Slip-sliding away!!!

The children had so much fun on the slip and slide this afternoon........

Oh and the top picture - the one of Laurence splashing.....he went so fast that he flew off the end of the slip and slide and SOAKED me and the camera lol! Too funny!!!

The Hummingbirds are back!!!!!!

Susannah spotted a Hummingbird at the feeder by the kitchen window this evening!!! They're back in town...

The birds are back in town...the birds are back in to-ow-ow-ow-own!!!! :)

I am so happy! And my Mum will get to see them as they are here earlier than last year!

So we have three feeders this year - be prepared for LOTS of Hummingbird pictures over the coming weeks :)

AND our Mallards are still on the pond...we have a pair who seem to have made it their home and are settling down to have lots of lovely ducklings for us :) Keep your fingers crossed for us please :)

Today I bought a magazine called 'Birds and Blooms' which is a special issue about Hummingbirds and the plants good for attracting them......and it even has an article on how to get them to feed from your hand!

My little friends are back and its not even June......that means we get at least 8 weeks with them this year :)

Filling the pool......

Lloyd stopped off and got a better pool on the way home - big enough for the older children to play in as well as the little ones......Sam had great fun filling it up today! He doesn't seem to care that the water coming out of the well is FREEZING!!!!

Wow!!!

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/caab0103

Check out the forecast for the next 5 days :) 28c and 29c every day :)

I hope we get some cool storms in the evening though :)

Oh and we have learned to ignore the 14 day forecast as that seems to change a few times a day drastically!!!

Have to rave about this product!

We needed new sun screen for the kids so I decided to splurge and pay extra for the continuous spray one from Coppertone.....I've never used this before but it is sooooo great - so easy to use...no mess, no fuss and even easy to get on a wriggly 2 year old! And the lid swivels to cover up the spray hole when not in use which is great - no lid to lose!!! :)

Abigail on the bleachers......

Seeing Abby on the bleachers cheering on the runners made me wonder what she will be like when she is in high school...possibly sat on these very same bleachers....surrounded by boys maybe? Friends? hopefully! There wree a lot of high school kids sat around enjoying their lunch today......

Abigail forgot her hat.....we thought we had it in the bag but it was no where to be found! She had it at preschool on Tuesday so now where????? So we picked her up a new one when we were at Zellers...

Sam in the sun......

Knights of Columbus...

We threw a picnic together late last night and today headed off to Strathcona Athletic Park to watch Laurie compete in the Knights of Columbus Track Meet......Laurie ran in the 200 metres, 50 metres and the relay.....

We sat in the bleachers and watched a lot of tha races...Sam and Abby played on the bleachers with the little toys we brought...then after one of his races, Laurie joined us for something to eat....as it was so hot and gorgeous out the water melon was the biggest hit!

Laurie didn't win his races but I admire him for running so well in this heat!

Oliver!!!

Hi Olly!!! The children finish school at the end of June...just a few days after you arrive :) Then they are off for summer until the beginning of September.....

We are all excited to see you in just a few weeks :)

Thursday........

Its Thursday...its going to be 28c today woohoo! 22 by midday and 28 by the drive home.....we are having a picnic in town today at the athletic park - going to watch Laurie in his track meet.....he is in 3 races against kids from other schools in a the Knights of Columbus challenge.

I didn't have to work preschool today after all which is ideal - so I am giving Abby the day off to come with us and then we don't have to rush back to pick her up.....

I need to run to Zellers and get a gift for Abby to take to a birthday party Saturday.....I also need to get Sam some Summer shoes and a paddling pool which I still haven't got - and a pump tp pump it up with! And milk! We are out of milk.....

Tonight I may have to go to the medi-centre (like a drop-in doctors clinic)...I hurt my foot Sunday and it isn't getting better and I have missed 4 runs.....and this morning when I wiggle my toes it feels like the bones in the top of my foot are rubbing together...so weird....if I go, I will take a book to read as the wait may be long!

Have a great day everyone!

Date night :)

I just got through cutting almost all of the gras at the front...its gorgeous weather and the children were on the trampoline etc so we were all outside enjoying the weather - I may get a paddling pool tonight.

Its date night tonight......Lloyd is on his way home...the childrens dinner is ready for them to have when they are hungry.....Sam is asleep on my big chair after being outside for much of the day (yes the mosquitoes are bad this year but they don't stop you doing anything......we still sunbathe, play outside, drink and eat outside...walk around and get on with life outside - this is for my Mum and Dad and sister who seem to think Canada is being taken over by killer bugs or something lol!)

So...farmers market, home depot and Wok Box....that seems to be our main plans for tonight - its more of an errand night than date night but its just the two of us....time together......and its still nice and fun and I'm looking forward to it :)

Oh and Val if you read this - it was great to see you this morning...thank you for completely ignoring my grouchy and difficult two year old! Thank you for ignoring my 6 year old when she announced loudly that it was time to go! I had fun as always despite the chaos my children created lol......oh and isn't Grace (our waitress) just so so wonderful - she is so great with the children which makes everything so much easier......and shockingly Sam wasn't high as a kite on sugar all day - he did just fine :) See you next week :)

Off to shower now and get ready to go out :)

Have a great evening everyone.

Susan!

I like your recent post. Couldn't agree more.....Can't comment on your blog grrrrr but I still read :)

Outhouse????? NO!!!!!!!!

Danica and my Sister Clare asked if this little white 'hut' is an outhouse......mmmmmm well it stands by the entrance to our property......it has a light inside and a window.......it can be heated when necessary........

Hmmm so what is it??????


Actually no it isn't an outhouse lol Danica you will soon be seeing a lot these little sheds by driveways...most acreages have them! They are actually little bus shelters! The yellow school buses pick the children up at the end of the driveway for school each morning.....in summer that is fine, but in Winter it can be -35c in the wind and is very dark.....so these bus shelters are for the children to wait in for the bus!!! Ours is a very nice one - I love it - I'd like to stencil plants growing up it....or maybe have a window box on it.....some acreages have nasty old scruffy things, but I think ours is really attractive :)

Wednesday plans....

I'm off to breakfast in a short while to meet Val :) I didn't think I could make Thursday so we planned for today instead....Abigail is excited because she gets to come with us this time......normally she is at preschool.

Tonight is date night but instead of 'datenight' it will be an evening just Lloyd and I......but we are going to Home Depot to get some wood for the vegetable garden (if we don't make little fences around the vegetable patches, Charlie rolls in the soil thinking it is a mudbath just for her!!) so we have to do that but we will then grab supper at the Wok Box (I still haven't tried it!!) and hopefully find time in between to go to the farmers market as I want some potatoes to grow....often the ones from the grocery store are treated with something to stop them growing roots....so I want organic ones from the farmers market - maybe finger potatoes...or otherwise just little new potatoes......my Dad grows his potatoes in buckets.....a layering technique that works well....but I am going to grow mine in half barrel tubs...those half barrels that are for flowers normally......I am hoping I will find a nice hanging basket at the farers market too......all the ones at Aspen Ridge had sold out on Sunday.....and mine has to have red in it for the Hummingirds....

The children overslept this morning.......late nights all round...Lloyd and I didn't get to sleep much before midnight either and he had to get up at 5am poor thing.....luckily the children made it to the bus stop with time to spare.....

Gorgeous weather again today 24c and they say today will be the coolest of the next 5!!!!!! Laurie is camping out on Friday night at his friends house (the twins) so he is excited about that.....Chris is invited to a sleepover birthday party Friday night too......so Susie will have a friend sleep here and we will have to delay our trip to WEM again!!! Abigail also has a birthday party to go to on Saturday.....a little girl from preschool.

Well I am sat here not dressed, and with only an hour until I have to leave.....so I have to get going!

Bye for now :)

Little Miss Sunshine :)

cookin up sand pies for supper!

I gave Sam a tub of water on the porch today and he had so much fun mixing it into his sand table.......what a mess!!! But he was there ages enjoying the whole process :) I often read about parents who won't let their children do anything messy - like mixing water into the sand, but children learn so much from getting mucky and messy - and its just sand!!! It dries!!!

Skipping on the porch....

Abigail practices her skipping on the porch............

I'm lovin' it...

Air conditioning...the house was at 78f earlier......so we put the air conditioning on and woohoo the house is lovely and cool again :) Oh I am so loving the air conditioning....and will love it even more by the end of the week when it heats up even more......

Once the sun starts coming through ther front windows this house really heats up...but not any more :) woohoo!!

Scenes of summer............

Busy busy bumble bee..........

A bumble bee working hard around the apple blossom.....if you click on each picture you can see them up close - and then click 'back'.....

Unschooling...is it detrimental?

DD didn't really touch math last year...she wasn't interested, so we did the basics and didn't push it.....didn't touch on multiplication because it wasn't going in and she just didn't seem ready.....she basically took the whole year off of math and just focused on other subjects that she was enjoying.....

A whole year at home 'unschooling' for the most part...

Susies class just did a review test - big math test for the year (Susie started in February) and she came top! 1st in the class :) sometimes taking a break ......even a year...to relax and play can help you be 'ready' for certain subjects and topics....

My kids chose their own topics last year...studied what interested them.....had so much time to relax and enjoy and rest and just 'be'......and yet they are all at the top of their classes already...no problems 'fitting in' at school, no socialising problems (yes I am rolling my eyes) and no gap between where they should be and where they are...

I see soooooooo many benefits to our 'year and a half off' but no downsides at all......

and other gripes...

Have to say several 'topics' at a certain website today just make me want to shake people.....

Creationism Museum opening in AB

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/05/29/museum-ab.html?ref=rss


Thoughts?

Will you visit this museum?

What a lovely day...

I can't add pictures right now for some reason, so I will do that later..and I may as well blog instead....

Today turned out to be a lovely day....preschool was fun...we made spiders from egg cartons, did workbooks with the children, played games outside and then played in the playground.....it went fast and was uneventful which is a good thing when you have 20 preschoolers! I don't have to work on Thursday after-all...at least they don't think so, if I don't, then I will go and watch Laurie in the track meet in town (it was postponed from Monday because of the wind (?????) must have bene worse in town as it didn't seem that bad here...

After preschool, we came home and had lunch and then went back outside for the afternoon...we let the chickens out, let Charlie out....planted more things in the vegetable garden.....watered everything (animals AND plants!!)......Abigail collected the eggs.

Then we went for a walk down to the road...I took my camera and took some pictures of the blossom on the apple tree, the children sat amongst the dandelions.........

We came back to the house and I gave Sam a big bowl of water on the porch so he could mix it all into his sand in the sand table.....he had soooo much fun getting all mucky and making sand pies......

I sat on the porch and read for a while and took some more pictures.....then the children came home from school and we all sat on the porch and ate Philly Swirl popsicles (0 points on WW......not that I am doing WW but I thought that was interesting)

Lloyd came home from work and dinner is in the oven.......after dinner we will go back outside and work on the vegetable garden some more.....

more later - with pics I hope!!!

Dandelion delight......

I know most people think of them as weeds, but I just love sunny dandelions......a little boy at preschool gave me one today :) and my yard is FULL of them...although Lloyd may cut them all down tonight!

After several months of snow I think Dandelions are bright and cheery flowers!!!