Saturday, January 29, 2011

Camping


25/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
Our first camping trip since the big trip last Spring, oh I had almost forgotten for a minute how to put up the camper ;) It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things though, and once we were all set up and settled into our chairs, we started talking about doing it all again.

Its funny how you think that seven weeks holidays is a long time while you are dreaming about it and planning it, but, then when it happens it flies past so quickly, and then after its all done and packed away it seems like it happened in the dim dark past, not just over three months ago.

This trip was a two nighter at the coast with my BIL and his family. The kids all had a great time running wild, boogie boarding, playing beach volleyball, and running around with flashlights in the dark. They were so well entertrained it left Brett and I with time to just relax and chat. Lovely weekend.

Here's Kel, getting ready to hit the beach and brush up on her boogie board skills.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Genuis at Work


25/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
Its so hard to get a photo of this kid lately. He scowls at the camera, or shifts suddenly out of the way, so even though this is blurry and dark it takes pride of place as the photo of the day for today.

Most of my POTD's this year are coming from my camera phone, and I am finding it much easier to post them to the internet and blog them doing it this way. I tend to leave photos on my camera for too long before downloading to the computer then ending up with a huge job of organising, tagging and uploading, which made P365 last year quite a chore. This year I decided the most important thing was to capture the moments, not necessarily have the "best" photos, and it has really made my P365 process simpler.

I am still taking some photos with the DSLR which will be included, but the camera phone is making life easier for the majority of the everyday shots.

You might have noticed there is also more blogging going on too, again the phone camera is helping here, because I take the shot, send it to Flickr from the phone, then when I hop into Flickr, I can blog the photo directly from there. Many of my non blogging resulted from the hassle of opening blogger and waiting for it to decide it was ready to allow me to post etc. The Flickr interaction has made it all so much quicker. 2010 was a slow blogging year for me, but already 2011 is looking up :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Summertime fruits


23/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
One of the things I love most about summer is the escape from the ordinary apple and orange routine for fruit. Don't get me wrong, I love apples and oranges, but, I love the variety of melons and stone fruits, and berries so much more.

Every afternoon I cut up a plate of fruit like this one and put it on the bench, then I call everyone out, and they start nibbling. If they don't finish it all in one sitting it just stays on the bench and they tend to snap some up as they are walking past. Eventually the whole lot goes. Some days I add some cheese, or a small bowl of yogurt which they use as a dip.

This is last nights plate, and it ended up disappearing right before my very eyes, all except the blackberries, which were a little tart, but I dont mind that so much, so it just meant more blackberries for me :)

List Girl


20/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
All over my house there are lists. I am totally a list girl. If its not on my list it doesn't get done. Well actually sometimes it can be on my list and it still doesn't get done, but that's a different story all together lol.

Lately the rest of the family has been getting in on the act too, and adding things to the list as they use them. I love that they are finally doing this, now when they say Mum did you get muesli bars, I can say, if they were on the list I did. If they weren't on the list - well that's just bad luck ;)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Waiting for the movie to start...


19/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
3D glasses? Check.
Big smile? Check

Ready to watch the movie. On Wednesday we all went to the movies together to see Tangled. We also invited Gma and Gpa along. I am not really sure what Gpa thought of it all, but Hayley's smile was even bigger when we left the theatre than it was while she was sitting here waiting for the movie to start!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Good Morning


19/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
Every weekday morning my routine is the same, set up and go for a walk, shower, turn on the coffee pot, pour cereal into my bowl, heat the milk, listen while the cofee perks, pour it into my cup, sit at the table with my bowl and my cup and the pull out sections from the paper and eat my breakfast.

I never read the "official" parts of the paper while I eat, just the general interest section, and the comics. And, on Wednesdays its the Food and Wine guide - I love the Wednesdays papers. Over the holiday break the paper has not had its normal pull out section each morning, but a supplemental section... not good. So glad to have the normal papers back :)

and so glad to have coffee ;)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Movie Night


17/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
Did you know that movie night is not really movie night unless there is popcorn? This is something I learned from my children. When the popcorn was made and sitting on the table Hayley announces "now it is movie night" up until then it must have been in doubt ;)

We watched the Scorcerer's Apprentice, which was perfectly marketed at Kelly and Hayley, but Tyler thought was a bit lame, especially the kid who played the apprentice.

Still it gave everyone a few laughs, and more importantly gave us time together as a family, so it was lots of fun.

Friday, January 14, 2011

My Niece Emily


Emily_December2010_web
Originally uploaded by jocfly
In December when she was three weeks old I took lots of photos of my new niece, now I have to work out how make them look as good as they can look before I put them in a scrapbook for her mummy.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Rain


11/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
The rains in northern Australia are causing huge amounts of damage and grief, but the rain here at home are just a different landscape for us than what we have been used to for the last eight years.

Its almost fascinating to me right now to just watch all that water fall from the sky. No doubt after getting my electricity bill at the end of summer I will feel differently because the clothes drier is earning its keep this year.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Jam Time


11/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
Summer time in our house means its time to start making jam again. On the weekend FIL brought over two large buckets of apricots from his tree in the backyard, and last night I turned one of those buckets into twenty jars of Apricot Jam.

Then I looked up into the top of the pantry and saw at least 15 jars still waiting to be opened from last year! And that doesn't count the plum, strawberry and loquat still waiting up there as well.

I remember DH talking about clearing out his Grandma's house when she moved and finding jars of preserved fruit that were older than him. Its possible that my grandkids will find the same thing in my old house one day in the future too :)

Monday, January 10, 2011

Enthusiasic... not


10/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
Hmm, Kel would rather take photos with her phone and text people than worry about shoe shopping ;)

New shoes for school


10/01/2011
Originally uploaded by jocfly
Its that time of year again, preparing the kids for a new school year. Today was shoes for the girls. Neither of them were that impressed at the idea of wearing "proper" shoes, they would both prefer to wear running shoes, but at the end of the day they accepted the inevitable ;)