studying the hummingbird

Fun Facts about hummingbirds

• They do perch.

• They have very weak feet and do not use them for transportation.

• They fly forward, backward, shift sideways, stop in midair.

• They can beat their wings 60 to 200 times per second.

• They lap nectar with their tongues.

• They can fly up to 60 miles per hour.

• They can live 5-6 years in the wild.

• They are the smallest bird in the world.

• They consume, on average, half their weight in sugar each day.

Abigail's been busy............

Abigail has been busy outside as always.....she is still very much into hopscotch....as she has been for weeks now! But today she was also into running again....this was a BIG thing last year too when she was obsessed with Dash from the Incredibles! So today she was running from fence to fence and object to object.....

Lloyd lit a bonfire to burn some more of the wood and things......

Abigail caught a cricket.......but this Cricket isn't in our bugs of Alberta book so we aren't sure what kind it is (anyone?????) Abigail loves bugs........

Lloyd is making us all toasted cheese sandwiches now. No one is very hungry so thats fine.......

Christie emailed me a few times today...in one of her emails she talked about how boring it is with just one child and asked what parents of one child do all day........so funny! I know exactly shat she means. Today I only have three of my children here yet it seems so quiet.....boring at times....and like something is missing (well it is lol).........its a strange feeling. We still have three children here but that doesn't seem like many.....and I even said to Lloyd,.......because there aren't many of us maybe we should eat out......but to some people 3 children would be a LOT!!!!!

Sam with Daddy....................

Big Boys toys....................

Lloyd has wanted one of these cars since he was about 12! So on Thursday he treated himself to one!!!! Its a gas powered remote controlled truck.......a Traxxas Revo 3.3 It does 45+ MPH or so he tells me lol! Do men ever grow up?????

Lloyd never buys himself anything.......so I love that he wasted so much money on this toy even though to me it is a waste of money ;) He's happy and the kids love it too so that makes me happy :)

But how long can you stand and make a car go backwards and forwards??? I just don't get thr thrill........he has friends (and I have friends whose DH's.........) fly little planes as a hobby...I don't get that either...must be a guy thing......................

Cairo on the deck..........

Cairo fast asleep on the back deck this afternoon.................

Egg hunt.............

We just did the daily egg hunt.......9 eggs so far today.....now the children are outside helping Lloyd fix my bik...the handle bar needs altering.................oh and the two eggs in the dish are to show the size difference between the eggs from chickens who have just laid their first, and the eggs from the chickens that have been laying for a week now........first eggs are really sweet and tiny :)

We had scrambled eggs with dinner last night...so nice eating eggs form our very own chickens :)

Thursdays sunset for you..............

Saturday sighs..................

It's Saturday......the first day of a three day weekend....so we decided to get all the errands out of the way...basically Lloyd and I headed to Costco this morning. We stopped off at Starbucks on the way. I saw L from the homeschool group in Costco which was a nice surprise. I told Lloyd that she is 'the lady with the gnomes' as in she carries little gnomes around with her and takes their photograph at different places (like the worlds largest goose lol!) and then pust the pictures on a website.....kind of like a flat stanley but a travelling gnome instead. I think it's cool!

I bought one of those lovely soft cuddly throws at Costco.....a cream coloured one to go on the new brown leather sofas (that we don't actually have yet but plan to get one day..............lol! At least I am prepared with the throw anyway ;)

We didn't get much else there actually apart from food which is unsual. We normally buy quite a bit...although Lloyd did really like the beds they had in there for the girls bedroom.

We got home and unpacked the groceries. Unpacking groceries is a real family affair......I stay in the kitchen and start putting things in the right places while the children carry everything in...anything for upstairs goes on the stairs and it's Abigails job to take everything on the stairs up to my room.......Lloyd sorts all the frozen foods to take into the freezer that is in the garage.........then I sort the meats into portions ready to be frozen......and cookies and cakes etc - anything like that we buy in bulk gets sorted into ziplocs and frozen.

So now Lloyd has driven back into town as Chris has to work at the library this afternoon. Laurie has gone too as Laurie is sleeping over at his friends tonight....and Chris is sleeping over at his friends too so once Lloyd gets back in a minute he is home until tomorrow....no more running about :)

Lloyd is going to Sobeys too as we need a few things for the quiches. Now the chickens are laying a dozen eggs a day I can start to make my pasta and quiches......So I plan to make some this evening......

We are hoping to go and see some goats tonight. 3 female pygmy goats........thats kind of exciting! Apart from that we plan to do not much!!!! Relax, potter about outside, go for a walk with the dogs........maybe I will go for a cycle ride with Susannah.......maybe play a board game.....

*********

Wow I started this an hour ago!!! I just got off the phone to my Mum and while I was on there, a hummingbird fluttered on the porch.......on my geraniums and in my lilies!!!!! Its the first time I have eve seen a hummingbird!! They are tiny and so so fast...how will Iever get a photograph of one???? So tomorrow we are off to buy a hummingbird feeder for the porch! Wonderful.....


I love living here :) Just LOVE it :)

Charlie and the chocolate factory.............

Johnny Depp surrounded by chocolate...........................sounds like sheer bliss to me!!!!

Unfortunately he looked like a transvestite which didn't really do much for me.....I kept trying to focus on his eyes...those lovely sad brown eyes...but the teeth and hair and make up just kind of spoilt the whole fantasy!



Ah well! ;)



We've had a nice evening so far, all curled up together watching the movie and eating the most divine White chocolate and Amaretto cheesecake I have EVER tasted!!!

I totally totally recommend Wow Factor Desserts!! I think we will be getting our birthday cakes from there in future ;)

http://www.wowfactordesserts.com/

I love him so!!!!!!

Ok I just have to say I love Lloyd just so so much! He is just so so thoughtful! He's on his way and has stopped off to pick Chris up from his friends house and has just called to ask me what dessert I would like.....he is in Wow Factor Desserts in Sherwood Park and called to ask which big dessert or cheesecake etc I would like!!!

We have never been there before so I asked him what on earth made him go there...and he said..........

'You!'

Its rainy and grey outside and I am tired....we plan to curl up and watch one of the dvd's we bought the other day and now we get to do that with yummy dessert :)

A total bitch......IMO

On the Global news this morning I saw a piece about an English man named Joseph Dobbie. He met a girl at a bbq that he really liked. So he emailed her and declared his feelings. What did she do? She forwarded said email to her sister, who forwarded it to friends....and as often happens...it ended up worldwide on the net, on the news, in the papers......

They say he is a laughing stock (although many thousands of emails to him since show otherwise IMO as many women have asked for dates)

They say he is a dork for sending this email. Why? Its open and honest and sweet and shows (to me at least) that he would be an open and honest and sweet and caring partner/ boyfriend/ husband. I constantly see on forums messages from women moaning about the way their husbands treat them.....yet when a sweet caring man comes along people think he's a dork.

I'm not interested in the tough lad thing....the ones that like to go out to the bars or follow their hobbies constantly or never help with the kids and never discuss feelings and aren't romantic...I left that all behind when I left school. Now I just want a man who treats me with love and respect, who talks about how he feels and shows how much he cares and loves for me and our children.

I'm disgusted by thirtysomething single women these days that they would globally humiliate a man so caring and so open about his feelings....why? because he doesn't look like Tom Cruise? Because he isn't a millionaire? Why exactly would that bitch do that?

You can read the story here:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17441436&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=the-o-t-t-mail--name_page.html


Ok jumping off of soapbox now.

Another Abby-ism

In the car this morning Abby said:

"When I grow up I think I want to be a teenager.........no, I know....I want to be Chinese"

I'm not sure about the teenager part but I'd kind of like her to be Chinese...they have such wonderful festivals and culture......and food!!! We watched the Chef At Large the other day about the Moon Festival......how to make moon cakes etc and it reminded me of the project we did on Chinese New Year....that was sooooo much fun! Actually I think maybe that would be something nice to do this weekend...head over to T & T supermarket at WEM. The kids LOVE it there!

Millennium fun...................

This morning Chris had a shift at the library to work, so I dropped him at the Mall at 10am and then we headed to Millennium Place (a large recreation centre) for a few hours. Laurence and Susannah headed to the ice rink to skate for a while and then the gymnasium to play badminton and soccer. While they were in there I took Abigail and Samuel into the indoor playground as I'd arranged to meet Sh and her two beautiful little girls (her very VERY special little baby who was born on MY birthday!!!!)

The playground was soooooo busy. It was pouring with rain outside so I guess everyone headed there to get the kids out of the house! Sh introduced me to a lady from LP.....its always nice to put faces to names!!!

They have a new bouncy castle in the indoor playground now so Abigail and K had fun on there.

We went out to the tables for snacks and coffee halfway through and then when Sh was ready to go I walked out to the car with her to give her the baby clothes I had saved for her......So yes....the last of my baby and toddler clothes are now gone.......how sad that we won't need them any more. We also gave her the Tigger bouncer........we have so many memories of Sam and Abby jumping about in that.....

I went back inside and had lunch with my 4......then Susie and Laurie headed into the Sport Zone for the over 8's for a while and I walked around with Sam and Abby and then took them back into the indoor playground for a while until Sam was getting sleepy.......we headed home around 2pm..................

We checked the mail box and Yay another homeschool magazine! I got one yesterday too...Homeschooling Horizons arived yesterday and today The Old Schoolhouse arrived.

Lloyd is finishing work early today (yay a 3 day weekend!!!) and picking Chris up from his friends house on the way home......although I wouldn't be surprised to get a phone call from Chris asking if he can sleep over!

I'm tired today. Aunt Flo arrived. What fun! I was going to go swimming so we took all the swimming things but not today.........maybe next week.......I've promised the children we will head back next week and Chris can come with us to the sports zone.................

Barbie needs marital therapy...............

Sniff sniff......I have more of a relationship with the laundry than I do with Ken...............

Help..............

Someone help me.......I've got my @#$^%$ hair all tangled up with the @$%&*$ shower head again!!!