The Great Pantry Purge of 2014!

Happy Friday everyone! 

Slowly, oh so slowly, I have been TRYING to declutter the house. Yeah, very slowly. But in an afternoon, mostly while the boys slept, I was able to clean out our pantry and it was so satisfying! 

First task : Empty it! Granted I had hoped to have a completely empty pantry, but had to go halves as I didn't have enough bench space to keep everything. There was that much chaos!

Second task : Clean it. Get rid of cobwebs. Dust. Wipe it all down. CLEAN!

Third : Get rid of the things that were past their use by date. Which surprisingly, wasn't as much as I thought. Good to know we have a decent pantry rotation! 

Four : Make a list of the things going BACK in and find a way to have it all make sense! Spices and jars of bulk goods in alphabetical order. Baking things together. Noodles and pasta, canned goods. Excess bulk out of the way... 

Five : Start again from the other side!  

And the finished result.........

Pumpkin & Sage Gnocchi - Meatless Monday!

I have been wanting to make another pumpkin and sage pasta for Meatless Mondays again, but haven't had the chance. I completely intend to make pasta again someday soon. But it will take a lot of planning I suspect. In the meantime, I had this brainstorm...

Get that sage fix, with pre-made gnocchi! Woowoo! 

This goes back to the 'I will make pasta again' idea that parallels the 'I will make gnocchi again' idea. Hmm. Time. It was nice while I had it!

Anywho, here's the go....

Just because - they make me laugh...

Mondays aren't what they used to be...

I remember dreading Monday when I had the normal 9-5.

But when you have amazing weather like today, the sun shining, the northerly breeze keeping you cool, but not too cool, you slap on the SPF 50, pack up the nuggets and take a drive around the South Coast. I have been waiting for the perfect day to take the boys to the play area along Lyall Bay! I was probably more stoked than they were, but after a couple of snacks they got stuck into some good action!

Not too long after, we stopped for lunch, checked out the view and the boys made some new feathery friends. I love our new Mondays!
x

They are getting so big! 14 months today!

Sorry in advance for a massive load of photos. Blame my family for living so far away... We don't, they do ;)

Hendrik has turned into the biggest sweetheart - and ladies man! Just yesterday he was sneakily getting cuddles from all the other mum's at our Multiples Playgroup... he's going to be a heartbreaker - just like his dad! 

And Hendrik officially has been given the title 'first to walk'! Last week at our family Waitangi Day BBQ, he took his first independent steps! So amazing! I don't know if I'm ready for it though! 

Gentle pats for Timmy.

And then there was Willem. Bit of a drama queen, but I can always rely on him for cuddles and first to get into trouble! 

Poor Timmy has lost his seat in the sun. 

And so the journey continues!
xx