Banana Kale Smoothies

I’ve been making a conscience effort to make foods with less simple carbs because we really eat too many. We've been eating a lot more whole grains and vegetables. I've even adapted my fried rice recipe to be fried buckwheat (which I'll be posting soon). Anyway, I decided to make banana kale smoothies the other day. When I was working on the Reservation I made these all the time before work and I made them a few times while I was pregnant but I hadn’t made them for many months. I really wanted something healthy to fill me up and we had left over kale from these yummy lentil burgers.

Banana Kale Smoothies

1 banana

1 cup of chopped kale (or however much you think you’d like)

1 tsp flaxseed meal

1 tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup

½ cup to 1 cup Soymilk or any milk alternative (I like my smoothies so thick that I have to eat them with a spoon but add lots more milk if you like a thinner consistency)

Put banana, kale, flax meal and agave nectar in blender and turn on, begin pouring in milk until it’s blended and to the consistency of your liking. Enjoy! J

We’re all getting over a cold here. Having a sick baby is so awful. She had a fever for two days and wasn’t sleeping at all. She still has a runny nose but is generally happy again and is sleeping very well.

I’ve been sewing a bit again and Brett and I went to a local play over the weekend. It was a play written by Steve Martin called Picasso at the Lapin Agile, I enjoyed it more than Brett, I think, but we both had a great time.

We’ve been busy with normal stuff but nothing too exciting has been happening. We’re looking in to a holiday in New Zealand but we’re not sure we can make it work and still be able to go back to America in November. We’ll see I suppose.

xo

Wearing one of my old sleepers :) 

Playing FIFA with Dad! 

Sugar free!

We’ve officially gone sugar-free! It seemed to be nearly impossible in the beginning but – just like becoming vegetarian – as soon as I was able to replace products containing sugar with sugar free products it became a whole lot easier and it’s becoming easier all the time. I’ve found wonderful sugar free blogs to follow and great recipes to try. Brett seems to be adapting well but I’ve already begun to feel the sugar withdrawals, I’m hoping they subside soon.

The last month or so has been exceptionally busy with Grandma visiting and now Whitney visiting but we’re all doing well.

We took Chucky to the zoo for the first time while Grandma was here. She didn’t seem that interested in the animals yet but even since Grandma has left she’s become much more interested in what’s going on around her. We now have to be very careful about what is within her reach.

This past weekend we were in Moura visiting some of Brett’s family and friends, most of whom had never even met Chucky. We had a great time even though the drive was long and both Brett and I came back sick.

This week is all about starting and finishing sewing projects that I’ve been meaning to get to for weeks so we’ll see if I actually get a chance to do that.  

Chucky is a happy little girl who is very interested in Tesla and anything silver or metallic in color. Brett’s dad bought her a Jolly Jumper and walker a few weeks back and she loves being in both of them. She’s even “chucked a few tanties” when I’ve taken something away from her that she shouldn’t have been playing with (so cute!) I’m really enjoying this age because she can’t yet move on her own but she’s very interested in her surroundings and I know she’ll be crawling anytime so I’m just trying to enjoy her immobile stage.

Life is wonderful even though I miss my family and friends so much. Hopefully I’ll be making it home soon for a little visit.

First Harvest!

This afternoon Brett had the great idea to make soft-boiled eggs (well, he wanted hard boiled eggs but I assured him that he didn’t know what he was missing in soft boiling them) and put them in a salad. So instead of buying all of the produce for a salad we made our first harvest from the garden! It was so satisfying and exciting going out to the garden this afternoon with the intent of bringing some of it inside! We harvested lettuce, two carrots – we really should have waited on the carrots but I was too excited to see our purple carrots and pulled up two itsy bitsy things that looked more like radishes – and a Lebanese cucumber. Everything tasted so delicious!

Our first harvest!

Cross section of one of the purple carrots

Garden now (cucumbers, zucchini)

and more (tomatoes)

Our weekend was very relaxing and slightly exciting because of the new appliance we have in our laundry room!

On Saturday we went to a birthday breakfast for one of Brett’s coworkers and afterward we headed to The Good Guys to see what kind of deal we could get on the washing machine that we wanted. It took much haggling and we actually left the store but in the end we got the price we wanted (even if the sales-lady was less than impressed) and are VERY happy with our new fancy-dancy washing machine!

This morning we got up and were very productive before deciding that we needed to get some exercise. We went up to Mt. Gravatt and walked around for a bit before coming home and making our first harvest.

The city from the Mt. Gravatt outlook

 

We are now relaxing away the rest of this Sunday while doing a bit of research into our new business venture. J

Peace & Love. 

First Pocket Diaper

Earlier this week I made my first all-in-one pocket diaper. I had been putting it off since before Chucky was born because I assumed that they would be difficult and frustrating to make. Boy was I wrong.

Over the Easter holiday we found a few brand new pocket diapers at a flea market for really cheap so we bought them and LOVE using them. The only problem is they’re usually very very expensive to buy brand new.  So, I thought I’d attempt making a few. Well, I am pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make; it looks great and functions even better! So I ordered a lot more PUL (polyurethane laminate) to make a lot more of these diapers. I’d love if we could stop using prefolds (because they leak) and use this type of diaper all the time.

This week hasn’t been too busy except that our damn washing machine decided that it’d had enough of being used everyday and has stopped working – not completely but it won’t drain or spin on its own – so we’re looking to buy a new one (hopefully this weekend!)

Chucky has been doing very well. In the past few days she has become increasing interested in what we’re eating so I’ve tried giving her a tiny bit of smashed banana which she just ended up spitting out, she doesn’t really understand the concept of swallowing solids yet. We bought her a highchair last weekend and she seems to enjoy sitting in it and playing with whatever toy I put on the tray. She’s been getting nightly baths and then immediately falls asleep so Brett and I can enjoy evenings watching tv or reading together.

Bath time

Yesterday we went to Wellington Point in the afternoon. We walked around on the beach collecting shells and then watched the sunset – it was beautiful.

Brett and Charlie at Wellington Point

I got GREAT news this week that Grandma Virg has booked her flights to come over!! I am sooo excited! I keep telling Chucky that GG is coming to see her! (We’re ALL very excited to see you Grandma!)

I guess the only other relatively exciting thing that happened this week is Tesla bringing in her first mouse, which was a bit of a shock. I knew she had brought something inside because she always meows in a very strange way when she has a special friend with her.  So I went to the rescue of her little captive only to find out that it wasn’t her usual pray of geckos or lizards. This time it was a tiny mouse, which I’m sure, was in shock because it didn’t scurry away when I pulled the cat away. So, I locked Tesla in our bedroom while I decided what I was going to do with this tiny mouse. In the end I chased the poor little thing around Chucky's room with a cup until it finally decided to give up and crawled inside. I released it outside in the garden and then let Tesla out of her cell. She sulked around the house meowing loudly looking for her friend for quite sometime until she finally went back outside to find other pray (and she did. This time the usual scared reptile.) Needless to say I hope it’s a very long while before she finds another to bring inside. 

Tesla's mouse friend

Easter at Agnes

Gee, it’s been too long since I’ve written an entry but we’ve been busy as usual.

We spent the long Easter weekend up at beautiful Agnes Water. We left Brisbane early early Friday morning so we could beat traffic and get to Agnes early. The drive was great and seemed to go by more quickly than usual. Chucky woke up only once during the drive so we stopped changed and fed her and she was asleep again in no time. We got to Debbie’s house (Brett’s mom) around 9 am and had a nap and then went to the beach with Mishka, Debbie’s gorgeous German shepherd. The rest of the time there was more of the same; napping, going to the beach and swimming in the pool. It was lovely to get out of the city and we didn’t want to leave. We got home around 10 am on Tuesday morning and spent the day unpacking and relaxing. We’re now already half way through the week and waiting for the weekend so we can go garage sailing and hopefully do some woodworking.

Feeding the birds

There's a fence between us and the roo!

Beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets 

Brett feeding the birds

Two cute roos

Beautiful country side driving home

Chucky is growing so quickly. I think she’s just realized that she has more control over her tongue because she’s started to stick her tongue out and kind of suck on it. It’s precious. She’s still as happy as can be and sleeping through the night well. I’m going to try to post more videos of her as soon as I get the video camera charged because I finally found the cord.

Brett reading the book Unicorns to Chucky

Debbie giving Chucky a bath :) She LOVED it! 

I've added more photos to the album Charlie Sagan and created a new album called Easter 2012 to Google+. 

I hope everyone had an equally lovely Easter holiday! 

Mt. Tamborine and Colmslie Pool

The weekend is coming to a close and we’re just hanging out enjoying the last few hours before the week begins again.

We just hung out on Friday night and a friend came over to meet Chucky for the first time. Then Saturday, we got up early and went to Mt. Tamborine - took a bush walk to Curtis Waterfall and then went to a glow-worm cave. Saturday night Brett and I went to dinner alone for the first time since Chucky was born because Brett’s cousin babysat for us.

Today we went to the pool to see how Chucky would like her new floatie. She again didn’t seem to either enjoy the pool or hate it but we got some really great photos of her in the pool with Brett.

This week is promising to be less busy than the previous so hopefully Chucky and I can make it back to the pool a few times. 

I've also added more photos to my Google+ account if you'd like to see more. 

Photos of the House

Once again, I'm posting photos here that didn't work on the links I posted a few days ago. These photos are of the house.

Charlie's room