Food time

Right, so it's winter, and I've decided to add a recipe to my blog. Here it is:

Jenny's Yummy Bread and Butter Pudding

10 slices white bread; crusts removed and buttered on one side.
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups Mmmmilk (vanilla flavoured milk)
4 eggs
4 tablespoons sugar
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 handful cranberries
1 handful pecan nuts, chopped

1. Butter a casserole dish.
2. Place half the slices of bread on the bottom, butter side up.
3. Make a layer of apple, cranberries and pecan nuts.
4. Finish with a second layer of bread.
5. Mix the buttermilk, mmilk, eggs and sugar, and pour over the top. Leave to stand for 30min.
6. Bake for 30 - 40 min at 180deg. After about 20min sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Serves 6-8

[Apologies for leaving out the sugar in the original!]

Freudian moments

Hayley, one night when supposed to be going to sleep:-
"Mom, I wish I could sleep in the bed with Daddy, and you could sleep in this room by yourself in this bed."
[Well at least she felt free to tell me how she feels!]

My Hero

Only a week until we pack to leave for our holiday, and I've totally overcome any sense of guilt. I am desperately happy to be going away, all as a family for an entire week.

Conversations with kids
This week has been a new adventure for Robert. It's the first time we've let him find out what is really supposed to happen in school holidays! You see, until this year, he has happily attended a playschool with the happy arrangement of "Holiday Scho0l". This means you can take toys with you, and watch some movies, but (you guessed it) you still go to school. With the advent of Big School has come the discovery that holidays are supposed to be a free-for-all. I have dealt with the working mother problem by phoning all sorts of friendly people (some of whom I've hardly met) and inviting them to have my son for a morning. It's worked well: he has a hectic social calendar, and thinks holidays are great. Next week, I'm the mom on duty though!

This morning Hayley started out the (early) morning with flattery. "Dad, you're my hero". Why, we asked? Because you can chop wood! (something Dave doesn't do all that often in view of the kudos he's earned). I was given a token hero slot for no particular reason. I'm not sure where she came up with it all of a sudden, but it was an opportunity to tell Hayley a little about herself: her name means HERO, and we enjoyed telling her about naming her long before she turned into such a big hero girl!

Ethical Dilemmas

Alright, I have a serious ethical dilemma. We have timeshare for a week in April, starting on Good Friday. School has (for some insane reason) been scheduled to go back the wednesday of that week. Bearing in mind that we (a) Want to teach our son, who has just started grade 1, to respect and obey the authority of his school, and (b) Have a son who is already reading fluently and doing sudoku in his spare time,WHO CAN TELL ME THE RIGHT THING TO DO?!? Wish I wasn't (still) such a nerd!

What are moms for? (according to Hayley)
- so you don't get bumped by a car.
- to work
- sometimes they have to shout at children. This is not nice. But it is helpful. Teachers don't have to shout. They just say "Myles, go and sit in the corner". It's not nice to sit in the corner. It's better for moms to shout.

Anniversary Celebration

Friday (23rd January) was Dave and my 10th anniversary. In honour of the occasion Granny agreed to look after the kids, and we escaped to a lovely spot near to Lydenberg. Unfortunately the promise of much fishing turned out to be false advertising, but we had a very special time away. On Saturday morning we went for a run, which turned out to be more of a walk and scramble along the trail to a waterfull, with a freezing swim along the way.

We have been so blessed to share the last 10 years together. It's hard to imagine who we would each be without the support, encouragement and love of the other - I am certain Dave has been a huge part of growing me into who I am.

Thanks for a great 10 years, babe - and for a wonderful time celebrating it!

I realised tonight that watching spirituality develop in our children is an amazing work in progress. For example, while both of my children display a precious understanding of God and who he is, I know for sure that Hayley is going to be a worship leader. Tonight she was "reading" the bible and singing songs - but could not do either without a microphone in hand. Here we go!