Joseph is six months old!

time flies when you're having fun! this monkey is now six months old and is so happy... all the time. we had an osteopath appointment this week and they were so happy with him that we don't need to go back. he is healthy, eats well - lots of milk and some fruit/vegetable puree with rice cereal and water once a day. he seems happy with that - and certainly looks more than healthy! he is snuggly and cuddly and lovely and chubby.

his eyes never changed colour and are still a beautiful bright blue, much to everyone's amazement... i still think they were all expecting another madeline. he loves to look around and babble whilst you walk around him. he also loves to blow raspberries at us and giggle.

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he has also just started (the day before six months) to roll over on his own... although i suspect he probably could have a lot sooner had he had the room... he's be thrashing about for weeks, but because he's still sleeping in the bassinet in our room, he's not had a lot of space to practice in.

joseph likes to sit up and watch everything (in case he misses anything that's happening around him!!) so loves to be in his bumbo a lot of the time... chewing his teething ring and squeaking sophie giraffe. we've also found out during the last month that when he's upset he will start to say over and over mummmmm mummm mummm mum-mum-mummmm. boom! first word was me this time around. i feel so loved.

we love this face and especially those eyes. he has fitted right into our little family, and i can't imagine life without him! x

photo love

i am obsessed with taking pictures. obsessed. i know some people like to to take photos of landscapes and nature and animals and all that... but i love to take photos of people. 

all. the. time.

i have had some awesome fun taking shots of family and friends lately... getting to sit and edit them and be creative with cropping and colours and most of all turning things to black and white! i love that a not-so-good photo can be transformed into something amazing with a few clicks... it's the best.

but i must admit, i feel really sorry for people who took photos in the past, because they didn't have any of the wonderful tools we do - and also didn't have to chance to take a pile of shots and choose the best.

more photos coming your way... stay tuned!! 

p.s. that scarf is totally coming my way from jane.com - going to be my lucky photo taking scarf haha.

analeah's blessing day

i love this family. so much. our friends aitu and melinda had their adorable baby girl analeah blessed today. in our church babies are given a name and a blessing when they are just a few months old - very similar to a christening really.

mel and her girls, who looked so sweet dressed in white for the occasion.

it's so sweet to see how much ngawai loves her new baby sister! ♥

mel and baby analeah

daddy aitu, who loves his girls (all three of them!) so much. 

such a sweet family!

one happy family!

and to finish it off, my favourite shot. i am so obsessed with black and white pics and seriously think this is the sweetest. love you guys! 

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wade and deb are getting married!

my dear friend vivienne's son wade is getting married! he and his girlfriend deborah got engaged a week and a bit ago... and viv asked me if i would take a few pictures of them when we were down in baldivis for family dinner sunday.

wade has just returned in april from his mission in the sapporo, japan mission and was keen to have engagement pictures done - as apparently it's traditional there.

lucky for him, his bride to be was quite obliging... so we had a good time down at a local reserve.

so here we are ladies and gentlemen...

i present to you... wade & deb 

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serenata de amor cake

i spent 2001 on student exchange in brazil. i lived in a city called natal, 6 degrees off the equator - where is was always hot and very hot. i didn't always love it, in fact - most of the year was spent wishing that i could go home... i didn't see eye to eye with my host family and ended up having to change, just a few months before i was due to return to australia. i can honestly day that i really struggled. with homesickness, with the language, with my host family, making friends and with most of the food. there are some things that i really and truly loved... my second host family, the laid back lifestyle, the constant music and chatter, and the friendliness of those i came to know well (but to be honest, there wasn't really a lot of those either...)

but i learnt so much. i learnt that life is what you make it. you can be in what seems to be the worst situation in the world and still find peace. you can be miserable and find hope and you can be far away from your family, and become closer to them. i learnt that people aren't always who they claim to be, that the people you trust can betray you... but those who defend you and lift you up will remain a friend no matter how much time goes by between conversations.

but enough on that... one of the foods i adored in brazil was a chocolate bon bon (wrapped chocolate) called a serenata de amor. it's a cashew cream centre, with a wafer coating, dipped in chocolate. i had always liked them and would buy them on the odd occasion, but never imagined that i would ever have one again, until i found them this week in the local international food store kakulas sister, that's about 500m from our house! i snapped up a box and enjoyed a few... before wondering if i could possibly find the recipe for the cake i've had made with them. 

there was a cafe a km or so from my home in brazil, that sold a cake made with the serenata de amor chocolates making part of the filling. it was incredible!!! but i had never had it anywhere other than this cafe, so i didn't know who to ask about it... so i asked my friend mr. google. who actually came up with a recipe, in english, on an australian website. so i gave it a whirl.

(recipe can be found here)

serenata de amor cake


ingredients:




base
1/2 pack arrowroot biscuits 
200g roasted peanuts
50g butter
1/2 can condensed milk
200mls milk


filling
3 cups milk
2/3 cup of icing sugar
4 tablespoons cornflour
3 egg yolks
20 bonbons (i used 15 and the remainder for topping)


icing
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon cocoa
3 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter


directions:
pastry: mix the peanuts and biscuits in a food processor then place in a bowl and add the butter, condensed milk and milk. Spread the mixture in a cake tray (i used a springform tin) and bake for 5 minutes (more like 7-8).
filling: in a pan, mix milk, icing sugar, cornflour and egg yolks. cook on low heat stirring constantly until it thickens. place the chocolate bonbons on the base and pour the filling mixture over it. cover the cake with cling wrap and leave it in the fridge till cold.
icing: In a pan, mix milk, chocolate powder, sugar and butter. allow to boil until it thickens. (this is where I ran into a problem. it did not thicken. at all. i eventually had to add a teaspoon and a bit of cornflour to thicken the topping.) leave it to cool down. 
before serving , spread the chocolate icing and decorate with bonbon pieces.

 so my verdict? it's not the cake. which is a giant pity. but it wasn't bad. the base was amazing! so yummy. i am considering that may actually be a good go-to option from now on when i am making a biscuit base for a cake/cheesecake and the likes. the middle was good and the amount of bonbons i used more than sufficient. but the icing was yuck. wasn't sweet enough and would not thicken - and the cornflour made it not as smooth. i followed the directions perfectly, so i would say there's an ingredients missing. i think next time i'll go for a chocolate ganache instead of what the recipe says. but there will definitely be a next time. it was well received by it's audience... and dominique (who got to enjoy it as her birthday cake at family dinner in baldivis) loved it the most. phew!

i would say on the whole that makes it a success. 7/10 ♥

sister-in-law hits twenty-five

happy birthday to my favourite and my best... dominique! you were just a crusty teenager when we met all those years ago but i have been able to watch you grow up and i am so freaking proud of the absolutely awesome person you have become. madeline and joseph are so blessed to have their cool aunty living with us... and doug and i feel blessed each and every day to have you here. thank you today and always, for all you do. love you more than you'll ever know. you're way better than a real sister. xx

i posted this on instagram and facebook for my sister in law this morning. she's twenty-five and i can hardly even get over it. it seems like just yesterday that i met this shy little girl that was my new boyfriends little sister. i've loved her from the beginning with her wicked sense of humour that only got better with age. she's like a real sister, we argue, we joke, she steals my things and i steal them back... and we all play nicely.

 i can hardly believe that she'll be leaving us soon (she arrived the week before maddie turned one) to serve a mission - it's been amazing having her here and i am going to miss her so much. maddie has learnt so much from her (mostly good things thankfully) because she is so clever and so good at whatever she puts her mind and talents to!

i love you niques - have the best birthday yet!

epiderm skincare

a few months ago a girlfriend of mine called me and asked me to this new product she had discovered. i of course said yes, (how could i possibly not trust her - she has been in the beauty industry for the last 13 years...) so she gave me above products which she swears will rid me of the ghastly stretch marks that master joseph has left me with. ever more annoying seeing as i didn't get a single one with madeline.

instructions were simple: apply the microdermabrasion scrub to damp skin and rub in circles until it dries out and begins to ball up and fall off. then once you have washed your skin and removed any remaining scrub, pat dry and apply the balm. so easy - and so worth the five minutes max that it takes out of my morning.

today marks 5 weeks since i began... and i'm converted - my skin is so smooth and although i am yet to compare my before and now photo - i swear my stretchmarks are lighter. i've also tried it on my face and after a good scrub and using the balm to follow - my skin felt amazing!

bianca is the sole distributor in australia... and i am sure she will do well, as it speaks for itself. i sent a few samples to a few other girlfriends, so i am curious to see what they have to say - although one of them has already bought the full pack after trying her samples.

if you're curious and want to try some for yourself (you can use it anywhere that your skin isn't the best... i even tried it on my terribly dry hands as a scrub!) there are sample packs (and of course the full kits) available online at www.epidermskincare.com do it! x