Left to right: Marissa, Me, Tenille, Ed, Lisa and Seana.

I’ll be the first to admit I am no whizz in the kitchen, and you probably won’t find me watching a cooking show unless I’ve lost the remote.   Eggs are something I usually put into whatever I’m cooking, and they rarely star as the main.  Mostly because I figure the kids won’t eat them, ok a couple of them will eat them but hey I have to cook for eight three times a day – everyone is having the same thing kids!  But I’m getting off track. Back to my first ever cooking lesson, it was much more interesting than I thought it was going to be.  I came away knowing things about eggs I had no idea about before, and yay for me I was able to successfully do this stuff at home!

Getting down to the business of cooking eggs, Ed whipped us up a Frittata which was damn good.  I went home and recreated them for the inlaws the very next day.  Grab the recipe below.

On to dessert.  Ed put us to work in the kitchen, where we made cinnamon spiced zucchini bread, and educated us on some egg facts, a lot of which were news to me. Did you know that eggs are high in protein, and a high protein diet is recommended for weight loss. And there are different uses for fresh and slightly old eggs? I didn’t. Fresh eggs are best used for poaching and frying, because they hold their shape in the pan. Older eggs can be used for boiling and scrambling, in fact using an older egg to boil is better as it is harder to get the shell off a fresh egg.

Do you know how hold a knife properly?  I was given an education on how it is done. Yes it probably was a very good idea to lean back a bit there Tenille

More eggy facts and recipes can be found at www.eggs.org.au or www.eggsaseasyas.com.au So there you have it, eggs!  I’ve been introducing egg recipes into the dinner menu for the kids these past few weeks, and they’re doing well, especially if I tell them they are egg cakes

I’ve been asked about my outfit, so I think I should throw some kudos to the lovely ladies at Autograph Goulburn who very patiently outfitted me.

We use wipes in bulk at our place.  So I was very happy to be asked to review Huggies Wipes.  They didn’t last long.  Well we have three in nappies, we go through an 80 wipe pack every few days and if there is any baby consumerable that quality really matters on, it’s wipes and nappies.

They have to be thick and have a texture good enough to get the mess off, without it coming through the other side of the wipe and… ewww.  There are few wipes that meet this criteria, but I can honestly say that Huggies do and they are probably the top of the line when it comes to thick wipes, and I’ve tried a lot of brands.  Being thick wipes means you can do a nappy change using less wipes, than you would with a lesser brand.

The new line of Huggies wipes with cucumber and aloe are my new favourite, they smell gorgeous (and fyi, are a great facial cleansing wipe for mum).  I’ve already gone out and bought them again.  They are pH balanced and contain no soap or alcohol, hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin.  To find out more about the Huggies range click on the picture below to be taken to their website.

And good news! Huggies wants one of you to try out the new Aloe and Cucumber wipes too!  If you’d like to be in the draw to receive a jumbo pack of 240 wipes from Huggies please comment below, and if you like, tell me what other uses you have found for baby wipes.  (Aussie readers only sorry, don’t forget to put a valid email address in with your comment so I can let you know you won!) Winner drawn Monday the 13th of February.

 Watch the cute Huggies ad

But hey I can’t sit at home thinking these kids are going to make any trip a nightmare (even if they have a LOT of form for doing so).  I have to try to have a holiday break, you never know when they (the minions) may get their shit together and behave.

So this summer break we made an effort to get out there and do holiday stuff, like people with neuro-typical kids get to do.  Yes it was probably going to suck, and it was highly likely that our children would reduce us, tour operators, zoo keepers and our holiday neighbours to tears.  But we simply had to try.  Not to prove anything to anyone, not even ourselves, we just have to find a way to feel like a family on holidays.  Too often the Husband and I do activities separately, because one of us will have to stay back with the children that won’t cope with an activity.  You can imagine how much fun this is for the parent left behind.

Last week we went over to the South Coast, and what’dya know they kind of kept it together.  They even stayed in their seat belts for the three-hour car ride, that has never happened before, I’m usually looking for duct tape half an hour in.  We even dared to take them on a Dolphin watching cruise, that went okay – well as okay as confining six kids on a boat with 30 strangers, three of those kids having sensory issues and the wind blowing at around 20 knots, could go – we sailed around Jervis Bay for two hours saw two dolphins.  It has been something we’ve meant to do for years, but have let these kids hold us back.

This past year the Husband and I had a bit of a revelation, we worked out that we were not having any fun, because we didn’t want to try to get out there and do things with our kids that everybody else gets to do with their kids. I’ve talked about this before, I can’t just go to the shop for a loaf of bread when I have an autistic child, I HAVE to plan it.  I also have to my runners on for when the kid absconded.  This is the price of Autism for a lot of families, well we’ve had enough.

To celebrate his birthday I thought I’d share an old post, back where Charlie’s story began, on twitter… Charlie’s birth story tweeted.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

These very simple and cheap apps are fairly easy for the little ones to navigate, and if they can’t they can just poke at the screen until something happens (isn’t that how everyones kids drive their iPods?)

The Beach Fun app is great prep for a trip to the beach, the kids get to apply sunblock, put on hats and sunnies or build a sandcastle.  They can knock down the sandcastle too.  I thought this app could be developed a little further, maybe they could go play on the beach or swim, but other than that it’s a good little app.

Say Cheese is a camera app, and who hasn’t got a toddler who loves to take a hundred photos of themselves with Mums iPhone, my kids love this one.  It has 10 picture frames for the kids to choose from, and then they can take their picture along with the Bananas.  Once a picture is taken you can dress yourself up in hats and glasses, or add extra characters and objects and save the resulting picture.  The Bananas commentate while you take the photo, which my kids thought was hilarious.  Check out an image of Georgie below, the apps biggest fan

Click on the images if you’d like to be taken to iTunes to download the apps

Every kids loves the Bananas, and I’d bet they’d love their very own Bananas dvd!  To be in the draw to win a copy of The Magic Trick comment below, and share what is your kids (or your own) favourite show on ABC2.  (Australian entrants only sorry)

Eight episodes of the all new CGI Bananas, now available on DVD at most department stores and ABC shops.

Disclosure: I received complimentary downloads of the Bananas in Pyjamas iPhone apps and a giveaway copy of Bananas in Pyjamas “The Magic Trick” DVD courtesy of ABC for Kids via Digital Parents. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own. Winner drawn on the 12th of January 2012.

And the winner is LIZ!  My girls chose your comment as the winner, please check your email inbox for a message from me