Annabel Langbein

I love Annabel Langbein and Mum and I were big fans of her free range cook television series. I also love cookbooks so when my friend Sarah recommended The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives, I knew I had to have it. It is fantastic!

There are more than 600 recipes and it is a joy to read, before you even get to cooking the recipes from it!

I have already tried out some of the recipes and everything is simple and delicious. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cookbook which covers everything from everyday dinners to special occasion meals.

Thanks Sarah for the heads up on this one, it is my new favourite book. :)

Blogging with a Busy Schedule!

Well, most of the time I love blogging. I really enjoy writing my thoughts down and documenting our little projects around the home, but being a daily blogger can be hard to keep up at times! I work full time and we have a full, busy family life so blogging has to fit in around that. I use my blog like a journal so it isn't hard to write, but it does take time to upload photos and write posts, etc. I started daily blogging in the middle of last year and I used to write my daily post in the evenings and publish them straight away. This worked well for a few months but I must admit that it was hard to keep up, especially after a long day at work. In the last few weeks I have finally mastered the art of the 'scheduled post' and it has transformed blogging for me!

I now prepare my blog posts in advance and schedule them to go live each day at 3am. I usually try and have a rough idea of what I plan to blog, one week in advance. I then spend one or two evenings, often on the weekend, preparing my posts for the coming days. This includes uploading photos, checking out links and writing. I try and have one week's worth of posts loaded at a time so that I am running a week ahead of schedule. This allows me to make changes if something pops up and it takes all the pressure out of blogging for me. I am not sure if I will continue to blog daily, there may come a time when I need to cut back to once every second day, or once every few days but as long as I continue to enjoy it, I plan to keep going. :)

Project Life Tuesday: Hanging with Cousins

Lately we have had the chance to visit Hamilton a few times and Rosie and Harry have been loving hanging out with their cousin, Hunter. He is two and together they enjoy trips to the park with Papa and taking turns riding the bike up and down Nana's driveway. As a Project Life POTD I snapped a photo of them all lined up on the backseat of the car, ready for another fun outing.

Challenge for Project Lifers: Capture a photo of your children enjoying the company of their cousins. :)

Project Life Kit Two Arrives

Yay, my second Becky Higgins Project Life kit has arrived!

I am very excited about it as I have decided to retrospectively journal our 2010 year with the snapshots I have taken over the past year. I have all the photos stored on my hard drive and have been very behind in getting them organised and printed.

The Turquoise Edition of Project Life

I am hoping that this will be an efficient way of displaying our family photos and memories. I am LOVING our 2011 Project Life kit and I enjoy the flexibility this system provides.

For this new album I obviously won't be able to journal a picture a day so I am planning to organise my layouts by month. I am also hoping to incorporate some of Rosie and Harry's art and other memorabilia from 2010.

Stacks of journalling cards, ready to go! 

For this kit I chose the Turquoise Edition which Becky describes as 'graphic and linear'. It isn't as "pretty" as the Amber Edition I have for 2011 but I still love it! It took a while for it to arrive as it seems these kits are selling out faster than anyone expected. I think this current shipment was presold well before they arrived in NZ!

Excitement at the arrival of my new kit!

This is going to be quite a big ongoing project for me but I hope to share some of my progress with you over the next few months. :)

Happy Sunday Hut Building

Rosie and Harry are at the age where they LOVE to build huts out of anything and everything. They use their room as a base and pull out everything to create their secret hideaways.

One of their favourite Sunday activities is to build a hut and they can amuse themselves for hours in there. Yes, it is messy but well worth it for the creativity it inspires. From reading books to make believe, the good old fashioned hut is still as popular as it ever was. :)

Teddy Bears Picnic

A couple of weeks ago my sister and I took the kids to the annual Teddy Bears Picnic in Hamilton. It was a scorcher of a day but we had a great time and enjoyed some good old fashioned fun...

Meeting the police

Sitting in the back of the police car!

Joining the crowds on the jumping castle

Bouncing with the cousins

Queuing for candyfloss

Quick Dinner Recipe: Tasty Self-Crusting Quiche

We all know what it is like when we need a quick dinner idea fast and it is the day before grocery shopping. I was in exactly that situation a few days ago and I rediscovered my tasty self-crusting quiche recipe. It uses store cupboard ingredients, is very healthy and is super fast to put together. Just the ticket for a busy Friday night!

Tasty Self-Crusting Quiche

Ingredients

1 x can of whole kernel corn

4 spring onions (chopped)

1/2 cup self-raising flour

3/4 cup trim milk

2 eggs

1 cup grated cheese

2-3 firm tomatoes

black pepper

paprika (optional)

Method

Put drained corn into a 20-30cm dish and cover with spring onions. At this stage you can also add any other extras you like such as ham and other vegetables. Mix flour, milk, eggs, black pepper and half the cheese. Lightly beat with a fork and pour over the corn. Slice two tomatoes and place over the top of the quiche, sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Add another sliced tomato if you want and sprinkle with paprika if you have it.

Cook at 220 degrees for 20-30 minutes. The quiche is cooked when it is golden brown and the centre is firm. Enjoy!

Plywood Deer

Isn't he lovely?

I have been admiring these on the Artikel website for quite some time and finally, I found a second hand one and he arrived in bubble wrap a few days ago! I actually really like taxidermy as a "look" but I'm not sure I would be brave enough to bring a real stuffed animal head into my home.

This kitset seems far less fussy and I love, love, love it! Now, where to put him?

Organising Tips for After School Activities

Today I thought I would share some of the things I do to organise all the gear associated with after school activities. Each week Rosie and Harry have swimming lessons and Rosie also has dancing as well.

Swimming gear all ready to go into bags

They love these activities but they do have the potential to become overwhelming if you don't put steps in place to make it easier on yourself. :)

Swimming gear packed for the week

The way I manage them is to get a separate bag for each child and each activity. Yes, this can mean a lot of bags (in our case, we have three) but they are well worth it.

Rosie's dancing gear all set to go

On the weekend I pack each bag for the week and have them all ready to go. For Rosie this means her dance clothes, Jazz shoes and a packaged snack such as a muesli bar or rice crackers. Everything gets placed in the bag and put by the door on the day of the activity so we can grab it on our way out in the morning.

This Penny Scanlan strawberry bag is the perfect size for dancing gear

In their swimming bags I pack their towels, togs, goggles and pyjamas. Yes, pyjamas. They have a late swimming lesson which doesn't finish until 6.30pm so after they get out of the pool, Taff takes them to the showers and then they put on their PJ's to come home in. This means there is one less job to do when they get in the door and it works well for our family.

All the bags ready to go for the week

After they finish each activity I unload the bags in the evening and try to restock them with a fresh towel, togs, etc so that they are all ready to go for the following week. Usually on the weekend I will double check them to see if I need to add anything extra. I keep all of the packed bags in a plastic crate in the wardrobe and just grab the appropriate bags we need on the day. This simple system has made it a lot easier for us to manage extra after school activities in our family. :)

Project Life Tuesday: Inside Your Car

As a Mum with two littlies, I spend a lot of time in the car so I thought it might be nice to capture the view I see during the many hours I spend in there! :)

It is a good thing I didn't photograph the floor of the car as there would be a plethora of books, kids clothing and empty wrappers. I think I will photograph that next time as after all, this is Project Life and a messy car is part of that! :)

Challenge for Project Lifers: Take a snapshot inside your car, whether it be the view from your seat or your kiddies tucked safely in their carseats. :)

I'm Back...

After a small blogging break, I am now back. My heart is still hurting badly for the people of Christchurch and the tears have been close to the surface during the past few days. Amidst all the horror though, there have been tales of bravery, unfailing support and love from all over the world. I am so proud of the way that New Zealanders have banded together to support those in their time of need. This also brings a tear to my eye.

So from tomorrow I will return to my normal blogging. Project Life, organisation and trips to the park seem so trivial at a time like this but recording these moments are uplifting to me and at the moment I need as much of that as I can get. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to all those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.

Christchurch Quake

Like the rest of New Zealand, I am devastated by the news of the Christchurch earthquake yesterday. Something like this makes you question what is most important and I spent most of the afternoon close to tears as I watched the footage. In the end I had to turn it off as it was too upsetting.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Christchurch and I think I will be taking a break from blogging for the rest of the week. This sad news has really affected me and I would like to focus my attention on what matters most for the next few days...my family.

Project Life Tuesday: Enjoying Your Local Parks

Project Life Tuesday today: Enjoying your local parks.

This park is just down the road from us and has been a great place to pop down to when our family has some free time.

We have been trying to take advantage of the summer evenings while we can and Rosie and Harry love running around and wearing themselves out before bed. :)

Challenge for Project Lifers: Take a picture of your family enjoying your favourite park. :)

Learning to Ride

Our little man is growing up and we felt it was time he learnt how to ride a big boy bike.

He is very attached to his beloved Triang Tuff Trike so this has been a big step for him.

There have been tears and frustration but he is gaining confidence and after a few rounds of the church carpark and local bike tracks, he is slowly getting the hang of it.

His new bike is an Avanti MXR 12 which we picked up from Trademe in almost new condition. He feels pretty grown up with his new big boy bike and we are hoping that he will grow to enjoy it even more in the coming weeks. :)

I'm an Aunty Again!

Very exciting news...I am an aunty again!

My newest little niece, Paige Harrison, arrived safely yesterday morning and although she was a few weeks early, she is doing great.

She weighed in at a whopping five pounds, 2 ounces and is breathing on her own. I am so proud!

Congratulations CJ and Chris, she is delicious. :) 

PETAL Cupcakes

I have made a recent discovery...the best cupcakes in the world!

Petal is situated in Newmarket and they have recently opened a new store in Ponsonby as well. Their cupcakes are true works of art and absolutely delicious.

A Golden Syrup Cupcake...Genius!

The kids and I decided to brighten Taff's day last week and bought him a Goldern Syrup cupcake for dessert. We made him share it with us too. :)

Raspberry

Hawkes Bay Peach

Rich Dark Chocolate

Tropical Mango

Everyone loves cupcakes and these really are beautiful. We are looking forward to trying some of the other flavours...sooner rather than later. :)

Happy Birthday Mum!

A few days ago it was Mum's birthday and I made her a Keep Calm and Carry On print like mine, except pink!

They had no red prints left at the Homestore but they had this gorgeous pink and silver one, which I think I actually prefer. The white frame is from Factory Frames.

I think Mum plans to keep hers on her desk at work. A great message for any work environment in my opinion! :)

Online Bargains

Isn't this a gorgeous assortment of cushions? Today I thought I would share one of my best tips for snaring bargains on Trademe! You need to keep your eyes peeled and you need to know what you are looking for, but even with Trademe as saturated as it is, there are still great deals to be had. :) These cushions for example...cost me nothing. Yep, that's right nothing...well, almost! I spotted them late one night (they were three separate bulk auctions from the same seller) and added them to my watchlist as although they weren't photgraphed very well, I could tell they were all good brands and in great condition. The next day the seller sent through fixed price offers at a BARGAIN price and I LOVE cushions so snapped them up!

When Rosie and I picked them up (from a very very nice house) the seller even gave me a few extras for free. I took them home, decided which ones I wanted to keep, and sold off the rest individually or in pairs. They were all from pretty high end stores so they sold quickly. Not only did I get all the money back that I paid for them, but I actually got three times the amount I paid, as well as keeping half the cushions for myself!

Some of the cushions I kept were used in a spare room update.

So my tip is to look at bulk auctions and try to identify the value of items indivually, rather than as a whole. Often items in bulk lots could sell for a lot more indivually but many sellers just want to get rid of everything in one hit, this can work to your advantage. Keep what you want and then resell what you don't. My aim is to make back most of the money that I paid for the whole lot in the first place and hopefully more. You can then put this towards something else you are saving for! Happy bargain hunting.

A New Strategy...

Riveting stuff on the blog today! You may be wondering why we would be needing cloth nappies at our house? Well, we are putting a new strategy in place to try and encourage Harry out of his night nappies.

We have suspected for a while that Harry is more than capable of staying dry all night and that his comfortable disposable nappy was making it too easy for him not to. We decided to dig out the old cloth nappies (old fashioned cloth squares, no modern comfortable fleece lined ones!) and give them a go.

It was quite a show getting one on him. He had no idea how they worked and was really unsure about his big cloth butt. The hope is that after a few days of this he will decide that being dry is a far more comfortable option. We have no idea whether this will work! :)

Project Life Tuesday: Making Smoothies

Project Life Tuesday today...making smoothies.

Harry and I are the berry fans in the house so we had a mum and son bonding session over the blender. We made raspberry smoothies and Harry actually did most of the jobs himself.

Challenge for Project Lifers: Take a photo of your child making something in the kitchen...even if it is just a mess! :)