Vacation

We just got home from a vacation.  I was so looking forward to this.  My husband has been working like a mad man, all sorts of overtime lately and my oldest daughter is leaving for a big missions trip to a whole other country in just a few days.  So we planned our holidays so that we could all go together before she leaves.  Besides the big mission trip, she is working at teaching 5-day clubs all summer again as well as a summer missionary with Child Evangelism Fellowship, so she won't be available to take off with us in the summer.

So we had a plan to just go down to Minot, ND, spend a couple of days shopping and watersliding and consuming cherry Coke...and then travel to Great Falls, MO for a night then up to Calgary to see my awesome cousin and take in the zoo and Heritage Park.

Sounds like a plan, right?

We were planning to leave on Saturday, and the Friday before we had a birthday party to go to.
So we went, had fun, ate supper and the Princess had developed one of her headaches - she gets them often - and then ended up throwing up at her friend's and so we came home - and assumed and hoped that it was the result of the headache.  She seemed totally happy and fine afterwards.

So we embarked on Saturday - drove to Minot, went watersliding, and then had a fun supper with friends of ours that just happened to be there at the same time.  We went to Wal-Mart loaded up with Cherry Coke, all the cool cereal we can't get here - some awesome cake mixes that we can't get here that I remember from my childhood and cinnamon chips - which are like chocolate chips and they are always in recipes that you get online, but we can't get them here in Canada.  We went back to the hotel and all was fine.  

The next morning, we watched our own church via live streaming on our laptop and the Baby seemed a little sick, but she was fine so the others went watersliding and she and I went to the mall to check it out before it opened.  We got halfway down the mall, and the stores were just about to open when guess what??  Yes, she threw up all over the floor.  So I got some napkins from a less than helpful pretzel store manager and waited with a poor child covered in bodily fluid waiting for the mall maintenance to come and mop up the mess so I could take her back to the room.  It was so sad and stressful!  By this time we were wondering if this was really a sickness spreading, or if it was just two coincidental occurences, one from a headache and one from too much fun at the all you can eat Pizza Ranch the night before.  Obviously praying for the the coincidence!!

I left her with her dad in the room and took the rest of the girls shopping for a bit, eventually we made our way to Target and picked up a few more grocery type items before it was time to head out.  We spent that night in Minot and left in the morning,

drove all day to Montana and pulled into our hotel parking lot and planned to go to the Golden Corral in the same parking lot for supper once we had unloaded.  We had this great room, actually more like a mini-suite and my hubby and the two oldest girls went out to get the luggage. 

About 10 minutes later our little Tapper came in crying and bleeding and about an hour and a half later we were leaving the medicenter with two stitches under her lip. 

Needless to say, after all of that the Golden Corral was closed and we picked up Pizza Hut and went back to the hotel. 

About 5:00 in the morning I was ripped from my VERY comfortable sleep by Dash throwing up in her sleep.  I dragged her to the bathroom and gave her a bath while I changed the sheets. The upside to all of this was that as I was setting them up with a movie after this event, I realized that we were in the US, so I logged into Netflix and sure enough, we could we had access to the US Netflix, which my friends, if you haven`t tried it - it is WAY better than the Canadian Netflix.  So I put on a Disney movie for them and rested for a bit until the continental breakfast opened.

So by this time we are 13 hours from home, no matter what we do, so we have no choice but to carry on.  We had only planned one night in Montana, and we got up, went to the store for some bottled water, made sure our puke bucket was handy, and headed off to Calgary. 

 My cousin assured us that she wanted us to stay regardless and so we carried on to her house just in time to see her off to work for the evening and we went to the mall for a bit, but pretty much decided on an early night.  Princess had started getting a headache again, so I braced myself and sure enough the next two days were a flurry of sickness, and rain, and eventually flooding - so even if we had been well enough to take in the attractions we had planned, we wouldn`t have been able to because it didn`t stop raining and rumour has it the animals from the zoo ended up being moved to the jail.

 I have very few pictures of our time in Calgary, because it was a lot of sleeping and Netflix....and one hour at the Science Centre, and my cousin and I taught the older girls how to play Canasta. 

 We almost left 2 days early, but because of the storming, we stayed and left one day early after enjoying a birthday and got home with only one puking incident in the truck.  Ugh!  All of this time I am thinking about how Ballerina has to go to Mexico in just over a week, and how she has to have a strong stomach, not a weak one - and praying hard for her to be protected.

When we got home my hubby and Tapper ended up feeling sick too, and although Tapper never did throw up, she was sick longer than everyone else.  Although she managed, she got her stitches removed and we carried on.  Ballerina and I never did get sick (Praise God!!), but we did apparently leave my cousin feeling sick for two days.  I so love her, she was so gracious to us - she is the best! 

I keep thinking how every family needs a holiday like that to look back on in 20 years and laugh about - so now we have had it and the rest of our holidays can be uneventful! 

Butterfly time again!

We have been homeschooling for 11 years. Ever since our Ballerina was in Kindergarten.  We have tried various methods of schooling, tried various curriculum, tried all sorts of things.  One project that has stood the test of time however, that we have done every year is watch caterpillars turn into butterflies.

When she was in Kindergarten and Grade 1, and maybe even Grade 2, I just ordered a set of 5 caterpillars from a mom who was ordering for a group.  But then either in Grade 2 or 3, by the time I contacted her it was too late and she had closed her order.  She gave me the name of then science supply company and told me to go ahead and order more if I wanted to.  So I contacted the moms in my school board to see if anyone was interested in ordering with us.  I had MORE than enough moms, and so began our adventure of ordering caterpillars every year.

The caterpillars come in sets of 30, and need to be separated into individual cups where they grow until they form a chrysalis.  I am not much of a bug person, and I remember that first year, sitting at my table with these cups of caterpillars thinking that I must really be a homeschool mom, because why on earth would I be doing this? LOL!  Once they have formed their chrysalis they have to be transferred to a box where they can emerge and then they can be released outside.  It is totally fun, and still interesting after all these years, so we keep doing it, it has become an annual tradition, signalling that our school year is almost over.  And it really doesn't gross me out too much anymore!

 The only problem we have now is that over the past few years we have had SO MANY extras, I donate some, sell some, give some, beg some people to take some - and still we had over 60 caterpillars to watch ourselves - it was really crazy!  Next year, Lord willing, if we do this again, I will not order as many, but have a longer waiting list, because although it is neat to have so many to release, it is really crazy as well!

 This is one box, we have had to release our guys more than once, as the box quickly gets crowded.

 Apparently we have our own 'butterfly whisperer'. Princess loves butterflies, and was the least squeamish that she has ever been about them.  She managed to hold 4 at once here.

Don't butterflies truly signal the end of winter?

A re-post, because it made me laugh!

I somehow got to my old blog today, and was caught up reading about my kids when they were little, and watching cute videos - and then I came across this post and laughed out loud remembering it and wanted to post it again - enjoy!!

 Tell me - what do you think when you see the picture above?

 How do you feel about flying rodents?

 How would you feel if there was one in your house?

Believe it or not, the other night (Monday actually) I came out here to the living room/dining room to make sure the doors were locked and the computer was closed - all of that stuff - probably about 11:15 p.m. Hubby was asleep, the girls were asleep, and I often just come out here to make sure before I can go to sleep.

Well, I turned on the dining room light and saw out of the corner of my eye something flying in my living room. No kidding!! So I gave my head a little shake because maybe I was having a stroke and seeing things instead - it would make more sense, but no, there was really something flying in my living room. So, being a 34 year old woman, I of course handled it with the utmost of decorum, um or I screamed like a girl. I started yelling for my husband - poor guy!! I couldn't even go down the hallway to get him, I think I might have been in shock or something.

So I started to yell, "...there is something flying around out here, it is either a bird or a BAT." My poor husband was ripped from his sleep and came out here to valiantly rescue me find out why in the world I was ripping him from his sleep!

 He tried to catch it or shoo it with a big reusable bag for a few minutes, telling me to calm down, it must be a bird (there was a flash of white on it) and then decided to use the broom instead. He was trying to shoo it out the door, which we had opened, and then hopefully out the garage door, which we had also opened.

So, I went down the hall and closed all the doors to be sure it couldn't get into any of the rooms where the kids were, and then back to the little kids room to make sure the window to the back yard was indeed closed. As I came out of their room, the stupid thing was flying right there in the eating area, so I quickly closed the door again and waited for a few minutes before attempting to come out again.

By this time he had wacked it once, and it was starting to tire and fly more slowly. I felt so completely ineffective - I mean what could I do...except maybe get my camera and try and get a picture to make the telling of this story so much better for the blog!!!!

 I grabbed it quickly and at the same time Hubby managed to whack it again - this time a good one - that sent it to the floor behind the open door. So I slowly tried to get close enough to take a picture, until Hubby said, "Hmm, it is a bat." That comment was enough to make me pause, long enough for it to crawl through the crack in the back of the door and fly out into the garage! He followed it out there to try and be sure that it left the garage, and as far as he knows it had flown up to the rafters of the garage, like inside the fascia. But so far we have seen no other sign of it, and if we haven't seen it in dusk tonight he is going to dig around in there a bit more comprehensively to find out if we have a dead bat up there - just in case!

 Man, it was a crazy experience!

The whole time we were trying to get it out I kept thinking about my cousin telling me about them trying to get a bat out of her parent's living room, which had vaulted ceilings - this was the one time I was glad our ceilings are a touch low!! I have talked to a couple of people over the past 2 days who have had similar experiences, but I for one can say it was a first for us! CRAZY!

 I was very glad my husband was here, and I think he quickly forgave me for waking him - at least I have been trying to help him see what a hero he really was to me!!! Ugh, I would have hated to do that alone - and if you have ever seen me try to play baseball on the Wii, you would know that it was a good thing it was him swinging at it, not me!! According to what I have found on Google, the good way to rid yourself of them if they happen into your house is to wait until they land and throw a wet towel on them, or try and lock them in a small room and call animal control - do we even have animal control here??? Whatever - at almost midnight just getting it out was our main concern!

 AND as far as we can tell - OUT it is!

finally spring

 I was starting to feel a bit like this with all the winter but finally spring has arrived!!!
Which for us means that school is almost done...

 And there is no more playing outside on the mountain of snow...

 I have a strict rule about not complaining about the weather, but the weather beat me this year.  I was so done with snow!  I am so glad to see all the plants growing in my yard, and the bushes starting to bud.  I can't wait for my apple trees to start budding!  When we moved into this house almost a year ago the trees were in full bloom!

I had to go shopping for maternity clothes a couple of weeks ago as well.  I managed to buy one shirt and one pair of capris.  Apparently this is going to be a season of a lot of laundry...I still have one skirt that I like from the last pregnancy, one shirt that is okay, one that is not really great, two pairs of jeans that are fairly uncomfortable and 2 or 3 regular non maternity shirts that will last for another couple of months. 
(I ordered some stuff online today - let's hope it fits!!)

I have an awesome new haircut.  I totally, totally love it and would post a picture of it, but I didn't shower and style it today so you will have to wait until tomorrow - or some other day in the future!

I promise, I will blog about more interesting things later, and include more pictures.

almost 2 months gone by

I can hardly believe it!  2 months almost!  That is crazy.  I don't really have an excuse, except I am tired, really tired, and getting out of bed in the morning to have some time alone has not been my habit for at least the past 6 weeks.  Probably longer.  Some days I still go to the gym (but not often) and if I do get out of bed a little earlier than my niece and nephew arrive, I have worked a little on my Thursday morning bible study homework, so I don"t have to do 3 or 4 days of work in one day early Thursday morning! (Shhh, don't tell)

Today I did get up, early,  and for me I mean REALLY early.  I was up and dressed by 5:45 and my husband drove me to the gym and then I walked home after my workout.  At least I feel pretty good still - although I did get into bed at 9:00 last night - I didn't go to sleep right away, I stayed up to read, but I did get into bed at 9:00 p.m.  So that probably explains my burst of energy!

Although I am hoping that the reason is because I am finally past the first trimester of this pregnancy.  Yes, I said it, we are having another baby!  I am so excited, when I am not exhausted that is!  We really cleaned the house this weekend too, so I am hoping that is another indication that the weariness is going to subside!  I am ready to stop feeling so sluggish! I am not trying to complain, I really am not. I spoke with another mom this weekend who is probably 17 weeks pregnant already or more, and is still nauseous - which I never am, so I am not complaining - just stating!

I should be about 14 weeks, heh, let`s see if we can get the pregnancy ticker on here, hold on....



There you go, 14 weeks - and then some - and making urine - gross, who really needs to know that..I almost didn`t paste it in because of that, but really, I don`t have anything else to talk about!
I saw some other cool ones on there - like this one

Kind of neat. - and not nearly as personal!

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, it never gets old. I know that I already have 5 healthy children, I know that I have already done this 5 times, but really, I either have a terrible memory or I just truly have the same excitements and anxieties each time!

Don't worry, I do remember pregnancy in the summer, and labour, but I just choose not to think about those things today!  LOL!

So there it is, my excuse for being absent - sleep!!!

more cake decorating

So I made a cake for a friend and worked ahead in my book to learn  how to make some little dropped swirled flowers.

Don't look too closely at it being crooked and slightly lopsided - I SAID, DON'T LOOK!!!! ;)

Really I kind of liked it, it turned out very pretty as a whole, and the really cool part was it was 2 layers, one chocolate, one vanilla with a butterscotch filling!  Perfect for anyone!  LOL!

And we learned some flowers at class
The pom pom flower

That looks like this on top of a cupcake, with leaves of course!

And the shaggy mum! 

This was probably my favorite tip so far - totally reminds me of playing with play-doh.  Particularily the hair dressing set.  Remember that one, with the chair that pushed play-doh through holes on the characters heads to give them long hair??  Loved it!

 These cupcakes were filled with a cookies and cream filling, and then topped with the techniques we used!

  And my final cake class was last night - where we made this cake...

 And learned how to make a ribbon rose.  It is cool, because who doesn't want to know how to make roses out of icing?  I think we might take class 2 as well, because it is Flowers and Cake Design, using royal icing instead of buttercream, and I think I would like to know how to make more flowers.  I think I was convinced when I saw the daffodil....out of icing...totally cool!

I made it, and I wanted to write Mama Milly rocks on it - or something like that on it, but anyway, I was confused about weeks and decided to make it a birthday cake for someone's birthday that is more than a week away.  Awesome, heh? Oh well, we'll pretend it says that I rock and then we'll just eat it for fun!

Cake class

So I decided it would be super fun to take a cake decorating class. Some people are extremely resourceful and happy to be self-taught, not minding to experiment and all that, but I struggle with that.  I just want to follow the rules.  I just want to have a direction to go in.  Let me copy someone else's work for a while and I will eventually get to doing my own.  It is how I learn.

So I did make a few cakes last year to try it out and I love so much creating a special thing for one of my kids (and one was for my dad - can you guess which one??) that I decided to go ahead and do the class.  It is only 2 hours a week for 4 weeks, totally worth it.
Here are some of the cakes I made last year...

My personal favorite was the burger cake - it turned out so cool.  The whole thing was edible!

But I still always feel like I need some rules and instruction to guide me so I signed up for a Wilton Level 1 class with a friend.
The first week we learned about making a great cake, we learned the wilton buttercream recipe and we decorated cookies.

 So for this week we were supposed to bring an undecorated 8 inch cake to torte and decorate in class.

We all followed the same template and mine turned out like this

the colours are not at all like they were really, but anyway it was fun and I already learned how to smooth out the surface of my cake, and feel like I am getting the hang of my piping bag more and more.  I can't wait to learn the flowers and leaves, but that is all two weeks away because of the long weekend!  I might work ahead, the coolest thing about the class is the book that I got, it is full of lots of ideas and instruction!  I do realize that there is just as much info on the internet, but I am an extrovert and a social person.  So if something can be a social experience as much as a learning one, that is a bonus.  I will try to remember to post my pictures from the class.  Next time is cupcakes!