Thumbs Up!

This is the Foofsters new sign!. Whenever he likes the answer to one of his questions, which is usually about some food that he wants, or something fun he wants to do, I get the thumbs up!. What a classic!. It's like he's saying 'Yep mum you got the right answer'!. Bless Him.......

Athletics Carnival.........

Logan & Summer had a great day at their athletics carnival.  It is so great to see the change in Summer over the past year, from not wanting to participate in any sporting competitions to enjoying sport & all it has to offer......They both won age champion and were very proud of themselves.  Gotta say though Summer has the strangest high jump style ..........

She leaps over it frog legged!.  It's like the way she sits sometimes.  It was amazing how high she could jump like that...

Finny kept occupied with his trusty cars!

And all the little ones went in their own race & got a ribbon each!  I was totally exhausted by the time we got home, I could hardly keep my eyes open that night........and the kids were still going.......!

Happy 12th Birthday

Happy 12th Birthday Logan....

I love the way he tells me all about the football, he gets so excited by it, and the way he retells me stand up comedy jokes he has heard, and repeats the funny lines he hears in movies. I love the way he plays football with Finn by getting down on his knees and letting Finny tackle him. I love the way he saves his money up for things he wants to buy, at the moment it's a playstation portable. I love that he is learning the guitar. I love that he is sweet & gentle. I love this little man who is quickly turning into a teenager.......

Bald Rock....

What a lovely day we had at Bald Rock.  This place is great, the kids loved it, and I had flashbacks to when I was a kid & walking the same path.  Finny even walked most of the way, and it was quite an easy climb after I got over the initial shock of how high and straight up you have to walk!.  It was just a shame the weather was a bit cold and cloudy, but there were lots of people doing the climb (heaps of oldies), and it was quite a sociable day.  We will return here another time for sure.  Anyone keen??........

Thunderbolt's Hideout (we nearly didn't find it!)

A nice break......

I was well & truly ready for a break from the school routine, so these holidays have been a blessing, especially having Shane on holiday as well!. I finally made it up to Brisvegas for a couple of nights, and caught up with Jules & Fi as an added bonus!. It is getting to be way too long in between visits!. It was great to finally meet little Iago and hear the story of his birth and to see how much Lotte has grown as well. Can't believe I didn't get a photo with Jules!. We had a great time at Nits, it was just Summer & I on this trip. The boys stayed at home so Shane could do some more building. We had a great night out at a Turkish restaurant called 'Ahmets', at Southbank, thanks to the amazing generosity of Fi & Dave it was a feast to be remembered. Shane was spewing he wasn't there for that experience!. Thanks for your company Fi, I had a great time, and all I can say is thank goodness the pubs were all closed when we left the restaurant or I fear our night may have gone into the day! There is always so much to catch up on when spending time with old friends........

Logan got to catch up with his best mate Lachlan. They still keep in touch & see each other just about every holidays. It's so great to see the kids really make an effort to stay in touch, and I know they are creating friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime......

Cook off......

2010 Mid Winter Cook Off.......

The kids had their own fire going...

Rach & her upside down trifle cake...
The apron says it all.....

Koo, Anita & Dad....

Well our mid winter, full moon, lunar eclipse (added bonus!) cook off was a great success!. There was so much food it was shameful. We could have fed another 10 people at least. I didn't get to take many photos as it was pretty busy, getting everything organised, so much so, I forgot to even taste my dish before serving it!, so no surprises that I wasn't in the running!. My lamb & tomato masala wasn't the best and actually it's not really a dish that I would add to my repertoire either. But hey, I gave it a go!. The list of dishes on offer were........

Entrees-

French onion dip - Summer

Pumpkin Soup - Eliza

Wood Oven style Bread - Greeny

Mains-

Ox tail stew - Shane

Pig Platter - Adam - this consisted of the head & american style ribs ( a secret recipe!)

Lamb & tomato Masala - Brooke

Braised Honey Chicken - Koo

Beef Stroganoff & Sweet plain potato bake - Brodie

Desserts-

Lemon tart - Laine

Double nut chocolate torte - Brooke

Upside down trifle cake - Rachel

So we had a taste of each dish and slowly made our way through each taste, and got full pretty quickly...... and after we had to give a score between 1 & 5 to each dish and then we tallied it up and the unanimous winner of the 2010 Mid winter cook off was............KOO & her Honey Braised Chicken!!. It was absolutely delicious, a real standout & I will post the recipe here soon......try it, guaranteed the kids will love it too. And in second place was Rachels Upside down trifle cake. This dessert was a work of art and if you like sweet then this is a real treat!. And in third place was our very own up & coming master chef Eliza with her Pumpkin Soup. I am not a fan of Pumpkin Soup but this was absolutely delicious and had us all wanting more.......I will see if I can get her to share that recipe too. My chocolate torte was super rich..... a bit too much really & I was a bit dissapointed because it looked a treat, but it was actually better the next day, and the day after (!), as it mellowed and took on a whole new flavour, which Laine actually said would happen, it's kind of like spaghetti & lasagne - always better the next day!. Oh, and did I mention that Dad ate the pigs eye................

Sparkler fun......

A little bit of photo fun on an otherwise pretty boring Friday night.  The past couple of days have been very cold & dreary.  Miserable winter weather really, and no good for taking photos......but I think these make up for it......

They make me feel all warm & fuzzy!......