Welcome to Australia Stanley

Meet Flat Stanley!!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine in England (who's little boy, Master C, just so happened to be Master J's best buddy when we used to live in England), contacted me asking for a favour.  Master C, who is also in year 1, was doing a class project that involved making 'Flat Stanley' and sending him off to another country where he could have some adventures and then make his way home to report back!

We were delighted to be involved and once I told Master J all about Stanley, he couldn't wait for him to arrive, and kept checking the post every day.

Stanley's arrived!  The big smile says it ALL!

Welcome to Australia Stanley

Stanley arrived all tucked up in an envelope with a set of instructions and we couldn't wait to show him around.

"Dear Master J

As part of our learning we have made ourselves a flat Stanley, based on the story of a little boy that is sent on an adventure.  Master C has decided to send his flat Stanley to you!  Please look after flat Stanley and tell us about his adventures.  Maybe he could come and spend the day with you at school or work, maybe you'd like to take him with you on a special trip and send us some photographs or information about where you have been or maybe he could find out about your home!  When flat Stanley is ready to come home after his adventure, please could you put him in the enclosed envelope, add some stamps and and pop him back in the post box.  When he arrives back to us we will find out about your adventures together as a class!

Love Master C"

Flat Stanley with Class 1R

Our first stop was to take Stanley to school.  Master J's teacher was absolutely thrilled to get involved and set aside some time for the whole class to learn about Stanley.  Master J got to do a 'special' news presentation to the class telling them all about Stanley and where he came from.  After looking at some pictures of Master C at school in England, the class learnt all about the differences between School in England and school in Australia.  (I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at their discussions and the kids just loved learning all about what kids their ages did at school in another country.  They then each drew a picture of something they do at school in Australia and we popped them all in an envelope ready to go back to England when Stanley has finished his adventures.

Poor Stanley brought the English weather with him - but he still had fun at the beach luckily.

We put Stanley in a bucket to stop him from getting blown away by the wind

Miss H held Stanley's hand just in case he was scared of the seagulls.

Of course Stanley had to visit the beach before he went home.  The first day we took him to the beach just happened to be a pretty cloudy, grey day and we all had a chuckle that Stanley must have brought the chilly English weather with him.  He didn't seem to mind though.

Stanley also learnt how to scooter and skate board and he went on the ferry to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House before we said goodbye and popped him back in the post.

Safe travels Stanley, we hope you let us know about your class in England.

Just a little TLC was all it took

My little Miss H has been less than a barrel of laughs recently, in fact she has been a little madam!!  Almost every day in the last couple of weeks I've been told at least twice "I'm NOT your best friend!" The floorboards have also taken a bit of a battering with the amount of "left foot stamping" that has been going on.  It's quite exhausting!!  She seems to have gone from a little angel to a little devil overnight, without even the tiniest bit of warning.

I hate getting cross with her and it seems to end up being a bit of a vicious cycle -  She stamps her feet, I get cranky, she stamps her feet even more, I get more cranky and so on it goes....... until we're both unhappy.

I've been desperately hoping that it's just a phase and it's her way of pushing boundaries and asserting her authority (or trying to........ no one beats mummy! Not even Dad).  That is until I dropped her at Kindy on Tuesday and it was the WORST drop off ever.  She clung to me like a baby monkey and screamed leaving me to literally peel her off my leg and run to the door without looking back.  I did actually call the Kindy and hour or so later to check how she was and they said she was absolutely fine and playing happily with her friends.  Still....... it didn't stop that loaded arrow of mummy guilt hitting me right where it hurts!!

I couldnt stop thinking about it all morning as it's just so unlike her, and I remembered a conversation we'd had in the car on the way to Kindy that morning.  "Miss H" I said "you are just getting sooo grown up!  Can you stop growing please!"  "But I just can't stop mummy" she said innocently.  (I can't remember what promoted this conversation), but when we arrived at Kindy (just before the screaming started) she kept saying she wanted to go back to her old room and stay with the babies.  "Don't be silly"  I'd told her.  "you'll have so much more fun with the big kids in your new class".

I didn't put two and two together until later that morning and it suddenly dawned on me that she might be feeling a little bit left out now that Miss L is starting to make a bit more of a presence in the family.  Mr D and I wondered if maybe she was suffering from a bit of 'middle child syndrome'????  With me being the eldest and Mr D being the youngest, neither of us actually have a clue about middle child syndrome or if it even exists.  However my solution was just to give her a simple bit of extra TLC and so far it seems to have done the trick.  My smiley little Miss is back again!!

Yesterday we had a girls day and I cleared my entire diary (you'll be surprised how busy I am - Mr D if you're reading this!!!).  We played a very interesting game of mummies and sisters (I was the sister) and I did have to stop myself from chuckling at Miss H's vivid imagination   "Sister" she said to me "do you have a baby in your tummy?" "Oh no!" I reply (thinking that was the right answer).  "YOU DO Mummy!!" she said "just pretend!!".  "Oh sorry!  Yes, here's my baby in here" I point to my tummy.  "When's it coming out?" she asks.  "I don't know" I say.  "YOU DO Mummy!  Just pretent"  "oh Sorry!! In about two weeks".  "oh we must get ready to go to the doctors' she continues..........  (it was quite therapeutic being a kid again).

Next we did some painting - Easter Bunny style!! (at her request).  I had to have a quick look on pinterest for some inspiration and his is a great one for anyone else looking for a bit of toddler Easter craft!!

Printing our feet to make bunny ears! (wearing wings of course! and YES I had some on too)

The finished product.  Isn't it cute??

We also did some baking and I managed to get her to believe that these 'chocolate' balls were actually made out of real chocolate.  A stroke of genius if I do say so myself.  (ingredients are: almond meal, dried apricots, gogi berries and dates, a tablespoon of cocoa powder and some manuka honey.  All whizzed together and rolled in coconut).  Seriously yummy!!

Exhausted.

Today I learnt a great mummy lesson learnt.  A little TLC really can go a looooong way!!

Traffic Light Brownies

This is another idea that I saw somewhere - Pinterest I think, but I just can't remember exactly where it was!!  Anyway I thought it was a great idea - and I'm very sorry for not crediting it's original source.

I've decided to use a lovely Nigella Lawson recipe for the brownies (which I altered ever so slightly for the thermomix), so if you're on any form of diet - look away now!!

A quick trip to woolies for the ingredients with two very enthusiastic little helpers!

Ingredients

150g chocolate (I used dark chocolate)

150g butter

3 eggs

280-300g sugar (I used the lesser)

1 tsp vanilla essence

25g cocoa powder

130g plain flour

A large bag of smarties (or M&M's)

Prep and Method

• Set the oven to preheat at 160 degrees (NOT 180 degrees as I did without thinking and then had to wait for it to cool a bit).

• Line a 20cm baking tin with baking paper.

• Chop the butter and chocolate for 5 seconds on speed 5.  Scrape down the sides with a spatula.  

• Melt the chocolate and butter for 2 mins at 60 degrees on speed 1.   Don't worry if there are still bits of solid chocolate in there - as Nigella says "there is nothing better than finding a sneaky lump of chocolate in your brownie".

• Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence and mix if 5 seconds on speed 4.

• Add the flour and cocoa and mix again for 5 seconds on speed 4.

• Pour the mixture evenly into the tin (trying not to eat it in the process).

• Finally get your 'enthusiastic' helper to sort out all the Smarites into traffic light colours ready to decorate!  Bonus points if they can tell you what the colours mean!!

• Pop your beautiful brownie tray into the oven and bake it for 50mins.  Nigella says to take them out the oven 10 minutes early if you want your brownies to be a little bit gooey in the middle.  Which we did and they were DELICIOUS!!

The green Smarties seemed to turn yellow in the over - but no one seemed to notice!!

• Once cooled, cut up and serve (and again try not to eat them all at once).

And it really IS a good picture!

This evening whilst I was cooking dinner for the second time.... (earlier today I made an amazing Green Thai Curry, but I underestimated just how hot it would be!  Hence dinner number two as my beautiful curry was too 'burny' for the kids).   Anyway, whilst I was in the kitchen, Master J yelled out to me "Mum, come in here and look at us!  This will make a really cool picture! '  Not sure what they were up to, I grabbed my phone and walked into the lounge.

This is what I found!  Master J was so right - it really IS a good picture.

This post was brought to you by Memories Captured.  Linking up on Writing, Wishing

A year in pictures! The db's best bits of 2012.

I cannot believe that I am sitting here "rounding up the year"!  Where has it gone??  I know the saying goes that the older you get the faster the years fly by - but am I that old already??  2012 has been our first complete year spent in Sydney and has certainly been action packed.  Here is a quick summary of our best bits.....  

January
It was a lovely start to 2012 having mum and dad stay with us for a few weeks.  I loved  having them around so much that when I dropped them back at the airport to catch their flight I sobbed the WHOLE way home.  Luckily I had been warned that this would happened and after a few days I was back in the swing of things and waiting for their next trip to Sydney.     

February
Master J started Kindergarden his month.   It was an emotional day for me as he looked so grown up, yet so small in his school uniform.  I may have shed a tiny tear, but managed to hold it together very well.  Miss H also started her little Kindy and looked so grown up.  As they both started on the same day (very strategically planned) Mr D and I decided to take the opportunity to enjoy a lovely kid free lunch.  We were having such a great time that we almost forgot the kids and ended up being late to pick them up........on their first day!  Such bad parenting!!!!

March
March was a big month for Mr D as he was promoted at work.   On the 18th March we also celebrated making our first year in Australia.

April
This month our Miss H turned 3.  She celebrated her birthday at Steve Irwin’s ‘Australia Zoo’ in Queensland.  We spent the easter school holidays in Queensland, exploring some of the stunning Australian coastline.  It was our first loooooooong drive with kids and a very pregnant me, but it didn't put us off and we'll defiantly be doing it again.

Crikey! It's my birthday!

Enjoying some of Queensland's spectacular beaches

Beautiful Byron Bay and a big bump

May
On the 29th of May our beautiful little Miss L arrived into the world. We had a couple of slightly stressful false alarms on the week running up to her birth, and when she finally arrived we only JUST made it to the hospital on time!! (and gained a speeding and parking fine along the way).   I had the most amazing 5 night stay in the most beautiful hospital (or hotel) getting to know my new little munchkin.    It was hard being so far from my family at this time but I am so grateful to all our wonderful new friends that went out of their way to help us settle in as a new family of 5.  Miss H and Master J was SOOOO excited to have their new baby at long last and we had to visit both schools to show her off.  It really is amazing to see how innately strong the sibling bond is.

June
This month was a bit of a blur for me to be honest as I was a little sleep deprived to say the least! I did however manage to get a huge parking fine and crash the car! Fortunately no one was hurt (apart from our bank balance) but it was a real lesson for me, that I can’t do EVERYTHING on my own and that it’s ok to accept help. But on a more exciting note – we got news that my little sis and her Mr are expecting their first baby girl next year and I’m going to be an Aunty!!!

Settling in as the new dB5

July
Mum arrived this month from England (just in the nick of time) to meet our little Miss L and to help us all get through the first school holidays with three kids. It was an absolute godsend having her here and even though it was the middle of winter, the weather was beautiful and sunny and we had a wonderful couple of weeks. It made me realise just how much we miss not having mum and dad down the road.

When Granny came to stay

August
This month I decided to turn my blog writing into something a little more permanent. I initially started writing it as a means to keep family and friends up to date with our lives in Sydney.  I enjoy writing it so much that I’ve decided to go a little more public with it.  I suddenly have found myself immersed in a new world of social media and had no idea how ‘big’ it was out there! I’m learning so much all the time and want to keep going (even thought I’m hard pressed to find the time sometimes). 

Mr D takes the kids on a tree climbing adventure to give me some time to write!  

September
School holidays again! Can’t quite believe we are two­‐thirds through the first school year!  We headed up the north coast on our first road trip as a family of 5. It was only a 4 hour drive but we had to make several stops for feeding and wee’s and leg stretching. Thank god for ipads – I don’t know how my parents survived without them! We stayed in the beautiful Port Stephens Bay for a week and did nothing but chill out at the beach.  I even managed to read a book!!!

Road-tripping with 3

Family time on the beach

Miss L's first swim.  What a cutie x

Beautiful Hawkes Nest Bay

October
This month Master J turned 6 – at last!! I say that because he asked me at least once a week from the beginning of the year ‘how many sleeps until I’m 6?’ He seems to have grown up so much this year and bringing with it a whole new set of parenting challenges for us. Especially now that he can read – nothing is a secret anymore. The other day he managed to get onto the school canteen app on my iPhone and order his own lunch!!!! Telling me he didn’t feel like my sandwiches that day. However we are so proud of how he has settled, not only into his new life in Aus but also into school. (Not sure how I’m going to cope next year when the homework starts to come home). We also spent a long weekend away with my cousin LCJ and MT in a beach house up the North Coast of Sydney. I love it that I have one family member that is ‘almost’ around the corner.  It was an awesome weekend with lots of laughs!  The boys were on a fishing mission and even ended up knee deep in mud just to get to a great fishing spot!!!

Master J turn 6.  What a bunch of cheeky riders!

Mr D and MT relaxing with some ocean fishing.  Unfortunately they didn't catch anything we could actually eat!

LCJ with her newest niece

All this mud was Miss H's idea of HEAVEN!

November
The Sydney weather kicked up a gear or two in the heat department this month and has given me an indication of what’s to come in the summer!! HOT HOT HOT!! We’ve had some extremely humid days making my daily job of getting in and out the car a hundred times (well not quite hundred but it feels like that sometimes) not so pleasant! Roll on the school holidays. Master J also started nippers (junior surf life saving) and ocean swim club this month. He has taken to the water so well and I think we might have a little swim star on our hands.   Miss H did her first ballet recital on stage this month and was absolutely beautiful. It brought a little tear to my eye (yes, another one!!).

Master J swimming his awesome 25m race in the big pool!

Miss H and her beautiful ballerina friends waiting for their turn to go on stage

Ice-cream at the beach after school - you know it's summer time!!

December
This month we will have our first Christmas ever with just the 5 of us! We’re going to be house sitting for a colleague ofMr D's, so will spend Christmas and New Year at a lovely Beach House just kicking back and enjoying all the festivities.

I have had loads of fun taking Candy Bows to the local markets over the festive period

Have a good chat with Santa x

Miss L meets Santa at the beach.  It's strange to think she'll never know a cold, wintery Christmas.

Master J's school Christmas concert.  It was so cute I might have welled up just a tiny little bit.

With that I’d like to thank you all, my lovely readers, for following Mrs D this year.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an exciting 2013. 

Last week! Love Instagram!

I don't know about you, but each week on the run up to Christmas seems to be getting busier and busier!  There are just so many end of year parties, picnics, get-togethers and lunches that it's nearly impossible to find a spare minute anywhere in the almost the whole of December!  Not to mention the Christmas card writing, shopping, cooking and Santa visiting to name a few other things to squeeze in.  Phew!!!! Makes me exhausted just thinking about it.  However there is just something magical about this time of year that puts everyone in such a good mood!  I love it.

It is funny though, how we are all so busy during the 11 months that run up to Christmas that we hardly have time for all these fabulous social get-togethers and then suddenly December arrives and we try to fit EVERYTHING into one month!!

Miss L has started teething this week and the poor little bunny has not been happy at all!  All red eyed and miserable and she still managed a little smile for mummy.

Late night cuddles with Daddy.

We had some pretty hot days last week and I just LOVE LOVE how easily I can whip up some fresh, delicious ice-cream in the thermomix for the kids in just a couple of minutes.  (I always have to remember to fill my ice trays with milk as well as water now)

Miss H and her little buddy enjoying the strawberry and kiwi ice-cream that they just helped me make.

An afternoon on the beach after school.  We are all really hanging out for the school holidays now.  I am so over the daily pick up and drop offs!!  Bring on the summer holidays.

Candy Bows and I have been very busy at the local Christmas Markets over the last couple of weekends.  Mr D has been rushing around with the big kids while I've had my little Market Hippy as company.  We've had an awesome time.

Little Market buddy

I had to take a picture of this little fella at Saturday's Market!  Fabulous Christmas spirit!

Mmmmmmmm Candy Floss ( or Fairy Floss, depending on where you're from).  I dread to think what it does to their teeth!!  He had to eat it so quickly as it melted quicker than ice-cream in the heat!

I was very proud of this home-made garlic and herb bread - pretty awesome if I say so myself.  Thanks thermi!!

You wouldn't believe that the hugest storm EVER hit this beach about 15 minutes after I took this picture.

Such little darlings xxxxx