Tim Tams at Target

An old room mate of mine from Chicago tipped me off last week that Target now stocks Tim Tams. So I checked it out, and sure enough, there they were. Made in Australia but in some pretty funny looking packaging. For those of you who have never had a Tim Tam, they are an Australian cookie (which we call biscuits), with a chocolate layer sandwiched between two cookies and then the whole lot coated in chocolate! Under "Tim Tam", they say "Australia's favorite cookie".

For Christmas, Chris surprised me 5 Flake chocolate bar. I think this is my favorite Cadbury's chocolate bar. In Calgary I was able to find them occasionally imported from the UK. Chris was really nice and would buy me several whenever he found them at a store. The week before Christmas Chris found them at an Indian grocery store. I was so surprised that he was able to find them here in Augusta!

So I think I can now get all my favorite foods right here in Augusta!! One of the grocery stores stocks Milo. The only thing I can't get is Vegimite. But that's ok, Mum just gave us a small tube when she was here in September and that should last about a year! It's not something I like all the time, but every now and then it's great on toast for breakfast.

Christmas Chaos

The night before Christmas there was order in the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.....

Less than 12 hours later, there was chaos as presents and wrapping went everywhere!!

Owen got 2 goldfish in a bowl as one of his presents. Later in the morning he tried putting his hand in the water!! Another favorite present were his squeaky shoes. He has been testing Ella's out for the past few days and was very excited when he got his very own pair. They squeak with every step!!

Ella received a very pretty skirt and hairband from Auntie Simone (thank you!!). She had to put them on right away. From Santa she got a few more toys for her play kitchen - a baking set, mixer, and smoothie set.
Santa brought Sam a blue Ukulele. He just loves it! Now his Mum and Dad just want to know how to tune it! - Can anyone help?? And for everyone to share, Santa brought a Marble race track. It kept Sam busy for a long time today!
For Christmas breakfast we had oven pancakes - a family favorite.

And for Christmas dinner we had a pizza party along with chips and punch. Chris and I had been tossing ideas around about what to have for Christmas dinner. We finally decided on pizza because it is a family favorite that everyone enjoys. We use a special thin crust recipe and pizza stone and they are just delicious. Best of all, everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Sam likes cheese and poppy seeds. Ella and Owen like pizza sauce and cheese and today Chris and I had three different toppings - Hawaiian, caramelized onion, and mushroom-apple-goat cheese. It was a great Christmas dinner!!




For desert we had pink cup cakes and popcorn balls! Ella received a cute book called Pinkalicious for her birthday about a girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and then turns pink. The kids have been asking for pink cupcakes since Ella got the book so we decided to include them in our Christmas party today.


Later in the afternoon we went out for a walk. It was raining just a little and so Owen and Ella tested out the new umbrellas they got for Christmas..

Falling behind

I can't believe Christmas is only a week away and that 2008 will be over in just a couple of weeks. It's all gone too quickly. We have been busy the past couple of weeks getting ready for Christmas and a few other things and unfortunately the blog has been a bit neglected.

Last week we started a little pre-school for Sam, Ella and two friends that live in the neighborhood. Each Mum takes their turn teaching. It was my turn last week and our class was on winter. It was lots of fun. The kids had a great time being bears hibernating for the winter, making snowmen pictures and playing in snow (shaving cream!). The great thing is that I take two mornings and then get 4 mornings free! We are planning to do it just twice a week and will start again after Christmas.

Here's the class playing in shaving cream snow. Notice how much Sam and John have on their hands? The girls weren't so keen on getting their hands messy.

I left Owen for a few minutes while I cleaned the boys up and this is how I found him!! He smelled of shaving cream for the rest of the day!
Sam has been begging us to put up his train that he got from Grandpa Bingham last year for Christmas. We finally got around to it last Saturday. The spare bedroom has now become the train room! Sam has already spent hours in there watching his train go around and around or just pushing it around the track. The trains could almost be considered antiques (I think they were built in the 1950's). Sam takes very good care of them and does not like anyone to drive them too fast or push them off the tracks.


It almost feels like spring already!! The past few days have been warm and humid. A great chance for the kids to get outside and enjoy the backyard. Here they "camping" and having a picnic of chips and gingerbread cookies.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Sam knew last Monday morning that Thanksgiving was over and that Christmas had begun. The Christmas tree and Christmas lights all had to come out straight away. Sam loves Christmas and is getting us all into the holiday spirit.

Here are Sam and Ella after decorating the Christmas tree. Chris thinks we need to upgrade our tree, it's so small. My answer, let's put it on top of a table to make it look bigger!!
Sam, Ella and Owen cooking popcorn for popcorn balls to take to the Ward Christmas party last night.

Sam, Ella and Owen in the tub this morning. We don't have church until the afternoon and so having a bath in Mum and Dad's bathroom is a special treat to keep them busy on Sunday mornings.