Destination Space Tower

Turbo's been asking again and again for us to take him to the "Space Tower".

So on Saturday, off we went...

The holidays are when I absolutely love being married to a teacher....

Bucket loads of family time!

What have you been up to these holidays?

Wordless Wednesday: the expressions of Smiley

Smiley's "what the heck is that/I'm slightly scared" look

(when seeing a a big, black, swan eating the bread he threw)

One third of a cucumber

Been feeling a little challenged lately by some awesome budgety type posts.

Widge has done quite a few good ones, as well as documenting her meals for a week. Love seeing how other people do it.

One thing she mentioned was cooking according to what needs to be used in your cupboard.

Too often I have to throw away veges because I've cooked what's convenient or quick and forgotten about the veges that are about to go off in the cupboard.

So this week I made a effort to really think about dinner in the morning, checking what veges needed to be used and working around that.

As of tonight, the only vege I have left in my house,

is one third of a cucumber!

Twice this week we had roasted veges with a meal to use up the pumpkin and potatoes.

And love that today there was absolutley nothing left to eat for lunch but a tin of tomato soup. Not even a piece of cheese for a toastie. So that's what I had.

Tomato soup. Yum!

And tonight I actually cooked up a tin of

corned beef...Island style! We were given a few tins and so far, they've just sat in the cupboard. Í'm not one for cooking Island food, and since Mr Samoa  is  totally happy with whatever I put in front of him, I haven't learned. So with my last onion and a tin of corned beef, I cooked up an Island storm! And ate corned beef with cucumber chunks and some frozen veges. It was delish.

Sweet bro ha ha

I've had to be really good about money for a while now, so I'm pretty happy with how we do. But it's always good to learn new tricks. Like making my own spray 'n wipe with 5 drops of lavender oil, a few drops of eco friendly dishwashing liquid, a quarter teaspoon baking soda and 500ml water. Sure the Lavender oil cost $15 but it's going to last about a year...seriously!

Never  going back on that one. And you can use other oils if you don't like the smell of lavender.

Do you have any great budget tips to share?

Would love to hear them!

P.s. my computer is having serious issues so I'm stealing some time on Mr Samoa's laptop. Hope to be back in action soon!

Hope you're all well xx

Beat that!

The weekend just gone was very busy but o, so fun!

Mr Samoa turned...another year older. Two numbers exactly the same. You work it out.

It started with movies with my dad - some nice father and son-in-law time.

I had a babyshower in the afternoon while Tasi spent some time with the kids at his mum's house.

Then dinner at a lovely restaurant Saturday night.

Church Sunday morning, and a party with the kids Sunday afternoon.

I baked my first ever chocolate cake.

Yes, really.

It's not that I felt I couldn't, just that chocolate cakes have to be REALLY good.

In fact chocolate cakes are my least favourite cakes because so often they're a disapointment.

Either dry or tasteless.

Carrot or banana cake win hands down in my opinion.

But chocolate wins in Mr Samoa's books so I chose a recipe with melted chocolate in the cake mix. And it turned out ok.

Mr Samoa loved it, which is what counts.

The kids loved having a party for their daddy.

I mean, who wouldn't love the opportunity to stuff four lollies in their mouth while reaching for another?

And we went a bit crazy with the balloons and streamers afterwards.

What a great weekend!

Spent creating memories and enjoying each other.

And obviously no time for folding washing....who can beat this pile?!

Movie magic?

Is it just me, or does it seem that, as parents, the events you look forward to for ages and really get your kids excited over, are the very events that don't work out? And the spontaneous things we do with the kids, seem to turn out to be the most fun.

Such was today. The movie, a mums and bubs session, started at 11am. Quite late for kids I thought, as most of the kids were at an age where they'd still have a nap.

So we rocked up early. And had a few dramas over wanting the cars displayed behind the counter that went with the combo. But we got over that pretty quickly and a box of popcorn soothed Turbo's hurt feelings.

At 11am we excitedly took our seats, expecting the big screen to light up at any minute. It didn't. 20 minutes later we were moved to another theatre as the projector was having trouble. By then, Turbo was already asking to go home, not knowing exactly what he was waiting for!

So by 11.30am we had finally started. This would have been ok under normal circumstances, but Turbo had been up since 5.30am and has a cold. So by 12.20pm, his eyes were actually closing while sitting in his seat! And his cousin was asking to go home too. My sister and I were really enjoying the movie though : )

Excuse the mouth full of popcorn! It was the only decent shot in the bad lighting

So Cars 2, what we saw of it, was really cute with a good (but totally beyond small kids) storyline. And I got to have a coffee and hang out with my sister and nephew. I am glad, though, that we didn't actually pay for the kids' tickets...the beauty of a mums and bubs session (kids under 5 go free) and adult tickets are a reduced price too.

What IS a good age to start taking kids to movies? Is three too young? What do you think?

Ticking along

Gosh, has it really been that long?

Life is ticking along nicely, and every day, I am just so grateful.

It feels like a period of calm after a long, hard struggle.

I often find myself just staring out the window at the view or looking at our big kitchen or at our spacious car

(which we're paying off but I'm still so grateful for).

I guess I haven't had much motivation to blog or even take photos.

I am just being.

It's nice, actually.

Turbo is still a bit of a challenge at the moment. His language is not the best...and I have no one but myself to blame.

"Go away!" is one that I hear about a hundred times a day.

Good one, Penny.

And Smiley and I had a little trip to Starship Hospital on Friday for his cough that he's had since late March!

Yes, that long.

I have been to the doctor so many times and been told he's ok, but his day care lady insisted that he needed a chest x-ray (because she's a doctor!! not) and got me really worried.

Turns out mother's intuition is best.

Turbo's going to see his first ever movie tomorrow with his Aunty and cousin...and I'm going too. He's even missing kindy for it. And Smiley's spending the time with his much loved Nana.

Can't wait!

Hope you're all having a fab week so far