My Sunflower :)

Sam made this picture for me this morning - it's a sunflower and he tells me the writing says 'I love you Mom'

:)

Don't grow up too fast Samsam
xx

TWO squirrels!!!

We always thought we only had one squirrel!!! It turns out Susannah was right all along and we DO have TWO!!!! :) I'm soooo happy we don't have only one sad, lonely, masturbating squirrel :)

Now to name them....we were thinking of Tim and Denis, but that might be confusing lol......so then we thought of Bert and Ernie....and Sharon I can't remember the names you suggested...??????? But now I'm thinking of Jack and Jill....

Anyway, Jack and Jill live in the roof of Lloyds workshop. They access it by climbing on top of the old chicken coop. I like having squirrels - in winter we buy them extra food - special squirrel food, but in Summer they can make do with sharing and hoarding the birds nuts.....they are already costing us a fortune ;)

Beauty midst the drought....

The flower garden is doing terribly this year...I didn't even bother with the barrels down by the apple tree year. The late start to the Summer, and then the VERY dry Summer.....I just couldn't be bothered wasting the time and money on annuals for them.

A few flowers have survived the elements though, including this beauty!

Very few vegetables have done well this year - not just for us but for any gardeners this year. Our peas and potatoes have done very well. We are now getting fresh peas from the garden daily - they never make it to the house though as we just eat them then and there! Mmmmm sweet garden peas, straight from the pod!!! Strawberries and raspberries too! Our new strawberries are not doing well, but our older ones are doing well - we need to weed badly - Hmmmmm if only they could design garden plants that survive drought as well as WEEDS!!!! ;)

Smashing up the ice....

They DID have fun smashing the ice up!!!! :) Even if it WAS out of frustration ;)

Iced Treasures....

A few days before this, I had frozen many little 'treasures' in layers of water. I used a big foil tray from the dollar store. Sam LOVES those sand toys where you have to scratch away at the sand until you find the 'treasure' inside. This is the same idea except you have to scratch away at the ice until you get the treasures out.

You can hide little toys, coins, gemstones etc etc inside the ice......it's a great thing for kids to play with on a HOT HOT day.....

The older girls lost patience with it and ended up smashing it up witha baseball bat lol....but sam asked me to make him another one straight away as he wanted to finish it properly - he really likes these things - so if you have a more patient child they will LOVE this ;) and ona hot day on the deck/ patio, the sun and heat will help the melting process ;) Smaller ones from a smaller freezer will also not take as long ;)

They DID have a lot of fun smashing it up too by the way!!!

Playing with ice cubes is always a lot of fun on a very hot day ;)

Great news!!

Such great news for a homeshooling friend of mine!!!

Check out 'The Blessing' blog to the right -------->

Spa day...

The girls took all the make up outside and had a bit of a girly spa day outside - doing their nails and faces......we were impressed with Abigails 'Angelina' style lips ;)

Giant slip and slide fun.....

Sharon came over for the day on Wednesday with her girls and one of the big hits was the soapy slip and slide on the sledding hill....we replaced the 'patch job' made from bits and pieces we had around the place, with a roll of plastic from Home Depot. We've decided we'll do this every year from now on because it's about $5 more than a real slip and slide and works like 100 X BETTER than a real slip and slide - is sooooooo much BIGGER and BETTER and to be honest we have found that the real slip and slides only last us about three days and then they get broken :( either they get twisted and pop or punctured or SOMETHING goes wrong with them :( so this is sooooo much more fun and so much better!!! Yay!!!

Here's to Summer!!!!!

Cheers!!!! ;)

On the patio at Northern Bear

On Wednesday evening Lloyd and I went for dinner at Northern Bear - we had supper on the patio overlooking the 18th hole on the golf course, then we went inside and had coffee. It was funny watching all the geese around the 18th hole and watching the golfers trying the get rid of the geese before they could play that hole! There are pelican in the lake there and they fly around and land and then fly around again...it's a lovely place to have supper....they have two menu's - a casual menu and a fine dining menu - so you CAN pop in and have a sandwich or something simple!!! Or you can go and have something off their more expensive menu!! The food is FAB!!! It's no more expensive than anywhere else.....and for us it's just around the corner!!! Great service and beautiful surroundings!!

The Witches House...

Along the highway there is this green house - it is derelict and old, but I just LOVE it - it's a gorgeous old acreage - and for some reason it is painted BRIGHT green!!! I call it 'The Witches House' because it's the same colour as the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz!!! :)

While Lloyd was changing the tyre, it gave us the opportunity to walk up to the driveway and take some pictures of it close up!!! I only had my iphone, but it was nice to snoop a little - I wonder why it's been left like this - such a shame - and I wonder what the story is.....I wonder who lived here...who raised their family here......who died here......who laughed and cried here.......who has memories here......

It doesn't look as bright green in the picture as it actually is......I wouldn't actualy want a bright green house, but I love driving by and seeing this house :)

A flat on the highway....

The other day we headed off to buy all the school supplies - so we would have them all organized before the rush and would not have to face the crowds of Moms just before school starts. Not too far along the highway, I felt the truck pulling and it felt as though it was a very windy day. It was as if I couldn't control the truck at all. It slowly got worse. I asked Chris if he could feel it too and after a minute or so he said he could. I said I'd check the tyres when I got to the store but a minute or so later I decided it was getting too bad and I'd have to pull off the highway. The truck was then starting to sway. I pulled off the highway onto a range road and then into a little quiet side road by the 'Witches house'.

We got out and looked and saw that the rear tyre was very soft. I had a puncture!!! I phoned Lloyd and told him and he left his meeting immediately to drive to us and change the tyre. By the time I was off the phone, the tyre was completely FLAT!!! Good job I had pulled off the highway!!!

We sat in the truck and watched a dvd while we waited for Lloyd....Chris played on my iphone. When Lloyd arrived he changed the tyre and I waled up to the 'Witches house' to have a closer look (picture to follow). It was 3:30pm by then and almost time for Lloyd to finish work anyway so he took Sam and Abby home while I took the older three on to the stores to get the school supplies - it wasn't long before we were on our way - my Knight in shining armour to the rescue ;)

Changing a tyre in a suit in hot weather isn't ideal lol - notice he made Laurie climb under the truck for something lol - Lloyd was NOT climbing under the truck for something in his SUIT!!! ;)

Girls on their quads....

Sam - by Laurence....

And me. Oh and if you're wondering WHY I was out there on my laptop - I HAD been on my own by the fire pit - enjoying some peace and quiet - catching up on my blog time and computer time as I hadn't been on the computer for a few days. Lloyd and Laurie were working on the treehouse, the girls were on their quad bikes, everyone was busy doing their thing, so I was catching up with my blog etc......enjoying some me-time. Then everyone kind of came over and invaded MY me time!!!!!! So now I wasn't being anti-social and using the laptop during family time lol!!!!! They were being antisocial and doing family stuff during my ME TIME hahahahaha!!! How dare they!!! ;) Anyway my laptop battery died very quickly so I had to give up anyway ;)