Liam boy

Attempting our own school photos again.  Frustrated that I still haven't solved my lighting issues with over exposure/ dark eyes...You'd think I'd have this figured out by now!!!  What is your fav?

Toofy

We had a gorgeous long weekend here in Salmon Arm.  I unfortunately was coming down with a whopper of a cold on Wednesday night.  It hit me hard by Friday and I was pretty much a sneezy, stuffed up basket case the rest of the weekend.  I felt bad as Evan was staying with us for three nights while Riley took his place with the Engel clan and went camping!  I wasn't up for leaving the house, and let's just say we did a lot of Lego and paper airplanes to pass the time!

Riley arrived home safe and sound last night, dirty and completely wasted.  I am so happy he has such a super aunt and uncle who will take him for us from time to time.  My boys are lucky to have good cousins too!
We just went to Kamloops the other day to meet up with their Davidson cousins, and are soon going WAY up north to visit the ones in Vanderhoof!  Road trip!

Just as we were about to leave for school this morning, Shea decided to bite some Lego with his already loose tooth, and voila...look what happened!

The kid isn't even 5 1/2, and he's lost his first tooth!  My other boys were 7 before they lost theirs, so this is crazy!  He looks older now and talks funny with his little gap!  He's showing everyone at school and is quite excited.  sigh.

I have chocolate zucchini cake in the oven, which is smelling quite lovely.  I need to do a lot more baking to keep up with the three school lunches a day!
I got my grocery shopping done for the week and here's the menu:
Monday:  5 spice turkey and lettuce wraps with brown rice.
Tuesday:  Spaghetti and sausages (rather than meatballs), Jamie Oliver style
Wednesday:  Autumn Soup and baking powder biscuits
Thursday:  Sweet and Sour Pork, Jamie Oliver recipe again
Friday:  undecided as we meet up with Engels, but possibly Corn chowder or Waffles.
Yumm.

Have a great week!

Three new recipes.

I've been able to fit in more things these days besides just "boy-stuff".  I got to the doctor, the dentist, the rink for running, out with the girls, shopping, etc.  The days are actually flying by.
One thing I have enjoyed, is being able to try out new recipes that I had pinned ages ago. 
This week I made:

Beef and Broccoli
It was meant to go in the crock pot, but I was running around town and forgot it would need 6-8 hours in the crock pot, so I did most of it like a stir fry and it spent just over an hour in the crock pot.  I also added mushrooms.  It was a big hit.  All three of my boys ate it all and asked for more.  Yum. 

I also made:

Mini chicken pot pies
My hope would be that the boys would love these and eat them in their lunches.  I won two of the three over, so yay!  They were a little fussy to make and I thought the bisquick was too runny and kept adjusting it, but otherwise they are great!  Tasty, filling, and containing lots of meat and cheese.  I doubled it, so have plenty in the freezers for their lunches. 

Then today I tried:

Whole wheat dinner rolls
I have never made whole wheat buns before, and have never used glass other than for cinnamon buns.  The blog has great pictures and a tutorial if you're new to baking buns.  I slightly under baked them, but otherwise they turned out great.  Another item to add to the freezer for lunches.  (Those are my buns in the picture.)

Anyway, three down, more to go.  It makes life more interesting when you're not eating the same.ol.thing. day in and out!

FAiR WiNNinGs

So we had a wonderful sunny weekend at the fair.  G's brother and family, along with parents and cousins, joined us at the parade in the morning.  The highlight, other than watching Ava and Shea jump up and down at any coming float with candy, was seeing GG (Greg's grandma) riding her seniors home bus with all her roomies.  We saw her right away, though we didn't know she would be in the parade! and she saw us all making a scene and yelling GG!  it was quite the sight.
The boys didn't place anything for their lego and pottery entries, but we enjoyed seeing their work displayed.  I was encouraged to let them expand their contributions next year and for myself as well. One of my knitter friends entered some of her knitting, and I realized I could have as well!   It's all for fun, but something that can be thought about and worked on throughout the year.  I placed 2nd for my echinachea photo.  I tried to look through the other entries, and of those that won, but found it really varied and sometimes the subject of the photo was really cool, but the quality of photo was crappy.  Of course there were a handful that were beautiful and inspiring.  I love that exhibit, so it is fun to be part of it.
Riley entered the live LEGO competition on Sunday, and won!  We brought his lego to the fair and the kids were told that the theme was, "Your favorite thing at the fair".  So Riley got to work building bumper cars and another Super Spinner spaceship ride, and it earned him first place fair and square.  He was thrilled as he's never won anything before, and was so excited to win a lego game.

So now we're back to the daily grind of early mornings (out the door at 7:30am for R and 8am for the rest of us).  I finally got back to the rink for my run and it felt good to get back at it.  Shea was done Kindergarten at 11:30am today, but will actually be there for lunch tomorrow, so my time alone is getting increasingly longer.  This week is already packed full!

After 10 long short (depending on how you look at it) years...I have three kids in school!  For six whole hours of the day, they are in the care of their dear teachers, and I will use every one of those hours to catch up on the last 10 years of my life!  The full effect of six hours to myself has not yet hit as Shea is in the gradual entry for kindergarten.  This time next week though, I already have a road trip planned with my "knotty knitters" to scope out a knitting shop in another town.  I have an overdue dentist appointment, doctors appointment, a few canning sessions and apple picking occasions on the horizon as well.  I could easily fill my days up with just cleaning from the last two months of sand that was tracked into my house!  I have home projects, coffee dates, workouts, devotions, crafts, organizing etc. that have been put off "forever" that I can't wait to get to.  I'm sure the hours will fly.  

Riley is in middle school this year.  It is the first time that he has merged with two of his french immersion cousins into the same school, so they get to walk together.  He has a huge locker and is finding his way around the school with all these big kids!  There are over 500 students, and when I went there today to get the tour, I felt...
a) suddenly very OLD, and
b) like Riley is WAY too young to be there already!
Wow.  I really hope he has a good year.  So far so good and he likes his main teacher.  Phew.  I was nervous about that one.
Liam is in a class with the same teacher Riley had for grade three.  She wasn't our favorite for the academic side of things, but is super sweet, quiet spoken and positive.  Liam will have an easy year with her but I'm hoping will still remain motivated to grow more.  He has all his friends with him from last year and seems to be a much more confident boy than in years past.  I hope he learns to share his ideas and speak up when he gets the opportunity, as that is his biggest obstacle in school.
Shea just started kindergarten for an hour today.  He has the same teacher that Liam had for K as well.  She will be perfect for him, and runs a tight ship with her 25 years experience as a K teacher in that school.  He is in with at least 5 kids from his previous preschool class, so he had buddies right away and had no fear at all.  This baby brother was so ready to break free and join the others in school, that it makes me so happy for him more than upset that he's leaving me!

But ya, so that puts us in a whole new phase of our life, and it is a busy one.  I know this year will fly by and will be full of new things for all of us.