FOR TODAY

Outside my window...beautiful and sunny with clear skies, but COLD - the weather network says -9c and feels like -14c!!!  Wow!!!  I hope it warms up before Halloween!!

I am thinking...that I need another coffee :)

I am thankful...for such a fun weekend with a mix of friends, family, laughter, sunshine, good food and being busy and having time to relax :)  

In the kitchen...lots of yumminess lately - and we are back eating Fall and Winter meals - hashbrown casserole, roast dinners, stews...this week they have requested home made potato and bacon soup, and today I have barbecued pulled pork in the crock pot!  

I am wearing...jeans, long sleeved T - my typical outfit :)  Not sure if I will wear a scarf or necklace yet...probably a scarf because it's so cold!!

I am creating...my Fall mini album still, which is getting nice and fat and filled with memories of the last couple of months.  I will end it mid November before the Christmas festivities start everywhere...then I will start my JYC album :)  

I am going...to take Sam to Big Al's to see the fish while Abigail is at French this afternoon.  He remembered that we were supposed to go last week and has requested we do it today :)  

I am wondering...whether we should just drive round Elk Island Park tonight or if we should get out and light a fire up in the shelter and make smores....or come home and make smores on the fire here instead.  

I am reading...all of the Soulistry work and pdf's from Book of Days that I have not had time for lately...and feeling all creative and at peace :)  Thank you Effy!!

I am looking forward to...a quiet weekend this weekend :)  

I am learning...how far I have come in the last few years :)  

One of my favorite things...reading stories to Sam and playing card games with the children or with friends :)  

A few plans for the rest of the week: French class, Elk Island Park, Telus World of Science to see the new environment room, pot luck supper to say goodbye to the German exchange students, horse riding lessons, field trip to city hall, field trip to reuse centre, Halloween party at our Thursday group, swimming, Creepy Carnival....

A few more snapshots from our weekend :)

Such a nice weekend :)

I was up before dawn this morning, and so caught the first glimpse of sunrise over the back yard as I made my coffee:

Abigail surprised me a little later with breakfast in bed :)  Including hashbrowns and meringues lol!  

She is such a darling :)  The hashbrown is supposed to be in the shape of a koala.  She said she tried to make a heart but it didn't work so she made it a koala :)  

I spent the morning with 'Effy' studying art journaling techniques 

and playing with my inks and pens:

Laurence, Kevin and Susannah headed to West Edmonton Mall with a friend, 

and spent the afternoon at Galaxyland :)

Abby, Sam and I tried a few more of the German chocolates :)  

Then we did a few chores/ laundry...Sam groomed Rosie, and then we headed into town to the dog park for a walk.  It was 0c outside - cold but sunny and quite a lovely day for a walk :)  Abigail took a ball for Rosie and they played fetch for a long while and then we walked through the woods.  Rosie loves to sit on the passenger seat and is such a good girl:

Sam liked playing with the big pieces of ice in the mud by the pond :)  

After the dog park we called in at Walmart for some groceries before going home - and then I cooked a lovely roast dinner with yorkshire puddings, brussel sprouts, broccoli and roasties :)  

Totally yummy :) 

We had pumpkin pie for dessert.

Now Laurence and Kevin have a friend over and they are watching movies down stairs.  Susannah is doing homework.  Abby is doing her French homework, and Sam is complaining he is bored, so I will read him a story before bed :)  

Our Saturday....

Our day didn't quite go to plan yesterday - our daytime plans didn't happen....long story of miss-copied directions, distance from gas stations and eventually giving up lol!  But all worked out in the end and we spent a relaxing day for the most part at home in the warm enjoying the snowfall and the fire.

Abby made herself Kraft dinner, and I had some of that with leftover hashbrown casserold, which ended up tasting soooooo good that I might actually make it with the kraft dinner IN it next time!  It doesn't look too appetising but I promise you it tasted AMAZING!  

I really shouldn't have eaten so much as I KNEW we were having a big turkey dinner later!

We opened one of the boxes of chocolates that Kevin brought over - it didn't last long as the kids all loved them:

Late afternoon we headed to T's house for a pot luck supper with friends!  Laurence was working, so Kevin came with us, but he was welcomed by everyone and I think he enjoyed it!  

We sat out by the fire for a while which was actually my favourite part - it was lovely out there!  We got to snoop through T's albums and yearbooks from the 80's and early 90's which were sooooo funny!  

The girls were busy doing crafts and playing, and the boys were gaming I think...all in all we were there over 6 hours and I barely saw my two!!  I love that all the children play so well together for sooo long!!

While the children played, so did the adults....games of Spot It and Trigger tend to get VERY heated when the Royal Order compete against each other :)  

I sneaked out of the party for a couple of hours to take Kevin to the Haunted Hike.  The line up had been too long yesterday, and last night was his last chance to go.  Susannah came too.  It was MUCH better than Friday night and we did a lot of screaming.  Susannah cried twice but was giggling like crazy...it was soooo much fun :)  

We got home late BUT I still read a bedtime story to Sam.  We read Meg and Mog which I had as a little girl too :)  I remember the story of Meg and Mog going to the moon :)  

So very true :)

Friday fun....

Yesterday our trip to the science centre was postponed until Tuesday, so we were able to go and meet our friends at the cheap theatre to see 'Brave'.  I had wanted to see it when it was in the main theatres but we didn't find the time -so it was a good chance to see it.  At 1pm in the afternoon the cheap theatre is EMPTY too :)  

The movie was fabulous - based in Scotland and a lovely story!!!  

Last nights sunset for you....

Sam went to his dads for the evening, and Abigail asked if she could stay with us as we were heading to the Haunted Hike.  We took Susannahs friend J with us.  You have to 'park and ride' on the bus now as it got too popular and they couldn't cope with all the traffic - but the bus ride actually made it fun!!

Waiting in line for the bus...

The Haunted Hike is a 'donation only' fundraiser for the Stollery Childrens Hospital.

It is a half mile walk through the woods that are filled with all kinds of scary scenes and hundreds of scary characters who jump out at you, follow you, make loud noises and generally scare the cr*p out of you lol!

There was the 'Class of 2012' Prom scene where the limousine had been in an accident and all the girls in their dresses were dead or injured...

They had a circus tent with scary clowns:

An ambulance scene but while you are looking at the body the people in the ambulance start slamming their hands on the windows loudly!

It was great fun but over too quick as we ran screaming and giggling the whole time!  

Afterwards we went to one of the Halloween stores in town.  It is really good with all kinds of buttons to press and things to stand on that make characters jump out at you or move....it was fun:

My beautiful Daughter:

We stopped off for hot chocolates before heading home and I got this CUTE Halloween box for the timbits:

Such a fun filled day :)  

Thursday night on Whyte Ave...

After heading home for a while from the farmers market, we got everyone ready and headed to Whyte Avenue for a bit.  We had planned to go with Laurence, and he and Kevin could have gone off by themselves for a while to look around...but as Laurence had to work, we just planned to do a few things together.  Unfortunately both the British Import store AND Coney Island Candy Store were closed - even though the sign on the candy store said it was open until 9pm!!  

We did go to Fuss Cupcakes though and had a cupcake each and I had a yummy latte.

After Whyte Ave we drove downtown and went by the Legislature building which was all lit up - but sadly it had scaffolding all around it so it wasn't too attractive!  

We stopped by the Muttart pyramids and walked through the trees to tae pictures of the skyline, before heading home.

Not quite the evening we had planned, but we had a nice evening out and got to show Kevin Downtown at night!