floods

what incredible weather we are having.
we awoke this morning to flash flooding around us.
lucky we live on a hill !!!

sushi

i have procrastinated making sushi with the boys, thinking it would be too messy, too hard and just not the effort.
yesterday when i picked the boys up from Mum's after work ,they were full of stories about having watched Playschool and watching them make sushi. Can we make it? the excitement was too much, how could i say no.
so this afternoon after being out for most of the day we sat down and made it.
IT WAS EASY, quick and relatively painless.
it took a little while for Hugo to work out how to wrap the rolls without the mat getting tucked up, after the first one he got it. both boys had heaps of fun. and the best bit they ate heaps for dinner.
definitely an activity i will do again.

my recipe:
sushi rice, cook per instructions and adding sushi seasoning after it was cooked.
a selection of chicken, avocado, cucumber, carrot and rocket
Norri sheets
sushi mat

place mat on table, place Norri sheet on top, flatten rice out over 4/5 of the Norri sheet.
place ingredients in a row along rice, roll, refrigerate, cut and eat. !!
yum

first day

first day of 4 year old Kinder for Arch today.
he was a little nervous i think but after a few puzzles with big brother we waved good bye.
when i picked him up, an hour later !! the teacher said he gave a few smiles and seemed to be settled.
i am a little worried i have made the right choices with Arch. I'm not sure he is ready, but i guess this first term will tell, and i am hoping that attending 3 times a week will help encourage his development as well as mixing with peers his own age may help him find a level playing field rather than being so competitive with Hugo and his friends. Arch seems so outwardly confident and sure of himself, but under this tough competitive exterior he is very sensitive and unsure, worried and nervous and i think that's why we see the "class clown" behaviour.
at this stage we will just get the ball rolling and see how we go, one day at a time and assess soon... why didn't i have these concerns at the end of last year??? maybe i did but i pushed them aside and now its his first day its all come to the surface!
anyway, he enjoyed the morning and now we are cooling down by the pool.

its got me to thinking

time ticks away so quickly. already January is over, school holidays have almost finished. its the end of the long summer holidays and now school is due back bed times need to realign and the routine days start.

over the holidays Hugo and i read this book. there is a series of them and we will enjoy them together over the next few months.

its a story about a little boy of Greek heritage and his mum that buy a campervan and start to tour Australia, stopping along the way to find out all sorts of information and facts about lots of interesting places in Australia. the first one is Melbourne to Mildura.

Hugo loved the story and the fact that there was factual information and photos in the book, teaching about geography, local industry, history and culture within the book appealed to him

as we finished this story, Hugo asked if we could go to Mildura.

His question got me thinking that we should do more weekend trips, just us as a family to many different places around our state, Victoria.

there are so many towns and regions i would like to see. i started to list places and it was quite large.... Warrnambool, Wilson's prom, Otways, Mildura, Grampians etc..

and then i read this post and it really resonated with me...

time passes too quickly, Victoria is right what could be more important that spending time with the most important people. the chores can wait, family wont.

so here's to 2011 and lots of adventures.

water fight

forts made, plans whispered... ready attack, the boys against daddy.
daddy 2 boys nil.
plans re whispered, forts drawn closer ready attack, this time with water squirters and noodles !!!
result:: daddy with drew from play. therefore 2 little boys won !!!

after years

after years of trying i have finally successfully grown tomatoes.
in my family we always had prolific vegetable gardens. there was always a healthy competition between mum and grandpa as to who had the first ripe tomato. Grandpa always had one by the 1st December !! so i have finally done it.
admittedly they are cherry ones, but at least they have ripened. i have picked them and am looking forward to using them in a salad tonight.

science

today's the last day of my holidays and we seem to have had the most productive day of the last 6 weeks !!!
we started off this morning with a science experiment... an erupting volcano with bicarb and vinegar.
the boys thought it was great fun and as Archie said "wow that's awesome"

lamingtons

made by the boys for Australia Day from here.

post

this year i have taken on the role of secretary on the Kindergarten Committee.

over the holidays i have had to collect the mail from the post box. the boys have enjoyed this job and have been talking about letters, Posties and delivering mail.

this morning Hugo asked if we could write some letters. so we spent the morning creating a letter box, writing mail, creating letter boxes for the mail to be delivered in and then i decorated some calico bags for the "posties" to deliver the mail in.

we have had so much fun today, writing letters to each other, drawing pictures and role playing together.

slow

the year is underway, holidays are nearly over and i am back to work on Thursday.
its a balance to create time to relax, share and enjoy the company of my boys as well as get all the things done i need to during the week.
today we stopped and took the time to bake.
firstly a banana cake from this book i got for Christmas.
after a discussion in October with my cousin about the new trend of macaroons, i finally got round to making some. i think the mixture was a little thick, i achieved the "foot" that is the desired effect at the bottom, but the tops were too pointed.. i will try again, but we all gobbled them up.