Quality Time And Saying Goodbye

Happy New Year to you all I hope everyone is safe and well rested after the festive season.

For us the time has come.  In 10 days time we will be in New Zealand and starting the next chapter of our lives.  The past month has been busy with us introducing Kingsley to the special people in our lives and saying goodbye.  It has been exhausting with some days seeing us visiting one lot of people in the morning and another in the afternoon. Kingsley has been cuddled and kissed and loved everywhere we go as well as showered in gifts, he is a very lucky and blessed little boy.

So far all is going well and he is a happy little boy most of the time, except when he has wind which seems to be too often for my liking and I will have to look at what I am eating to see if that helps, perhaps he is just a gassy baby.

He is now 3 months old and developing well and there even look like there are some teeth appearing, sigh... too soon I say.

Anyway here are some photos of the last month.

Our happy little boy:

Family Selfie:

Hanging out with friends one last time in Australia,  These two travel to NZ frequently so we will see them again soon.

Sharing cuddles

Surrogate grandparents:

More cuddles:

Farmer Liz having a cuddle:

Farmer Pete is a natural:

Everyone loves the new baby smell:

Having his first swim, I can't say he loved it but he was a bit tired and hungry:

His cousin and Aunty helping him open presents on Christmas Day:

Wearing his new hat with his Aunty:

All the family on Christmas day:

Mummy cuddles at Christmas:

Hubby's cousins having cuddles on Boxing Day:

More Aunty cuddles:

Happy baby:

Having a laugh with Grandma:

My best friend (deceased) parents who will be another set of grandparents and are already spoiling him.

My best friend (deceased) son who is now all grown up.

I a not sure if I will be back in this space before we jump on the plane next week but I will be back.  We will be documenting our journey in New Zealand and you are all invited to come along for the ride.  At this stage it looks like we may not be building our new house this summer and while this is a bit of a disappointment for us it does mean we now have time to hunt for some bargains, take more time to make decisions, do more tree planting on our farm, and get to know how our land behaves over a period of months not just the week or so we are there each year.

Hopefully I will also find a few moments to check in with each of you and see what you have been up to. 

Happy New Year To You All - Welcome To 2016

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope you are all well, have had a lovely festive season however you chose to spend it and have made it to 2016 safely and without incident or bushfire.

We spent 10 days in New Zealand with my family which was an extra trip for us as we were just back there in September.  But my youngest brother and his partner were coming back from Korea so it was an opportunity for us all to be together which may not happen for a while.  While they were in New Zealand my brother proposed and now we have a wedding to look forward in early 2017.

We booked 2 holiday houses at the beach and hubby and I were lucky enough to have one to ourselves while the other 6 adults and 3 kids stayed in the other. Guess who got the most sleep.  Our house did come with play equipment which my nieces loved and they even got me in the little cubby house for a while with the 2 of them which was a little squeezy.

Our holiday house

2 of my nieces on the play equipment

"Yes Aunty Fee there is room for you too", Mmmm yes well there was but crouching in there for 15 minutes
 was more of a thigh workout than I had planned

The beach where we stayed has a river that spills into the ocean so we had the ability to spend time in the sheltered beaches of the river or out on the main beach.

This area of New Zealand has black sand which I think is very beautiful.

There was lots of excitement opening presents and my youngest niece did as most 1 year olds do and enjoyed the wrapping most of all.

Helping nana with her present

 My grandparents came up to visit on boxing day and the girls were delighted with the gift of bubbles that they received.

My dad (now known as naughty poppa) introduced my youngest niece to marshmallow santas.  Well you can see from the look on her face how much she loved them.

There was fun in the sand.

We fished most days and were lucky enough to catch enough to have a few meals which was such a treat.  I only caught little fish that got used for bait but it was still a nice way to spend time with the family.

I got a chicken for Christmas to replace the ones we gave a way after moving from the farm to the suburbs.

My bother brought me a kimchi pot from Korea.  It holds a few litres and was the smallest one they could find as most Koreans make 25 kg or more at a time.

Hubby got me a sugar free cook book which I wanted.  We have been cutting back on sugar for a while now but more about that in another post.

Every year the city in New Zealand I grew up near has a festival of the lights.  The park which is a series of lakes and gardens if lit up and host outdoor movies and concerts every night for most of December and all of January.  We took my Nan along to listen to a concert followed by a stroll around the lake to admire the lights and find the giant sleeping in the tree (check out the link).

Enjoying the concert

Lights on the lake and in the fountian

Selfie in front of the waterfall

Lights around the lake along the pathways and across the bridge in the distance

The mirror balls over the bridge and the rowboats that you can hire all lit up 

The glow zone where the black lights come into their own

 We spent New Years with my cousin, her husband and kids who I refer to as my niece and nephew as my cousin is more like my sister since she is the daughter of my mums identical twin and only 6 months older than me.  Our dads have also been friends since high school so you can understand why we are a close family.
There was another trip to the beach, more fishing and a evening of fun, drinks and action at the pool table.

Christmas and New Year were fun, noisy family affairs and it was great to see all of the rellies.  But it has also been nice to come home to some peace and quiet.

How did you spend your Christmas?

Slow Living December 2014

Wow I am runnig really late with this post, any way better late than never I guess.

Linking up with Linda who is now our gracious host having taken over from Christine in hosting the Slow Living Nine.  I love joining in each month and reflecting on what I have achieved, it is also great to hear what everyone is up to and share in their achievements.
With Christmas this month a lot seemed to revolve around getting ready for the festive season.

Nourish -Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch over packaged, over processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead.
We are still drowning in and eggs so they have made it into many meals lately. We have had lots of ham and salad but finally the ham is nearing the end.

I also made a big batch of Orange and Almond Biscotti.

Prepare - Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season.

This month we started to make a dent in the 379kg of beef in our freezer and the meat quality is fantastic.  There will not be much else getting stockpiled in the freezers for a while as they are full to the brim.  We are even storing meat at Hubby's parents house.

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.

I am still reducing the clothes I own and sending them off to the op shop for someone else to enjoy.  And I am adding other random items to the box for the Op shop too slowly but surely we are de cluttering the house.

Green - Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.
I have started a search for a good herbal/natural insect repellent so if anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

The garden is producing lots of herbs, the zucchini have almost finished due to all the rain creating fungal problems but the cucumbers are coming on, there are spring onions, tomatoes, capsicum, water melon and eggplant.  

And weeds, oh my goodness the weeds and grass are invading and taking over.

Grrr so many weeds

Golden Nugget Water Mellon coming along nicely

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.

December was all about creating in the kitchen with new dishes being trialed and sweet treats being created.

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.

I have read a stack of books lately.  One of the was "Free The Bears" whick was a great quick read about an inspirational Australian Grandmother who proves that one person can make big changes to the world we live in.  You can check out the website here.

Enhance - Community

This year Hubby and I volunteered at the Opening Ceremony of the Woodford Folk Festival.  In return we received free tickets for one day so we had a great day out soaking in the atmosphere of the festival and listening to some great music.

Our participation in the opening ceremony

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.

Well how could you not enjoy December with so many excuses to get together with family and friends.

Hubby and I enjoyed a delicious Christmas Breakfast with my friends Sandra.

My date and goat milk panna cotta with baklava (a Christmas only type of treat)

Hubby and I out for breakfast

Then we spent a great night at a friends farm for New Years Eve.  The hmans and dogs all had a great time.

What have you been up to?