The puddles keep growing...

And in the mornin'....I'm makin' WAFFLES!!!

My toppings of choice:

Abby's topping of choice:

Waffles always make me think of Donkey from Shrek ;)  but some days we just rustle them up for lunch :)  

In case you were wondering....

The chick cage IS Kitty-proof ;)  Otherwise Kitty would be 'helping' us eat the chicks too ;)  

Kitty is so helpful....

He helps me cut out work:

He helps me print work:

He tells me when each page is done:

He builds cool space ships for Sam (honest lol) :

New friends...

Friday Fill-ins!!

1. I am so looking forward to the ground drying out so we can go outside without big boots on!!
2. I really wish people would think things through sooner rather than later.
3. When you get a cadburys creme egg - how do you eat yours???  I bite the top off then lick the cream out and then lick the chocolate until it melts away.....MMmmmmmm YUM!!!
4. Writing and journaling is a big part of my life.
5. If you need anything to keep the kids busy on rainy days then head over to Whimsy Love  or The Crafty Crow.
6. We are still trying to decide on where to go for a trip.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going out for dinner with friends, tomorrow my plans include taking Chris to his class and running a few errands and Sunday, I want to make the most of the good temperatures - and the longer day - but sleep in because of losing an hours sleep!!!

Celebrate Every day!!

My homework for todays class.  I'm still going with what I learned in Kara Haupt's classes about letting go and perfectionism.  I stopped scrapbooking because it used to take me sooooo long to do one page - I wanted it to be perfect - I needed it to look like the ones in the magazines.  I lost all of my enjoyment for creating.  Taking Kara's classes taught me so much.

Now I don't scrapbook but I do create these fun mini pages and albums.  I like that I can get them done fast and I enjoy making them.  

cupcakes..

We made cupcakes today - kind of!!!  I have a favourite cupcake recipe - a perfect cupcake recipe.  My recipe always works!!  Today we stupidly didn't use my normal recipe but instead tried a super-de-duper 'vanilla-vanilla' recipe or whatever it was called from the Martha Stewart website.  Hhmmm!!  I was a little curious when it wanted so much all purpose flour.......my normal cupcakes use cake flour.  There didn't seem to be enough rising agent in these.......not compared to the other ingredients....

They tasted good but most fell apart and they did not rise well.  The recipe made a LOT - most crumbled and ended up on the bird table!!

The children just wanted to ice cupcakes - so I made up some icing and they got to choose which colour - in the end they chose to mix blue and yellow.  They were hoping it would make a different green to the  food colouring green we already had!  It didn't.  So yes, we had lovely yucky green cupcakes!

But the important thing was they had FUN :) 

Portraits in Lego

;)

My Junque Journal keeps growing fatter...

Still more to add to it, but it won't be long before I will have to start work on my second journal :)  I still find it too 'white' around the edges so once it is filled up I plane to embellish and 'colour it up' some more!!  I have LOVED this project!!

You can learn all about Junque Journals HERE

First pages from 'Almost Nothing'...

Apologies for a blurry iphone picture with that last one!  

Here is my title page for my album!!  I'm doing a 6 X 6 little album - using up some little page protectors that I've had hanging about for AGES!!  I've also had a BUNCH of rings hanging around because I am ALWAYS making mini albums - so these are something I always have on hand!  

For my first page I used a picture of Sam with our kitten....I loved the idea of framing the picture with brads - I chose some I've had for YEARS - little ants and ladybugs - that suit the 'little boy' theme ;)  

I stabbed myself endlessly with the back of the brads though - hhmmm maybe thats why they went out of fashion a little ;)  

Since taking the picture I've added a subtitle to my title page - "My here and now, my life - my story".

  

Check mate...

Sam wanted a game of chess this morning.  I love that he picked this game up so fast!!  I guess he likes it because it's based on a 'battle'  - he knows how to set it all up and how the pieces move.  I won the game BUT I had ten of his pieces and he had nine of mine - so all in al it was a very close game!!!

While we were playing, Grayson was supervising us closely....and Abigail was working on her blog, replying to Emails and surfing on some of her favourite websites of the moment - The Crafty Crow and Dr Seuss etc etc

This morning we've also spent a lot of time rereading the library books one last time as we are heading back with them...Sam is working on a craft project (as I write this), Sam did some math, we tidied some of Abby's room, I've done some laundry and washed some floors, and Denis and Mike (our wonderful work guys) came out to check out the railings that the other company did.  

We DID have friends coming over for the afternoon, but we woke up to an Email saying they couldn't make it as the Mom isn't well.  We hope she is better very quickly!  We were going to bake cupcakes to share with them - and my two still want to do that, so instead of doing that this morning, we plan to do that this afternoon - and will also head out for a walk to enjoy the gorgeous weather.  I know they want to ice and decorate the cupcakes with all kinds of sprinkles :)

Today was 'sign up for classes day' - Lloyd always gets in to work extra early to be sure to get online in time to get logged in to the registration thingy on time - often the classes fill up FAST!!  Luckily we got the classes we wanted.  YAY!!!  Abby is taking a break from regular art classes and is doing dance for a semester.  She will do an occasional set of specialised art though as the art department are running some fab art classes for the homeschool sector this semester.  A friend of hers told us about a new dance class they are starting though, and we signed up for that!  

Sam is heading back to a class he used to love and one that works out better for us as it means we can get back to our regular weekly swims, runs and skating.  

Laurence is signing up for a tumbling class in preparation for cheer try outs at his new High School.  Even if he doesn't make it I think it will be a fun experience for him and he enjoys being physically active!!

All change for a new Semester after Easter :)  

Enjoying the morning sun...

Thursday thirteen....

Thirteen books I have enjoyed:

'The Girls' by Lori Lansen

'Simple Abundance - a Daybook of Comfort and Joy'   by Sara Ban Breathnach

'Lady Cottingtons Pressed Fairy Book'   by B and Jones Terry Froud

'Evening News'   by Marly Swick

'The Secret Life of Bees'  by Sue Monk Kidd

'Gifts From My Front Porch'   by Harriet E Crosby

'The Cure For Death By Lightning'  by Gail Anderson Dargatz

'A Recipe For Bees'  by Gail Anderson Dargatz

'Tuesdays with Morrie'  By Mitch Albom

'Straight Talking'  by Jane Green

'Charlotte Mason Companion'  by Karen Andreola

'The Beach House'   by Jane Green

'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'   by Mary Ann Shaffer  and  Annie Barrows

Of course I could go on and on - and this isn't necessarily a list of my favourites - just thirteen books I've enjoyed :)

Art classes continue - nature boxes!

This is the 'nature box' that Abigail made on Tuesday in her art class.  A friend helped her (once she had finished her own).  It's an ocean scene with a fishing boat and an island with a palm tree, birds nest and sand etc etc.

They focused on 'various artists' who used nature in their art.