PD Day

The kids and I were off together today, we got some errands done, had McDonalds for lunch, played some games, played some Wii, all in all a perfect day. I sent them outside this afternoon to colour the snow, the containers all have coloured water in them.

And outside I sent them, all bundled up expecting that they would colour the snow and then play a bit outside to wear off some energy.

But it didn't last too long and Isla came in crying. A little too much togetherness and they start to fight. Oh well! See the beautiful snow out there.

Trip to Calgary

We made a quick trip to Calgary yesterday to visit with Ed's Mom and Dad. They are there looking after my niece and nephew while Ed's sister Michelle is in Cuba on week vacation.

It was great to see them as it has been since Thanksgiving since we have seen them. They were amazed at how much the kids have grown, how long Isla's hair is and how dark it is.

I am quietly a bit relieved that one of my children might actually end up with dark hair like me. I have thought that there was a bit of hope with Isla as her eyebrows and eyelashes are darker than Adam's so I am always a bit thrilled when someone talks about her hair getting darker. When Isla was little her favourite Disney Princess was Belle. When I asked her why she told me it was because she has brown hair like you mom. Now is that not one of the sweetest things ever! I love her!

Talking to Michelle before her trip brought back lots of memories of Ed and I's trip to Cuba on our honeymoon, 10 years ago. Can you believe it, we have been married for almost 10 years! I have to admit that both Ed and I were feeling a bit envious about a kid free trip to Cuba. I am sure that our time will come again and I am trying not to wish this time away. It won't be long and we will not be the center of our children's universe and I need to hang on to these moments! We have been talking about going to Vegas in November to celebrate our anniversary so hopefully we can make that all come together!

The Best EVER Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe | Chocolate Chip Cookies | Savory Sweet Life - Easy Recipes from an Everyday Home Cook

I love these cookies. I have baked lots of Chocolate Chip cookies but these are my new absolute favorite. I won't deviate from this recipe. I have made it a couple of times and the last time I put in some Peanut Butter Chips and it kicked it up to a whole new level. Although it means that the kids can not take them to school.....it does mean more for me!

The Best EVER Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Chocolate Chip Cookies Savory Sweet Life - Easy Recipes from an Everyday Home Cook:
"Alice’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes approx. 45-48 cookies using a sm-med 2tbl. cookie scoop
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour
1 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt *please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you must use table salt, use 1/2 tsp.
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups/16 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips *I use Nestle Toll-House
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 5 minutes on medium speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!"

Isla Ballerina

We went to see the Nutcracker before Christmas and we both really enjoyed it. It was just the girls and we made a special night of it and got dressed up and curled her hair. So much fun!!! It was a bit long for a 4 year old to sit through but she did really well.

Here are a couple of snaps of Isla after dance this morning. She loves her dance class and looks forward to it each week.

Maybe one day she will be the Sugar Plum Fairy?

Sick Child

I have been at home yesterday and today with Adam. Poor little guy woke up yesterday and had no appetite for a blueberry muffin when he only had two bites I knew it was serious. My son has such a sweet tooth and loves my blueberry muffins so if he didn't want it then he really was feeling yucky! As the day went on he got worse and I was suspecting a bladder infection but a quick trip to the doctor's office (it was quick because I managed to get in to the new doctor at our clinic and didn't have to go to the walk in.) let us know that yes he has a bug but no infection. So we are just waiting it out with Tylenol, Advil, Gingerale, toast and jam and lots of Teletoon. Today seems to be better, he is playing Wii and eating a blueberry muffin as we speak.

I hate it when the kids are sick, I get myself all tied up in knots and full of anxiety. I am not sure why but probably has something to do with my puke phobia. I will even go and sleep in the spare room so that I am not listening for them all night long and I can actually get some sleep. I know I am high maintenance and I am very lucky for an understanding husband!

As I catch snippets of Haiti in the media it sure makes me think about how grateful I am that I can look after my sick child. I think of all of those mothers who have lost children or are losing them as they watch helplessly. It humbles me.

He Scored!

I am excited to announce that Adam scored his first goal! He was in a tournament in Didsbury this weekend and in the first game he scored! Yippee!!!! After he scored and was skating back to the centre for the next face off Ed said he had the saddest look on his face. Ed was so excited and asked him what was wrong. When he scored it went off of one of the opposition players and Adam thought that he didn't get credit for the goal! Poor guy, when his name was announced the smile came out!

The worst part is that I missed it. I know we have been waiting and hoping and I wasn't even there for this big moment. My heart hurts a little but I can't be everywhere I guess. I was with Isla at her dance class. I hope number two goal doesn't take as long.

Here is a bit of a video of him out on the ice.

And just because I don't want leave her out here is Isla. After a blue slurpee at the rink. I think maybe the sugar has kicked in!!!!

And here Adam with his cousin Kelsey. Ed's sister Michelle and Kelsey came up from Calgary to watch our big hockey player. It was great to see them and get caught up, it feels like a long time.

I sent both of my boys for a haircut tonight, look at that mop!

The Torch

What in incredible night! We had such a great time waiting for the torch to come. We grabbed some supper at Wendy's (I refused to go to McDonalds!) and headed over to Bower (a subdivision close to the celebration) and ate our gourmet meal in the van. Then headed down a short trail with our flashlight to the celebration. None of us really knew what to expect but it was awesome. Tons of people, music, things to see our only disappointment is that we did not get to see the mascots. The kids have been learning about the olympics at school and already know so much about the mascots it would have been great to see them. Oh well, too many people to find them.

I don't know why the picture is upside down but thought you would like to see how cute she is anyway.

We got these glowing Coke bottles for the kids, they change colours and were a big hit! It meant standing in a crowd around a single guy who had bags of the bottles in hopes of him finding your hand to pass a bottle in to before he ran out of them. We did it a number of times and got one for Adam and poor Isla was super sad. So then we had to try a bunch of times more to get one for Isla, finally success and a smiling little face was our reward.

Here is another hightlight. They had Olympic Torch bearers in the crowd who would let you touch the torch and get your picture taken with them. I know Adam doesn't look it but they were both super excited to get this close to a real torch!

Up on the hill at the Westerner Park they had set up this Inukshuk. It was really cool and a kind gentleman offered to take our picture. See my son trying to give me Rabbit Ears, who taught him that?

We were all getting tired to we started to head back to the van with the promise that when the fireworks started that we would stop to watch them. Isla was very concerned that we would miss them, but I promised that we would be able to see them from wherever we were. I don't thing she really believed me until after they started. Both kids didn't remember any of the fireworks that they had seen before so we got lots of this is so cool! Wow, this is awesome. This is the best thing I have ever seen. Sooooo cute!

This is the patch of grass that we found to watch the fireworks from right across the street from the Centrium. Not very picturesque or glamourous but it worked!

We have taken the kids to lots of things that we hoped that they would remember it but I really hope that they carry the spirit and excitement with them from this! What a night of great memories! I know that I will remember this always.

An update on my phone. My wonderful husband found us a good deal on replacing my phone and getting himself a Blackberry as well. They should be here early next week......... And in true Chandra fashion as we were leaving the house last night I found my phone! It was on the floor in our spare bedroom underneath of where the kids hang their coats. The coats were long enough that they hid the phone. Ed was not really impressed with me.....good thing he thinks I am cute!

My phone

It looks like I have lost my phone. It has been AWOL since Sunday and things are not looking good. How frustrating as I have lots of info stored in there. So I apologize if anyone has texted me and I have not gotten back to them!

Other news in our world is that I have volunteered at Adam's school to help with the Valentine's Day Family Dance. We are doing a fundraiser at his school to build a climbing wall in the gym. Just a small committee, which is good and they are all really nice people so that should make it fun. My job is the donation table so I get to do 50/50 tickets, a raffle and hopefully make lots of money!

This weekend we are on our way to Didsbury to a hockey tournament. This is our second one, and we are all really looking forward to it because we had a great time when we went to the one in Eckville in November. Last Saturday we were a part of a bottle drive in our neighbourhood as a fundraiser for our tournaments and extra ice times etc. It was extremely successful! We do not know what the final count is as we are waiting to hear but it should be good. Everyone was joking that if we made enough money our next tournament could be in DisneyLand!

Ed is really enjoying coaching! The kids are all really great and have such great personalities. He tells me about how many times in a game they want to have a chat about whatever is going on in their lives. He says it is sometimes hard to watch the game with all of the "Coach, Coach" going on!

Adam is yet to score his first goal. We are hopeful that it will come soon as we are hoping that this will light a fire under him! He is so much his father's son, he skates really well when he is not in a game but in a game, not so much. We were at the outdoor rink on Sunday and he was flying around there! We played a game where he had to try and catch me, he did.........easily!

I registered Isla for kindergarten yesterday, can you believe it, my baby will be in kindergaten in the fall. I am really excited for her! She continues to do really well with her Pre-K program, the class has started a home reader program and she is "reading" her books everyday. She has also started sight words and the little turkey is doing really well with all of those too.

Life and times, always something going on around here! So if any of you find my phone can you let me know as soon as possible. Thank you!

Chandra

Cooking

Most of you know that I love to cook, cookbooks and trying new things. This new schedule that I have has allowed me more time to be able to do this and I am taking full advantage of it! Not to say that we don't have KD and sausages for supper a couple of times a month but that is more because we all like it than for lack of time. Ha ha!

I will post some of the recipes that I have tried recently and what the reaction has been from my family.

So I have always loved the idea of home made bread but I have always found it a bit daunting. You know the whole yeast thing, kneading, punching down etc, etc. So when I saw this recipe I thought that it was much more my speed! It does take some time though, not much active time but more the letting it rise, making a loaf then letting it rest, preheating the cookwear and then baking. It has taken a bit of juggling and if I do it on a week night it means fresh bread in the evening ready for breakfast in the morning. But we all really like it, especially Ed! But he just loves bread so it was hard to mess it up in his eyes. Having said that, I made some Cheesy Beer Bread a couple of weeks ago that I thought would be a definite winner but none of them were really excited about it. So I won't bother posting that recipe.

This is from one of the blogs that I follow and I have made lots of her recipes and almost all of them have been hits!


Fantastic Fearless Five-Minute Bread Blog Disney Family.com

So I hope that if you have ever wanted to try bread that you might give this a whirl. Enjoy!

Chandra

New Paint

Here are some before pictures of the new paint we did over Christmas Holidays.

Patching walls.

Everything in the middle of the room.

This was at Christmas but I thought it would remind you of what our red walls looked like. They are very excited and have just hung up their stockings.

And drum roll please........ Here are the after pictures. We are really happy with the way that it turned out! But it has increased our list of home improvements as having one area looking so good makes some of the others look even worse. Stay tuned for the continued saga of home improvement of our money pit!

Here is my little figure skater at her first skating lesson. She worked really hard and spent a lot of the lesson trying to get back up. My good friend's son is also in the class so that is cool. Her skating lesson is at the same time as Adam's music lesson so Adam and I will not be able to watch her at all so Ed did lots of videos for us. I have attached one here for you to see!

So this is what I came home to on Tuesday night. Isn't he something! All mine, he is all mine. I know that you are all jealous.

I just wish the outcome of the game had been better. It was still fun to watch, and listen to Ed yell at the TV. If any of you have watched a game with Ed you will know what I mean. I always feel a bit sad for him when his team doesn't win.

First Try

As I start a new year I thought that I might try the creative outlet of a blog. This past year has been one of big changes for me as I move from a career that at times was all consuming, leaving little for my family, to one that is at a much slower pace. I am very fortunate to have such a supportive husband that has given me an opportunity to take a step back from my job and a take on a much more active role in my home. I know it sounds weird as it is not like I haven't been here but I am now here much more consciously! It has been a big gift!

Some people might know that I am an avid blog reader especially those that include recipes. I love to try out new things and test them on my family. Sometimes this is a success and sometimes not so much. So I thought that I might give some reviews of my attempts and post links to them.

I am starting this blog for me. I am starting this blog to share our lives with you. I hope you enjoy this peek in to our lives!