Survival swimming

Tamika and Logan's last swimming lessons for the term is always fun week. This term they took it to a new level and  made it survival week. They both had to wear clothes into the pool for the whole half hour lesson.They even had to do laps in their clothes. Lucky they didn't have to wear shoes as well.

I remember doing this when I was young but not until high school when I completed my bronze medallion. Logan was so scared that he was going to drown when swimming with his clothes on. They both did really well, especially when lap swimming as it isn't easy swimming with tracksuit pants on.

Who said it doesn't get cold in Sydney?

Wow! The temperature has dropped over this week. A couple of mornings this week we awoke to a blanket of white covering everything. Unfortunately, it wasn't snow but the frost was quite thick and very cold.

These were taken in the garden as we raced out all rugged up for our day.

First Semester gone!

Both Tamika and Logan have worked extremely hard this semester. Logan adjusted very well to his first half of the year at school and the adjustments he also had to make having being diagnosed as a coeliac.

Their school reports were fantastic and both received Gold Awards at their schools end of term presentation. Tamika was disappointed as she didn't get as many as she usually does (having a new teacher sometimes does that) but Logan was the only Kindergarten child to receive four. We are very proud of both of them!

Felt Inspired!

This weekend I felt inspired by an amazing web site that I came across a couple of months ago in Sam's blog. They have created some surprising edible goodies with cakes. I found one that was made from cheese cake.

Since we had to go out that evening for Catalina's 7th birthday and Logan needed some kind of cake that he could eat, I decided to get creative and make these cheesecake pops.

I cheated and bought a store bought cheese cake from Cake-It-Away and then started to create. A bit fiddly. It was massacred by the time I finished with it. I decided to stop with a little bit of cheesecake left - I thought that 28 balls would be enough. (Was I ever wrong!)

After balling them I sprinkled Corn Flake crumbs over the top as the recipe used the biscuit base but Logan can't eat that. Once I put them in the freezer I thought that this was going to be a challenge as they looked a bit bigger than the pictures

Challenge number 2, they used lollipop sticks, hence the name Cheesecake Pops. But I had no idea where to get them in Australia or the time, so I just used wooden skewers. (The balls were a little heavy for the skewers.) The fun began with the decorating... melted chocolate everywhere and lots of sprinkles, but the kids had fun. They didn't look the same as the websites photos but they sure tasted good and were a hit with everybody.

http://www.bakerella.com/

Update - Weight Loss

Lately I have hit a plateau. This cold weather has made me less motivated to take the kids out and walk in the dark when we get home from work.

I have shed a total of 25kg and feel better about myself, but as usual for me still self- conscious that people are looking at me and passing judgement. Unfortunately, I still haven't hit what the international weight standards say that I should be for my height. I will get there, eventually.

Now I turn to the other areas that needs some work - flat tummy, inner- happiness and trying to stop the everyday pressures of a busy life style take over my sanity and family happiness.

Orange long weekend- Mitch and Binx's House

Over the June long weekend we invaded Mitch and Belinda's new house and property just outside of Orange, NSW. We were their first visitors other than family. But all in all it was a successful weekend, I got my very first pair of authentic Ugg boots, we helped in the garden ( not very much Bel, sorry!), we had great company, had a picnic without any falls off the flying fox, the kids got to feed the horses and of course we made our place in the history book of the next stage of Mitch and Belinda's life together at GREMWOOD- the luxury cottage.

Their house sits at the top of a hill over looking the valley- great views of the area and very peaceful. Oh, and the sound of children having fun and laughing outside can be heard from the neighbours house. A quaint little house with lots of land to loose inquisitive children. Logan was quite embarrassed when he discovered how deep the water pond was for them. We saw kangaroos and wild foxes (kids weren't sure about that one) and many different types of parrot. They had the Rosella  and the Eastern Rosella visit their trees.

It was quite cold outside, lovely and warm inside. Woke up Sunday morning to a thin layer of white frost covering the ground and all buckets of water frozen over to ice. Logan has decided that we have to go back and visit again in the warmer months so that he can go to pick his own raspberries and strawberries at the Huntley Berry Farm.

We are sure they will be happy there, but will be missed here.