Our Weekend...

Homemade Hummous! Could anything be better? Or healthier!

This was our weekend lunch... homemade Hummous, Tabouleh, Beetroot, and fresh Pita.

Yummy!!

I am very fond of this recipe.. both kids love it, and Daddy too of course!

If anyone wants a good hummous recipe, just let me know!

After our yummy lunch and a nap we took the kids out for a walk up Hill Titura. A beautiful spot for simple hiking with toddlers! I apologize in advance for lack of 'pretty' photos! we were only about 10 mins into our walk when the camera died! And we hadnt even got to the incredibly beautiful flower-covered hill yet! I am hoping that the family we hiked with will have a few photos that we can have.

It was such a fun event for the kids and a great way to spend a Tu B'shevat weekend!
Our friends brought along little bird, flower and tree books, which gave the names, types and discription of many kinds of plants and birds found here.

Handmade Love...

Generally you would walk down to your local craft supply store to buy these kind of letters, but here in Israel i havent (as of yet) seen them anywhere... especially not in English!

So i have had to get a bit crafty (which i love doing anyway!!) and have had to design and make my own. Now that we have moved we no longer have access to saws and wood offcuts like we used to, therefore we have improvised and have come up with our own foam board letters! I say 'WE' because actually i needed Dave's help with these... he's the architect around here and has had plenty of practice cutting through this type of board as he used it for many of his model houses.

We are very happy with the finished result! and it just adds that touch of 'romance' to the room!! My next project is the living room... it will be a bit different, but the word 'family' will be there somewhere.

Favorite photo of the week!

To capture a 'winters moment' around here is very rare! So when i captured this little moment, i was so delighted! The kids were snuggled up in their blankets drinking their NZ hot chocolate (milo) and making each other crack up laughing.. all while the rain was falling outside.

Yippee for wintery days! May there be at least one or two more!??

Shalev and mummy's creative hour!

hmmm, what shall we make with these bits and pieces??
How about we make a tube with a cone on the top...

wrap it up in tin foil..

and call it a rocket!!

Blastoff!!

Our Imagination Station this week is a...

yes, our very own.. Hot chocolate and Tea Shop!

YUMMY!

They especially liked the 'marshmellows' (rolled up cotton wool) that i made for them to have with their cups of hot chocolate!

And yes, i found myself being served between 15-20 cups of this yummy stuff at every sitting!

Painting God's own Heart

Okay, so im about to write my first advertisment !!

I just had to let you all know that My mum has just recently begun a new blog! Go mum!

(with the help of my sister)

She has just recently begun painting again!! (to be honest with you we hardly knew she could paint... until ... she sent me a photo of one of the recent paintings!)

Well truth be told... She's an Artist!! A wonderfully talented one!

Mum says, 'He (meaning the Lord) is my inspiration'... I love that!

So far only a few photos of her paintings have been uploaded to the blog, but its good enough to take a look!

http://paintinggodsownheart.blogspot.com/

Oh and dont tell her im saying this, but... i know it would brighten her day if you were to leave a little comment or two!

Many blessings!

Our third baby boy!!

I agree! He's adorable!!

no playcorner.. means a lot of imagination!!

We no longer have space for a 'play corner' for the boys, and outside of their own bedroom, they dont really have a space of their own... esp for shalev while Yoav is napping!.... So i've come up with an 'imagiation station' ! We have a empty space against the wall between the dining table and the living room so now we have a fun play place just for the kids!

One week it was a farm... next week its a grocery store!

yes its Shalev and Yoav's favourite corner of the house.

Each week im thinking to rotate a few fun play ideas for them. And as you can see below in the photos we've already had a farm, which shalev and i created while Yoav was sleeping. They played with this for ages!! Its incredible what one piece of cardboard with a few coloured pieces of paper added to it can achieve with these two!

And then... this last week we went for a grocery store. NOW this hit the spot with shalev!! He hasn't stopped playing with it since i first set it up! It did at one point become a restaurant where he pulled out all my recipe books and my bowls and mixers! (oh and some dried pasta and rice i must add).

What a cool corner this has turned out to be! Im quite happy now that we don't have the playcorner, i think this is helping all of us around here use our brains and creativity a bit more!!

These are all empty packages and containers that i keep for the kids, and no the eggs aren't real!

where is the rain, the hail, the storms, the cold??

Today was a cracker 25 degree day. Tommorrow is forcast to be even warmer with the weekend and beyond only getting hotter!!

And this is our winter!?

We can count the amount of times it has rained this Winter on one hand!

Its a little depressing! Especially seeing as this is the middle of Winter.

I wonder if this drought will ever come to an end.

But not to worry.. we found ways to cool down! The boys took their clothes off and got stuck into painting (water "painting") the outside walls! go boys!! I actually couldnt stay out there very long because it got so hot, but they had a ball!

And then the water painting on the walls became water painting art work time.

What a wonderful Winters day!

Boys room and other corners...

The hallway yet again has become the gallery for Shalevs artwork (and soon to be Yoav's also)

The Living room, and the unfinished office area!

Above this couch we a planning to put up a large mirror of some kind. We have one that used to hang in the kids room, it was Orange! but ive just recently painted it the same colour as the walls. So in good time this wall will no longer be bare.

We almost havent had to buy anything since moving here, just the office area cabinets and other small things. But we feel so blessed to have been able to move in without a lot of extra costs.

Our biggest adventure and new experience now is getting used to Apartment living. We realise that almost every Israeli family has to get used to it at some time or another, but after having been on the ground floor with only family above us, its quite a new adventure. The children also are having to get used to it! But even in these few weeks of being here we are feeling more and more at home as every day goes by! and we're enjoying our neighbours and our surrounds very much!

the kitchen and dining area...

My Mum painted this painting for us as a birthday gift last year, and only now are we able to finally hang it and display it! She doesn't like to think of herself as an artist, but she IS!