Photo of the week

The baby already loves Andrew's pizza!

Going natural: Dishwashing powder

I tried some home made dishwasher powder (recipe below) but it just didn't get the dishes as clean as I wanted. I stuck it out and used most of the jar but then ended up buying more Cascade tablets from Costco.

Any suggestions?

Unsuccessful Dishwasher detergent

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup Baking Soda

1/2 Cup Kosher Salt

1/2 Cup Citric Acid

Put all ingredients into a container with a tight fitting lid, and shake up! Use about 1 TB per load. Pour some white vinegar into the "rinse aid" compartment of your dishwasher. This will help to keep your dishes...especially plastic...from having a "cloudy" look!

Baby Shower for #3

On Sunday the ladies at church held a baby celebration for the four mums with babies due to arrive soon.

As you can see I got not one, but two nappy cakes plus a very generous gift voucher for Target.

It was a fun time with no crazy games. Just lots of wisdom from older mothers and lots of finger food.

I forgot to take my camera but I'm hoping I'll get some photos emailed to me soon. That way Baby#3 will have shower photos for their scrapbook just like Lucy and Henry.

Planting

Our summer vegetables are planted!

After just 6 days many of them had sprouted and we needed to remove the lids.

At the beginning of April we'll be transplanting them outside.

Pizza fundraiser

We had a magnificent day on Saturday. It was a cool 67/16 degrees which made it perfect for cooking pizzas. Thanks to all our generous friends we raised $1040 for the Townsend family's adoption.

We had lots of helpers prepping ingredients, picking up ice and coffee and rolling bases.

This time we tried out the concept of some pizza specials (named after Sydney suburbs)

• Miranda - basil pesto base, tomatoes, artichokes, olives, yellow sweet pepper and buffalo mozzarella, topped with shredded mozzarella

• Cronulla - garlic base, roast lamb, feta cheese, olives, and onion. Drizzled with tzatziki and a squeeze of lemon juice

• Caringbah - tomato base, shredded mozarella, proscuitto, sliced pear, sprinkled with brown sugar

With all the helpers clean up happened quickly and we were able to hang out and relax with friends.

Unfortunately on Sunday morning Lucy's eye started watering (we think it was just sand) and in the afternoon Henry started throwing up. So I guess things are back to normal!

Grandma I got the cardigan thank you!

Fiona's Birthday

Unlike prior years I wasn't all that excited about my birthday. I guess it had something to do with being fat and unable to imbibe champagne. Alexis called me for an intervention and I started to get excited.

The day dawned clear and bright and despite being winter it turned out to be 75 degrees (25 celsius) It was so beautiful which made it really feel like my birthday. I was born at the end of summer in Australia and it just doesn't feel right to have an end of winter birthday in the US.

Andrew, Lucy and Henry surprised me with lots of presents including a new handbag, a board game, candles, a soup pot, and Iron Chef panko.















We went out for brunch at Boca Bay and then we spent the afternoon playing outside. As you can see in the photo I got to spend a couple of hours reading in the sun. After dinner we enjoyed the awesome birthday cake Andrew and Lucy had made.

Later in the week Alexis organised a mom's night out at Aubriana's where I got to celebrate again. I loved the crab and lobster cake, non-spinach salad (long story) and chocolate peanut butter pie complete with candle and singing.

Banana Spice Cake

Andrew and Lucy made me a banana spice cake for my birthday. Essentially four layers of banana cake, with custard and sliced bananas between each cake layer, and topped with whipped cream.

Served on our 'happy birthday' plate and decorated with our birthday girl figurine.

It was really awesome! Thank you, I loved it.