Hello Again!

Yes, I am alive! I have crawled back from the brink of death - well, not exactly the brink I suppose but gosh it felt pretty close for a couple of days. I'm still not entirely well but am about a trillion percent better than this time last week. I have even started baking again - a sure sign that recovery is assured.

So, what news? Offspring #1 has finally managed to rid himself of the training wheels on his bike and is suitably proud and boastful of his balancing abilities. Now he wants to ride to school and I'm not too sure that my heart could cope with that excitement. He seems to have grown about a foot taller in the last few weeks and his bike looks ridiculously small but, luckily, Santa is aware of the problem and has the elves working on a solution. Soccer season is drawing to a close and we are all a little sad about that although the thought of spending Saturday mornings garage sale-ing rather than soccer spectating is rather exciting.

Offspring #2 has a birthday soon and, while I am planning her party, she is busy exhibiting rather typical, though less than pleasant, 2-year-old character traits. Two favourite words of the moment are "No!" and "mine!". Lovely... NOT. Her language and vocab have leapt ahead in the last month or so. After worrying that she was a little slow to talk she has well and truly developed her voice and happily orders everyone about while parrot-ing whoever is closest to her. She bangs on the back door and demands to go "out-tide", points and yells when "tars" (AKA cars) drive past, and chucks a total wobbly when the tv is on but Hi-5 (a kids show/group sort of like the Wiggles, for those not in the know) are on it! Apparently they too are at her beck and call :)

The Hubby was out crabbing today and had a whale swim underneath the boat. He said everyone else in the boat was terribly excited while he just kind of worried... a lot! But he hasn't stopped talking about it all afternoon and is just so amazed by the experience. They were only about a kilometre off shore and the whale was about 20feet long - long enough for his head to be out the front of the boat and his tail to be out the back. While it sounds amazing I'm very glad I wasn't there! Oh by the way, they caught 30 huge crabs.

My camera has finally died. I'm about to send it away to see if it can be fixed or if it needs to go to camera heaven. I have a few pics of bits and pieces but most posts will be picture-less for the next while.

I tried a recipe from Melinda at Melbourne Larder (click on the name to link across to her blog and the recipe) a couple of weeks ago and received rave reviews from all who tried the Hazelnut and Vanilla Creams. It was the first time I had roasted nuts in the oven and, while I panicked for a short moment, it turned out to be really simple and the bickies were delicious.

A decidedly blurry shot of the Hazelnut and Vanilla Creams