A Lovely Break Away from the Daily Grind..

Moffat Beach, Caloundra QLD. 

Last week, Hubby had some time off from work, the sun was shining and the coast was beckoning.. so on the spur of the moment I made the decision to take the family away on a mini-holiday.  We found a gorgeous holiday home in Caloundra on the Queensland Sunshine Coast where we relaxed, unwound and didn't do much for 4 whole days!  *Bliss*  

Kids and us literally 'chilling' in the pool.. it was a bit cold.. 

Playing a game of trivial pursuit, Disney edition.. even the baby played. 

 On the way to the coast we made a detour to Alma Park Zoo, we'd never been there before and found it a good day out for the kids as it wasn't highly commercialized.  We wandered about for 3 hours checking out all of the animals, the Marmoset's were a hit, particularly the twin baby Marmoset's, the kids (and adults) adored them!  Another fun part of the day was when the kids got to pat the Koala, Crocodile and Snake after the reptile/koala show and all 4 of them were brave enough to give it a go! (This is highly unusual as 3 of them usually refuse to pat a Kangaroo).  As a Mum to a large family, I loved that you were allowed to bring food into the premises and they had BBQ facilities and tables/areas set up to encourage you to bring along your own food.  The kids enjoyed a picnic style lunch on the grass and saved my wallet a whole heap of $$. 

At Alma Park Zoo, Dakabin QLD. 

Other highlights of our week were the fantastic house! I truly loved the holiday home we stayed in, well priced and so well set up.  I found the house through the Stayz website, with 4 bedrooms, a heated pool and fantastic facilities and mod con's (Even a Wii for the kids) it turned out to be a real home away from home.. I could have stayed there forever.. I will definitely be making a return trip that's for sure.  If your ever on the Sunshine Coast, check out Alicia @ Pelican Waters on Stayz, you will not be disappointed. 

The Beautiful holiday home we stayed in. 'Alicia' at Pelican Waters,Caloundra. 

The beach! I love the beach.. I could spend a whole day just staring out to sea.. Although I would rather the sand not be there... (as would the car) But I loved taking the kids to the beach to collect rocks (there weren't many shells) walk through the water (it was a bit too cold to swim) and just chill out and made sandcastles on the shoreline.  

The food! our holidays always involve nice food, and in the absence of a buffet breakfast on hand (usually the draw card when we choose our accomodation) we turned to the good old BBQ for some beautiful meals.. love a BBQ.

The low light of my week was that we left our last night open to Fish and Chips on the beach. However, when we finally made it down to the beach it was dark and raining so we ended up buying some to take back to the house, I'm not much of a fan of fish and chips.. it has to be pretty nice to impress me as I'm not big on fried foods.. and this for the $60.00 we shelled out of it, wasn't all that nice.. BUT in saying that.. the ambiance was all good and it's just the done thing when you go to the beach.. I do wish, however, that Fish and Chip shop's catered for large families better.. Watching my Son and Eldest Stepson unknowingly eat a battered Oyster each (I didn't realise they were oyster's either until Hubby asked where they'd gone) was a highlight however, the poor things.. slimy slimy oysters, LOL.. good times. 

That's what families are made of.. :)  

We should do it more often.. xo

My Mothers Day. Fit for a Queen.

Me and my special little Men xo

I had a beautiful Mother's Day this year, although I can't say I have ever really had a bad one.. I woke up, only to be told to stay in bed by my wonderful Mr 7 who guarded the door watchfully to ensure I was 'sleeping in' and I heard him say a few time's to my husband 'I'll just go and check on Mum'.. very cute.  And when I was allowed out of bed, I was ushered to the table to enjoy a breakkie of bacon, eggs, toast with avocado, tomatoes with cheese, mushrooms and a caramel hot chocolate! YUMMO!  After my delectable breakfast I was showered with gifts of handmade cards and bracelets, 'Worlds Best Mummy' emblazoned gifts from the school's Mother's Day stall, PJ's and of course chocolates (no Mother's Day is complete without them). 

My yummy breakky prepared by the wonderful husband.. xo

I love seeing the look of delight on my Son's face when he is giving me presents, he is a very selfless person who loves to make presents and give presents to everyone.  He has always been the same, each day after Kindy I would come home laden with drawings, bracelets, necklaces and lots of other beautiful and interesting creations he made me each day, he was actually disappointed in prep when he wasn't allowed to make as many gifts! LOL.  So he always gets right into day's like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthday's etc, it is nice to see as it keeps it interesting and keeps the magic alive.  I'm sure that my youngest son Mr 9 Months will one day catch the contagious celebration bug that runs rampant in our home on special occasions.. I don't think there is any way possible to avoid it! 

So after I was showered with gifts, we got ready to attend a double christening/surprise wedding in the afternoon, which turned out to be a very beautiful day for a very special friend of mine.  

My beautiful friend Lisa and her little family xo

I only got to phone my Mum this Mother's Day, because she was feeling a little under the weather and by the time we got home from the Christening/Wedding it was quite late, so I've taken a rain check on catching up with her this coming week.. cupcakes and coffee me thinks. I'm so thankful to have a Mum who has been more like a best friend to me, I know I can go to her for any thing and she'll always be there for me and my Brother (no matter how many times we stuff up or shout for help!) 

So to all those wonderful Mummy's out there, I hope you too had a wonderful and happy Mother's Day, I sure know I did.  I love my two little boys more than words can ever describe or say and alongside my three wonderful stepchildren, they each make my life that much more special each and every day & I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. Love you all xoxoxo

Married 2 years, 7 months..

It's been a little over 2 1/2 years since Hubby and I said 'I do'  and a while back, before I dropped off the face of the Blogging earth I had planned to share a wedding photo on the 10th of each month to celebrate 1 of the great decisions of my life.. Holding the Christening the other day, really made me want to do this again because once again standing before our family and friends, it reinforced how special moments like this in life are, yet how fast the day goes by & with life so busy, one doesn't really get to reflect all that often. 

This photo is one of my favourite because, standing out the front there, holding hands, with our family and children looking on (My Mum and Son are in the background of this shot) everything felt right and I felt safe..  Safe in knowing i'd made the right decision, a decision that still feels right 2 years and 7 months on.  Love you Hubby xo 

A Beautiful Christening Day..

A couple of weekends ago we held our youngest Son's Christening.  Originally I had intended on Christening him at approx 6 months, but like everything in our household this year, it was put back a little and luckily he still fit into the gown at nearly 9 months! Phew.. I was so pleased he still fit it, as it was the Christening gown that my Great Nan (Great Grandmother) crocheted for me 31 years ago for me to wear on my Christening day and my eldest Son wore it for his Christening as well.  It really is a beautiful gown and I had no reservations about either of my Son's wearing a 'dress' on their Christening day and was amazed that some people even bought the issue up?  It's not like I left the pink ribbon's in it from when I was Christened both times they were changed to a more suitable pale blue and this time pale blue gingham check and I thought both looked amazing and I was so chuffed both times for my precious little boys to be wearing something so dear to my heart. 

 

 

We held the Christening in an open air chapel, the weather was beautiful and the service was relaxed and family orientated, with my Nan passing on the Christening candle to her Great Grandson and each of our children taking part in the Baptism.  

Afterwards we held a little celebration to mark the event at our home.  I bought the beautiful bunting at a market a few months prior to the Christening and had been so eager to use it, so complimented it with hand painted stars hanging from our back area and white table linen.  

It was only a small gathering and morning tea consisted of sandwiches, quiche's, cracker's n dip, cupcakes, antipasto platters and a few sneaky treats for the kids like lolly's, chips and the like.. much to the kids dismay there weren't many leftovers! (hence why I didn't get to take a piccy of it either, it went so fast!!) A big thank you to my Mum, Aunty and Nan who helped with the food preparation and service, where would I be without those wonderful ladies???

The gorgeous Christening cake was crafted by my good friend Kym of Kym's Kakes, she always does such a beautiful job and whilst the little man didn't get to eat any of it he certainly had a good time pulling apart the little bear on top! 

It was such a lovely day to gather with family and friends and celebrate the Christening of our darling little boy who has brought so much happiness, joy and energy into our lives in the past 9 months.. I couldn't imagine life without him, God Bless xo  

Meal Plan Monday! (Mon 5th March - Sunday 11th March)

Meal Plan for Week Ending Sunday 11th March

The majority of the past week has been raining and dreary around here, but still quite humid, so on the menu has been a lot of salads, light meals and quick and easy dinner fixes with Hubby and I eating dinner at 11pm 3 nights in a row!! (Needless to say the kids ate earlier, but last week we had some family drama's so many days were sheer write-off's for me!). 

This week to eliminate the 11pm dinner 'dates' of last week, I purchased a few Weight Watchers meals to have on stand by in the freezer in case we get caught off guard again and we could just heat one of these up. I actually ended up serving one of the Weight Watcher's meals tonight as a regular meal and put a side salad with it, it was really nice.  

So yes, here is to less chaos and a smoother running meal plan this week!

Monday:  Weight Watcher's Butter Chicken with Rice served with a side salad.

Tuesday:  Baked White fish fillets, served with steamed vegetables and balsamic sauce.

Wednesday:  Devilled Sausages served with rice (using Woolworths reduced fat/salt sausages)

Thursday:   Chicken thigh fillets cooked in a lemon pepper and herb 'cook in bag' served with a greek salad. 

Friday:    Lean Beef Burgers served with homemade sweet potato fries.

Saturday:  Tinned tomato's on toast with grated cheese. 

Sunday:  Spaghetti Bolognaise served with rice for us, pasta for the kids.. 

Make/Bake List.

Homemade Pikelets -- I made pancakes on Sunday morning and used the leftovers to make pikelets.. they turned out super yummy, so i'll make up another batch for morning tea's this week.

Custard.. Hubby is usually the one who makes the custard from custard powder in this house, but tonight I gave it a shot and it turned out really well.  I'd run out of yoghurts  to send with school lunches so I gave this a go instead and chilled it in some plastic containers, ill see how they like it tomorrow!

Vanilla cupcakes with mars bar icing.. (super evil for cupcake monday!)

Lime Jelly! (might even put it with the afore mentioned custard!)

Meal Plan Monday! (Mon 20th Feb-Sun 26th Feb)

I am really excited about this weeks meal plan.. I have some awesome foods to work with as we took a trip to the Boggo Rd Markets on Sunday (formerly the Boggo Rd Jail) and got some fantastic free range meat from a Butcher there, we bought Salmon, 8 chicken thigh fillets and corned beef.. I also rediscovered ALDI this week and was able to get some fantastic bases for meals also.. So here is our menu for the week! :)

Monday:

Pan Fried Norwegian Salmon with green salad and garlic bread.

** Since I'm writing this on Wednesday, I must say this was AWESOME! I used a little more olive oil than I normally would in my frying pan and gave each side of the salmon a good grind of both salt and pepper. Each fillet was approx 200g and tasted DIVINE! -- Side salad consisted of Mesculin, rocket and spinach leaves, Roma tomatoes, grated carrot and beetroot, reduced fat cheese, kalamata olives & cold peas. 

Tuesday:

Chicken Thigh Fillets done with a lemon pepper crust, served with mashed potato and vegetables.

**Very simple -- pop 6-8 thigh fillets into a baking bag or baking tray and give a good dose of lemon pepper seasoning & the juice of one fresh lemon.. it all runs together to make a yummy saucy coating over your chicken.  

Wednesday:

Corned Beef with Vegetables & White Sauce. 

Thursday:

**Take Away**

Friday:

Aussie Hamburgers..

**I saw something similar to this on Everyday Gourmet with Justine before my Dr Phil fix today and OMG they looked amazing! I knew I had to add them into this weeks menu SOMEWHERE!! you will need (I need to make 6..)

- 6 Hamburger Patties.. (you can either make your own or buy pre-made. I love the Lean Beef Patties from Coles -- 4 equals about $6.00) 

- 6 Bread rolls.. 

- Condiments including: Butter, tomato/BBQ sauce, mayo, sweet chili sauce.

- Beetroot

- 6 eggs

- Reduced fat tasty cheese..

- Lettuce (or equivalent) leaves I use mesculin and or spinach leaves.

- Tomato 

Its basically like any other Hamburger, except when cooking the patty, put the cheese on top when its nearly finished cooking and the cheese will melt into and around your meat patty.. looking very evil, but SO TASTY!

Saturday:

Tuna Pasta Bake.. 

I saw all of the ingredients for this at ALDI the other day and we haven't had it in a while as hubby and I, despise it.. but, the kids love it, so I made it for them.. I happened to make enough to have one for the freezer too, so no cooking for me on Saturday night! Yippee.. Grab yourself 500g Pasta, 1 jar of Aldi Tuna Bake Sauce, Large tin of tuna (I also got mine from Aldi in Sunflower oil.. different.. I usually buy Spring water..) 1 tin of corn (you could use frozen if you wish) and I added some capers for something different and topped with low fat grated cheese.  

Sunday:

Spaghetti Bolognaise :)  

A classic way to finish off the week.. and I grate 2 zucchini's, 6 mushrooms, 2 squash and 3 carrots into it too and the kids don't even notice! WIN WIN! Hubby and I have rice and the kids have theirs with the leftover Penne from the 1kg Bulk Pack I bought from Aldi.. :)

BAKE LIST:

**Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing..

**Trifle

Meal Plan Monday!

As part of our new healthy attitude in our home, our meals will start to hopefully reflect that also, here is our meal plan for the week...


Monday:
Baked Hoki with Vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, zucchini, potato and squash) 


Tuesday:
Beef Stroganoff with Rice


Wednesday:
Steak and Salad 


Thursday:
Tuna Pasta Bake with Salad. 


Friday:
*Birthday Party* 


Saturday:
Spaghetti Bolognaise with pork mince. 


Sunday:
Roast Chicken with roast vegetables..