Lauras birthday.........

Laura decided she wanted a dog kennel and dog for her cake so she helped me to make this one. It was choc cake with choc icing to hold on chocs!!! YUMMMY!!

Charlie being cute - isnt he just adorable!

Sam just chilling (please excuse the lived in look!)

The user is currently experiencing some technical issues

I was going to upload you some photos of Lauras birthday and a super cute one of Charlie, but for some reason I cant get them to appear!!!
So I will off to bed with my cleanly shaven husband and return in the morn for another try (might bring a hammer!)
What I will tell you about is our quick trip to Queenstown, as I forgot the camera so I havnt got any pictures to upload for you about that one.
We got the chance to go up and stay in Mara's lovely wee house again this week. It is such a lovely peaceful wee place, just like a home from home. We are very lucky to have the opportunity to borrow it. Anyway, the kids thought it was great, it is a log house with lots of little alcoves and cupboards, which are apparently great for playing hide and seek in.
We started our stay with a trip to the British Lolly shop (again!) where I got and devoured more fruit gums and the kids got Squirly whirlys. (Apart from Sam who isnt allowed and got haribo bears) Then we popped around to see the Earnslaw, an old steam boat that cruises the lake and that had caught Sams eye. He was ecstatic to find that there was a tractor on the wharf loading it up too!
Then we went into the underwater world. A little room under the lake where you can see the fish and eels and some little ducks diving. You can 'feed' them too with a little machine that eats $1 coins. Sam thought it was great fun feeding the 'wak waks' (ducks!)
We had a wee walk through the queenstown gardens and then went to the ice skating rink for an hour where Laura, Daniel and Jess tried out some skating techniques. Laura was good, Daniel was terrified and Jessa gave it a great try! Daniel built up some courage and managed to skate with the aid of the wall, myself and Laura.
All tuckered out we headed off back to the house for some hot soup and toast for lunch. Then some tired little people had a nap.
Stacey came to visit - much to the excitement of the kids who havnt seen her for a wee while. (Stace used to look after the kids while I was working and moved to Qtown.)
The next day we took a trip up to Coronet Peak where we found some snow ( this was the purpose of the trip - the kids wanted to play in the snow and the weather just hasnt played ball here at home) We found a nice wee carpark and lots of snow and spent some time playing, building a snowman and climbing the snowy hills. Then a quick trip to Staceys house and back for some lunch.
We packed up and piled back into the truck and stopped for an icecream and petrol on the way home.
The kids were pleased to see dad again, but had enjoyed thier wee trip. (although mum wasnt so keen on Sam getting up at 4am on the last day!)
So many thanks to Mara for her wonderful generosity, you made the kids snowy wishes come true!!!

PJ's all done

Finally managed to finish all the kids jammies - lets just hope they fit now!!!

The second picture is the finishing on the hems of the girls tops, Sams has stars and circles and I left Daniels plain so I dont get them mixed up!!!

Jessa

Please excuse the sideways video - apparently you cant rotate a video taken on the digi camera!!!

More video........

and the movie.........

This is called a death roll, and the scream is for effect!!!

more photos............

Spidermans volcano.......

The monkey aka Laura - one of only 4 girls and 12 boys to get to the top today (1st go too!)

Kidzone 2008

Well what a fantastic day we have had today, it was Kidzone today. A fantastic event run in Invercargill by volunteers. There were over 125 activities for kids to do. The concept of the day is to get parents and kids playing together. So we blew bubbles, spun on the merry go round, patted pets, played in tiny town, made lunch, built blocks, got faces painted, hair done, lazerlanded, skittles, walked on stilts, did acrobatics, rode bikes. Here are a few of the pictures from the day................






I have more photos and video for you but I am having problems uploading at the moment.

Beaches, trains and movies........

On Sunday morning we took a drive down to Oreti beach. Jase has someone coming to look at his horse and she wanted to take him for a ride. So Jase got one of Peters horses - Billy, and they went for a wee trek. The kids had fun, even after Sam managed to fall into the water and get a wet bum!

After lunch and a nap we decided some infrastructure upgrade was needed and built a railway. Lots of fun was had (and the kids enjoyed it too!)
This morning we decided to have movie morning so a movie was selected, the curtains were drawn (actually they still are lol) popcorn and lemonade was made and a few lollies thrown in for good measure.

No hair

Well it is official - my husband has less hair than my dad!! Jase agreed to have his head shaved at work. The company, nationwide, have been fundraising for the new oncology ward at starship hospital (childrens hospital) So Jase went under the shears. His local store raised $900 and as a region Southland raised just under $7000. The company as a whole raised nearly $60,000. What a fantstic effort. I am so proud of him.

My two baldies!!!!!

Fresh bread at midnight

Well Ok it isnt quite midnight but close enough! I got this recipe off a forum I belong too (thanks Darny!) It is crockpot bread. It is so easy that even I can make it and I havnt managed a bread yet that hasnt flopped!

It is a funny shape and a bit multicoloured (read very dark golden brown in the offside!) But it tastes delish!!! Just had to try a piece with olivani and strawberry jam. I can see a new addiction coming on!

I will post the recipe below which I made 1.5times the amounts as I have a 6l crockpot. It does go a little pale and doughing on the top. This is the bottom side after I flipped it to try and counteract the problem. The top is cooked now but still pale. I might need to flip it earlier and leave it a bit longer to get it more even.

Can you see the steam?

Heres the recipe........

Crockpot Bread for 4L crockpot. (slow cooker for the pomes!)

2 cups warm water

Heaped TBSP Honey (or sugar, molasses, etc)

2 TBSP dried yeast

put in bowl and set aside till yeast is frothy

Add to 5 cups flour

2 tsp salt

2 TBSP oil

Mix and knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if needed.

Oil your crockpot bowl right up to the top. Squish the dough down into your crockpot, turn crockpot onto HIGH for 2 hours.

Remove bowl from crockpot, and sit on a heatproof mat, remove lid, turn out bread once cool enough not to squish the bread tipping it out.

Let me know how it goes if you try it.

Sunny days

Well we have had the most beautiful day, started off frosty but lovely blue skies. I got three loads of washing out. This afternoon we went for a walk - Brenda and Lucas came along with Helen. Laura and Daniel rode their bikes and the other all went in two double pushchairs. We walked to the end of the road and back which is 5km. It was just lovely.

After we got back we sat on the deck and had a cup of tea while the kids played. Then we did some gymnastics, well Brenda and the kids did, I have discovered that my tummy muscles are so non existant that even attempting to do a handstand is quite hilarious!!!

Charlie is nearly sitting now, can hold for about 30secs. He isnt quite sure what it is all about really but it is interesting for a while.

Sitting with big sis as a fallback!

Sammy and me taking photos of ourselves.
Daniel getting up in a headstand.
Laura long legs up in the air!
After the acrobatics we took Jessas training wheels off and had a wee practice, she did so well and was soon off around the garden.
Action shots - a bit fuzzy but hopefully you can make out what is happening.

Right now I am making some crockpot bread, the recipe is sooo easy looking so we will see how it turns out - should make quite a nice sized loaf hopefully. I will pop some pics on when it is done and let you know how it went!!!

Sleep and sewing

Sammy had a great day playing with Laura and Daniel being home. It was a lovely day and they spent the afternoon in the sandpit and on the deck playing with the playdough and building tents.

They had to come in about 4pm when a shower came through, Nana came for a cuppa and took Laura and Jessa for a sleepover and I put Sams favourite on the DVD - 'Post Pat' (postman pat) Apparently the big day playing was a bit much for a little boy who nodded off in the chair.

The sewing machine was out again tonight along with the overlocker and the P.Js I cut out last week are on the way to being more than pieces of material!

The trousers are all finished, with just the elastic to do when I have the kids here to measure them. The tops are started with two half finished, two quarter finished and three ready to start!

The two Moo cow ones are for Sammy, The dark pink for Laura, the two black for Daniel and the two purple for Jessa. Its a really easy pattern to do and I am sure I will be a pro by the time they are all finished!

Martha Stewart????

I think I am turning into Martha Stewart - the homemaker part that is - not the criminal part!! The other night I fancied some fudge so I whipped some up. It took a bit longer than I thought to dissolve the sugar and reduce it down but we got there. I added some jelly beans - just because I could! It was very yummy. I took some to Music and Movement for morning tea. The kids helped me eat the rest in order to save my waistline. Tonight I made some nappies, I had them cut out and some of the sewing done on a couple. Three at 9,11 and 12 o'clock are Malden Mills Windpro fleece. I lovely soft thick fleece. They can be used as pockets, covers or fitteds so are very versitile. The top one is actually a dark forrest green and the one with orange snaps is navy blue. The flash has distorted the colours a bit. The others are all printed or plain PUL. I had a few pieces left over so I thought I would sell them to help finance my own nappies (well Charlie and Sams not mine personally!) But I kinda like them and want to keep them now lol! The green one (5 o'clock) has the softest butter microfleece on the inside. The kids like the one in the middle with dinosaurs on too so that might have to stay.
The kids are on school holidays for the next couple of weeks so we will be busy no doubt. Laura is currently out - she has been to a movie and out to tea for a friends birthday. Hopefully she will be home soon cos I want to go to bed. (its 10pm already!) Man she is growing up just a tad too fast!