Our new girls!

We love our girls. (This is Renae by the way - she gives us one egg a day without fail - as do her two mates - Corinne and Aramina)

They eat our scraps. They give us eggs. They provide me with fertiliser for my vege garden. And they make me happy.

And now they have some new neighbours!

(and for the record - it was all my husbands idea! He found them, talked me into them, and dragged me back to get them after work!)

Meet our two new silkies. Ok - they may not ever give us the egg supply of our existing three girls ... but they sure are cute!

Meet Sweetie



And Cutie



These are Miss E's chickens. She is already pretty good at looking after our existing chooks ... but these are just HER size. They are still pretty young so we are hoping that they will get used to her handling them early on ...

So far it looks like they don't have a choice!



(And Paul is secretly looking forward to cooking an 8 egg omlette for one I think!)

Zuchinni slice

We are blessed to have excess. Our chickens are providing more eggs than we can eat. We have so many tomatoes. Zuchinnis are growing faster than we can pick them.

Which means ... tis the season for zucchini slice!




Miss E made it all by herself! She even cracked all the eggs without any shell!

This is my favourite recipe

5 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour, sifted (we used wholemeal - and lets face it - I never sift it)
375g zucchini, grated
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
We also add grated carrot if I have them ... or any other vegetable

Grating has never been so easy since I got this attachment for my kitchenaid!






Beat the eggs. Mix everything else in. Pour it in a greased pie dish and cook at 170C for 30 minutes.

Done

For Gran and Grandy - our little ballerina

Since you can't be there today ....

Thought I'd send you a photo from just before she went on last night!!

Isn't she beautiful???

Things I love - reduce water bottles

These are my new favourite items!

Reduce water bottles - 5 water bottles + stand to store them in your fridge



I love these because they encourage me to drink more water. I start each day with one by my side, and then grab one whenever I need it. More water, less money spent on other drinks and better for my health.

I also love them because Miss E is drinking more, and is also learning to think for herself when we go out. She now grabs a bottle of water for her and for me. It is teaching her good habits, and independance.

Love them!

Our gratitude chain

My gran called it counting your blessings.

We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas.
Family that loves us, a home that is safe, a country without war, earthquake, floods or famine. Every time I turn on the news I give thanks for my life.

And Miss E is learning that there is a world outside her very lucky world this Christmas. We have already participated in the school's "Adopt a family" tradition, and she has worked hard to earn money to buy a gift for under the giving tree. And this year we are reminding ourselves to give THANKS!

Every day we are adding an extra link to our gratitude chain, to remind us that we have so much to be thankful for. And hopefully friends and family and guests to our home will help our chain to grow during this holiday period.



Eliana wrote the first link. All on her own. I did not tell her what to be thankful for. *happy tears*



The reason ...



Merry Christmas Everyone! In all things give THANKS!

And we would love to hear what you are thankful for ... add it in the comments so we can all share!

Countdown to Christmas!

It's here!! It's here! I am SO excited!

Not only is it December - and the start of my FAVOURITE time of the year ... but my countdown chain from SUGAROWLDESIGNS on etsy arrived!!!

We use paper chain to countdown to all sorts of things. Now we have a beautiful, handmade item that we can treasure and use throughout the years! Every day we remove an extra loop from the chain ... when we are down to one it will be CHRISTMAS DAY!!



This is so much fun! Miss E is loving it, and it really helps us solve the "how many more sleeps" issue.



In fact, I love the idea so much that I bought a "non Christmas" rainbow version too ... countdown to New Years, school starting, birthday, easter .... anything!





Of course - you don't need to spend a cent to use this idea - paper chains work just as well and are fun to make. But we have another plan for the paper chains this year. Be back later with pics of that!

Reindeer dust! Or ... Mummy 1, Sugar 0

It's that time of the year.

When every second Christmas card and every well meaning shop assistant has a candy cane ready to rot the teeth of your child (and let's face it - the kids don't like them much anyway!)

The solution to all our candy cane woes is this. Magic Reindeer dust!

As the candy canes arrive we open them and crush them into little pieces. Add a sprinke of red and green glitter, and store in an airtight container.

Now we have reindeer dust ready to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve for the reindeer! Full of energy and magic to help them fly around the world!

And Miss E thinks it is SO magical! She couldn't wait to make it and there was no talk AT ALL of eating any of those canes! WIN!