Thankful Thursdays

Yep. Thats right Im bringing it back. I did a few "T-Ts" when I first started blogging, but some how lost them along the way.

So here's a funny story.
Yesterday I was having a monumental crappy day. It started off crappy...and then just continued to be crappy. Whenever I'm having a crappy day I put on my music and then promptly proceed to the "Humour" section of Pintrest. I know you you  bloggers out there are in to craft and photography section...But my top two categories are Humour and Food. That about sums me up really!

Anyhoo. I had promise a lovely friend that I would bring her around a dinner. Except I had been feeling all sorry for myself and couldn't muster up any inspiration so I decided I would shout her out for nice meal instead. It was as much a nice treat for her as it was for me. I desperately needed to get out of the house and have some time out.  I made the rest of the family dinner and then headed out to pick her up.

We arrived at the lovely restaurant and had a delicious dinner. ( I had the duck again...So good!). We decided we were too full for dessert and opted for a hot drink instead. When the hostess brought our drinks she started to set up some more cutlery. "Hold on...theres a story behind it..." She brings us out a Vanilla Cream Brulee to share. "We've had a call from someone to say they are paying for your meal...and he said to say- make sure they have the brulee if they haven't ordered dessert."
What?! We were flabbergasted. There were only a couple of people who knew we were coming out as it was a very last minute decision. We figured out it was a guy from church who I hardly knew...but decided to bless both of us! We had a great laugh about it. It was such a blessing of a night as we talked for hours...needing to be moved on because we were the last ones there.

image here

So this Thankful Thursday I'm thankful for:
-The Humour section of Pintrest.
-Lovely church family who bless me.
-And an awesome God who knows when you need a pick me up from a crappy day.

Well hello! I'm back...

Well hello! I'm back from my social media break. I lasted 28 days! I was aiming for a month....so if it was the month of February then I would have been all set. It was 3 weeks longer than my little brother predicted...his prediction was 4.5 days...haha in your face Davo!
He kinda has a point though. I'm not really one to stick at anything much. Once a long time a go, early in our marriage we thought we would not watch TV for a while. We put that heavy box of a TV in the spare bedroom to help alleviate the temptation, except that when Les was at work some evenings I would lug it out...watch it...and then lug it back. He thought it was funny when I told him what I had been doing.
I'm terrible at sticking to diets and fitness phases...so lasting a whole month with social media was a big deal for me.
I have been an avid Facebooker since 2009...okay an addicted Facebooker. And I have been blogging for a couple of years. But I knew I needed a break. Remember this post. I was starting to actually think in status updates and blog posts. Not good. I could feel my brain matter disintegrating behind my eyes.

Well rather than deactivating my account I thought a complete month off might do the trick. I would get around to doing all those things I had been putting off,  pay more attention to the kids, pray and read more of my bible, have a spotless house, start a new hobby or get fit and healthy.  Yep...Nah. Turns out if you are a true procrastinator, you will just find other ways to procrastinate.

image from here

I decided I wasn't going to take photos...or even think about doing a blog post for a whole month. I just wanted to BE. So this post is not going to be a post of all the things I did in the month May. I just lived, and had a good time doing it. The end.

But I did spend time reflecting on how much of my life I spend online...and how things have changed.Was this really the way I wanted to live my life? Social media has its pros and cons...but overwhelmingly it is more of a positive than a negative. At this particular time in my life...ie... mostly mummy and part time working, for me, it serves as a way to connect with people. The negative is when this is the only way to connect. And so the word "balance" comes to mind. So I am seeking a more balanced approach to blogging and Facebook. Do I really have to comment on every blog or status update? NO. Do I really need to update my FB status every day? NO. And I will try and browse while the kids are in bed instead of ignoring them....and maybe after I have done the house work. Yeah....I don't think that one will happen.

So...if you are addicted to social media...I highly recommend taking break

Image from here

Blog Hiatus

Image from here

Just letting y'all know...That I will be off line for the month of May.I'll catch up with you all in June.

jacksta xx

Rainbows End

We went to Rainbows End for Joe's Birthday. It was a surprise until the morning of his birthday...I had been pulling his leg saying I had forgotten to organize anything or buy him a present. But he didn't  see the funny side. He said to Hubby as he was being tucked in the night before that "its not a real birthday if your mummy and daddy don't get you gift". Doh! silly me... I really should know better by now,  that you don't pull the sensitive kids leg. Don't fret, we got him a cool (but slightly over sized) bike for his birthday, and a trip to the big smoke with his family. He says it was the best birthday ever!

First scary ride for the kids.

Me on The Invader

Joe and I hooning around in carts ( the face says it all)

 Joe with his winning tokens at the arcade.

 Hubster taking the older two on the log ride

 

 Even Zak zak got to have a little bit of  fun....not much though. Being pushed around in his push chair all day wasn't much fun. Although I did freak him out by taking him on the "Gold Rush"...he was just 80cm tall. In hind site...not so good. I have probably freaked him out for life.

Completely elated after the power surge

I forgot how much I love adventure parks. The last time I went there I was as a teenager, a decade and half ago! The kids often ask if "can we go there?" when we drive past Rainbows End. "Nope. You are too short for the rides". Somehow the kids have grown tall enough...where has time gone? I felt a bit sorry for Joe though...he was just 5cm off getting to go on all the scary rides. 

We look forward to going again some time soon and this time I'll try the bumper boats!

Are you a big scary rides fan? 

happy birthday me

 

The day started bright and early. Hubby came in while I was still sleeping to say he had made waffles and was just on his way out to get our favourite coffee, Aww. And all before he had to bike to work at 7.15am.  

Mmm Bacon and banana with maple syrup. A great way to start the day.

I decide to make myself a birthday cake. I know its weird to make your own cake, but I haven't had a birthday cake in a few years. And I saw this beautiful one here, and NEEDED to make it! I combined two of her ideas and designed my own cake. It became a layered Neapolitan cake with a chocolate ganache drizzle. This is my first layer cake, and it was a bit hard to get all the layers exactly symmetrical. Any hoo tasted delicious.

Not my cake...the inspiration

the design

opps maybe just a bit too much drizzle!

A few friends to help me eat my birthday cake. Good times.  

And then hubby booked us into Topsail Restaurant. I love this place. It is just a small place with a lovely atmosphere with consistently delicious food.  We shared a starter the seafood platter. And then I had the duck breast over caramelized onion and kumara. And Hubster had the Wild Fiordland game. This place always serves their mains with a side of the tastiest roast pototoes (herbs and rock salted), some bamboo steamed julienne veges and two rolls to mop up the juices. 

We were thoroughly stuffed by the end!

Happy Birthday me!

A Good Friday

When I take a minute to pause and reflect what this day means to me and my faith, words do not come. How can words describe the pain at which our Lord suffered. And He did it on purpose.
So today we had a quiet Good Friday. After seeing Delissimons hot cross buns last week I was keen to give it ago this year. Last year we had Crossed chocolate cupcakes and red juice for a family communion type thing. This year was the real deal! So tasty! No yucky orange peel. And not too many raisins. I opted for red crosses. They were a little pink at first opps! But after glazing them they turned out the desired red. My sous chefs ~ Miss Joy and Joe did a great job with helping me whip these up. To be fair the bread maker did all the work. I really must make more bread in that thing.

Today I wanted to teach the kids about the first Passover. They seemed to already know quite a lot about the story from Exodus and back in Moses day. We had roast lamb for dinner and red sparkling grape juice. The kids always get a kick out of drinking from the pretty glasses...even if theirs is made of plastic.

They have not even uttered the words "when are our Easter Eggs coming?". Good kids. I picked them up a little Lindt Bunny each. As you can see Zak Zak has not learned to unwrap his chocolates!

May you all have amazing Easter Weekend. Silly me I accidentally rostered myself to work all weekend and Monday,  so at least we had a family day today.
 

proud of my boys

A couple of years ago we would never have thought Hubster would ever compete in a sport, let alone be seen in public in bike shorts. My once skater/surfer/ bogan husband now competes in Triathlons. Last weekend we went to Kai Iwi lakes to compete in the "Kumara Triathlon". The name comes from the fact that Dargaville is the Kumara capital of NZ. And as a bonus you get a box of kumara at the end of the day! Score!
He did fairly well. Last year he did the short course which he came a very awesome second! This year he challenged himself and did the long course: 750m swim, 20k bike ride and a long 8km run. Good on ya Piyar! Super proud of ya.

Super proud of this little guy- Joe. He continually surprises me. Hubster and I often worry about how might act in public. You see he is a little bit sensitive at home.
Yesterday was his assembly, and his first time speaking on the mic. We wondered if he would freeze and run off screaming. But no, he surprised us. He introduced his class to the school beautifully. Later in the presentation he had a wardrobe malfunction, I waited to see if he again would run off screaming, but he did great. I love those proud mummy moments.

 

I'm hoping he will grow up to be a good cook. Lord knows I could do with a chef in the family. He did a good job of rolling out his first "Roti", which is an Indian flat bread. A family favourite.

And this little monkey is going to turn me grey or maybe bald! He is insanely active and constantly up to no good! The other day I was down stairs fixing something in the garage and I thought he would hover around with me. I finish what I'm doing and he's vanished. I look over the road a see his little body across the road heading down to the park. We live on a fairly busy road. Im not going to think about what could have happened.
On the plus side he is learning new words everyday and is finally starting to enjoy reading books instead of destroying them. 

Somebody found my mascara!
Taken this morning...done while I was blogging this!