I have never particularly liked the stuffing our little faces on Christmas day so we all get to have our favourite Christmas treat so this year I changed it up a bit. I asked everyone their particular favourite things that make Christmas special and then I divided them up over the 4 weeks of December. Now that is a plan! No gorging! No wasted leftovers! I quite like this idea.
Each week has a theme. First week is spicy, second chocolate, third fruit and nuts, fourth plain. There is a bit of overlap like chocolate coated fruit and nuts but hey, I don't mind. Would you?
[ ] ~~ Sat 30 Nov ~~
[V] Sliced ham with sauce, roast vegetables
[ ] Choc fruit mince muffins
[ ] ~~ Sun 1 Dec - Fri 6 Dec ~~
[ ] Star cookies
[ ] Belgian biscuits
[ ] Gingerbread houses done at school
[ ] ~~ Sat 7 Dec ~~
[ ] Roast pork, apple sauce
[ ] Plum pudding and custard
[ ] ~~ Sun 8 Dec - Fri 13 Dec ~~
[ ] Yum yum balls
[ ] Choc covered nuts and fruit
[ ] Handmade chocolates
[ ] Candy canes
[ ] ~~ Sat 14 Dec ~~
[ ] Chicken mignons
[ ] Trifle
[ ] ~~ Sun 15 Dec - Fri 20 Dec ~~
[ ] Fruit cake with icing
[ ] Belgian biscuits
[ ] Mixed roast nuts
[ ] Stollen
[ ] Cherries
[ ] ~~ Sat 21 Dec ~~
[ ] ???
[ ] ?.?
[ ] ~~ Sun 22 Dec - Tues 24 Dec ~~
[ ] Coconut pyramids
[ ] Pretzels
[ ] Star cookies
[ ] ~~ Wed 25 Dec Christms Day ~~
[ ] Roast chickens, gravy, creamy potatoes, vegies
[ ] Pavlova/meringues, fruit salad and whipped cream can
[ ] ~~ New Years Eve ~~
[ ] Seafood, grilled fish and more
I hope your Christmas turns out well. I think I only have wrapping left to do now. Yay! But I better do that before Christmas Eve! lol Why do I always do that?
Best wishes
Jen
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Monday, October 22, 2012
Peek a Boo!
Yup, it's me! I am still here. Just not posting much as life has been much busier.
As if being a homeschooling mum of 4 and dropping junk mail twice weekly wasn't enough I have also taken on a few Avon territories. It isn't easy juggling the needs and wants of a family this size on an average single income. I am very grateful for the extra money the Australian government gives to families but still I want to do more for my family.
I used to do Avon years ago and did very well with it. Even though I have definitely had to improve my time management skills and it can be a lot of work I am very happy to be back selling their great products. And I am getting more exercise. Yay!
With my extra work load it seems I am getting better at prioritising and we have "found" time to go camping. We found a great National Park just an hour away on a large lake that is safely shallow for the kids to play. It isn't very costly, about $25/ night. The costly part is gradually buying all the bits of equipment that are needed because the esky you use for picnics doesn't cut it for a 3 day camping trip and 6 people need a bigger barbecue than the one we bought back when our family was only 3.5 people. I am also needing to cook ahead as I am really not a barbecue all week kind of girl.
On the school front things are improving. I still need to get a bit more gumption in making sure the boys are not slacking off in their work but we are definitely doing better than a year ago.
So that is my update, hope to back again soon.
Best wishes
Jen
As if being a homeschooling mum of 4 and dropping junk mail twice weekly wasn't enough I have also taken on a few Avon territories. It isn't easy juggling the needs and wants of a family this size on an average single income. I am very grateful for the extra money the Australian government gives to families but still I want to do more for my family.
I used to do Avon years ago and did very well with it. Even though I have definitely had to improve my time management skills and it can be a lot of work I am very happy to be back selling their great products. And I am getting more exercise. Yay!
With my extra work load it seems I am getting better at prioritising and we have "found" time to go camping. We found a great National Park just an hour away on a large lake that is safely shallow for the kids to play. It isn't very costly, about $25/ night. The costly part is gradually buying all the bits of equipment that are needed because the esky you use for picnics doesn't cut it for a 3 day camping trip and 6 people need a bigger barbecue than the one we bought back when our family was only 3.5 people. I am also needing to cook ahead as I am really not a barbecue all week kind of girl.
On the school front things are improving. I still need to get a bit more gumption in making sure the boys are not slacking off in their work but we are definitely doing better than a year ago.
So that is my update, hope to back again soon.
Best wishes
Jen
Sunday, October 23, 2011
A lovely holiday! (Part 2)
On Wednesday we went to White Water World, a water park attached to Dreamworld. Sadly my littlest had a high temperature and spent most of his day sitting mostly slumped in a buggy we were using to keep track of all our towels and our snacks. He did go down the slides in the baby area but I think if he had been well he would have preferred the Pipeline Plunge area. It had a large bucket up top that would fill, then start to overflow to ring a bell. Next thing you know a huge amount of water would be dumped on those below. My 6 and 9 year old loved this area and my usually dependent 6 year old played there a lot without me being right next to him while I watched his big brothers go on scary rides.
I managed to go on the Hydroflow with my eldest which captured one of the few photos of the park adventures that we liked. Well, as much as you can like a picture of yourself screaming and white faced. lol
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| I just love Mike's hair in this shot, and I was definitely not thinking about smiling for the camera. |
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| Harry in front, a bit scared, Jack behind him and Dh in back. |
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| And this was hubby on the Cyclone roller coaster ride at Dreamworld! Happy chappy, isn't he? |
The water park closed at 4pm so we managed to get one more ride over at Dreamworld next door before they closed at 5. Dh went on the Cyclone and was as chuffed as can be that he got to go on a "scary" ride. He was just a little too big in girth to go on any others.
Thursday was my eldest's 13th birthday and was spent doing things he liked such as a huge amount of time on Minecraft. We did manage to make it out of the house for some time at TimeZone. The boys loved that despite me thinking they would be overwhelmed by the noise and lights. Here my youngest got to finally go on a dodgem car ride, after missing out at Dreamworld by 1 cm on the height restriction. He was so chuffed and by now was feeling better so he could fully appreciate it.
Our last day was not one of my best planning ideas. Somehow we had to get everything packed out of the house and into the trailer and then get over to Seaworld for joining a school excursion group at 9.30am. We made it, just, thanks to a huge effort on my dh's part. I loved Seaworld and would love to plan a full day trip there. We only stayed until 2 or so as we had to get on the road. The boys and I enjoyed battling others on a pirate ship ride and we got some fairy floss. My dh enjoyed the penguins. Definitely a place to visit more fully.
Overall a good holiday! The first time I have ever had to plan a holiday of more than a few days and for this many people. I have learnt that I need to allow more time for packing and unpacking. My menu planning worked well although I don't think the boys ate as much fruit as they do at home. And next time I will allow more fun money and time to get home. We may have driven up in a full day but it was really much easier to split the trip with an overnight stay somewhere.
Best wishes
Jen
Friday, October 14, 2011
A lovely holiday! (Part 1)
We had a lovely holiday. It was a big event for me to organise, a holiday away from the comforts of home for 14 days and all the associated activities for six people. I will be making notes on what succeeded and what didn't work out so well so I can do better next time.
We spent the first 4-5 days with my parents in their small country town outside Toowoomba in Queensland. They appreciated being able to see the grand kiddies as we live quite far away and are lucky to get one visit a year. It was a nice way to start a holiday, just getting used to being away from the comforts and habits of home.
We then drove down to the Gold Coast and stayed at Southport, just over the Broadwater from Seaworld. We did a day trip up to Brisbane and caught up with my old church. It was so lovely to be greeted with smiles and hugs. I could quite happily return to that area if my husband could get work up there. We also fit in a trip to the Pancake Manor and a ride on the City Cats.
After that long day out we somehow managed to make it to Dreamworld the next day and spent a good chunk of the day waiting in queues for rides. It was totally worth it as one of my goals for our holiday was for my boys to experience the variety of things outside our small town, to see what a big city is like and to try something scary so they could know scary is not always bad, it can be fun.
My eldest went on a ride called the Buzzsaw as his first ride. Oops, maybe not the best idea as it was the scariest ride in the park according to other riders. lol But he did then go on other less scary rides that he would have otherwise balked at. We all went on the Rapids, one of my favourite rides, and of course the Log Ride. They are great "slow" rides for the little ones.
My 9 year old's scary ride was The Giant Drop. I went on that one too. Boy, it was cold and windy up the top and I was so glad it stopped when it did because I was out of breath for screaming anymore. After a teary wait in line Jack came off smiling and so happy he didn't scream. So much for not liking scary things!
The rest of the day there went well, although we missed seeing a lot of things like the white tigers. Another year!
The following day was a rest day with a trip to the beach. They had a great time learning how to body surf.
More to follow,
Best wishes
Jen
We spent the first 4-5 days with my parents in their small country town outside Toowoomba in Queensland. They appreciated being able to see the grand kiddies as we live quite far away and are lucky to get one visit a year. It was a nice way to start a holiday, just getting used to being away from the comforts and habits of home.
We then drove down to the Gold Coast and stayed at Southport, just over the Broadwater from Seaworld. We did a day trip up to Brisbane and caught up with my old church. It was so lovely to be greeted with smiles and hugs. I could quite happily return to that area if my husband could get work up there. We also fit in a trip to the Pancake Manor and a ride on the City Cats.
After that long day out we somehow managed to make it to Dreamworld the next day and spent a good chunk of the day waiting in queues for rides. It was totally worth it as one of my goals for our holiday was for my boys to experience the variety of things outside our small town, to see what a big city is like and to try something scary so they could know scary is not always bad, it can be fun.
My eldest went on a ride called the Buzzsaw as his first ride. Oops, maybe not the best idea as it was the scariest ride in the park according to other riders. lol But he did then go on other less scary rides that he would have otherwise balked at. We all went on the Rapids, one of my favourite rides, and of course the Log Ride. They are great "slow" rides for the little ones.
My 9 year old's scary ride was The Giant Drop. I went on that one too. Boy, it was cold and windy up the top and I was so glad it stopped when it did because I was out of breath for screaming anymore. After a teary wait in line Jack came off smiling and so happy he didn't scream. So much for not liking scary things!
The rest of the day there went well, although we missed seeing a lot of things like the white tigers. Another year!
The following day was a rest day with a trip to the beach. They had a great time learning how to body surf.
More to follow,
Best wishes
Jen
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