My Nanny

My nanny passed away two weeks ago and I miss her.
I haven't posted anything on my blog for awhile because I just wanted some time off. When a special loved one passes away, you start to think about what things are important in your life. I always wanted to do my own blog and thought I would give it a go. I realised that if you wanted to post every day, it does take atleast a few hours to put something together. I was starting to worry that I didn't have anything to post about and I wasn't posting something everyday. Would I lose followers? Is my blog interesting? Not posting anything for the past few weeks, I haven't been stressed about what I could post on my blog. I realised that I will post something when I want to. I want to enjoy my days doing what I love and that's looking after my family. My family comes first.
I am still going to do my blog but I am thinking about changing what I post. I will post things about what I enjoy doing such as baking and my vintage finds. I have started meal planning again so I might put some posts about that. I just need some more time to think about things.
xx 

What the weekend brings

We are visiting my hubby's auntie on Saturday

Going for afternoon tea 

Making a cake in the morning to take to enjoy with coffee

This is the one I am going to bake 

peppermint meringue brownie cake

I found this yummy recipe over at thesweetlife.com

 I will let you know how it turns out

On Sunday, we will be hanging around the house

Vacuuming, washing and baking

Enjoy your weekend x

Busy days

It has been nearly two weeks since I last put a post on my blog. The reason is, we have been busy.
The kids have had dress up days at school. There has been incursions and excursions last week.
Our little dog had major dental surgery. She needed to rest and wasn't allowed to chew anything hard.
 Our washing machine of 4 years decided to not work anymore so I had to do some research and shop around so we could get a new one.
Only 1 chick hatched from the 8 eggs we had incubating. We had to buy 3 little chicks so our little chick wouldn't be alone.
And, we had an underground tank installed in our backyard.

The new three beside our little one 

Our little chick that we hatched

She had to check it out

The school holidays are starting this friday. I am looking forward to doing day trips with the kids and spending time at home. I have started baking our own bread again. I have put aside some time during the day to do baking. I love baking and trying out new recipes. The smell of baked goods is amazing.

Do you love baking? What are your favourite recipes?

One little chick

At 7.00 am this morning, one little chick hatched out of its egg. It stays in the incubator until tomorrow then gets transferred to the brooder box. I can't take any photo's yet as the chick needs to rest. 

I will see you tomorrow with some 

pictures x

A new chicken run

I have finally found some time to sit down and write a post for my blog. Monday, I cleaned up from the weekend and did heaps of washing as we have great weather at the moment. Tuesday, the kids had a day off from school so I was spending time with them.

So the weekend I nearly got everything done that I said on friday with "what the weekend brings". Master 10 had his haircut. We purchased a booster seat for Miss 6. We did a little bit of landscaping. I planted the pea seedlings in the veggie garden and they are already growing up on the wire for support. Made a start on the new chicken run. And of course in Australia we celebrated Father's Day on Sunday. Hubby got three vintage auto tin signs to put in the garage. The kids made some lovely cards and hubby thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

This is how the chicken run is at the moment. Chicken house on the right, a run on the left(where the green sticks are) and there is a run on the right behind the chicken house

This is where the new chicken run is going, from the chicken house down to the sleepers. 

There will be bricked steps here. This is my lovely digging from the weekend. Hubby helped me abit as there was some clay and rock that we needed to get through.

And there is always someone who wants to be in the photo!

News on the chicken eggs that are in the incubator, there are 5 left that I am hoping are going to hatch. 1 day left for incubating. Fingers crossed there will be some little fluffy chicks either tomorrow or thursday.

What the weekend brings

Master 10 gets a much needed haircut

Shopping for a new booster seat for Miss 6

Doing some landscaping in the backyard

Planting the pea seedlings in the veggie garden

Planning a new chicken run

Making some tea light candles

Celebrating Father's Day on Sunday in Australia

And just relax.....

Enjoy your weekend x

Fruit trees are blossoming

And a little patch of wild strawberries has started growing in our garden

Enjoy your day today x

Hey Birds, free feed!

Seed is out, free feed, calling all birds

While I was waiting for the birds to arrive, I baked some glazed lemon cookies.

I found this recipe over at cookingclassy.com

I love looking for new recipes to bake. These look really nice and I can't wait to try one.

Look at this! While I was typing this post, two friends arrived.

The photos are abit grainy as I had to take the pictures through the window. I didn't step out onto the balcony as I didn't want to scare them away.

As you can see, he/she was checking where I was!

Enjoy your free feed little friends. You can always come back anytime.

Made a bird feeder with hubby

The weekend was a mixture of going clothes shopping, relaxing and doing odd jobs around the house. The kids watched a couple of movies and played outside. 

On Sunday morning I set up the table for the kids to do some drawing. I laid out a large sheet of paper and put some colour changing markers out. It was good to see them using their imagination and creating some great pictures.

Later in the day, while the kids were watching a movie, my hubby and I made a bird feeder. Our other bird feeder was starting to fall apart so we decided to make another one. It was nice spending time together. I will put some seed in it tomorrow. I look forward to seeing what birds come to check it out. 

Still growing in the veggie boxes

The broccoli has just started to sprout their heads

We are still getting a few snow peas aswell

I hope I have enough room for my peas and tomato seedlings. I have noticed that some of the veggies have grown late this year. I think we need some more sunshine.

What is still growing in your veggie patch? Do you have any veggie's that are growing slow?

Starting the vegetable seedlings

I have found the best place for these guys to sit and get a nice dose of sunshine. It's in our bedroom near the window. They get warmth from the sun and lots of daylight.

Pea Greenfeast

Loving the sun

Tomato San Marzano

These came up in just two days

Saturday fun

On Saturday, Master 10 had two friends stay at our house for a sleep over. Last year he celebrated his birthday at a play centre doing Laser Tag games. So for this year we said he could have a couple of friends over and have a small celebration.

Before the rain came, we headed off to a park for a play. We then visited a local farm and saw a great range of farm animals.

This mummy sheep had three one day old babies

This guy was a cheeky goat

Every time I tried to take a photo he leaned in!

 Again!

In for a close up!

The kids loved feeding the chickens

A gorgeous cow having her lunch

We all had a great afternoon. It was great seeing the kids interacting with all the animals.

How was your weekend? 

Enjoying the sun and Incubating eggs

The sun is shining where I am today. It's good to see the garden getting a few rays of sunshine. 

Guess what these are?

Have you guessed?

Well, they are chicken eggs. Fertile chicken eggs, hopefully.

I am going to hatch some chickens. I have put them in the incubator where they are all nice and warm.

Now, I have to apologise for the picture quality of the incubator but they are in the laundry so there isn't much natural light to take a nice clear photo. I will try and work out how to fix this as I will be taking more photos of their progress.

I invite you to come back and check out how they are going.
See you tomorrow x

Vanilla Pudding Choc Chip Cookies and Cranberry Cashew Clusters

I did some baking for the kids lunch boxes yesterday. After having heaps of cake from their birthdays, I decided to make some cookies and chocolate clusters.

Vanilla Pudding Choc Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

100g packet vanilla instant pudding mix

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2¼ cups plain flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

2. Add butter and sugars together and mix until creamy.

3. Add vanilla pudding mix, eggs and vanilla essence, mix well.

4. Add sifted flour, baking soda and salt, stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Place a tablespoon of cookie dough on the baking paper. Make sure you leave enough room between the cookie dough as they do spread.

6. Bake for 10 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Set aside for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Printable Recipe

This recipe was adapted from the original recipe vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookies.

Cranberry Cashew Clusters

Ingredients:

250g packet dark chocolate melts

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup unsalted cashews

Instructions:

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once melted, remove from heat.

3. Stir in cranberries and cashews, until all covered.

4. Drop teaspoonfuls onto baking paper. Leave them to harden on tray.

5. Once set you can eat them, Enjoy!