alex's baby book

for each of my children i have been very careful in keeping a baby book where month by month i print a photo of them in the same place in the same outfit so we can watch how much they grow. a lovely friend of my mothers called chris, made joseph a book when he was born, so after i made his i felt obligated to do one for madeline because i knew one day she'd be asking too. i asked chris to make madeline one, which she did, then delivered it with a third book, saying oh here's one more, just in case. haha.

so here is my just in case book, made for baby alexander, made over two days, doing nothing else! luckily doug was home, so i actually got it done. i am super proud, because the whole time i am making them i haaaaaaate doing it, but when it's done, i am obsessed.

i am loving flicking through it and reading back over everything i wrote down while we were in hospital when he was freshly born and the weeks that followed. i am so glad i have taken the time to make all three of them.

see! how cute is it?!

we are all up to date, ready to add more pages in as he grows and i couldn't be more excited about it. the big kids love looking back through theirs and hopefully one day alex will too. ♥

op til you drop

i washed our sheets and remade the bed yesterday and while everything was looking so pretty snapped a picture... i know so many people who still have this idea that everything from the opshop is smelly and old and gross. you know what, sometimes it is, but mostly, it's not. for example, everything on this bed is second hand, other than the sheets (that you can't see anyway). the doona cover is from sheridan australia, but i snapped it up at the morley good sammy's store for $2, the cushion was $1 from the good sammy's mega barn, and the pillow cases were from st. richards guild in midland for $1 each, whilst they were still current stock at bed bath n table. mum snapped them up a couple of years ago, but is yet to have a turn.

let's go further. my actual bed frame was given to me by a friend (who knew i was after a white one) when she got a new one. bed side tables were $20 for the pair one one of the local buy sell swap pages, painted to suit my room, with crystal knobs from ebay. even the amazing patterned glass bedside lamps (unfortunately out of the shot) were an absolute steal from the salvos store local to my parents house. 

so for all you people who don't opshop, i ask you again, why not? this should be more than enough motivation for you! ♥

princess diaries

we had my sister in law and two of my three nieces (one had duties at another castle, that of the burger king) over tonight to watch the princess diaries. it's been a family favourite for many years (my oldest niece can still recite it from her childhood!) and we had a great time watching and laughing together. i love spending time with them and maddie thinks it's the best thing ever having them here. we always say we should do it more often, so we are trying to! donna and i had been sending each other memes in the lead up and she me this one the morning of, telling me to drive safely to school haha.

here's our little night owls, up wayyyyy past their bedtimes after the movie (and a bunch of funny youtube clips) had finished, trying to get just '10 more minutes" before emma had to leave.

i made "whatever you can find in the fridge" pizzas with wholemeal bases from coles that i had frozen. chicken, zucchini, pineapple, olives, sundried tomatoes, champignons, feta cheese and capsicum. whatever works hey? and the combination turned out to be quite good. 

hooray for family night! ♥

baked nachos

a favourite dinner in our house, which we have probably once a fortnight (more often if joseph gets his way!) is nachos. they are super yum (and easy and even somewhat healthy!) so i am more than happy to make them for him. they are easy to throw together last minute and a great option if i need to take dinner around for someone (that's what happened this time, please note the foil tray!)

baked nachos

1 diced onion

250g mince (500g if you're not adding grated veggies)

1/2 zucchini grated

1 carrot grated

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can baked beans

1/2 sachet mexican seasoning (1/2 is fine for us, use a whole one if you like)

1 bag plain corn chips (you can use seasoned, i'm not a fan)

grated cheese to top

*optional, sour cream and avocado to serve

1. fry onion, add mince and fry until brown

2. add grated vegetables and fry until they are soft and mixed in well

3. add tomatoes and beans and stir to combine

4. add seasoning and allow to simmer for 5 or so minutes

it will look something like this!

5. pour chips into dish and evenly spread mixture over the top

6. top with cheese and bake until cheese is melted and going brown

serve immediately before the chips get too soggy. we top with sour cream and avocado.

i love making these as they are just so easy to do. plus, it's so easy to modify the recipe...

it's gluten free and dairy free prior to cheese and sour cream, can be made meatier by adding extra mince and less vegetables and can even be made vegetarian by leaving out the meat and adding more veggies. there's something for everyone. enjoy!

the best banana bread ever

in my opinion, there are a few recipes that every girl needs to have to make it through life. 

number 1: an amazing carrot cake (with cream cheese icing of course!)

number 2: awesome chocolate chip cookies

number 3: to die for brownies

and

number 4: the best banana bread

i wouldn't be lying if i said i spent a lot of time looking for them. i had the first three, but needed the last one... when i was in america, staying with my sister in laws (my husbands sister), sister in law (my husbands sisters husbands sister), weird yes i know... but it gets better, their sister in law (another brothers wife) turned up with banana bread. it was spectacular. i was almost frightened to ask for the recipe, because if it was store bought, i was going to be devastated. thankfully it was not, the recipe was from food network here, just slightly modified and with a little googling, we made it australia friendly. because seriously, a cup of butter? a stick of butter? fahrenheit? pass.

anyway, here it is here! i promise you it's the best banana bread you'll ever have! every single time i make it, someone asks for the recipe, which is hilarious because i went to america 2 and a half years ago and still haven't shared it. it's super yum!

banana bread 

ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar

113g butter, room temperature

2 eggs

3 ripe bananas

150g any flavour yoghurt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

1 teaspoon salt

directions

preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius (160 fan forced). prepare a loaf pan. 

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

in a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. mix in the yoghurt and cinnamon. add to butter mix. add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix to combine. 

pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. 

lego bricks and pieces

i know after this week i am officially a lego mum. oh my word. joseph has been super lucky and well loved by friends and family over the past couple of years and has received many lego sets, much to his delight - and as a mum, i have to say i've been well impressed with him. he's been very careful with the pieces and has rebuilt the sets over and over and over. he is absolutely lego obsessed. bonus, he likes to follow the instructions and do it "right."

however. he is only five years old now and over time, a few pieces have been misplaced... so doug and i decided we would do something about storage and replacing the pieces that went missing. doug went through and rebuilt every single set, which was not an easy task, especially with said five year old wanting to "help" the entire time, which mostly consisted of him hoarding the pieces doug needed. each of the sets went into a large ziplock bag with the manual once complete and i wrote down any missing pieces (amazingly only 11 in total from all of them) using the set code and then brick codes found in the back of each of the manuals, before each of those bags went into a storage tub. he is now playing nicely by the rules of one set at a time and is thrilled to have a system (he's obviously been brainwashed by his very ocd parents, because he is just as particular as us), so when he is does, he brings it to one of us to "zip up" and then he puts it away before choosing another. funniest thing is, some of the zip lock bags have arrows to show how to close them. heaven forbid that you close them sliding the arrows the wrong way. he has a fit! "no! no mum! slide it the way it says!" such a little character.

anddddd, you can order single pieces online from lego.com. does everyone know that?! massive thanks to my friend for that tip off a few years ago. all of the pieces we needed, minus one, which was part of a disney cars lego set were available, but that was an easy solve... we ordered the same piece, without the dinoco print across it! so easy to do and our lego boy is thrilled to pieces.

heads up though, if you're in australia, the postage is outrageous! $15 for those 11 tiny pieces!i keep reminding myself that i'm the one that wanted them and as it's a demand thing that they can charge whatever they want haha. andddd it's not quick. i ordered in april and they came earlier this week. be prepared for a long wait. but it's done, they are here and everyone is happy.

hooray for lego! 

mothers day 2019

i seriously love my kids and am obsessed with them to the point that it's actually ridiculous. i can't live without them, but most days i feel like i can't really live with them either! but like i said, i love them - and that alone keeps me going. looking at this adorable photo certainly helps too. my husband who generally can't take a photo to save himself snapped this with barely any effort and now i am seriously suspicious of him. has he been lying all this time whilst secretly practicing his photography skills to impress me at a time like this?

in my opinion mother's day is the most ridiculous day of the year. feel free to change my mind. but when i still have to be a mum on the day i am meant to be appreciated and not do anything, it really seems pointless. i joked to one of the ladies at church today that the best thing anyone could ever get for mother's day would be 24 hours away from their kids. she laughed loudly and said she understood what i was saying only too well.  it probably doesn't help that alex hasn't been sleeping... all i really wanted for mother's day was a sleep-in or a nap. strangely enough, i got neither one.

the kids rushed in first thing in the morning to give me gifts which was amazing! our school p&c organised a stall with gifts purchased from a supplier, which cost between $2 and $6. i sent my kidlets in with their money and they picked what they wanted to get me! best idea ever!

joseph chose me this gorgeous necklace. i seriously love it and am so impressed with him! madeline got me a thermos mug. she loved it so much and was so excited to give it to me. i better start drinking hot drinks i guess, because it is also very cute.

i also got a card and a phone holder joseph made in class as well as an "about my mum" paper

my mum is 35 years old. her favourite food is rocky road (not wrong, but not my favourite thing) and she likes to drink water. when i am at school my mum looks after the baby. i think my mum looks the most beautiful when she wears a dress. 

what a little love!

maddie's class filled out one of those too:

my mum is 35 years old. her favourite food is honey chicken (true!) and she likes to drink juice. when i am at school my mum looks after my baby brother alex. i think my mum looks the most beautiful when she goes out. 

pretty spot on, both of them!

this had me in fits though... a report card about my mum. singing, cooking, cleaning, driving and cuddles... all A+, with a C+ for jokes. i am so offended haha. there i was thinking i was funny but in reality i think she got it right with her comment. 

knock knock. who's there? mum. mum who? best mum ever! 

not going to lie, that's absolutely something i would say!

my little haul from maddie. the bookmark is adorable too!

my favourite part of the day though, was finally being able to have my watercolour painting doug let me order from love stax. she is here in perth and paints the most gorgeous pictures from a photo in her own style. i sent her our family shot from alex's blessing day and here's what she did with it. i love it so much and am so thrilled with it!

dinner with dougs mum. i love to make things look fancy, something i definitely learned from my mother!

happy mother's day! you're all doing an amazing job!♥

baby alexander: seven months old

baby alexander is now seven months older and cuter than ever!

during the last month:

-whenever we would give him a spoon of food, he would suck his thumb as if he needed it to swallow what was in his mouth hahaha 

-he has a tickly spot on your back below his armpits and giggles non stop when we tickle him there.

-when someone sits him up, he can sit up leaning forward for balance, for brief periods before he topples over

-he is now sitting in the high chair and can be involved in a lot more because he is at our height

-he has often been caught sucking his big toes like a thumb and it is so funny!

-he is pushing himself backwards on the floor until he gets his legs stuck under furniture. 

and he finally cut his first two teeth!!!!

baby alex, you are so so loved!

exploring with the kids

it never ceases to amaze me just how many parks there are in ellenbrook. i read somewhere once that the aim is for there to be one within 600m of every house... it can't be far wrong. i took the sister missionaries to a local park to have pictures earlier this week and when we were there stumbled upon around a dozen painted rocks. there was a huge trend of painted rocks being hidden in parks (you can read about it here) around western australia and although it's not as common any more, you can still find them. i knew the kids would be thrilled to pieces, so i decided to take them exploring. 

the park doesn't have a name on the map that i can see, but is surrounded by the broadway, elmridge parkway, farmaner parkway and addingham drive. it has a real bushland feel, with paths through trees and a creek, plus a (pretty murky) lake. but it was fun to explore and the kids were even more excited when they went off the path and discovered a fairy door too! (another craze that came along with the rocks, you can read about that one here)

there is no play equipment in this park, it's more of a nature playground, but this old tree has been placed in a sandpit for climbing and the kids had plenty of fun on there.

take a photo of me mum! with pleasure ♥

we spent a good couple of hours wandering and it was so nice to see them occupying themselves with nature. i grew up in the country, well before ipads and youtube and barely even watched television... because there was always something better to do. living in the suburbs doesn't really offer that.

one of the cute rocks we found and rehid, a bright blue ladybug.

ellenbrook, we love you! ♥

butterscotch cake: happy birthday steve!

it is my amazing father-in-laws birthday today and i definitely want to give him a mention. he has been through so much in the last few years and is still hanging on like a champ. i won't lie and say he's an ever cheerful beacon of hope, because he has bad days. days when he wants us to all go away and you know what, that's fair. but. i love him and i can't stand the thought of losing him, so i will continue to be a cheerleader for him and help him keep on keeping on through his cancer and all the downs that come with it.

he is a great man. we get along wonderfully, forever stirring each other and bickering over nothing, but we love to make trouble together. i am so glad he is a part of my life and even more glad that he and oli took a chance and moved here 3 and a half years ago. having them here with us has been the best thing ever.

best of all, he loves the blues brothers just as much as our family does and was thrilled with his birthday present, a scale model of the "bluesmobile."

stevey boy, i love you. that's all there is to it.

happy birthday fil! ♥

*******************************************

i used one of my favourite recipes from mum to make him a butterscotch cake and it was delish!

butterscotch cake

ingredients:

57g butter

1 egg

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

butterscotch topping to fill

whipped cream and

chopped walnuts to top

method:

cream butter and sugar

add egg, syrup and vanilla and mix to combine

add dry ingrdients, then milk and mix again

spread into a well greased pan

bake at 180 degrees celcius (160 fan forced) for 30 mins

cool and fill with butterscotch fillling, then cover top with whipped cream

and decorate with walnuts

butterscotch filling:

mix 1 1/2 tablespoons cornflour 

with 1/4 cup brown sugar in a saucepan

slowly add 1 cup milk

stir over low heat until thick

add a dash of vanilla essence and 1 tablespoon of butter

cool and then beat well before using

temple nights

quite unexpectedly doug was home today which meant after picking the kids up from school i could rush over to the temple and do the 4pm session. game changer, because it meant i could be back for dinner and in time to tend to the grizzly baby who wants a feed before bed and does not like the bottle. 

the last few weeks have been a struggle, we have been stressing with all the appointments and hospital visits for doug's parents and it was so nice to be there in the peace and calm for a few hours. it was exactly what i needed. 

for those of you who may stumble across this and are not members of our faith, we do not attend the temple for a weekly meeting. we attend as often as we can (some weekly, some once a month, some less often - just whatever we can personally manage) to perform sacred ordinances first for ourselves and then on behalf of others who have passed on before having the chance to do them for themselves or perhaps before ever having a chance to learn of the gospel of jesus christ. we often attend to witness a marriage of friends or family members, or a sealing, which binds family members together for eternity, allowing them to remain together after this life. many are under the impression that the ordinances we perform are a secret. not so. we do not speak of them publicly as they are sacred in nature and should only be discussed within the temple. it is a place where we can go to feel close to the lord and to be able to take our troubles and receive inspiration and personal revelation. it is the place we believe we can be closest to the lord on earth and brings us so much peace. how grateful i am to live so close to a little piece of heaven, the perth australia temple. ♥

the unicorn squad

some of the girls in maddie's grade at school have gotten together and formed a club that they refer to as the "unicorn squad." i'm not entirely sure what the point of it is, but i (along with the other mums) think it is adorable and love to see them having fun together. we walked to school with two of the other girls this morning and i couldn't resist snapping this picture of them, with their pastel backpack goodness, just before we reached the school. 

life is so much better with friends... 

and i am grateful every single day that she has good ones ♥