Today I made bread from scratch!! I was pretty nervous to do it, as I have never done it before, but Jamie Oliver came to my rescue and it turned out pretty good!!
This is the web-link to the recipe I used, I let it proof for over an hour each time, as I thought the size had not really doubled in half an hour. I also replaced some of the white flour with wholewheat flour, I usually do this in most flour requiring recipes I make. Overall, I was really happy with the way they turned out.
I have purchased some seeds and other fine things to try this recipe again, and make different types of breads. I made a series of photos of the steps in making the bread; I was just too excited to have finally make my own. Although it looks like I never took any pictures of the final product:-( Next time!

We started our journey at Puzzling World going through the illusion rooms. There were a lot of really cool things to see.  Here are a few pictures of some of exhibits they had.  

TOILET SEAT ---> I just loved all of these different toilet seats that were in the Puzzling World toilets.  I took pictures of them all, and I feel like they are cool enough to share with all of you!! Enjoy:-)

After we spent some time checking out the toilets - we headed outside for an hour and a half adventure through a human size 3D maze!! It was a lot of fun. We did the easier of the two challenges - which was to just get to each corner tower in any order, then find your way to the exit (although instead of the REAL exit I got fed up and made my way to the closest emergency exit).  The more difficult challenge was to find each of the towers in a particular order then make your way to the exit - there was not way we could have done this one with the girlies... 
Below are photos capturing our maze journey:-)

A couple days ago, I received an amazing gift from a couchsurfer couple; a BLENDER!!!  I got so excited about the gift that I cried, and squeeled and those who know me can imagine my reaction.  So the next day I went to the grocery store to stock up on my smoothie making essentials - fruit, yoghurt and milk.  Berries and other fruits are out of season here right now, and are CRAZY expensive ($7 for a small package of strawberries) - so frozen fruit is the way to go right now until summer comes around.  This morning I made my first of MANY smoothies at home, and it was amazingly delicious!  I love starting my day off with this cold and refreshing treat - after a yoga session when possible:-) 

This afternoon, we enjoyed a great relaxing session of yoga in our living room.  I got my roommate Erika to join in and Aurora had a great time for the first 15 minutes:-)  I have found that during Brynn's afternoon nap suits quite well for yoga time - but it does not always work because we are on occasion out of the house all afternoon, and I fit it in at the beginning or end of the day instead (once I did both!).  I am really enjoying doing this challenge, and LOVE that others are doing it with me!  Hope you are all having a great week!  As Hal Johnson and Joanne McCloud would say "Keep fit and have fun".

Lately, I have been trying to find different ways to motivate myself into exercising.  I take regular walks/light runs with the girls, and go for an occasional run and small workout in a local park that has gym machines installed along a running track.  However, most of the time I lack the motivation to get out and just do it!!  After spending a lot of time on YouTube today, I discovered that there are THOUSANDS of Yoga videos on there!!  WAY COOL!!!!!  I love Yoga, after trying it nearly two years ago, I have only grown a deeper passion for it.  Being a stay-at-home mom, with a husband who comes home fairly late, I don't seem to have the time (or energy) to leave the house for a workout in the evening.  So I thought Yoga can be something I can do in the afternoons with Aurora, while Brynn is sleeping, and it is also easily accomplished in the evening after the kiddos have gone to bed.
So, next step is accountability, I need to be accountable to someone else!! I do not work well being only accountable to myself, so naturally I turn to good old FB, and post a status about doing a 30 day Yoga challenge - where I will do Yoga every day for 30 days straight.  I had a pretty quick and happy response from several other people, who are also keen on this idea!  
I now have created a group on FB, found HERE, where I will be posting YouTube videos of varying levels of Yoga sessions.  I will remain accountable to everyone who has joined me on there, and look forward to the challenge of keeping everyone motivated to get in the habit of exercise.  I am excited about my new endeavour, and hope that through this blog I can find a few more to 

We got a parcel!! We all get so excited to get any sort of mail, and we were lucky enough to get a small package from Grammie Pat (Marshall paternal grandmother).  It arrived to our house very fast - in only about 10 days, it arrived at our front door. The girls were very excited to open all of their goodies in the parcel; matching nightgowns,  books, stickers and jewellery  made their day!  Thank you Grammie for the gifts for the girls!  

Yay, we got a parcel from my friend Jenn today!  It was very exciting to get a package in the mail.  This is not our first package (we have received a few previous) but this is the first that I have taken pictures of while opening - apologies to those who have sent us something and I didn't take photos, I had not thought of it:(  

We received a chocolate fondue set from the Brazilian CS that we hosted as a thank you gift.   It was difficult to find time during the week to set it all ready early enough so that the sugar could wear off the kids in time for bed, so Saturday marked the day that finally suited us best to have chocolate fondue.  The time that fit the best was diner time, and so there it was, chocolate fondue for diner!  We grabbed all the fruit we had available in the house, and sliced it all up; it included bananas, pineapple, mandarins  apples and mango.  We had strawberries given to us with the fondue set, but Aurora ate them much earlier in the week.  

Overall, we had a great time eating dessert for dinner, but it is most definitely something we can not do regularly, we had had a very big sugar rush, and a huge crash to follow.  We finished the evening with family movie time, watching Pocahontas.    Thank you Anita and Edu for the delicious gift! :-D 

I finally broke down and bought brand new mini muffin pans.  I have been aching to bake, and I have been wanting to try my hand at making banana-oat muffins.  I found a pretty good recipe on-line  that had great reviews, so I tried it, making a few suggested changes by some reviewers.  Here is the recipe is used.  We had a great time making them, and they turned out so gooood!!  I think I am going to give my grandma a run for her money when it comes to banana muffins (although she has Heaps more experience than I do:-)).  Here are some pictures of the girls helping me make the muffins.  i think next time I make them I would like to try to replace some sugar with applesauce, I found  this website that gives a bit a guide on how to replace the sugar, so I'll give that a try 

We have had a Brazilian couple staying with us for the past week and a half, and tonight I made nachos for them, because they had never heard of them, and obviously never tried them. 
We had a great time getting everything chopped up, and created a masterpiece.  Edu made an amazing guacamole to go with them.  We enjoyed a night of watching Lord of the Ring and finishing off with a Tim Tam Slam.  I think we are starting to settle into the NZ life quite well:-) 

Anita and Edu with the amazing Nachos:-D