We used to be the kind of family that loved themed meals together (the kids are so little and cute in these old blog posts!).  Whether it was a Mad Hatters Tea Party or The Drake Fighters, everyone usually got involved and had heaps of fun.  For some strange reason, everyone in our family loves dressing up.

As our children got older, themed meals seemed to slow down a bit - and now-a-days it feels like a miracle if there is an evening where everyone is actually home for the night!

So when everyone was home the other night, the decision was made to have a family Rock Band evening together.  Suddenly a couple of people got into rocker gears and it had turned into a dress up event!

To be honest I was soooo tired.  It had been a busy week and I was so ready for a calm and relaxing evening.  Unusual outfit ensembles started being created and I decided to get involved - and I'm so glad I did!

When the kids were young we had to make time and organise fun events - but now as everyone has gotten older, it seems that when the moment presents itself, you need to grab it and get involved before it passes.

We had so much fun and I'm sure some great memories were made.

Here's to not missing out on spontaneous moments when they come your way!

Our baby turns 10 today - which mean no more kids in single digits!!  Time has definitely flown by.

Here are a few things I've been loving lately (cause we all know the power in keeping a thankful heart)...

Loving celebrating my second born son's birthday recently - 14 years old!!  You know what that means don't you... two sons old enough to baby sit now!  Yeeehaaaaah!  We celebrated with family and this Ice Cream Cake drizzled in caramel sauce.  So good!

Loving the roses that are blooming at our house at the moment.  The gardens are a bit of a shambles here and we can't really do much to them until we've finished the re-piling, but thankfully the roses and other pretty blooms don't mind!

Have loved baking with my girls - I really must make more of an effort to do it more often. Recently we made Coconut Mice - basically Coconut Ice shaped into mice and cheese segments! Fun and delicious.  They only took about a million hours to shape and decorate, but it was worth it.

Speaking of coconut, loving this new drink!  If only it was around when I was young, I could have avoided having to drink goats milk!!

Loving making Pita Bread Pizzas when an easy dinner is called for, and a great meal that people can get involved with (if you have fussy pizza topping people in your household)...

Loving this neat dinner idea that our friends Jackie & Les had - a "sticks" themed night with all food items (entrée, main and dessert) to be served on sticks.  There were so many delicious items to eat! We brought an entrée of cherry tomatoes, basil and mozzarella drizzled with balsamic vinegar, a main of shrimp, chorizo sausage, potato and red onion kebabs and a dessert of marshmallows, brownie and strawberries on a stick drizzled with chocolate!  Drooling right now as I write.

We needed to pick up something early this morning, so turned our pick-up trip into a beach trip with the family.

The girls had a swim and played in the sand while the guys went for a snorkel...

Then there was a bit of wrestling in the water.  A certain teenager is getting rather strong now, and the fact he was wearing a snorkel and mask probably wasn't to Symon's advantage.

And of course, what would a beach trip be without someone trying to run on water...

Funny guys!

The kids are back to school tomorrow, so to top off an awesome morning and a not so fab afternoon (I painted the house all afternoon) we had a bit of a fun family dinner... nachos, corn on a stick smothered with sour cream and watched Nacho Libre!  Fun times all round - "Get that corn outta my face!".

Love Northland, love my family, and love that school is back tomorrow.  Woohoo!!

To see more of our fun family meals, go here. 

It's been a while since the party invitations were given out, but last night we finally got to have another fun family themed meal!!  Remember last time when we became "The Drake Fighters"?  So much fun!!

This time we had our very own Mad Hatters Tea Party!

The plan - come dressed up wearing something on your head (a hat, crown or tiara) and take part in cupcake decorating, family photos, our very own tea party and finishing up the night by watching Alice in Wonderland!

We didn't totally stick to the schedule... but we had heaps of fun, and once again we were reminded how important it is to take time out as a family to simply have fun and enjoy being together.

The highlights: Delicious cupcakes, the excitement that a bit of tea drinking causes amongst the kids and drinking sodas later while we watched the movie.

The low lights: Boys who don't colour coordinate their outfits (ahem... Symon), and the fact that the time of night meant we didn't get to take super clear pictures!

So much fun, and relatively cheap and easy to organise.  I love you guys!!

More fun themed meals here.