Being FIFO Mum: children's honesty

FIFO Mum: ... the mess of my house

Being a parent is a challenging job let alone when one parent is away half the time! You really do know you are a mum when you are constantly covered in food and/or snot, your trackies count as going out clothes and when every time you look in the cupboard those damn clothes shrinking fairies have been at it again! When the cloths fairies strike I'm left remembering children's honesty and Mr 3 kindly saying "look at your big fat tummy Mum! baby use to live in your tummy house" with a big grin on his face. Children really tell it like it is!

Your a Mum have to change your ways of doing things, be very selfless, your values change actually your whole perspective on life changes. You never take free time for granted ever again! There are no hot meals or hot cups of coffee anymore, you become accustomed to drinking cold drinks, eating cold meals and it feels like all you do is kid stuff all day long. Then there is the talking and nagging its constant from the second the kids wake up in the morning to when they finally fall asleep at night and all you want is a few quiet hours by yourself to relax, have a hot drink ... or do you run straight to bed to sleep. Im too scared to go to sleep at the moment as the second I lie down bubs it awake and crying! I swear they know! 

Then there is the guilt of wondering if you are making the correct decisions - the right ones for your kids and this pressure is magnified when you dont have your other half to bounce the ideas off. They only have a week at home to see the children and its hard to fully comprehend what it is like to be the one and only centre of attention for your children. Granted the weeks hubby is home ill have an angel baby sleeping all night or a really co-oprative preschooler. Then bam when they leave the whole house ends up with an illness and sleepless nights where you are zombie Mum. This is just the way it is no changing that its our way of life.

One thing I find incredibly frustrating as a parent is the 'it will get easier' line.... Ahh when?! My opinion is that maybe the sleepless nights get better but there are constant challenges that change every day. You go from that aha moment I've cracked the code straight into another challenge. 

I know for certain I love my boys no matter what they do and I suppose you have to trust that you are doing the best job at being parents as you can give your way of life :).

x A

FIFO Mum Recipe: Chilli Con Carne

With winter fast approaching I thought something to warm you up instead of a sweet treat. This is our Chilli Con Carne recipe we have made and adapted to our likes and I hope you enjoy it!

Chilli Con Carne

Ingredients:
500g Mince Beef
1 onion
2-8 cloves of garlic
1 Can kidney beans
1 Can diced herb tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 Jar of pasta sauce
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
2 teaspoons of oregano
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
2 Bay leaves
Jalapeno chillies to your liking
Chilli flakes to your liking

Method:
Heat a small amount of oil and cook beef
Add onion and garlic
Add tomatoes
Add herbs, spices and chilli
Simmer for 1-2 hours

How to serve... well this is up to you! In tacos, on nachos, as a pie or on a bed of saffron rice baked with cheese melted on top with sour cream and avocado. Yum!
To make into a pie I use puff pastry and a pie maker however you can also make mini pies in cupcake tins.

x A

FIFO Mum becomes the Googly Eye Dinosaur

We have this lovely Mr 3 who is absolutely crazy for dinosaurs. It seems he lives and breathes them! It was magnified after the dinosaurs visited Taronga Zoo and it is quite a let down now when we visit the zoo as the dinosaurs haven't come back!

The Pterosaurs, the flying one, holds a special spot in Mr 3's life as he is the dinosaur that can take him to see daddy at work. It seems all the dinosuas are for the boys in our house. So while Mr 3 assigns Daddy, himself and bubs to be a T-Rex and only boys are allowed to go flying on the Pterosaurs ...

I hear you ask which one is Mummy? A question I wish I hadn't asked! Poor Mummy is assigned as being the 'Googly eye dinosaur' followed by a fit of laughs by all the boys. Now the only way I can explain to you what this lovely specimen of a dinosaur looks like is this photo below...

FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

Surely I could be the triceratops or the dipolodocous. Umm nope the mummy one is the googly eye one. So along with signing off I now get to sign off as the googly eyed doody head mumma dinosaur ... now all he has to do is add the work poo to the end and im all set! :)

x A

A little time away

Hmm I dont think Ill get a recipe up for tonight... sorry! We are having steak and mash in a lovely arrangement above! After a 12+ hour flight for Hubby we decided we would get out of the city for a couple of days with the children. We headed down to my in-laws place for a couple of nights. It was so nice to have some open space and let the children have some time with their Grandmother and Aunties. Every morning when Mr 3 woke up he was asking where his 'other friend' had gone referring to his Aunty who leaves the house at 5am to go to work ... at a mine none the less! We even snuck a dinner out at a restaurant without kids. I seriously had forgotten what it is like to eat out by ourselves, after dark without having a time limit!

Have you checked out the FIFO Families website (for meets in your local area with other families or partners of people who work away? Go to the drop down box "Find Your Group". the groups are run by volunteer members in each area so it is important to rsvp and register to attend so they are able to get in contact with you if there is a last minute change to the event. I think its great that this has been set up we attended our first one last month and look forward to tomorrows catch up :)

We are off on another family outing to check out the Vivid Light Festival in the city tomorrow night too which is exciting! The lights go on at 6pm so I'm hoping Its not such a late night for the kids. Im at a loss for where to start with the event so much to see.

On another note if you are looking to connect with some other partners, wives or mums with significant others who work away from home please check out this little Facebook Group, Australian Mining Partners.

Have a lovely weekend!

P.s. we got to enjoy pasta and pizza in peace and really over ate ... I'm a huge fan of a nachos pizza and chili prawn pizza... We had to get half half as we couldn't decide... 

FIFO Family: Fly In day house hunting

FIFO Mum: In between the trees is usually where you can see Sydney city not a blanket of fog! 
http://imafifomum.blogspot.com

WOW what a Fly-In day! For a day that is suppose to be full of excitement and a fairly cruise day mine has been a shocker! Looking for a house to buy and the place we quite liked was suppose to go to auction later in June we get a call from agent after a week on the market to say if we want it we have to put our best offer in by 10am this morning unconditionally! Agh pulling my hair out! This was the week we were going to organise building/pest inspection and decide what we thought it was worth.

Yesterday at 5pm Hubby quickly arranges a building inspection for 8.30am next morning as he usually lands at 6.30am only for me to wake to the news that the airport is closed and flights are delayed some 4 hours.... great. So in my mad rush to get out the door with two kids, one baby who is sick with a fever, while staying at a friends place while the place we are renting is being painted, I decided to do daycare drop off for Mr 3 as I hadn't heard from Hubby. Luckily I did! Poor boy was so excited he was going to see Dad today and I felt so guilty I had told him last night that Dad is home tomorrow. Drop off done now I still couldn't get hold of Hubby and time was quickly running out so I left for the inspection. Mr 8 mo was loosing it (as was I), he was well past his only good sleep in the day along with being sick not such a great mix.

Finally Hubby called about 9.30am to let me know he was on the airplane in Melbourne and they had no idea if they were getting off or staying on plane. He left on midnight flight home and is still on an airplane some 12 hours later how unfortunate.

It was 9.50am and the man was still doing the building inspection yikes hurry up I need to have an offer in by 10am!!! Oh the joys! Why is it that it always falls on me! Its just like how its guaranteed that the kids will be sick or awake all night the week he is away and perfect little angels the week he is home. Finally the inspection is finished. 10.10am. Got hold of Hubby to let him know the outcome of report and ask him what he wanted to do. Along with having called agent and said I was going to email offer shortly.

All before 10.30am I still hadn't eaten anything or had the morning coffee.... and the builder was a lovely man but he just wanted to chat for ages all while I'm trying to call Hubby and the agent to put in an offer! All done time to pack up bubs and have that coffee and breakfast YAY. Then the old duck from next door comes out and wants to have a chat. Poor love I had to say hello and speak with her, she is a very sweet lady. She also told me that I shouldn't go back to work if I don't have to as its not worth the stress with young children to just stay at home and enjoy them! Gosh I must look stressed! She then wished me luck and said she hopes we get the house aww.

Coffee check. Screaming, overtired, sick baby check. Now to try relax  and hope Hubby is home soon.

x A

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Mamma FIFO's baking efforts: Bee Hive

FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

It's no secret that I love to bake and cake decorate. I have a great time being a Mum I get a little party crazy and every year I tell myself that I wont do it again next year (or the next family birthday or excuse to make a cake) ... but who am I kidding! There has been a zoo cake, Lightening McQueen, Spot, love heart engagement cake and giant cupcake cakes. I love the excitement of choosing a theme and researching decorated cakes for inspiration its so much fun. There is something homely about the smell of home baked goods.

I thought I would share with you a recent cake I made. I was looking for a simple cake (if that exists!). I decided I would try the Bee Hive cake from Debbie Brown book. Off I went and baked my divine caramel cake and split the chocolate mud cake into two smaller pans.

How I made my Bees? The yellow fondant was rolled into bee shapes, the black strips were cut and glued with sugar glue, and I used a small love heart cutter for the wings. For the antennas I bend some gold wire around a pen to get a nice curved antenna. These were left to set overnight.

I decided to use buttercream for this cake instead of the usual ganache. I have never seen so much buttercream in my life! The cakes were stacked, glued with a layer of buttercream and cut into a beehive shape. I did a crumb layer and allowed the buttercream to set before I put another layer of buttercream over the top to put the rolled fondant over the top. The crumb layer allowed for smooth fondant finish.

Once finished I allowed the fondant to set overnight and added toothpicks to the bottom of the bees so I could position and attach them to the cake. I was lazy I didn't bother to cover the board...I really wish I had!

I wonder what I will make for our first birthday later this year?!

x A

FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

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Sweet FIFO Wife: Recipe: Biscuits galore

Finished Sugar Cookies - FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

Yum biscuits! Here is my favourite sugar cookie recipe for those of you looking for something easy and tasty to cook over the weekend :). We are a failsafe family (www.fedup.com.au) and use all natural colours and sprinkles (Hopper foods) as Mr 3 reacts to artificial colours.

Enjoy!
x A

Sugar Cookies (makes about 2 dozen)

Ingredients:

170g butter, softened

1 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C and line trays with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least one hour (or can be chilled overnight if you want to be prepared).

3. Roll out dough on floured surface to desired thickness. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 2cm apart on baking paper. Note - if the dough becomes too hard to work with place back in fridge to cool off again.

4. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Icing

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Icing sugar - I use pink CSR brand (not pure icing sugar)

Milk

Colouring

Steps: 

Mix milk into icing sugar to get desired consistency to dip or paint onto biscuit. Note - a little milk goes a long way I think I used roughly a teaspoon for every 1 cup of milk and remember you also have liquid in the colour 

Rolled Sugar Cookies - FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

Baked Sugar Cookies - FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

Cooling Sugar Cookies - FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/

Finished Sugar Cookies - FIFO Mum : http://imafifomum.blogspot.com.au/