Thursday, July 28, 2011

Inspiration.......


Over lunch today we got talking about Christmas....I know it's July !  I have tried to adopt a less is more approach to gifting over the last decade or so and now that everyone is growing up I think it's time that it becomes more of a whole family "thing".  They have always participated with parts based on their age, ability to keep a surprise and my patience level.

We pulled out some paper and started jotting down some of our collective ideas.  They had some really realistic ideas.  After delivering Ana's papers we headed down to the library to search out some inspiration....34 items later and a longer list on order....we're hoping to get ahead of everyone else.  I'm curious to see what other ideas they come up with......Homemade as much as possible is the plan......

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

a peek at the garden........

 Rainbow Chard...Oh ! so close to eating.....

 Green Beans

 One little tomato so far.....


 The Carrots are growing....

 the Patty Pans are trying to decide what they want to do......

 the Rutabaga, green onions & Scarlet Runner Beans are coming along nicely.....

 I'm laying things out for a new bed....maybe for potatoes next year.....

 when the bulbs fade away the corner garden is still full of color & life....


Well, that's the most of it.......we actually tamed to meadow aka lawn.....I don't know what I like better !

From my kitchen - some gluten/dairy free lovelies

 Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

 Chocolate chip cookies - from " Cooking for Isaiah"

 Crunchy Flax Cookies - from "the Best Gluten-free family cookbook"

 Meat filled pocket pies - pastry mix from "Celimex"

 Sunflower Flax Bread - from " the Complete Gluten-Free cookbook"

Mixed Berry Pie - crust from "Celimex" mix

Monday, July 25, 2011

How are you feeling ?

 maybe your feeling peaceful, content, happy....

 maybe your feeling silly.....

 or maybe your a touch annoyed or angry....

 Oh no !  Your sad....but why?

 no that's not it...your full of so much energy & confidence you think you can fly .......

no still not it......now your the ruler of your domain....big & strong like a T-Rex.....


How are you feeling today?


Monday, July 18, 2011

Such fun !!

We're back......we had such a good time !  The weather was being a little difficult on Friday & Saturday, which caused a few changes with the " Young Men's" camp.  Thankfully most of our plans were indoors.  Our buddy " A " decided to join us for this little road trip....he did so well and I think he'll probably be up for joining us again.  After meeting up with the guys and swapping gear and collecting a tired soggy Anthony in Campbell River we headed to Courtenay, dropped Piper off at her favorite " doggy camp" and checked into the motel.  After filling our bellies with Autunm soup we headed off to the newly opened Costco to stock up on a few things.  The kids enjoyed checking out the well stocked book section while I quickly sprinted my way through.  Then it was off to the Wave pool.  Two hours of full on exercise and a little visiting with Nana.  I was hoping to tucker them out enough that we wouldn't have any fussing around when I declared it time for bed......and it worked !  Liam crashed out in the middle of playing on a pile of blankets on the floor :).


First on the agenda for Saturday was hair cuts for us girls. Then it was on to the " Farmer's market".  Nana met up with us again, which was lovely.  Most of us indulged in a little gluten/dairy free treat from " Sweet Surprises".  I Love her ginger cookies !!







Next, it was the dreaded Superstore.  There's something about this store that just brings on the "gremlins".  It took all our strategies but we survived ...barely !  We decided that food was the best remedy....so after much discussion we decided to give the " Whitespot to go" a try.  Mr. A & Anthony went for burger meals & the rest of us stuck to the fries which we took back to our room.  I reheated some turkey/veg burger's (with out the buns) & some raw veggies to go with the fries to round out our meals.


Then it was onto the main event....." Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollow's part 2"......



This was the first of the series that we saw in 3D.  The kids are all very curious about how this 3D thing works and why my eyes don't do 3D ( yours eyes need to work together for it to work & mine don't even with my glasses on). I still need to wear the 3D glasses it's just looks normal to me.  We all enjoyed ourselves.  I'm still deciding whether I like seeing the movies before or after reading the books.  When we got back to the motel the kids decided that they really needed to swim in the motels outdoor pool.  They sweet talked the guy on duty into removing the cover and in they went....






Sunday we rose to no rain and warmer temps.  We packed up, checked out and headed down island to Errington to meet up with our new learning consultant with " Self Design".  Wendy was on the island and visiting with her families. I thought it was best to meet up at the "N. Island Wildlife Recovery Association".  I was thinking that this would allow everyone the space to interact in a calm and fun atmosphere.  It was all that with one exception .....it had a gift shop...a gift shop you had to walk through to enter & exit. We had already reached our sensory overload with anything to do with " shopping". 45 minutes into our visit the " gremlins" took over and we ended our visit with me carrying them out to the van and leaving.  It took a few km, lots of  "don't engage " for them to get the message that they don't run the show and then all was calm again.  It was nice to get to meet Wendy in person even though our visit had to get cut short.  She definitely got some more insight into our family and some of the challenges we face.








Before picking Piper up we made a stop at the Courtenay air park for a snack and a little kinesthetic release.







Overall it was a good trip !  Looking forward to our next one at the end of August......