Baking..

I have been really enjoying baking again - I took a little break as I like to take my time, play around, try new things and I feel I cant do that when I am rushed or timed. With my precious Lolly getting bigger and being able to play on his own and not need my attention 100% of the time it gives me time to play around in the kitchen. I have been trying to be healthy and made a couple of Paleo recipes that surprisingly all came out beautifully!
Brownie cookies - delicious!

 Paleo dinner rolls, to me that are more like scones which I am thrilled about! Made with tapioca flour.

 Coconut and pecan breakfast bars, these taste like carrot cake and are the perfect breakfast snack. I cut them into squares and popped them in the freezer for easy access.

Some non paleo baking was done as well. Ry and Wella moved back to Cape Town and Wella requested a apple pie for pudding at their last durban dinner with us. I have never made apple pie before and was thrilled with how easy and delicious it was!

 I got to use my pie bird and new pie dish for the first time!!

 A dollop of cream to finish it off and done!

I have banked this recipe as a quick, easy, delicious pudding!
I look forward to many more hours baking and trying new things... I love the feeling of being creative and creating something delicious and pretty!

Welcome, welcome!

Well hello there, welcome to our furniture family! I was thrilled to find this little deal, I have been hunting for a kitchen dresser for nearly a year now!

I cannot wait to see what you shall be transformed into!!!

My monkey...

My monkey eating a banana like a proper monkey!

Love. This. Kid.

Sundowners...

On Saturday afternoon we decided to go for a little play that turn into sun-downers for Mike and I and some awesome playtime for Oliver..

 We all shared a little focaccia bread...

 And Lolly got to make some make-believe pizza...

 That flour on his nose is just too adorable!

I love afternoons like this.... time slows down just enough for us to enjoy uninterrupted family time.

TWO!

Next Thursday our boys turns two - when did that happen? We are planning a little party for him, just a get together with some friends at Giba Gorge. Its a beautiful outdoor bike range / play area / coffee shop and they have a lovely kiddies track that Lolly is the right size for. We thought a bike invite would be nice and this is what we came up with...

Its going to be super chilled - just a few peeps having a little picnic to celebrate the life of our precious boy!! My mom has ordered special bike biscuits and the rest of the eats will be made our in kitchen.... I am making a point of not trying to over-do parites - keep them simple and full of home-made love :)

Work in progress...

Our home (work in progress) is coming along - slowly but surely.We have made a few minor changes this last weekend...
The wooden pallets have been mounted, we just need to find the right lights to mount to this. The search is on.

 I found these gorgeous little flowers for the space next to the TV - I also moved my suitcases and little bunny found a new home on top of them...

 My child likes structure - he likes to know where things belong so we decided it was time for his bag to find a home. With him possibly going to school next year this will help with his routine. I am keen to find a little basket / shelf or something to mount to the wall for his shoes and lunch box for next year.

We have left a space on the adjoining wall for when baby #2 comes along one day.... so each child as a hook for their bags. Just one way that makes my life a little less un-fussed and organised, lets me breath a little easier...

Chocolate...

For some or other reason I have developed a little bit of a sweet tooth... not something that normally bothers me BUT I have been craving sweets lately. Trying to be healthy and make better choices I tried a paleo chocolate brownie recipe and I was not disappointed. I don't normally like dark chocolate but in this recipe it works AND I think I will acquire a taste for it soon...

 I have also been trying to make good choices for Lolly without going to the extreme of not allowing him anything naughty. He is a child after all and he deserves some naughty every now and again. In this case digestive biscuits covered in dark chocolate is a perfect compromise and hey, Lolly is a huge fan!

I just wanna smooch those chocolate lips!

These two...

These two...

They have my heart!!!

Cloud bread...

Last nigh I needed something delicious and bready - this cloud bread is delicious. Its light and fluffy and I have leftovers to have with burgers tonight!

3 ingredients - eggs, cream cheese and cream of tartar.
This was my breakfast this morning with some more leftovers - cheese and honey "cloud" bread and coffee in a mug with Lolly's hand print on it - a good start to the day!

I think I will make a couple more batches to put in the freezer!

Home DIY

Last weekend Mike got cracking on our bedside table wall mountings.

Lolly did a little fixing of his own while daddy worked -

He also double checked that Mike made these wall mountings strong and double checked all the screws...

 This is the end result -

I still need to antique them and then Mike will mount them to the wall.

We want to find lights that we can mount to the wood so we don't need them to stand on our night stand. We are also going to remove the floating shelf and Mike is making a box shelf with the same whitewash... Can't wait to see what it looks like done :)

Pre-school interview...

There was much excitement in our home this morning, mostly with Mike and I BUT I am sure Lolly was excited with us in his own little way... we had his pre-school interview this morning for Birches pre-primary school. Pre-interview excitement!

I was too excited I battled to fall asleep last night, Mike and I lay in bed chatting about how big our boy is getting!! The interview went really well and we fell in love with that school.....
Love my two boys.... so freaken much!!

Friday breakfast...

Today someone brought home made cake to work.... so breakfast it was!

Lemon and poppy-seed - delicious! The best cake I have had in SO long!

Spoilt...

Lolly was spoilt yesterday with a ice cream all to himself - after dinner that is :)

I love it when my mom sends me pictures of my boy.... it makes my whole day!!

A good start....

My day started off well.... a gym session and sauna before work.
Its good to feel slightly active again. Lets hope I can keep it up.

Lolly pops.

For Christmas my folks bought Ollie a lolly pop maker...

 These are the best as we can fill them with whatever we like - the latest ones were filled with purity juice and we have done yogurt ones and juice ones - nice and healthy! And they are the perfect size..
Ollie normally gets one in the bath.... on Saturday he wasn't feeling well so he had one while wrapped in a blanky!

Lolly's make everyone feel better :)

This week...

This week our Lolly has been sick.... Saturday he started with a fever and it continued until I took him to the doctor on Monday. Don't get me wrong but Lolly is very happy when he's sick but it messes with his night time sleep and in turn messes with our night time sleep! We are so used to a full night sleep that getting up a couple of times a night throws us a little...
On Monday I got to work extra early because I knew I would be leaving early to take Lolly to the Dr and before 7;30am Mike popped in and surprised me with some liquid energy!

Love my husband, love my baby boy and quite honestly our little life is more than enough for me!