Around here - Term 2 - Week 1 in Queensland

Well it certainly makes a change with the kids in school at home without doing daily drop offs and pickups.   Due to their schedules, some days they go at different times in the morning and are collected at different times in the afternoon so it could be 2 trips to school or 3-4 trips to and from school depending on the day and I'm grateful we live 2 kms from the school.

Both kids have adjusted well to online school at home although some of the lessons that might be completed in a class at school can take 3 times as long, or half the time depending on the lesson so they have both been kept busy.  It's new for the teachers and the kids and everyone is doing their best under the circumstances.  With the new ATAR system for Queensland for year 12 this year the schools have been preparing for changes for a couple of years readjusting years 11 and 12 and even year 10 and yet due to the Coronavirus they had to adjust everything from scratch in a matter of a couple of weeks including at that stage, teaching normal lessons in school at the end of Term 1.  I take my hat off to everyone doing their best to both teachers and students.

I have loved the slow mornings without the ironing of uniforms and telling someone to hurry up and brush their teeth so we can get going to school.  Not having to make school lunches in the mornings at home they make their own lunch when they are hungry.  There are lots of perks for this online schooling at home and I"m grateful that they are teenagers managing their school work as it might be a different story if I had little ones at home.  I know the way I was taught at school how to add up by "carrying the 1" is very different to how my kids were taught in primary school, so again...we are in a pretty good place.  I would love to go on a local bush walk and get into nature however all good things come to those who wait and it's about saving lives not about me getting into nature.  Here's some photos of our week and I hope you are all enjoying the slow mornings as well.

I made Sweet Chilli Sauce yesterday from Additive Free Lifestyle blog.

Home made Sweet Chilli Sauce.  The top two jars will go into the fridge and the bottom 3 will go into the pantry.  The kids think it smells and tastes more "sweet and sour" however we all agree we love it.

Sienna made some Anzac biscuits this morning.

This photo is an old photo taken on Anzac Day 2017.

A photo of my front hallway with pretty light.  I took it out out of focus on purpose because there are a lot of things in the hallway that need to get put away.  A High Pressure Cleaner, a large bird cage, a chair, shopping bags to go in the car to name a few.

I made another half batch of this Tomato Sauce from Additive Free Lifestyle blog and haven't bought a bottle of tomato sauce from the shops in over a year.  You cannot beat the flavours in this recipe.

Our menu plan for the week.

The beautiful sunset earlier in the week.

Banana smoothie for breakfast.

I can highly recommend Tracey & Jo's Everyday Cookbook as a standard everyday recipe book for the family.  There are no fancy ingredients, and simple Thermomix instructions along with the stove top traditional method of cooking with each recipe.

Given we are all in ISO get someone to buy you this book online for Mother's Day as it's kid friendly as well with teenagers preparing dinner for the family.  There's a list of what's in the book in the above link.  Also all those store bought condiments you may buy like gravy mixes, KFC-ish spice mixes etc. tomato sauce, pizza sauce, mayo, etc. there are recipes for all of these in the cookbook and I can highly recommend it to any family.   Just a reminder Australia Post are running a bit slow at the moment and it took over 2 weeks to get a standard Easter Card from Melbourne so be patient during these times however you will love the book.  It's a good old fashioned family cookbook without the additives and preservatives that you would be buying from the supermarket.

I can highly recommend you read this post and listen to the 7 podcasts about these additives and preservatives and what they do to your health.