Day to Day

Thank you + well wishes for 2012

This is where I'm at tonight - stitching on the sofa, watching Harry Potter with the family and feeling a little astounded that another year has flown by so quickly.

It's been an incredible twelve months for me.  Thank you my dear readers, for popping in and reading along with me.  I'm still amazed that so many people drop by and check in on my humble little space.  Thank you.

I have so many things in store for 2012!  There's much crafting to do and share with you all, a list of tutorials planned, family time, caravanning (oh, yes!), cooking and other happy things that make my heart full.

And, may 2012 be filled with happiness and joy for you too!  I'll see you bright and early tomorrow with photos of some handmade goodness that I received for Christmas.  Take care.

Modular Lego - Grand Emporium

As promised, here is the Grand Emporium!  This is also from the modular Lego series and was a gift from us to James this Christmas.  He spent a few hours on Christmas Eve building it, plus the following morning - all up I think we calculated about 5 hours of solid building.  

It's a very cool set and it has a little bit more detail inside, compared to the Fire Brigade.

Extra details:

This set comprises of four levels, plus the roof.  Again, they easily lift apart for play or viewing. 

And just incase you haven't had enough of Lego yet - here's a quick video of the two sets! 

Modular Lego - Fire Brigade

I've been promising photos of our modular Lego Fire Brigade for a while now, but have only just motivated myself to lift it down from the cabinet to take pics.  The detail on this piece is amazing and took us (as a family) about 4-5 hours to build.

We bought this set as a family, while on our Great Ocean Road trip in September.  It was on sale at the time, but still shockingly expensive.  James and Bella pooled some of their holiday spending money to go towards the purchase and I used a portion of my blogging advertising money to pay for the remainder.  It's definitely one of the most enjoyable things that we've bought as a family.

There's a working roller door on the front of the fire brigade.  It houses the fire truck, which also came with the set.

One of the features that we love about this modular Lego, is that you can take all the levels apart easily to see/play inside.  The fire brigade has two room levels and a roof:

Here are some inside photos:

There's a fridge that opens, ping pong table with bats, plus a kitchen with opening doors, drawers.

There's also stairs and a fire pole, plus a clock on the wall, garbage bin and storage for fire hats.  Everything that a good fire station needs.

Another very cool feature is that the modular Lego has built in connection plugs, so each piece can be connected easily, side by side, to create a street front of shops and buildings.

{Lego Fire Brigade + Grand Emporium}

Tomorrow I'll share photos of the modular Lego set that James received for Christmas - Grand Emporium.  It's another gem!

Boxing day

A day for playing with new toys.

A day for snuggling and lazing around. 

A day for finding new homes for all those Christmas gifts.

A day for eating left overs, hanging out at home and enjoying that last bit of the festive season together.

For Kate & Clare

I hope you enjoy the photos girls!  Bella chose the song - it's her favourite at the moment :)

We miss you already xo

Christmas day

There's nothing quite as fun as Christmas morning.  Being woken by little people (5.20am - okay, not so fun!) that are dragging stockings full of gifts, from their bedrooms to the lounge room floor.  Making that early morning cup of tea and watching the presents being unwrapped.  Listening to the squeals of delight as paper gets ripped off presents (Bella) and patiently waiting in agony as James carefully tears each piece of sticky tape away from the paper, before finally opening.

Lego. Books. DVDs. Warhammer. Blythe doll clothes. Nerf water pistols. Clothes. Lollies. Other treasures.

Lunch was a traditional roast at Nan and Pop Goodsell's house, with more gift giving and treats.

{My sparkly toes}

Then home to see my side of the family, unwrap more presents and end the night with wood fired pizza for 15 people! There was a crazy thunderstorm in-between, so that was 15 people jammed into my lounge room - fun, noise and happy times.

{The Territory, full of happy people} 

 I miss Christmas already.

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve always brings much anticipation and excitement.  There were last minute gifts to make and wrap, reindeer food to prepare and sprinkle (in the rain), and our traditional gift opening session at 4pm.

As the evening drew near, we played with presents, skyped, watched Christmas carols and waited for Father Christmas to arrive. 

Christmas morning was an early start.  5.20am. Oh, yes!  I'll share photos of our day tomorrow :) 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, from me to you.  

May you all have the most wonderful and magical Christmas, stay safe and be good. xo

Florentine Slice recipe

Thursday was Christmas baking today - rum balls, apricot balls, festive cupcakes and florentine slice.  James and Bella have their cousins over for Christmas, so it was the perfect opportunity for them to apron up and spend the morning cooking together.

There was a whole heap of crushing, chopping and mess going on.  James worked independently to bake up his own batch of goodness for Christmas gifts, while the girls all cooked treats to share over the next few days.

A couple of hours passed and the goodies started to pile up on plates and dishes. Yum! 

{Apricot balls + rum balls} 

One of my favourite Christmas recipes is florentine slice - super easy and so good.  I don't think I've blogged this one before, so here we go:

Florentine Slice...

Base:

200 grams chocolate + extra chocolate to drizzle over entire slice.

Middle - mix these together in a bowl.

2 cups cornflakes, lightly crushed

100 grams (1/2 cup) glace cherries, chopped

1/2 cup chopped nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts or whatever tickles your fancy)

6 dried apricots, chopped

1/4 cup plain flour.

Middle - Melt together on a stove top.

90 grams butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Line a slice tin with baking paper.  

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (moderate).

Base ---> Melt the chocolate, pour into the slice tin & let set.

Middle ---> Pour the melted ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix & press onto the chocolate base.  Cook for 15 minutes.  Let cool.

Topping ---> Melt a little bit of extra chocolate and drizzle over the top.  Slice up and enjoy.

{Florentine slice}

 

Kuala Lumpur - part three

Kuala Lumpur in photos - sight seeing!

{One tiny portion of the view from my room at the beautiful Marriott Putrajaya}

{The most amazing glass vases that were on display where we ate breakfast - I wanted to bring them all home with me! Side note - the Marriott Putrajaya make wicked tropical fruit slushies for breakfast}

{Three lovely bloggers enjoying Kuala Lumpur - Rachel, Christie & Katrina}

{Interesting pretties from our bus tour on Saturday}

{Some lovely people from Nuffnang - Grace, Holly, Lynda and Vanessa}

I'll be back a little later with a recipe and some Christmas cooking shares.

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Thank you so much to my wonderful NAPBAS trip sponsor ---> AirAsia X 

AirAsia X flies to 16 destinations to date including: Japan (Haneda & Osaka), Korea (Incheon), Australia (Melbourne, Perth & Gold Coast), India (New Delhi & Mumbai), China (Tianjin, Hangzhou & Chengdu), Taiwan (Taipei), Iran (Tehran), Paris (Orly), London (Gatwick) and New Zealand (Christchurch).

You can find AirAsia X on facebook here.

• Meals can be pre-booked for all flights or event purchased onboard
• Comfort kits are also available (pre-booked or purchased on board
• In-flight entertainment is available and can be pre-purchased
• Seats are different from the ones on AirAsia. More space with better legroom as compared to the short haul flight 
• AirAsia X has Premium Seats also available - info here