Nested

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So the big Number 5 birthday party was fast approaching and the all important cake discussions had begun.  We had gotten to the point of trying to figure out how to combine Frozen, Minions, Paw Patrol and the Little Mermaid into something that didn’t resemble Frankensteins monster (I was imagining a yellow mermaid with paws who could freeze things… not good), when Pinterest came to my rescue. …

Spring is notorious for it’s fickle weather but so far this spring it feels like we’ve had more rain than we had all winter! My husband and I have felt like absolute parenting failures every time it rains during the weekend with far too much television being watched by the 3 and a half year old as we get desperate for ways to amuse her. Even though we’ve been getting the odd glimpse of summer…

My New ‘Top Five’ Baby Items

After the birth of my first child I wrote this post about the top 5 baby items I couldn’t live without. So for fun, I thought I’d review it and see if my top 5 would still be the same after baby number two? Turns out they’re a little bit different second time around. These were my top 5 last time: Baby Monitor Now that we’ve downsized the baby monitor is not the essential piece of kit it once…

How a parent of a newborn spends their time

If you are yet to experience the joys of a newborn, or if you just wish to have a chuckle, or be reminded why you’ve chosen to stop having kids, here is a break down of how a parent of a newborn spends their time in a 24-hour period. Spoiler alert: it’s not sipping lattes and having pedicures. I recently gave birth to quite possibly the most perfect little creature in the world (or tied for equal…

Why Downsizing has its Upsides

After making the decision to downsize, our ‘big’ house is now sold and moved out of and we’ve secured our new ‘downsized’ (or as I like to think of it, ‘right sized’) house. So how has it all gone and was it worth it? For those who are numbers people, downsizing has allowed us to do the following: Decrease our mortgage by over half (nearly 60% in fact) Reduce our monthly mortgage payments by…

These are great fun to make with my 4 year old, she loves helping in the kitchen.  I have tried in the past to make my own wrappers, and while it did work it was soooo time intensive I don’t think I would bother again.  Besides I can pick up a packet of 60 dumpling wrappers (Chiao Tzu Pastry) for less than $4 at my local vegie and Asian foods shop. So much easier!  So below are two pork recipes I…

Helping toddlers adjust to change

We have had a huge amount of change and upheaval in our family of late, which is still on-going, and which has been really hard on Miss 3 and a bit. We’ve sold and moved out of our house and a currently staying with my parents while we get the new house sorted. In addition to that I’m pregnant with our second child (due any day now). All of this change and upheaval to her little life has been…

For years I watched cooking shows and marveled at these people who had all the patience in the world to sloooooowly drizzle oil into a food processor, all the time worrying they were pouring too fast and their mayonnaise was going to split.  My hubby suggested I try and make mayo and I thought there was no way I could be patient enough to do that!  However, we are also a family who like…

Financial support for families

With the impending birth of my second child, and knowing that our household is going to be taking a hit financially for a while when I’m off work, I’ve been investigating what financial support is out there for families, not just when it comes to maternity/parental leave but across the board, because let’s face it, kids are expensive! Other than a mortgage they are probably the next biggest…

The best Carrot Cake EVER!

I don’t find myself baking very often, it’s so very precise and any deviation from the recipe can turn anything into a baking disaster.  I tend to cook a bit more “free range” adding this and that, tweaking recipes really.  But a conversation around the usual 4 year old’s (sorry 4 and a half year old!) protests at eating dinner resulted in me baking what I think may be the best cake ever!  Big…

So recently, with baby number two on the way, my husband and I decided that now would be a good time to downsize (what on earth were we thinking!?!?). So now we are effectively homeless, living with my parents and hoping like heck that this baby stays inside until somewhere near his due date (unlike his sister who arrived 4 1/2 weeks early) so that we can get the new house sorted, our stuff out…

Book Review: Beautiful Me

I was recently provided with an advance copy of a new book Beautiful Me by one of my colleagues. It’s “an inspirational story told through the eyes of Emily Wooddin – an astute, dignified child who died from an aggressive form of cancer at the age of nine.” A bit of back story, a few years ago, this same colleague (Emm – short for Emily) approached me. Our organisation (New Zealand Home Loans)…

I’ve tried before and failed miserably to make Pita Pockets, I could never quite get the ‘pocket’ area of it to work properly, that is until recently when I discovered an amazing recipe from Annabel Langbein from her new Share the Love cook book. It was super easy and I discovered the secret to the ‘pocket’! These are perfect for school / work lunches and also for dinners (above is a picture of…

Auctions, you just can’t get away from them these days. Take one look at TradeMe Property or Realestate.co.nz or any real estate agency website and you’ll see that a lot of the listings are auctions. I tried to google what percentage of houses are sold by auction these days in NZ, and while I’m sure the stat is out there somewhere, google didn’t see fit to share it with me, but I’m sure it is…

Here’s to all the Mothers!

With Mothers Day coming up this Sunday it’s got me thinking about all things ‘Mum’. Being a mum, having a mum, friends and family who are mums. It wasn’t until I became a mother myself that I truly appreciated my Mum. I mean, I always loved her and appreciated what she did for me but it was only when I became a Mum myself that I fully understood what it meant to be a Mum; the depth of love a…

I know I’m gimormous, shut up already!

I’m getting to the stage of my pregnancy when I’m getting rather large. I’m into my third trimester (just) and I look and feel waaayyyy bigger than at the same point in my first pregnancy. I get that for the most part people are just being nice and showing an interest in me and my pregnancy and don’t mean to be mean or nasty but what is it with people commenting about my size? I gotta admit, I’m…