Back to School..

Well the kids headed back to school today, I can't quite believe how FAST the holidays went! I could still do with an extra week (or two) I think.  So today is all about tidying up the kids bedrooms after the break, cleaning out the car after our holiday and topping up the fridge and the pantry before school pick up!   This term 2 of my 3 stepchildren come back to live with us for the entire term (aside from every second weekend) so the house will be a little more busier than normal. 

However, my eldest stepson, who turns 11 tomorrow, has decided to trial living with his Mum this term (aside from every second weekend)  and this was a decision we felt he was at liberty to make as it's something he has desired for many years now.. So that will be a big change in our household that will take a little getting used to over the upcoming weeks but we wish him the best & he knows he is always welcome back. 

This morning my Stepdaughter Hayley went off to school camp - rather excited and each of the boys went to school elated to have $1 in their pockets to buy a fundraising chocolate with..

Life is busy, life is good.. life is normal :)

Easter Long Weekend Camping.

A few weeks ago we decided we would give camping a go for the Easter long weekend, not having camped since my childhood and never having camped with children before, I knew it would either be an experience we would either love or loathe.  But it was an experience Hubby and I have been eager to embark on for the past couple of years, we just never got around to it (we always fell for the allure of hotels/houses for our past holidays instead!)  BUT I'm so glad we did give it a go, because thankfully we loved it & we're glad to have given the kids a different perspective on holidaying.  We headed to North Stradbroke Island, which is a short ferry trip off of Brisbane, Queensland - It's a gorgeous island, we fell in love with it last August when we stayed in a holiday home over there and so far to date it's my favourite holiday destination. 

Gorgeous weather for our first camping trip..

Our campsite, early morning..

We had the first night to ourselves as a family, which was nice to set up, explore and relax just the six of us and the next day we were joined by my Husband's family (they were the ones who initially invited us & had the two campsites next to ours).  We spent an enjoyable 3 days swimming at the beach, going for walks, eating yummy food and relaxing at the campsite and the kids got to enjoy time playing and fighting with their cousins ad mist all of this. 

Kids swimming at Cylinder Beach, our favourite beach, all time!

Easter Sunday was also spent on the island and the kids awoke to find the Easter Bunny had visited our tent and scattered mini crunchie eggs everywhere and left them a bag of goodies at the end of their beds.  They were rather excited. 

Carrots, Milk and Letters for the Easter Bunny

We headed back Sunday afternoon, so nice to be homeward bound - as relaxing as it is to be on holidays, it is always nice to return back home, my Brother had house/pet sit for us & as usual he'd done a terrific job and all of our pets were waiting for us, excited as ever..

So overall, we were blessed with great weather and great conditions for our first camping trip - I'll give it two thumbs up & definitely be back! 

Hubby overlooking the Headland @ Point Lookout.

One Happy Camper.. LOL

School Holidays.. *Bliss* & School Friend Gifts.

After a long and drawn out 12 weeks, we have finally reached the school holidays.  I love school holidays for their sleep in's, late breakfasts, extended PJ wearing time (particularly now it's getting cooler) and of course getting to do some wonderful activities and spending time with the kids. 

On the last day of school my Son took in a little present for each of his school friends and a chocolate bunny for his hard working teacher, I have made this a tradition each year for special occasions since he started Kindy 2 years ago and he really enjoys handing out these little gifts to his friends. 

Last year and the year before I used the little Easter marshmallow shapes and chocolate eggs, but this year I took a simpler approach and opted to use the little plastic eggs I have often seen at discount stores and we placed a chocolate egg and some easter stickers in each one, sealed them up with another easter sticker and sent them on their way :)  I also sent an additional bag of eggs for him to hand out randomly to friends (at $1 you can't go wrong.. )

My son said his friends loved them, they didn't take me all night to prepare (as these gifts often do) and it was something he could help me out with each step of the way!

Cute Chicken & Bunny Craft.

Today Indi and I tackled two Easter craft projects that I found on Bianca's blog, A Little Delightful

One involved making a hand print Easter chick & the other a cotton wool bunny.. both were a lot of fun, so cute and will make gorgeous Easter cards.  I love that you use the hand print for the chick's wings & it was so fun actually making the hand print, we used paint & tracings of his hand for each of the different chickens. 

I decided to pop some split pins into the 'wings' so the hands could move up and down also, this was an addition I added in after the photographs. Such a simple craft activity but it was a favourite in our home today xo

Meal Planning Monday

I dont know why I just dont call this post, 'Meal Planning Wednesday..'  once again it's Wednesday and im only just getting around to putting it up for the week.. Im going to blame school holiday fun this time round (I say its healthy to always have an excuse or two up ones sleeve..) Lets see how I go with meal planning 'Monday' incorporating the Easter long weekend..

The picture above is of a delicious easter cake I made yesterday and although it came out of a packet (Betty Crocker - Devil's Food Cake) I had so much fun making my first official double layered cake and it was super easy.. I used 2 cake tins and sandwiched the 2 together with jam and fresh cream. I topped it with the included icing & some candied chocolate eggs from Big W.  I ended up making 2 of these, 1 for an easter morning tea we went to & the other for our eating pleasure :-)  (per hubby's request..) 

Monday - we had yummy chicken breast with pumpkin, potato, broccolini, peas, corn, capsicum and carrots with gravy!

Tuesday - My son had chicken and prawn noodles for dinner & a plateful of cheese and cherry tomato crackers, I intended on getting back up and having pea and ham soup (as hubby was working late) but I dozed off and didn't end up eating dinner at all..

Wednesday - Beef and Vegetable Casserole, done in the slow cooker..

Thursday -    Hot Dogs with the lot.. (bacon, cheese, onion, mustard and tomato sauce)

Friday -        Since it's 'Good Friday' i'm saying fish and cooked green prawns & salad on the side.

Saturday -    BBQ of some description..

Sunday -      Usually I am one to go with a traditional easter roast (but I will be making

that on Monday) tonight for lack of time, spaghetti bolognaise is on the menu :)

Monday -     Lamb Roast with roast vegies. 

Tuesday -    Back to school - Kid's choice.. :-)

Baking List:

Choc Chunk Cookies

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Recipe's I would like to try this week;

Baked Fish on the BBQ

Garlic Prawns

Homemade Potato Salad

Meal Planning * cough cough * Monday.. (Wednesday)

Gee where do the days go? One day its Sunday, the next it's early Wednesday! Can't quite believe how fast this week is travelling by.. Not that i'm complaining, the school holidays start in our house this coming Friday so i'm very much looking forward to that.  It's definitely been a very very long term and I think we are all in need of a break..

Meals this week;

Monday (was):  Steak Burgers with Onion, Egg, Tomato, Cheese, Beetroot, Spinach Leaves, olives and BBQ and Tomato Sauce.

Tuesday (was): Beef and Vegetable Ravioli pillows with Lean Beef and Roast Vegetable Sauce.

Wednesday:      Fried Rice

Thursday:         Eat out night to celebrate the end of school term & my son's school awards day!

Friday:              Thai Green Chicken Curry

Saturday:          Fish and Salad with homemade pumpkin and potato salad.

Sunday:            Roast of the week - Pork Roast with Roast Vegies

On the Bake List:

To bake this week;
Devils Food Cake (evil Betty Crocker packet mix I have sitting in the cupboard..)
Mixed Berry Muffins
Choc Chunk Cookies..

My take on Egg Baskets..

When I saw these on the Blog 'A Little Delightful I was super impressed and decided to give them a shot for this morning's breakfast. I had done a trial one, with one lonely egg that I had leftover in the fridge earlier in the week, but my Son turned his nose up at it (not unusual as he's not a big egg fan..)  So this morning I altered the recipe a little..

What you will need;

A muffin tray - I used a standard size.

Bread with the crusts removed, as I was feeding 6 I made all 12 so we could have 2 each.

Baking paper

Grated cheese

Ham

Eggs

Spaghetti

I started by preheating the oven to 180 degrees & then lined all of my cupcake tray with squares of baking paper. I then pushed the bread (with the crusts removed) into the baking tray to form little cups. I then placed some grated cheese into the bottom of all of these bread cups and some shaved ham.  I then made 3 with spaghetti for the non-egg lovers and the remainder with eggs.  I found I needed to remove some of the egg white as I was using XL eggs and they were overflowing the muffin tray. 

I then popped them into the preheated oven with some salt and pepper on top for 1/2 hour.

Today they were a hit.. even the spaghetti ones which tasted super yum and it goes to show how endless the possibilities are when adding ingredients.. You could try almost anything onions, tomatoes, bacon etc..