happy new year and best wishes for 2012 :)

Post Christmas Pea and Ham Soup

Each year we buy a ham from the local European Small Goods as they have the BEST hams around!! They smoke them on their premises. You have to pre order them and show your licence to pick up the hams!!

We always use the left over bone to make pea and ham soup and buy fresh crunchy french stick smeared with lashings of butter to have with it.




In our soup we use yellow split peas (2 bags washed), celery, carrot, turnip, parsnip, swede and onion which is finally peeled/grated/chopped and added to a big pot of water. We cook this all day then take the bone out and blend til smooth. Delish! I also made some pumpkin soup for those who declared they didn't like pea and ham (Aliya, Callum and Silas) but Aliya even decided to have a bowl anyways :)


This was the last of the pumpkins from our very own harvest! We already have vines growing for next season!

Merry Christmas Everyone

A very Merry Christmas from my family to yours, I hope you had a blessed day with your loved ones .

Baby #7 - 20 weeks :)

Well its xmas eve here and though I'm busy with the xmas lunch prep, I thought I would drop in here and update with the exciting news that we are expecting another little.........

BOY

while I'm lucky to have a good mix of both boys and girls I am very excited about having 2 little boys in a row to share growing up close in age together :) I've had boy, girl, girl (but a 4 yr gap) then boy, girl, boy and now boy :)

Now comes the tricky part of choosing a name to 'go' with our other names!! Eek!

Oh and this little man looks like he might be another little porker, already measuring 2 wks ahead of his dates!! I'm hoping he doesn't end up as big as Silas who was 10 pound 12 ounces!!!

Now I just have to wait til the 4th of January to find out when the doc's want to schedule my c/s :)

A day of Christmas Craft :)

Today was a day of entertaining kids so that they didn't drive me up the wall :) I find that structured 'organised' activity stops them from squabbling with each other and constantly nagging to use the computers.





We made chains (with the dreaded leftover brochures that the kids deliver), while singing along to Christmas songs. Callum (no picture allowed to be taken, too cool you see) made Christmas biscuits to decorate (job for tomorrow) and he also organised the kids to do some Christmas coloring ins and word searches. Callum then decided to make lunches, fresh egg sangas (run out of lettuce lol) since the dodo birds are laying so well atm.





It was a fun day, no pressure to be out and about. The kids had minimal tiffs which were resolved quickly :) Since the kids behaved so well, the big kids were rewarded with computer time, and Mumma was rewarded with quiet time as both the little ones went down for a nap together :) YAY for me :)

WW - Wordless Wednesday

Livia and Braith laughing at each other cause its fun!

End of year kindy breakup for Silas :)

Its amazing how fast this year has come and gone!! It seems like yesterday I was sending my sweet and gentle, but always cheeky Silas off to Kindy! At the break up the kids participated in a Nativity Play and Silas was a Inn Keeper :)

We then sang Christmas songs and the kids presented the parents with a present (a 2012 calendar) and they were given a gift from the centre, handmade costumes, Silas got a cape and mask :) Very cute and well thought out :) I think he was more excited to be giving me his present then getting a present for himself!

We then feasted for lunch and Silas said his goodbyes to his friends (though some he was seeing for his b'day party on Saturday)

His most talked about mates Josh (who Silas includes in random stories so much that people think he is an imaginary friend, and Ella who took a interest in his pokemon card obsession).

And of course little brother Braith joined in with feasting, 1st icecream in a cone and lots of other foods the kids were sharing with him, lucky for me we don't have food allergies :)

Baby #7 - 17 weeks :)

Atm I'm very weary! Tired alot! I still have Kaydence and Braith waking several times a night, and we have alot going on atm, a wedding, school/kindy/guide breakups, all the xmas stuff that is going on and also Silas's birthday party (held early so his kindy friends have a chance to attend since its so close to xmas!).

Or perhaps my body has just realised I'm pregnant and not just fat! ;) I also have my 1st hospital appointment next friday at 6.50pm - yes a night time appointment!! For some reason my hospital likes to have the initial appt at night, which is ok this time around as Mike now works a day shift - last 2 times I had all the children with me and it was chaos! Trying to run through all my birth history with the midwife for the file, with children that are usually having dinner/baths/getting ready for bed is crazy!!

I'm almost at the stage that we can find out what we are having!!! and since we are so close to xmas I thought it would be fun to get the gender written down, so we can wrap it and open it up on xmas eve :)

Perhaps a new tradition of finding out what the next baby will be EVERY XMAS EVE! lol! oh I wish! When I look at Braith and he cracks a cheeky smile at me, I feel sad that perhaps this will be my last pregnancy.....most doctors are shocked that this will be my 5th c/s so I'm not so sure I'll get the ok to have another after this baby :( Stupid body!! Not that I would keep having babies foreva! just perhaps one more....in a few years time....

Fresh Picked Flowers :)

Mike was sweet enough to pick these flowers for me from the road side yesterday :)

Advantage over store bought flowers? FREE :) ;p

Disadvantage? Ummm the creatures that came free with road side flowers!!

ps I don't mind spiders, caterpillars and beatles but not inside!!

Why Not Enough Butter?

For some reason my little kids all seem to have a fetish for butter. This started with Aliya (now 7) then Silas (now 5) and now Kaydence has taken over the role of butter stealer!!

Often I would find the kids behind the couch or table or curtain even, dipping their paws into the butter!!!

Don't ask me why, because I didn't even like butter til I was around my early 20's, and even now only like a light spread on my bread!

SO there you have it :)

When there is a sign, that you can't ignore...

Like when your sister in law, Hi Taren!, gives you some yummy recipes to try, like impossible pie and chocolate cake in a mug, but you only get around to making the pie, thinking meh, that chocolate cake sounds average...............

Then you happen to see same chocolate cake in a mug on the stayathomemum.net.au page and think hummmmmmmmm maybe I might try it!!

And try it I did and it was fantastic! I do have a confession though, I'm a night eater! Bad I know, and when I cut out night eating I quickly loose a few kgs, but while pregnant, I throw caution to the wind and eat eat eat!

I've tried to analize my night eating and the only thing I can come up with it that I GET TO EAT ALONE - not alone as in scoffing my face ashamed that I'm eating sort of way, but alone as in no toddlers to poke at my food, sit there saying 'arrrrrrrr' til they get a mouth full, and no chew chew spit back onto my plate!! Yes my children are feral and will spit back on my plate if they decided they don't like that mouth full even if they have already consumed half my plate!

So anyway back to the chocolate cake I ATE ALL BY MYSELF.........

Well I can sum it up by, you use one mug, one measuring spoon, and a serving spoon, cook 3mins in microwave and yummo! all ready to eat :) Easy to clean up the evidence afterwards, no kids spying the empty bowls smeared with chocolate in the morning, and complaining about the unfairness of the world!! as in they didn't get any!! Totally unfair that Mumma was able to eat it ALL! mmmwwwahhhhhhhaaaaa!


ps I even had left overs!! Totally unheard off!!!

My not so good sleeper Braith.....

Braith is such a light sleeper that the littlest noise can wake him up, so when I actually needed to wake him to collect the kids from school, I took the chance to take some pics of him 'actually sleeping' just to prove to myself in years to come that he did 'actually sleep'!



I don't know how he managed to stay asleep in that position! Bet he had pins and needles all over him after that nap!!

Its starting to feel like Christmas!

I love love love Christmas! I love Christmas decorations, Christmas songs, Christmas houses all decked out with lights, wrapping presents, decorating trees (we'll have 2 this year) and of course Christmas food!!

This year I decided to get our family Christmas stockings! There was a lady selling some really cute ones at Si's kindy and thought for a grand price of $4.00 each that they would be perfect!!

And yes I bought all the same, there was only a choice of 2 colours and to save the drama I bought all the same :) and yes I did think ahead, buying one for the baby to be and the baby that might be :) Crazy, yes I am sure some think I am! lol!

When time flies and you wonder what you've done.....

It makes a rather dull day seem, well still dull! I've still got a touch of this flu which has really affected my motivation on all levels! But after getting up at 3.30am with new resolve, which even the flu hasn't managed to take from me I decided to snapshot my wonderful, average day! Prepare to take your boredom to the next level!! lol!!

But really I do love a productive busy day, you really can't put a price on a sense of accomplishment!

Dress Up Day at Kindy

Si had his 1st ever dress up day. The kids were all very excited and even got to walk the catwalk to show off their special outfits!

Silas had the choice of many costumes, but ended up picking a favourite that was bought for Callum when he was about 4. Through the years it has been pick over and over again as the clear winner when it come to dress ups! Even the girls pick it for dress up days!


Silas with the teachers aid aka Sponge Bob or Sponge Bum as he used to call him :)


Silas with his best mate Josh. Silas often talks about Josh like hes a imaginary friend. Like 'Josh went fishing and said it was fun', or "Josh says we should do this or that', very cute and a bit weird! lol

Even some parents were brave enough to dress up, I love dressing up but don't fit into my little red riding hood costume atm lol! His teacher made a very nice bumble bee!



Braith wasn't too keen on Silas roaring like a crocodile, even though I kept telling Silas that crocs don't roar! lol! And Kadee who didn't want to dress up was a bit shy because a Dad who was dressed as a clown kept saying hello to her! :)



I just had to include this cute pic of 'Fang' our newest nickname for Braith due to his side teeth coming in before his front teeth!

Only a few more weeks then the year will be over!! Seriously how fast has the time flown!! :(