It was one of the hottest days in two years, but she insisted on wearing her rain coat…!

The Sanofi 2011 Family Christmas Party – a day at Sea World! Complete with special entry, lunch in one of Sea World’s function rooms, a visit from Santa and gifts for all the kids. To make day the even better, the weather was pretty much perfect, there weren’t many other people at the park and the kids were great all day!!!

After seeing as many of the animals and shows we could fit in (I could have watched the penguins swimming around for hours!!) and trying out a few of the rides (the boys loved the pirate ships and the flume ride) it was time to grab a spot on the grassy hill and watch the Spongebob Squarepants show before heading home…

But since it was such a beautiful afternoon, we decided to make the most of it and stopped in at one of our old favourite places, Paradise Point, for fish and chips by the water for dinner. A local church group were practicing for their Christmas carols night so we sat near by to have dinner and enjoy the carols. It was a lovely end to a really nice day out with the Circus!

Our humble little blog is having a Spring clean, in Summer… Yeah, I know I’m behind the times..! I have a plan, an outline, an idea and a picture in my head of what I want it to look like. But as I’m not the technical one at the Harvey Circus, I’ve passed all visions and wants over to Marc for application… So far, we are moving along OK :)

Expect to see little (or big!) moves and changes around here, under the circus tent.. I hope you like it, well once it’s finished, of course :)

These are Owen’s three Prep teacher’s presents. Each teacher has a square platter and a glass ornament. While the act of picking and choosing the gifts was enjoyable (I got to shop with just my Mum and me while finding a couple of awesome bargains!), for me the real fun bit is wrapping them all up!

I hope Owen’s teachers like them, as these gifts are a thank you for all the time and effort they put into each and every day. Since we made the decision to change schools half way through Owen’s prep year, Marc and I have seen a huge improvement not only in Owen’s school work, but more importantly in his behavior and attitude towards school. He is excited about going into year one next year and can’t wait to go up to the big school!

It’s hot and humid here is Brisbane today.  Slothing on the couch, under the fan is the best I choose to do.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I have fed, clothed and played with the two smaller Harvey Clowns all morning.  And I have given the washing machine a work out.  It’s just that once it gets to about 11am, we at the Harvey Circus go on Middle of The Day Strike. 

And I like it. 
I encourage it. 

These Clowns of ours wake up at the literal crack of dawn and are go-go-go all of the AM, until they start to crash with the spike in temperature, just before their lunch time (which is extremely early by any normal persons standards).  These kids are usually lunched up and in bed by 11:30am.  Works well for me.  They are resting in the cool of their rooms while outside, you could fry and egg on the trampoline mat.  I’m not kidding.  If I didn’t see the mess potential in it, I’d probably give that a go too.  But I don’t need to create any more mess to clean up!
 
Anyway, while the small people are napping, you will find me on hold to whom ever it is I need to call while there is no screaming child in my ear it’s quiet, or on the ‘net, or catching up on recorded TV shows that Marc doesn’t really get excited about, reading a real book, or on the ‘net, or folding washing without Ella yelling out who owns every single item as it comes out of the washing basket, or eating lunch without ‘help’, or most likely on the ‘net…  You get my drift. 

Uninterrupted Internet Time is priceless!

So here are a few gems I’ve found or read lately in my Uninterrupted Internet Time.  Some I’m just linking up here for my later reference.  For when it’s that time of the night when I have completely lost all my marbles and can’t remember for the life of me what it was I was supposed to have book marked at 7am that morning…  You know that time, after dinner and kid bedtime, yeah?!  Enjoy!

• Checknsave – compares all the supermarket prices…  Saves me forgetting which specials are from which store – I’m terrible with this! 
• I will be replacing my first-thing-I-do-when-I-wake-up tall glass of water with lemon and water from tomorrow.  
• Planning on making these over the weekend or next.
   
  
  So cute!  So easy!  And anything from the Taste web site is usually fool-proof too.
• Daisy Roo & Two is a new fave blog of mine to read.  Go and have a look around her lovely blog!
• Need help adding or creating to your kids routine?  This article from Kid Spot might give you a few pointers.
• Thinking about trying out this calendar app for my trusty extension of me iPhone.
• This is my favourite blog post of the moment.  From Bianca over at bigwords.  I posted it on Facebook too.  Just to share it around to all those that just, well, get it. 

There you go, some stuff I’ve been looking at and reading  about lately.  Just in case you were interested, or at a loss for something new to look at.  Happy reading!   

She needed a big bed, like her brothers. The cot is still in her room as well, you know, for just in case..!

She now has my old bed frame, which I still love.  But now it is built once more and in a little girls room, I am thinking it could do with a bit of an update. Maybe from black to white?

Her Nana is in the process of creating her bedspread, which is going to have a couple of lovely owls in the center.  I can’t wait to see the finished product.  I’m sure Ella will love the colours and material we picked out for her.

So, it is the end of am era for the Harvey Circus.  The end of needing a cot in our house.  I thought I’d be a tiny little bit sad about that, but I’m not at all…  All our little clowns are growing up and it means the Harvey Circus is moving on from all that comes with having a baby in the circus.

We are a bit more free of stuff in general.
We don’t require a car full of baby ‘essentials’ to go out for more than 10 minutes.
We are slowly becoming free of the baby toys, which seem to take up so much space.
The double pram doesn’t often make it into the car, let alone out and about, much at all anymore.  A stroller would be sufficient these days.  We just haven’t bought one yet. We may never…
The three clowns are beginning to play games together.  They may more often than not, end in tears still, but they are getting there.  Slowly!

This is tree number 2 that I have put together over the last two days. We have this tree, my Adult Tree and we have a smaller tree, our Kid Tree. Normally I like both trees up but this morning, looking from the kitchen (where I’m sure I spend 99% of my waking hours) right at the Kid Tree, which just isn’t as easing to the eye as the Adult Tree, I decided that The Kid Tree wasn’t doing anything for me or the space at all.

Time to change that.

The Adult Tree would normally be in the lounge room, but we spend more time in the open plan playroom/dining room/kitchen. I want to look at my beautiful (and massive!) tree as much as I possibly can over the next few weeks!

So. I have just un-decorated and dismantled the Kid Tree and popped it back in it’s box (for now…). The Adult Tree is up with a string of lights on but otherwise, naked of all decoration. When everyone is home tonight, after dinner and bath time is done, it will be tree decorating time. For the second time in two days!!

Luckily I love love love Christmas and Marc loves to humour me!!

Last weekend, I made these Cheesy Scones from Susan Austin’s Frost Bite book.  We all loved them freshly made and I wanted to test out the freezing/defrosting/taste of them during the following week.  Luckily there were just two left for me to freeze after the kids got stuck into them! 

I took one out of the freezer and popped it in my handbag on my way out the door one workday morning, and by the time I was STARBING (so at like, by 9am!) my cheesy scone was thawed out and ready to eat.

Defrost Test = Tick!
Taste Test = Tick!
Texture Text = Tick!
Repeat This Recipe Test = Tick!

Honestly, it tasted just as good, and the texture of the scone was just as good as if I had made them on the day.
That gives this recipe and defrosting method a huge thumbs up in my book!  Thanks for this one, Susan!

See that look, she is 21 months old and has had that stare perfected a long time now..  
It’s one that hardly gets captured on camera, as the person on the receiving end is usually trying to escape the wrath of Ella…
You don’t want to mess with this toddler!!