Sunshine and Honey

Lovely days = time spent outside

We trimmed a few hooves and then got Honey out.

Honey was our foal that was born last Christmas 

(can you say ACCIDENT)

She's a really sweet girl.

It helps that our girls

(mostly Lucy)

mauls her.

She is a total pet.

Flat-Lander Sledding

It was so beautiful here today so we decided to bust out the new sled Santa brought for us!

It took Dusty a while to get all set up so we jumped on the tramp for a bit...

Once we got going it was so so so much fun...

I even convinced Dusty I was "safe" and he got in the sled! Mwah ha ha ha ha (evil Laugh)- Good thing he's never heard any sledding stories from Brianna!!

Jolly Old Saint Nickolas

Was very very good to us this year.

I am sad that Christmas has almost come to a close. I usually try to stretch it out till New Years but honestly once boxing day has rolled around I think I hear a leap of joy from Dusty. He can now listen to other music besides the Christmas playlist.... the kids disappear to the basement to play with their new toys and books.... and I take a deep breath and clean off my counter-tops from all the deliciousness that has surrounded us.

Today my house is clean (ish) and the baking is mostly in the freezer. The children are passed out in their beds trying to recover from all the late nights. and Dusty..... he has disappeared back out into the man-shed.

It has been a fun filled month and a half. Many highlights. As I get older I really appreciate the quiet times spent with my family. And also the joy found in our extended families.

The girls have been sick on and off through December and Christmas was no different. Both Lucy and Penny happened to be sick the last two days but were troopers and pushed through.

Santa brought the girls a trampoline. They are thrilled (until they got their tongues stuck).... a story for later...

and my parents gave Dusty and I (mostly I) a new camera.

I am thrilled. My camera has been on the fritz for quite sometime and Dusty and I have looked at cameras... The problem... I wanted a nice camera but something always came up and we never committed to buying one. I am absolutely in love with it and can't wait to actually start learning to use it. I have already been looking for new lens' for it. 

So without further adu......

This is Mabel.

She hopefully can many more awesome photos to my walls.

Twas the week before Christmas....

And all through the home,

the girls were all shrieking,

'cause Mom was grabbing the comb...

Just kidding.

about the shrieking.

The girls have been asking to get their hair cut for quite some time....

but I get totally freaked out cutting their hair.

because I am not a hair dresser....

and if I was smart I would just take them to see one

but somehow the thought of 

dragging three little girls to a salon 

seems even crazier than 

just attempting to cut it myself

Without further ado...

Miss. Ellie

and

Miss. Lucy

Slowcooker Chicken

I thought I would just post one of my go-to recipes when I need a slow cooker meal. It makes a ton of food and its really simple. The kids love it. Its not like its a gourmet recipe but it is a simple, yummy dish.

Slow cooker Sweet BBQ/Asian Chicken

1 package of chicken. I use boneless thighs.

In a bowl mix:

1/2 cup of soya sauce

1 750ml can of crushed tomatoes

1 cup of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of minced garlic

cook for 8 hours.

if you want it to taste more BBQy then add some Worcestershire sauce and some chili powder and cumin and dried mustard.

More Asian- some ginger or a tablespoon of peanut butter

More Indian- curry paste and fish sauce

Super simple base recipe.

creepy-not Halloween but Christmas- cookies

Lucy is the *hopefully* last victim to the flu.

I am glad I kept them home today just to be on the safe side

(I am just trying to redeem myself)

Anyways, the girls and I made cookies.

Penny feels sick but probably not a recurrence of the flu.

Most likely it's all the chocolate chips she ate in the decorating process.

I saved candy corn from Halloween for these frosty's...

Ellie told me they look creepy...

I guess we'll just stick to trees.

Rest

On Friday I got sick. 

Really sick

(Don't worry my beloved readers... this is not a whining/pity post).

Although really sick doesn't even scratch the surface of what Friday was.

I was delirious.

and not in the good..." I took too much cough syrup way..."

 (not that I have ever done that..... er.... much)

Anyways,

back to the point.

Dusty forewarned our beautiful little girls that I was a mess.

They got up. 

Got themselves breakfast.

Dressed themselves. 

Hopefully brushed their teeth and hair 

and got on the bus.

I was in bed. 

and

unaware of what was going on.

Mother of the year award please!

(but it gets better)

At some point (most likely at 1045) Lucy arrived home.

I say most likely because I have a very responsible friend who drives Lucy home from school.

I do not know though.

I was still unconscious.

She must have gotten herself a snack and watched TV.

(I know this from my keen observations I made on Saturday.... crumbs on the floor and YTV on the TV)

Ellie arrives home from school.

I do vaguely remember this...

She was kind enough to come in and check on me. 

She got me more drugs.

(yes I know my drug cupboard should be out of reach from children 

but ..... Mother of the year award #2 or 3)

and ginger ale.

She then left with her shirt over her nose

 (she is a bit of a germ-a-phobe..... 

I don't know where she gets that from)

They had a scheduled play date with the neighbour girls. 

At some point they were picked up.

and then again,

 at some point, 

my father came 

bringing food for the kids 

and soup for me 

and to do the chores.

I don't really remember him being here.

I know he was here

 because 

there was food in the fridge and french fries in my bed.

(which I was unaware of until Saturday when I changed my bedding.....

apparently 

Penny who was sick with me 

became a trader and got better 

and decided to eat and sleep and drink ginger ale with me.... 

in my bed..... 

which again, I was unaware of....)

So... 

The kids came home sometime that night 

and woke me up 

and told me they were home.

Ellie says 10 well 9 

so I'm not sure when they got home.

but

 I guess the important part is

 that they got home.... 

probably from a play date that I was supposed to pick them up from....

OOPS!

The point of this really flattering tale is apparently 

1) I have either raised really mature self-sufficient kids or 

2) my job is not as hard as I make it sound to dusty 

(hopefully he doesn't read this thing) or 

3) I should take more days off and actually enjoy them!

The true meaning of Christmas

Christmas Party

Tonight was our church's Christmas party. Here's a sample of the entertainment....

 

 This is Penny showing her friend her pretty shoes.

They are so darn cute together. 

They play so good and they always look for each other.

Lucy and Santa.

She asked for a trampoline.

Penny and Santa.

She didn't ask for anything.

She was thrilled he came.

She was the first one to march up there and sit on his knee.

Ellie.

She took this very seriously.

She also asked for a trampoline.

The primary children singing.

Oh Holy.....pose when the camera comes out!

I was trying to take a couple pictures of new craft.

Penny insisted she needed to get in on the action. 

It's a good thing she is cute!

The new craft.

The new craft in action.

and Darling Penny. 

The "C" word

commute.

We commute.

Dusty lives away from home while he is working. There's lots of couples/families who do this. It also brings a lot of opinions...

Well tonight...

I laid in bed and watched a movie that dusty would never, ever in 1 million years, watch. 

AND 

I had a snack.

 IN BED.

Although I miss him 

and

 I would of course wish to be

 independently wealthy so we could just be together always..... 

it is nice to watch what I want 

and 

eat in my bed 

AND 

have a job that pays the satellite bill. 

HAHAHA

Let a sleeping baby....

Sleep. The girls have head colds this week. Penny is exhausted and hun-gee. Sometimes there is a fine line when you have to wake your tired, sick baby just to run into the school for 15 minutes.
On a side note, it is chilly and frosty and the perfect weather for head colds. Soup and movies are on our agenda and maybe some on-line black Friday shopping!!!

Nothing motivates a kitchen renovation like a .......

New table!!!! Hurray!

Oh how lovely are your..... Rafia

I spent part of this Saturday crafting.... I would of preferred shopping but one trip to Costco kiboshed any further shopping excursions (I did politely suggest HE could stay home... Hahaha) ANYWAYs,
I managed to finish two out of my three trees and I love them so much I might just keep them up year round (although I say that about most of my Christmas decor).

The woes of black beauty

Lucy is known as "Lucy The Brave" to our family. Ellie is often frightened and Lucy will come to her aide and thwart off any lurking danger.
Lucy is rough and tough.
She loves monsters and scary stories.

Ellie got a new book to read.... Black Beauty.

Lucy came upstairs sobbing because Ellie was reading out loud. I couldn't really understand what was going on BUT then it dawned on me...
Last year I bought Lucy a child's version of Black Beauty and it gave her nightmares for a month (I wish this was an over exaggeration...)
Lucy The Brave is brave when is comes to the fictional horror of make believe but when faced with the horrors of the reality of human behavior (particularly towards our furry friends) she is an inconsolable mess......

After Ellie and I figured out what was the matter, Ellie put Black Beauty away and pulled out Dracula....
Hahaha

My little monkey

This will speak volumes about my parenting....

I was tidying ... Er.... Or full blown cleaning and realize I ACTUALLY completed a task!! I knew something was amiss. I began searching the house for Penny. I couldn't find her anywhere until I heard a tiny (okay not so tiny) voice coming from the tv cabinet!

What a kid!!

an old friend

Tonight I am on speaker with my sister. She is trying to start her own blog. It will be amazing... as most things she does are. Sitting with her on the phone, walking her through step by step made me remember how frustrating it was to get this here blog off the freaking ground. And now I have the "easy" part... just filling it with measly musing and yet I am a slacker. I shouldn't be. I enjoy blogging (probably because I am feeding the egocentric part of me). Anyways, maybe her awesome blog will motivate me to do better. Or at least get me on here because I'll have to check hers... haha

Post 2 of 3am contemplations

The 3 am contemplation of life

It is 3 am. Dusty is gone. Penny is up. I am laying in bed somewhat exhausted and yet, scrolling through pictures. We just had a friend come and take some family photos of us at our new place. We look so happy and our place is great but as I looked through the pictures I couldn't get over how old the girls look! So tonight as I am looking at the pics on my phone I am overcome with a bit of sadness. Where has time gone?

Children of the corn- the fairy tale version

We took the kids to the corn maze yesterday! It was so much fun. We managed to complete all three mazes and still got home before bedtime!

Perfect

Today it is a chilly grey autumn day. It is a day filled with tidying and hot cocoa, moccasins, mittens, and wool sweaters.
I spent the morning in dusty's shop refinishing a project that I had been putting off for years. It is in it's final stages and I should be able to haul it in the house.
This afternoon the girls and I are going to town to buy a turkey. I love thanksgiving and autumn and chilly days.

Sent from my iPhone

Old Age

>

> So it is precisely 14 minutes until midnight.
> Yesterday I stayed up till midnight.
> I know most of you are like "so what"
>
> But
>
> Alas it is my blog so you will just have to put up with my rambling...
>
> So anyways,
> I am... Er.... Was a night owl.
>
> Now the old age transformation has begun. I actually get up at 7 am!!!! And the weird part is I enjoy it!! I like to go to bed at 10.... Or 9..... 8...
>
> I just can't hack it anymore.... Soon it will be time for depends....
>
> Sent from my iPhone

In a month

July and August have been jam packed with excitement. Most of July was spent packing which paid off big time because we actually did make it out to the lake which I wasn't sure that was going to happen.

The hot days

Normally our summers are spent by the lake...

this year we have been

1) flooded out

2) packing

3) it's been super rainy

4) and really just enjoying time on our farm with our ponies...

So on the hot days at the farm the girls can be found....

Here at the pool....

Here on the slip and slide/ water slide....

And catchin a breeze on the swing set....

Who knew home could be so much fun.... and just as refreshing!