LET IT SNOW or WHERE'S THE SUNSCREEN SANTA?

You wake up in a pool of sweat with the covers on the floor and realise that maybe you didn't need your PJ's on last night and you should have put the air conditioning on.

You go into the kids and they too are in a pool of sweat but you refuse to do washing on today of all days. Hubby just shrugs it off and knows not to say the dreaded words of "...Hot? This isn't hot...where I work it gets to a zillion degrees blah blah blah..."

You switch the air con on and turn the news on the TV. Great! Cyclone season. You just know that you are going to get the tail end of it and by the end of today there could be thunder and rain as well as the stinky humidity. If only you had forsaken a decent kitchen for a pool....

Never mind, it's a special day. Breathe, Breathe.

The kids are crazy all morning and you look forward to going out with the family to lunch at the posh resort. So soon enough after breakfast and craziness you put the baby down for his morning sleep and set the 4 year old up with his toy/book/Wii game of choice and head for a nice relaxing shower.

Well it would be relaxing if the 4 year didn't keep coming in ever 5 seconds!

You pull out the outfit you want to wear and realise that you will melt the minute you leave the house in it and you should have realised the weather fairy was on holidays too and wasn't going to make any last minute changes!

You also have to blow dry your hair. Because what you need on a stinking hot humid day is to blow more hot air at yourself! So you do it standing in your underwear and keep turning it off to go stand under the air con vent to cool off. Your face is so red that you look like you have already been out in the sun! You get dressed just in the nick of time and immediately sweat.

You turn the air con up.

The make up is melting off your face. Oh joy!

The 4 year old wants to wear his new outfit which is actually too big because you wanted him to get more wear out of it and the baby has thrown up on his. Oh joy!

So off you go to lunch at the resort where you paid $45 for the 4 year old to have a bread roll and an orange juice! The baby throws up again...this time on you.

It is still hot!!

And it's then that you think to yourself, how lucky am I that I am here with my family, we are having lovely food and it's Christmas day but oh! How I could do with a dob of snow right now!!!

Yes my bloggy friends, Christmas here in Perth will be a balmy 36 degrees C!! Not a snowman or icicle in sight. And for the first time in the 24 years I have lived in this beautiful and wonderful country I am longing for the white Christmas of my childhood.

Maybe it's because I now have kids and Grotbag & Bugalugs will never experience Christmas how it is portrayed in books. All snow and sleighs and snowmen. That is unless we take them back to the UK for Christmas one year. And I know the reality of snow and ice (car's stuck, falling over, slush etc) but in my fantasy it's all lovely and white and fluffy.

And despite my little EXAGGERATED story above (my Christmas day will not be like that at all...hopefully). I do love Christmas here and do like the fact that I can wear a nice little dress without having to be rugged up. That it is very unlikely I will have a cold at Christmas and that we get to go to the beach over the holidays.

But just this year...I am jealous of the snow! I think after 24 years I am allowed this one year!

So all my readers out there who are experiencing snow, tell me what it is you LOVE about the snow and the cold at Christmas and feed my fantasy!!

THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES OR HOW AM I GOING TO SURVIVE 6 WEEKS SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!!

Grotbag had his last day of Kindy yesterday. Because we are now in Summer here in Australia the School year is a Calendar year so Summer school holidays also started yesterday!


This was Grotbag on his first day of Kindy. I can't believe he has completed the year and has amased a great group of friends as have I with the Kindy mums.


He looks so young in this picture and I have to remember that he was only 3 when he started Kindy! He was just a baby!!!


Of course big changes happened in the first week of his Kindy in that I gave birth to his little brother so our household had alot of adjusting to do - and so I am really proud of him!


Below is Grotbag now - a precotious 4 year old who often sounds like he is 14 - God help me when the teenage years come!



So, we got a letter home saying that the last day of school there would be an incursion where a Magician would come in, they could dress up (Ben 10 is Grotbags hero of choice) and to bring a plate of "healthy" party food!


Now I am all for the healthy stuff, but come on it's the last day of their first ever year at school! So I have rebelled on behalf of and made Mini White Christmas Chocolate Crackles.

Recipe is from my Happy Baby Womans Weekly Cookbook and are really easy:

35gm Rice Bubble/Crispies or whatever you call them in the country your from

35gm Coco Pops (pretty sure these are universal)

70gm of Mini M&Ms

200gm of Melted White Chocolate

Mix all the ingrediants in a bowl and divide into 24 mini muffin cases then refrigerate for at least 10 minutes!

Now that is party food!!!!

THE MAKING OF A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS OR ANOTHER BOY IN THE HOUSE!

Meet Chris the Elf our little Santa's Helper that's come to stay at our house.


I asked Santa if he could send an Elf to us who had finished helping make all the toys and he sent Chris (who looks suspiciously like Grotbag?).

Chris is a little mischievous Elf who gets up to no good when we are all asleep. He also might leave little tasks for Grotbag to do or even hide so Grotbag has to search for him. He is also reporting back to Santa on Grotbag's behaviour.

Well this is what I have told Grotbag anyway.

This again is not one of my brilliant original ideas as all of those have already been light bulbs above somebody elses head. No I just stole it from Raising Z who wrote her post about Park The Elf arriving at her house a couple of weeks ago.

It seemed like a great tradition to start but the Elf Magic Website didn't post the Elves to Australia and I thought it was a bit late to start so thought I would do it next year! But then...I would like to say...magically...I saw Chris the Elf in a gift shop window in Melbourne literally 5 minutes before I had to leave for the airport and so dashed in and got him and brought him back to Perth.

Where, as luck would have it, they had a whole heap of Elves just like Chris in the Airport gift store...go figure?

So once Grotbag had gone to bed I pulled Chris out from my under my mountain of new clothes, bags and shoes I had purchased in Melbourne (yay) and started to tell Hubby the story when he pulled a funny face at me and made pointing motions to the door. After 5 years of marriage and 7 years of being his partner in Pictionary/Dramatic Charades I took this to mean that Grotbag and sneakily got out of bed and was listening at the door. So I told Hubby the story of Chris that I wanted Grotbag to know and then once Grotbag was asleep I put him at the end of Grotbag's bed for him to find in the morning.

Yeah, should have known my son a little better than that! He ran out in the morning asking where the Elf was and had completely missed him at the end of the bed! But once he found him it was like he was glued to Chris. He took the Elf EVERYWHERE with him all day.

I said he could take Chris to bed with him but he was a bit freaked out at the fact that Chris might come alive at night so left him with us.

So, below is how we left Chris last night for Grotbag to find this morning. Playing the Wii and eating Freddo Frogs (Grotbag's favourite chocolates!)

When Grotbag got up this morning we heard him gasp and start whispering to Chris and telling him off for eating the chocolate. Then Grotbag came storming into us to tell us what the naughty Elf had been up to. It was great fun I must admit! We also had to take Chris to school so he could tell his teacher about him so he has been a big hit with Grotbag. Tonight we are going to complete one of Grotbag's puzzles and make it look as if Chris has done it.

Any clean suggestions (all the dirty ones have been giggled over by me and Hubby!) as to what Chris can be getting up to at night will be appreciated in the comments!

Please also don't forget to vote for me...what am I on about...read yesterday's post HERE!

VOTE FOR ME - YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!!!

I have entered Grotbag into the Merry Effing Christmas competition over at Parenting BY Dummies. I have some stiff competition but please GO VOTE FOR ME!!! We are picture #3!

If you want to read the back story to the picture it's HERE.

You may have wondered where I have been...or maybe not...but I am going to tell you anyway!!

I flitted off to Melbourne last week for a little shopping holiday with some of my bestest girlfriends and ate loads, spent loads of money in the pre-Christmas sales and had a jolly good old time! Yes that's right..sans kids and Hubby!

Came back to reality yesterday afternoon! With a thud! Still at least I have come back to reality with some nice new clothes, bags and shoes!! I did miss my boys though and Hubby did an excellent job of keeping them fed and watered and didn't gasp in horror and all the shopping I did! He even managed to take them into the city and get their photo taken with Santa!

How much shopping you ask...well my case weighed 15kg on the way there and I had no hand luggage just my handbag.

My case on the way back weighed 19.6kg and I had another full sized cabin bag as hand luggage which I had to buy while I was there to fit all my new stuff in!!!

I am a happy happy camper I can tell you!!

Anyway, as a side note I do not know how I am going to keep blogging and reading blogs over this silly season so the posts might be a bit thin but I think we are all a bit like that aren't we?

Only 11 more days till the fat man comes woo hoo!!! Better do some more Christmas shopping.....

WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TRY AND TAKE CHRISTMAS PHOTOS OF CHILDREN IN THE AFTERNOON WHEN THEY HAVE HAD NO SLEEP!

My cousin Bling called me the other day and we were trying to arrange a time to go into the city so that her son Pickle (8.5 months), Grotbag and Bugalugs could have their photo taken with Santa. We are such social butterflies we couldn't sync our schedules so I suggested a little photo shoot at my house which we did this afternoon.

Now granted doing the shoot in the afternoon wasn't one of my most brilliant ideas. Especially since Grotbag had been to a play centre in the morning with his buddies from Kindy then went straight to a swimming lesson and so was kind of exhausted. Bugalugs hadn't slept all morning so woke up just before the shoot and poor little pickle hadn't slept all day either after a morning of swimming and mum's group. Yeah I know, set our selves up really didn't we!!

Anyhoo I wasn't very organised (ha funny that!!) I originally thought about doing the shoot outside on the grass (I thought the light would be better) but that would involve me actually picking up the dog poop when Hubby would be home tomorrow! So we decided to do it inside but I have brown leather couches and no Christmas Decorations up yet (Hubby home tomorrow and is the first job on his list, after the dog poop!!) so thought I would improvise with a bit of background colour. Naturally I thought red so I fished around in the linen cupboard and found Grotbag's single red fitted sheet to drape across my dull unfestive brown leather couch. I fitted it on but I had put it on the 3 seater instead of the 2 seater and realised that the boys wouldn't be able to sit on it without it pinging off. Grotbag, who loves a photo shoot, had been on at me all afternoon about taking the photos and instead of waiting (like he had been told 10 million times!!!!) he just jumped on the sheet.

Well it all happened quite quickly really and before I knew it all 4 corners had pinged off and completely surrounded Grotbag! It made him jump as he wasn't quite sure what was going on and then proceeded to burst into hysterical tears and try (unsuccessfully) to wriggle out of it.

So I did what any caring mother would do....I laughed hysterically and took photo evidence!

After he finally got out of the sheet he took off his Santa hat threw it on the floor and stormed out of the photo shoot! The male version of Naomi Campbell in the making!

But through the whole thing all I kept thinking was.....WOW! This is going to make a great entry in Parenting BY Dummies Merry Effing Christmas Competition. If you haven't checked out Parenting By Dummies you must having been living under a Blog Rock! It is one of my favourite blogs, so get out from under the rock and go check it out!! So have submitted the above for the competition and I am still laughing thinking about it!!!

The afternoon wasn't a complete disaster. After cajoling Grotbag to come back to the shoot we got underway. I now know why they say never work with animals and children (is there a difference?).

Here are a few choice picks of the good ones...not brilliant...but OK!

Bugalugs & Grotbag

Bugalugs

My gorgeous little cousin Pickle

Da Boys!

Think we might co-ordinate the photo shoot a bit earlier next year!!

So what are you waiting for - off you go to Parenting BY Dummies and vote for Grotbags picture - I might win a prize!!

A Sweet Christmas Gift!

I have been wanting to blog about this little gem for a while but couldn't as didn't know if the recipients would be reading my blog. Would have spoiled the surprise! I love finding new little gifts for Christmas and this one suited my new found love of baking (I have been a 'cook' in the past and not a 'baker') perfectly!

I would love to take credit for this idea but like most fabulous ideas, someone else thought of them first! I found this little gem in "The Very Useful Christmas Book" by Taste.com.au which came free when you purchases 1of 6 other cooking magazines.

The recipe is called "Abby's Cookies in a Jar" Basically you put all the dry ingredients in a jar (the ones below are Decor 1L screw top jars from Big W), layered up all nicely like in my picture below....

Attach the gift tag with the cooking instructions which you can print off from Taste.com.au and tizzy it up a bit. I found the clear Christmas bags from K-mart ($2 for 20!), the Ho Ho Ho ribbon and red bows from Big W. I think they look pretty cool and I had most of the ingredients in my pantry anyway....

Every year we get together with 3 other couples and their kids and have a Christmas lunch, we give small pressies to the kids and basically have a nice little catch up before Christmas. We did that today and I gave each family a jar of my cookie mix above. They LOVED the idea. But to sweeten the deal even more I made a batch of the cookies for them to try so they knew what to expect. My picture below of said made cookie....they were delish if I do say so myself!!

So...here is the recipe straight from the book if you can't be bothered going to the links above:

Abby's Cookies In a Jar

Makes 24
Equipment - You'll need a 1L glass jar with a lid

Ingredients
Jar ingredients
3/4 cup (110g) plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (75g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
3/4 cup (65g) rolled oats
100g craisins (dried cranberries), see variation (I used sultanas, dark & white chocolate in the ones I made above as I ran out of craisins for the gifts, m&ms would be cool too)
130g white chocolate chips

Extra ingredients for making cookies
125g butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl. Spoon the flour mixture into a 1L (4-cup) capacity glass jar. Top with brown sugar, then caster sugar. Top with oats, then craisins, then chocolate chips. Seal jar. Give as gift.

To make cookies, preheat oven to 190˚C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Empty jar into a large bowl. Add butter, egg and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Shape tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on baking trays approximately 5cm apart. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, swapping trays halfway during cooking, or until edges are lightly browned. Turn biscuits onto a wire rack to cool. Serve.

Notes & tips
For double choc chip biscuits, substitute craisins for dark or milk chocolate chips.
Download and print out the gift tag, complete with cooking instructions here

I understand this is quite a common idea in the USA so any of my readers from across the pond have any different variations to share please let me know!

The Final Quarter

Never been before here's a little bit about me to get you started

Depending on where you are in the world you might be thinking by the title of this blog that it is about the upcoming AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final. Maybe you are thinking that I only have one coin left in my purse or that I am going to talk about fractions (?).

Actually this post is about the final 3 months of the Calendar year. Yes I know it's only September but I am getting a little bit excited. To me this is the best part of the year namely because Spring has definitely sprung by October here in WA which is my favourite season. The calendar starts to get full of events and social gatherings so every weekend there is something on!

The most obvious event in the final quarter is of course Christmas (only 110 days to go!). I have already started to get organized for Christmas this year as per this post I did a couple of weeks ago. In fact, the whole family has been organized and rather than have one of the family host Christmas Lunch, in July we booked to have Christmas lunch at a resort close by so that none of us have any cleaning up to do - woo hoo!

I also can’t wait for our October holiday in Busselton – This is becoming a bit of an annual event, well we did it the same time last year and are going the same time this year. We stay at my parents holiday home The Great Escape and just chill out for a week. Grotbag loves it and this will be Bugalugs first family mini break! However we struggled last year fitting all our “stuff” in the car WITHOUT Bugalugs as he was safely ensconced in my belly so who knows how we are going to fit everything in the car. But really I can’t wait!

Spring in the Valley is also held in October and for as long as I can remember my girlfriends and I have got a bus load together and headed out for the day. It’s an Annual festival held in the Swan Valley, a great day out with friends and for the first time in a few year I won’t be pregnant/trying to get pregnant!!

I also get a bit excited about Melbourne Cup day – Grotbag will be at school and us Kindy Mums are going to get together for lunch…should be interesting after the night out we had the other night!!

December by far is the busiest Month in the final quarter. Already we have lunches & dinners planned with friends and Hubby and I are going to the Green Day concert at the beginning of December. I am more excited for Hubby as he was desperate to go and so I was stoked when I got tickets for us both. Hubby will also be home for THE WHOLE MONTH of December which will be fantastic. He turns 40 at the beginning of January and so most of the final quarter will be spent organizing his birthday party.

But I am REALLY excited about the 5 day get away to Melbourne I am doing with 3 of my closest BFF’s. NO KIDS just us gals hanging out, shopping and being something other than wife/girlfriend/mum/boss. We are also going to Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Restaurant - I am a HUGE fan – and meeting up with a heap of friends who have since moved to Melbourne. We hope to squeeze in a show too and LOTS AND LOTS of shopping. Did I mention the shopping?

So the final quarter is looking eventful and exciting with plenty of blog fodder and probably (knowing my life) lots of drama’s – especially with Hubby’s party preparations. But this is what makes it all the more exciting!

So....Stay Tuned!!!

Only 125 days till Christmas!!!!!

Yes you have read the title correctly...this isn't a post from 2008.I have decided this year that I am going to be totally organised in the presents department for Christmas 2009.

5 years ago Before Kids (B.K.) I would have my Christmas shopping done by October. I would have scoped out some really cool stuff throughout the year and stockpiled till Christmas. Each year I usually find a new "thing" that I love and buy 4 of them so I have plenty to share around (and usually one for myself!) and would also have a few "Emergency Presents" for those unexpected circumstances. Actually I still do have Emergency Presents all through the year, but mostly kids presents. And I have done all the Christmas Toy shopping in the July Toy sales.

But the thing is that now I do have kids and life is a little bit more hectic I see things I like, think who I can buy them for, and then promptly forget and then 2 weeks before Christmas I am asking myself "now what was that cool thing I was going to get for ....". So today while I was food shopping I bought myself a small note book that I will now carry round for the sole purpose of noting good Christmas presents, where I saw them and who they would be good for.

I love finding things that are slightly different, or a twist on an old favourite. My favourite thing that I have found this year is this:

Isn't it gorgeous! Looks like a silver necklace with faux diamonds but it is in fact:



A 4GB USB Thumb Drive!!!!

They were advertised in a parenting magazine for $59.95 but I couldn't justify the amount so managed to find them on EBay and got them from Hong Kong for half that price!!! So now I have to be on the look out for something else that makes me say "ohhh I just gotta have one of those!!!"

What your favourite "thing" this year?

The Toy Sales

Over the last month I have braved the big department store Toy Sales in an effort to look organised by Christmas. The lure of not having to have toys hanging around my already cluttered house is too much and on each of the occasions I have headed out early and got the booty on Christmas lay-by. This means currently I have 4 different laybys to keep track of.

I have also had my boys looked after as taking kids to a Toy Sale is surely every mothers idea of Hell. However today I had no such pleasure and had to take the boys with me. With a promise of a Ben 10 figurine for behaving, Grotbag begrudgingly got dressed and got in the car. And what a surprise....it was Hell!!

Grotbag constantly asking if he can have the toys now, and why does Santa have to have them (I have told him that when they go to Layby Santa comes and picks them up till Christmas!) and can we go now etc etc. HELL!!!

So by the time I had found all the things I wanted for the boys and other gifts for friends kids the last thing I wanted to do was stand in a layby queue. So I bought the lot and brought them home and stashed them at the top of the wardrobe where Grotbag will never find them.

Have told him that Santa has already taken them...there were tears.

Next year I am going on my own!!!!!!!!!!!!