What a glorious weekend :)

This was a three day weekend for us - as there was no school on Friday.  It started with our trip to see Peter Pan on Thursday night - and Susannah having her friend to sleep over - and then on Friday our lovely afternoon out to the Gem show.  (The children are STILL studying their gemstones and their meanings!!)

Friday evening the two littles went to their Dads house, and Susannah went to Cassies house for a sleepover - and her first house party experience!!!  

I had the house to MYSELF for the first time in a VERY long time!!  Laurence was working too!  He stayed over at the twins.

I had a lovely evening of art, relaxing and enjoying the quiet!  It was a little odd having the house to myself, but I think it is good for me every now and then!  I thought of asking M out for a drink, but we have plans for Thursday so I decided to stay home!  

On Saturday I picked Susannah up from her friends house and we headed to North Edmonton for my hair appointment.  Amber was away on a course, so I had Treena cut my hair - she seemed really nice though and did a GREAT job!  

After The Mane Door, we headed (the long way lol) to Whyte Avenue.  We parked and strolled along in the sunshine - had a look around Chapters and walked up to the new Roots Building that opened on Saturday.  We had lunch together at the Artison-Resto Cafe which e really love - fabulous (but funny) service, and amazing food!!

After Whyte Ave we popped to Treasured Memories to get my Mothers Day gift from the children - Dylusion Spray inks and stencils :)  Bliss!!

Then we drove in to Sherwood Park to get sandals for Summer as I needed new ones and Susannah didn't have ANY!!  

It was hot out and so after shoe shopping we stopped off at DQ for ice cream/ milkshake!!

We went home and Susannah had a nap as she had had a VERY late night at her friends.  I relaxed with my magazine.  Then we headed in to pick Laurence up from work at 10.

Edmonton Gem and Mineral Show

As many of you probably know, we are big fans of gemstones, rocks, crystals etc etc - the children LOVE them and LOVE to go gem mining.  Both Abigail and Sam have big collections of gemstones that they keep in special 'treasure boxes' and they love to add to them.  They also love fossils and bones and shark teeth etc etc - the gem gallery at the museum is a favourite exhibit of ours.

Sam has even learned a TON about rocks and stones from playing Minecraft!  He was surprising one of the dealers today with his knowledge!!

Today I took them to the Edmonton Gem and Mineral show - and Im sooooo glad that I did!  It was wonderful!  Sooo friendly!!  Before we were even in the door, a man in line gave Sam one of his gemstones to keep and asked him what kind of stones he liked best!

Several dealers gave them free gemstones to keep - and we were given a free dvd to do with rocks as they were among the first fifty children to go!!

They got to try real gold panning, and we learned all about how it is possible to gold pan in Alberta and BC still today and make quite a bit of money!  We bought a beginners set and plan to take it with us on our road trip this summer!!

They got to break two geodes each and then place them under ultra violet light to see what colour the crystals inside glow - some were blue and some were green!!  Very cool!

They got chat away with all the gemstone dealers about stones they have - and ask questions about them and all the ones at the show!  There were fossils and petrified wood and all kinds of treasures to see!  Susannah bought herself a ring made from Russian Jade!!  I bought myself some gemstones for healing.

When we got home, Abigail and I sat on the bed and looked online for our gemstones - identifying them all again and studying their healing and health benefits!!  

All in all I am so glad we went!!!

29 faces in May....

More faces for the 29 Faces in May challenge I am taking part in.

Friday Fill ins...

And...here we go!

1. What a beautiful day - filled with such nice, kind, generous people and my happy healthy children!
2. Life is good right?
3. It's no surprise that Sam loved the gemstone show - I wonder if he will become a geologist or paleontologist when he is older - he does so love rocks and stones and digging.
4. Finding the right gemstones for my healing wasn't easy, but in the end I think I chose perfectly.
5. I like to try new art techniques and products.
6. Nickelbacks 'Lullaby' is one of my most favorite songs! Yet so many people don't like them.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to some alone time for the first time in a VERY long time, a bath, some art time and a movie, tomorrow my plans include getting my hair cut and checking out the new Roots Community Building on Whyte and Sunday, I want to spend the day doing something fun with 2 of my kids and then in the evening taking 4 of them out for ice cream when the youngest get back from their Dads!

Our Thursday evening....

On the way home tonight the sunset was glorious, so we turned down one of the range roads and stopped to take pictures by the lake:

Susannah's friend came with us to the play and is sleeping over as there is no school tomorrow.  They played guitar and practiced singing for part of the evening and came in to show me how well they had done.  Sam danced in the background and Susie sat and played guitar and sang beautifully:

I tried the techniques I learned in the Doodling class on a heart, but found the centre got all tiny and messy and oddly shaped - so I have asked Sandi, the teacher, for some tips:

Abigail also doodled a heart.  She is enjoying the class and likes seeing everyones comments on her work:

Peter Pan!!

Tonight we went in to Edmonton to see my friend Sharons Daughter perform as Wendy in her schools production of Peter Pan!!  It was such a wonderful play - 8 months of rehearsing!!  S did fabulously!!  Sam left us and went and found himself a front row seat - I thought that was so funny - but he was good as gold and sat and enjoyed the whole thing.  He enjoyed telling me about it and his favourite parts afterwards - so I know he paid attention the whole way through :)

In the intermission we were all given desserts - yummy!  Sam and Abby had two plates each....sigh...but thankfully there seemed to be plenty :)  

Thank you Sharon (and S) for a wonderful evening!!

I won a place in Sandi's fabulous new art class 'I Doodle - Do You' which you can read about by CLICKING HERE  and it started today on Sandi's birthday (Happy Birthday Sandi).

It is a mosaic style of doodling and today for the first lesson we were taught how to do the 'Little Sun'.

Abigail is joining in with me on this class.  Here she is working on her sun:

Abby finishing the sun rays:

Abigails first doodle finished:

My work in progress:

With the rays doodled in:

And all finished:

It's a lovely class and so fun to watch the videos - Sandi just makes me smile and this was a great way to start my day!  In fact most of out day was filled with this - which was fine as outside it is cold and snowy and grey and VERY windy!  Perfect day to stay curled up and creating!!

Snapshots from the rest of our Wednesday...