to see what awesome goodies she has to giveaway this time :)  I'm loving the fabric knuckle bones, and have already decided just what I would do with the fabrics :)

My new Post Divider Poll...

Well guys... A lovely friend of mine Bronwyn from bron's boys has been working hard on some post dividers for me... And she has done such a great job, I can't decide which one to go with... So I'm opening it up to you all... I will post a poll along the side, and you can all vote  leave a comment with your vote :) Voting closes 5pm Saturday 15th Sunday 16th May

A.

B.

C.

D.

Feel free to leave comments also :)

Thanks in advance

A few reasons to Smile....

METALLICA!!!

They are coming to NZ and I got a ticket... ok - so I'm seated, but I can live with that... ok - so I'm going by myself, I think I can even live with that... what I couldn't live with however, was not getting a ticket, and not seeing my musical idols live :)

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS!!!

We had some taken a wee while ago with vivid photography.  I won a free sitting, and a voucher for a photo to the value of $150, so I made the booking and off we went.  It was so much fun.  We were however adament that we would not be buying a single photo, and would just use the voucher and get one picture.  Well... what we weren't prepared for was the quality of the pictures... Never again would I use pixifotos for pictures of my kids and family.  So $1500 $1350 later {$150 off cause of the voucher} and we picked up our photo (well 7 pictures put together as 1) today:

Top Row

Middle Row

Bottom Row

and the whole effect together

We are so very happy that we took the time to have the pictures taken, and that we decided in the end to spend the money on getting a collection for our home.  We will definately use them again {though not too soon} for our portrait needs in the future...

Oh - and the middle picture on the bottom row... they asked our permission to have it on their website and we said yes :)

Mothers Day 2010

All I wanted for Mothers Day this year was a full nights sleep AND a sleep in... doesn't seem like much to some, but if you read about our sleep issues you will fully understand...

rewind to last night...

Of to the SIL's for dinner with her and BIL and the PIL's eeeekkkkk that was not my idea of fun...but anyway, on with the story... Cam fell asleep in the car at about 4pm while we were out shopping for a Mothers Day gift for my mum and he woke again when we arrived at SIL's at 6.30pm... We stayed for dinner and dessert and before we knew it, it was 10pm and time to leave.  So we popped Cammy into his night time nappy, PJ's and merino sleeping bag, and hit the road... we gave him a bottle in the car, and he went straight to sleep...

We arrived home at 10.30pm, and I successfully transferred Cam from the car to his bed, and fell into bed myself.  Cam slept... and slept... and slept some more... he didn't wake up till 7.15am this morning - BRILLIANT!!!

And then Ian took him into the lounge, and left me to sleep until 10am... bliss I tell you, pure bliss... I so needed that sleep...

The kids cam into me once I was awake, and proceeded to spoil me with 3 Jodi Picoult books and a Nail Care pack {which I think is a big hint to stop biting my nails}

I spent a few hours at my mum's house with the kids, while Ian stayed home and did the yard work, and all the washing :)

The day was finished off with a lovely roast dinner...

What a perfect Mothers Day

a day in the park...

Making Childhood Memories

We run.  We play.  At times we fall down and cry.

We giggle.  We snicker and play.

We poke.  We pinch.  All in good fun - of course!

We even sit still so mum can take a picture.

These are the makings of childhood memories.

Author unknown

The poem relates to how I see the world when I take the kids to the park... It's something I love doing... but also something we don't have as much to do as I would like... So on Tuesday afternoon, when I arrived home from work, I decided that some outside play was in order... Loaded the kids into the car and off we went... I had an ulterior motive to this little trip too - it had been ages, since I had managed to photos of all of the kids at once... While they were playing, I was going crazy with the camera... I took a total of 260 photos!! Here's a small selection for your viewing :)

Paris on the swing

Josh on the Swing

Paris and Cam on the see saw

Paris helping Cam to push the train

My bubble kids

3 of them together

my goreous new header pic

Autumn Leaves

adorable!

Last day for Competition Entry..

Hey everyone,

Don't forget today is the last day you can enter Kelly @ reclaiming me's compeition.

Head here for details.

Good Luck xx

Bargin Hunting...

Kelly over at reclaiming me is a chief bargin hunter, so when she told me that her local kindy was having a jumble sale I thought i had better go...

And what a great decision that was... Me, Paris and Cam heading off with $35 in our pockets... a few purchases later:

books YAY!!

clothes - fill a bag for $5

the shoes cost me 50c!! and they are brand new

But perhaps the best bargin of the day was this:

bought for a whole 50c and it perfectly matches the other one I have {which was a present, but cost $130} and will look absolutely fantistic on my Maori Tanga wall in my lounge...

and - we came home with $18!!

Tupperware-a-holic

Yup - thats me... lol

So every couple of years, I hold a tupperware party, as I "need" more tupperware... today was party day... and what fun I had... Kelly from reclaiming me came, and I got to meet her little boy for the first time - What a cutie!!! And a few other lovely ladies that i have meet through cheeky monkey practical parenting - which by the way, is a great website, that I recommend to all :)

I hold these parties, expecting nothing of my friends, except a good time had by all... and once again I was pleasantly surprised, when several of them booked parties of their own, and there were quite a few sales... so I got $130 worth of free tupperware, and some other gear from the tupper-wave range... yay me... :)

AND - because I'm such a good friend... I didn't order everything I wanted, so that I can order a little something, at each of the parties being held by my mates :)