Mondays gratitude

Today I am grateful for.....

1. Laughing with the children in the car about silly things...Abigail saying 'apple' a thousand times to drive Chris crazy, listening to Laurence explain tampons to Susie and then listening to Susie telling us how she wants to adopt because she doesn't want to push a baby out! Then Chris making up funny lyrics to the songs on the cd!

2. That my first attempt at the new recipe for the chicken was a success! All too often my first attempts are disasters!

3. For the rain today...even though it wasn't much, it is better than nothing...I want the grass seeds to start growing!

4. For living in AB where for the most part we are free to get on with our homeschooling any which way we choose.

5. For being born a girl...the boys were saying in the car how grateful they are to be born boys....but I like being a girl. Yes we have periods and have to give birth, but I'd rather be me who gets to stay home and sleep in each day and relax and do things I want to do.....Lloyd ahs to get up so early and go to work every day.....he has to worry about paying the bills and servicing the cars etc. I have never even out gas in my car...it seems to magically refill. I've been driving for about 10 years and have never had to put gas in! I wake up each morning and have a cup of coffee beside the bed ready for me........I think I'm spoilt really ;) but I'm very happy I'm a girl :)

6. crystal Light raspberry flavour...because its yummy and helps me drink all the water I need :)

7. free cookies for the kids in Safeway.....it means I have happy quiet kids all the way around the grocery store :)

They've hatched!

Yet more babies! Well, kind of! Our mealworms have hatched into beetles! 2 of them at least! So we have now placed a piece of potato in the jar for them to eat......

We bought 100 mealworms for $2 a couple of months ago....we put them in a large jar with oatmeal and left them to it. They eventually pupate and then the beetles come out a couple of weeks later......kind of cool to watch in a weird gross way ;) but interesting to study as a lifecycle! Different to butterflies! Although Lloyd wants to study silk moths next....

(woohoo Oilers score again!!! it's 2-0 to the Oilers!!!!)

Oh Canada

It's the first match int he Stanley Cup finals. The Oilers (our Oilers) are playing the Carolina Huricanes.....in Raleigh I believe....which could have been our home at one time.....

The boys are watching the match. We all stood and sang Oh Canada - I love singing that - it always makes me well up with tears which is kind of weird because singing God Save the Queen never made me feel that. I guess because this is my country of choice I feel especially proud and grateful to be able to sing it as my anthem. Laurie sings the anthem in sign language which I love to see!

I will probably watch some of the match. Lloyd is outside in the coop...it has been raining a little...came over very dark and earlier when we were on our way home from town. Then it cleared for a while during dinner but seems to be coming over very dark again....perhaps this means Lloyd will have to come inside soon.

It's driving me nuts that Blogger won't let me post pictures for some reason.....

Susie is playing with Sam...they are playinga game where they chase each other and then pretend to collapse on the floor and sleep...Sam seems very sweet playing it.

I can't find a watering can anywhere - I just want a large plastic cheap watering can...all I can find are nice turquoise shiny metal ones...that look like a piece of art and cost as much as one!

So I made the honey mustard chicken and it was an amazing success. Everyone loved it.

Oooh the Oilers have scored! Go Oilers!!!!

I served the chicken with brown rice and some vegetables as I couldn't get any new potatoes. It was so easy.

1 cup Hellmans Mayo
3 tbsp grainy Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp honey
2 chopped green onions
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Mix together. Cover chicken breasts well in sauce in oven proof dish. Cover with foil and bake...I baked it for as long as the rice took to cook - so about 50 minutes on 420.

Yum!

We are going to the curriculum sale at the homeschool group tomorrow. I am hoping they sell books etc and not just curriculum. R has offered to let me have her unschooling magazines from the last year.....I can't wait! Lots of unschooling Inspiration. I really like R...she just seems so relaxed and laid back.......oh how I wish I was that laid back and patient!!!

I got the last cheque of homeschool funding from my current schoolboard today.....and also the registration forms from Education Unlimited for next year...I think I am going to go with them for the next year and see how it goes. They are a non-resident home school board that specialises in assisting unschooled children to get into post secondary education.

C, another homeschooler at the local group has invited us over to her house tomorrow afternoon for lunch and a water fight for the kids...the boys will love that!

The children asked today if the schools were now closed for summer....it's funny how you soon lose touch with what the public schools are doing....it made me think how lucky my 5 are......they are able to enjoy the summer all the way through....they are outside playing whenever they want, at the splashpark and playing baseball etc when their peers are in classrooms. They will have really made the most of the good weather which is so important here!

I was reading about a lady in the UK who is having trouble with her LEA......I feel so fortunate to be out of that situation now...homeschooling is so easy and so supported here in AB. There is so much choice and so many fellow homeschoolers....so much to do....too much at times! I love living here.

Honey Mustard Chicken and Homeschool gym

Monday. I always struggle to get going on Mondays......I didn't sleep well and wasn't in the mood for the dawn chorus at 4am. I put ear plugs in and still had to close the windows.....I normally love listening to the birds but not this morning!

That said, it's been quite a good morning...Lloyd has phoned a few times to chat. I've washed all the floors downstairs and have dusted my bedroom and packed away two lots of laundry.

Chris has been designing a computer game based on World War 2. He researched the planes from the war to get the symbols on the planes right for each country.....

Susie has been reading Mr Poppers Penguins and learning about the American Revolution......

Laurie spent most of this morning reading the Frosties cereal packet which has things about the Soccer World Cup...and he then entered various contests online.

Abigail asked to do some of her worksheets so she did some addition and then did a page where she had to draw herself and then write three sentences about herself. Since then she has been making Valentine cards for us all and writing all our names.

The boys have homeschool gym class this afternoon and I want to go and buy a watering can so I will take the younger three shopping while the boys are busy.

Lloyd made me laugh last night - while I was in the bathroom he climbed out of the bedroom window and sat on the garage roof. He waited for me to finish in the bathroom and then while I was in the bedroom pottering around (thinking he was downstairs) he jumped through the window at me! scared the @#$^%$# out of me but it was so funny!!!!

I got a recipe in the mail last week for Honey Mustard Chicken, so I am making that for supper tonight with new potatoes and green beans.....it seems really easy to do so I hope it's nice.....