A day at the park

Cousins playing

A husband who wants one of these

Lots of soccer

A few tears

Brothers talking

Brothers wrestling

Cousins talking

A hot day

A funny face

Beagles and the boys

What is it about beagles that is so appealing?  

Is it their soft, squidgy faces, their velvety ears or their soulful eyes?

Is it the way they nibble on your hair, or chew on your ears if you sit on the floor with them?

I am sold and just in love with these two.  They belong to my cousin Lainie in Brisbane and I think I'm going to have to go back there, dognap them and they will be mine.  I think I would have three willing accomplices too! 

Snoopy was a beagle, I guess I'll just have to make do with my old stuffed one for now.

Queensland time warp....1st half

Easter finds

Sunshine, rain and humidity

A 7th Birthday party with family and friends

Battle Droid

A little apprehension about a bigger bike

Confidence rising

Speedy Gonzales

A friend across the road

A family gathering at the airport 

.....and a farewell

The drive

Our Millenium (Horrendous) falcon flew us up to Queensland and back without a sniffle or a snaffle. We are rather amazed and grateful that our drives there and back were rather non eventful. Was our holiday boring because of it?......Never. I have seen the most beautiful skies and voluptuous clouds along our drive, ones that make my heart soar my face uplift into a smile. 

A full moon that followed us in the night sky as the sun set to yellow and purple clouds.

The tall yellow poplars a blur as the sky gets deeper, and darker and the moon guides our way along the quiet road in the night.

ANZAC Day

A day to remember.  This image is one of my favourite images from the Australian War Memorial of the Australian Lighthorse men.  Not only did the men serve their country, but so did the faithful horses.

My day begins

As the veil of migraine lifts
there is a chill in the air
A coolness my body craves
The sky is so blue
With clouds so high and light
they are dappled onto the sky with a paint brush
The palm fronds whisper
and bow good morning to one another
As I look out to the sparkly sea
to the horizon I know so well,
the lighthouse, the hills of the the island
just shadows behind
I hear the calls of the sea birds
Memories of days fishing
in our boat on the still sparkly water
My day begins, a new phase begins.

A little taste of the holidays

7 years old

There's something special about Ethan.  He has always been my easy going, happy boy, wise beyond his 7 years and with those dimples and those eyes he melts my heart every day.

The day he was born began very early one Saturday morning around 3am.  It began with regular back pain that just didn't go away.  By 6am the labour pains had started and so I woke Donald and said "I think it's Ethan's Birthday today".  We had decided on Ethan's name on a weekend away in Eumundi in a lovely B&B and had been calling him by his name ever since that weekend.  The only other person who was in on the secret was Sam.  Now the grandparents tried so hard to weasle out of Sam this name, but he wouldn't tell...or they just couldn't understand him...Eeeefan Jack was a little hard to distinguish from a two year old.

Now Ethan wasn't due for another 2 1/2 weeks and our baby sitters for Sam (my mum and dad) hadn't arrived in Sydney yet, they were just about to enjoy their weekend, until we asked them how soon they could get to Sydney.  Our wonderful neighbours, the Scanu's, were packing their car ready to go away for the holidays but waited a few hours with Sam until my cousin Kerri arrived to be our emergency baby sitter.  I think Kerri was a little freaked out at seeing me on my hands and knees blowing through my contractions.  It was about all I could do,  walking didn't last long before I had to get on all fours to get through the contractions.  So with Kerri hanging out with Sam, Donald and I headed off to the hospital.  Not long after our arrival Ethan was born at 11.46 am weighing in at 3570g, a little lighter than his big brother.  Sam was so excited to have a little brother, one that he could see at last, a little brother whose name was Eeefan Jack.  My mum and dad finally made it down to Sydney by the Sunday night, I think.  After my labour was over, I made it to my room with Donald and our new son, to be greeted by a wonderful flower arrangement sent by our lovely neighbours before they departed on their holiday.  

He was always a happy, smiley baby, very relaxed and just happy to be in the world.

Ever since Sam started soccer, Ethan has been kicking the ball with him and so started playing for a team when he was 3 3/4 years old. The youngest member of the club, and he wasn't afraid to get in and kick the ball.  

You are such a gentle soul and always the gentleman we love you very much. 

Happy 7th Birthday Ethan

Lots of Love

Mummy, Daddy, Sam and Toby

xxxxx

Jumping for joy again

The holidays are here!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter picnic

Every year the boys school holds an Easter picnic for the K to 2 years. Sam is always sad to miss it now he's in year 4, they don't do anything fun anymore. This year they held the picnic straight after their ANZAC ceremony.  Here's Ethan and his best friend Jack, trying to give each other bunny ears.  There was a sea of bunny ears in the school grounds.  

If you're wondering what is sticking out of Ethan's shirt it's a few sprigs of lavender. The children all brought some flowers from home to add together for the ANZAC ceremony. We contributed some rosemary, lavender and my red flowering pineapple sage, a rather fragrant posy.

When in doubt bake Cookies

My blogging has been neglected a lot lately, we have been so busy this past month.  With Joan visiting and soccer training starting, lots of ups and downs in between and I haven't been able to keep up with all of the photo's I've taken or writing about our life in general.  I have had a sick child, a child with a worry, a sister who is far away and in need of our love, I've been to high tea at the QVB (absolutely scrumptious) I've been to a 50th Birthday where we played bongo drums and ate fantastic food, I've been teaching sharing time in Primary at church and helping with the Primary Activity.  Some of the absolute fun stuff I never even had the camera with me, some of the worrying stuff I wouldn't want to share for privacy's sake.  

So to take the easy way out I've decided to share another of my favourite recipes.  This one comes from a cook book that Donald and I got as a wedding present.  It has been one of the most useful recipe books I own.  Thanks to Kim, Donald's cousin we are the proud owners of one "Mrs Fields Cookie Book" and we just loooove it.

So the recipe I'm going to share today is based on Mrs Fields Suprise-Filled Cookies, but I've added a little custard powder to make them taste smoother.  Bascially they're jam drop cookies.

Jam Drop Cookies

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1/4 cup custard powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup salted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

your favourite jam for the filling

Preheat oven to 150° C/300° F

In a medium bowl combine flour, custard powder and baking powder.  Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.

In a medium bowl cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed until combined.  The dough will be firm.

Scoop teaspoonfuls of dough, roll into balls about 2 cm diameter and place on ungreased baking sheets or baking paper about 2 1/2 cm's apart, they will spread as they cook.  Use your thumb to depress the middle of the cookie ball and make a little well, but not too hard that you make a hole in the bottom.  Using a teaspoon drop a little of your jam to fill the well, not too much as it will spill over while it cooks.

Bake for 22-24 minutes until very lightly golden yellow.  Remember the jam will be stinking hot when they come out so wait till they cool a little before munching into them.

I tried to make my jam drops egg shaped for the school easter picnic tomorrow, but I forgot how much they expand when they cooked, They are more like well rounded squares but they were still yummy.