Catch up...

The last week of January was a bit of a flop....the temperatures were so cold that we couldn't really go outside...no walks or sledding or anything and for a few days I didn't have a vehicle as L took it to work to be safer. His care is 4x4 but its still just a car.

My older 3 were home for 4 of the 5 days because it was so cold.

We did go swimming on the Friday and we had friends here all day Monday and Tuesday, so the children were happy and busy. A had her friend J here on the Monday and enjoyed that very much.

We didn't do much if any 'school' work...but lots of game playing, chatting, reading etc etc took place.....and lots of curling up to watch movies by the fire....it was a slow week all in all and we were glad to start getting back to normal today.

Mind you this week isn't 'normal' either as the older three are only in school three days and we have a party to get ready for this weekend, so lots of errands to run....maybe NEXT week will be normal.....although then it's A's birthday!

Our money theme for January continues..

Our main math theme for January was 'money' and we have continued with this in to February. Today we played a few games of money dominoes. A has to figure out whether the pictures of the coins or notes math the amount written to see if she can pair them up.

This is great for her addition as well as coin and note recognition...and recognising amounts written in numeric form....

Creation station....

A spent much of this morning cutting out hats and glasses and door hangers from her magazine......she then dressed S up as Diego and made him a watch to go with his outfit....cutting the watch from paper and drawing on the clock face....

Chickadee dee dee dee dee....

Just playin' around......

Yorkshire puddings.....

The yorkshire puddings I made last night were really yummy - big and puffy and light :) and went perfectly with Lloyds roast beef dinner :)

I ate faaaaaaar too much! :)

So thats done

Vacuuming is done....kitchen is clean and tidy...Sam and Abby are playing indoor hockey...yes in the house sigh ....but at least they are active ;) Then Abby and I are going to lay Money dominoes, continuing our money math theme.....basically the dominoes have amounts of money made from a mix of notes and coins and she has to figure out which pictures add up to the same amount so she can put them together....I think I'll get her to do some reading and we will continue with our book 'My Naughty Little Sister'.....

Monday blahs...

It's lunchtime and I just can't seem to get going today. We are supposed to be heading in to town for the library this afternoon but I'm not sure we will make it.

the vacuum cleaner is lying on the floor behind me looking neglected...I am meant to vacuum the main floor but it seems like such an effort lol!

I did do 3 loads of laundry this morning though, tidied my room and cleaned both the bathrooms.

Abigail and Sam did a lot of cutting out this morning....making hats and door hangers out of paper and yarn. Abby played on Webkinz for a while. Lloyd has phoned approximately every ten minutes this morning to tell me he wants to retire and stay at home every day.

I phoned the doctors and have booked my annual physical - its not until April - so I have made an appointment for next Monday with a different doctor, to find out what can be done about my migraines - I can NOT keep taking imitrex 3 or 4 times a week - its not safe. Dr Muzyka says it isn't safe to take more than 2 a week at the most...so I need to do something....

Yeovil from the air

This is the town I was born in and grew up in. In fact you can see the white hospital beside the big yellowy hospital - well I was born in there!

Mad f*ckers are all driving on the wrong side of the road - can you see them all on the traffic circle - omg I'd want to drive around the other way!!!!!! Actually my Dad and I had a crash on this roundabout when I was pregnant with Chris - totally NOT my Dads fault though....although probably the reason Chris is the way he is ;)

Alberta Bound...

Our Beautiful Province.....

and:



Of course Lloyd watches and says "See it looks really nice there, but they don't show it when its shit and like -500c" lol......well, no matter the cold and snow, this IS a beautiful part of the world ;) I feel VERY lucky to live here...to HAVE lived here...even if it isn't home forever, I am glad we lived here :)

The place we call home.......

and an older version:

Snow Buntings?

We keep seeing flocks of small whiteish birds flying around.....they look white while in flight and slightly brownish when at rest....never seen them before this week and now a flock is flying about here quite often....in the surrounding fields and in our front paddock.

I wasn't sure what they were, but on further invesigation I think they are Snow Buntings.....

Anyone know for sure? I think I will write to John Acorn and ask him.

So now I feel bad.......useless even ;)

This guy was taking pictures of snowflakes in 1885!!!!!! OMG can you imagine! Over a hundred years later with all of todays technology and I am struggling to get a decent picture!
snowflakebentley.com/

Practice makes perfect...but....

I still can't get the PERFECT flake picture grrrr........problem is you don't want the flakes to melt so you HAVE to do it with the window wide open and your hands get so cold and its hard to balance to stay really really still.

When the temperature warms up more I plan to go outside when it snows and set up my tripod and a black mat on a table and then I should get some better pictures....you have to be directly above the flake to get it in focus and that isn't always easy...sounds simple but if you are even slightly off direct then the flake is blurred.

Macro photography of things THIS small is NOT easy but I LOVE it :)