good'n'crazy

first of all, thanks to all those who asked:

YES. i survived the sleepover.
i slept. they didn't (so whaddoicare)

...and 14 sleeps to italy!
i think i may actually pee my pants
(from the excitement you understand. not from any previously unmentioned bladder control issues...)

WARNING: LONG POST!
filled as always, with photos and interesting tidbits

my day off (friday) was interrupted by a sick child, so i resigned myself to not doing much. at least i could still work out (on my exercycle). miss 13 wasn't particularly ill, she was just feeling very flat. we like to call these days off 'mental health days', ie where a day at home is good for the soul, and day of missed school won't kill you.

i had previously committed to take miss 11 and 5 of her classmates to our local SPCA as part of ther 'a 12 year old can change the world' social enquiry. we loaded up the car with shredded paper (for bedding), blankets and cat food and off we went.

the puppies were just totally depressing, and that's all i'll say. cute but depressing.

i don't know this guy's name, but he's blind in one eye and very cuddly.
there are currently 39 cats awaiting re-homing.

this is tiny- he climbed right into miss 11's lap and made himself comfortable while she groomed him.

friday night miss 17 got a mercy call from the hockey 1st XI to play in their final (play-off for 3rd and 4th).

they made a guard of honour for her before the game - this is her LAST game of hockey for her college (high school) - EVA. they won 6-1.

the game didn't even start until 8pm, so by the time we got home, i'd been up and on the go (and totally over the day) for way too many hours.

still, look at the lovely weather i got to stand in.

we build 'em tough down here - 'twas but a passing shower...

saturday morning we were up early for a family photo. the FIRST weekend post-netball and i drag my family out of bed for a photo. there's a whole other post on family photos that i'll share some time too!

anyhoo - it went really well, and we all went out for coffee and hot chocolates afterwards.

then it was home to get ready for the SLEEPOVER - you know the one, where you take in 11 teengers you hardly know and entertain them for the next 18 hours.

so here's the dealio - MOST of the girls had never been to my house before, so i was expecting to run up and down the stairs several times to answer the doorbell and make the acquaintance of many-a-new parent.

guess how many parents came to the door.

ONE.

as tara said to me when the same thing happened to her a couple of weeks before:

"i could have been an axe murderer and they just DROPPED their kid off!"

in this age of helicopter parenting and OTT PC, i find it unfathomable. i guess the bottom of my long drive looked good'n'average'n'safe-like.

fast forward to the next morning. the invitation CLEARLY stated 'collect at 10am' (coz, ya know, after i've had your kid 18 hours, i'm gonna want to get on with my day).

the first got collected at 10.10 - the last at 10.35. admittedly this parent got lost, but PULEEEZE!!! where are these people's manners?

and how many came to the door you ask?

TWO.

i'm over it now, but i would NEVER leave my child at someone's house without going to the door and meeting the 'rents'.

how's it work where you live?

anyhoo - back to the party
-here's miss 13 again - that's her on the wall too

tara came up with this cool pass the parcel idea a few years back. once the kids are old enough, you can make them WORD for the candy, and make it interesting too!

attached to the candy is a question about the party girl
it's fun - AND you get to know your friend that little bit better!

that's me on the music

the final round i absolve myself of responsibility

that's tara trying to be impartial while the girls pass it around on the last layer
-funny-

i made THREE pizza doughs in the bread maker. this is them: slightly out of control during the 'proving' process.

2 kid-friendly pizzas and this one. it's all about the combination of flavours. trust me.

a little bit of rock band

and no party at my place is complete without a little 'craft'

they made these

i made TWO banoffee pies. one with a gingernut biscuit base, and one with a krispie biscuit base.

AMERICAN EQUIVALENT: Graham Crackers

Here's the recipe:

mix together 250g biscuits (cookies) - crushed with 150g melted butter
press into pie/flan dish. refrigerate

slice banana on the base.

for the topping:

125g butter
395g condensed milk
50g brown sugar
3 tablespoons of milk

bring to the boil then stir for around 5 mins until it thickens a little.

pour over bananas and base. refrigerate.

KIDDING!!!

when caramel sets (it won't set rock hard tho) - top with whipped cream and grated or flakey chocolate.

ENJOY!!!

i only have one day in the office next week (monday) before i head out of town for my work annual conference. when i get back, i literally only have enough time to unpack, do laundry and pack again before we head out to italy - no peace for the wicked!!!

wordful wednesday - sing like no-one's listening

this is miss 11 and tara's neighbour's daughter. they are two peas in a pod. both have a huge zest for life; you can hear them coming long before you see them; they're willing to give anything a try - and don't care if they can or can't do it, and they are VERY, VERY funny kids.

...put a microphone in their hands, slide in the singstar legends disc and watch magic happen...

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie at seven clown circus

wordful wednesday - back to school

the first day of the school year is always special for me.

mostly, because it marks new beginnings.

everyone is relatively rested and looking forward to getting back into routine, and the weather is usually still pretty good!

today is the first day of intermediate for miss 11. she follows her 3 sisters and is the last 'b' girl through this school. because there's only a year between them, she'll have her sis, miss 12 there to help smooth the way.

(our middle school is only two years, and i'm thinking that it's probably the equivalent of the 2ND year of middle school in north america.)

not a bit nervous. one of the plusses of being the youngest; having seen it all before!

new school, new school year, new hair dos!!! (how cute are they?)

schoooooooooooooolz out - 4EVA!!!

well, until february at least

it's the end of era too

when we arrived back from atlanta, miss 19 started as a year 2

then in 1996 miss 17 had her turn

and so on

and so forth

for 13 years, we've continuously had girls at ngaio school.

until today

it's the people i'll miss most. especially the teachers. i bet every parent thinks their school's teachers are the best, and i'm no exception. i mean, how many teachers would do an on-the-spot encore performance of their ABBA medley? (from the leavers' dinner the night before) volunteering, field trips, fund-raising, coaching, cheering, crafting. i'll miss all that too.

just being involved has been a privilege.

there are opportunities to be involved at intermediate (middle) and college (high school) level too, but they are few and far between. i know we're supposed to raise our children and give them wings, but for me - i also like to be waiting in them...

photostory friday - heaven in a cupcake

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE CUPCAKES to be precise

i traced this recipe from nikki back to the frugal witch, back to how about orange. the one thing we have in common (apart from being bloggers) is that we've ALL made these incredibly yummy cupcakes. the thing i love the most (apart from the chewy caramel flavour) - FOCUS sue! - is that each of us had entirely different-looking results.

i love that, because - TRUST ME - i have NEVER made ANYTHING that looked even REMOTELY like the picture in the recipe book.

can i hear an amen?

anyway - i saw the recipe on nikki's blog and pretty much frog-marched my nearest daughter into the kitchen to make them with me (coz it's more fun that way, right?)

oh - and i got 24. everyone seems to get a different amount. i'm figuring it all depends how much ends up on your lickety finger...

ready mum!

i'm ready too! [slurp]

all concentration

ok, so the topping includes cream cheese, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. i've never even HEARD of peanut butter chips, (and hate peanut butter [shudder]) let alone where to buy them, so i substituted white chocolate chips. after sitting for a bit, they took on a caramel-looking appearance and came out of the oven all crunchy and chewy-like. (NB: this is a GOOD thing).

when baking with children, i always do the initial mixing to avoid unsightly lumps (like these ones)

but look at that - all nice and smooth

ready for the oven

of course, bowl licking is compulsory

and there we are...

now all that's left is to fight over them!

YUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!

[what he said]

wooo hooooot wednesday

wednesday again! albeit a little late in the day, but here's my list:

- i received this award from mean middle aged moody mom. her fabulous post was a visual symphony of blog awards, and she encouraged her readers to help themselves to one each . so i did! i now 'share the love' with paula clare, whose blog is a permanent happy rainbow in blogland.

- i also pass on this award i received from daryl, to lynette, whose blog is always fun to read. with any luck she'll remember to post it AND pass it on. (luv ya chick!!!)

- i won this at paper pesto's friday freebie giveaway - yay!

- i completed paper pesto's latest sketch challenge and they posted it on their blog! (this has no bearing on whether it will win, but i love the fact that it's right there at the top of the post).

- school holidays rock! especially scrappin' in your pjs with #3 daughter. we made these cards for the 2 sketches 4 you blog.

the original sketch
my take on it
miss 11's take on it
happy wednesday everyone!