Cinnimon rolls

For those of you who are fellow foodies I have to share this.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

Thank you Sarah for introducing us to the Pioneer Woman :-)

Halloween Part 1 - the disco

I am feeling like a super mother.....in the last 24hrs I worked a regular 8hr day, taxied children to swimming lessons, baked and frosted 3 dozen cupcakes and organised Halloween costumes for 2 very disorganised children and I didn't even throw my toys out of the sandpit!!!! Not even once, although I must confess to a very near miss when Luke, trying to be helpful, started to frost pink spiderwebs on my black frosted cupcakes......what was he thinking?! All this flapping about so 2 frightful children could indulge in ghoulish behaviour with 100 or so other scary small people at the Halloween disco. Luke and I decided not to stay at the disco, he's an abysmal dancer and being considerate parents we decided not to embarrass our children.
Isla would like me to share that she won a prize for her costume (ski gloves and vouchers for rock climbing) guess all that hard work she put in to organising a costume paid off!
We have been invited to a trick or treating circuit tomorrow night so I figure Mia will blog about that in Halloween part 2 tomorrow (when she's still awake at 9pm on lolly high.

A weekend of Labour

These 3 day weekends are quite nice really and having top notch weather helps too! We actually lived all together at our house for the whole weekend (well except for when Sara sent me to my own house to sleep and I even got the children last night!) and we managed to do a lot and really enjoy the early promise of what summer has to bring.
Saturday was a winner for the garden... local resort is under new management and decided that Flax bushes are not native to Wanaka so must all go! Sara knows a girl, who is married to a guy, who worked at said resort and low and behold I managed to score us a few mammoth flax bushes... only 4 flax took up a whole trailer and largest one took 2 people to lift it. Now all 4 are pride of place in the garden and if they do not die they will be one of our most awesomest plants.
Sunday was when we decided to brave town for the Wanaka Fest and our 1 in a 1000 chance to win the rubber duck race... What you say? Rubber Duck Race? here it is in short: Take 1000 Yellow Rubber Ducks, number and sell off for $5 each, place in the bucket of a front end loader and at a specific time dump them in the small stream that runs through town. First duck to get to the end wins $500 next wins a shopping hamper... number 1586, which came in an excellent 23rd, gets nothing except pride of place in our bath.
Monday was champion in every way, like a summer day not a breeze so it was time to 'escape proof' the chicken house so that they will not destroy our vege garden that we plan to grow. Many hours and a few cuts and bruises later the stalag is operational and hopefully we will no longer have to dodge chicken poo where ever we walk. Nicest part was that while reinforcing the chicken run Sara and Mia were creating our first batch of Bagels that were fan ripping tastic and will become a staple of our household.
...and that was 3 days in a blur, probably several postings rolled into one and none of the events explained coherently, but that is the consequences if you allow Lukey to enter a blog posting after a few beers and too much sun.

Blogging from 'the farm' begins....

Well everyone else seems to be doing it, so we thought it was about time we gave it a whirl. Please navigate away from this page if you are expecting or seeking profound insights....as we offer none. Instead Mia is very keen to blog her 'tweenage' perspective on life (fancying herself as a bit of an 'Agony Aunt') and Isla loves to add her 2 cents worth on everything...so if you are reading this, expect to hear from ALL of us (well possibly not Xiao Mao, despite what Isla says the rest of us are pretty certain she is a 'feles illitteratus').