Happy Australia Day!

As much as I would have enjoyed the irony of celebrating Australia Day at Ottawa U's Snow Festival (not to be confused with Winterlude), it was -18 with the windchill and my personal cut-off for spending time outdoors with babies happens to be -10. Instead, we went shopping, and decorated the cookies that we had baked the day before. Please note the lovely table decorated with a beach towel and a bunch of stuffed koalas. I believe this is the traditional way it's done. We also dressed in clothing that was either summery or purchased in Australia.

Like her new apron? So does she, to the point of wearing it on its own.

While we were out, the boys worked in the basement, which is looking spectacular and very nearly done. By boys, I mean Hubby, his dad, and his uncle. That's right, people, the in-laws are here and it is wonderful! Mealtimes have been going really well; so far I've served shepherd's pie (big thanks to Erin for her recipe which includes BBQ sauce, and is amazing), spinach & chickpeas with flatbread, and coming up tonight is beef stew. Lunches have been leftovers for the most part, or sandwiches. The boys have had fast food a couple of times. It's been going really well!

Last night's dinner was sausages (aka snags) with sauteed peppers and onions, and way too many egg noodles. Hannah came over and brought a Greek-style quinoa salad, which was well received. I was even able to eat the feta, and it pleased me to no end. We Skyped Tracy and Eug, Hubby's sister and brother-in-law in Oz, so it was fun to catch up with them. They're coming for a visit in March! Eug can't wait to see snow.


Can you identify the Australian animals hidden under all that green and gold icing? We've got kangaroos, kookaburras, koalas, echidnas (echidnae?), playpuses (platypi?), and frill-necked lizards. And I've clearly got to work on pluralizing unfamiliar nouns.