Nie's back

I'm excited!!  What trials she and her family have gone through.  What a miracle it is to see how fast her recovery has been.  Stephanie and her husband still have a lot of recovering and healing to do in many ways, but to see her back blogging again lifts my spirits.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about go here first and then here.  If you want to see what Stephanie is up to now click on the button for I read Nie Nie.

North Narrabeen beach

We went to the lagoon beach again today around the corner from the surf beach at North Narrabeen. It's a calm, reasonably shallow beach good for families with young children who don't want their kids washed away in the surf. The water is cool and clear and the boys and I  just love it. It was a very hot day today, up to 37°C at home, but at the beach it was rather breezy and alot cooler than the drive home from the beach. It was hard to take the boys away from the water and sand as they were busy in their own world of imagination, Toby and Sam were building their own little cities out of sand, Ethan was spending most of the time in the water swimming and Donald was reading.

It's very cleansing going to the beach getting salt water on your skin, sand rubbing through your toes and being able to dive into the crystal clear water to cool off.  After being cooped up in the house for the past few weeks supposedly painting a bedroom and sorting through "stuff" and reorganising furniture, it has been a joy to live again.

Guess where we went today...

Happy Birthday Jan

Happy Birthday to a mum who will do anything and go anywhere for her girls and grand children.   

Lots of Love

Lisha, Donald, Sam, Ethan & Toby

xxxxx

They come they eat they leave

I made some scrumptious scones for afternoon tea yesterday.  Everybody dived in and ate them hot with butter, jam and cream.  We even have a few left over for today's morning tea.  Then everybody disappeared and I was left to clean up.  At least they said thank you.

Basic Scone dough

450g (3 cups) plain flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 tbs caster sugar
80g butter, cubed, at room temperature
250mls (1 cup) milk, at room temperature
Plain flour, extra

Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F. Measure all your ingredients. Combine the flour, baking powder  and caster sugar in a medium bowl. Use your fingertips to rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the milk all at once. Use a round- bladed knife to mix together using a cutting motion until evenly incorporated and the mixture begins to hold together. Do not over mix. The dough should be soft but not sticky. If it is a little dry, simply add a little more milk. Then bring dough together with your hands.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently about 4-5 times with your hands, by pressing and then turning, until the dough is just smooth. It is important that you knead gently and don't handle the dough too much. If it is overworked the scones will be tough in texture and heavy.

Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough until about 2cm thick. (Alternatively, you can flatten the dough with the palm of your hand). Then use a round 5cm pastry cutter or a glass to cut out the scones. Dip the cutter into the extra flour before cutting out each scone. Use a straight-down motion to cut out the scones. You can re-roll any scraps and cut more scones.

As you cut out the scones, place them on a baking tray, I usually sit them touching each other to help them rise evenly.  Sprinkle the tops of the scones with a little milk and then a little sugar to give them a sweet crunchyness.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden and cooked through. The best way to tell if the scones are cooked is to tap the top of one with your fingertips - if it sounds hollow when tapped, they are ready. Alternatively, insert a skewer into a scone - if it comes out clean, they are ready.  Remove the scones from the oven and immediately wrap them in a clean tea towel. Wrapping the scones will keep them warm and will give them a soft crust. Serve warm with lashings of butter or with jam and whipped or thick cream.

I ate mine with wild blueberry jam and mango jam......and cream of course.

Second Hand books

Yesterday on our wander around the local shops waiting for haircuts, getting vitamins from the chemist, sharing an iced chocolate among 4 (two spoons and two straws it didn't last long), we stopped at the second hand book shop.  Some days I'll come out of there with nothing or maybe one book for the kids, this time I came out with a handful for $15.  I was well pleased, something for everyone and something to read while we waited up at the barber shop.  I can't wait to read "The Magic Pudding" with the boys.

Ethan has been following me around with his new favourite, "Truly Weird jokes".  After listening to ant and caterpillar jokes while I had my shower this morning I suggested he tell some to Donald, who was still in bed after a hard nights work (as well as watching old X-files episodes) He he he. Want to hear some??  What pillar doesn't hold a building up?........A caterpillar, What does a cat go to sleep on?........A caterpillar. What's green and dangerous?........A caterpillar with a hand grenade (Ethan's favourite).

Ethan has done nothing but read these holidays, Sam too, but Ethan will pour over a Pokemon Pokedex guide all day if he could or the "2008 Guiness book of Records" (thanks Desley & John).  I keep hearing of the grossest things that people do to get their name in the Guiness book of Records, squirting milk out of your eyes, stretchiest skin, most tattooed person, most swords swallowed just to name a few.  I just can't even look at the book but the boys keep finding wonderful things to share with us.  I think I prefer the joke book.

Eggs

Last night I had no clue as to what miracle I was going to produce for dinner, then it hit me I have lots of eggs.  The kids love eggs, boiled, poached and some times scrambled.  So scrambled it was to be.  After cracking 8 eggs into a bowl it didn't look quite enough, so I went to the fridge and got two more eggs.  I cracked the 9th egg into the bowl and all was well, then the last egg, I cracked, I tipped, I looked.... and there was half a rotten egg left in the shell, the other half was in the bowl.  I was so mad, there was no way I was able to salvage the good eggs.  I think next time I'll stick to the soft boiled.  Or follow the rule of cracking each egg into a small container before adding to the bowl.

Word games

For a fun game that Caroline plays on Wednesdays check out her blog at The Simple Things.  She puts up a word, found in the dictionary, but is an unusual, hardly used word and you get to provide the meaning, but no peeping at the dictionary or googling it.  The word for today is  Troglodyte just leave your explanation in her comments section and have a laugh at the other comments.

Hot, hot, hot

How to keep cool on a stinking hot summers day.  Bring out the old blow up paddling pool.  

Add a little water, (not too much-water restrictions), add some toys and paddle and play.

Munch on watermelon in the pool.

The boys have had so much fun playing in the pool, I had to drag Toby out because he was shivering so much, even though it's 36 degrees Celcius (or about 98F).  This morning we also went for a walk early, while it was actually nice and cool, to use up a bit of the boys energy.  We had a fun walk up near where Toby will start pre-school this year and past some lovely big oak trees.  We went on an acorn collecting spree and this is what we came home with. 

   

And this is what I'm doing with the acorns, adding a little nature to my table.

I love the little berets that the acorns wear, like little French people.

Fair trade???

Chocolate brownies

for a large tv!!

Our good friends Richard and Shona, who we've known since we arrived in Sydney (Richard was our Bishop in our last ward) took us out for some Indian and some Cold Rock ice cream on Friday night.  As they walked into our lounge room they noticed our rather small tv and told us right then and there that we were to inherit their rather large sony tv as they had just upgraded to a flat screen and needed to pass on their old tv.  

I might add that we have inherited many things from these two generous, kindly folk, Sam's first big bed (which is now Toby's), sheets for the said bed and many items of clothing for the whole family (Shona had a small clothing business for a little while) which we benefited from.  And now a rather large tv, the largest one we have ever had.  So the only thing I could think of to repay a little kindness was to whip up a batch of Nigella Lawson's chocolate brownies, fair trade...I don't think so, but the boys all helped to put the love into those brownies.  Shona and Richard we hope you feel the love each time you bite into one.  We have lots of love to give you.

Richard, Shona and their babies, bless them.

Camping in the back room

While we are stripping wallpaper and painting the boys room Sam, Ethan and Toby have been sleeping in the first home that Donald and I ever bought.  Yes, a long time ago we bought a tent together and it's the only home we own, although we did upgrade to a larger tent when we had kids.  It's getting a little worn but it is keeping the boys cosy and entertained until their room is paint fume free.

  

It takes a little while each night before they settle down and Toby is usually the one jumping around so he then gets to go to sleep on our bed and later gets carried out to the tent in the back room.

I did suggest they all sleep outside in the tent, they were a little dubious about that.

1.01.09

Pancakes, bacon 

and fruit for breakfast...

a jigsaw puzzle,

a bit of elbow grease,

and a hint of colour.

Picnic...

.....in the lounge room with Nacho's and Kung Fu Panda

Happy New Year!!

Time for a change

It all started boxing day.  It was time to rid ourselves of the bamboo jungle that the boys had been living in, so we had a wallpaper ripping party.  It began with Donald and I then Jan and the boys all joined in to peel the old wallpaper off the walls in the boys room.  Sam and Ethan really got stuck into it.  It took us two half days to spray and soak the wallpaper with water and peel it off.  Then Toby joined us with a bit of wall scrubbing.  The room looks so different already a little more spacious.  We've been prepping the walls and sanding so I can't wait to add some colour.

Singing in the rain

There's nothing quite like an afternoon storm, a little man and his umbrella and warm water running over your toes.

Wiseman's ferry Boxing day

After a lovely Christmas at home it was time to get back out into the world. We spent a warm Boxing day morning at Wiseman's ferry. Luckily we got there reasonably early as I think everybody had the same idea...sitting by the river having a picnic, getting eaten by mossies.  The more the people came the less the mossies ate us.  It was a hot day and the boys enjoyed exploring by the river.