That's MY little boy

Grandparents bring such a richness into the childhood.

I remember many many things my Granny taught me.  The stories she told me of her childhood, at how different her time was but how much the same she was in other ways.

Last week Rick's parents came to stay with us.  They live 13 hours' drive north (but they flew) so we don't get to see them much apart from magic Skype!  And despite them having 15 grandchildren aged 30+ down to Dean at 3 and greatgrandchildren a plenty, they have an ever growing, endless supply of love and affection for each of them.  My boys adore their Nan & Pop.

My MIL is a treasure and I love her deeply.  She has taken me in as her own and fills me with pride when she compliments my parenting or the love I have for her son.  I want to make her and Dad proud.  And to top it off, she loves my cooking.  She is a great culinary magician and yet, she kept asking me for the recipes of my smoothies, pasta and cakes.  We are kindred spirits for sure.

In the picture above, she sat down at the boys' little table to play with them, early one morning.  She may have a funny spanish/yorkshire/aussie accent but that doesn't stop the boys from being mesmerised when she speaks.  Here she is showing Dean the photos in her locket.  He looked intently as Nanny told him that she has photos of her 5 children in there and that one of them was their Daddy.

"That's my little boy there- your Daddy" she would say.

My boys didn't quite get the concept.  They agreed that the other children were their aunties and uncles but the little boy that was their Daddy was in fact one of them.  And then it was a little too much and off they pottered with another thought that 'flew into their funnels'.

This week I sorely miss my Mam & Dad, (Nan & Pop).  It is hard to be so far away from family.

xxx

A trip to the Botanicals

We went to our local Botanical Gardens this week.

I need to go back, and probably sans kidlets as they pestered and whinged and meant that we didn't take many photos and couldn't soak up Creation as much as we'd hoped.



Liam insisted on taking a photo and this is it.  I love maiden hair ferns, do you?

 Instead of relaxing, we all became a bit highly strung.  But I managed to snap this one of my big fellas...

But then Rick took this photo of us.  Obviously, we weren't all ready for the photo and he wasn't going to take another one!

But life is precious and this time with the children being so little will pass all too quickly.  Do you find yourself missing your children about an hour after they go to bed?  I do.  I think it is because they can drive me nuts all day and when I've had an hour to myself, to collect my thoughts and gather a bit of strength, I miss them and want to pour out some love on to them and not my angry voice!

Rick will return to work soon.  Since returning to Port Stephens, we have actually been able to benefit from all this time away from work aka unemployment.  It has been 3.5 months and really, the last 3 weeks have been wonderful.  It wasn't so wonderful before.  As much as we wanted to make Hervey Bay our home and we miss our family and new friends there, it was a difficult time.  Unsettling.  Both Rick and I lost weight which we aren't complaining about at all.  But when I'm asked how I lost weight, I say "buy the book I am writing, it is called the unemployment stress diet!".  Actually, I don't recommend it (and no, I am not really writing a book!).

I am grateful that God listens to my prayers and answers them in His time.  Throughout these past weeks I have meditated on this text:

But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

~Isaiah 40:31

Sometimes we have to wait, and He doesn't let us down, we do that ourselves.  So to avoid letting myself down, I claim this promise:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

~Proverbs 3:5,6

x's

Brave New Me :: Where am I?

So, where do I start?... ok, I'll just tell you as it is.

Hervey Bay didn't work out.  Unemployment and the threat of a long sweltering summer for us eskimos just didn't appeal in the end.  Rick and I decided that he should find full time work again and I will continue on at the home front until we are more settled.  What an upheaval- to say the least.  Twice in 11 weeks we drove 1300kms with two boisterous toddlers in the back seat.  Not my idea of fun not to mention I think I sped past a speed camera just hours after Rick did!

Hervey Bay is beautiful and the home of most of Rick's family.  We also attended Hervey Bay SDA Church while we were there and were met with a massive amount of support and christian love.  I will  miss my family and friends there very much. 

So where are we now?  Back in Port Stephens, infact we are only minutes away from our old house.  This area has a high demand on the rentals so we were blessed to get a house.  Being able to crack open our boxes of belongings and make this house our home has settled our troubled minds considerably.

And now another chapter begins.  Meanwhile, I'll be in the kitchen if you are looking for me (recipes to follow soon).

xx

Just before we left we had some family photos on the beloved pier



We are going to miss the pier where we visited almost daily




Just a random photo in a park in Kempsey NSW on our way home



A cloudy morning by the pier

I went out this morning with Rick, my lovely sisters in laws and of course, my two little shadows.  We went to a little shack of a burger place on The Esplanade to get hot chocolates which were surprisingly delicious and cheap!

Across the road was this view

On a sunny day this pier stands out glaringly white and the water a classic crystal blue. The pier seems to go on and on.  The 868 m pier has a little history that you can read about here.  But that doesn't include the 100's if not 1000's of romantic moments captured in the love story of many lovers.  And my little family and I hope to make our own memories with this beautiful land mark.  Fishing, walking, running, smiling, licking icecream, sunset gazing and just sitting on the bench and gazing at locals and tourists enjoying their walk out on the ocean.

Do you have a little piece of happiness near your house that you like to visit and create memories with?

Here are my little shadows, growing up so beautifully.

 

 

x's
Fi

Book Loving :: Steps to Christ

Do you own any books that you have never read entirely?  Sure, I bet you do . . . like those moments when you thought you should cultivate a wider reading range and bought War and Peace or the complete works of Shakespeare.  I bought the complete works of Jane Austen and have so far read only 2 novels but enjoyed the others via BBC!

Ten years ago, I acquired a little book (only 90 small pages), called Steps to Christ.  I have, from time to time, flicked through its content but never read it from cover to cover.  This past week, I read it.  I read some chapters twice even, not because I didn't understand but because it was so wonderful and uplifting.

As the title suggests, it is an introduction to Jesus Christ and His lovely perfect character, how to meet Him and what it all means to you!  I have been greatly blessed by reading it through and can only recommend it to anyone who wants to grow closer to Jesus.  If you are looking to find something new that is outside of what the bible teaches, you won't.  This book is built from bible texts and compels you to go back and read the bible for yourself.  Yes, it takes away any fear of reading God's Word.  Just delightful.

I would also like to share with you a little personal testimony.  Before arriving in Hervey Bay, I hit the lowest of lows and am not proud of myself for how I handled it.  But since we've moved, to a home that is not our own, with no job and prospects bleak, Rick and I have leant on Jesus.  We have been impressed to pray together every morning at 6 am.  God has made it possible for us to open a little book of blessings to the boys every morning after breakfast and have prayed together as a family.  We do the same again after dinner.  Rick and I have been praying on our own too.  And none of this is in our own strength, we are compelled by our love of God to talk to Him, to read His Word and fellowship with other christians.  We have received a massive blessing and a major dose of faith.

If you are needing a major dose of faith but don't know where to start, read Steps to Christ.

x's

Fi

Birthday Boy (oops Man)

My marvellous hubby celebrated another birthday last week.  We aren't a birthday-gift-giving couple - we buy eachother presents together throughout the year as "just 'cause pressies".  So, not breaking with tradition, I didn't really get him anything!  Yes, I ordered a photography book yet to be delivered but nothing on the day. 

So later in the week, I organised with the help of my lovely friend Shelley, a little dinner gathering of Rick's older kids (bar one and his wife) as a surprise (they all live 1.5 hours away).  And he was surprised.  Rick's love language is acts of service so I think I hit the nail on the head with this one.

We dined on baked lemon & thyme chicken, roast potatoes, homemade yorkshire puddings (because Aldi discontinued them again!), steamed vegies and garlic bread.  Followed by the easiest of easy desserts: Apple Crumble!

And this is our favourite beverage at the moment that Rick drinks "despite it being pink"!



Plus, I must thank Ms Rita for taking the photos as I was tangled in dishing dishes and toddler wrangling. xx

weekend shenanigans

My menfolk were all sick.  The boys were coming out of the dark tunnel of fluiness, but Rick was decending into it.  Needless to say, the 1 hour drive to church on Sabbath was not going to happen so we opted for a quiet morning at home and then some outdoor time.  Home for lunch and two fellas crashed while Liam and I made cards to bring cheer to some special people.

Sunday seemed to bring some brightness to the infirmed and we managed to drive up to Forster!  Special day with extra special family and friends.

Monday, as always, brings with it weekend withdrawals but once the to-do list gets formulated, the next weekend becomes the goal to strive for!

Did you do anything special?

Happiness is . . .

Homemade Hair do

It is hopefully the last night of this nasty heatwave.  It is 2 am and I am not sleeping as it is a) 30.5 degrees celsius outside right now, so inside add a degree to two and b) both my sons have contracted some nasty cold with an ever so charming smoker's cough . . . poor little men.

I should be sleeping but I thought, 'what the hey, I may aswell tell you about my latest disaster'

You know, I swore to myself that I would never hack at my children's hair like I thought my mother had done to me and my sister.  She would keep cutting until she got it even!  Check out my super short fringe. . .

I'm about 8 or 9 years old - in my friend's bedroom with her toys

Was it impatience, or did I wriggle and carry on?  Did she just have an unsteady hand or dare I say it, was she vindictive as I wasn't always the angel? (despite appearances, hee hee)

The eyes say it all . . . "Mummy what have you done?!"

Yes.  I have done the same to my son!  Oh the shame - not of him, never of him.  The shame that I have done what I promised myself I'd never do. 

Side profile, just so you can see the real extent of the damage!

But come on! He's the biggest wriggler, squirmerer, whinger EVER!  I really did feel like I was hacking at it.  It wasn't the first time, (eighth time?  He's always been hairy), so you'd think I'd have it down pat.  Two attempts and this is what comes of it.  He screamed the whole way through, but once you start you can't stop!  It has to be completed!!

His giant brother (25 years older), is getting married in March and Liam is a page boy.  Fingers crossed it will grow out by then.

Why did I cut it myself?  Am I too stingy to pay $10?  No!  I just didn't want the public tantrum!

And I now realise that my Mum did a darn good job at cutting my hair!

Have you ever done the same to your children?  Do you have a fail safe plan for either home do's or avoiding tantrums at the hairdressers?  Please share!!

Child's Eyes for 2011

from inside Liam's cot

Not long after my second son, Dean was born (13 Jan 10), I gave my elder son Liam a digital camera to play with.  It was a crappy disappointing camera so its fate was not a concern of ours.  Liam took many photos of the ceiling, his feet, the walls and general blurry photos due to movement and greasy fingers.  He loved seeing the image (instant reminisce as my younger brother would say) and loved sending himself blind with the flash!  He was only 18 months old and needed some distraction as his mother was very busy with a little baby.  The camera lasted only about a week before he jammed the lense!  Liam managed to take some photos of his surroundings that have really reminded me of how small children are compared to their environment.

The world looks so big and so small all at once.  Inside his cot, it seems small and yet this last photo shows just how big the world is around Liam.  I think life can be a little like that at times- a paradox of realities.  And as we have now heralded in another year, it is hard to not be reflective and hopeful.  I began this blog to help me rise to challenges and be accountable- and lets face it, have a bit of adventure into new worlds of hand made crafts- to be Brave & New!  And what better way to embrace this new paradigm but with child like faith and optimism!  The bible says:

Matthew 18:3 (New International Version, ©2010)

³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Little children look at life with such simplicity and don't let the complexities paralyse them!  No more hesitation, no more analysis to paralysis; 2011 is the year I DO and the year I trust.

What is 2011 for you?

xxx BNF

Yummy Cakes for Yummy Friends

Relaxed dinner parties are so much fun.  When I say 'relaxed' I'm not talking about serving up three courses in our tracky-dacks on the lounge.  I mean, the guests are selected because the ease at which you feel around them and that there is no competitional impressing on the agenda (trying to out do their last dinner party!).

Last Thursday's gathering was relaxed and fun.  Our friends, Beth & Shelley attend uni in Newcastle, living away from home, so we just love having them over for a feast (usually only two courses- they are petite girls afterall!!).  I love when they come for a number of reasons but mainly because they love my children - perhaps I should say that Shelley LOVES & ADORES Liam.  Both girls come in and go straight the playing with the kids while Rick and I continue getting things ready.  Just perfect guests!!

In honour of Shelley's birthday, I made Lemon & Raspberry Cupcakes and Chocolate Mud Cupcakes.  I linked the recipe for the Lemon & Raspberry Cupcakes previously that I had first seen on Martha.  I didn't end up using the recipe but used it as a guide in creating my own version.

If you like the look of them here are the recipes:

Brave New Fiona's Lemon & Raspberry Cupcakes (as inspired by Martha)

1. Using a sharp knife or apple corer, make a small circle incision in the top of the Vanilla Cupcake (see recipe below) going one third down, remove cut cake so you are left with a small well.

2. Fill each well with the prepared Lemon Curd by spoon or piping bag (I just used a spoon and a steady hand).


3. Pipe or spread Vanilla Butter Frosting over top of cupcake, being careful not to disturb the lemon curd.


4. Top with a fresh rasberry.  You can use a frozen raspberry but be sure to thaw them out on paper towel.

Brave New Fiona's Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup custard powder
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste (I prefer paste for the little spots- cheaper than beans)


Method
1. Preheat oven 180C.  Line muffin tin with patty cases (I'm loving the choc-brown patty cases!)

2. Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, milk & vanilla.  Sift in dry ingredients and beat until colour has changed and is even.

3. Fill patty cases just over half full with mixture and bake for 15-18 mins. 

You can freeze uniced cupcakes.

Brave New Fiona's Lemon Curd

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
200g diced butter
finely zested rind of 1 lemon
1 1/4 cups strained lemon juice (~6 large lemons)
6 large eggs


Method
1. In a double boiler add sugar, butter, lemon zest and juice. Stir until butter is melted.
2. Meanwhile, mix together eggs and whisk into the double boiler mixture when the butter is melted.  Don't allow the mixture to boil and stir constantly for approximately 5 mins.
3. Strain before bottling into sterilized jars.

This amount is way too much for the cupcakes but you can use as a gift or fold through whipped cream for a lemony pavlova topping.  Or make some yummy mini lemon tarts!

Brave New Fiona's Butter Frosting

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture


Method
Beat butter until fluffy.  Slowly add icing sugar mixture and beat until smooth.

I got the Chocolate Mud Cupcakes with Ganache from Notebook's Little Book of Cupcakes and Cookies.  Although Notebook: is no longer in publication, their recipes are found on http://www.homelife.com.au/.
With some of the left over lemon curd, I made mini lemon meringue tarts.

And the evening was topped off with two rounds of Canasta and a late night discussion on pregnancy and giving birth (Rick went to bed by this stage!!)

We are NOT ready!

I've heard many times that toilet training will happen when the toddler is ready.  I agree but I thought that perhaps I was holding Liam back because I wasn't ready.  You see, life hasn't been smooth sailing and moving to Port Stephens was going to be where I achieve all that I have put off.  Good news is, I am not holding my son back from abandoning the nappies the bad news is, Liam is not abandoning the nappies.  Oh well- not yet anyway.  This challenge is temporarily shelved.  I chatted with my fellow mum friends who gave me awesome advice (thanks ladies!) and checked out the internet like Essential Baby - Toilet Training Tips

To prove to you that I indeed have two little men in my life, here they are . . . .



Liam aged 2 years




Dean aged 11 months

 I am so grateful for my children - life's biggest paradox!  The only thing that can keep me sane and drive me mental all at once.  But that is love really isn't it?