Instagram...20 days until my 40th.....

:)  

Love this :)

For today:

Outside My Window... it is dark.  There is a full moon - or almost full at least.  It is just outside the window to my right beside my chair.


I am thinking...about the thrift store and all the bargains I have got from there over the last year and how much money I've saved furnishing this place....and kitting out the classroom...and other things - and yet this place is beautiful :)  I love it :)  I can't believe I have managed to kit out an entire classroom for so little :)   Today we ran into Tina there and it was lovely to see her again - hadn't seen her for sooooo long and then we saw her at the Christmas brunch in december and today :)  Hope to see her again very soon :)

I am thankful for...my life....the fun of it...the luck of it...the adventure of it.  the way I live it.  Wouldn't swap it for anyone elses.  I have so much fun :)  My life may well be a bit of a rollercoaster and an adventure at times, but it's one hell of a ride and I love it :)  I don't think I have one day go by where I don't laugh out loud several times :)  I am blessed with amazing children, incredible friends....many who are totally insane which suits me perfectly - I am so grateful for their cracks ;)

From the kitchen...daily smoothies, yummy dinners, finishing off the Christmas goodies we still have...lot's of fruit...


I am wearing...old jeans...tshirt inside-out....old sweater - we've been painting :)

I am creating... lots :)

I am going...to bed early tonight because it's been a long busy day but I feel soooo good about how much we accomplished today :)  Woot!!!  :)  
I am reading...through a pile of magazines that Sharon gave me at Christmas :)  Thank you Sharon - I LOVE the magazines you always give me xxx

I am hoping...that I've signed up two new students to my class at short notice :)  woot :)  I also have another teacher signed up to teach fine arts - starting with oil painting!!  AND I have a some one-off classes planned throughout February - including a session on Vision boards to help you keep going on those New Year Goals you made for 2012!!!  :)  Also come on over and make a Junque Journal....

I am hearing...  Hedley....listening to their new album which I got for Christmas :)  It is fabulous!  I love love LOVE Hedley  :)  So hold on tight, it's gonna be a wild wild ride....

Around the house...I am slowly putting away all the Christmas things...it's such a chore and it's hard to do also because I am always sad to do it - AND because I don't WANT to pack them away!!  BUT...I get to decorate again in a few weeks - for my PARRRRTAAYYYYYY!!!  :)  WOOOHOOOOO  :)

One of my favorite things...Instagram - and the fact that Instagram now uploads pictures automatically into a folder on facebook.  Yup - little things please little minds :)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...Ummmm....cleaning, sorting, organizing, swimming, walking Rosie, heading to the Winter Festival, celebrating Sams birthday and planning his party, working, teaching, planning, Science Centre, Lego class, library, pub quiz, Ice on Whyte, work/ Exhibitors conference.

MMMMMM :)

A well deserved supper out after all our hard work today!!!  

Omg we ache so much but it was a job well done :)  

Woohoo!!!  :)  

Thank you Susannah 

xxx

Green Monster Lurve..... :)

Today was MY turn to make the smoothie....

Flax, protein powder, spinach, banana, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, apple, strawberries, pumpkin, milk.....all blended up.  YUM!!!!

xxx

Morning Gratitude....

Early morning.....sunshine.....and emergency coffee cups :)

I keep these cups of coffee in the back of the cupboard for emergencies JUST like this morning - for when I run out of coffee :)  

This morning we had to get up early as we had a lot to do in the basement to get organized :)  

So before we started we NEEDED coffee :) 

Sitting in the morning sunshine drinking emergency coffee and watching Rosie :)

Grateful :)  

Dads of girls!! :)

Click here to read a great blog post about Dads of Daughters!!!

Such a great post!!!

A must read for all dads of girls :)  

About Last Night.....

Last night at the pub was just....well...I don't think I stopped laughing all evening.  Thanks to everyone who came out!!  Great night out!!  So much fun!!  So lovely to meet Melissa - even though meeting her was like meeting an old friend :)  Somehow meeting a fellow Brave Girl is like meeting a Sister - you know so much about each other.  And Melissa and I have walked the same path over recent years....we can relate to so much.  

I loved loved LOVED last night :)  Can't wait until the 28th :)  

xxx

Twelfth Night.....and it's over....

Wow. Twelfth Night....and with it, Journal Your Christmas comes to an end. I can't believe that 37 days can go so fast. My album is full of so many wonderful memories yet again. I am so grateful that we have been healthy and fortunate enough to enjoy the season as much as we have. We made the most of every moment. This morning my little boy summed it up for me. He woke up, hugged me and said "I love this family, it's so much fun" ♥ And THAT is what I want my children to remember ♥

Green Monsters!!!

Susannah and I are taking it in turns to make smoothies each morning.  Today Susie made this one! I want to encourage her to drink orange juice high in pulp, but she doesn't like it!!  So we added it to the smoothie instead of milk and she really liked it.  

This week we've been adding a lot of frozen berries instead of ice, bananas, mangoes etc etc...protein powder and of course the flax and spinach.  

Everybody has been drinking a lot of these and I think it's sooooo good for the kids to have a cup each day :)  Luckily they eat a lot of fruit and veg anyway - always having salads, apples, bananas vegetables etc etc...but this is a great way to get a LOT of good stuff in to them in a quick shot!!

I love vegetables but was never a fruit fan, so for me its great to have these again as it has upped my fruit intake again....there are instagram groups for pictures of them too so I'm taking part in those :)

As of today Instagram pictures instantly go into their own folders on Facebook!!!  At last!!!  yay!!  About time too!!!  :)  Makes life so much easier :)  

Triops

The Triops are growing so fast!!  We have moved them in to a bigger bowl now and they are doing great!  They are pretty dumb though and swim really fast doing somersaults and crashing head first into each other and in to things again and again!  They are very strange looking but fascinating to watch :)  Much better than sea monkeys!  I would definitely recommend these little creatures for kids and I will definitely get them again!  I would NOT follow the instructions on the box though, but would follow instructions online about how to care for them!!  Much better :)  

definitely fun little things :)  

My little boy turns seven :)

My Samsam turns seven this weekend.  I can hardly believe that my little boy is so old already!  The time has gone much too fast!  

This morning he sat on my bed and we had a big SERIOUS discussion about what it will be like to be seven.  How it is going to be different and what he thinks he is going to be like when he is seven.  It was so sweet to watch him talk away and pulling faces and using his hands and moving around on the bed as he chatted about all kinds of things - all kinds of crazy ideas - changing subject again and again.  I snapped away with my phone while he talked - which was one of the reasons I had started the conversation :)  

Afterwards we curled up and watched Ice Age 2 :)  

:)

Enjoying the gorgeous weather!! +11c!!!

After the museum we headed to Broadmoor Lake to enjoy the gorgeous warm weather!!  january 4th and it was +11c :)  How wonderful!!  :)

The children played on the lake for a while - they didn't have their skates on but still had a lot of fun - they especially seemed to like being able to get onto the island!!!

The playground and skating pond were fairly busy because of the gorgeous weather!!  Great to see everyone out enjoying it :)  

After a good while we decided to walk up tot he ice slide by the community centre.  The warm temperatures were melting the snow and ice sculptures extremely fast, but the children still got to enjoy them - even if it meant they got VERY wet!!  Good job we went prepared :)  

They had fun on the slide for a while and then we headed into toe library to dry off and warm up for a while.  They played on the computers and on the Wii together and little K played on my iphone making cookies endlessly :)  So very cute!!!  :)  

Once we were all warmed up and dried off, we headed back towards Broadmoor Lake again and the cars.....said our goodbyes and headed for home just as the sun was setting.

What a fabulous day :)  

To top it off, I even won free passes to Ice on Whyte today :)  Woot!!!  :)

Tonight the girls and I settled down together and watched Flashdance :)

Oh the memories :)  

lol!!!  :)  

Museum field trip!!

Today we headed into town to the Strathcona County Museum, to join in with their Festive activities.  For only $20 you can sign up for a family membership for a WHOLE YEAR!!!  So we did that!!  We were given a guide of historical sites to visit in the area, and quite a few of them I didn't know about, so I think we're going to visit a few of them in the next few months!  

The museum has really changed since I was there last - and since Chris worked there!  It is so much more hands-on now, which the kids LOVE - and each room has a button you can press, which sets off a tv, that plays a movie and talks you through the era...a few of the rooms have changed too.  

The children were given activity books to take for another time - they each match their grade levels.  They were also given scavenger hunts to do - they had to do things like find out how many Dutch Elves were hiding in the museum, how many stockings were hanging on the tree, how many bears were hidden around the exhibits etc etc...oh and where the German Shepherd Reko was displayed on the wall..

They got to decorate cookies, hunt for candy canes and then take one home....cut out and take home paper dolls, and decorate paper gingerbread men to hang on a tree.  

We had a quick look around the museum but didn't really learn anything much about the displays as it was more of a 'fun' visit this time, but as we now have free access for a year, they suggest we plan a field trip with more families (three families went today)  and plan a themed visit with guides.  

We can also go one day with our activity guides and go through them.