Nana's birthday.....

We all celebrated Nana's 68th birthday tonight even though her actual birthday is on Monday.  We went to the Seaford Hotel for dinner, which I will have to say that the meals were very average with one meal, a lamb souvlaki even turning up without the lamb!

As usual great to catch up with Mam and Dad.  It seems so long between time spent together.  They come to watch their grandchildren play football but with our commitments it's very hard to spend time with them.

Wonderful to see Sean, Vicky and the boys again.  Sadly we don't see them enough either.

Thankfully we surprised Mam with a decadent birthday cake I cannot take credit for.  It was an "Original Sin" from the Cheesecake Shop but it brought smiles to Mam's face.

Most of the Murray clan........

4 of her precious grandchildren......

Alex's birthday party.......

What a huge day yesterday was......

2pm Alex's friends arrived for a surprise event in the afternoon and then a sleepover.  As you can imagine it was an afternoon full of giggling girls.

The party table is set and cake is made .....

Once the girls arrived we had some lunch and then it was off on our big surprise..... the girls didn't know but we had organised tickets to see Stardust Circus.

No photo's from the circus due to "no photography allowed" but everyone enjoyed the show including Ollie, Noel and myself.  The acts were really good including the lions, the poinies and the clowns.  Afterwards it was back home for the requested dinner of fish and chips.

They were full after dinner so the cake would have to be done in the morning.  That didnt' stop them from having the usual and required sleepover pillow fight though......

Lots of giggles..... and giggles.... and giggles...... they fell asleep at 3.30am and that was only when I went into the loungeroom to tell them to go to sleep!!

Breakfast of lemonade pancakes with all the trimmings...

Then we sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl!!!!

Menu Plan Monday (19th March - 25th March)

Please don't think I have neglected my blog (all my blogs) it's just that we have been so busy and my time management skilss have been running on random happenings lately.... should be called timeless management but I do believe I see a light at the end of the tunnel or it's a freight train and I am in the wrong tunnel!! LOL!!

I know it has been such a long time since I posted properly. Hopefully this week brings back regularity of some sort and things will go on smoothly once more.

So on the House of Murray Menu Planner this week is:

Saturday ~ Alex's 10th Birthday - Disco Party

Sunday ~ Portuguese Grilled Chicken, Spiced Couscous, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Monday ~ Fish and Chips served with Salad
Tue ~ Chargrilled Steak with Creamy Mushroom and Mustard Sauce

Wed ~ Chorizo and Spinach Tagletelle

Thu ~ Lamb and Rosemary Pot Pies with Vegetables

Fri ~ Oliver's 13th Birthday - Hogs Breath Cafe

As you have probably gathered by now, I LIVE for menu planning! 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,

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Ok so now I am a grown up....

I confess Saturday saw me reach the big "40" and yes I celebrated in style with a party! Needless to say I actually let my hair down and thoroughly enjoyed myself with the party finishing around 3am-ish. Of course I drank too much champagne and didn't eat enough but it's only going to happen once - the 40th that is!!


I think it may be time I grow up, what do you think?

Actually these photos were taken in the wee hours of Sunday morning and it wasn't like this all night. It was a really nice night with finger food to start, a spit with beef and pork, vegetables, cauliflower cheese and gravy followed by heaps of desserts. Noel and mam did a wonderful job and attempted to keep me out of the kitchen and away from the cooking.

Shall post some more photos when I can......

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

A huge weekend and two new members of the Murray family....

Although the 2010 Junior Football Season is officially over now... we are still flat out.

This weekend saw us all celebrating Steve and Nazz's 40th birthdays which I believe I did in style... lol a little too much champagne for moi!! But it was a great night with lots of friends, food and alcohol.

Sunday was a lazy day with cleaning, baking up a storm with Alex in the kitchen (spinach, thyme and parmesan muffins and puff dogs) followed by a trip to the pet shop only to come home with 2 baby budgies and some bird accessories.

Here are the newest members to the Murray family..... no names as yet as we are waiting to see if they are boys or girls!! The yellow one is Oliver's and the blue one is Alex's.

This house is turning into a zoo!!!!! 2 rabbits, 2 guinea pigs, 3 fish, 2 budgies and 2 children.... lol!!!

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Happy 30th Birthday Erica...

Happy 30th Birthday to Erica...

It was very quiet at work this morning, in fact we stop sales at 10.30am. I worked until 12.15 though as I had to ensure wages and my production report were submitted for Monday as I am taking Monday as an annual leave day.

We are off to Dean and Erica's for a bbq this afternoon as it's Erica's 30th birthday. We are also celebrating Logan's birthday but her actual birthday is on the 7th November. I am taking Crunchy Asian Salad with us, as requested. This salad seems to get requested everywhere we go, but I don't mind as it is very easy to make. I might even make a roast pumpkin (well it is Halloween) on depending on how I go for time!!

It should be a big afternoon, thankfully Dean and Erica only live around the corner so if worse comes to worse we can walk home........ lol!!!!

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Getting back into the swing of things.....

I know I have been slack this last few weeks and have only been posting on a weekly basis but I have blown that out of the water now by having nearly a week and a half break between socialising within these blog walls.

So now it's a case of where to start.....

The reason for my slackness is the flu - NOT the swine flu. Just the flu. Infact I didn't work Monday and Tuesday only to return today. Feeling very run down but I must soldier on!

We have just about put the final little bits of our rearrangement into their new homes... the loungeroom got another reshuffle and it looks a lot better than the first arrangement. It's all starting to feel homely now which is good - one less thing off my ever procrastinating mind!!

On Thursday I received a shipment of a pallet, yes a pallet, of boxes containing chocolates. Cadbury's Freddo's, Camamello Koalas, Cherry Ripes, Crunchies, Boost and Time Out... a total of 256 boxes! Thankfully we don't eat that much chocolate at our place but geez I have chocolates everywhere. Please be aware these are NOT for us - these are for the football club fundraiser - we make really good profit out of them. The catch is that they need to be sorted into boxes of 8 flavours before distributing for sale. Last night Nazz and Jane (two lovely parents of club players) came over to help especially as I have been sick and are coming back tonight.

Friday night, Alex had a birthday party to go to. It was Shiryln's party and Alex actually went straight from school to Shirlyn's house so she had an extra long play. She was really happy about that. Oliver was picked up from school by Nana and Grandad and taken up to their house for a sleepover and when we picked Alex up from the party we took her up there aswell. They had a ball especially as Nana and Grandad have a Wii..... guess what they did all day???

Over the weekend, we picked up the fish tank that was on layby and Sunday went down as a family to choose a few fish each... the kids were really excited and chose there own 2 fish which of course are now sporting interesting names. We have 10 fish in total, one black moore, one pearlscale, one oriana, one bronze moore, two danio's and four white clouds. At the moment, it's a novelty with the kids, racing to feed them etc., standing next to the tank just watching but it will be interesting how they will go with the first clean and to whether or not mam will have to do that.

Another pleasing thing for us is the Under 11's won again... and they blitzed!! I believe the final score was 118 to 8 but after a team having a 70 point lead they do not continue to score.. but we did! LOL!! Nana and Grandad came down to watch also. Needless to say Dean was happy, Noel was happy, the team was happy and we have had our 2nd win for the season...

Oliver's Party!!

Well Saturday night went off without a hitch. Oliver's 11th birthday "Disco Party" was great and I think all the kids enjoyed themselves - I know Oliver did!! It was great to see him having fun with his friends from school. Some played sing star, other's air hockey and they all just had fun...

At one stage the adults were trying to hide inside the house - watching the footy on the tv, Saints vs Swans, I must add "Go Sainters"!! Our hiding place didn't last for very long when one of the kids got wind that the footy was on.... so they were all inside, supporting passionately until we told them to go outside and party on!!

He got the cake that he wanted.. a tiger, which came up okay (pat's oneself on the back - lol!!) and all the other kids thought it was ace too.



Sean, Vicky and Christian came over to and stayed most of the party... FANTASTIC!! It was great to see Vicky again - she was so relaxed and enjoying herself. Of course Christian had a ball with all the kids even the older ones.

We also had a surprise visitor, Carol, Julien's mam. She lives in the USA and has been here staying with her daughter, who has broken/injured her foot. We met Carol and her partner, Don, last year and had a ball with them. They are really nice people, you know the kind of people that you meet but feel like you have known them forever! It was a shame that this visit Don wasn't with her but saying that, it was great to see her again.

The party finished at 9pm but I don't think I saw bed until 3am... our friends kicked on, all the kids ended up sleeping which meant the house became very noisy with laughter, squeels of excitement and general kid behaviour first thing in the morning. To be honest although tired and a little hung over I enjoyed waking up to that!!

Sunday was definately a day of rest - well sort of for you all know what it's like at the House Of Murray - something is always happening!! Oliver had to pack for camp or should I say Mam had to pack Oliver's things for camp, there was cleaning to be done, some shopping, a nana nap for moi in the afternoon, a batch of pumpkin soup was made and Noel, feeling worse for wear, surfaced every now and then for water and food!! (Long story and we won't go there - let's just say Noel enjoyed himself LOTS!! hehehehe)

Needless to say the house will be quiet tonight with our little boy or should I say big boy away on camp ....

Another doctor's appointment.....

Well we survived the boy's birthday yesterday with no injuries - thank god!! Nana and granddad came for the birthday dinner and they actually ate food with us! Needless to say it was a good night without repeating last week's birthday dinner effort!!

Another doctor's appointment for Alex this morning only to find that the bone has moved AGAIN but the specialist's are hesitant to take her to surgery!! What does this mean? It means that she has another appointment booked for next Tuesday at 11.40am to have yet another x-ray and a chat with a specialist!! gggggrrrrr!!! So it's back to crossing fingers for another few days.

Next thing we have to tackle is the disco birthday party for his school friends tomorrow night!! Should be a very interesting evening no doubt. 6pm - 9pm of kids dressed as their favourite rock/pop stars. Party food galore and of course...... Playstation Sing Star!!!!

Any volunteers?? I am sure we will need some bouncers.......lol!!

Is summer over already?

Well there was a dramatic change in the weather this weekend with Saturday filled with strong winds, rain, hail and thunder that just seemed to come out of nowhere and stayed all weekend.

Had a great afternoon on Saturday though. It was definately a shopping afternoon of a difference with a stop in at USA Foods Australia, in Moorabbin, which I might add the kids LOVED!! Their eyes lit up at all the different sweets that were there and it was just such so hard when it came to deciding on what ones they wanted to try!! I of course had to have a Hershey's Peanut Butter Cup and yes they still taste the same. Oliver tried Dr Pepper for the first time and Alex fell in love with Ding Dongs! There were so many things available (quite pricey though) and I have now got an idea on some of the ingredients I have been reading about on other people's foodie blogs which are not readily available in Australia.

Then it was off to Springvale to do the grocery shopping. We bought a lot of frozen foods for the kids parties and also most of our weekly shopping... the hardest thing with shopping in Springvale, believe it or not, is getting a shopping trolley!! I love shopping over there, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, which are a little cheaper than the supermarkets, plus so much more of a variety. I also find the meat and seafood to be cheaper too. The atmosphere is fantastic too and I often hear the kids quietly repeating what the asians are saying, trying to mimic them and giggling to themselves. It makes both Noel and I laugh!!

Sunday was another quiet day for us as a family - we are enjoying them recently but I wouldn't wish Noel's injury on anyone.... although he is very much all mended now. Sean popped in with Christian in the morning. It was good to see them again. Some more shopping and some cleaning and as per usual the weekend was over once again.