Potatoes...and stuff......

Yesterday I planned to make two Cottage Pies....one for dinner and one for the freezer. I asked Abigail and Sam to peel 14 potatoes. They LOVE peeling potatoes and Sam is VERY good at this job by the way! When I went to check on them I found the bag empty and they had filled the huge pot - they had probably peeled more like 21 or 22!!! Abigail had got carried away and said she wanted to peel the whole bag!!!! Sigh!!!

She also chopped two onions for me and didn't cry at all - how weird!!

Then I found out I hadn't taken the ground beef out of the freezer, so I didn't make the cottage pies yesterday - but everything is ready to go today. I love that my children are great in the kitchen - they've always been good at helping in the kitchen but now with the new kitchen there is so much space for everyone to help - the island AND the table, two sinks, three taps.....two ovens...the big range....so everyone can help with prepping for dinner without getting under each others feet. Sam at 4 can peel potatoes and chop vegetables. Abigail is wonderful at helping prepare dinner too. The boys can cook meals...Susie too. And they all see Lloyd cooking many meals so they know that men play an equal part in the kitchen....

So important!!

Oh and Edamame...do you like it????? I know its supposed to be really good for you, and everyone these days raves about it...but I have to say I find it tasteless....and flavourless....doesn't seem to matter what you do to those little beans, they remain totally dull. How do you add the excitement that everyone else seems to have over them???

I am a vegetable LOVER - I LOVE my vegetables - prefer them raw - but love them no matter what, but Edamame???? (Are they a veggie or a pulse??? I know they are a soybean, so does that make them a pulse????) anyway....they are tasteless!

Do you like them? No one here likes them but I would like to like them......how do you eat yours????

Hi Angela!!!!!

Please welcome my Sister Karen's friend Angela to my blog - she's my newest reader :)

Karen and Angela are very excited about coming over to stay at some point in the future as they both love BEES and want to get stuck in to one of my hives and do a full bee hive inspection on their OWN :) With no gloves or protective wear or anything :) I am so impressed!!! :) I can't WAIT to photograph THAT!!!! ;)

(Mind you, she's friends with my sister so there has to be something a little odd about her) hahahaha ;)

Welcome!!! :)

It was great to see your comment! Thank you!!! :)

Snowman in May...

Sam's snowman :)

Building things....

Sam requested to build with marshmallows again this week, so we did just that!!! He made a snowman and a house.....and Abigail made a tank (after we watched a whole STREAM of them coming back from Wainwright along Hwy 14 on Sunday). She then asked Sam if she could blow up his tank - he wasn't too keen lol! As you can see, a large number also got eaten ;)

Paddling pool weather...

21c and finally paddling pool weather....Mike had the pressure washer out to spray off the deck and porch before staining it, so he kindly washed out the paddling pool for us too! Our back deck is a real sun trap and heats up beautifully in the mornings :) We put the paddling pool out there and filled it up with warm water for them and it was just gorgeous by the time they went in :) They had lunch out there too. I didn't get any pictures of them playing in the paddling pool though and nly thought to grab my camera once Abigail was out of the water and had dried off - so then she was feeling cold and I tried to get her to go back in lol - so she just stood in the pool and shivered and so she looks cold in the picture hahahahaha and there isn't much water left in the pool hahahahaha -Hhhhhmmmm I wonder why ;)

Lol I should have got my camera out earlier when they were having a blast in the pool and water was going everywhere!!! Sigh.....

Moose...

On the way home we came across this little cutie who was happy to pose for a picture for us!! If you click to enlarge you can even see the dribble (lol).....

Chris needing some alone time????? ;)

Abby Banana my monkey girl...

Playground fun......

On the beach....

Astotin Lake.....skipping stones, collecting rocks.....making splashes......and finding bison fur!!! :)

I'm yours...

Lloyd sent me this song last week :)

I hadn't heard it before but now I'm loving it :)

Mothers Day picnic in the park..

So, on Mothers Day Lloyd took me to the garden centre in the morning and we had a stroll around...we then went to Starbucks for coffee. On the way home we stopped off and bought some groceries for a picnic. Went home and packed up a lovely picnic and then we all headed to Elk Island Park for the rest of the afternoon/ evening. We were going to have a traditional picnic on a blanket but ended up using the blanket as a table cloth (lol) and sat at a table instead.....we just assumed they'd all be busy but it wasn't really as busy as we had thought it would be - surprising as the weather was lovely. 19c I think. The children played soccer etc. Susie and I took a walk....and some pictures....we went to the playground and spent a while there. We drove around the bison trail. We all went for a walk around the boardwalk and we went down to the beach and skipped stones. Lloyd and Laurence were competing to see who could make their stones bounce the most.

I think we got home around 8pm - in time for the kids to shower and get ready for bed as they had school and Track and Field day the next day!!!

All in all it was a fun day :)

I hope everyone had a great day :)

Abigail...

The weather has been just beautiful lately - we're having a cold couple of days now but it is supposed to be nice again by the weekend. Most people don't seem to like the cold weather but it has brought dampness and rain/ sleet and I have enjoyed the fact that it kept us inside last night - we snuggled up with a movie and some wine and it was just what I needed. The problem with hot evenings is that we stay outside until late and end up exhausted!! The occasional night off from that is ok with me ;)

Moi!

These are the pictures that Susannah took of me on Mothers Day when we went for a walk together :) I think she did a great job :) She told me what to do and how to pose lol so I just followed orders hahahaha I'm used to being behind the camera and felt a bit of a dork being the one in front of the camera looking this way and that and sitting all funny lol!

A walk with my Daughter.....

Susannah an d I took a walk together at Elk Island Park on Sunday - we strolled down to Astotin beach and took some pictures - I took some of Susannah and then we walked up the hill towards the theatre and Susie took some of me....we then walked back towards the trees and I took some of Susannah in the trees - we met up with everyone there and I took some of everyone else :) Or at least pictures of everyone willing to pose ;) Susannah loves taking pictures - I'm so glad we bought her a camera last year - I think we should encourage her to use my older SLR.