chocolate nativities

every year we make a christmas built treat with the pinker family. it started off as ginger bread houses, then progressed to tim tam cabins and now we are on to chocolate nativity scenes, which we found the idea for here. (cannot reccomend enough reading this post before starting, as although i have listed what you need here, it is so much easier to assemble your scenes with instructions, than trying to work it out from my pictures.)

you will need: 

1 Block of Cadbury Chocolate (or a ribbed chocolate block)

3 thin Blocks of Dark Chocolate

1 Packet of Starburst Babies – for Baby Jesus

1 pack of Mini Flakes – for Jesus manger and decoration

1 Packet of Jelly Babies for Mary, Joseph and the Three Wise Men 

1 Packet of Chocolate Melts

1 Packet of Changs Noodles – for the hay

1 Pretzel Star or Frozen Cereal Star

i actually cannot tell you how excited i am that the original poster was an aussie, so for once in our lives everything is available to us instead of having to find substitutions.

so then we built! maddie and uncle theron teamed up 

and so did joseph and aunty dom and it was a war, with an instagram poll to determine the winner.

i must admit, the stables were pretty impressive and the way they were all mapped out, to be assembled with melted chocolate was awesome. the kids loved making them!

i love this photo of joseph too. he caught me trying to get a decent shot of his nativity and quickly jumped in to photobomb it. what a cutie!

they looked so cool when they were finished and i would say that's another activity well executed. they loved it!

happy days!

dom's birthday

today was aunty dom's birthday and we headed out for breakfast with the pinker crew at maison st honore, her favourite! it is seriously one of the best places to eat in the swan valley, with french pastries galore (i am obsessed with their macarons) and crepes, croissants... so many yummy things. i know i say this all the time, but we are so lucky having all these amazing things to see, do and eat on our doorstep.

i am trying so hard to teach joseph to be a little gentleman, so we went and bought flowers for aunty dom before going off to brekfast. he presented them to her with a flourish and she was thrilled. they were worth every penny! we love dom so very much, she is an amazing aunty to the kids and we are so lucky to have her in our lives.

and just cause it's so cute, here's a pic of the little man drinking his babycino ♥

thanksgiving 2017

there are so many things in life to be thankful for... so people can question all they want why we are celebrating thanksgiving here in australia while it's hot outside and definitely not winter, but each year we have thanksgiving with the pinker family and love every minute.

after dinner, we go around the table and each person tells everyone else what they are thankful for. i was particularly thrilled this year for my very un-gushy husband to say he was thankful for me! i personally am grateful for friends that are family! i also said openly, that no matter how badly i miss my grandfather joseph, i am so grateful that through him passing away, we met the pinker family. i needed someone to play the piano for me when i sang at his funeral, someone suggested i call the stake organist, which was taui... and here we are, 10 years later!

doug and i loving thanksgiving dinner!

my pumpkin pie which i sadly didn't get to eat any of this year... i didn't want to punish everyone by making it gluten and dairy free

and taui's pav, there is a piece missing because he made me a df piece. what a gem. i was into that faster than he could cut the rest. 

and the traditional thanksgiving selfire. aren't we an attractive bunch?

happy thanksgiving everyone! i know i certainly have plenty to be thankful for ♥