Halloween pics.......

My younger 4 last night.............................

Survival..................

I survived.......I feel close to death but I survived Halloween evening........my nose is soooo sore and my head is pounding but I made it :) I am so glad we went even though I feel so ill...we can rest tomorrow and relax at home......

We went to the mall and did some trick or treating for a while....basically we do a loop of the stores and then head back to the car....................a lot of people hate going to the mall for trick or treating but with two little ones it is a good way for them to enjoy Halloween and get some candy without getting cold....

For those of you not in Canada, basically you are guaranteed to get a heap of snow arrive just before Halloween...tonight the wind chill was about -15........not much fun for little ones to go trick or treating.......so the malls open up for two hours and give out candy and the children can go from store to store and collect it :)

So yes we went to the mall and then we headed to Tims drive thru for some supper and then drove to Festival PLace and sat in the parking lot and ate while we waited for Chris.....I ordered Chilli and they didn't give me a spoon or anything to eat it with!!!! So I ended up creating a spoon our of part of the lid......I actually felt a bit like Christie ;) I thought 'Mmmm what would Christie do in this situation'? .......actually it was Christies pee thing that made me think of her lol...she creates contraptions to help women/ girls pee in the woods!!! So creative is she!!!! So I knew if I thought like her I could figure something out!!! ;)

There is now a stupid one way system around Festival Place so you can't get to the main doors again from the parking lot.......so instead of making me walk from the car to the theatre Lloyd drove around the whole one way system again so he could stop by the main doors and Chris could see us.......I thought that was so sweet of him!

I am sad that Festival Place is no longer such a focal point in Sherwood Park....it used to really stand out on the skyline but now they are building the 'Centre in the Park' and the theatre is 'lost' amidst the apartment buildings..........

I am rambling.......

Chris came out of work at 7pm...he had volunteered for Parents Place at the penny carnival during the Fred Penner concert there.......he came out with treat bags for all his siblings which was sweet of him......

Chris wanted to do a little trick or treating so we headed to a local subdivision and they went to a few houses....and then because of the cold we headed home....

We live far too far from any houses to get trick or treaters at our door........

Our little pig gets up and wags its tail when you arrive home...actually pleased to see you :) how sweet is that????

I feel so ill...can you die from a common cold???? I'm sure I could!!!! I'm sure I get them 100X worse than anyone else!!!! :(

When we got home we tipped out all the candy as we do every year and took pictures of each child with their 'stash'....and then we sort it....gum goes into one bag (I don't allow gum so Lloyd takes that to work) chips go into another for the pantry....the kids can choose their 10 favourite candy items and have a labelled bag for them...everything else goes into a huge box for everyone to share........after a while (several days maybe) I get rid of most of it.......

Am I a mean Mom????? Chris thinks so!!! He thinks he should get to keep all of his for him and in his room.......ah well...he can be nicer to his kids when he has them :)

Now the children are all asleep already....Abigail was exhausted - in fact she was dragging her bag of goodies on the floor by the end as she was so tired...shes still not well though :(

I wish I was in bed asleep :( I think I need my cold fx and a nice cup of tea!!!

Orbs...............

Ok so ignore the fact that we still haven't finished the crown molding or base boards/ skirting boards in the sitting room, but can you spot the orbs??? click on the piccies to enlarge the images!!! In the top pic its to the right of the tv on the chimney breast ( I forget what Canadians call a chimney breast!!)

And in the lower picture there is one in the top right of the picture and one in front of the tv......there was about a five or ten minute time difference between the pictures...........

yeah, yeah....dust!!!!! ;) but you never know.......right??????

Happy Halloween!!!

We have a big electrical display thingy in the hallway here that lights up and wiggles and shouts 'Happy Halloween' when anyone walks by it....I think my sister bought it for the children years ago.........I didn't think it worked any more but it does......I forget its there and it scares the @#*$ out of me when I walk by!!! Its a stack of smiley pumpkins.....

I still feel so ill today.....I hve a cold on top or what is left of my migraine (the day afer I am usually just washed out and exhausted) so am feeling really crappy! So we didn't make it to the homeschool groups Halloween party......

Chris is at work today at the museum...he went at 7am!!!!!! His choice!!! He wanted to go to McD's for brekky and then to wander around Walmart for a while before work. He has an extra long day today as he finishes work at 4pm and then has to head to the local theatre to do more voluntary work helping at a childrens show.....

He will be tired tomorrow but the good thing about homeschooling is he can relax at home tomorrow anyway.......

It is becoming an annual event here that the children rehearse and perform a play for me on Halloween.....last years was The Zombie Moms and the Twixlets...................and this year the children performed 'Dude of the Living Dead'................so they practiced all morning and then after lunch we sat and watched Martha Stewarts Halloween sho (another tradition here) and then they performed the play.......(you can see them in the pictures above)

In one picture Susannah is eating cheese as this is the one way to kill the living dead!!!

If you look carefully in a couple of pictures you can even see orbs!!!!! I know, I know....its probably just specks of dust...BUT I think its fun to imagine them to be orbs on Halloween especially as the kids were doing a play about the living dead!!!! :)

I have wonderful kids!!!!

My kids are amazing!!! I tell you they are just the BEST!!!! I was so ill with a migraine yesterday.....which means I couldn't get out of bed or do ANYTHING..........well my kids just switch into migraine-mode and take over!!! They changed diapers and got their brother dressed and fed their siblings and they brought me coffee and at lunchtime Chris made me toast.....

Laurie and Susie went sledding and they all played quietly, fed the animals, cleaned up after the piggy.......and when I finally headed downstairs late afternoon everywhere was tidy.......

GREAT kids!!!! Not many kids are that responsible and caring when their Mom is sick and I sooo appreciate all they did for me yesterday!!!

Meet Charlie.........our pot bellied pig!

Here is Charlie our new little piggy friend......he is just the cutest.....we drove over to Innisfree on Sunday to collect him from another homeschooling family.........he is soooo tiny!!!! On Sunday he was very nervous and shaky, but now he is so happy to be cuddled and fed and played with...he loves to have his ears rubbed and when you walk into the room he gets up and starts shaking his funny little tail in excitement!!! He loves to play with apples and will chase them around his pen as he eats them......

I though socialising him would take ages but he just seems really happy to get attention! We don't spend too much time with him......just enough to keep him happy...we have read that if you give them too much attention all the time then they can get naughty when you don't give them attention!!!!!

Charlie makes the cutest little piggy noises...especially when he eats!!! He's very cute!

I lost a day.......

I had a migraine that started late Sunday night and left me in bed in the dark all day yesterday........it is as if I lost a day this week.......I feel cheated...a whole day wiped out!

My darling Lloyd came home just after lunchtime to look after me..........its like as soon as he walks through the door everything is so much better..........

Today I am left exhausted.......I have literally just flopped all day......not the best Halloween ever :( we missed Fridays party and we missed todays......I am determined to go out trick or treating though..................I will drug myself up and just cope........

Sunsets..............

It is the best time of year for sunsets...I don't think I will ever top the firey skies I pictured last year, but we do get gorgeous sunsets every evening now when the skies are clear.......the snow seems to make them even more beautiful.....

As always you can click on these images to make them bigger..................

Saturday....

Lloyd is driving into town for some supper.....I'm having butter chicken, he is having a Thai cashew chicken dish.........and we plan to have a bottle of wine :)

Its been a nice day.....this morning we drove into town as I needed a few things from Staples for work...more cd's and some padded envelopes. We ran to Home Depot for some shelving as we are trying to sort out the mud room before our little piggy arrives tomorrow...he will be sleeping in there for winter.......

Pot bellied pigs are actually very clean...many live indoors with families and they love to curl up with cats :) they can train to use litter trays etc and are the 4th most intelligent animal in the world!!!

I had a photo shoot this afternoon that went really (REALLY!) well!!!! The new batteries Lloyd got for my flash are amazing and it keeps up with the speed of the camera at last!!!!

I got the most wonderful review today from a client....

"I received the CD very promptly. Thank you so much for your superior service! The pictures turned out beautifully, of course!! I can't wait to get them printed. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at your studio and looking forward to another session soon. Take care!"



How wonderful is that? Ok now my font won't change back lol!!!

After the shoot was when we went quadding......tonight e plan to curl up with a movie...its snowing outside still...it has been almost all day......it's very pretty and not too cold which is good!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday evening!!! What are you all up to????

This little piggy went wee wee wee wee......

.............all the way home!!!!


Tomorrow!!! Tomorrow we go and get our little piggy :) We are driving out East to collect him.....he is 8 inches tall atm :) A little pot bellied pig :)

Susannah is going to name him as she is using all her savings to buy him...although I do expect to be doing most of the care for him ;)

Quad bikes in the snow........

Lloyd and I went out in the snow on the quad bikes this afternoon...it was fun!!! It was snowing a little as we went :) My fingers got really cold though......any tips???? We have good gloves but obviously not good WARM gloves!!!!

We went through the woods and around the various trails we have created here.....we saw the foot prints from our Fox...we had watched him run across the front yard earlier......I wonder where his den is......

I came in after a while and Laurie went out with Lloyd...so I grabbed the camera and took the above pictures of Lloyd and Laurie on the quads........Laurie has so much fun out there with his Dad in the snow :)

Let it snow, let it snow....................

...............Let it snow!!

Bath time for Samuel......

A few snapshots taken during Sams bathtime this evening................

What homeschooling brings......

I am just going through Christies pictures.....getting them ready for CD and I just saw these and thought...these are GREAT pictures...these show what homeschooling can bring to a family....how close it can bring siblings......they have fun together, they LIKE each other...they are FRIENDS as well as siblings.......THIS is why I homeschool.

I went to school, my children were in school and I have many many friends with children in school but I can honestly say that I don't recall seeing any other siblings this close at this age except in the homeschooling community........

The tween/ teen years are not commonly the time when siblings are close and 'friends'.........especially with the peer pressure and age segregation from school.....

Anyway, these pictures just reflect all that I am trying to say...the kids weren't posing awkwardly or anything....they were happy and comfortable and totally natural :)

They are great pictures (just ignore the shadows lol as its not edited ;)

Roasted pumpkin seeds..............

Roasted pumpkin seeds are soooo easy and so yummy and the kids love them! Some people say NOT to wash the seeds after removing from the pumpkin, but I prefer to rinse them off......then I leave them to dry for a few hours and then I sprinkle them on a baking sheet..... I dribbled a teaspoon of canola oil onto the tray and then mixed them up and then sprinkled them with molly mcbutter before toasting them in the oven at 350 until golden.....I take them out every so often and give them a shake.....

Yummy and healthy snack :)

Friday ....................

Lloyd just called to say he's on his way home...for the weekend :) Yay!!!! I am glad this week is over and am hoping next week we accomplish more and do more and GET OUT OF THE HOUSE more.....so basically I hope we are all WELL and no more illness!!!!

At least the kids seem to have had a fun week....they were quite happy to have a week at home :)

Susie is excited about her pig......we have the Halloween party to go to next week.....Trick or treating....and a museum trip to go to :) Chris has work to go to and then we have Guy Fawkes Night!!!! :) I hope to make it to Parentlink next week too with Sam...finally I have a Friday free! Maybe the boys will finally find time to focus on painting their dragons too......

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Gun powder, treason and plot

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot!

Best friends................

Rosie and Cairo cuddled up on the deck this morning.....they are good friends and are frequently cuddled up!