An early Mother's Day Celebration

With Mam and Dad going away for the whole month of May, we invited them down for a late lunch/early dinner after the kids football games to catch up and to also spoil Mam as she will be away for Mother's Day on the 13th of May.

I have to say the presents were a complete surprise to mam as she hadn't even given a thought to the upcoming Mothers Day so it was great to see her excitement.

I hope they have a wonderful trip in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Anzac Day 2012

They do no grow old

as we who are left grow old, 

At the going down of the sun 

we will remember them; 

Lest we forget.

Happy Birthday Noel....

Happy Birthday 

to my wonderful husband Noel 

and to our wonderful dad..... 

We are wishing you a great day (sorry we both have to work and the kids had to go to school) but we want you to know that we all love you with all of our hearts.

Looking forward to having a yummy dinner and spending quality time with you at Kasturi's in Frankston - your favourite place....

Hip Hip Hooray for you today and everyday...

Love always Jo, Oliver and Alexandria xxxxx

Menu Plan Monday (21st May 2012 - 27th May 2012)

It's been a long time between posting Menu Plan Monday here - in fact my posting has been so irregular it's quite embarrassing.  To be honest we have been so busy especially me with my work and travelling that some weeks we plan and others we have been flying by the seat of our pants.

However I decided it was time to get back to routine not only for being organised but it actually makes full sense considering how busy we actually are.

So here is this week's menu plan for our house:

Saturday ~ Roast Beef with Yorkshire Puddings, Vegetables and Gravy
Sunday ~ Roast Beef Rolls with Gravy
Monday ~ Beef with Kaffir Lime, Snow Peas and Cherry Tomatoes
Tue ~ Kasturi Indian Restaurant for Noel's Birthday
Wed ~ Pork, Mushroom and Sage Lasagne
Thu ~ Curried Chicken Pie
Fri ~ Salami, Capsicum and Feta Frittata and salad

Menu planning plays a major roll in our life! By menu planning it ensures that we have a weeks worth of meals organised which is especially useful Monday through Friday when there is not much of the day left after finishing work, picking up the kids from school and having to deal with the tasks of homework, clothes washing, showers, etc., and to do without the hassle of worrying WHAT we are cooking for dinner each night. Honestly if I left deciding what’s for dinner until I go home we wouldn’t eat until midnight!!

I know that our week starts on a Saturday but that’s just for the ease of fitting in with my grocery shopping which is normally done on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon. As usual more great menu ideas can be found at Menu Plan Monday over at I’m An Organising Junkie, don’t be shy pop over and have a look at other’s menu plans. You never know you may just find something different to have for dinner.

Some recipes for things we cook can be found over at our cooking blog, A Dash Of Flavour, normally posted after they have been cooked or just click on the links for each meal when they appear.

Happy cooking,

Jo xx

The return of Sunday football 2012

Today saw the start of the 2012 season for Junior Football.

Alex is playing in Under 11's and has the same coach, Kevin, again this year which she is happy about as am I. It's this team's first year of tackling (the last 2 years they have only been able to bump) so there were a few teething problems.

Oliver, after receiving a permit to play down from the league, is playing in Under 13's blue division with Russell as his coach.  He played full back which Russell was impressed with but it's not a position that Ollie wants to stay in.

Although both teams lost their Round 1 games - all played well and I think all were excited to be kicking the leather around again. A great evening up the club rooms - quite a lot turned up.  Oliver got an award for playing well which was a proud moment for Noel and I.

GO BULLS 2012!!

RIP Dennis Gabbedy

Today I found out that Dennis, my aunty Maggie's husband passed away after battling lung cancer.  They live near Newcastle so my thoughts have been surrounded  by happy memories of times shared together.

RIP Dennis... thanks for the laughs mate xxxx

Camping - Briagalong State Forest

Easter is nearly upon us so we have decided that we would go camping with The Burns'.  We have been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks now but hadn't seen the campsite - we were trusting Pete and Tanya for that one!!

The spot for this adventure is Briagalong State Forest, north of Maffra is the State's east.  It's a 3 and a bit hour drive from Frankston so not that far.

We decided to go up the weekend before Easter and set up camp and sleep the Saturday night, leave everything there, come home for a couple of days due to work and then head back up there on Thursday morning for the long weekend.

We got there mid afternoon on Saturday and set up camp.

We had a wonderful night on Saturday sitting around the camp fire, having a few sips and dinner.

Sunday was nice and relaxing.... The kids were offered to stay there while we came home which of course they accepted no issues.  Noel and I headed home mid afternoon!  Cannot wait to get back up there Thursday morning now.....