It has been a while...

Oops, so much for regular blogs about what is happening here and the new recipes I have been trying. There have been lots of new recipes, I just forget to take photos of the food until about half way through the meal... then it doesn't look quite as good any more! I promise that it will happen eventually.

One of the meals I don't have photos of is Paella. We bought a paella pan back before Andrew visited, and made our first Paella when he was here. It was very tasty, and we have made it a couple of times since with equally good results. The pan fits enough for our family plus 2 extra adults, and it makes for a very easy and yummy meal for guests as it is an all in one meal. We have recently bought another Paella pan (they are actually not very expensive), big enough to fit food for 10 people, so plan to cook Paella for Craig and Sandra + their sproglets. Perhaps then I will manage to remember about the photos.

But there is more to life than food.

A couple of weeks ago the kids had Ag Day (Agriculture Day) at school. Basically this consists of each child having 4-9 different projects they have to get ready at home during the week and then assemble at school on the Saturday. We have decided to rename it Ag Week in reference to the amount of time that is necessary to prepare for it.
We ended up raiding Grandma and Grandad's garden for flowers for some of the items as we have noticed that our own garden is sadly lacking in anything with colour, consisting mainly of grasses and shrubs. I have decided that this needs rectifying, and so over the course of the next year will aim to add some plants that do interesting things.

The kids did well at Ag day with Kyla receiving 3 first places plus numerous 2nd, 3rd and highly commended certificates, and Braden and Lauren with 1 first each plus other placings. Bamboo from the aforementioned Grandparents was very useful for all 3 kids, aiding in first placings for both Kyla and Lauren, and Braden's Pumpkin carriage and horse shaped ginger root with asparagus reins was another first place.
And so it is done for another year. Yay!

Work for me continues to come at a steady pace, generally speaking this means a project to prepare the working drawings for, then a break of a couple of weeks, then another project.....
So, the house gets cared for and neglected in a fairly regular pattern. It is looking reasonably likely that it will be in a cared for stage when Andrew and Sonia arrive, although it is always a battle between the kids and I as to whether it will remain clean.

That is probably enough rambling for now, I have a bit of work to do to complete another set of plans, and then the aforementioned caring for the house which is definitely in a neglected state at the moment.