Cloud formations

what does this cloud remind you of?

What does this cloud remind you of?

I thought this bottom picture was lovely.......I like how it caught the sun.....and I just used my point and shoot which doesn't normally take great pictures.......


My kids love playing that game where you have to work out what the clouds look like....rabbits, elephants, George Bush.......I think this top one has a scary kind of face in it if you look carefully....and the middle one looks a little like a small white dog....the kind I can't stand lol!

Sam-sam

Some pictures of Sam outside this afternoon.....

great site

http://kiddley.com/

Great site for Moms - lots of ideas for all kinds of stuff for kids :) Updated almost daily!

Drying in the breeze....

The problem with having a pool and so many children is that ecah time they get in the pool they grab ANOTHER towel from the laundry cupboard.....then when they are done they leave them screwed up in a pile on their bedroom floors.......so we keep running out of clean and dry towels......and I find myself hunting down the wet ones and hanging them along the porch rail to dry..........my front porch is looking a little like a launderette

More pictures from this morning......

Pearl Crescent butterfly

Laurie in the new tshirt from Grandma and Grandad Spicer

Abigail on the sled in the pool

raindrops left over from last nights storm.......Susie noticed these and asked me to photograph them....they sparkled and this picture doesn't do them justice.......I should have taken my Nikon with me.....

Kylies Mom

Hope you see this......I've posted twice now on your blog and when I hid send it says I have put in the wrong number and have to go back and put in the right number....I KNOW its the right number which annoys me and when I go back all my message has been deleted......so basically because of the number verification thingy I can't post in your blog any more :(

But I am reading!

I wrote a long thing about easy bake ovens...and another about some raspberry recipe I have from home....they both got deleted :(

A good day

S with Sam down by the pond

Sam walking with us

We saw plenty of bugs on our walk....

At the rear of our land..the whole of the left hand side is covered in raspberry bushes

Rosie in the wild flowers

Picking raspberries

Rosie shaking off water all over B

Fun in the pool

Sam on the trampoline

Rosies favourite game of fetch in the pond.

The clouds moved to the NW and missed us luckily...but it stormed in town.

throwing sticks for Rosie.

It's been a really nice morning.......after breakfast everyone wanted to play in the pool, so I played outside with Sam so I could keep an eye on everyone in the pool......I noticed that Rosie was playing with something in the grass...a frog! So I grabbed it quickly and we all looked at it and then we let it free into the pond.....

I was heading off to walk the dogs and the children asked if they could join me...so Laurie and his friends, Susie, Abby and Sam all came with me......we found the big ant hill and all watched the ants runnning in and out of their tunnels...we also found that the whole back of our property is COVERED in endless raspberry bushes....(wild???) so the kids had fun picking and eating all the ripe ones.....

We noticed all kinds of bugs and flowers on the walk.....I wished had my good camera with me instead of just my point and shoot.

We walked all around the back and then headed down to the pond where the kids had fun throwing sticks into the water for Rosie......

Back inside Susie asked to make some real lemonade...so she just made a big jug and is trying to get the others to try some....

It's almost 1pm and no one has asked for any lunch yet...I'm figuring the pancakes and raspberry feast filled everyone up......

I heard Lauries friends say 'I want to live on an acreage'......I guess thats a sign they are having fun here :)

Is it Friday yet?

This week seems so long after Lloyds week off last week.

I just got through making pancakes for all the children....8 of them.....English style pancakes.......my kids love them but the Canadian children (sensibly) aren't too keen....English pancakes are like fat crepes and are tastless.....even with sugar or syrup or chocolate sauce they are tasteless.......

My kids were amazed that their friends didn't like them...I wasn't! lol! I much prefer the fluffy Canadian style pancakes.....yum!

So the children are all outside...their friends are enjoying helping feed the chickens and rabbits and dogs and generally enjoying playing outside with so much space....they spent most of last evening swimming and playing soccer...I finally called them in around 10:30. When I woke up at 3am it was quiet downstairs so they were obviously asleep. There was a big storm here around 3am last night....the twins Mom just called and said there is a big storm in town right now....blue skies and sunshine here....yet we're really close to town.....strange weather here.....five minutes away they can have huge hail and storms and we can have blue skies!

So the boys are leaving around 7pm tonight when I go to the mall for my hair cut.....I still am not sure what to do about my hair......I'm not sure I want it cut too much any more........it's like in my profile pic atm.....but I'm thinking of having it cut just below chin length again - how I had it last summer......i'll talk to Erin.....Erin at Regis is a FAB stylist!!!! I've missed her doing my hair but she's BACK yay!

Well I think I am going to go out and take the dogs for a walk...it's nice that it isn't too hot today and I can go during the day....we've been leaving it until the evening lately as the dogs don't like the heat.......

Big Brother to the extreme.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=392629&in_page_id=1770

I'm speechless.....

Lindt Lindor.......

Never go and make a cup of tea and trustingly leave your husband with a packet of Lindt Lindor chocolates.......there seem to be a lot of empty wrappers on the table now :(

Pam thank you so much for the chocolates...I really HAD meant to share them out after lunch........but now the children are busy with their friends....faaaaar too busy to eat chocolates (conveniently)......so Lloyd and I are sat here eating them.....I've never had these before and they are delicious...I guess with these chocolates and the butter chicken I had for dinner I kind of messed up my healthy eating for the day ;)

Ah well.....tomorrow is a new day :)

Funeral from 1914

A parcel arrived from my parents today.....there were t-shirts for the boys (Chris's says 'I'm surrounded by idiots' and Laurences says 'Have a nice day - somewhere else!')

A nightie for me....which I reall need.....I'm fussy...I like spaghetti straps and a simple shape.....I hate sleeves or anything fussy to sleep in........a t-shirt for Abigail that says '100% cute 200% attitude!' a book on the history of furniture....some recipes including an old homemade sweets recipe book......and inside was tucked a photocopy of a receipt my Dad had found....a receipt for the funeral of my Great Grandmother.....from 1914! It reads:

Witchampton, Wimborne April 25th 1914

Dr. to John Roberts
Wheelwright, Smith, Carpenter and Undertaker.

Labour making coffin with raised cover,
linings, wadding, brassed furniture, marking breast-plate
and attendance

2 pounds 5 shillings

Received with thanks.

An entire funeral for $5!!!!!!!! Wow.....how prices have changed!

Chalk drawings...

Well I had a really nice day. Thanks to Pam and C for coming over......it was nice to meet 'everyone' at last! Thanks so much for driving out so far to spend time with us :) and I got to show off my chickens :) Next time hopefully you can each take some eggs home :)

The nice thing about spending time with those new to homeschooling is that you get to talk about homeschooling! After a while homeschooling just becomes normal life but those new to it still like to talk about it.......so most of today was spent talking about our decisions and choices...and like Pam said...its nice to find people who actually like being with their children.....they CHOOSE to be with their children......

I had no idea Pam was a LLL Leader either!!! It reminded me of how I started homeschooling and those days spent with Lorraine and Lesley and Julie and all the others in and around Manchester.........I miss those days...I keep meaning to email Julie....I haven't heard from her in years.......and I owe Lorraine a letter......wonderful Lorraine who is just so easy to spend time with and sooooo funny!

The children all seemed to play happily...in and out of the pool...chalking on the porch....playing indoors.......Susie of course LOVED having girls her age to play with in the pool.......

The children are eating dinner right now .....Lloyd is on his way home from work...later than normal...so he's stopping off to pick up dinner from Joey Tomato's.......twice in one week - yum!

The boys friends are due to arrive after dinner...three extra boys that should have been here last night are sleeping over tonight.....spending the day here tomorrow.......

I feel like I haven't stopped talking all day..........my head is thumping......and I have so many thoughts swimming around in this little brain of mine.........maybe I'll type more later when I can think straight.

Susie's been chalking on the porch hence the picture above.....

Core plan

So I am back on the core plan.....

http://p087.ezboard.com/fdottisweightlosszonefrm140

This website is fab for ideas and recipes and support.......I loved core and felt so healthy on it....I just got sidetracked at Easter and lapsed....so I started again Monday.......basically its the healthy way to eat.......eating foods as natural as possible and detoxing from sugar and processed foods...I eat a lot of these natural foods anyway but want to detox again......I went three months without added sugar last time......I can do it again....

I also want to start running again...it's been too long.....last night Lloyd mowed a track for me all around our land......he has to finish it tonight...going through the woods and the back field....but it means I can run again as I did last year......I'm not supposed to run or do 'too much' because of my SPD but I usually know when I've done too much.

Visitors will be here soon.....just sat here filling in time :) thinking about stuff....

Travel blog

This is the travel blog of a lady I feel like I know....she is one of the few people I really respect from a website I used to post on....her and her DD are travelling across Canada together and it sounds as though they are having a really fab time!

http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/guest.pl?u=hermamma&t=canada2006&p=tpod

I'm enjoying reading about all the places they are visiting and making notes for when we travel across this beautiful big country of ours!

Happy Hump Day

Actually typing Hump Day reminds me I owe CA an Email.....it was CA that first told me Wednesday was called Hump Day!!! I had never heard of it before that!

I over slept this morning.....I was up at 6:30 or just before and waved Lloyd off to work...he always waves and then flashes his hazard lights when he gets to the end of the driveway as a last wave goodbye! Sam was asleep all snuggly in bed so I got back into bed with him and fell asleep again and didn't wake up until 8:15am. I always feel more groggy when I go back to sleep too so it took me a while to get going.

It's now around 10:30 and I'm having breakfast.....unsweetened applesauce and oatmeal......I don't cook the oatmeal...just mix applesauce into it and some cinnamon....

Pam is coming over for lunch today which I'm looking forward to.......and then C is coming over after lunch for the afternoon...I'm hoping the sun breaks through so the children can swim without getting too cold......I figure I can post Pams name because she posts comments here in my blog (hi Pam!) but most people I only post their initials.......

Tonight the boys have friends sleeping over.....the sleepover that should have been last night.....

T sent me the cutest movie clip of E being bathed in the kitchen sink......that is one smiley little baby girl!

Abigail is drawing a picture of me.....I thought I had wings growing out of my head but I'm told they are ponytails.......and like she explains to me........wings don't grow out of heads! Oh and she's now teaching me to draw arms......sometimes I wonder which one of us is the adult...... ;) Ok I've just snapped a picture of Abigails picture of me......(see above)

Well I get the fun job now.....scooping up after the dogs outside and making sure it's all nice and clean...this is a daily job anyway but MOST important when the children are playing outside....such a lovely job NOT!