Wet weather bush walks with Daddy

WOW it sure has been a long time since I posted last... there are 100's of excuses why not... but finally I am just moving forward.

On Saturday Lacey and Jensen (A.k.a "Flash")  went for a little bush walk with Daddy.  

It was a little wet although not really raining.. so they put on their gumboots, which they love to do because they know that means they can jump in puddles... they grabbed their new umbrellas, (Lacey's is princesses and Jensen has a Spiderman one) and they excitedly set off.

 They walked down a big hill down to the river and over the bridge. there was lots of water in the river as it had been raining the last couple of days. 

  

They Didn't see any Crocodiles or Bears :-)  hahaha 

(Daddy said to look out for them just in case, as Jensen loves bears at the moment especially Baloo from the Jungle Book) ... 

However they did see lots of cockatoos and heard lots of birds.

It was a fun morning. Lacey & Jensen love bush walks.

Something to smile about.

Well school holidays have come to an end. They seemed to go so fast this time round... We were a little restricted with Lacey's broken leg (a buckle fracture) however we made it through and I'm pretty sure the kids enjoyed themselves these holidays. 

I've been trying to get some of these memories with the kids recorded, especially when I have photos of them so we can always remember them, I finally got something down. 

So Today is " World Smiley day " which I only learnt about this morning...  I'm so glad I did because what a great opportunity it was to talk to the kids about being happy, positive and doing things for others.  We didn't have any plans for today and I was wondering what I  could do with the kids for their last day of holidays. So when looking at some of the information online about world smiley day I came across an idea.. 



We decided to make SMILE cookies.. (although making them was a little too adventurous, so we used round marie cookies instead), it was pretty fun and the kids were so excited. 
I couldn't resist taking some photos of my beautiful babies decorating their own cookies.

 I think they enjoyed eating the icing almost as much as decorating, I guess they go hand in hand! 

Our finished products... can you guess who made the cookies at the top hahaha...

Happy "World Smiley Day" everyone and don't forget smiling is contagious. My challenge to you (and myself) is to try to do something kind for someone else each and every day. (even if its just a smile) 
xox

What about me?

Last week I had a lovely evening attending our ward Relief Society activity, in which I left feeling uplifted and energised. 

The theme of the night was - "What about Me"? and the goal of the night was to give us suggestions and tips to show us, how we can all find time for ourselves as busy women.

The night had 3-4 main sections, on arrival we were directed to either get a face mask put on or make some 'Heart & Soul' Bath Salts with essential oil. We were encouraged to make the time for a 20 min bath to take some time out for ourselves and to use our home made bath salts.

We then talked about ideas for healthy smoothies, which is a quick option we can have on the go, to help us feel good on the inside, and something we can share with the kids.

We taste tested 2 yummy ones which I was surprised at some of the ingredients and I still enjoyed it.

Following this we moved onto the next major part of the night which was set up as a beautiful beauty therapy room. We discussed stress and the physical effects it can have on our bodies. We discussed the importance of recognising stress in our lives and learning to minimise it. There is all kinds of stress and where some of it can help to drive and motivate us others can drain and wear us down. It makes so much sense to understand stress and what it ACTUALLY does to us, because knowledge is power! If you understand something it gives you much more clarity on why you need to avoid or include some things in your life.

As we were discussing ideas for helping ourselves find a way to relax and reduce stress (at least to reduce the stress reactions) and to look after our bodies inside and out, Tamara was demonstrating a mini facial to the Lucky Lisha. :-) (we were all wishing it was us up on the table hehe)

OH and one really useful tip I took away was about cheap and easy ways to look after your hands. (something I always have trouble with, as they get seriously dry so quickly) was to exfoliate them with a home made (cheap) remedy. It was vegetable oil and rock salt (use the grinder) rub it all over your hands and the wash off... OH MAN... I will just say BABY SMOOTH!.. Seriously you have to try it.. Then follow with Moisturiser. 

The last section of the evening was about Laughter. Again the benefits of it in our life. The old saying "Laughter is the best medicine" is true. It has so many positive impacts on our life. 

Find it hard to laugh?? ... "Fake it till you make it".. Did you know that fake laughing actually has the same physical benefit as 'real' Laughing.. 

We had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Maria from the Hornsby Laughter Club. Yes thats right a laugh club, I must admit i didn't even know these existed :-) but i am so glad I experienced this, it's something you cannot appreciate until you have actually tried it. 

I can say that I felt muscles I never even knew I had, and they got a great work out thats for sure.  

We went through various laughter exercises and by the end, we were all in stitches ..(especially watching each other loosen up and go a little crazy) 

Leearne shared this lovely quote with us which I really liked., by Victor Hugo. (French Poet/Novelist)

The Evening concluded with some delicious food. I can honestly say I felt like I had a huge workout and left feeling energised to look after myself a little more. 

I decided to add a few more quotes i found online about laughter, I hope they bring a smile to your face too.

This one took me back to my high school days. 

Who doesn't love a little Audrey Hepburn

 

:-)

Some benefits of laughter to remember.

Laura :-)

Toblerone Cheesecake Goodness

Hubby has been asking for a cheesecake this week, and when I saw Toblerone's on sale I jumped at the chance to make a Toblerone Cheesecake. 

I found this Yummy super easy receipe.. and i mean SUPER EASY! (found here)

Toberlone Cheesecake

Ingredients

• Base
• 1 cup plain chocolate biscuit crumbs
• 80g butter, melted
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• Filling
• 500g block PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 200g TOBLERONE* Milk or Dark Chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup thickened cream
• Topping
• 200g TOBLERONE* Milk or Dark Chocolate for shaving

Method

• COMBINE biscuit crumbs, butter and almonds, press into the base of a lightly greased 20cm springform pan. Chill.   
• BEAT Philly and sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the melted Toblerone  and cream until well combined.
• POUR onto the prepared crumb base and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours until set, or overnight. Serve topped with the Toblerone* shavings
  .
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I love things that are easy and quick. 
  
  
  Now my version doesn't look as pretty as the original one (I kind of rushed it in between kids demands) and I did forget to save some chocolate for garnish, but it still tasted good.
  
  
  Go on give it a go too! :-)

Simple Sweet moments from today.

"Enjoy the little things in life, 

for one day you'll look back 

and realise they were big things"

This quote came to my mind tonight, as I sat here looking over the photos of the day.

My heart is full with just a couple small sweet things, which are important to me. 

Today wasn't an exciting day, not much really happened but I am reminded, that I am one lucky lady to have such beautiful and adorable children (of course I am totally biased, but HEY If I'm not who will...)  :-)

So this morning, the kids both came into our bed before breaky and Carter got his hands on the ipad, we sat Lacey next to him and he shared it with his little sister. 

C'MON how cute it this... I especially love the little foot holding up the ipad because he only had one hand. lol

Lacey Seemed more interested in eating the bowl, that or she was SUPER hungry. lol

Carter Cracks me up, reading the junk mail while waiting for his breakfast. 

(Those that know me well, will agree that he is SO my kid! ha ha) 

 Lacey fresh and clean after a bath and then dinner time.. Probably not the best order to do it in. She loves to feed herself which doesn't always make it INSIDE the mouth.

Beautiful Images in my mind & a smile on my face, as I head off to bed.

Good night!!

xx

Change your thinking

Somedays things just click.. things seem to make more sense & perhaps not the first time in your life, but at a time when you just needed it to stand out. 

Today is one of those days ...

Sometimes it just takes the right person, in the right moment, to remind us.

It's sooo true that if you surround yourself with good, uplifting people and do good, uplifting things, it can lift your mood, it can change the way you're feeling and even the way you think... (there's a saying, something like this!) 

Its also a great reminder, that generally we dont have bad days as such, but perhaps bad moments. And that is ok... As long as you can find a way to move past that moment and see the joy in the rest of the day. I guess what I am trying to say is, just change your thinking. 

I'm a visual person, so I enjoy seeing things written down, or explained via an object lesson :-)back when I was working in the office, I would have little post-it-notes all over my desk or printed quotes to help inspire and motivate me throughout the day/week. 
So I figured I would snag some cute quotes off the net and share with others who may be wondering/thinking the same things. 

RIGHT!... Have you ever had these thoughts or feelings?... 
Do you ever hold yourself back or put yourself down by using that terrible word 
'should'? 
My sister once taught me a lesson many years ago, that "Should" isn't something we need in our vocab because it makes us feel bad and gives us unrealistic expectations.. life is what what we make it, not what something "Should be" (if that makes sense??)



Just remember even if you do have a bad day, that tomorrow can be different. Often after those bad days we see good things we didnt see before, but were always there.  

We all know there are often things that happen which we have no control over, But we also know that what we CAN control is how we deal with what happens to us.. that is what builds our character.

 

So to recap my rantings of today, spend time with people and things that make you happy, turn your thinking around so you recognise a bad moment for what it is, and also find a little something you love or a fun 'project' to squeeze into your day or week. 
This will help you and those around you and those 'bad days' will get less and less. 
your bad moments will pass quicker and you will see that each day does infact bring many beautiful moments of joy 

I hope i've brought a smile to someone today.

Enjoy your day.

xx

Stop & reflect on the good.

Today was one of those days ... you know the ones!... As you are going through the motions, you feel it is a 'FAIL' day ... nothing seems to be going to plan, the kids don't sleep when you want them to, the baby keeps crying and you just don't get done what or how you wanted to. Then before you know it Hubby comes home and you're still a mess and feeling unsuccessful.

But then after the kids went to bed, I took a shower (doesn't that make you feel sooo much better) which also gave me a minute to stop and breath and then I sat down to look at my camera (of course i take pics of the kids almost every day, no matter what is happening lol) 
I smile as I look through the pictures of the day... and I realised that it wasn't such a bad day after all and we did more than I realised!

My gorgeous little boy really is the sweetest thing, he loves his little sister so much and every now and then he takes a break from what ever he is playing, and spends a little time making her smile. She loves to look at up her big brother, and especially loves it when he talks to her or try's to play with her.  (which usually consists of covering her with toys)

I'm so grateful to have these precious photos to reflect on and to remind myself of how blessed I am to have these gorgeous children in my life.

Here are some photos of the successes of today.

Carter entertaining Lacey in the morning.

We decided to take a walk, check out our new local neighbourhood & pick up a few essentials. (was also Lacey's first time in the bottom of the double pram)

Some afternoon baking. Carter was such a big help. 
'Banana flax seed choc chip muffins'  Recipe found here 
(Note: we substituted with raw sugar and wholemeal flour, to make ourselves feel healthier) :-)

Carter making his own fun, as I unpacked suit cases, he played in them.

My little princess fresh & clean, end of the day.

photos help me reflect on the good, what helps you?
xx