Friday 25 February 2011

Going natural: Belly butter















I ran out of the moisturiser I was using for my ever-growing belly so I decided to continue on the natural route and make my own.

I wish I had done this sooner. This stuff is awesome! I'll let you know if I remain stretch mark free in about 9 weeks!

Recipe:
1/2 cup cocoa butter
2 tablespoons wheat germ oil
2 teaspoons sesame seed oil
2 teaspoons apricot kernel oil
2 teaspoons vitamin E oil
4 teaspoons grated beeswax

Measure all ingredients into a heavy saucepan. Warm mixture over low heat until cocoa butter and beeswax have melted (two to five minutes). Stir well.

Cool briefly then pour into jar(s). Leave lid off and allow to cool completely (this should take about an hour). It will look very runny at first. Once completely cool, place lid on tightly and add a label.

Thursday 24 February 2011

Myrtle Beach weekend

The third and final item on our agenda for the long weekend was to attend Lucy's friend Grace's 5th birthday party. So we headed south down to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina to stay at the Dunes resort.

The resort has two large indoor waterparks. Below you can see Andrew and Henry enjoying the lazy river (just before some kid vomited nearby and the pools were evacuated!)















The kids enjoyed a magic show, face painting and of course the water slides. On Grace's birthday we celebrated with a hello kitty theme, enjoying pizza and cake. For dinner we went out to Friendly's (where ice cream makes the meal) and very much enjoyed our sundaes. The kids were exhausted after a full day of water fun, sugar and friendship.

The next day the dads and kids hit the water parks again before we headed off to the shopping outlets. We ate lunch at Red Lobster (another first experience for us Aussies) which turned out to have incredibly poor service before we headed home to NC.

Thanks to Greg & Stacie for a great weekend!

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Jim's 50th birthday party

The second item on our long weekend agenda was to attend our neighbour's 50th birthday party. The party was held at Poplar Grove Plantation, one of the oldest peanut farms in North Carolina.
















We had a great time playing on the play equipment, checking out all the farm animals and eve
n doing a geocache. But the real fun was to be had inside the barn where we enjoyed a pig pickin'. It was officially our first pickin' despite being here for four years. Sure we'd enjoyed bbq before (pulled pork) but not from a whole pig, shredded up in front of us. We also enjoyed some of the 8+ cakes that were available for all the party guests.

Also below is a great photo of Henry running around the plantation. Are his feet even touching the ground? He'd definitely be disqualified in the Olympic walking event!

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Minor renovations

We had a great long weekend thanks to an obscure public holiday called Presidents Day. This is the first year that Andrew had the day off so we used it to our advantage!

The first item on the agenda, which was kind of spur of the moment, was to create a space for some new shelves. We are using the existing wall cavity in the fireplace mantel.

If you've been reading the blog for a while you'll know that we have quite a few board games now! They are crowding up the kids toy cupboard so we decided to create some new shelves. Then the games will move out of the toy cupboard. Then the toys from Henry's old bedroom will move into the cupboard. Then the new baby's room can be prepared.

Andrew cut the hole and then lined the inside with gyprock. Next step - edges and plastering.

Tuesday 15 February 2011

We're still here!



















L: Henry after playing in the mud and drinking from the birdbath
R: H & L in front of Henry's new closet


So there's been a hiatus in blogging. Here's a catchup:
  • this week Henry and I have been sick with colds.
  • it has been the coldest winter in 30 years. There have been days with cabin fever. We got a bouncy house to get rid of some energy.
  • we are homesick for Sydney since the visit from Ben, Jackie, Cora and Jacob
  • Henry has pooped on the toilet twice! No, we are not potty training him, he just decided he wants to use the toilet every now and then.
  • Lucy and Henry are now sharing a bedroom. It hasn't been easy because Henry doesn't want to stay in his bed. Bedtime is a drama and Andrew and I are tired!
  • I am frantically scrapbooking Henry's baby album
  • I am frantically cross stitching the new baby's birth announcement
  • We don't have a name for the new baby
  • We researched and enrolled Henry in a new preschool for next year
  • We are researching and investigating school options for Lucy for next year
  • We are organising a pizza fundraiser for our friends the Townsends adoption
  • We are still doing our regular weekly activities like Kindermusik, soccer lessons and craft at the hardware store
  • The new baby is due in about 9 weeks!!
  • We spent time on the weekend getting our vegetable gardens ready. Lucy and Henry spent most of that time jumping in mud puddles.
  • Working out how to fit three car seats in the Tribeca
  • life keeps rolling on...

Monday 14 February 2011

Maybe Baby Valentine playdate
















Last week we hosted a valentines playdate for our moms group. We made vanilla vanilla Magnolia cupcakes (one mom asked if we had made them from scratch because they tasted different to the store bought cupcakes!) We also had fairy bread (another new experience for Americans) and some strawberries to complete the red/pink theme.

At the playdate the kids made heart-shaped valentine cards with lots of stickers.

During the week we made coconut ice to give out to Lucy's and Henry's preschool classes. The first batch did not work and ended up in a big gooey mess. It seems that American coconut is moister and less dense than Australian coconut. After some scientific experimentation Andrew came up with a good outcome. We put the coconut ice in bags, wrote a poem and stapled it onto the bags.

Today the kids have a valentines day party at preschool. Henry doesn't attend on Mondays but we are allowed to visit for the last hour and join in the fun. Not sure what this will entail but I'm sure it will be sugar-fuelled.