Behind the scenes of the opening ceremony....

Kitty's close-ups.....

Silver monster?????

Or cuddly pussy cat????

The Great Backyard Bird Count!!!

This weekend is the Great Back Yard Bird Count!!!  Just 15 minutes a day and you can help keep track of birds in North America!!!  Great prizes to be won - and this is a great little project for kids!!  help them learn about the birds that visit their yard!!  Or take a walk this Family day and help them spot some birds and write them down to log them for the bird count!!!  Just 15 minutes is all that is needed!!

Visit THIS website to learn more and find links to pages of activities for kids too!!

Go Teams!!!! :)

And I have the biggest respect for Georgia.  What should have been their proudest moment - one of the most exciting days of their lives turned in to one of their saddest moments:

Opening Ceremony scenes.....Vancouver 2010..

Go Canada!!!!!!

After enjoying the evening watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, I'm off to bed!  

Goodnight!!  :)

Well done Vancouver - you did us proud :)

I Believe :)

Butterfly collection....

I saw this project on  Ali Edwards Blog and thought it was so sweet - I already had the butterfly punch and it reminded me of the frames filled with butterflies that we love to see at the Museum each time we go.  I thought i would make one for the front room now that Lloyd has painted it and it is a completely new colour theme....

Last night I bought a little shadow box at Dollarama and today I painted it and then punched out the butterflies - I wanted their wings to be up so they'd look a little 3-dimensional.  I like how it turned out - I wanted the frame to be a little rough looking - I may even take some sand paper to it and rub off some of the paint still......

I think these would make great little gifts - I think Susannah might make some of these for her friends at the end of Summer as goodbye gifts!!  The frame was a dollar and the butterflies are made from paper scraps...

Ali also made a frame using hearts and today Rhona posted her wonderful heart shaped version too!    Very quick and sweet gifts to rustle up for Valentines Day or birthdays - or Mothers Day!!!  They'd make a great new baby gift too because I think something like this would look beautiful on a nursery wall! 

Olympics.....

Although marred by tragedy with the very sad death of 21 year old Nodar Kumaritashvili  the torch carried on it's journey towards the Olympic opening ceremony today.  It traveled through Stanley Park in Vancouver - carried by Arnie and was passed by him to good old Brit Seb Coe!!!!  :)

You can read about it HERE.

Such a sad event to have the death of such a young athlete.  The speed at which they throw themselves down those icy shoots - on not much more than a kitchen tray.....I have to grit my teeth and cringe when I go down the water shoots at the swimming pools and water parks!!!

My thoughts are with that young mans family - how awful - they must have been so proud and so excited and thrilled to have had a Son at the Olympics....he must have been so thrilled and so excited to be there...all that excitement for tonight and for this week........

And all that aside - the Olympics aside - the sport aside - to lose your Son like that :(   and in the media too :(  Tragic

x

Sparkly Bee....

This little pot was a gift from my In-Laws for my birthday.....it has a bee on the top - perfect for a beekeeper :)

It looks lovely beside the little perfume bottle they gave me for Christmas.....

They are both from one of our favourite British stores.....  Past Times  If you like all things British, it's definitely a store worth checking out!!!!

Friday fill ins!!!

1. Pickles are something my girls love - especially garlic crunch-ems.
2. We'll probably spend Family Day at home.
3. The snow is so pretty and sparkly in the Alberta sunshine.
4. I do love living way out here and going out for walks in nature.
5. It's 5:16 PM; that means Lloyd is just home from work and the 3 day weekend can begin!!!.
6. a stapler that works well is hard to find.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics, tomorrow my plans include celebrating my Daughters 8th birthday and Sunday, I want to enjoy Valentines Day with the man I love and with my wonderful family :)!


You can find your Friday Fill ins HERE

Practicing Gratitude...

THIS blog post is about my favourite book....Sara Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance 'A Daybook of Comfort and Joy'.....I've had this book for YEARS and have gained soooooo much from it.......If you haven't read it, then I wholeheartedly recommend it - as well as the workbook that goes along with it!  

Sara's website is also wonderful!!

Aerogarden...

I gave Lloyd an Aerogarden for our Anniversary - with a set of herbs to go in it!  He loves little gardening gadgets like this and was really excited to get it set up and started - it's like having a mini grow up in the kitchen lol!  You can see the herbs starting to come through - only took a few days because of such bright light......Sam is enjoying checking on them every day.  

Chess!!

Abs and I had a really great game of chess today.  It lasted all afternoon really - with a  small break for us to get the banana bread out of the oven and have a piece....I won in the end but Abby did get me in check a couple of times which surprised me and showed I wasn't concentrating properly!!  She's good at this game and she loves it :)