My boy.....

Green Monster...or Purple Beast????

Lol....Lloyd renamed this mornings Green Monster - he called it The Purple Beast (which almost made me want to spit it out hahahaha)  It was DELICIOUS though!!!!!

Todays smoothie contained:

flax

oats

whey protein powder

spinach

pineapple

blackberries

beetroot

cucumber

apple

bananas

almond milk

ice

it was fruity and yummy and creamy :)  You could taste the berries and the bananas but couldn't really taste the pineapple or anything else which surprised me as pineapple has such a strong flavour!  

I have won Lloyd over with my recent Green Monsters too and he has been having a glass with me.  Abigail had a glass of this mornings too.  I always save Susannah a glass for after school too - or she has a glass with me.  

Ooooh and I made Lloyd and Laurence a bowl of the 'Pumpkin Spice makes Everything Nice' oatmeal onSaturday as we were all hungry.  They loved it!!  So I made some more last nice as an evening snack when we were hungry BUT I didn't have any pumpkin left - soooooo I blended up some carrots and used the pureed carrots instead of pumpkin and it tasted the same!!!  IT was just as yummy!!!  So 'Carrot Spice  Makes Everything Nice' oatmeal is just as good an alternative!!  Yummy healthy and sweet with no added sugar - just fruit and veg :)  Who would have thought it would be so good!!!

So weird!!!

I am still drinking my coffee with no sugar - and because of the green monsters I've actually cut right down on the amount of coffee I drink too!

If you haven't given these drinks a try yet - GO FOR IT!!!  I know they sound weird but they taste just like a yummy McDonalds milkshake!!!  Yes - even with carrots and cucumber in them!!!  You can't taste the carrots and cucumber at all - add some cinnamon, some pumpkin, a couple of bananas and its all good :)  

Tree planting...

Potting up the trees that we were given at the Earth Day festival today.  We have quite a few that we've planted around our acreage over the years since we've lived here, and it's lovely to see how they've grown......

Don't jump!!!!

Checking out the view instead of checking out the missing roof tiles - they were ripped off during the high winds last week so he's off to buy some replacements this week.  

What are you doing at 4:20 on Tuesday????

Are you hanging out with the Waldo's???

My Son told me that Tuesday was an important day and that something big was happening at 4:20...he said I should google it.....I did lol and I came up with THIS!!  Read it and let me know if you're joining in with your local Waldo's!!

Oh and lol no Chris isn't joining in as far as I know.....we just have a long standing joke between us because he knows it's on my bucket list.....geez I have yet to try the stuff and my Son probably already has!!

Oh Canada :)

Chris sent me this :)

Kitty cat pictures....

Mouse catcher:

Enjoying the sand box....

Farm boy...

Signs of Spring...at home

The rhubarb is doing well this year....

We have a roughed grouse near the house somewhere...we can hear the male drumming loudly quite often - we've had them most years but don't remember them being here last year so it's great to have them back.  Lloyd saw one the other day over in the wood by the treehouse - it flew off when he and Sam were in there - Sam was describing it to me - he said it looked like a small turkey with a fan tail :)  

I love listening to them drumming...such a lovely noise!!!

The frogs are getting noisier too - and there are so many different bird songs in the trees now - and our Robins have been back for a few weeks now and their song is nice - Oh I love the sound of Spring here!!  

Earth Day Festival 2010

This afternoon we headed to Fort Edmonton Park to the Earth Day Festival.   It was such gorgeous weather - you just never know with Earth Day here - there have been years when the Earth Day Festival has had TERRIBLE weather!!  I think they moved it to the Hangar at Fort Ed so it was more sheltered in case of bad weather...but this year no shelter was needed - it was lovely and warm and sunny.

Checking out the creatures in our rivers and ponds:

Laurence was enjoying some kettle popcorn - behind him they had a huge telescope:

Abby with her scooby doo ice cream - behind her they were doing Tai chi:

We came home with about ten baby trees to plant (the whole reason Lloyd went), lots of wildflower seeds to plant, stickers, bookmarks, literature and a reusable bag!!  

It was a lovely little festival - it's a shame it hasn't grown more over the years we have been here - if anything it is now smaller than it was!!  The last time we attended in Hawrelak Park, it was much bigger than it was today!!  I'm not sure who organizes it or why more companies don't get involved - you'd think it would be growing quickly now!  I was surprised not to see SHINE or any schooling alternatives represented.  Last time I attended, the Caraway project had a stand there.  This time there was nothing there for alternatives in education.  

There was also very little in the way of food offered - apart from a pizza stand and hotdogs/ popcorn.  I would ahve liked to see a few of the vegan and vegetarian restaurants there with a Taste of Edmonton style sampler menu!!

I'm sure there are many more companies out there that could get involved - what is stopping them????

Sunday update...

We drove out to pick Susannah up from her birthday sleepover this morning.  She had had a great time there....I chatted with her friends Mom for a while and she was telling me that her husband was out helping her Father In Law because their land had been burning since yesterday!!  The fire department had thought they had got it under control during the night, but early this morning a hot spot sparked it all back up again and it was burning again this morning...

All their farmland :(

She was telling me that three years ago they lost their home to a similar fire :(  She now has quite a detached and nonchalant attitude toward it all - almost a 'what can you do'? attitude.....  I guess she's right in some ways.  It's still so frightening.  

Driving Susannah out there yesterday we passed the fire department by Elk Island Park - there was a grass fire in the median - no doubt some idiot had thrown a cigarette end out of the car window.  When will people learn?????  If that grass fire had spread fast enough and jumped the road then Elk Island Park would have gone up - it's so dry out there!!!!

Anyway - hopefully the fire is under control and out for good now - and their lovely home overlooking the pond with it's geese, is safe!!

Saturday ramblings

The frogs are awake and horny ;)  Earlier than normal but last night we heard them croaking for the first time this year :)  Woohoo - they are in the pond and awake from their sleep at the bottom of the cold water in the mud......I love hearing the frogs each Spring!!  If you check back on last year you can listen to the videos of the frogs croaking!!!!

The frogs are awake because it is soooo warm here right now - today it is going to be 24c!!!  YES!!!  24c!!!   and by Wednesday they forecast 25c!!!!!  OMG!!!!!  We will have to put the air conditioning on!!! Woohoo!!!  :)  Here's to Summer :)  I'm loving it!!!  Now of course we could still get a dump of snow before Victoria Day, BUT let's enjoy this while it lasts :)  We're firing up the BBQ tonight  :)

Last night the neighbours dog was over playing with our dogs and then our neighbour dropped by to say hi...then she invited us over after supper to see her little baby and see how he had grown.  So after our pizzas I took Susannah and Abigail over for a little while to see their baby - awwww he has grown so much - chewing on his fists and full of smiles :)  He is so adorable :)  Just the cutest thing :)

Anyway - Today it too nice to waste on the computer, so now I have updated my blog I am off outside to enjoy my day!!

Have a good one everyone!!!

Pizza making...

Last night we made pizza's.  We used a really easy dough that Kara had posted about on her blog.  We doubled the mix so there was enough for everyone to make their own pizza and the boys got make one and a half each.  This was PLENTY for our family of 7!!  

We haven't made pizzas before so we didn't make any of the toppings ourselves - I bought a selection of toppings that the children could pick from and they all had great fun preparing their bases from the dough we made and then topping it from all the choices we had!!

The one above is mine!!

It was great fun - the children said they'd like to do this every week - and although we won't be doing it every week, we will definitely do it again very soon!!!  I don't like pizza (I only ate the toppings on mine) I did LOVE the activity itself!!!  A really fun family activity!!

Everyone agreed the pizza was much nicer than bought pizza - and it showed because they all ate their pizzas - much more than normal pizza!!!  

Fun!!

Parsnip fries..

These are the yummy PARSNIP FRIES that were mentioned on Oh She Glows yesterday!!  I made them last night to go with our home made pizzas!!  They are oven baked in a peanuty butter and EVOO mix and are DELICIOUS!!  They were quick to disappear and good for you :)