The week that was

It was my birthday last week and we got out of Sydney for a few days.  My folks have a holiday house down the south coast that they bought with clam shells some 30 years ago. Is a great spot with long warm shallows to laze around in, often on a floating device and a chilled beverage of the alcoholic kind. As it had been so long since we had been there, all I wanted was to crack out the cossie, get in that water and get some sun on my skin. Do you think that mr weatherman listened to my private prayers? Nope he didn't. If he could have just turned off the chill in the light wind, that would have been great. Oh well. My skin and sanity will have to wait till Christmas.

We also have another little celebration to announce. My not even 6 month old has 3 teeth!  What the? I know!  He cut his third tooth, a front tooth on Halloween. Poor little mite.

So the below is a snapshot of our time recently.

1// The trip to the south coast took some 6 hours. A trip that would usually take 3. We had multiple feeding stops, both false alarms and real. I think my little one has found his limit in a car seat - 1 hour. Not helpful really. Alas, Berry was on the cards for a stop.  Why Berry? Why, because it has the best darn donuts in the whole world!  A coffee from the Berry Sourdough Bakery and donuts from the Famous Berry Donut Van. Birthday perfection.

2// The beach front at our holiday house. Little man had such a lovely time exploring; poking sticks at hermit crabs and jelly fish. Ah the simple things.

3// So if the wind picks up at our place, we head across the way to Murrays Beach. It sits on the southern end of Jervis Bay. Gorgeous part of the world. I went there in jeans and a cardi. The boys stripped off and went swimming. It was freeeezing. Boys!

4// Birthday pressie from the beautiful Cass at Live it, Do it. Such a gorgeous girl. She and her beautiful bevie of kids were able to drop in for a night while we were away. So it appears I have officially been inducted into the Northern Beaches community. I now have my own pair of Saltwater Sandals! Thanks Cass. So ugly they are nice right! x

5// Oh this little guy breaks my heart every single day. He is such a lover. So happy... except of course when teething. On this day, we found a new tooth. He was sad and sore and so very tired but I had to capture it.

Hope you are having a nice week.

The week that was

How gorgeous is Spring!  I feel an absolute lift to my spirit now that a few layers of clothes are shed. What is it about taking ones clothes off that makes us happy? Ha!

We have been doing good on the house front. A new garden bed and painting the west side of the house are the latest projects undertaken.  The race to get the house painted is apparently with the weather. It HAS to be done before summer really hits as painting on the western wall in the sun will be a bee-arch.  So, I am a weekend widow. Can I complain?  Don't think I really should as he is working on our home - still!

Here is a snapshot of the last week.

1// So our cottage was built in the 1950's and in that time, the house has been painted once. ONCE! We know this as the paint on the western wall was simply peeling off. We are also doing a sneaky... well not sneaky so much as smart. So the rest of the house is a really dark blue, almost black. Love it but if we painted the western wall this same dark colour, summer would be unbearable due to the absorption of heat. So we are painting it white, to help reflect the heat.  Sound stupid?  Hmm, maybe. It can't be seen from the street, so we don't really mind. Hopefully the plan works. ANYWAY back to this pic... Before you paint, you have to wash. Washing requires water and where there is water, there is the opportunity to make mud. And what does every little and big boy in my family love... muddy puddles! These two kids were having so much fun jumping around and splatting mud on the walls that I couldn't help but try to capture the moment. Daddy is always so much fun!

2// We have a new green friend in our bathroom. The Boon Frog Pod. Hello friend, welcome!  I got so sick of toys lying all around the bath with no place to go. I searched for some good looking options. Mr froggy is what I found.  You can also get a lady bird.  I thought the froggy was super cute. Like him?

3// When we installed litte man's new cubby, we covered the old ground level veggie patch. As we couldn't live without a veggie patch, we had made a Colourbond one, colour which matches the new roof! Ha! We spent months building up the quality of the soil, mulching, composting, fertilising. Finally we planted it out and finally we are seeing some results. This pic is some of my yummy spinach. The leaves are massive. So proud! The eggs are from my neighbour who drops them over each week. Such a sweet man. In return I bake for him. The tomatoes are from The Beaches Market. I am there each Friday. A lovely way to spend a Friday morning. What a great morning feast!

4// Now these babies are amazing. Sugar free, wheat free, gluten free, can be dairy free. Amazing right!  The original recipe is from Teresa Cutter, I have just added some fruit and sprinkled coconut ontop. 100% guilt free pleasure.  Below is the recipe. If you can't eat nuts, head to her website, she has some great substitution ideas too. Go knock yourself out!

150g (or 1.5 cups) almond meal
1/4 cup good quality cocoa
1/4 macadamia oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp honey
60ml of your choice of milk (almond, cows, soy)
Handful of frozen organic raspberries
Sprinkle of coconut

Add into the one bowl and mix. Add fruit last so they don't break up. Pour into patty cases or pans and bake at 160c (fan forced) for 20mins. Done when skewer comes out clean. note: the fruit makes them moist, gooey almost. For real cake texture, leave fruit out. It is just as yum.

Hope you are having a fab week!