15/52

 Him: A chat with the black swans that joined us for a short time on the river.

Her: Sailing beauty

My 52 weeks Project

Joining in with Jodi's Project.

Thursday Thankful List {on Friday}

* Extra cash to splurge

* Soccer pre season social mornings

* A flood of ideas on the WWW

* Easter treats made and packed

* A new Vegetable garden full of Winter seedlings

* Time with my sister on a shared passion.

* That my bike riding husband had that particular day off.

* Caring mates who called to check

* 9 year old boys who like their hair cut a certain way.

* Bargains on bargains at the op shop

* The excitement and anticipation of the annual Easter egg hunt.

* Two weeks school holidays just on the doorstep.

* A brave little guy after a couple of "stacks" this week.

* People in my life who are great at organising.

#456 Celebrating a nephew who turns 17 ( how can that be already)

My other lists are here

 

Ten On Ten - April Edition

1. Start the day right...head right everything else will fall in to place

2.End of Term...last day of playgroups.....Easter bunny masks to be made.

3. The highlight ...getting ready for the annual playgroup Easter egg Hunt.

4.Counting out 5 little eggs

5. Hunting with friends

6. Enjoying just 1 of the spoils.

7. No chocolate to be found here.

8. Friendly lot they are.

9.Won't be long before the Mulberry has no leaves on it.

10. A new haircut...choosing his own style these days.

Joining in with Rebekah for ten photos over ten hours on the tenth of the month

 

 

Easter Treats

With Easter nearly upon us and the end of the school term arriving I needed to make some little gifts for my playgroup helpers . They do such a great job every week...so a little thank you gift was in order.

I made little bunnies using this pattern   , caught me some little bunny tails and packed them all up with a little bit of chocolate and chocolate drinking mix.

We even made one up for Fraser's teacher too.

Joining in with Show and Tell

Around Here

Just popping in to say hello.......

It has been a bit crazy around here......not much margin in any of our lives......school holidays are nearly here....

While I was working at the polling place all day Saturday, "my boys" were finishing off our latest veggie garden...we turned some of our grassed area around our Lemonade and Orange tree into a plot for vegetables.

Lots of winter types that hopefully will grace our plates over the coming months.

How is life for you....ready for the cooler months? Already on school holidays? Plenty of margin in your day to day living?Done any Winter gardening?

14/52

Him : A rugby game at lunchtime in the school yard.

Her: Mooching around in MY pants...can you believe that!

My 52 weeks project

Joining in with Jodi's project

Thursday Thankful List

* Good soaking rains.

* Busy Bees, where many hands make light work.

* Giving away an abundance of eggs.

* Family afternoon teas to celebrate birthdays.

* Climbing into bed after a long day.

* Cloudy , dark, still quiet Mondays.

* Text messages from friends to check up.

* Slipper wearing weather.

* Warm Banana bread straight from the oven and a peppermint tea.

* Snakes in beds for April Fools.

* A non cook dinner - AKA take away.

* Book recommendations that can be found at the library.

* A handwritten thank you note received in the mail. 

#441 One more week till school holidays.

My other lists can be found here.

Not Just any old cake recipe

 Most of the yummiest recipes I have and cook, come from tasting something that one of my wonderful mums bring to playgroup for sharing at morning teas.......

This one is no exception.....it caught my attention because it is gluten free and having someone in my extended family who fits that bill sounded good to me.

One draw back...I don't have a Thermomix and this was a recipe that required one.....insert sad face....that was until one of those lovely mums searched a non Thermomix version.....

and it did not disappoint.........it was a hit for the birthday cake needed for the weekend.....Let me share in case you too want to indulge in a delicious, gluten free, talking point chocolate cake.....

The Magic Bean Cake (AKA Kidney Bean Chocolate Cake)

1 x 420g can kidney beans, drained

1 tablespoon water or coffee

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

70g unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

125g butter

5 eggs

180g sugar

In a food processor, puree the beans, water/coffee, 1 egg and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

Combine butter and sugar in a food processor or using an electric beater, until pale and fluffy.

Add the remaining eggs one at a time, processing or beating well after each addition.

Add bean mixture and process or beat until combined.

Add sifted cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix well.

Pour batter into a 22cm greased round or ring pan and bake for approximately 35 minutes at 180 C . The cake will spring back when touched and skewer will come out clean when cooked.

(recipe found here) 

There was not much left.....even after they found out what the main ingredient was.

Weekend Snippets

* Some gardening unearthed what could belong to a "minimoy."..or maybe a long lost and long ago played with Barbie shoe.

* The rains came.....

*...and stayed around for the weekend.

* A family afternoon tea to celebrate the March Birthdays...how to protract a 9 year old birthday

* I was in charge of the birthday cake.....will share in another post

*  Everyone else pitched in with the goodies for the afternoon tea.

* Luckily the rain eased long enough to sit in the garden for the festivities...helpful when you have 11 kids running wild.

* At long last the first true signs that the lime tree may be useful after all.

We are so glad to have had the rains....today it is dark, still and quiet...well here in this house anyways.....enjoy your week to come.

Joining in with Em @ The Beetle Shack

13/52

Him: It's time for a haircut when the bed hair appears.

Her: I am sure there is more paint on her, than on the wall she and her youth friends were painting.

My 52 weeks project

Joining in with Jodi's project

Things I am Loving....

 This week.....

Sneaking a picture through our front screen door of Fraser playing footy in the street with one of our teen neighbours....he was so excited.....

 The beauty in our garden...roses never cease to make me stop and smell them....

The beauty of a sunset this week......the rains did come.

 Simple meatball pizza dinners to take the pressure of the end of a busy week....

{our gratitude writing tools close by for what has become a really nice way to finish our dinnertime}

A freshly baked and bought Boston Bun to share with my two sisters over a cup of tea...we had some celebrating to do....

 Our wall of gratitude's growing.....it is not fancy to look at but if you get closer enough the writings speak volumes.....

Maybe like us you need some of this infuse into your inner beings.....

 Joining in with Meghan

Thursday Thankful List

* A dinner for two...received as a gift...

* Ready and Willing babysitters

* The excitement of spending birthday money.

* Cooked eggs for breakfast.

* Celebrating an engagement.

* Having a teen who is very capable of babysitting a younger brother.

* Rain and a thunderstorm after 106 days.

* Sunday afternoon naps.

* Free WIFI while waiting for a party to finish.

* Monday's without a car.

* Kick to kick in the street with the neighbours

* A clean Bathroom.

* A shrinking ironing pile.

* A basketful of clean washing.

* An advert for a part time job in the store highest on the teen's wish list.

* Living the perfect distance from shops, post office, schools,library and public pools.

* Tall young men to collect arrows off the roof.

* Family gratitude lists covering the wall

* Kids playing cricket in our front yard

* The end of the week is nearly here

* New chocolate cake recipes to try

* The hooray that went up from little people when they saw the craft of the week.

* A new road open to make the daily trip much quicker

#427 Blogging friends connections

My other thankful lists are here

Funky

There is plenty of funkiness going on around here.....

We are struggling under the pressure of the last two and a bit weeks before school holidays...

The rain has finally arrived after 106 days of drought.....but with it is heaviness....storm clouds that have bought humidity.....

Every one of us is tired....it's harder to get moving in the mornings...they are so much darker all of a sudden....

Work pressures are mounting and the battle to stay on track and see the end of projects is hard..... trying to find solutions when they just don't seem to be there....

The burdens we want to share of those around us, struggling with heaviness....

The sadness of tragedies filling our airwaves ...

Thoughts of time slipping through our fingers and so much more wanting to be achieved...

Those wandering thoughts of what it would be like to be a bit nomadic....not so reliable or dependable....all of which goes against all we are...but thoughts none the less....

Trying to see the gratitude and abundance in our palms.....

Wondering why some move on out of our lives ...trying not to feel let down or deserted.....

Maybe a break from routine is what we all need.....maybe the transition of the seasons has been a strange one....  maybe it is the transitions in our lives from one season to another...not really knowing what the next holds.....

or is it all because we just need some earlier nights and slower mornings...

I am just so thankful that in all that we are feeling and grappling with ...we have each other....the greatest gift....kin who though can irritate us the most are what make us keep going  and search for the lightness ahead.

Intresting on Pintrest

 I am sure you all "do" pintrest well......so here are a few fun things that have shown up on my pintrest this week......

{click on the image to head to the source}   go and check them out for yourself....

Found anything interesting on Pintrest you want to share??

Weekend Snippets

We made a start at uncovering/rediscovering our secret garden AKA "Taylor's Fairy Garden"

our back yard

First stop was to remove the old beehive......and all that glorious honey that was destroyed with the removal of the bees.....{insert very sad faces}

There was much lamenting  being done by the hubby...

Once we were sure most of the bees were gone it was onto the real gardening....

It is amazing what a difference clearing away the jungle can make you feel...rediscovering the pathways, roses and......realising how much more there is still too do.

I will get around to telling you sometime about how we came to have a back yard like we do.

Joining in with Em at The Beetle Shack