I thought it was about time to catch you up on the haps around here in my favourite format..bullet point style!
- We celebrated Miss Joys Birthday the week before Christmas with a bowling and laser maze party. Oh the pain of hearing the balls bounce on the floor!
- One of the joys of parenting is watching how your kids interact when they around their friends and peers. Their personalities come out and its like you are on safari and are watching a lion cub in its own environment somewhere in Africa. There was one friend who was apprehensive about trying bowling. They patiently tried to encourage her to try it when ever it was her turn. She declined. They just made light of the situation by cheering her up, until finally when it was one of the last turns she surprised us all by having a turn. Watching this lovely group of friends about 6 in all made my little heart happy. All friends since year one or two displaying beautiful personality traits that I'm happy for my daughter to be around. No cattiness that is synonymous for this age group, just a bunch of sweeties. May it stay this way, even when the hormones kick in!
- I was pretty happy with how my cake turned out.The ladies at the bowling place were pretty stoked with it too! It was a pretty cool cake to make...I printed out a template from the computer of a blown up ten pin and cut it out of a rectangle banana cake. The icing was just lemon flavoured butter icing whipped up for ages to get a white colour for the pin colour.
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| {ten pin bowling cake} |
- Christmas celebrations began on the Christmas Eve in my parents back yard.
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| {I didn't realize I bought so many book presents!} |
- After stuffing our selves with a selection of cooked glazed ham and veges....I brought out my contribution which was a Baked White chocolate and berry Cheese cake. Oh my! this was so good...and we had no trouble finishing off the left overs a couple of days later. I HAVE to make it again some time soon! I got the idea for the design on top from where else but Pinterest here at this link. So yum!
- The next day we spent Christmas day at Hubsters parents place. We started eating early with croissants for breakfast followed by present opening and then proceeded on to a gourmet lunch. I forgot to take my camera with me but got a couple of pics on my phone.
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| {Grandma dressed the kids as elves!} |
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| {Gourmet Christmas lunch.... Salmon ceviche, roasted duck breast with cherry compote, Individual tiramisu and port, crackers and cheeses} |
- I made the tiramisu and it turned out so much nicer than I had hoped. Quite light and fluffy. There was a general consensus that most of us hate soggy desserts like trifle...so the challenge to was so not let it get too soggy. Those lady fingers had a one second dip in the coffee! And I only prepped it a couple of hours before it was due. So yum.
2 for 2 for Christmas desserts this year!
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| {mwah} |
- The eating continued on boxing day! My bothers came over to my place for a BBQ and stuffed lamb.
- This blog post makes it sound like I have done a lot of eating! Well you would be right! The eating continued the week after Christmas when my MIL and FIL invited us to stay with them at a book a bach place on the Tutukaka coast. The house had a little pool at the back which kept the kids occupied all week. So blessed to be able to be out at coast. I had to drive back in to town couple of the days including New years day...which made for very little celebrations for new years eve...again! I really hope to be dancing next new years eve!
- With all this holiday eating..I'll be going on a diet! The walking will have to start again. AND the hubster gave me a juicer for christmas so Ill have to get on that bandwagon!
- For a lot of the last part of the year I have struggled with a sore shoulder. I have just lived with the pain.. hoping it would go away, but it hasn't. I can barely brush my hair, get stuck in tight clothes and wake up in searing pain after I have moved it wrong somehow in my sleep. SO I finally went and saw my GP...a "rotator cuff injury". Darn it. I need it to get better. Its been getting sore at work...so that is sucking.
- Reading. I bought a couple of NZ authored e-books that were on special on my phone (just $4!). Jay Jay Feeny's "Misconception". An honest account of their troubles with fertility and their quest to have a family, with a little of her life story too. And currently reading her other half's book "The bucket list of an idiot" by Dominic Harvey. Laugh out loud funny.
- Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I think I am finally up to date with all my favourite blogs on the reading list. Once all the "noise" has died down around here later on this month and normality resumes...and I can hear myself think...I may have something a little more inspiring and insightful to say! Until then...enjoy your holiday...while I countdown the days until school begins...which for the record is...10 days! Wait 10 days??? is that it? Yeah!
*Amendment!! I had another look at the calendar! I think I'm the one who needs to go back to school! I have recounted the days...I was a whole week off! Its seventeen days....17 days!
Oh gosh...what I'm I going to do with this lot for that many days! I'm sure we will all think of something!
