Strawberry Patch

Okay, I guess you can't really call it a strawberry patch since it's only two plants but it's a start for us.

Remember that Winter List I posted at the beginning of winter? One of the items was to plan a herb garden and another was to pick strawberries. Our plans of going to a strawberry field over the school holidays got rained out, and while I was grocery shopping one afternoon, I saw little strawberry plants for sale.

So while we didn't get to pick strawberries from a strawberry field, I "picked strawberries" in that I picked some strawberry plants to bring home. We've been watering them every day and one strawberry is getting noticeably bigger!

I transplanted them from their plastic pots today and we're planning on leaving them outside from now on. Hopefully, we'll be picking our own strawberries soon enough - if the animals don't attack it at night and destroy our plants or eat our berries.

I still plan on growing some herbs, but that'll have to wait a little longer. I'm still trying to decide which herbs I'll actually use, and won't require too much maintenance.

Any suggestions?

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Winter List 2012 | 12 goals to keep us from hibernating this winter.

Checked off: 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12

Trip Within A Trip

I must have inherited this wanderlust from my parents.

They planned a trip down to Melbourne while they're here visiting us, and of course I can't pass up a chance to travel, so here I am frantically trying to pack enough warm clothes for the three of us into one suitcase before we leave tomorrow morning.

You'd think I'd be used to this packing business by now, but my suitcase is hovering 0.4kg over the limit and I'm wondering whether I should just bring another bag.

If anyone has tips for traveling light (with two kids, in cold weather) please share!

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Winter List 2012 | 12 goals to keep us from hibernating this winter.

Checked off: 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12

WL2012 | No. 6: Bake Pumpkin Desserts

Pumpkin puree is hard to come by here in Brisbane.

When my mom was visiting last year, we found a can at a specialty grocery store for $14.95! My eyes bulged slightly before I quickly placed the can back on the shelf, then my mom promised to send me a few cans when she got back to Canada.

I now have a small stockpile in my pantry that I'm using sparingly because who knows when my next ration will arrive?

However, because the weather now reminds me of fall/winter back home, I decided it was time to break open a can and make some pumpkin cheesecake.

In my excitement to make a pumpkin dessert, I accidentally used pumpkin pie filling instead of pure pumpkin puree. It still tasted absolutely amazing.

I used this recipe.

My second pumpkin dessert, in all honesty, was made solely to fulfil the requirements of this goal and to use up the can of pumpkin pie filling. Had I not added that extra "s" to the end of "dessert" and/or used up the remaining can of pumpkin, I would not have made this second dessert.

But things are what they are, so this second-rate pumpkin pie came to be.

Still tasted delicious. It didn't look amazing but nothing a little whipped cream couldn't fix.

I love whipped cream on my pumpkin desserts; have you noticed?

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Winter List 2012 | 12 goals to keep us from hibernating this winter.

Checked off: 5, 6, 7, 8, 10

Hot Chocolate

We recently made a trip to Ikea to pick up a few items so the boys can continue doing some of the activities they work on at Montessori.

While we were there, I found these little espresso cups that are perfect for Caleb.

I love how pensive he looks in this photo. He's like a little man.

That night, we also had hot chocolate and Caleb got his own little mug.

Nathan loved his mint hot chocolate.

Caleb gave us mixed reviews.

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Winter List 2012 | 12 goals to keep us from hibernating this winter.

Checked off: 5, 7, 8, 10

Keep Calm and Ride On

There are so many "Keep Calm and ___ On" posters floating around the Internet and I'm generally not a big fan of them but I think it describes this situation so well.

Yesterday, Andrew brought Nathan to his school's hard court and Nathan rode his bike.

Just like that.

This was after Nathan rode his bike into our car, leaving a scratch across the entire back door. Just moments before, Nathan was so unsteady, unstable and unsure of himself.

This was after we went to various empty parking lots and playgrounds as a family, just so we could all be there to help him learn.

I think somehow, my presence hindered Nathan's performance.

Maybe he could sense that I was anything but calm about him learning to ride. I was anxious and excited about it and I think me constantly encouraging him to "go-go-go!!" wasn't helping him as much as I thought it would.

Luckily, Andrew is the calm and relaxed type. He brought Nathan to the school and magically Nathan went from wobbling around and refusing to put his feet on the pedals, to riding fast and steady around the hard court and along the foot paths.

All he needed was to be calm.

Now, the boy who once insisted that scooters were better (and faster) than bikes, thinks bikes are the best and even asked to go bike-riding again this afternoon. He's getting better each time he rides.

Nathan even rode from his school to the nearby park and went down a big hill on the road without much hesitation today.

The difference between how he rode yesterday afternoon and this afternoon is monumental.

It just blows my mind.

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Winter List 2012 | 12 goals to keep us from hibernating this winter.

Checked off: 5, 8, 10

Another Busy Weekend

Ever so often, we have weekends that are packed full of activity. This past weekend was one of them.

Friday / Nathan came back from camp happy but filthy. Somehow he decided that he didn't need to shower or brush his teeth for the entire duration of the camp. Yikes! At least he came back wearing something different from what he left in!

After his swimming lesson (and shower), we had Indian food with some friends at Sardar Rasoi in South Bank. We had never been to this restaurant before. We had the buffet, which had a small selection but it was still pretty good. Especially the naan. Yum!

Nathan loved the food, which surprised me because I was worried they wouldn't have anything he'd like to eat.

Nathan also loved the fact that he got to have dinner with not one, but two of his friends! I'm really loving that our families can all be friends.


Saturday / Only Andrew and Nathan made it to the soccer game this week. Caleb and I had a little sleep-in.

We headed straight back to South Bank for QPAC's Out of the Box festival. It's a creative festival for kids and I thought the boys might enjoy some of the activities.

We watched live shows..

Drew on the walls...

Wandered through the Sticky Maze...

Adding paper to the tape.

Peeking through the walls.

Wondering where to go.

Looking for a way out.

Then finished off our time at OOTB at the Tent of Tall Tales where they had story time and other activities.

By then, it was about lunch time so we walked over the bridge into the CBD towards King George Square for the Brisbane Winter Festival.

The event was a lot smaller than I was expecting. I forgot to even take a picture of the ice rink, but we did find some yummy food to munch on, like the fluffiest doughnuts you've ever had.

Andrew found his beloved churros again.

 Then, we sat down and had some Wood Fired Pizza for lunch.

After lunch, we slowly made our way home and then to our friends' house for dinner. We're so spoiled.


Sunday / Andrew had to head out early for practice, so I got the boys ready for church.

We caught our friends' son's rugby game after church.

Then the boys spent the rest of the afternoon putting together a new Lego set.

Phew!

That was a super picture-heavy post. If you made it this far, I'm impressed. Thank you for sticking around!

We had an action-packed weekend. Hope you had a good one, too!

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Winter List 2012 | 12 goals to keep us from hibernating this winter.

Checked off: #5, #8