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

The crab and the slap band

One afternoon this week I decided to take the kids to the beach for an ice-cream after school.  It was the most spectacular day.  The sky was as blue as the ocean and for those of you that know me well will know how that makes my aura all smiley.   It would have been shameful to go straight home (and I couldn't face another afternoon on the school playground with a couple of whingy kids).

School pick-up can be pretty hit and miss depending on how tired Master J is or what kind of 'mood' he's in!  Some days he doesn't stop talking.  Enthusiastically telling me every single detail of what happened during the day (mostly involving events that happened on the playground rather than the classroom).  Other times he is like a bear with a sore head and the most I get is "Mum, will you just stop asking me SO many questions!  You ask me about my day EVERY day and I told you everything yesterday already!!!"  On days like these, the best thing to do is just head to the beach!

You can't beat ice-cream to get them all smiling (well, Miss L smiles at everything at the moment) Oh and take note of the red slap band on Master J's wrist.

After having ice-creams and a quick play in the park we went for a walk along the boardwalk to the tidal pool for a dip.  (I always have towels in the back of the car, just in case!  Miss H is known for stripping off at any given opportunity!)  

Master J had one of those slap wrist band thingies that he had got from the school canteen earlier in the day.   You know the ones? - where you slap them onto your wrist and the curl around quickly? (I loved them as a kid).  Anyway he was was so attached to this thing and was slapping it on the railings watching it wrap around all the way along the board walk.  Until suddenly - he missed!!!!  and the bangle fell down into the rockpools below.  Seriously you would have thought it was the end of the world.  He howled so loudly I could almost see his tonsils!

Missing slap bangle is somewhere down there......

Realising the seriousness of the incident (in his 6 year old world anyway), I offered to climb down and get it, but as I learned over to see exactly where it was, a rather large crab walked out from under a rock with the bright red slap band in it's pincer!!!  Seriously, I kid you not!!  I mean what are the chances???  I thought it was hilarious and burst out laughing thinking that he would see the humour in the situation and stop crying.  But Oh No!!  He only howled louder  -"Stop laughing at me", he managed to get out in between sobs!  Clearly I made a very delicate situation worse, and there was no way I was going to wrestle the crab to get the bangle back either (neither was he, I might add).

Sometimes it's so hard to put yourself in their worlds and take these kind of 'incidents' seriously.  Hopefully one day he will see the funny side!

Oh and all was solved by the next day when I gave him another $1 to buy a new bangle from the canteen.

I couldn't resist adding this photo.  Miss L loving the swings (before we met the crab and everything went pear-shaped)

My first day as 'Nanny Mummy"

'Is it a Sophie day today mum?' asks Master J.  No babes, Sophie lives too far away to be your nanny now.  'Who's going to be our new nanny then??'  Me, I reply!  'So will you be a nanny mummy?' That will do I thought, and so it begins...... my first day as Nanny Mummy!!

After staring out the window at the rain pouring down with small rivers of water gushing down the garden paths forming mini lakes at the bottom (where Master J was fascinated by a lizard trying to swim), we decided to brave the elements and head out!  Trousers, raincoats and wellies on - off we went!!  Last night I decided to make friends with the Sat Nav as I think I'm really going to need her.  I never got on with our old one and that really did me NO favours.  Luckily for me, we got on like a house on fire and within 10 minutes we arrived at Manly Beach.

Surprise number 1, I didn't get lost.  Even Master J said 'Are we there already mum?'.  Surprise number 2 - NO more rain!!!!  If fact, it was so completely dry that you could hardly tell it had rained at all.  The humidity had cranked itself up a gear too, so we all sat in the car, pouring with sweat, feeling a little silly in our raincoats and wellie boots!  Another chat with the Sat Nav and off we head home to change.

20 minutes later and we finally made back it back to Manly Beach (and I didn't get lost the second time either), just in time for a picnic lunch.  The seagulls ate most of the lunch as the kids found it highly amusing to throw parts of their sandwiches at the birds and then scream and run as they chase after them for more.....

The beach was great and so relaxing to just sit and chill whilst the kids amused themselves for hours, building sandcastles, making roads and chasing sticks in the sea.  Little Miss H just loved to do 'drawing' in the sand with a stick.  It took a lots of convincing to get her anywhere near the water though.  Master J and I were playing a game where you had to wait for the waves to almost reach your feet and then run away before you they catch you (great fun and took me way back to my childhood).  We finally convinced Little Miss H to come and play too, but she didn't quite get what we were doing and as a small wave approached Master J screamed in excitement and ran away, I followed, and poor Little Miss H got such a fright she screamed and ran for the hills (literally). She didn't stop running until she got to the car!!!!!!  Poor little love, when I coaxed her back to the sand, she told me the sea was 'scawy'!!!  Perhaps we'll try again tomorrow!!

I met a lovely Scottish lady on the beach today who had kids of a similar age to Master J and Miss H.  I was very brave and approached her for a chat.  It was so nice to have someone to talk to for a few minutes and to learn about the local area.  Unfortunately I was not brave enough to ask her for her number - maybe next time!!

So that pretty much sums up my first day.  Did I pass???  A far cry from my desk at the VAA Base, but all in all a good day.

Summer with Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice 'GIVEAWAY'

"COMPETITION TIME"

Following my review of the delicious Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice pouch (which you can read by clicking "here" if you haven't already done so), the lovely people at Sunraysia have given me the opportunity to offer my wonderful readers a FANTASTIC giveaway.

So here's the deal:

THE PRIZE:
A family supply of Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice pouches for the WHOLE of the summer school holidays!!!!!!  That's a 6 week supply of juice pouches - pretty awesome if you ask me!! (based on 1 pouch per day for a family of 5).

HOW TO ENTER:

1. In the comments below tell me what is your family's favourite way to enjoy Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice (don't forget to leave an email address for me to contact you, if you were to win).
2. Sign up to become a member of "Mrs D and Candy Bows".  You can do this on the top right hand side of the home page.  I promise it will be worth your while xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

THE RULES:
You have to be living in Australia and you have to have at least tasted how awesome Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice is.  The competition closes on 20th December 2012 and there is only 1 entry per person.


*Thanks for Sunraysia and Birds of Prey PR for this great giveaway.  I have not been paid to write up this giveaway but was more than happy to do it as I love the product*

A hot and sticky week! Love Instagram!

Anyone living in Sydney would know that last week was a HOT one!  Summer really has started with a bang that's for sure.  This is only our second summer in Aus and according to the locals, last summer was appalling.  Being British, I of course, thought it was fabulous!  It might have had something to do with the fact that I was pregnant throughout last summer that I found it so hot - or maybe just because anything above 25 degrees for more than three days in a row is amazing!!  Anyhow it did not leave me prepared for the kind of heat that we had last week!!

Look at Saturdays temps!!!  And all that rain, only fell at night when we couldn't get to appreciate it (except for the grass)

The extreme humidity and high temperatures had us all feeling a bit irritable - especially me and the kids.    I had to explain to Mr D (through gritted teeth) that sitting on a hot (yet air conditioned) bus to and from the city is NOT worse than we have it!!  I had to gently remind him that while he was sitting in a lovely cool air conditioned office, I'm at home wishing I could get away with walking around naked like the kids do!!  

Every time I get in and out of the car (which is about 10 times a day) I can feel the sweat tricking down my back.  Aaaarh, it's so gross!!  No matter where you go you can't seem to find any cool air.  By the time the air con in the car has actually kicked in I'm getting out again!!

On the plus side - the sun has got his hat on and the beaches around here are spectacular!  And so are the night time thunder storms!  There is nothing better than listening to the thunder and hearing the pouring rain crashing down on the patio roof after a really hot and sticky day.  The breeze is orgasmic - really!!

How lucky I am that this is a typical Wednesday afternoon (after school) visit to the beach??

A little bit of cheeky skinny dipping to cool off

Reading the newspaper while mummy has a girly gossip with a good friend (in the shade of course).

Paddling pools are the BEST!

Despite the extreme heat, our first week of summer has been all smiles!!  Little Miss L decided to sit up all by herself!!  A big moment for her, and Miss H and Master J were so excited that she can now sit and play with them.  It's so cute seeing them all starting to interact together.  I, on the other hand, felt a teeny tiny bit emotional that my baby is moving on to the next stage already.  They really do just grow up so fast!!

Feeling very pleased with herself!

On Saturday we also put up our Christmas Tree!  I have been dying to put it up for ages, but am too scared to do it before the 1st of December as I have an irrational fear that bad luck will follow.  I'm not sure where that came from??

Earlier in the week I had a moment where I was feeling a bit lost in all the Christmas hype.  I suddenly realised that for the first time EVER I would not be spending Christmas without my parents!  It's just going to be the 5 of us this year and I don't have a plan!!  As silly as it sounds I kind of feel a bit stuck between English traditions and Aussie traditions and I'm not quite sure where to place us.  I'm so used to having a big family Christmas Day (in the freezing cold) that I didn't know what to do this year!

After watching the kids get so excited surrounded by decorations, I gave myself a stern talking to and have decided that this is the year to start some new Christmas traditions that are just for us!!

The OCD in me had to really try hard not to totally re-do the tree once they had gone to bed

My next hurdle is to tackle the Christmas shopping!!  How is everyone else doing??  Are you organised or have to left it a little bit to the last minute like me??

Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice! Clean juice for kids (and grown ups!)

Now I know that water is the best drink you can give your kids, but lets face it - it's pretty boring!!  I grew up not being allowed to drink any of those cool, brightly coloured and fizzy drinks because my mum said they used to send us loopy!!  Every time we chose a drink in the shop, she would look at the back of the packaging and say "No, you can't have that one - it's got too may E's in it!" or "Absolutely not, that just full of 'this' or 'that'!"  I can still hear her now as I'm typing this.  Little did I know at the time, but she was actually doing us a massive favour as all those E's and other chemicals found in the 'cool drinks' can do some serious damage to our health.  I still couldn't help having 'drink envy' as a child though, and it took me a good few years to realise that I wasn't being totally deprived or that I didn't really have the meanest mum in the world.

As a mum, I now find myself in the exact same situation as my mum was all those years ago.  I have Miss H, who can literally go an entire day without drinking a thing just so she doesn't have to drink water, and Master J who has just discovered the lure of 'fizzy drinks'.  I could take myself off on a fabulous day of pampering if I had a dollar for every time I've heard "Mum, can I have a coke today?"  "No!"  "Oh but muuuum, I'm the ONLY one at school that never gets to have one!  EVERYONE else gets a coke when they go to the canteen!"

I tried going cold turkey and giving them both nothing but water to drink as I was starting to get concerned by the amount of sugar nasties they were consuming.  (Especially as the warmer climate in Sydney has meant that they were drinking so much more 'juice' than they did in the UK).  Well........the amount of whinging I got from that just gave me a headache, and as the stubborn little mini-me she is - Miss H just refused to drink altogether!  Great!  Well that one totally backfired on me, so I had to go to plan B, which was juice at meal times only!  Poor Mr D was just as confused as the kids by my ever changing juice rules!!

Please tell me I'm not the only mum out there with these problems??

So when Blogs and PR approached me and asked if I would like to come to a 'bloggers brunch' to celebrate the launch of a new Organic 100% fruit juice by Sunraysia, I jumped at the chance.

We met a fabulous Organic cafe in Sydney's Rozzelle called About LIfe and as soon as I walked in I got a great feeling about Sunraysia.  Of course, the first thing I was offered was an ice-cold Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice Pouch (which I gladly accepted as it was so horribly hot and humid I was gasping).  I chose the tropical flavour and it was DELICIOUS!

It really does taste as yummy as that fruit looks.

While having a yummy brekkie we were lucky enough to listen to a talk from Amy McKendrick at My Nutrition Coach about healthy eating choices and learning how to spot and avoid nasties when buying our groceries.  Now I thought I was pretty good at buying the 'right' foods for my kids, but listening to Amy was a real eye opener!  I learnt so much and will definitely be blogging about it all soon.

SO having just tasted Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice, I was so excited to learn just how 'clean' they really are.  I couldn't wait to take some home for the kids to try.  I learnt from Amy that when reading a products' ingredients list, the top 3-4 generally make up most of the product!  Quite scary when you see how long some of the lists are.  A little task for you all:  take a look at at the ingredients list of your most favourite product and note of the top 3!  Let me know your thoughts!!

(here is a link to the Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice web advert.  It really does make you think!!!)

When you read the ingredients list on a Organic Sunraysia 100% Juice drink ALL that's in it is fruit!  Thats it!!  Seriously not another thing!!  So in the orange juice, for example, the list of ingredients just says "organic orange juice".  How cool is that??

The packaging is pretty awesome too.  It's 100% BPA free (even the straw) and it very cleverly does not allow any oxygen into the juice keeping it fresh fresh fresh without the need to add any preservatives or nasties!

Miss H was my first taste tester and she had to open up every singel one to check which one she liked best!  Can you tell by her smile that they were ALL a hit? (especially the 'purple' berries)

So now that you've heard from me and why I was so impressed, the real test is WHAT DID THE KIDS THINK??

I think Miss H was just so excited that she was allowed to have 'juice' instead of water, she drank almost three in a row.  "So what do you think?" I asked her "YUMMY" she said, with a huge smile.  And that was all her fruit portions for the day in one hit too - so another point to mummy (and Sunraysia)

I took a bunch of samples that I had into the school playground that afternoon and gave them to the boys.  They were such a hit that I had a small crowd of thirsty (and grubby) little Kinders around me before I could blink!  They told me they were "SUPER YUM!"

Here is our top 5 ways to enjoy Sunraysia Organic 100% Juice:

1. Drink it chilled straight out the fridge.
2. Freeze it and put it in your lunch box (the squeezy pouch means it fits into just about any space).
3. Freeze it, cut open the top and eat it with a spoon as a slushy (a firm favourite in our house).
4. Mix a little with baby rice and it makes a delicious meal for any babies' who are weaning.
5. If you are lucky enough to have a thermomix (you know how I love mine), you can wizz it up with some frozen milk cubes and it makes the most delicious ice-cream.

So all that's left is for you to try it for yourself.  You can find them in just about any supermarket and they are so reasonably priced at only $1.49 each or 5 for $5!!

If you would like to win a supply of Sunraysia Organic 100% Juices for your whole family for the ENTIRE SUMMER SCHOOL HOLIDAYS, then just sign up to my blog and watch this space.  Competition details will be coming very soon.................................

Thanks to Blogs and Pr, Birds of Prey PR, Sunraysia and About Life for a yummy brunch.

**I have not been paid to write this review!  I just  love the product - it's the new 'cool' juice in my books and it certainly got the seal of approval from the kids.   I was therefore more than happy to promote it**

six months gone in a flash!

Exactly 6 months ago today little Miss L was born!  Happy half year baby girl.  I feel like we waited so long for you to arrive and in the blink of an eye six months have passed.  A sure reminder to treasure every minute of my three precious bundles as time really does fly.

My little spring roll, just a few hours old.

Hello!

Proud big brother.  It's quite amazing how instinctive the sibling bond is.

A picture says a thousand words

First day at home

First smile

Still smiling

and more smiles

Six months today!!

Here is to the next six months - please don't wizz by too fast!