lol. Love it. And so true.

Snapshots from the last few days......

Five Question Friday

1. Is there a special dish you prepare that you are famous for?

My roasties.  My beef and Guinness stew.  My potato and bacon soup.  The hash brown casserole recipe that I took from Joanne and changed up....my kids love my version.

2. Are you (did you) go Black Friday shopping ?

Nope.

3. What are your strangest holiday traditions?

I don't think we have any strange traditions.  I love all of our traditions.

4. Pecan or pumpkin pie? (She actually asked "Apple or pumpkin?" I just T-giving'edit!)

PUMPKIN!!!!! Yummy :)

5. When will you put up your Christmas tree?

Probably this week.

craft tag

1. Must have craft supply?    Glossy Accents

2. Why & when did you start journaling?   Its a way to be creative, write, draw, colour, save memories, use notebooks, doodle.....all in one....and it's portable!!!

3. Guilty Pleasures?   Goodwill.  Chocolate.  Facebook.

4. Two things you want very badly at this moment?  To stay home with Rosie instead of having to head out and drive all over the city to classes all afternoon.  Monday to arrive - Abigail has asked for us to sign up for th Brave Girls Mother - Daughter class together (love)!!

5. 3 items in your purse?    Keys, advil, diary.

6. Favorite art technique or style?  mixed media/ collage

7. When do you feel most creative?   evenings.

8. Do you snack while you craft?  sometimes....

9. Do you have a crafting confession?  I am becoming more and more impressed by Sams art skills.  Like SERIOUSLY impressed!!!!

10. Favorite TV shows?  We don't have tv.

11. Jobs you've had?  Art teacher, artist....psychiatric nurse, homeschool mom, sales assistant, newspaper delivery,

12. What are you listening to, right now?   Rosie snoring, Sam chatting to himself while he works, Abby singing and talking to herself as she potters about....

Snapshots from our week.....

Bathroom mirror pic (haha)  and the mirror needed wiping lol!!!

Laurence on Tuesday:

One of this weeks glorious sunsets:

View from my front room:

Rosie keeping me company one night:

Rosie saying hello:

An appointment downtown this week:

Art time - clay sculpture.

Yesterday we did clay sculpture.  Sam made Star Wars characters.  Abby made a guy sat down watching tv :)  I think they did a great job!!!  :)  

Today we are off to Bricks 4 Kidz - our monthly Lego class.  Tonight Susannah has a yoga class at the library so we are heading there - Their Dad cancelled having them again - but it works out well as it means we can all go to the library for the evening and Abigail wanted to get some new books anyway!! 

Then tomorrow we have climbing class and then I'm hoping we have time to get to the SHINE Lego club in the afternoon.  Sam would really enjoy that!!

And that will be another week over with!!  Wow time is flying but we are having such a great year!  Sams reading and writing is going so well now.  I signed up for Reading Eggs - a website that was recommended and he did so great on their reading assessment!  It really pleased me to see his progress!  He is finally starting to see connection between letters and sounds and stringing them together into words.

I'm still not going to push him as I want him to ENJOY reading, but I will encourage him and let him see the GOOD things that come from reading - and why it will help him do so many other things when he can read!!

Home

Laurence snapped this picture of our beautiful home with his phone.  He was walking up the driveway from the school bus and the sun was setting and shining on the front windows of the house.

Beautiful.

xxx

I love that even my 16 year old can appreciate how wonderful this place is...how beautiful the sunsets are and how lucky we are to have lived here.  

xxx

doggy massage :)

Rosie getting a tummy rub from Abigail :)

Quicky pies :)

Yesterday was an at-home day and I made a new recipe in the crock pot.  I really like the lasagna casserole at Timmy's, so I tried that at home and it was a HUGE success!!  Everyone loved it!!    Wholewheat lasagna sheets broken up, pasta sauce, ground beef, garlic, vegetables, onion, cheese, tomatoes....

It was really yummy and they've even asked for the leftovers for today!!

I then used two pie shells and made two quick pies!!  A jam tart using up all the almost-empty jam jars in the fridge.  My kids have a habit of opening new jars and leaving jars in the fridge that have about two spoonfuls in them - so I emptied about 6 jars and made the pie!!  

I also made a chocolate cream pie using chocolate pudding and whipped cream.  

Both disappeared fast and were well loved :)  

Christmasy happenings....

Christmas has been on the children's minds a lot lately :)  Abigail has already been watching a lot of Christmas movies.  Both children have been making a lot of crafts - from kits and from their own imaginations :)  

They both sat and wrote their letters to Santa, and we mailed them on Tuesday morning.  We will now be checking the mail box regularly and waiting for a reply!!  

I do love this time of year and the excitement in the run up to Christmas - all the traditions and fun!!

xxx

wednesday tag....

1. Let's start with something controversial...dressing or stuffing? What's it called at your house and what's included in your recipe...cornbread? oysters? sausage? chestnuts?    I don't know what is in it...I buy a packet of Paxo or something or other and it's lovely - its either Sage and Onion or THyme and Parsley...and its similar to 'Swiss Chalets' stuffing!!  Yum!!

2. Who do you sometimes compare yourself to?   I don't think I compare myself to anyone....but other people say I am like Mrs Weasley from Harry Potter - or Julie Walters the actress who plays her.....

3. When were you last inside an airport? Mid October..early hours of October  16th when we got back from Vegas

4. What is one side dish that absolutely must be included in a turkey dinner?   brussel sprouts.  swede, yorkshire puddings.  horseradish sauce....mmmmm

5. What Christmas song do you dread hearing?   I don't mind any of them really

6. If someone approaches you and asks for money do you give it to them?   depends on my mood and how much I have on me/ time of the month

Do you drop money 'in a tin cup' that belongs to a person on the street?    depends on my mood / how much change I have/ the person/ situation.

Do you have a specific charity you support during the holiday season and/or year round? We sponsor two children through world vision .  I love doing that.  I'm sure it won't be long before my Ex selfishly decides to stop doing it, but for now he still does it and I think it is a lovely thing for the children to do.  I also have a few local charities that I love to support.  The Stollery Hospital.  Youth Emergency Shelter.  A couple of others personal to me.

7. Share a favorite Thanksgiving memory. If you live in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving share a favorite memory associated with food. I love our family walks every Thanksgiving afternoon to take family pictures.  

8. Insert your own random thought here.   I am tired.  Very VERY tired.  Very grateful for the plumber this morning - what a great guy!

Laser light show!!

To end the Celebration of Lights, they had a laser light show.  There was fog let out for the lights to go through...and then the lights were set to music.  It was really good!!  Sam loved it!!  It started with little green and red lights dancing on the ceiling and then the music got louder and the colours changed and got brighter and went crazy - and made amazing patterns on the walls and were dancing on people :)  It was fun!!  :)  

A great way to end the Celebration of Lights!

And of course we then headed back to the car and drove home through the town and ALL the Christmas street lights were on!!  :)  

Beautiful!!

The Christmas season has begun!!!

xxx

Festival of Trees...

Snapshots from our afternoon at the Festival of Trees and the Celebration of Lights.

It was a chilly day but I'm so glad we went - we had a lovely afternoon - everyone had a lot of fun!!  

Sherwood Parks Festival of Trees

Some of the decorated trees in the competition at the Festival of Trees in our local town.

The winner of Gold was the bottom one - which was by the local Garden Centre.  

Girls sleepover....an Instagram memoir...

Abby and her friend slept in the tent last night...they set up camp in the front room:

Susannah and her friend played a few games, relaxed and took endless pictures of themselves with iphotobooth:

This morning we filled the house with the gorgeous scent of warm cinnamon buns:

I enjoyed mine by the fire, where I sat and enjoyed the morning sun and watched the birds at the bird feeder.  The Nuthatches are back, as are the Bluejays and Woodpeckers.  The Chickadees were very busy eating as much as possible because of the cold temperatures!!!