Op Shopping with Kelly...

Today I went Op Shopping with Kelly from Reclaiming Me.  I had heaps of fun, and even managed to score a bargin or two :)

The little brown jar says "tokens" on it, and seen as we use tokens at the caravan for showers I just couldn't resist :)

Fabric...

I just popped into the fabric shop before for a look and walked out with:

Aren't they just such lovely bright colours... now to start creating :)

Nappies

This is a subject I love... Cammy is allergic to disposables - yes we found out the hard way, and it took 10 long months before a doctor suggested the allergy as a reason for his bad bad rash {burnt bum}... I spend hours online, looking for funky nappy covers... I love them... here are just a few different funky covers that we have:

Naughty Grandad

My 3 year old niece Courtney-Jayde {CJ} came to stay the night last night.  We had some pretty cool conversations me and her, but below is a snippet of the best one by far....

CJ: Sometimes Grandad is naughty

me: is he?

CJ: yes

me: why is grandad naughty

CJ: he forgets to make me cups of tea and milos


What could I say to that... Clearly my kids have the naughtiest Grandad out there by far :)

too cute

Josh is starting to hand some of his toys down to Cammy... Apparently this Fire Engine, was Josh's pride and joy and drove Ian nuts lol... Cammy loves it...

Things I love

I thought it was time to do a "Things I Love" post....

• crunchy peanut butter on toast
• my boots
• the fog over the harbour on a chilly morning
• the way my hair curls after a shower
• watching my kids play sport
• the beach on a gorgeous summer day
• in fact - the beach in general :)
• my camping spot
• my family - no matter how disfunctional they are, they are still my family
• the All Blacks
• my breadmaker
• Ian's chicken pasta
• my friends
• St John
• my fav hoody
• blogger post scheduler

And of course - Ian and the kids!!! But that goes without saying, right :)

yummy....

Some time real soon I am going to make this Mars Bar Cake.  I first saw it here and might I say - my heart skipped a beat or two when I saw it... it was definately love at first sight ;)

So now I just need to find the time to make this... I'm wondering if I will have time to make it for my birthday which is at the end of this month... now that would be a nice treat for myself :)

Big Boy Now

Kids grow up so quickly, and Cammy is no exception to the rule.  He has started trying to join the kids at the table when they are eating.  We have this great highchair, where the tray can come off, and it turns into a booster, however the arms, don't fit under our table, so he can't actually get close enough to the table.  So when he sat in my niece's Bumbo and actually looked comfy, I decided I needed to buy one.

Now I didnt need a flash new one, or even an excellent condition one as the time left for us to best utilise this is not much :) so I found a well used one on Trade Me for $15 buy now last week, and bought it!  It's been worth it's weight in gold already.  Cammy loves it! And he's eating heaps better being all independent and all...

nom nom {excuse the bad mummy dinner}

School Disco

Last week the older kids had their school disco.  Paris loves the discos, as they are a great excuse for her to get dressed up, get her hair done, and dance the night away {ok, it's really only 2 hrs but you get the idea :) }

check out the shoes :)

The hair - this style is one of my specialities for Paris

Josh enjoys the disco too, but isn't keen to pose for pictures, and doesn't have his hair all done up flash by me lol

Bubbles!!!

Cammy has just discovered the fun of a bubble bath... it's taken so long because I have such bad ezcema from products like that, that I wanted to make sure his skin would cope... I don't use a proper bubble bath as such, but a few squirts of Johnsons bedtime bath does the trick :)

He certainly seems to enjoy it :)

All things fancy...

As a volunteer for St John Youth, I am lucky enough to get invited to the Annual Mid Winter Christmas Dinner every year {I also organise it as part of my paid job but thats another story}.  The dinner is a great excuse to get all dressed up for, which, lets be honest, once you leave school, you don't get too many opportunities to "dress up". 

The dinner was last night, and was so much fun.  For the first time ever I wore makeup to a fancy dinner... and not only that, but I had my hair and make done proffessionally :)

With my friend Amanda

With my ever so gorgeous friend Aurelie {who is in NZ on a working holiday - wearing one of my old dresses that I no longer fit}

With the raffle prize I won :)

a rather wonky picture of my hair from the back :)

I had a great night out, and although I didn't drink much at all {1 glass of wine - unusual for me} I feel very jaded and blah today.  Might be an early night for me tonight :)

Learning New Tricks

Cammy has obviously been watching and learning:



Now this is not a good thing for us... he loves the dishwasher, and up till Sunday we have managed to keep him out of it... but now he can open it all by himself *sigh*

Thankfully - we still have a gate on the kitchen door, so he is only ever in the kitchen with supervision....

Linked to: reclaiming me: childhood is...

Making Bread...

A few years ago I was given a Breadmaker for christmas {cause I wanted one}... but it wasn't exactly the one I wanted {it was missing the delayed start option}... so I made a loaf or two and put it in the cupboard... But while in Christchurch a few weeks ago, my friends that we were staying with had a breadmaker {just like my old one} that they used everyday... I got so used to fresh bread it I couldn't imagine going back to the store bought stuff...

So on my return to Auckland I promptly went out and bought the exact breadmaker I wanted, and have been making bread everyday since. 

My kids love their lunches now... and I'm a little bit impartial to my Spicy Fruit Loaf :)

Football World Cup

Do tell - I am the only one here that isn't in the slightest bit interested in this..?

yes - it's great that the All Whites qualified to play in it

But - I don't like the game, and I'm not going to pretend I do all of a sudden, just cause the All Whites are in the world cup...

however - I am a Football World Cup widow from now until whenever it's over lol... Ian loves the game... records some of them, and stays up late to watch others... I'm happy for him to do this... We are actually going to use his late nights for the World Cup as the perfect time to get Cam's sleeping under control - after all, Ian will already be awake... so Cam will stop being brought into our bed when he wakes... after a couple of nights we are thinking that he may *fingers crossed* stop waking, as there will be no special incentive :)

TV List...

Yup - I admit it... I am addicted too many TV shows...

Daily:

• Shortland Street
• Home and Away

Weekly:

• Greys Anatomy
• Private Practice
• Go Girls
• Big Bang Theory
• Criminal Minds

now the list may not seem big to some people, but I am forever out and about doing many other things, so I end up missing these shows... So we got My Sky and now I record them all which is great... but I never seem to have the time to watch what I have recorded before the next episode is on... My sister also has this problem, but she will tape the current one and watch the previous one, then catch up afterwards if she can... I just can't to this... I could - quite easily, but Ian has programmes he likes to watch... so more often than not, I watch a season of something I love, but I've actually managed to miss half of it *sigh*

What programmes do you love to watch?

Another Great Competition....

Kelly over at reclaiming me is having another competition.  This one is for reaching 100 fans on her facebook page!! Well done Kelly...

Anyway - back to the case in point... She has organised another great giveaway... you can view details here :)

Her last giveaway was great and I was lucky enough to win a spot prize: see here and here.  I love what I won, and I use it every single day... so head on over to Kelly's and join in the fun :)

Good Luck
xx

Cammy's New Jammy's

Cammy needed some new PJ's.  So last weekend we took a trip to The Warehouse to have a look at some for him.  They happened to have 30% off all infants and childrens sleepwear, so that was a nice incentive to shop there also.  The first pair we saw, was the pair we both fell in love with. 

It's not very often you can purchase Offical Licensed All Blacks gear for $20, but we did, so we were stoked... and we think he looks pretty cute too....

Socks!!

Those of you that know me, know that I am totally addicted to Cheeky Monkey a practical parenting forum site. On the site, I took part in the Great Sock Swap - where everyone got given the name, address and sock size of another member participating {your sockee} and went out to buy socks for them.

My socks arrived yesterday, and I love them!! they are so very me, and so comfortable {I wore them to work today}

aren't they cool?

And for those of you haven't been checked out Cheeky Monkey yet, please do. They also have a cool shop stocking Amber Teething Necklaces, BubbaLu Cloth nappies and many other great products :)

Kids Birthday Season is fast approaching

• July 20 - Paris
• August 4 - Josh
• September 29 - Cam

So now is the time to start thinking about presents, parties and cakes...

Presents - this is hard, I have no idea what to get the older two this year, and have a couple of ideas for Cammy...

Parties - the kids have been told they have a couple of friends over to do a fun activity with ie: ice skating, go karting... OR they can do something awesome like the shark cage at Kelly Tarltons. {Paris is finding it very very hard to decide between the two options}

Cakes - now this is the part I have no issues with at all... the kids just need to tell me what they want cake wise, and I will try my very hardest to make it for them... at this stage Paris has mentioned she wants a guitar cake {she doesn't even play the guitar}, I dont' think Josh has realised that the birthdays are fast approaching, so I may have to gently remind him lol... and well - Cammy is still too young to understand fully, however, he LOVES his toy doggy, and doggy comes everywhere with us, so I am thinking about a Doggy Cake

a tick off my list...

Most of you will be aware of my intention to make one of these.  Last week on Friday, I had an unexpected day of work due to Cammy being sick, so I headed off to spotlight to purchase some hessian, spray adhesive and some lettering...

I had no spare time at all during the day, but managed to find some time during the evening. 

The spray adhesive was really easy to use, and really does glue {can you tell I was a little dubious}

Tryign the letters out for size, and making sure everything is lined up properly in the frame.

Doesn't it look so cool.

 

My kids love it, and it should save us so much hassle in this house, we always create a menu plan and shop accordingly, but also always forget to take meat out in the morning, so then end up cooking something very different *whoops*

Recipe: Cookie Dough

Over the long weekend, being stuck at home with a very sick Cammy, meant that I needed the odd bit of time out.  So into the kitchen I went.  Now I am the worlds worst biscuit maker, tending to make very flat, hard, crunchy pancakes with a biscuity taste haha.  So when I found this recipe for cookie dough, I thought I would give it a go. 

Ingredients
1 egg
125g {4oz} butter
125g {4oz} sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
225g {8oz} flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add essence
2. Break in egg and beat until combined
3. Sift flour and baking powder, stir to combine
4. Put between 2 sheets of grease proof paper and roll our thinly
5. Cool in fridge for a bit then cut into shapes
6. Put onto a lined tray and bake 15-20 minutes at 190oC
7. Decorate when cool
8. ENJOY!

between two sheets of baking paper ready to be rolled

ready to roll...

cut and ready for the oven

oohhh exciting

look at them all

iced and ready for eating

Recipe: Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

It was so lovely to have an extra day off work, that I thought I would celebrate by making my most favourite dessert in the whole world, Sticky Date Pudding.

{now this recipe is for use with the tupperware tupperwave stack cooker - but I'm sure it can be adapted very easily for use with whatever you have in the cupboard}

Ingredients
300g pitted dates
1 tsp bicarb soda
3/4 cup boiling water
100g butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 medium apple
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
icing sugar and thickened cream to serve

Butterscotch Sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
40g butter
200mls cream
1 tbs whisky {optional}

1. Use scissors to cut the dates into small pieces and place into a small bowl or jug.  Add the bicarb soda and boiling water, stir well.  Set aside to cool.

2. Place the butter and sugars into a bowl and cream using electric beaters until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Peel the apple and coarsely grate.  Using a spatula fold the apple into the butter mixture along with the flour, dates and cinnamon.
4. Pour into the 2.25 litre stack cooker base and microwave uncovered on Med-High for 6-7 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, place the sugar, butter, cream and whisky inot the 1.5 litre stack cooker, stir to combine, stack on top of the pudding and microwave uncovered on Med-High for 6 minutes.

6. Remove the pudding from the microwave, cover and stand for 5 minutes  Return only the sauce to the microwave and cook uncovered on High for another 3 minutes 
7. To Serve: Dust the pudding with icing sugar.  Place a large scoop of pudding in a serving dish, drizzle with sauce and add a large dollop of cream.

It's been a long weekend alright...

Cammy came down with a throat infection late last week, just before the long weekend.  You can read about the beginings here

He was utterly miserable, and it broke my heart to see him like that.  On Saturday and Sunday all he did was cry... he slept for a whole 45 mins during the day on Saturday.  He was also completely off all foods and liquids - boy was it a mission to keep him hydrated, but I did it... We were also completely unable to get any pain relief into him at all, as his mouth was full of mouth ulcers and it hurt him too much to put anything in his mouth.  He also pretty much lost his voice which was hard to listen to as a parent :(

His rash became much more defined as his illness went on, and on Sunday afternoon I could take it no more, so took him back to the doctors.

His throat infection had now also become an ear infection, and he was put on antibiotics.  They also gave us Paracetamol suppositories which worked instantly, and as awful as it is to administor, it was so worth it to know that the pain was being taken away.

The rash is consistent with Strep Throat, which cam was swabbed for on Friday, but due to it being a long weekend, we will prob only get the results tomorrow. 

We managed to get him to sleep on both Saturday and Sunday night with a little help from Phenergan.  He slept on his couch in the lounge in front of the fire place, which was great for us, cause we could keep and eye on him, and great for him cause he stayed nice and cosy.  When we went to bed, we just bought him in with us.

Tonight he is once again asleep on his couch in front of the fire, but tonight he will be placed into his bed to sleep as he is much better already. 

This morning he woke up and it was like he was a different kid, still doesn't really have much of a voice left , but is much happier and even ate today.  We have to pin him down though to get any AB's into him, but it's worth it to see that they are so clearly working, and my baby boy is almost back to normal.

So that was our awfully long Queens Birthday Weekend.  Now I think I need a couple of days of work, just to recover from it lol

My Spot Prize

A month ago, I was the lucky winner of a spot prize in Kelly from Reclaiming me's 100th post giveaway

I was pretty excited about it, but had a couple of occasions coming up where I would see Kelly in person, so she held onto it until such an occasion.  Well today was the day, I headed over to Kelly's to collect my tupperware that I purchased from the party she held.  To be honest, I had forgotten about the spot prize today, due to being distracted by a very sick Cammy, so was pretty elated to be given this on arrival:

I have made no secret of the fact, that I LOVE these bags that Kelly has made, so am very chuffed to now be the proud owner of one.  It is now full of all the gear that normally lives in a handbag and has replaced my cruddy old handbag... I can't wait to go out somewhere to show it off :)

Thanks so very much Kelly xx

My poor baby is sick... :(

Last night Cammy melted down and was in bed by 6.30pm, which is highly unusual in itself... he woke at 12.30, and cam in with us, drank a whole 200ml bottle at that stage also. He woke again at 5am and was boiling... took his temp and it was 39.4, so began the "get temp down" battle... which I've been loosing all day tbh.


Pamol can get it down to 38 only and once the pamol wears off, it's back up to 39+ again... neurofen for kids can only be given every 6 hours, but when thats in the system his temp stays at 38 for way longer {have given it just before bed tonight}

Took him the the doctor at 3.30 after noticing a rash had spread across his whole body... nothing too sinister, however he does have a viral throat infection.

He is completely off his bottles - drinking only 70mls throughout the day, luckily he has had about 150mls of water. He is also completely off his food, and the last time he ate was lunchtime yesterday. I've managed to get 2 teaspoons of ice-cream and 1 ice block into him today...

He is very feverish, temp just before going to bed was 38.4 and he was shivering so hard his teeth were chattering...

I feel for him, as other than Pamol, Neurofen and cuddles, there isn't much else I can do for him
 
So most of our long weekend plans are on hold - pending wee Cammy's health
 
Fingers crossed for a quick recovery xx

A long weekend is upon us...

What does everyone have planned for their 3 day weekend celebrating Queens Birthday?

I've got a busy weekend ahead of me... providing I survive Friday at work :)

Saturday I am hoping to catch up with Kelly from reclaiming me as she has my tupperware waiting for me to collect.  Sunday, as a family, we are meeting up with Marie from Our Precious Moments and her family - her kids are so very cute, and Paris is totally in love with little Jesse, who is only a couple of days older than our Cammy :)

And to finish the weekend off, on Monday I am hoping to make this amazing weekly menu plan :)

still looking....

*sigh*

sometimes things just aren't easy to find... like my sanity... but I'm sure that will turn up eventually... at least I hope it will... I mean - my keys always turn up again, right?

so I'm hoping that enough looking will turn up the framed weekly menu that I saw once on someones blog.  I've tried, googling, and while I did find this one it's not the one I'm looking for.. The one I am actually looking for was done up so that you wrote on the glass of the frame with a whiteboard marker... has anyone seen it?

And while you are looking folks - can you let me know if you find my sanity please, I would really like it back :)