Tuesday 30 November 2010

Thanksgiving: Lunch with extended Cook family

For a couple of weeks we didn't have an invitation to a thanksgiving lunch and I was getting a little worried. I was praying that some one would randomly invite us over and that is just what happened.

Emma from Lucy's bible study class was sad that she wouldn't see Lucy during thanksgiving week so she invited us over for lunch. I mentioned this to her mum who was standing there and she repeated the invitation. It turns out that lunch was being held at Nana's house, who just happens to be Henry's new bible study teacher.

We headed up to Rocky Point and joined in with the extended clan. We had a great time eating and talking. Of course Lucy and Emma were inseparable for the few hours we were there!

I made a green bean casserole with home made mushroom soup. It uses fried onions in the bread crumb topping and it took me quite a while and some help to find them in the supermarket. Anyway the casserole turned out so well that Andrew has requested that I make it again and he bought some more fried onions from Trader Joes.

Monday 29 November 2010

Thanksgiving: Preschool Play



















Lucy dressed as a pilgrim and enjoying some pumpkin pie.

















It turns out that Andrew and Henry were wearing the same polo shirt. Henry dressed as a grey squirrel for his part of the thanksgiving play.


Below is Lucy's treat for performing well in the play. It is a rice krispy turkey.



















And here's the video of some of the performance

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Board Games 23: Take it easy

This should be the last board game for a while, at least until after Christmas. I can't believe it has taken this long to get through all the games especially given that the last one was given in June.

Very similar to Cities in that one person leads and the other follows. Both players play their own board. The tiles are called by the leader and then each player places the tile.

The objective is to score lots of points by creating continuous lines.

The game reminds me of solitaire. It is kind of a one person game and takes a calculating mind.

Monday 15 November 2010

Weekend fun

On Friday night Lucy had a sleep over with her friend L. All went well until a 6am wake up the next day! The girls played noisily in Lucy's room which I tried to ignore for a while. By 7am Henry was screaming and I got up to discover the girls had unloaded Henry's bookcase into his cot and he had a bleeding scratch on his nose. I was NOT happy.

Apart from the inauspicious start the girls had a great time together.

We spent Saturday at church for a workday for the Living Nativity followed by dinner at Lucy's favourite place, Cracker Barrel.

Sunday we were back at church and Lucy attended a park playdate.

In between we had LOTS of naps.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Board Games 22: Cities

One of the funny things about this game is the egotism of the author. His name is plastered all over the box, the instructions and the back of the tiles. Yes we know you invented the game Martyn F but you have taken your obsession to a new high!

The game starts simply with easy scoring and progresses up to level 3.

One player is the caller and the other the follower. Both play their own game but have to play the same numbered tiles to completed their city. Placing followers on certain parts of the city creates scoring opportunities.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Weekend moaning

On Friday night Lucy said she had a sore throat and refused to eat dinner. After much complaining and moaning we took her to the doctor on Saturday who confirmed that it was indeed strep throat and gave her antibiotics.

By Saturday night we were all exhausted! So we spent most of the weekend and Monday having lots of naps.

Thankfully the rest of us have stayed healthy.

Lucy is feeling good again and in fact we are heading out to a birthday party this afternoon.

Friday 5 November 2010

It's Autumn

As I mentioned the weather has changed. The days are still hot/warm but the nights are cool. It is a really good time of year which will last just a few short weeks. The leaves are red and falling, the mornings are dark and the air at night is cool. We have the air-conditioning on during the day and the heating at night.

Daylight savings ends for us on Sunday.

In the spirit of the changing seasons I've switched out the bedroom decor to be more autumnal. Gone is the new spring bird doona cover, bright green throw and equally green wall art. In comes the red. The old red striped doona cover, red cushions, new wall art and the grand canyon photos.

The only thing purchased was the decal for the wall art. I'd like to get a brown throw but am in two minds about it. I mean there are several brown throws in Culburra so do I really need another?

I've put Lucy's summer clothes away for next year and put all her jumpers into her closet.

We're bunkering down.


Thursday 4 November 2010

Hardware Store opening

At Porters Neck a new Lowe's hardware store opened last week. They had a grand opening 'party' so we headed along with our 10% off voucher.

Andrew and I both completed a scavenger hunt around the store and got $10 gift cards. The kids got to ride in a racing car trolley and Lucy received a goody bag of free Lowe's branded merchandise.

Little did we know that our insinkerator would break the next day. Andrew then had to return to Lowes and purchase the model below. They didn't tell him he needed plumbers putty. So he made a third trip at 10pm and then installed the machine.

Interestingly the insinkerator box had a brochure outlining how using an insinkerator was the environmentally responsible option as it reduced landfill. I personally would rather those things go in the garbage than in my water but who knows?

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Boating

Imagine this scenario: Sunday afternoon. Sunny blue skies. 65 degrees. Good friends. Boat. And there you have a very pleasant afternoon.

The Penny's took us out on their boat and we cruised the intracoastal waterway. A detour to Figure Eight island (a private island only accessible to non-residents by boat) and we found a small beach. Lucy was the only one crazy enough to go swimming, and boy was she cold afterward. Henry had a play in the sand before a quick dip. He enjoyed floating in his life-jacket with Andrew pulling him though the water.

After 3 1/2 years this was my first time on a boat in Wilmington! Lucy and Andrew had been crabbing with the Penny's before but for Henry and I it was our maiden voyage. Good timing just before daylight savings ends next week.

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Weird mushooms

We did a little gardening on the weekend. Our pizza oven garden was updated with 3 rows of pansies (around 80 plants) and a little pruning. We also transplanted some black fountain grass runners from the front as the one we did last year is extremely successful.

Out the front under the holly bushes we found these weird mushrooms. Initially the dark brown part was olive green. Other weird mushrooms were growing all over the back lawn. Andrew had to do a quick reconnaissance before Henry hit the yard and started eating them! (yes he has tried to do this before)

Monday 1 November 2010

Cape Fear Fair & Expo















We headed to the fair at the airport for some rides and the latest deep fried food. Henry had a fabulous time at the livestock tent. We let him out of the stroller, and despite being leashed, he loved getting up close to the animals. His favourites were the pigs and the ducks but he also enjoyed looking at the rabbits, 'dirty' goats and roosters.


As usual, what was on display in the agriculture tent was fairly meagre, a far cry from the Sydney Easter show. However we were there for the rides. After a messy chocolate ice cream Lucy couldn't wait to get on as many rides as she could manage. This proved to be quite a lot too! She is 47 inches tall and with her cowgirl boots on she managed to scrape onto the 48 inch requirement rides. This included a ride called Vertigo which was exactly like swinging chairs but about 4 times higher!

The food side of things was interesting as usual. Aside from the usual fried dough, philly cheesesteaks and hotdogs, there were NC state red candy apples and Carolina blue candy apples. And there were deep fried oreos. Whilst still warm they were okay.

Lucy was disappointed that there was no face painting as she had taken along some pocket money to pay for it. Aside from this minor hiccup she had a fabulous time. Her mother was not so enthusiastic wrangling her 15 month old brother with the additional negative that she wasn't supposed to go on rides. And the deep fried oreos in no way made up for this!