Around Here

Around here we have had a semi-formal and a 14th Birthday which can only mean one thing...these kids are growing up so fast.  The weather in Brisbane has been so humid and hot and we've also had some nice late afternoon storms to cool things down.  As a kid growing up we would have hot days and an afternoon storm however as an adult the afternoon storms rarely come however this week they did and luckily it cooled things down a bit.

Yesterday I attended a 2 hour workshop run by Jo from Addictive Free Lifestyle at Oils for Life at Darra.  I've mentioned in this post about how I listened to their 7 podcasts, participated in a 7 day challenge and took their 4 week online course.  Jo and Tracey are sisters who live in Tasmania with their families and they are doing a tour at the moment to run these 2 hour workshops.  I appreciate the effort these girls are going to because in their IG stories they are always packing up again for a workshop or on a plane and away from their families.  Travelling for work is exhausting however they can spread their story and get in front of people which I know everyone who attended yesterday's workshop appreciated.

Tracey made a few things using the Thermomix and then made some DIY cleaning products.  I love that their cookbook has both the "Traditional" method and the "Thermomix" method of cooking so it's suitable for all families.  I can highly recommend their cookbook.

Jo from Addictive Free Lifestyle doing her cooking demo and notice the big bowl of Roasted Pumpkin Dip [OMG that was delicious] think roasted cooled down pumpkin, garlic, paparika, parmesan cheese, cashews....delicious.

I came home and made these Chocolate Coconut Muffins from the cookbook.

Sienna enjoying some colouring in.

Home made Fried Rice for dinner...I haven't made this in ages and it was delicious.  Rice, Bacon, Capsicum, egg, shallots/spring onion, baby spinach, pineapple, corn, water chestnuts and sprouts, soy & sweet chilli sauce and coriander.   A tip for the egg and schallots/spring onions...mix up your egg and chop up your spring onions.  Spread the spring onions over the pan and then pour the egg  over the top and make a big omlette then you can chop it up to go into your dish.  The egg then has the spring onion flavours and the spring onions throughout.

The birthday girl this week.  Our traditional Freddo Frog Ice Cream Cake [look away - lots of additives and preservatives here but it's twice a year cake for the kids.

I was going through an old hard drive the other day and came across this photo taken of Sienna in October 2011 when she was 5 years old.  The photo was taken across the road on vacant land that had beautiful flowers and a big Bougainvillea in flower and it was so pretty.  My sister and I walked over the road and took some photos of the kids and in 2020 the land has houses on it.  My photo was featured this week in this blog post along with other amazing talented photographers.

The theme was distance and I wrote - Tomorrow my little 5 year old pictured here turns 14.  There is so much time and distance from this photo as she is now taller than me [I'm 5'5].  There is no longer any baby teeth and making mud pies in the back yard and picking up insects which she loved to do every day.  It seems like a distant memory compared to our life today.  Whilst I didn't take this photo this week I found it on an old hard drive and edited with my knowledge and skills in 2020 vs 2011.