Hustle and Bustle

Not much to report here. Just very busy with work, Craig being away and school and day care. We are all looking forward to our holiday away to Yamba in eight weeks time. We'll be in need of a good break. My slow cooker is getting a real work out as there's nothing better than getting home at 6pm with 2 hungry children and a meal already cooked. I've made a few batches of pea and ham soup (aka farty soup as the children have named it) which are delicious as well as curries and stroganoffs. I can highly recommend the new Women's Weekly slow cooker book which I purchased this year - great recipes with source-able ingredients.
I sewed a tutu for Penny yesterday and am planning to add the finishing touches this week so will share then. Dancing returned on Saturday after a lengthy break and Penny couldn't have been more excited. Nick is busy with school and soccer although his interest in both is waning at present.
Below are some LO's that I have completed recently.

Have a great week.

Rach :)

Memories Of Adelaide

Can you believe that it is a month since we visited Adelaide? I had some photos from our trip printed today. Between Dad and I we took some lovely photos. Nick stuck many of the photos into the diary that he wrote each day and his teacher and class mates seemed impressed. I had planned to do another post with more photos, so here it is.
One of the many miniature steam trains.

All aboard!

Face painting at the steam trains.

Chris and Nigel's (my aunt and uncle) superb farm in the Adelaide Hills.

Penny on the rope swing at the farm that they had a tree lopper erect around a very high tree branch. The 106 yr old Speedwell that Nigel built. Mum and Dad together with Chris and Nigel drove in a rally (for cars over 100yrs old) in England a few years ago in this Speedwell.

Gorgeous dessert at the farm for the kids.

Wang Wang, the new male panda at the Adelaide zoo. Funi (female) was happily sleeping inside on heated rocks.

My sister, Robyn and her partner Ian who we met for the first time on this visit. Lots of fun.

Nick at his favourite wooden playground which we always visit when in Adelaide.
There you are, just a small snapshot of our visit. I didn't take any photos at the reunion - as they say "what happens on tour stays on tour"! No not really, it was a very tame evening compared to in the past and Robyn and Ian had me in bed by midnight. We really had such a lovely trip catching up with my family and friends.

Happy Wednesday.

Rach xx

Christmas In July

On Sunday, I went to my monthly scrap group get together and the theme was "Christmas In July". We had a great afternoon with Secret Santa gifts, Christmas packs to create some LO's, and more party food than we could consume. I made the Christmas cupcakes which were a vanilla cake recipe with butter frosting and red smarties and halved mint leaves. I had to buy 2 bags of smarties to get 34 red ones, so we have plenty of smarties left minus red ones. The mint leaves were quite hard to cut in half as they were very sticky in the middle and squashed down but they seemed to regain their shape. I did a Christmas LO and started another. It was a great day of laughter and good cheer.
Penny went to a party on Saturday at McDonalds. There was a face painter who attends every Saturday afternoon. She loved having her face painted again.

Nicholas and Craig had a boys day on Saturday where they took the new big boat out for a little run in the morning. On Saturday afternoon they went to soccer where by all reports Nick played a great game.

Crochet Flowers

Here is the sneak peek as promised. Aren't they lovely? They'd not only look good on a scrapbooking LO but also on a hairclip or even a jumper or t-shirt. There are many more designs. I'll have them at our Simply Crafty get together tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) if you're interested.
Happy Saturday.
Rach xx

Lazy Days

Today is a lazy day. We are enjoying sitting around doing colouring in, dressing up and chilling out. We went to a bowling and leisure centre for lunch and a play on the weekend and enjoyed playing with the neighbour over the back fence. The kids have always talked through the fence and it has never gone much further than that until a few weeks ago when they discovered a loose paling on the fence. My children love the neighbours trampoline and she loves the kids' cubby houses. A visit to the baby animal zoo and the library are on the agenda today.

I have been working 3 days a week so Nick has been going to vacation care which he tolerates. Unfortunately the program has not been very inspiring these holidays. Grandma returned from her long holiday in Cairns staying with Craig's sister, Annette. She was very busy making crochet flowers in wool and cotton which I will have for sale at the Sunday Scrap Session this weekend. I'll post a sneak peek later in the week. Also Happy Birthday to Annette whilst we were away - sorry it's a few weeks late!

I have just finished a very simple LO and some cards this week. Two cards were repeats of previous designs so only one new to show.

Have a happy Tuesday.

Rach xxx