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Meal Planning Monday

Finally! The last week of school before 2 weeks of holidays.. There is just something so nice about not having to be 100% (ok so maybe 98%) organised by 8am. And although holidays aren't full of sleep-in's anymore (cue Toddler at 6am) they do come with a certain change of pace that I love!

Speaking of change of pace, the last week of the school term also comes with a pace of its own.. Busy! So dinners this week whilst still falling inline with our healthier approach to life also need to be fairly easy.

Monday: Beef, mushroom & zucchini stew/casserole.

Tuesday: Chicken schnitzel topped with ham & tomato, served with tossed salad (spinach, rocket, mesculin mix, mushroom, tomato, cheese) and corn on the cob.

Wednesday: Meatloaf served with vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, beans, carrot, corn & zucchini) and gravy.

Thursday: Grilled hoki with tossed salad and corn on the cob.

Friday: BBQ! Yummy way to end the term & the working week.

Saturday: Thai Green Chicken Curry served with rice.

Sunday: Spaghetti Bolognese

Baby Puree's & Foods!
- Pumpkin & sweet potato
- Pumpkin, sweet potato & zucchini
- Pumpkin, potato & carrot
- Potato Cheesy Mash
- Potato & carrot

Bake List:
Banana muffins

A Leafy Sanctuary

At times we become frustrated with our home. It's in excess of 150 years old & requires endless maintenance and home handy man jobs (lucky Hubby is good at that kind of stuff) sometimes we dream about running away to a low maintenance brick with 5 bedrooms and a 2nd Bathroom! But at the end of the day, this place is our home & it has a charm that I'm pretty certain you wouldn't find in bricks & mortar.. But the thing that draws me in the most is our backyard. A leafy sanctuary with tree's that stretch into the sky & gardens perfect for exploring and holding adventures in. A garden that grew up with me, that I explored as a child, that I learnt to ride my bike in & a garden that I'd love to see continue to grow with my children.

Hubby & I have been spending a lot more time in the yard the past few weeks readying it for the warmer weather, planting flowers, watering the grass & dusting off the BBQ. It's so nice to get out amongst nature and you can breathe so much easier outside.

I'm looking forward to watching the yard blossom again after the colder weather & spending much more time in this beautiful sanctuary in the city.

Enjoy your Saturday xx

Growing Our Own..

For as long as I can remember Iv always wanted to grow a vegie garden.. We had one as a child (as Iv said before my Mum has an extremely green thumb) however, we don't have a lot of yard space that isn't taken up by tree's or garden's (theres a lot of shade in our yard) so we made do with an old garden wheelbarrow and a large green planter that used to be a sand filter from a swimming pool.

We took the kids to Bunnings to help choose the vegetables we were to plant. We went for cherry tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, strawberries and cucumbers. Sunday afternoon we set about planting them & ever since my eldest Son has been dutifully watering them & keeping a close eye on their progress. I'm surprised myself how fast they grow!

If I manage to keep these alive I'm buying a setting up some herb planters over the school holidays :-) it's great to be outside amongst the sunshine! Vhkł

Birthday Party Lesson Learnt!

It was my Stepson's 9th Birthday over the weekend & since he was at our place for his birthday we decided to let him have a party at our place. It was going to be a Timezone party, but because the school disco 'clashed' with that initial plan we decided to hold it at home instead.

We've held a few kids parties at home & usually I obsess & panic over the finer details but this time I took a more relaxed approach firstly due to time constraints & secondly because it was going to be a smaller party with 8 child guests & Grandparents on the invite list.

I decided to go back to basics with the party food ~ chips, lollies & Oreo's.
We cooked up sausages on the BBQ for lunch & served them in hot dog rolls with sauce & onions which were a hit with the kids ( even Nanny who had 5 sausages!)

Rather than organised games, the kids had a more play-date style party & they played with the Nerf guns, trampoline, Wii, Lego and even the computers at one stage playing Club Penguin.

I even bought a store bought cake & jazzed it up a little. I didn't bake one darn thing & felt so liberated! Lol.

At the end of the day I felt relaxed, not stressed & the party was a hit for everyone. I definitely learnt a lot including;

- $2 shops are great for sourcing plates, cups, bowls, spoons, serviettes & gift bags. I spent under $15 buying all of these items in a lovely blue & lime green colour which looked great for a sunny outdoors BBQ.
- Big W was great for items to put in the party bags they have fantastic bagged lollies such as Whizz Fizz, Chuppa Chupps & Zappo's for $2.00 & under as well as 8 piece party novelties for $2 a bag also.
- Keep the guest list short.. Something I've never really attempted before and it was so much better.
- Get your other children to invite a friend along so they're not bored.. Our eldest went to a friends place but the other 2 invited a friend over (unfortunately my stepdaughters friend was ill prior to the party so couldn't come).
- Stick to the basic party foods.. Kids love it & they shovel it in so quickly so who cares at the end of the day if it's cheap & easy :-D
- Ditch those organised party games! As fun as they can be, I was traumatised last time I played pass the parcel with a group of kids as there were tears & tantrums everywhere! Abolish prizes and pop more goodies into each kids party bag!
- Relax! Take it outdoors & think play-date not party & save your sanity!

This is going to be my party attitude from now on. Happy Birthday Nicholas! Xoxo

A Spring List

Now that it's Spring I thought I might jot down a list of things i'd love to do this season.

I'm loving the warmer weather, sunny days make me feel so good inside -Energised, refreshed & motivated!

* Finish planting my flower garden!
* Plant a veggie garden with the kids (or at least a tomato plant!)
* Water the grass to get it ready for the warmer weather.
* Buy a super bright pair of shoes!
* Get a pedicure to make my feet thong-worthy!
* Enjoy afternoon walks
* Picnic in the park
* Travel to the beach
* Spring clean! including washing all the windows & curtains.
* Wash the dogs
* Set up a fish tank
* BBQ more!
* Put in some garden lighting
* Use the washing line everyday! Abolish the dryer!
* Go to the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.
* Wake up the kids to see a sunrise
* Look at the stars more!

I'll have a to-do list for the upcoming September/October school holidays too, but if I get all of these things done this Spring I'll be very happy :-D

Sleeping Issues!

I don't feel like I've honestly had a decent nights sleep for approx 13.5 months.. Or since the 25th July 2011 to be exact, the night before our little Charlie joined us. With a 7 year age gap between my 2 boys, I'd forgotten what a sleepless night felt like (unless self inflicted) and although I've always been quite the night owl, I most certainly have never been an early bird/morning person! If I could crawl out of bed each morning at 9am my universe would be aligned! However, I have been blessed with a bub who seems to have a sleep intolerance.. He is intolerant to sleep during the day (unless being held), sleep during the night (unless it's in our bed) and sometimes 11pm - 4am is PARTY TIME.. A time for Charlie to catch up on the Teletubbies it seems.

Last night was one such night, his 'everyone has just settled down for bed' radar went off at 11 and I finally coaxed him back to sleep by 3:30, just in time for me to have a blissful 3 hrs sleep (not).

My eldest son ditched his daytime naps quite early on, but he also used to go to bed at 5:30 in the afternoons so that to me was really a win/win situation. You hear people say, sleep when they sleep or go to bed when they do and it sounds great in theory but not in practice! 'night kids i'm off to bed now, supervise yourselves, cook dinner, do the washing & tuck yourselves in' I think not! :-)

And the last thing I feel like doing when I've got a nice, peaceful quiet house all to myself is go to bed.. Those hours can be bliss.. I get a lot more done, have a lot less stress & the house seems different at that hour, really calm, serene & full of love. It's the times I have my best ideas & the time that I allow myself to dream..

So I guess I can't complain.. I just keep reminding myself that eventually all babies sleep & that he is growing up so fast & that one day this will all be a bleary memory & I treasure the time we spend cuddling, playing & fighting sleep.. Lucky black bags suit me :-P