We use zucchinis in a lot of our everyday type recipes, because, well, when you are growing zucchini's you end up with a lot of them! But one of my favourite glut recipes is chocolate brownies. Just the sweet tooth in me :)

I am so with you on the unnecessary toys - even things like Uno, the card game, is just a version of Switch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch_(card_game) ) - why do we need a whole different set of cards for it? My older two kids sometimes play cards now, which I love, although they are at such different stages. We'll definitely be taking a couple of packs along on our big o/s trip later this year though.

You know, I keep reading that you clean your face with honey, and I have yet yo try it. I actually just use water (I have to admit, my 'beauty routine' is practically non-existent, through no special intention - just laziness!), but everytime you post about this I am curious about it. I think I will make a special time to do some "pantry pampering" with my seven-year-old too. I think she'd think it was a fun thing to do together, just the two of us.

Oh yes, we had this from the library. My three year old loved this book. Maybe I should take it as a sign.,.

My dad used to have them too, blue and brown ah nostalgia!

Tricia, this is such an awesome post, I think I might print it out and give it to the grandparents... Maybe it will help them to understand our philosophy a little better (and by grandparents I really mean my FIL, but its better to be even handed about these things!).

What an awesome idea! We live right next to a footpath between streets, and I've often thought of planting out the space between the path and our driveway with herbs - but then I never get my own garden fully sorted, so why add more? I think... But this is a great idea. We too have kids in our street at a bunch of different schools. I wonder if I could get them excited about something like this? I bet my son would be.

What a fantastic initiative, thanks for sharing Tricia. I hope it comes to Canberra... off to look at the website now :)

I love this idea! I think we have gotten worse at this over the past decade since having kids - not that we buy a lot of stuff for them (we are mean, mean parents), but more that we have gotten overwhelmed and stopped budgetting, so instead of always knowing how much we have saved for any particular thing (gifts, trips, house expenses etc), we just have a bunch of money in the bank and spend it without thought. And then sometimes run into trouble at the end of the month when it comes time to pay. I am getting back into budgeting at the moment, because I much prefer to have money allocated and know that if we are buying something, it's because we can afford it. And yeah, often times, if you don't buy it straight away, sometimes you realise you don't 'need' it after all! I love that cubby though. I think I will add it to my wishlist :)

That sounds fabulous Joy, I would love to hear about it - anything that gets more pitching in is always a bonus!

I love that idea of "an hour for an hour". My kids only get to watch TV on weekend mornings (mostly), which is a way of us getting to sleep in! But, I do often feel that behaviour deteriorates afterwards. We have TV free weeks from time to time, but I'd love to do a TV free month. My husband would rebel though (mind you, he only watches TV at night after the kids are in bed - and often not till I'm in bed too). Last weekend we have a very successful cleaning up day with the reward of our first ever family movie night afterwards. I'm thinking of dropping Saturday morning TV and moving towards that model instead, but I may have some rebellion on my hands! Have to make the two changes seem unrelated, so they don't feel the movie nights (earned) are robbing them of the free for all in the morning.

I love these posts Tricia. And I love to see the photos of Little Eco and see how she is growing up. I am always amazed when other people's kids continue to grow when I'm not looking! I think my kids would love to declare Monday night campfire night (or any night really). I'm thinking we might have one tonight, in honour of the Queens birthday weekend, and firecracker night that was - we always used to have a fire along with our fireworks when we were kids :)

We've had such a mild autumn here in Canberra, it's hard to believe it's going to get really cold, though the past few days have been a bit wet and miserable. I think the thermos of something hot is an excellent idea. We often stay around outside after school for a while, especially on Mondays when my 11 year old has choir until 4pm. And I could see a thermos of hot chocolate making the difference between staying and playing, or retreating to the car, now winter is here.

Thanks Jody. Ridiculously, one of my issues is that I made it to 41 without ever being in any kind of car accident, and now my poor kids have had one - and a fairly serious one (bad for the car anyway, as Mikaela kept saying) - at the age of, well, in Elli's case only three. I know that is a daft reason to feel bad, but that's the irrational human in me I guess!

Great post Tricia. There's a clothing swap day at my kids school coming up - this weekend I think. It's a great idea, and really pretty easy to organise.

Haha, I didn't get far with this meme, did I?!

Thanks for publishing this Tricia. I was just discussing this issue the other day with my cousin, who lives in inner city Canberra on a main road, and has been worrying about how that might affect her children. I'll be forwarding this to her :)