Trying to find a balance

Today in between school drop off and kindy gym classes I have been cooking up a storm to freeze so that we can still live our busy lives and have some simple healthy home cooked food on the chaotic days. It's something I should have done a long time ago - but stubbornly I tried to ignore common sense.

• I have made chilli mince for 3 nights
• lasagna for 3.5nights (the half is enough for the kids and I can grab a soup or salad)
• chicken parmi's for 2 nights
• beef curry for 4 nights

All I have to do is steam some rice/vegetables and/or add some fresh herbs, or possibly whip up a quick salad and we are done. I also have lean burger patties and buns, snags and steak in the freezer so a BBQ's is another option. I'm hoping that all this mixed will sort my mid week dinners out for the next month.
Now I feel we can do everything we have planned to achieve this school term and still eat safe meals. Can you tell I am so stinking proud of myself? Ha

our favourite fury family member

This is Ozzy. He is our best fury friend. Recently a facebook friend of mine commented how her dog was unwell and how incredibly sad and worried she was for her. It go me thinking about how important Ozzy is to us.

So this post is dedicated to how wonderful he is and all the love he brings to our lives.

He came to us when he was only 10weeks old. The moment he entered our house he was "home" All fluff and completely adorable. He spent the first month sleeping in the laundry at night and never cried once.

Before we knew it he had grown so big  he was taller than we had expected. But still weighed in at just 20kgs so he was really all legs and fur. He and Lucy were best mates and they did almost everything together - including trampoline

He happily accepted Flynn as another member of our pack. I'm sure the added benefit of sharing food helped in his transition. Even today Flynn is the only one that can get him to eat raw vege's

And over the last 3 odd years he has been with us, he has suffered many hairdo's, the good, the bad and the terribly awful.

Still no matter what he has loved us unconditionally. He has always greeted us will a happy face and a wagging tail. When he is with us we feel safe and protected. He is always up for a game of laser chasey or fetch and won't pester you when things are chaotic.

We trust him completely. He never chews anything but his own toys. He doesn't sneak food off of counters or out of the kids hands. He never runs away or even tries to go on adventures without us. He sat up with me for every night feed with Flynn and helped Flynn learn to walk by letting him climb up on his fur (grabbing handfuls of it) and then clumsily walking his way around him - all the while Ozzy would stand completely still and patient.

We look forward to many more memories with Ozzy with hopefully many more years. Thank you for the love Ozzy.



candle holder upcycle

 I have recently started enjoying scented candle and have discovered that we really don't have anywhere for them to sit and nothing to catch dripping wax with.

Well rather than look at this as a problem I thought of it as a challenge. I could of course go out and buy something new, but that has never really been my style. So a trip to the local op shop and this pair of candle stick holders came home with me. $3.99 for the pair = BARGAIN

 However the colours were not doing anything for me

So a coat of primer followed by a few coats of shiny white spray paint (at $2.95 a can I will do a lot of projects in white!) After a few days of drying I glued them to the base of some old white mini pie dishes I had (I used them in the days pre-children, but now we never make anything on a small scale). I also glued some felt to the bases to avoid scratching cupboards and give them perfect balance

Voila

Now we have two wonderful candle holders. Although I suspect that they might also be used as candy holders or other ornament displays on table centrepieces at Christmas and the like

our super hero

take one spunky boy

Add a mask

And get a cute little superhero

Fly used to be frightened of dress up masks, now he is brave and is the complete dress up master. Too cute right?!

the spring holidays are over

Yes the school holidays are over and we survived with smiles on our faces. Lucy passed her swimming lessons and will be going up a grade next term. I am a very proud mumma. Fly-monster will also be doing swimming lessons this term which means I'll have to get back in the pool (eek bathers) so hopefully by summer holidays we will have two little water confident rugrats

It is also the countdown to our friends wedding and then Chrissy so I have been on a workout goal of 4 gym workouts per week. I have 34 workouts left till Christmas and need to start backing it up with a dietary change now to make the most out of it. I think I needs some cooking a freezing days to stay organised. HARD WORK

Also the wonderful weather has delivered us some awesome strawberries and the promise of mandarins on our little tree. 

Have you noticed that my photo's are looking better than usual? The old man bought a new whiz bang camera. A canon e60 or something with a fancy lens that was far too expensive but very impressive. I am clearly an amateur however Clint is getting good. Nothing professional, but still very good quality to keep our memories looking pretty. None the less the kids have enjoyed us playing paparazzi

Good sports

week two, october holidays.

What an absolute corker last week was. We finished off with lots more visits with friends and swimming lessons and extreme speed wedding shopping. Unfortunately I ended up sick over the weekend so that has slowed me down a bit but every plan is flexible so nothing to get upset about.

In some extremely rare snippets of spare time I have managed a few little craft activities. This one I will show you today was an awesome treasure find from my local op shop.

$4.99 - how could I leave it there?



A small spray of primer



And then a spray of cool metallic silver

Then attached inside Miss L's wardrobe door



How cute

So all up, approximately 8 dollars later and we have a unique and funky necklace holder for our very trendy little girl.

Tomorrow we have a 2 year birthday party on our agenda and this is what I made for part of the decorations. Abby is her theme and the little miss whose birthday it is, is sweet and cheeky just like Abby so it really fits well. I hope everyone gets some great photos with it.

week one, October holidays

Looks like I was right. So far these school holidays have been nothing but fun. Also I may have over scheduled so we have a lot of plans but I think that we can fit it all in and still be left wanting more.

Last weekend we got to catch up with friends and family, help with wedding plans, build boats, Zumba, watch fireworks and attend the Perth Royal Show for the first time with the kids. All that and Clint and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary!

Oh aren't we cute, and we make marriage look so easy! HA!

Also Missy is enrolled in vacation swimming lessons which means every weekday we are at the local pools on top of everything else. On arrival home from the pools today we were greeted by our lovely front planter box in full bloom. We hadn't noticed when we left earlier in the day and was such an nice surprise. I LOVE SPRING.

Tomorrow we have more friends over and a fun activity planned for the kids. I will post pics - PROMISE!!