Pasta sauce

And here are the final fruits of the summer garden - minus a few tomatoes and zuchinis that are still ripening, and the pumpkins that are still green.

I chopped them all up with a couple of onions, some garlic, grated carrot, mince, TVP and some extra tinned tomatoes and tossed them in the slow cooker to produce a pasta sauce.

Tonight, I served it layered with bechamel sauce in a lasagne. The TVP gives it a bland flavour, so it wasn't one of my favourites, and it's possible the celery was a little too strong.

I also had my first visit with the midwife from the birth centre. It's the same midwife who assisted at Jessica's birth, and very kindly did Jessica's check-up so I didn't need to see a GP or drive down to the birth centre. Unfortunately, the birth centre is no longer allowing home births so unless I can lobby hard and fast, she won't be able to attend me for the birth :(.

If you're that way inclined, please pray that our state health insurers decide that homebirthing is an acceptable insurance risk!

Can you identify this?

This came in a punnet of Chinese vegies, but now I can't remember what I was supposed to do with it! Do I use it in salads or as a vegetable? As you can see, it's rather prolific - probably because I've eaten everything else around it!

I'm planning on finishing with most of the summer garden today - I'm going to toss the celery, silverbeet, handful of cherry tomatoes into the slow cooker with some onions, ground beef, mixed herbs and a bottle of the ubiquitous pasta sauce.

Pancakes for breakfast

Possum woke bright and early yesterday and decided to make us all pancakes for breakfast - yum! Ginger Rose was there to help him.

Dh is away for a four day spell on the Gold Coast (work's tough for some, eh!), so the domestic goddess is also having a break - the children were amazed but rather pleased when I offered them cereal for dinner last night! And I did serve a salad and some plain pasta with tomato sauce.

I've given myself the challenge of making it to May without turning on the heating. The temperature in the house is dropping by about a degree a day, which means by Tuesday (H day!) we'll be down to 14c.

A new soup and choc-chip gluten-free muffins

I've been inspired by the 365 day bloggers, so will try to get into the daily blogging habit by sharing one domestic activity a day.

Today, Briar Rose, Ginger Rose and I made choc-chip gluten-free muffins out of a packet, cheesy scrolls using dough made in the breadmaker, and I made a brand new soup by mixing last night's leftover white beans in onion and garlic with yesterday lunch's leftover red lentil soup and a box of spinach.

Quarterly piano lessons

Briar Rose loves music, and her Grandma E can usually be prevailed upon for a piano lesson during visits. Sadly, Grandma wasn't well enough for her last scheduled visit to Canberra, but was still willing to give Briar Rose a lesson last weekend. I think they both enjoyed it.

While Ginger Ninja, Briar Rose and Ginger Rose had a wonderful time with Grandma, Dh and I went to a great workshop where I got to see Bruce Lipton speaking again. He was GREAT! Love the man. Love the book - Biology of Belief.

Balloon Fiesta

The alternate title for this post could be "What would make me leave the house before dawn in Autumn when it's cold and dark outside?"!

Fortunately, the weather was quite warm with none of the frost that made previous balloon fiestas so seriously cold.

We had a terrific time - Ginger Rose loved looking at all the "Biiiiiiiig balloons" and watching them inflate and deflate, and Briar Rose and Possum were able to hop into the basket of a balloon operated by a friend's sister then go for a ride on the "chariot" balloon.

If you look closely at the chariot, you may notice that the children sit on a gas tank, with a fire extinguisher strapped to the side! Confidence inspiring, I say!

At the park

Ginger Rose loves playing at the park near her father's work. We see magpies, galahs and the odd kookaburra, and have lots of fun on the various slides while waiting for Dh to be ready for us.

Last visit, she had insisted on wearing a dress and some of the climbing was a little tricky! And, of course, her white lace petticoat hem was filthy by the time we left. 

Easter camping...

Is not for the faint hearted! Our first trip camping since Ginger Rose joined us was a good reminder of why we prefer to stay off the beaten track, and refreshed my sympathy levels for those forced to live in tent cities.

We camped at Wombeyan Caves along with several hundred other campers, and while we very much enjoyed the opportunity to explore the caves (and Briar Rose had a wonderful time getting wet on the Mini-Adventurers cave tour) the cheek by jowl tent arrangements and toilet queues were just a little distasteful.

And, in the true tradition of Easter camping, it rained. Our tents proved to be mostly waterproof but as the children preferred playing outside in the rain to staying dry inside the tents... 

Briar Rose is 8!

Briar Rose celebrated her birthday with a small sleepover party. Here are the girls in the morning spraypainting with blow pens. 

Just two families...

I took this photo of our two families (I'm behind the camera) after we hiked down to the falls you can vaguely see in the background.

It was a gorgeous rainforest walk, but I was feeling a bit uncomfortable after a taipan slid away from the path *after* Briar Rose and Ginger Rose had been running ahead of us!

And we might look like a large group, but it's going to get larger (we hope) in September/October when our next bublet is scheduled for arrival! 

Lamington National Park

We loved visiting Lamington National Park, home of the Regent Bower Bird.

We were fortunate enough to meet most of the birds in the car park as we arrived, including the Regent Bower Bird. The bower bird surprised us all while we were feeding some other natives in the car park by flying down and taking food from Peter then Michael.

You can see the yellow blur flying away in the background of the second photo.

The strangler figs were magnificent, and in the middle of the treetop canopy walk the big kids and Michael were able to climb to the top of the tallest specimen to get a really good view of the top of a rainforest canopy.


 

Briar Rose's holiday

Here is the stunning view from our 39th floor luxury apartment - we were so spoilt!

Briar Rose had a week feeling like a princess as her bedroom contained a queen size bed, had ocean views and its own balconney.

I am pleased to report that she shows no interest in keeping reptiles, however she has drawn a comprehensive diagram detailing her plan to keep a chihuahua in her wardrobe and has dropped multiple hints about a puppy for her forthcoming birthday!
 

A budding herpetologist...

We recently gained a new employee, who is a keen herpetologist, and Possum's caught the enthusiasm!

On our recent holiday, he very enthusiastically investigated all the reptiles he could find, and has decided to purchase a Bearded Dragon as soon as he can afford the equipment.

He is currently engaged in rather optimistically pricing all the unsecured items in his bedroom in an attempt to raise the necessary funds. As his eventual aim is to bring a python into the house, I'm not helping with the fundraising...

 

Where have we been?

We've been in sunny Queensland for a much deserved family holiday! The children are holding a real live baby crocodile - poor thing had its mouth taped up, but seemed quite content to be posed.

We spent a week on the Gold Coast (with a couple of days spent at a chiropractic seminar for Michael and I while the children amused themselves in the resort pool!) then stayed with some friends for a couple of nights. 

Comet fever

We all enjoyed watching McNaught's comet last month. It was visible to the naked eye from the end of our verandah, and very very pretty!

The more vertically challenged of us had to spend some time standing on the verandah rail, which was a little hair-raising, but it was such a treat to be able to see it so clearly from home! 

Belated Christmas

We saved our English Christmas presents from November to share with Grandad D for a belated Christmas celebration but then ran out of opportunities to share them with him.

Instead, we had a Christmas celebration on the last day of Music School. It was great - with the hugest success being a CD of Postman Pat stories and songs for Ginger Rose. She listens to them as she goes to sleep, and has even been convinced to listen to them in the morning at 5am rather than getting up and running around the house! 

Kindred spirits!

Briar Rose and Grandad D get on so well :). It probably helps that Briar Rose loves helping Grandad with his dogs, and that Grandad loves spoiling Briar Rose!

He often treats us all to a meal out at this fantastically cheap and cheerful restaurant which has become a family tradition on Grandad's visits. 

The art of air kneading

In preparation for the arrival of my wonderful new Kenwood Chef with dough hook, I've been experimenting with baking in the oven rather than the breadmaker.

This has the advantage of making the bread much easier to slice and use, and has encouraged me to experiment with a few different bread recipes.

The Ginger Ninja has become very helpful in the kitchen, and has perfected the art of "air kneading", which prevents the bread dough from sticking to the counter by encouraging it to stick to fingers instead! He kneads for 15 - 20 minutes at a time, making me wonder if I really need a machine...

And speaking of kneading, Briar Rose and Possum both go through stages of wanting to become chiropractors, and trade treatments with each other. Some of them are quite innovative - I'm sure the Bear treatment will become very popular some day!
 

The fabric stash finally diminishes!

Briar Rose and I took some time together this week to strip piece these rectangular blocks into rows. They are fabrics that had been hanging around my fabric stash for too long, and it feels great to finally get a home for them!
The colours are a bit more vibrant than they look, and I'm unexpectedly pleased with the result.

Sadly, my old machine is faltering - the tension is more than a bit wonky, so some of the stitching leaves a bit to be desired, but at least it's mostly straight! 

Music camp memories!

Music camp for the three older children is bringing back so many wonderful memories for me - of course, when I went to music camp we lived in and there were no such courses as circus skills, pinatas, digital music, didgeridoo or African drums!

My heart is truly glowing at the enjoyment my children are finally experiencing in a musical environment!

Ginger Ninja is enjoying learning Blues improvisation on his flute, circus skills, pinata (he's making a pinata of John Howard - gotta love his sense of humour if not his sense of discretion!) and digital music.

Possum is focussing on drums, doing two streams of beginner drums and African drumming, but he's also enjoying digital media.

Briar Rose is thriving in the junior school, where she's singing, playing recorder and learning all about music around the world.

The weather has been stinking hot, and the commute to the other side of town has been grueling for Ginger Rose and I - even though we're car pooling! But it is so worth it to finally feel that I've found a way for my children to share a love of music with me! Even if it's only for this one precious summer!