End of an era celebrations

Our last training for our playball basketball team. This group has been playing together for 18 months and in that time have really learnt and developed their skills and as a team. 

We hired the local scout hall as the team of 10 multiplies to 24 kids with siblings and add parents on top of that, no one wants that many people at their house at 5pm! It was great. We had pizza and wine and the kids could throw hoops. Fabulous.

Then we had presentations. The coaches had the help of some of the older boys had decided to award a couple of trophies.

 Benji got a coaches award for the best passer.

It was his first trophy ever. He was surprised but obviously thrilled. (and covered in pizza)

Spencer got a bigger trophy. Also his first. He got the MVP which is the most valuable player as voted by the parents each week. To get that award shows how much all his practice has payed off and how much he has improved.

 It'll be sad not to be doing this every friday night but I'm sure we'll quickly find a way to fill the evening.

Personalized Stationery

The basketball mums have been such a great support network and now that this particular group is disbanding, I wanted to do something to thank them. 

I bought little black note books a5 size from Kmart and wanted to personalise them a little. I decided on adding their initial in pink vinyl which I cut on my silhouette machine. 

The process was fairly simple. I selected the swatch font and cut initial in the pink vinyl.

The initials slipped onto the bottom corner like a sticker - then I resealed the plastic. 

To finish I added a little not - this pad was again from Kmart for $3 and was the right size and look for the job.

 The notes were attached with builders string for a simple touch.

Balance

Balance. Its something I crave. I aways seem to be trying to get everything to an 'even' level, but a bit too much or too little and the scale seems to tip dramatically the other way - particularly with the kids. This is where 3 is really difficult, particularly twins.

Xandy is doing really well at the moment. He is on a bit of a winning streak in all areas. He is going great guns in cubs. He has an arm full of badges, is a sixer and heading off on Cuboree in the holidays. He's made 2 grand finals in basketball - and after years of never even making the finals, to be in a grand final is a big deal. Even things at school are good at the moment. He is doing well at sport there and today is off at district athletics, he has a lovely bunch of mates and is being invited to parties and included in things. School work is also going well. After a bumpy start with his teacher, that has all settled down and he is having fun and it seems learning things. We got the naplan results last night and I have to have a proud mum moment with his reading and math results in particular. He is a lovely boy - but a well balanced little nerd. 

Spencer too is basking in glory. He is full of determination for everything and that is paying off. He really wants to try out for rep basketball and as he is doing all this 'training' of his own bat, how can I say no? He has really improved, his basketball has improved out of sight - so much so that other parents and other kids are saying it to me. His fitness has improved so that at the school olympics he came 2nd in the 400m. (I never thought any child of mine would ever be able to run!) Then there's his reading which is just fantastic. He is reading his way through the Andy Griffiths books - his choice and is onto the 4th book in less than a week. He is reading them out loud and fully understanding them which is just amazing. I popped in to see his teacher just to touch base and see how he's going. She said straight away that he's just AMAZING. He has really lifted in everything and basically that everything with him was wonderful. He was full of confidence and really participative in class. She felt he was in a wonderful place - her words.

Then there's Benji. Not that anything bad has happened to him, just not the wonderful things that are happening to the others - or the results of their hard work. I know that this tide does change and it'll be his turn soon, but it is hard to manage when it must feel to him that the others are doing all of this wonderful stuff and maybe you're not. I caught his teacher this morning and she felt he was improving and doing really well. Thankfully she is lovely and is reluctant to compare the two boys which is great. I know I am guilty of it, and I think it is difficult when they share a room for one to be surrounded by his 'awards' not to have the opportunity to be proud of it because of how the other may feel. So I just have to think of a way to ease Benji out of his funk and not over do it....

Happy Day

 The big squirrel has a big grin because he got lucky and had a win! He'd received an email about a free breakfast and was determined he was going to go and win the nail gun. He said it with so much conviction that I believed him, and so obviously did the kind people at Bunnings, who presented him with this lovely bit of kit - on top of his free breakfast! Not too shabby.

I enjoyed two meals made for me today. Xandy made us dinner as I was busy with work and fitting a meal in around all our other commitments is always troublesome on a tuesand he did a great job.

The other meal was lunch and for me this one wasn't about the food but the company. I had a lovely ladies lunch with some special friends which was a really nice way to spike the week. Thanks lovelies.

Pulled Pork - Fathers Day Lunch results!

 The pork leg cooked for just over 18 hours on low heat in a mix of ginger beer, asian spices, teriyaki sauce and maple syrup. The smell was divine.

 I pulled it out and removed the string and it fell apart like this. I used 2 forks to shred the meat apart which was easy.

 Then I returned the shredded meat back into the juices and mixed thoroughly. As I had removed all of the visible fat from the roast, I could see very little in the juice. I wouldn't have done this last time as it was a big pool of lard. This was thick dark juice that added extra flavour to the meat.

We served it up in fresh rolls with an asian beetroot slaw which had a bit of tang to it and a dollop of sweet baby rays bbq sauce. They were delicious. Easy to prepare, and done well in advance it was actually one of the easiest meals I've ever done. Will certainly be adding this to my (limited) repertoire

Happy Fathers Day

 As we had our usually busy Sunday the day started early for presents before training and then we got to celebrate out at breakfast. We have been so tied to kids sports that we have really missed the opportunity to go out for breakfast and it was lovely to enjoy that together again.

We returned home to host lunch with Dad and Mr P. Dad had phoned in a couple of requests which were easily met - one was a DVD of Elvis' Blue Hawaii which we all sat and watched in the afternoon. The others were all a bit of fun and things he wanted and he was thrilled. He loved the DVD series and Mr P got him a truly fabulous gun that is a lighter. A bit of fun and well received. It was really nice to see him smile again. The boys were full of laughter too which made for a wonderful easy day.

Fathers Day Lunch cooking

Preparations have just been completed for fathers day lunch tomorrow. I am planning to serve pulled pork sliders with an asian slaw, but it is all a bit of an experiment.

I bought a boneless leg roast. I wanted shoulder but they didn't have any. Its about 2 kilos (way too much) and this time I removed all the fat of the top. I dried the meat and gave it a rub first with an asian spice and then a teriyaki marinade. I have popped it in the slow cooker on low and plan it should cook almost 18 hours. In the pot i have put about 1 cup of ginger beer, some garlic and ginger and then I poured maple syrup over the lot of it.

Last weekend we tried cooking it for the first time and used 1.25 litres of coke. It was all good, but the meat was too fatty as I hadn't cut it off. Heres hoping for  a better result tomorrow.