jacob m is three (a paw patrol birthday!)

saturday found joseph and i in clackline in the cold and rain, partying it up at jacobs 3rd birthday! as per usual jen had thrown herself into it all head first and blew everyone away with her hand painted paw patrol background (which i believe was finished at 3am!) and perfectly themed food. she's a winner, that's for sure.

jacob loved his party and was so excited by everything.

jen and the birthday boy

the cake was amazing too, jen never disappoints... here she is with her masterpiece!

♥

it was a fabulous afternoon and we had a great time. thanks for having us jacob! 

the best banana bread

banana bread is one of my favourite things in the whole world and i have spent much of my married and baking life searching for the perfect recipe. 

i can't actually believe that it's taken me this long to post about it here... but last february while staying with my husbands sisters new in-laws in texas, i tasted what i thought was the ultimate banana bread! i asked for the recipe hoping desperately that it was home made and not store bought, which to my delight it was!

i've made it a few times since and it never disappoints! so for future reference... here is what i think is:

 the best banana bread

ingredients:

1 cup white sugar

113 grams soft butter

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas

150g yoghurt (any flavour)

1 teaspoon ground cinammon

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bi-carb soda

1 teaspoon salt

method:

1. preheat oven to 180 deg celcius, grease and line two loaf pans

2. cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

3. in a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a fork. mix in yoghurt and cinnamon.

4. add banana mix to creamed mixture and stir until combined. 

5. add dry ingredients and mix until flour has disappeared

6. pour batter into pans and bake for approx. 45 mins, until skewer comes out clean

so, so yum! please try it!

adapted (changed slightly) and translated to australian temperatures and measurements from here.

memes from the royal wedding

(photo from time.com, absolutely not my pic... i didn't get an invite this time!)

congratulations to the happy couple, what an awesome wedding to watch, especially for my 6 yo daughter who loved every minute of watching a real prince getting married. although there was a lot of criticism surrounding her dress, i thought she looked gorgeous and very classy and her veil? amazing!

everyone that knows me, knows i love a good meme... and events like the royal wedding promise a multitude of giggles on facebook during and in the days after the event. here's a round up of my favourites... so have a laugh on me! 

side note... these are in no way meant to offend... i just think there are some amazingly clever and quickwitted people in this world and wanted to share for some giggles.

guess the dress: a relief society additional meeting

this week we had our additional meeting for may, our first (of hopefully many combined with the young women):

guess the dress

oh my word... it was a hoot! our activities committee collected 18 wedding dresses from sisters of all ages in our ward to be used in a catwalk show. our young women and recently married YA modelled them, and the rest of the sisters attending were given a list of whose they might be, to guess as we went along.

the ward young women president (one of my closest friends - made organising the evening a piece of cake!) and i introduced the evening with the following:

The focus of our evening is to mostly have some fun, and as we the older generation remember our wedding days, we also allow the YW to look forward to theirs. As you know, when you attend a fashion show, you receive a gift bag, so you’ll each find a gift bag on your chair with a few little items to help you through your day.

One of my favourite fashion bloggers: Corinne Stokoe is a member of our faith and gave a beautiful quote when interviewed for a piece a few months back. She said: “Modesty is important to me, not because I feel like I need to be a prude or even just because it was a part of my culture growing up. Modesty is something I choose because to me, it feels classy and timeless. I feel strongly that every time I dress modestly it means I’ll never have to look back on that photo and wish I had exemplified something different for my children, or grandchildren. It might not always be popular or put you at the best chance of succeeding in today’s world, but I choose modesty because it feels most genuinely true to who I really am, and who I’m trying to be, for my family and for my own self worth. Being a lady means to feel confident, classy and comfortable in whatever you choose to wear. Because I’m a lady I choose to dress modestly.”

As you know, we encourage the women of our church to dress modestly, and I couldn’t agree with that statement more. Modesty is not only about respect for your body and your appearance, it’s respect for yourself! I know each of the dresses we will see tonight are a wonderful example of modesty. 

In 2009 the YW general presidency added an 8th value, virtue. Virtue is behaviour showing high moral standards. In Proverbs 31:10 it says: Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. It also says in the 13th Article of Faith: if there is anything virtuous lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. 

Temple marriage or marriage at ALL may not be a possibility for everyone, but it’s something we as members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints strive for. A marriage that lasts beyond this life, and remains for time - and all eternity. If we keep the Temple in our sights, we will achieve great things. A wise man once said, “keep your eyes on the prize and your mind on your goal.” Don’t wait for the right one, BE the right one. 

Thank you all for attending tonight, for the gorgeous girls who will walk down the aisle in our dresses and for you amazing women entrusting your precious memories to be worn by another.

sisters arrived,had a glass of “bubbles” and took a seat by the catwalk, each receiving a gift bag on their chair. (free printable for bag can be found here)

 

each sister also received a wedding favour as she left at the end of the evening, a bag with caramel fudge

after each round we had a reveal via a slideshow on a projector, with wedding photos of each sister, then refreshments (a grazing platter after round one 

and wedding cake after round two - we had our presidency cut the cake then handed it out). 

we also had someone throw a bouquet into the young women and single sisters.

we received one dress which the owner preferred wasn't worn, this was displayed on a mannequin, with a chance to guess the owner and year of her wedding.

it was honestly one of the best activities i’ve ever been to. it was a laugh a minute (especially as we discovered some of our young women had quite the dramatic streak) with memories galore. well worth the effort.

mother’s day pamper morning

i have a love/hate relationship with mother's day pamper mornings at the school. this time around was no exception. monday morning my sweet boy skipped into class with me and then...

at his instruction, i rubbed some hand cream into my own hands, seven times, painted my own nails (i was smart and brought along my own clear polish this year... sneaky!)

i had my hair brush for approximately twelve seconds...

and then helped joseph thread coloured pasta onto a piece of string that amazingly i got to keep.

i guess you'd call that a success? mum life strikes again. but no matter what, i love his little face. so so much.

mother’s day 2018

i got some lovely gifts for mother's day this year, including getting to make and eat my own breakfast in peace, because no one else woke up until almost 8am!



doug surprised me with this lovely ring and also got me a denim jacket i'd been eyeing off (i know, i know, it's new? how dare i? well, i looked unsuccessfully for weeks prior to suggesting it to him... i just could not find one in the opshop and gave up in the end. which means, of course i'll probably find one next week.) from "the kids." i love it! maddie insisted on buying me a gift when we were out shopping one day and got me the mug, which i approved so she could use my money haha. 

and this little kindy monkey gave me a painting, a decorated dinner plate and a bookmark that he had made all by himself at school! So cute!

and so proud of himself, even cuter!

i love being a mum to these tiny people we made and wouldn't give it up for anything, it's the greatest job in the world.

but... mum still needs her space and i'm not going to lie... this is me most days by bedtime.

happy mother's day to all my mum friends out there!

mother’s day ward gifts

mother's day calls for a treat for each of the mothers in our ward... and this year it was up to me to do them again, so i picked something i thought was awesome... in the hopes that everyone would! we have a few sisters in our ward who are strictly gluten free and a few vegans, so i chose yummy cookies (coles ultimate choc-chip cookies, side note, if you haven't tried them, you should - they are delicious!!) that had a gf option (which you can find here), and once it was cookies, it was easy to deviate a little to other cookies and have oreos as well for the vegans, as believe it or not, the plain ones are vegan by ingredient. unexpected seeing as they are the original "milk and cookies" cookie.

i found this gorgeous little printable on pinterest (thank you to whoever made and posted it online!) and printed them two to a photo print at our local big w photo shop

then bagged them into little bags ($1 for 30 from our local reject shop) and tied them off with curling ribbon

so easy... and yum! can't wait to hand them out on sunday. ♥

my all time favourite opshop buy

all of my friends know i am an addicted opshopper, so i am often asked what my all time greatest bargain has been. there has been many things i've loved over time, but i must admit, this takes out first place. many years ago at the salvation army jumble sale in york (i mean before madeline was even born and i used to make road trips out with my girlfriends) i picked up this gorgeous tooled leather satchel bag. its just the right size to hold my purse, sunglasses, keys and lippie. and... it cost me a grand total of about 20c. not even lying. it was back in the day when it was fill a bag for $5 and upon counting up my haul that day, my average cost was about that. i can't remember exactly (so long ago!) but definitely well under a dollar.

i have used it and used it and i can guarantee that without fail, every time i use it, someone will ask where i got it from. makes for a few sad faces when they discover it was opped many years ago. i have used it so much in fact, that last year, one of the studs holding the handle in place broke and i had to pay ten odd dollars to have it replaced, which enraged me, but even with that, it's still the best bargain i've ever had. no doubt about it!

poppy’s birthday

we are so lucky to have doug's parents living close to us. it's a 8 minute drive between our houses and the kids love it, as we can just drop around whenever we like. it also means they've able to grow up seeing their grandma and poppy a few times a week. 

as much as the kids love to tease steve and call him grumpy old poppy, we know they love him like crazy and love to be around him. he has a great sense of humour and is a lot of fun.

last night we celebrated the old man getting a little bit older, with family dinner, followed by cuddles from the kids and cake. what's better than that?! ♥

pass it on

this morning i went to get something out of my handbag, which i hadn't used since sunday, only to find this little bag in there. i was so thrilled, i love things like this! i can't wait to refill it and pass it on. what a gorgeous idea! ♥

temple saturday

saturday morning started the best way possible by going to the 7am temple session with my mother in law. this picture was taken at 6:43am... after getting up at 5:45am, which for me was a trial in itself because i am not a morning person... at all.

but it was worth it, of course and it made the rest of my day a breeze.

"When a temple is conveniently nearby, small things may interrupt your plans to go to the temple. Set specific goals, considering your circumstances, of when you can and will participate in temple ordinances. Then do not allow anything to interfere with that plan. This pattern will guarantee that those who live in the shadow of a temple will be as blessed as are those who plan far ahead and make a long trip to the temple.

I encourage you to establish your own goal of how frequently you will avail yourself of the ordinances offered in our operating temples. What is there that is more important than attending and participating in the ordinances of the temple? What activity could have a greater impact and provide more joy and profound happiness than worshipping in the temple?" (quote found here)

since i made a commitment to attend the temple once a month in january 2016, things have been different. i know where i am meant to be and throught making a commitment, making sure i am there is easier. ♥