Smiling at the 'Simple Things'

I just have to start out with a 'simple thing' that made me smile and put my hands up as in praise to the lord.  I came home from grocery shopping and my oldest jumped right in and helped carry groceries and put them away, I never even asked.  That simple thing is what makes me smile.  I am not about the material things, bling, or luxury items.  Truly simple things are what make me happy and smile :)

Well, we had a great vacation back home, and extended our stay by one night.  We ALL had fun, and relaxed.  We swam daily, usually more than once.  Paul went fishing twice a day, and successfully even, lol.  We went boating, tubing, my oldest and youngest learnt how to water ski, picnicking on the beach, more swimming, some relaxing on the deck, and, on the dock, late nights and not too early mornings, made for some great memories.

A view from the deck of my kids tubing behind Papa's boat.

My bestest hairy buddy, T-Bone, watching from the lawn in a perfect spot to see the action at the lake and keep an eye out for the pesky squirrels and chipmunks that kept him busy during the day.  He isn't much of a swimmer this guy, but he loves to splash around in the lake, he cracks me up, it's a funny sight, as he paws the water and tries to catch the splashes with his mouth, again, and again. 

A little simple fun, the tube is tied to the dock and it's a floating raft to dive off of in the deep.

Some lunch time entertainment as we enjoy our picnic on the beach.

The peaceful view from the dock in the evening,   A little serenity right there!

Caught and released this dude, just not as many around anymore.  They were everywhere when I was a kid, bummer all the construction that goes on ruins their habitat and egg laying ground.

Just a little tasty treat made, post holiday, mango salsa, with a nectarine or two as well, yummy.

Mangoes chopped, nectarine chopped, red onion chopped, red pepper chopped, fresh cilantro chopped, a little salt and a whole lime squeezed of its juices.  All measurements are to your own taste, use as much of something as you prefer.  It tastes better once it sits for a little while in the refrigerator.  I used unsalted organic tortilla chips, but the Tostitos multigrain scoops are yummy as well. 

I am so enjoying the weather we are being blessed with, and not doing much else than having fun with the family, projects are building, but, are on hold for yukky days, and once school restarts in September.

Thanks for stopping by and will update with more family fun soon.

School is out and we are having fun...

Holy, I haven't been on here in a while.  School ended without a hitch and the kids immediately began their usual;  late nights, not so early mornings, swimming like crazy, friends, quick lunches and dinners to return to the water fun.  Now I did manage to get gifts together for my kids teachers, king of last minute for the final product, I only knew what I wanted to do at least a month before, but hey, that's how I roll lately.  Just not as organized as I usually am.  Oh well, it all turned out just fine.

I started with this first.  Yummy, and I got my idea from here Northern Cottage, which is one of my favourite blogs I follow.  You can also find a variation on Pinterest, but I liked this one best and found it before I found the one on Pinterest, so I went with it.  I did try to find 125ml jars, but couldn't find any at the time, now that it is closer to harvest time here, jars are abundant, oh well, again.  More caramel dip for the teachers and none left over for us, except a small sample that didn't last long.  Not even a chance for dipping apple slices, just fingers, hahaha.... So a jar of caramel dip, and 2 apples in a cellophane bag tied with string and a cute tag attached.  A cute and yummy twist on the apple gift giving for teachers.

Each teacher received a basket of yummy treats to start their summer off with a smile.  Baskets were from Dollarama, and all other treats were bought or made by myself.  Just a little something to let them know how much they are appreciated.  Our small rural school is fantastic and giving homemade goodies is always a great way to show how much these teachers mean to us.  Truly, we are a huge family there, and we get to know each other a little more than most teachers, kids and parents.  The number one reason we purchased our property and built our home where we did.  School zoning, at one most amazing school. *sigh*  OK, enough, move on to our summer fun.

This is our dock at my Happy Place (camp).  It has been through a lot over the years, and winters have been tough on occasion, but, this year it was found in one piece at least.  Other years not so much, lol.  We have arrived in the spring to find half the dock drifted down the lake, or the side boards cracked and broken, repair after repair, it still keeps us above water, and always the main place to have fun in the summer.  We were missing a rung on the stairs, and a cross piece at the front, but it functioned well until our other chores were done.  This is what the dock looks like almost all summer.  Every bit of summer "stuff" is collected on and around it.  Canoe, kayak, surf board, noodles, butterfly nets, bucket for frogs and minnows and any other critter that may come along, goggles, snorkels, fins for swimming like a mermaid or dolphin, your choice.

A day without a boating adventure across the lake would just never do

The traditional picture of a cute critter, now I should say that I am not a fan of squirrels, I'm more of a chipmunk person, but this young little guy was just so cute.  Look at those big eyes, Our regular chipmunk has some competition in the cuteness category, lol

My Happy Place would not be complete without our beloved sauna, built by my hubby.  This makes staying there even more enjoyable. Whether it's cold or hot out, a sauna just feels good.  

At the end of the day, a cozy fire is a must.  We may or may not make smores, we may just roast marshmallows, we may crack some peanuts by the fire, or, just sit quietly, listening to the crackle of the wood, and the loon calls in the distance, as we reflect on the wonderful day we had, and how much life has to offer.  Dance like no one is watching (it's kind of fun to do now and then)  Life is good!  Stop by again soon, I will return, I promise, there is just so much fun to be had, I get carried away.  This weekend promises to be another round of good and memorable times, my parents come to town, birthdays to be celebrated, and laughs all around.

Summer is...

Well, we are finally having a wonderful weekend, as far as our weather goes, so we can finally venture to our camp.  I imagine we are over run by weeds, wild flowers, goose yukky, and hopefully not fallen trees and not too many branches.  My teenager wants to hang out with her friend, so that delays our departing somewhat, but we will get there at some point this afternoon.  I know I can expect that I will be working up a sweat as my other two splash and have fun in the water.  Every year I instruct them that our first trip to camp is about cleaning up and prepping for our summer time out there, and every year they end up in the lake before tackling any chores that are required.  I am not really angry about it as soon as I realize they are in the lake, I hear them laughing and splashing and getting along, and that is what it's all about.  Fun, fun, fun...
I was going thru my pictures of years past and decided to make a collage of all things summer for us, it brought back so many memories, and fun times, good weather and bad, we have done so many things, we truly are blessed.  It really brings a smile to my face!

I could have added so many more pics, choosing was tough, but you get the idea.  Most of the pics are from our camping spot.  We spend most of our time there in the summer.  We save up our holidays and spend as much time there as possible.  As simple as life is out there, with no hydro or real running water, we don't seem to suffer at all.  I ask the kids every year if they could live there and as they pause before they give me their answer is usually ends up as a "no".  They still want TV, computer and telephone.  Even though they have just had two months of practically none of that (except when we go home to do laundry and replenish the groceries) they insist they need to have it.  Luxuries like that are nice to have and I am thankful we can have those things, it is nice to see we really don't need those things to survive.   I also did up my own version of a word collage, as I have seen so many on line that I felt I should do one too, lol...

I will say that I love Picasa and play around making collages of photos and words all the time.  So creating these for summer was just fun to do.  I am sooo looking forward to the drive to camp today, I am not exactly excited to work up a sweat cutting the lawn weeds out there or all the work that needs to be done to open up, but the results after are heart warming, and worth it.  Everyone that ventures to our "Happy Place" can see why I call it that, and friends and family are always welcome, the sauna is fired up and ready, the lake is literally a hop, skip and a jump away, and we are almost always there during the summer months.  Wouldn't want it any other way.

Any special moments for you, any special places you like to be in the summer?  I would love to hear your stories, honestly I would.  My favourite season is the fall, but my most memorable times are during the summer.  Have fun everyone, play safe, use sunscreen (I fry if I don't)and smile, life is too short not to appreciate what you have.

Birthday Party ideas for kids...

Well, this weather is not helping my plans of just a little more yard work, boohoo.  I did bake just one more rhubarb treat and I promise I will stop writing about rhubarb, I just can't help myself....

OK, so not only did it smell awesome, but tasted yummy, an apple, rhubarb, strawberry crisp, yup, uh huh, I made it late in the evening and ate a small bowl for breakfast once the kids were gone to school, accompanied by a perfectly brewed, warm, cuppa java, a great way to start my day.

Alright enough already, I know, I know.  Since these grey, drippy clouds have me a bit down and unmotivated to create new things I thought I would share a little passion of mine.   I love prepping for my kids birthday parties, the ideas floweth and consume my mind.  My Mom and I have always decorated the birthday cakes for my kids, ever since they could shovel in cake with their fists.  Usually rental cake pans are used and cakes are decorated up all nice and colourful, but sometimes the kids make requests that don't use a cake pan, and some just get me thinking even more about ideas to go along with the birthday 'theme'.  I thought I would share some of those with you, maybe to help you with ideas as well, and they are just a lot of fun to show.

This cake was made with a cake pan and we decorated it as to my daughter's colour preferences.  Hannah Montana was the theme, we sent out guitar shaped invites and the party was at a photo finishing/studio.  The girls had a blast.  The party included an hour long photo shoot to my daughter's chosen songs, (Hannah Montana of course) pizza, and we provided the cake.  Their loot bag after the party was a picture of the group of them taken by the photographer in frames I purchased at the Dollar store and chocolate shaped guitars I had made up by a local chocolate business.  I also gave each girl a glittery scarf for the photo shoot. (also purchased at the Dollar store).  The girls had the option to purchase a DVD of the entire photo shoot, with special effects, music and all.  The studio also provided a link for the families to see and share the video for a certain period of time.

My son's party was hamburger themed, as you might have guessed.  The invites went along with the theme, and the food served was mini burgers (and hot dogs for those that did not want burgers)  The cake was made with two Pyrex bowls and a circular cake pan.  It is a large cake, just to let you know.  We chose real sesame seeds for the top of the bun, way easier than dots of icing, and we used icing as the ketchup, lettuce and mustard, as I don't let my kids eat fruit by the foot, or otherwise, but you can cut different shaped licorice gummy type of things to look like the lettuce etc... if you wish.  My kids remind me often that their friends get fruit by the foot ALL the time (apparently) and why can't I just be a normal Mom....Yep that's me, abnormal.  I think I've said that before in a round about way.

This cake was when my son was loving Lego, a short phase for him, thankfully really.  He chose a costume party theme and had a joint party with his sister.  Their birthdays are only two weeks apart, so that made for an interesting couple of hours.  We sent out mask shaped invites, and had good old fashioned party games.  The kind I used to have, the kind that kids nowa days aren't really aware of.  Hot Potato, musical chairs, etc....  We rented our rural Rec Centre for a whole $45.  Totally worth more, but shhhh, it's all good.  The cake is 4 separate cakes covered in marshmallow fondant.  So much more tasty than almond paste, bleh....Anyway it came together relatively easy, the little Lego dude is a little out of scale in comparison to the cake, but you get the idea.  For the party we added a few more Lego people and I iced a couple of cookies with Happy Birthday written on them and his name and leaned them up like a sign on the cake Lego pieces.  It was a hit with the boys at the party, that's for sure, I was like, totally cool Mom with this one.  Oh  and my son dressed up as a Lego man, easiest costume ever, face painted his face, good ole Lego yellow, purchased a red shirt like the Lego dudes at the Salvation Army store, and used a Sharpie marker to draw on the shirt just like the Lego dude.  Ta Da....

These little ice cream cones are my daughter's cakes.  It was an icy themed party.  We had an outdoor skating rink in our back yard that year, so we sent out skate shaped invites and had a skating party.  Her birthday is in February, the 13th, to be exact.  I filled the ice cream cones only about half way with cake batter, some were a little more full and rose up quite a bit, but no biggie, it's cake, it's all good.  Iced the cake cones to look like ice cream and added sprinkles.  Awesome!  The cones were a little soggy, not crazy soggy, more like a little soft after baking, no crunch when you bit into it, but they were still yummy.  The loot bags were cookies in a jar, recipe attached and a bag of some already made cookies to sample for each girl.

These fun little bears are relaxing in their cupcakes pools under an umbrella, chillaxin.  The theme, you guessed it, a pool party.  Fun summery invites were sent out (made on the computer as my daughter's birthday is in February)  and the girls swam and had fun.  Easy peasy.  Pizza was served to eat, as well as other snacks.  A few girls slept over at the hotel and got in one more swim the next morning.  My other daughter had a pool party one year too, and we planned ahead for that, giving away flip flops from Old Navy as gifts.  Gift receipts were attached but I think we pretty much nailed the sizing for the girls.  Old Navy just happened to have a flip flop sale weeks before, how perfect for us.
Finally one of my daughters last birthdays;

  Larissa

            Birthday Mall
             123 Holly Lane
           Anywhere, CA
           (123)456-7890
-----------------------------------

Store: 011
Cashier: mom007

-----------------------------------

*Shopping special, one day only*

Larissa is turning 11, it’s a
Birthday madness event …….

Meet at my house, we’ll have
Supper at the Mall, shop for
Deals and return home for cake

*Super blowout special of the day*

Sleepover, bring sleeping bag,
Pillow and whatever else you
Need!

             Total:  $$ Lots of fun!!
-----------------------------------

       CUSTOMER COPY

Date (Friday, February 10^th)
Time (arrive around 5:00pm)
Pickup (11:00am Saturday)

             Thank You  J

Insert a picture of a bar code here,
I googled bar code images and chose
one to insert
So I'm not the most techie person and didn't know how to post my document of the invite we sent out, so, I copied and pasted it on my post, sorry.  As you can see it was a shopping party.  I did up invites on the computer to look like shopping receipts, cut them into the proper width, used our own address and phone number of course, and inserted a bar code at the bottom.  we rolled them up and put them inside bags to give to the girls, kind of like a shopping receipt in the bottom of your shopping bag, lol.  The kids thought it was a great invite, and when we returned home each girl got a pretty little cake of her own to eat.  I gave each girl $10 to shop with, and at Ardene's they can buy loot bags 2/$5 for small ones, or 2/$8 for the larger ones.  Which the girls then opened and traded and wore all the neon accessories and humongous earrings, and bangles etc...

Alrighty sorry about the length of this post I got a little carried away.  My birthday planning days will soon be ending and I had to reminisce.  Both my girls are now at the ages where they just  want to go out with their friends, the mall is always a good choice to them, and my son who knows when he will decide to be done, his this year was only with a few buddies and they went all over the city doing whatever boys like to do, bowling, video games, ice cream, and home to run around screaming and getting scratches on their knees from tackling each other on the lawn.

We just had a momentary power outage here.  Whew....Those darn leaky clouds...thunder and lightening, which, I am a storm lover, so I am not complaining.

Till next time my friends, hope I have given some of you a few ideas, and if not, hope you liked what I posted.  I am always open to more ideas, I have neices and nephews still that I can plan for, heehee...leave me a comment please.  Chat soon

More Rhubarb...great weekend

Well, this May Long weekend went by in a hurry.  I never get everything done that I want to get done. Funny how kids, and just life in general get in the way, oh ya maybe Mother Nature too.  One day we have OK weather, the next it's raining and then it's a scorching hot beautiful day and you try to jam pack all the yard work into one single solitary day, and not ignore your children, and try to remember to feed everyone lunch, and still try to keep working, mowing, raking, weed whacking, digging, pulling, wheelbarrowing, driving a child and her bicycle to a friends house, picking up that same child and bringing she and her friend back home to play even more, taking pictures of kids riding on a pallet being pulled by the quad runner for weight to drag and level the driveway and haul some rocks away, running to the back yard to see your other children do flips and moves on the trampoline and balance beam, throw a ball or two for your favourite hairy four legged buddy,  make sure the little dog you are looking after for your parents doesn't run up to the road and get hit by a car, and.....whew.....practically all was completed in a matter of one day.  We all worked together, managed to have some laughs, and smiles, and out yard no longer looks abandoned.  We have two acres of land, of which a good chunk is lawn, thankfully we have a riding tractor, and the kids take turns on that, the rest is push mower and weed whacker fun.  I live on the edge and weed whack without ear and eye protection and no steel toes either, ya I'm a risk taker, or just dumb, whatever you wish.  I have a few different gardens and they do get neglected from time to time, I know hard to believe and all, so I tackled my center island garden yesterday.  We have a circular driveway and this is the center piece, lol...

So mostly it just need to be weeded, and trimmed back a bit.  We have had that old cast iron fire hydrant for a few years now, and finally got it 'planted', sanded and painted by my youngest daughter and hubby (hubby is a fire fighter) and it looks great.  We live rurally and certainly don't have fire hydrants out our way, all just for decoration and cool factor.

I did get a little sun as well, ya, another living on the edge moment, that I will totally agree was dumb for sure.  I never even thought about it as I headed outside first thing in the morning, as my fam was having french toast, made by hubby, I was mowing my first patch of lawn.  When I get motivated I gotta do it, or it will be lost and I will be on to something else, probably of less importance.  Anyway by the time I had to drive my daughter to her friend's house, and change out of my most righteously fashionable yard working ensemble , by order of my daughter, who really didn't even want me pulling into her friend's driveway for fear that I may be spotted looking my absolute best sweaty, dirtiest.  I took note that my shoulders were feeling a bit off, and once I returned home after the short drive I realized for certain that I had got my first and last sunburn of this year.  I have about 17 bottles of different kinds of sunscreen, baby, waterproof, spray on, wipe on, purple on work in till clear, small bottles, large bottles, compact, travel size, purse size with a carabiner clip and still I was dumb enough to go outside without any...dumb! dumb! dumb!  I am blond, fair skinned and burn instantly, really I only get a darker shade of ivory over the course of summer, tan is a foreign word to me, honestly.  OK enough ranting, on to......R H U B A R B.

I love rhubarb, first of all it's free, and second it's tartness is so dang yummy.  From picking it fresh and dipping in sugar, ya feel your cheeks suck in, that's what I'm talking about, tart yumminess.  To stewing, to baking, to making jam, it's all good.  I can't wait to have my sprouted grain toast with rhubarb jam in the morning.  Bah, who am I kidding I could eat that jam with a spoon, never mind on toast, kind of like 'medicine'.  Ya, medicine, that's it.  I will admit that I licked the pot clean after jarring up my batch.  I just use the recipe in the Certo box for all my jams, I have learned which ones to tweak and how to ensure setting of the jam or jelly.  I am a regular jam and jelly maker with the fruits and vegies of the season.  I am actually typing to the sound of my jars 'snapping'.  The sound of success, right there.  Even if the jam or jelly doesn't set, put it in the fridge and use it up right away.  Give some jars away to friends and family with instructions to refrigerate.  The taste will be the same, and should not go to waste.  It's all good, who cares, change the name to sauce instead of jam, who needs to know, heehee :)

Now when I say I have a hardy batch of rhubarb, I'm not kidding, you will notice in my pic that not all the leaves are even on the trees yet, and my patch is huge, under those large, umbrella like leaves are seed pods already beginning to form, and some who live very near to me aren't even able to use their rhubarb yet.

I love it.  I actually think it loves the iceberg rock it grows next to.  That rock is enormous and we had to build our house away from it, as it was too large to move without going broke trying to blast it outta there.  It only grows under the ground, I think it goes to China, seriously...It's the base to our kids snow hill to slide and play on in the winter, or at least when they were young and would actually 'play' outside, lol.

Well, we didn't build anything, and we didn't get any new 'treasures' this weekend, as I stayed pretty close to home, we just hung out, kids had fun, we watched movies during the rain.  My parents are off on their journey in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and I have their little dog for a few weeks.  She likes me, I know it, and I like having a small dog around to cuddle up with on the couch with my blanket and coffee on yet another rainy greyish looking day.  It keeps the forest fires down, and the grass green, so that keeps me smiling.
What's your favourite rhubarb treat, do you have one or are you not a rhubarb lover?  Please share with me as I am always open to new ideas for recipes.

Have a great week.

Happy May Long Weekend

Well, Friday has arrived and I haven't done too much this week.  My rhubarb jam has not been made, but, hopefully today!! I have to get that large bag of sugar off my counter (I leave it there to annoy myself and that way I will get it done)(eventually)
My two youngest kids had their Jamboree, a collective dance and music routine put on thru the Public School Board here, consisting of 17 schools participating.  Our school practiced three times a week, during their lunch break and they were absolutely fantastic.  The kindergarten teacher (who happens to be my very good friend Cathleen) choreographed the routine and did a fantastic job, for her first time.  And she was worried, bah...it was awesome, the kids had a great time, all smiles and energy.

the start of my kids school routine, they are an awesome bunch of kids :)

All the schools participating were fantastic.  So nice to see all the kids coming together and each others interpretation of the theme.  Anyway that was a late night for the kids, and by that eve once we got home, all my kids were a little lacking in the immune system department.  boohoo...Medication all around and fingers crossed. 
My parents celebrated their 37th Wedding Anniversary on Thursday May 17th;

a beautiful day in 1975 ♥

I love them so much and so wish they lived here, I chatted with my Mom on the phone and so wished we were in my living room with a cup of tea.  They leave soon for an awesome and most deserved adventure to London, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, I'm so excited for them.  I will be taking care of their little dog Misu for the three weeks, and I'm excited about that too.  I absolutely love my dog, but Misu is a little dog and she loves to cuddle on my lap.  Now my dog T-Bone would like to do that as well, but he is a tad bit on the larger side for such a thing, lol.  I usually sit on the floor and allow him to climb all over me.  He is my bestest buddy.

T-Bone

Is he not the most handsome dog ever?  After having to put our old girl, 'Hunter', down a few years ago, we made a journey to our local Humane Society, to "look" at dogs, and most certainly not get a puppy, and "not" rush into things and leave with any animal what-so-ever!......well....we most certainly did leave with an animal, and this animal happened to be a puppy and we named him T-Bone.  Turns out it was a great decision and he is truly a terrific dog member of our family.  Just wouldn't be the same around here without a four legged creature to great you and stick by your side.

I should get on with things I guess, my to-do list is getting longer, and the days keep whizzing by.  I managed to come into a heck of a deal, a free pedestal table, that needs some TLC, which I am willing to give it, I have wood to be made into more signs and trays, already have a few people to give them to, my yard has been neglected, weeds to pull, flowers to plant, a small veggie garden bed to build, as my son is itching to get his veggies planted, and many more to-do things as well as have some good times, good laughs and good food this weekend with friends and family.  Gah!!! Rhubarb jam to make, yeesh, OK, I'm heading out to my patch to pick some now.  In closing I came across this pic that actually made me laugh out loud, sorry I can't remember if it was from facebook or another blog, but either way it was funny to me and about sums up how my mind has been functioning lately, I just had to share.

Have a super fantabulous weekend everyone, will post if I ever get my jam made and let you know how it went.  Hugs to all.