School hols

Well school hols have started and I have a houseful of kids. Looking after my sister's 3 kids and Tony's kids have asked if they can come too so I feel like Supernanny!! We all went and saw Bridge to Terabithia yesterday at the movies...enjoyed that but what a sad ending! Poor little Sarah just sobbed and sobbed. The boys all tried to be staunch, of course, but I am sure I saw a tear in their eyes too. It is so not cool to cry in front of your mates and your sisters!!

Well we are now booked into Lagoon Lodges in their 3 bedroom villa with private pool. Tickets are all paid for and the kids are just so excited. Off to get passport photos for the kids today as they don't have passports.

Had a wonderful visit from Lisa and Rhiannon on Sunday. they were up here for a gymnastics competition. My gosh, Rhiannon is amzing with her contortions. She has inspired Hannah and Sarah to join gymnastics now. You have to watch where you go in the house now as well, as you are likely to get hit with a cartwheel or handstand or some sort of arm waving or prancing around!

Right, I am off to bake for 8 hungry children...

Only 4 months to go

until we get married in Rarotonga. We did a crazy thing in the weekend though and decided to take our 5 kids with us! Insane or what?!! So we are downgrading from our very expensive 5 star luxury accommodation that doesn't allow children to something a bit cheaper and more child friendly. Unfortunately, we have probably left it a bit late and our choices are limited. Most of the hotel style accommodations are full so we are looking at a holiday house to rent instead. Even then most of those have already gone so it's either something really cheap away from the water or something really expensive with a lagoon view. And trying to find something that will accommodate all 7 of us is a nightmare.

Anyway the kids are so excited that they are coming with us so no matter what we end up with it will just be nice to have them there on our special day.

Cupcakes!!

The latest faze to hit our house is cupcakes. Partly because I have been drooling over food blogs, partly because I look at far too many cooking magazines and partly because the kids love them. Now Nick and Sarah both wanted to make cupcakes last night, but of course they weren't content to both help with the same batch. No, Sarah wanted vanilla ones with pink icing and Nick wanted chocolate ones. So I did a quick search of some of my fav sites and found this divine Devil’s Food Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream and Vanilla Scented Cupcakes. Made a few alterations to the recipes and voila, here is the kids finished result. They decorarated them with whatever they could find in the cupboards and the more colourful the better in their opinion!!

Then quite by conicidence at work today these people that come round selling cheap books at workplaces arrived with Susannah Blake's Cupcake book for only NZD$8. A steal as it retails here for $25. So I grabbed a copy of that and the kids are perusing that at the moment wondering what amazing creations they are going to whip up next!

Right, I have decided I am never going to be one of those bloggers who religiously writes every day in my blog. I have great intentions, but life just gets in the way!! For example I have had the last 3 days off work and this is the first chance I have had to go online and catch up on everyone's blogs. Spent Friday catching up an all the things that never get done when I am working...you know those mundane things like housework and laundry. Saturday was sports day so with 4 kids to cart round and watch at soccer and netball meant I never got home til late afternoon.

Tony had tickets for the All Blacks vs Canada game on Saturday night so dropped the girls at various friends' houses then hurtled off over there. It was a great atmosphere and Nick's first rugby game so he was over the moon. We were sitting about 5 metres from the try line so got to see Dan Carter in all his glory as he scored 3 tries. A couple of those Canadians weren't too bad either ;-)

Today we went to Rotorua to see my aunty who was in hospital with a broken leg and caught up with friends as well. Only got home a couple of hours ago and that is the weekend over.

Gonna curl up with a book in front of the fire now. Reading Celia Lashlie's book "He'll be ok". Kind of frightening to think in another few years my loving cuddly boy will become this mute adolescent who occasionally grunts and tests all the boundaries.

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback. Was a long weekend here so have been away for the last 3 days. Will have a look at both those 2 sites in the weekend. Have an assignment due Friday so need to put head down and focus on that rather than playing on the internet!! Was supposed to work on it while I was away but didn't get too much done unfortunately.

Updated blogs

Ok I have been perservering with blogrolling.com for a while now to notify me when my blogs are updated. It seems that it no longer works. None of the blogs I read ever get updated now so it means a manual check which I don't really have time for. I am going to change to another service. Has anyone got any good suggestions??

Cold mornings, hot brekkie

Actually, as much as I hate summer coming to an end and the days getting colder and shorter, the one good thing is I can start eating porridge again. It is not something I ever eat in summer, but there is something comforting about a bowl of steaming porridge on those cold foggy mornings. Plus rolled oats have a double benefit of being high in fibre as well as helping ward off coronary artery disease which I am genetically linked to. Dad had a heart atack at 48, as did 2 of my cousins on his side. Both his siblings died at early ages of heart disease and most of the cousins have high cholesterol. So I was very pleased to see the latest research showing how good rolled oats are in helping prevent this. At the moment as we have an abundance (and that is an understatement!!) of feijoas so I top my porridge with fresh feijoas, a dash of trim milk and an ever so slight sprinkle of brown sugar. Yum!!

Autumn is here...

...and with it the multitude of leaves that also occurs at this time of year. I love the beautiful autumn golds, russets and reds and the sunny clear days, but those leaves just create such a mess. Did try getting the kids to rake them up which went fine then they played hide and seek in the piles so they all got scattered again!!



However, autumn is pumpkin season and pumpkin soup has to be my all time favourite soup. The kids wanted a change from that tonight though so I am on the hunt for a pumpkin and ricotta lasagne. I got 102,000 results when I googled it!!! So I went to one of my fav websites instead and will use this recipe.



Last night was fun. I went to Puppetry of the Penis with a bunch of gals from work. It was hilarious. Nothing sexual at all, just lots of laughs. What those guys can do with their anatomy is just amazing. I must admit I was cringing at times thinking "That's gotta hurt!!" The guys work well together and their comedy routine was very good.

Need to put head down for the next couple of weeks. Another assignment due in on 12 June and I haven't even started writing it. I got an A- for my last one which I was pleased about. Got marked down as I went way over the word limit. I was hoping to get away with it, but 1500 words over was pushing it I guess :-)

Mother's Day in NZ

Well, it's Mother's day here today. The kids are with their dad this weekend but I am picking them up later and we are going out for lunch. They had made me cards which was really sweet so I opened them in bed this morning over coffee.

Went out for tea last night just to our local haunt then onto the movies. There wasn't a lot of choice so we chose Wild Hogs. Didn't feel like anything too heavy as it had been a pretty full on day at work with a couple of deaths so needed some light hearted relief. There wasn't a lot of choice as you can see. Tony was all for The Shooter or 300, but they so do not appeal.

Our local movie theatre has 4 theatres but 2 of these only seat about 60 people so it's almost like sitting in your lounge at home with a bunch of friends. Very cosy! With our town only having a population of 13,500, you are bound to know someone there. And wouldn't you know it, I ended up sitting next to friends of ours, but didn't realise until the intermission!

Along with an abundance of feijoas, my chili bush has grown out of control. I am not sure what to do with all the chilis, but think I might freeze them for future use or perhaps make some salsa. I love chilis, but unfortunately the kids can detect the slightest hint in their meals and you would think I had just served up worms or slugs judging by the look on their faces.

One of the kids feijoa customers dropped in a recipe for this divine Feijoa and Apple Cake which I whipped up this morning.

Apple and Feijoa Cake
125g butter
1.5 cups grated apple
1.5 cups feijoa pulp
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Melt butter and let cool. Add apple and feijoa and mix well, then sugar and egg and mix. Sift dry ingredients and stir in sultanas and nuts. Add to fruit mixture and mix until combined. Bake in 25cm cake tin at 180 degrees C for 45-60 mins.

Yummy with yoghurt or whipped cream especially when straight from the oven. Mmmmmm!!

I've been tagged

Sara has tagged me with 7 Things About Me.

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I love to cook. I get just as much enjoyment from poring over cookbooks as I do from cooking. However, I don't enjoy it when I have worked and need to come home and cook dinner. Then it becomes a chore. I love my days off as I get time to plan and try new things.

2. I love my job as a nurse in intensive care. Even if we won the lottery I think I would still keep working a couple of days a week.

3. I am an impatient person and need things done NOW!

4. Sometimes I like to have really lazy days and do nothing except read or go for coffee somewhere. I can very easily waste a whole day doing not much! Today is one of those days!

5. My absolute favourite food is sushi. I could eat it every day and did when I lived in Japan.

6. I really don't like dogs.

7. I have my belly button pierced.

I'm going to tag Katrina, Megan, Caroline, Kath, Lisa, Floss and Emma

Welcome Dinah and Cookie...

Welcome to the 2 newest members of our family. Dinah is the tabby and about 4 months old. Cookie is the ugly, coloured one but she is so playful and cute. She just cracks me up. There were loads to choose from so we just played with them for a while and the kids picked these 2. Let's hope they have a bit more road sense than the other 2.

A funny thing happened at work today. I was transferring my patient from the ICU to the ward and she had had cardiac surgery. She said to me as we were going up in the lift, " I can't understand why I can no longer see". I had to laugh as she hadn't opened her eyes for ages so I suggested she try opening her eyes. "Oh, that's much better, I can see now" she said. I think I she had used a little too much of her morphine pump lol.

Look what I did today...

I am a nail biter from way back. Am sick and tired of having yucky looking nails so I went and got acrylic nails put on today. Am really pleased with them, but man it is weird having nails now. I needed to keep them reasonably short for work and they feel a good length but I just need to get used to things on the ends of my fingers now.

Feijoa Season is upon us

My absolutely favourite fruit of all time is finally in season. We hae an abundance of feijoa trees and if I eat another feijoa I will turn into one. The kids collected up the excess ones and decided to sell them at the gate. Business was a bit slow to start with so Tony thought he would get out there with his hi-viz vest and hat to help things along a bit. Think the passersby felt sorry for the kids saddled with the loony so everyone started stopping and buying the feijoas!! The kids made quite a tidy little sum so guess what they will be doing after school today!!

I haven't had a lot of spare time lately. Head down, bum up doing assignments but next one isn't due for 6 weeks so am having a breather this week. Tony and I went to Taupo this weekend for some R & R. We stayed in a motel right on the lake front which was just beautiful. Went for a walk along to the Taupo bungy....you know I did a sky dive at 10,000 feet but I wouldn't do a bungy! There is just something slightly insane about throwing yourself into mid-air with nothing but a bit of elastic supporting you. Spectacular setting for it though.

Kids decided they want another cat despite having lost 2 in under a year. We are going to have a look at some later this week. They are all rescued kittens and we will probably get a couple so they are company for one another. We had a look online last night...too hard to choose.

I am supposed to be at work

but I got a call a couple of hours ago to say a tree had fallen through the school bus and a lot of the kids were quite shaken and had glass all over them. None of them were badly hurt thank goodness, just more frightened I think. We have had some real stormy weather here over the last few days so there have been lots of tree bits flying around. I ended up bringing the kids home and throwing them in the shower to get the glass out of their hair and clothes. They are fine now.

I have been a bit scarce on it as my university course has started and my days have been pretty full on. I am doing a Post Graduate Certificate in Intensive Care Nursing and have resigned myself to the fact I will have no life for the next 7 months! We have one assignment a month and I have been using all my free time to prepare for my assignments. Still, it will be so worth it in the end.



We lost another cat this week as well. Our new kitten, Rascal, of about 4 months decided to play with the cars as well and the poor kids found her squished on the road while they were waiting for the bus.




RIP little Rascal.

Oh darn, another weekend in ER

Well I was at work today and got a call from Tony to say he was bringing Hannah into the ER because she had fallen off her bike and had broken her arm. Luckily she only had a greenstick fracture of her radius so they popped a plaster cast on and we were home in no time. She's a little sore but it should heal quickly. Unfortunately. she had been picked for the netball reps last week so it means she will have to pull out of the team now.



So to commiserate we went shopping together...just the 2 girls. We finally found some fabric for her bag after much deliberation. Just as well I didn't buy what I was going to the other day for her as she hated it.

Another weekend over too quickly

Had an awesome weekend. No kids, just me and Tony and peace and quiet all weekend. No "Mum I'm hungry". "Mum, he's looking at me". Mum, I'm bored". "Mum, she pushed me". Sound familiar anyone? lol.

So Friday night we headed out to Raglan and had fish and chips on the beach watching the sun set. Stunning. Saturday we didn't get up til 1pm!! How decadent is that. Had a wedding to go to that night and that was awesome. Second time round for both of them and they looked so much in love. Warm fuzzies all round. Sunday we had another leisurely lie in and then went for brunch at the Persimmon Tree cafe in Pirongia. They make the best trim latte there. I totally pogged out and had a delicious Thai beef salad followed by a huge piece of Passionfruit cheesecake. Divine! Couldn't eat for the rest of the day. Cool setting right at the base of Pirongia mountain and we spent a couple of hours there just drinking coffee and reading the papers.

Love those lazy weekends. Back to reality now as kids all home :-)

Now the stitching bug has long since left me but Hannah just loves the bag that Pauline made for her daughter so I am going shopping later for fabric. Could be the start of a whole new hobby!!

Too much choice

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments.

The children lately have shown a real interest in cooking, so I have started letting them pick something they would like to make and I will give the two younger ones a hand. Nick, being a typical Kiwi bloke, picked pizza and chips for tonight. I thought we could jazz up the pizza a bit by trying some alternative pizza toppings. I googled pizza toppings and could not believe the amount of sites dedicated to this. There is even one site called pizza toppings! I think the internet is fantastic but sometimes there is just too much choice. I am still no better off as there are so many yummy choices!! And when it all boils down to it, Nick probably wouldn't want anything too alternative. His fav is ham, cheese and pineapple! So I have probably just wasted an hour on here lol

Doesn't
Crumbled crisp bacon, Roma tomatoes, red onions and black olives, with Mozzarella and crumbled Blue cheese on Ranch dressing. Garnish with chopped avocado.

or

Avocado, grilled chicken, black pepper, onions, tomatoes salsa and sour cream

sound so much better than ham, cheese and pineapple.

3 months later....

Have had a bit of a hiatus, I know. Didn't help that I was away at the beach for all of January and then again for some of February. I had no internet access at all for all of that time. Must admit I din't actually miss it at all as I spent a great deal of the time ensconced with a good book. It's been a long time since I have had the time to just laze and read.



Haven't stitched in months. No desire to at this stage either but no doubt once the cooler months get here I will pick it up again.












Remember my potager that Tony built...well here it is a few months later. Nicholas and Sarah are very proud of their sunflowers and corn. We ate the last of the corn last night. I have now pulled out the dying plants and will replant with dwarf beans, mesclun and lettuces. The kids are right into gardening and they get such a buzz out of growing their own food.

Tony and I have finally set a date and we are getting married in October. We would have liked to do it earlier but I am doing a post grad certificate through university and that finishes then. Didn't want the stress of organising a wedding while I should have my head in my books. So we have decided to go to Rarotonga and have a romantic Pacific Island wedding at http://www.royaletakitumu.com/index.htm It seems ages away but no doubt the time will fly by.