Sandcastle building competition..........

The sandcastle building contest was a wonderful old fashioned style competition for the children..........it was lovely seeing all the children busy working together to build a castle using the supplies they had........they were all so creative!

Penny Carnival...

We were invited to a potluck lunch today with some unschooling earth-based religion friends of ours................but today was also the day of the annual Penny Carnival in the park......the Alliance Church in Sherwood Park puts on parties every summer overa few days...music, dancing crafts, games, snacks etc etc......then on the last day they have a big penny carnival. We have been a few times over the past few years................and its always fun.

I wasn't sure what the children would want to do so I asked them to choose....they chose the penny carnival. As much as the pot luck would have been fun, I was secretly pleased because my children are getting older and it won't be long before they are too old to enjoy the penny carnival....

So this morning Chris babysat for Sam while I headed into town to Broadmoor Lake........we were expecting to be by ourselves at the park (which is fine) but when we arrived we saw Lorraine and a few other people we knew, so we all joined up together and had one of the picnic tables....

It was a really fun morning.......the penny carnivals are great and all free.......face painting, crafts, bubble blowing, hula hooping, music, free popcorn and free cotton candy......they also did a sandcastle building contest and Laurence and Susie linked up with some of the other children in our group and they WON!!!!!

Lorraine shared her Nanaimo bars with me and best of all I got to cuddle with the cutest cuddliest, sweetest little baby boy ever (apart from my own of course lol)......

After the penny carnival we headed to Sobeys and then stopped off at a yard sale and got a ton of things (that we probably don't need lol) and the kids have been playing with their 'finds' ever since!

The quads should arrive any minute now...as you can imagine Laurie is glued to the window very excited! And Lloyd is on his way home from work :)

The weekend starts here and its another HOT one to enjoy :)

Have a great weekend everyone :) make the most of one of the last few warm weekends of the summer...........we noticed on the way home that a LOT of trees are turning yellow! And the geese are on the move too.....................

Feeling like me again...........

It feels as though a dark cloud has lifted from me today.......after a week of being tired and miserable and grumpy and bad tempered and fed up......today I am feeling back to my normal chirpy happy self........(Christie my tiara is all shiny and perky again lol)..........

I have a type of anaemia where my body doesn't absorb the iron from food that it should........I know this.......I know I am supposed to take a supplement but most supplements leave me feeling ill.......so I have a special drink from the UK called Spatone. Family and friends bring it over for me when they visit ........I am supposed to take one sachet a day with juice........

I KNOW that when I take my iron I feel better....I KNOW this...I KNOW how awful I feel when I am anaemic....so why do I not take it????? Why do I tell myself again and again that its not important?????

So anyway, yesterday I decided to be good and took 2 sachets and also took my hemp...........This morning I had my hemp and one sachet and I feel sooooo much better already.....I have energy...I'm not grouchy and I had a great day.....................and its FRIDAY :)

But you know what....this time next week I will probably have stopped taking it again. Duh!!!!

I slept really well last night too :) That always helps!

dork alert!

Does anyone look good in a helmet?????

We went to Cycleworks tonight and all got kitted out with helmets, gloves and goggles.....it was quite funny really...Lloyds head was so small they were almost considering a youth helmet and theres me...turns out my head is HUGE (ok no jokes lol) and I wasn't sure whether to get a large or extra large......and my hands...they're a funny shape......I have short fingers but wide hands so gloves don't fit me properly......

Anyway, Cycleworks on 75th were fab.......customer service is really great and the girl helping us had a great sense of humour :) they took us out back to see Lloyds new wheels and alloys too :)

As we were walking out the girls behind the counter said goodbye to Laurence and we heard them saying 'he's just the cutest boy I've ever seen'....his response? 'Cool' ;)

Tomorrow the quads arrive :)

Helmet hair

Ok so its a bit big but they didn't have it in my size and its so stylish and it matches my bike and at least this way I won't get helmet hair...........................

Miracle-gro

Do you think I over-did it with the miracle-gro???

How Wednesday developed..................

So I was in such a crappy mood yesterday......just totally fed up and having a total bitch-fest....Christie said she liked it...she wrote me:

"I kinda like the sarcasm! Now I see that your tiara isn't all shiny and
bright all the time! I like it!"

lol

Lloyd came home from work and like a knight in shining armour (lol) he whisked me away and into town for dinner at Joet Tomato's.......I had the butter chicken. After that we went to the mall as he had an appt with Sandy in Regis to have his hair cut.........we also went shoe shopping (thats a WHOLE other blog post - grooooaaaan) and while he was in there I strolled around chapters and bought a book and magazine....by the time I strolled out, Lloyd was done and we grabbed a few groceries and headed home..................

It was a lovely end to a sh*tty day :)

Dumpster diving................

Abigail and Sam investigating the dumpster lol.......
the dogs looked in but refused to actually go in :)

Yard sale finds...........

On the way home we stopped at a yard sale....Abigail found a keyboard that she just loves.....Susie found a pretty bracelet and I found a large ziploc full of toy cars for Sam......

Laurie didn't get anything but he's getting his surprise later!!!!! :) and he'll be THRILLED :)

Admiring Mother Natures work............

Party in the park.............

After the apple picking we headed to Broadmoor Lake and met R in the parking lot with her crew.....her kids are so great! When we got over to the playground we heard music and saw a crowd of children by a stage....we didn't realise there was anything on at the park today but the churches were having their annual party in the park things.........we normally only go to the penny carnival on the last day.............Abigail had a blast dancing and singing in the crowd to songs like 'The Rainbow in the sky is a sign that God Loves us'...............or something like that lol! They then performed a play about Jonah and the Whale...and R's DD acted in it!!!!! Afterwards she told me all about the story and I was amazed that she had retained all that information from the little play.......with all the cheering and dancing and everything in the park and she remembered the whole story! R's DS showed me how great he is at cartwheels too! And it was like a homeschool convention there too as several other homeschooling families were there (hello Lorraine if you're reading this!!!!!)

Barbie Mom showed up too .....groooooooan looking perfect of COURSE!!!! white jeans lol.......not ideal for a wet and soggy sandy playground...but each to their own I guess lol! Ah there see, you didn't know Barbie was real did you?????? lol!

After our picnic and playing for a couple of hours we headed home......stopped off at the local store for some cola to make really healthy ice cream floats.................then stopped off at a yard sale..............that blog coming up...............

Our Thursday......

We drove into town this morning to drop Chris at work at the museum.

After waving him off we drove around to D's home - I was swapping a box of eggs for crabapples!!! The best part was that we got to pick them ourselves!!!! The children had great fun picking the little radish sized apples and throwing them in the boxes.....I tried one and found them to be quite sharp but we are going to look for a recipe for crabapple liquer that uses vodka :) and will make some jelly too and maybe some juice..................

After that we headed to Broadmoor Lake to meet R and her children.................

Dog fluff................

So this is what the grass looked like after grooming Amber on Tuesday................imagine this all over your sofa!!!!! Please think carefully before getting a dog.......they are not toys that can be returned to the store if you change your mind.........its a big committment that should be thought through carefully......

Soccer fun.........

The children had a big soccer match going on outside yesterday and it was chilly so Susie put her sweater on Sam which looked cute with its long arms :)

Dumpster? Bin? We call it a skip!

So finally late in the afternoon yesterday the skip was delivered.......its not as HUGE as DH had described lol but its plenty big enough and is the size we had originally asked for..........the dogs were put inside while it was lowered and when they came out and saw it they were growling and barking and quite scared of this big blue thing sitting in their yard, so I walked around it with them and then took them for a walk and by the time we got back they were quite happy to be near it.......

So tonight the hard work starts.........emptying the garage, the barn...and clearing all the junk from this place...its amazing what the old owners left here............but this weekend it will all be GONE :)