book week 2017 - i'm madeline!

my heart was full to bursting today as madeline went off to school for book week today dressed as none other than madeline herself! it was possibly the cutest thing i have ever seen in my life. 

such an easy costume too, that was the best bit! the dress was actually mine as a little girl (my amazing mum made it!), it has a smocked bodice, but was quite long, so mum cut some off the bottom to tack over the smocking just for the day. it looked great!. 50c hat from the opshop with a bit of black ribbon and another piece of ribbon to make a bow at the neck... done!

how i wish she could stay little forever... i love my madeline! ♥

banoffee pie slice

i am always getting asked to make banoffee pie. so often in fact, that at one stage i was keeping tins of boiled condensed milk in the fridge ready to go for emergencies. but, this time i was not prepared... and we were asked to come to dinner at a friends house who is particularly fond of said pie. i was scrolling through my saved items on facebook, wondering what i had up my sleeve, when i stumbled upon this delicious looking banoffee pie slice that i had saved, that looked wayyyyy easier, didn't involve hours of boiling time and had sunday dinner written all over it.

you can find the recipe here, but it's basically a baked pie base, with a baked caramel base, covered in bananas and then cream. i couldn't try it (still on the gf df wagon) but i was told it's probably even better than the original, as it's not as sweet, which means you can eat more of it! hahaha. i'm obviously going to be making that one again... so stick around, or somehow get yourself invited to the kendalls for dinner. 

finished product. yum!

faction carnival!

today was our first school faction carnival. madeline was thrilled to have been put in giles (red) and insisted we march down to the shops and buy some red hair spray, as her already red hair wasn't red enough! haha. we then had to drive to school with towels in the car seats to make sure it didn't get everywhere as it took a while to dry! but she looked sooooo cute!

especially when little brother insisted on having his hair done too. lucky red is his favourite colour, he had plenty of red clothes on hand to support his sister, and even better it was easy to spot him all day long as he ran around with some of the other small kids... all i had to do was look for the streak of red!

♥

at precisely 9am, the kids all marched out on to the school oval, to the blaring sounds of "eye of the tiger" waving their coloured banners and chanting the name of their faction. it was so funny. i couldn't help cracking up, especially remembering that we of course did the same thing when i was in school.

it was pretty uneventful to be perfectly honest, but i had fun chatting with the other mums from maddie's class while we waited for our kids races. maddie ran second in her race, but watching the little video i made for doug to watch, she wasn't even running! she was kind of galloping along, looking from side to side and just taking everything in. i told her that next time, she needs to focus on the finish line and run directly to it, instead of being distracted by what is around her. (side note: how true is that for us in life?! how much easier would we make things for ourselves if we just focused on the finish line and where we need to be, instead of the shiny things around us? i feel as though this will be part of a lesson one day!)

right as the junior carnival was ending, i lost sight of joseph for the first time - then saw him again, just as one of the teachers was about to announce over the pa that they'd found a child. oops! lucky for him though, they'd taken him up to the winners podium so he got to stand up there in glory for a minute!

giles was well in the lead as we left, and we found out at the end of the day that they had won the whole carnival! hooray!

maddie with her 2nd place ribbon. let's hope for first next year! ♥

p.s. all of the factions at her school are named after well known australians in history:

giles - red 

eyre - blue

forrest - green and

gibson - yellow

pretty clever i think!

cookie dough fudge

this deliciousness popped in my facebook new feed today... and upon looking at the ingredients i discovered that i had everything on hand to make it, plus an excellent reason (friends husbands birthday) so i got to work. it smells amazing as you go and i must admit i'm pretty disappointed that i couldn't have a taste (this one contains both gluten and dairy)

it was met with good reviews from my taste testers though, which was broadened to include some of the school mums haha.

apparently i need to make it again, so here is the recipe for future reference... give it a go! (the only thing i changed was that i didn't put extra chocolate chips on top, because i thought that the ones in the mix were enough.) filing that one away for the christmas baking ♥

boho bash

i was invited to the most wonderful gathering last night... my friend debra threw a "boho bash" for some of her closest friends and family. it was such an amazing night and i felt so blessed to have been a part of it. the evening was a chance for us to build each other up, to discuss how we all knew each other and are connected and what we like about each other. in short, why we are "spectacular"



as human beings, and especially as women, i know it is often hard to take a compliment. but hearing someone close to you tell you why they love you and what is special about it, was such a wonderful thing and an awesome confidence boost. i left feeling really good about myself and inspired to do more good things, especially boosting those around me!

debra put together this incredible grazing platter, which was absolutely perfect, so many options for me, with fruit, veggies and even some dairy free chocolate (yay!). we all ate our fill and then talked the night away. what a blessing to be amongst friends and friends of friends. ♥

we even got a little take home gift, a frame with this gorgeous quote printed in it.
"she woke up every morning with the option of  being anyone she wished... how beautiful it was that she always chose herself. - tyler kent white"

cleaning a mattress

i did something dumb when one of my kids was already toilet trained. i took the mattress protector off and when someone was overtired and didn't want to get up, they had a bit of an accident in the bed. it wasn't that bad, but my ocd self tried to dab away with water on the mattress to try and clean it up... and made matters worse. then, every time i change the sheets, it is there, taunting me. today, i decided it was time to do something about it. a few minutes of googling found me some suggestions, with one that included picture results that i was happy with, so i gave it a go. after a quick stop to coles to get peroxide, i made the very simple mixture (which you can find along with proof it works here), attempted to spray it on (was not happening, all my spray bottles weren't coming to the party) and ended up sponging it on with a washcloth. 

but, the results are in... and speak for themselves!! although there are a few spots that it didn't 100% remove (looks like i need to give it round two next time i am changing the sheets), i am so pleased with the results and wish to once again thank my dearest friend, google. 

the chronicles of narnia

when i was a child, i was introduced to the wonderful world of narnia. i am fairly certain my dad read the lion, the witch and the wardrobe to me when i was young... but however it happened, i was hooked. in year 4 i won the book award and was presented with a beautifully bound book containing the first three stories, complete with my beloved the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. that's when i gleefully discovered there was more books to be read. i received the next book in the set, containing books 4 & 5 for my birthday that year from my aunt and uncle, then used my christmas/ birthday (11 days apart) money to get the last book, with the last two stories. over the years i have read them so many times that i've lost count...  and never grown tired of that magical place, where there were talking animals, and woods and well, magic.

i also love that as i have reread the books as an adult i have noticed more and more of the christian symbolism that c.s. lewis wrote into the stories. my favourite part still remains as the conversation susan and peter have with professor kirk in his study about lucy and her "lies". he looks them square in the eyes and says, "either she is mad, which you can see plainly she is not, she is a liar, or she is telling the truth." it is such a huge thing for us in these days with our belief in jesus christ. we are mad, we are lying, or we are telling the truth, that jesus is the christ. i'm not crazy, i'm not lying and i know that he is!

at school we watched the bbc version of tltwtw, which to be brutally honest, wasn't great. people dressed up in animal suits, walking about... giant beavers the size of humans? pass. so, as an adult, i raced off to the movies to see the movie adaption of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe in 2005, then jumped for joy as they brought out prince caspian and then the voyage of the dawn treader in the years that followed. not so secretly i hoped that one day, they would do them all. i loved them. every minute. being able to be in narnia for those few hours was amazing for me! (yes i am a big fat gigantic nerd)

last week, netflix put up the voyage of the dawn treader and i was all over that! watched it that day, then busted out the lion, the witch and the wardrobe the next day, then prince caspian the day after that... then spent that evening complaining to my lovely husband that i just wanted to see the rest. i even went on imdb to see if they had made some terrible 90s version of any of the others, in desperation, hoping for a fix! what i did find, was a listing for the silver chair, which i shrugged off thinking, oh yeah, this is someone's wishful thinking. but. it. wasn't! a little more googling the next day had me come across an actual announcement that another trilogy was indeed set to be made, meaning that all the books except for one, will end up on the big screen! (i can only assume that the one that won't be made into a movie is the horse and his boy, being that it doesn't have any real effect on the outcome of the series as a whole) being that they are being made in order of publication, the silver chair is next and i am so excited! i can hardly wait!!

if you haven't read the books, please do! you will absolutely not regret it!

orange blossom cake

a few months ago when at the dr, i mentioned i constantly felt a little unwell, bloated, tired... and after a little more discussion she thought it could be a food intolerance... and gave me a list of things to cut out, then reintroduce one by one to see what it might be. i think i'm fairly safe knowing it's not fish, nuts, egg or soy - so i've concentrated on removing wheat and dairy.

today marks 3 weeks gluten and dairy free, with the exception of 2 occasions (when we were guests), where i basically ate it because a) i didn't want to be rude and b) obviously i know i don't have an allergy, as they can pick up if you are coeliac with a blood test, and i'm not.

but... here i am... 5kg lighter in that 3weeks!!! so it's obviously agreeing with me! woohoo! i see no reason to give it up at this stage as i'm definitely feeling better... and the losing weight is just an added bonus. the point of this post though, is that basically i've had to do my research into what i can make that i can eat!

anyway... last night we had dinner with friends and i made something "jade friendly..." this gluten free, dairy free, sugar free orange blossom cake that i found online. it was delicious! something i'll totally make again. you can find the recipe here. if you don't mind dairy, top with this yoghurt for some added yumminess! and stay tuned for some other gf df recipes that i've tried and actually liked!

sundays and cheesecake

it was our turn to clean the chapel yesterday... and afterwards i was so proud of our efforts, that i had to take this quick snap of the building while the trees were looking so pretty.

and today, as per usual my kids were looking so damn cute, that i had to get the camera out again... like i need an excuse though. haha. church with kids is always an adventure...

we had friends over for dinner after church and i wanted to make something nice for dessert, so i tried this cheesecake recipe that i've had for ages, but never made!

lemon jelly cheesecake (but this version is mango lemon haha)

100g digestive biscuit crumbs (you could use any plain biscuits - i did)
50g melted butter
1 box lemon jelly (i used mango jelly, hence the mango lemon)
200ml boiling water
1 small lemon (rind and juice)
300g cream cheese (softened)
150ml whipping cream

stir biscuit crumbs into melted butter and press into base of a 20cm spring form tin. refrigerate until needed. dissolve jelly into boiling water, add the lemon rind and juice and cool to the point of setting. whisk jelly into the cream cheese. whip cream until it just holds its shape and fold into the cream cheese mixture. pour over the crumb base and chill for 3 hours minimum until set. can be decorated with fruit to serve.

it was delicious! and as an added bonus, i had everything in the fridge and pantry already. woo! i'll definitely be busting this one out again ♥

opshop rain hail or shine

we opshop rain, hail or shine... but today it was actually hailing as we got close to the mega barn for our first girls day out opshopping. i got sick of the constant comments from my friends that consisted of:
you got that from the opshop?
why didn't you tell me you were going?
how much was that? no wait, let me guess, a dollar?
can you please tell me next time you're going?

so i did. i made an event on facebook and invited about 15 of my gfs, told them that they in turn could invite anyone they wanted and made it happen. only 4 of them ended up coming cause the weather was craaaaaazy, but it was an excellent morning out (as usual, i mean seriously, what weirdo doesn't love to hunt for bargains) and i had a great time.

so did this monkey, who wanted to climb in all the bins and party... what a crack up. definitely my kid! ♥

a relief society lesson on music

just for something different, this sunday we asked our ward organist (who is extremely well trained and educated in music... and teaches it for a full time job) to give us a lesson about the music of the church. what a treat! she does not do things by halves and created this amazing edible grand piano that was demolished after the lesson... taught us basic music knowledge, spoke about the music of the church, the mormon tabernacle choir and to top it all off, finished by having us break into groups and rewrite a primary song, using the tune with our own lyrics. 

what a laugh! our group chose "jesus wants me for a sunbeam" and it went as follows:

relief society makes me happy

to come to church each week

to sit and to learn with our sisters, 

enlightenment we seek.

on sunday, on sunday, 

relief society on a sunday

on sunday, on sunday,

i'll be a sister for him!

the group behind us sang something about i love to see a clean house to the tune of "i love to see the temple." it was hysterical... what a cool game - and an amazing lesson. we are very blessed to have sisters in our ward who are so talented and are willing to share their talents with others! ♥

flowergirl dress on a budget

maddie is going to be a flowergirl again in october! she is so excited and it's super cute... but what to do for the dress. aunty emily said she could wear anything we liked so long as it was navy blue... so i instantly thought of this gorgeous dress i picked up at the mega barn for under a dollar (see pic below). it originally had blue flowers on the bodice, which were coming off (some had been sewn back on, but not very well...) so i removed the rest of them. it left a little mark where each had been, but no worries about that! off to spotlight, where i picked up a pack of navy blue shiny beads for $3, a couple of hours later, one carefully sewn in each place... done! i am so stoked with the result... and 4 dollars later, maddie's dress is sorted!

hooray for opshopping! ♥

the tooth fairy

sassy miss madeline came home from school today and announced that "our tooth fairy isn't as cool as the one that comes to ...'s house! her one leaves a note and glitter and so on. why can't ours do that?" oh my goodness. clearly time to lift my tooth fairy game!

i must admit here, that madeline finally convinced joseph a few days ago it was time to put out his surgically extracted teeth, even though he still wasn't keen on it... but didn't tell me! the next morning she was in our room complaining that the tooth fairy hadn't been. ughhhhhh. i carefully explained that sometimes the tooth fairy gets really busy and can't get to everyone in one night and that they would need to leave them out again and tell me so i could remind her. crisis averted.

this time i was prepared. 

dear joseph

thank you for being so brave at the hospital when they took your teeth out!

i hope you can buy yourself a nice car from big w with this $10. i've given you a little extra as i know your teeth weren't ready to come out.

i also know you didn't want to give me the teeth, so just this once i've left them for your mummy to keep.

love, the tooth fairy

p.s. please tell maddie that i've been on holidays and that my replacement has been given a talking to! how dare she not leave notes or glitter.

oh this being a parent gig is the greatest thing ever. it's truly the best fun i've ever had.