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.

Tail end of summer

August has been busy, and here we are at the end of it!
We took our holidays and went camping at Glen Echo for three nights and then to Penticton for two nights.  Then we were at the Roots and Blues for the entire weekend which felt like camping as well!   I am slowly recovering and getting my house back in order.  We have had company and family visiting so we've still been out and about but enjoying the summer while it lasts.

I suddenly realized that my photos for the fair need to be in today! so I rushed down and got them done into 8x10's and here they are....

They needed to have mats on them, and stiff backing, and those cost more than getting them enlarged, so I kept to just the six...2 color, three plants, and 1 people category.

The boys have had so much fun at the beach, and with cousins...I don't think they are ready for summer to end!  We have done some back to school shopping and I guess it's fair to say that Shea is the most excited about his new school things...esp. his MEC backpack that he carries everywhere!

 Anyway...lots to do!!  check out summer photos on facebook!

 

Early in the spring, I planted a package of icelandic poppies. I think that's what they were called. Rather than the traditional red poppies, these ones were pastel shades of pink and orangey. So pretty. Well it turned out that they all came up either bright yellow or orange. No pastels. Until today. Today out popped my first pastel poppy that is sort of an orangey/pink.

I love it.

And with some heart bokeh....

Jammin'

Last week, at 10:40pm, the phone rang and my SIL's sister Marie called to tell me she was going strawberry picking in the morning! I said, ok sure, I'd join her and Pam at 7 the next morning to pick berries. The picking was great, and in an hour we had over 100 pounds of strawberries.

We took our kids to daycamp and then went to work at Marie's house, making strawberry rhubarb freezer jam.

(Pam cooking up the rhubarb.)

(Me, hard at work!)

(Hours later, the very last strawberry...with Marie!)

The fruit of our labor! From lunch time on, we had all 11 kids with us, but they did pretty well playing on their own. Marie was helping to feed them and clean up, and Pam and I plugged on. We finished up by about 4pm. My freezer is full of the yummy stuff! and 18 bags of just the berries for smoothies etc.!! So begins the food production season! (Thanks for including me, Pam and Marie! And thanks for the pictures, Pam!)

Fair entries

Hi one and all. I hope you're keeping sane in this heat! It is time once again to make some entries for the local fall fair. Last year, we took a break and didn't enter, but the year before we did some entries and it was great fun and we even took home some prizes! You all helped me in choosing which photos to enter, and I'm hoping you'll help me again! This time I won't be a "new competitor" and will have to enter the "intermediate" division. I have Liam entering some pottery that he made in school, and possibly will convince him to do a pastel art piece. Riley is entering the Lego competition again, as well as a "live competition" where you have to bring your own lego and build on command whatever the judge asks of you! Should be fun! Riley is amazing with Lego and has officially outdone me on his abilities to create virtually anything. He is so excited about an order of Lego power functions that is in the mail, which will help him create all kinds of motorized things. Anyway...back to what I need from you. I am still thinking through which photos I want to enter. I will post about ten and hope you can help me narrow it down. The categories are: 1. Open...colour 2. Sunrise, Sunset, Moonlight and Reflections 3. People 4. Action/Sports 5. Plant 6. Animals 7. Travel 8. Open...black and white I can enter up to three in every category, and don't suspect that I'll have any photos to enter of Action, Animals or Travel. I think entering 6 will be lots. Ok...so... 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

(I will need Heather's approval for this one!) 7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

(I guess I do have an animal!) 13.

14.

15.

Hmmm....I don't have any black and white on here. I will have to continue my search through my photo archives (not easy). I'm thinking maybe one of Isaac, and I am open to any suggestions. If you can think of a photo that you'd like to see me put up here, please say something! Thanks so much!

Blast

Summer is in full swing now! The sun has decided to show itself and we've finally been able to enjoy some summer activities...

In the last three days, we've been to the splash park, the waterslides and the beach! The week before was still grey and rainy, and we were at the coast for my aunt's wedding.

Congratulations to my aunt Elizabeth and new uncle Wayne! It was a beautiful wedding, and the sun shone for a few hours during their ceremony. Here we are...all dressed up...

Though it wasn't very summery, we still had lots of fun with our family in the hotel and tried to go to the beach for a bit in the cold.

We met up with Heather, Christian and Hugo for a bit too. Then we zipped home and stopped at the Othello tunnels on our way home. A great little hike by Hope that passes through old railway tunnels.

So we're home again to loads of housework and yard work, along with the fun trips out with friends and family. Today G and Liam were helping Glen and Bri move out to Kamloops. They picked the hottest day of the summer so far to do it! We are sad they will be leaving, but happy they are still close enough to drop by often! So here we go...the summer mayhem has begun and we are already tanned and tired!