school pyjama day!

half the fun of having kids in primary school is the fun days that come along with it... yesterday was "wear your pjs to school day" and they looked adorable! complete with their bathrobes... i just wanted to snuggle them all day!

we even had a spontaneous dance party with their little friends after school in the car. what cute kids! pjs and friends, with a dash of music? what could possibly be more fun?! ♥

joseph's semester 1 kindy open day

little joseph had his semester one kindy open day yesterday, to give us as parents a chance to look at their portfolios, have a chat to their teachers and have a bit of fun!

my cute boy and i ♥

joseph is loving school and we are so proud of him, he is always so happy to spell (we have two sets of letter cutters and he is constantly spelling words all over the house with them), count (he can count well into the 300s!!!) and write. what a clever cookie. mind you, all the credit goes to his big sister maddie who is so obsessed with school (and playing school) herself that she barely leaves him alone!

i am so proud of his writing especially... he could barely do his name at the beginning of the year, now look at him go!

we love our little man! ♥

questionnaires with the kids

i have done this with the kids before and was left in stitches with the answers... it came up in my facebook memories recently, so i thought i'd try again...

Without any prompting, ask your child these questions.

• What is your name? Joseph

• How old are you? 4

• When is your birthday? 20th

• How old is Dad? 27

• How old is Mum? Thirtttttty I don't know

• What is your favourite colour? Red

• What is your favourite food? Broccoli

• Who is your best friend? Dom

• What is your favourite song? From Cars 3

• What is your favourite animal? A donkey. They are really funny.

• What are you scared of? The movie Black Panther

• What makes you happy? I'm thinking what it is

• Where's your favourite place to go? Big W

• What do you want to be when you grow up? Be like dad

• What's Mum's favourite thing to do? Wash and clean the house

• What's Dad's favourite thing to do? Look at cards

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• What is your name? Madeline

• How old are you? 6

• When is your birthday? 11th July

• How old is Dad? 37

• How old is Mum? 34

• What is your favourite colour? Mint

• What is your favourite food? Fairy floss

• Who is your best friend? Alice and Ella

• What is your favourite song? Someday from Zombies

• What is your favourite animal? I don't like a donkey, sloths and fluffy little bunnies

• What are you scared of? Halloween

• What makes you happy? Cuddles and kisses and my toys

• Where's your favourite place to go? Livvi's place

• What do you want to be when you grow up? A ballerina on stage and a Disney on ice skater twirling and I want to be a pancake

• What's Mum's favourite thing to do? Growl

• What's Dad's favourite thing to do? Play Nintendo and look at his cards

let's check back in another few years! ♥

curried lentil soup

a few weeks ago (when we were rehearsing a musical item for our ward conference) my friend kate made this delicious soup and served it up to us on a rainy day. it is so yum, that i had to get the recipe and have already made it again since... you should totally try it!

curried red lentil soup

1 tablespoon oil (i used coconut)

1 diced brown onion

1 teaspoon minced ginger

3 teaspoons minced garlic

squeeze of lemon juice

1 tablespoon mild curry powder

1 1/2 cups dried red lentils

1 can diced tomatoes

4 cups liquid chicken stock (i used the vegan brand)

1 can coconut milk

chopped coriander leaves

1. heat oil in large saucepan. cook onion, garlic and ginger for 3-5 minutes until onion is soft. add curry powder and cook until fragrant.

2. add lentils, tomatoes, squeeze of lemon, stock and coconut milk. bring to the boil. reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until soup has thickened and lentils are cooked.

3. spoon into bowls with a little sour cream, top with chopped coriander and serve with crusty bread. 

original recipe pre kate's modifications can be found here 

disney on ice 2018

the tradition continues... every year since madeline was two, we have gone to disney on ice together! we love it, it's a special night out for the two of us, we get dressed up and sing our heads off. sometimes it's just the two of us, sometimes we take other friends... this year we went with aunty dom.

(side note... anyone that knows me, knows i hate to spend money. there are lots of cool things to buy at disney on ice, but they are just soooo expensive. this year i saved myself a cool 20 odd dollars per person by grabbing these glow stick mickey ears from the local reject shop for $1.50 a pair. maddie has learnt over time that i just won't buy anything unless it's super cheap (so something really small) and although she does like to have a look at what's on offer, she doesn't really ask or get upset when i won't buy her any of the souvenirs they have at the show. phew!)

my happy girl and i

all of the photos!

took me a while of convincing, but somehow i got her to wear her flowergirl dress from aunty niques's wedding... she was a bit taken aback when i suggested she pair it with her pink converse, but threw them on quick smart (i think she thought i was going to change my mind haha) and was good to go. so glad that dress has been worn more than once!

i was chuffed with the show this year (other than the fact they always spend so long on frozen... i mean seriously, we get it, it's on the ice, the movie involves ice, yeah yeah, moving along - can't wait until they are over it!!) when they included friend like me from aladdin with 20 skating genies!! ohhh i love aladdin so much!

and they did some scenes from mulan! pictured is let's get down to business. yayyyyy!

as usual there was a finale full of princesses... i love it! disney, you've done it again. can't wait for next year - i have my fingers crossed for moana to make an appearance! ♥

little baby kendall

well, here he is! baby kendall number 3.
currently cooking at 37 degreees celcius, pictured here at 19 weeks and 4 days. we had the ultrasound tech in fits, when he told us that the baby had a well formed spine, doug said "well he's obviously not a goodlet, they are all spineless." to which i retorted with "well i don't know how he even has a heart at all if it's a kendall!" 

mixed with a few jokes about calling him peralta (after jake peralta from brooklyn 99, which we love - and was cancelled that morning, but has thankfully been refunded and will be back on air) the tech said he wasn't going to forget us anytime soon. oops. at least we made him laugh though.

we are pleased to report though that everything is going well. he (yes it's a baby boy! which i know i am safe to announce on here seeing as about 4 people read my blog haha) is measuring correctly, has all his fingers and toes and is cute as a button already.

we can't wait to meet you little one!

we're having a baby!

so... for those of you who don't already know... and i know there are a lot of you, because we have barely told anyone - we are having a baby!! another baby kendall is heading our way, due october 1st! we are so excited... especially these kids, who are just beside themselves with joy. we told them just over a month ago (on mothers day) and madeline has nearly died trying to keep it to herself, whereas joseph is a little more chilled about it.

for those of you who are wondering why we've gone back for another one? well, it's simple. i could always picture myself holding another baby. when i thought about life, there was another kid in the picture - and sometimes i'd have both kids ready to go somewhere and think i need to get the other, hang on, i only have two of them! so i prayed and prayed about it, but never seemed to get an answer. but over time i realised something. i wasn't getting a no and it was a decision i needed to make. so i did and here we are with baby kendall number 3 on its way.

the two most excited kids i know, currently trying to choose a name... some of the suggestions thrown our way were justin, hunter and adrian. ummm what? okay, we'll see.

emma's bonfire party

my beautiful niece emma turns 10 today! to celebrate, she had a "bonfire party" yesterday at their home in the perth hills. their house backs onto bushland and is just gorgeous, with plenty of places to explore! my brother jared had dragged a whole pile of wood up to the bottom line of their property and after a lot of effort from him, my nephew ben and a little accelerant, they got it going for the girls to sit by as they ate their dinner.

maddie having a swing out into the bush (cropped out: the trampoline from which you run and jump for your swing), which she loved. she's such a little daredevil!

jared and dad chilling by the fire... it was so good to lay there with the two of them and have a laugh, it reminded me of days on the farm as kids. i love winter... and i am so excited for the months to come.

we are pretty frigging lucky to live where we do... i wouldn't change it for anything. ♥

some great advice

i saw this online this week and thought it was amazing! such good advice. i've saved it for later, perhaps for a relief society lesson or part of an activity... but i just think it's great! there are so many times in life that we'll be placed in situations that we don't want to be in, and these may just be the trick to pull ourselves out. ♥

wa day in fremantle

we spent the day in fremantle with some new friends today who recently moved to ellenbrook. we went from place to place with our five kids and had a great time! pictured above are the five of them, chilling on some local art, just seconds before some random "local photographer" came and started yelling at us to get them down... complaining that we should have obeyed the rules on the sign, which was a4 size and attached to the back, completely out of view. what a nong. needless to say we got them out of there pretty quickly after that.

we stopped off at my favourite shop... the pickled fairy - to start a new generation of little girls loving the place as much as i did! here they are, making wishes with one of the resident fairies ♥

lunch at cicerellos... as good as ever

made for some happy kids!

and of course, a trip to fremantle wouldn't be complete without a trip to the markets.

so. much. fun!

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on the way home, we quickly stopped in to see my grandfather joseph... he was one of the greatest people in my life and i love to tell my kids stories about him. i hope he will bear his name well and make him proud.  

a hot date to the mega barn

there's nothing better than a good trip to the mega barn with a friend... and today was no exception. i got some awesome stuff, including three pairs of heels, an amazing pair of jeans (took a chance on them that paid off, they had been run in - and after spending the better part of an hour unpicking it all, they fit like a glove) a gorgeous tutu skirt that i'm putting away for madeline's birthday and some other great stuff. 

for those who came in late... the good sammy's mega barn is located at: 33 bannister road canning vale, open from 10-4 monday - saturday. clothing is sold by the kilo and generally ends up being around 70c - $1 per piece. it has ruined me completely for going to other opshops, because it's so damn cheap! if you haven't been yet... get on it.