Holiday Fun: Baking Pancakes!

Wow, can't believe how time is flying!  We over the hump of April and hurtling towards May! I'm in serious denial that half this year is almost over. 

I've been really scarce lately setting up my Photography Business AND am still putting the pieces of my To-Do list back together after entertaining the kids for a two week Easter Holiday.

Amongst other things, such as: tent-building in the lounge, shopping excursions, arts 'n crafts, gardening fun and a visit to the ice-rink... we made Pancakes!

We also made Cheese Muffins on a different day, but they got eaten before we could take any Pictures!

More holiday pics to follow soon.

Christopher's Creepy Crawly Critters Celebration

During the months of January and February this year we attended a marathon of 8 kids parties over 7 weekends, ending off with Christopher's 4th Birthday Party.


Long overdue, here are some pics of the days events:


This was my second attempt at baking a birthday cake (the other times I outsourced this task), with the help of my brother, I think it turned out quite OK!

Dad:"The wind keeps on blowing out the candles".  Christopher:"Naughty wind! It's not the wind's Birthday!"

Me and my crazy boy!

 

To Christopher's and many of the other kiddies delight, Grandpa Kenny managed to find three chameleon's in the southern suburbs and brought them with for the kids to see... we let them go in our garden, and they are living happily in the trees (hopefully munching away at all the flies!)

 

 

Sticking to the theme of the party, I whipped up some goodies for the kids to enjoy:
Dirt 'n Slugs (Layered green jelly, chocolate mousse, crushed biscuits & worm sweets)
Caterpillar Treats (grapes on a stick)
Roasted Snails (flings)
Sausage & worms (Vienna sausages with spaghetti)
Ants-on-a-log (banana with peanut butter and raisins)
PopRoach (popcorn with pecan nuts)
Fly Juice (energade cool-drink with raisins)
and a special THANK YOU to my brother Stephan, for making the cupcakes and helping with the cake!

Bradley also organised some "suckers" (ice lollies) for the kids and we got the mandatory water-slide!

 

Another successful party done and dusted! Thank you to all the family and Christopher's friends for joining in on the celebrations and for giving him such lovely gifts! We are spoilt to have such wonderful people in our lives xx

First Christmas Lunch

Just before we jetted off to Germany for our December Holiday, we had a pre-"Christmas" lunch with Bradley's family here at home. 

A great afternoon, just relaxing chatting and catching up... minus the usual Christmas Lunch preparations stress!  We've seriously talked and discussed the possibility of moving "the Lunch" to an earlier date (when the shops are still stocked and haven't pushed their prices up yet!) and then just spending the actual Christmas day together, maybe even plan an outing!

Wonder if that idea will ever really take off (doubt it), guess we all really a suckers for traditions, so we'll just take pressure of all that cooking, just as it's always been!

Cheers! 

Starter crayfish and roasted peppers stuffed with anchovy, olive and herb paste... Yummy!

Mains with Gammon, Lamb, Couscous salad, Beetroot salad, Cucumber & pomegranate salad and roast baby potatoes with crème fraiche

Summer Fun = Just add Water

Taryn's Babyshower

Last November we hosted Taryn's Babyshower... what a great day it turned out to be!  Unlike the weather that created much frustration on Sophia's Birthday Party the previous weekend; Taryn's day turned out to be beautiful.

So much preparation and energy went into the creation of this little Soiree, especially by her mother Sally and cousin Janine.  Not knowing what she was expecting, they decided to go with a Green and Purple "about to POP" theme.  

With catered food and Janine's baked goodies, we couldn't wait to start tasting all the yummy treats... between that, the great Décor, and fun games, it was an all-round successful and happy day!

Seeing Taryn all excited about the gifts for little babba was so special, and admittedly, made me feel a bit nostalgic about my own pregnancies and all the feelings that went with it.

Since then, on 19 December she gave birth to a healthy, happy beautiful little girl: 

Sarah-Jane Harris

Spending time with her makes me go all sappy and sentimental about how quickly my kids are growing up!

Kids Activity: Chopping!

I wonder if there are any other Mommies who face the same challenge just before suic... ahem, I mean crazy hour. You know, that time of the day when everything just collapses into chaos, and no matter  how much you plan ahead and prepare things to make your life easier, somehow it all just ends up in tears anyway?  

Often whilst I'm making dinner the whining/moaning/crying starts. Not ACTUALLY being a real-life octopus with 8 arms, I'm unable to play referee, nurse and chef at exactly that same minute. So I've had to rope them in to help me cook, in a desperate attempt to keep things under semi-control. 

Enter = Chopping!

An activity that they don't seem to tire of is cutting.  

Armed with their "baby-blunt-knives" and little boards, they helped me make supper by chopping up some mushrooms.

I'm thinking that it's a good skill to teach them (I may be wrong?) but at least they having fun and it keeps them busy for at least 10 min so that I can get some of the "real" cooking done.  I'm slowly running out of ideas for mushroom dishes, and will have to look into other possible foods that they could chop up for me, that aren't too hard or tricky to cut.

Suggestions anyone?

Street Braai!

24th September was a Public Holiday... Heritage Day, also known as National Braai Day.  I realise that this post is slightly delayed, but I just had to share what we did on Braai Day... 

Starting off as a lazy Saturday afternoon, sitting in the next door neighbours "Garage", with no plans.  None.  This year , we were going to order take-out and veg on the couch... no effort, no fuss.  

With grumbly tummies (after a few beers)... the conversation turned to food and steak and the special price Spar had on Beef fillet.  Well, it didn't take long for Bradley to hop into the car and literally grab the last fillet steak off the shelf ahead of the next shopper who was gunning for it from down the aisle.  Before you know it, we had the Braai rolled out to the front yard (as no one felt the need to move from their comfortable spots), the fire was roaring and the salads made.

The afternoon was so spontaneous and relaxed... sitting, chatting, drinking with good friends.  Just the way Braai Day should be celebrated. 

Lekker!

Fillet on the Braai

Reuben (the grandson dog) also made an appearance

Merlin & Sophia

Happy Days Harry!!

Sophia's new: "smile for the camera" look.

Chappie and Chris

Staring at the fire... 

Playing with the opposite neighbours doggie

Good Times!

Easy Cheesy Nachos

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