First Saturday of Summer

Hi!

It's summer vacay, so I'm not going to be posting as much. 

The end of the year Talent Show at school went well.  Here's C (3rd from left) with some of her friends dressed as Minions waiting to sing "Happy".

Here's the whole class.  Unfortunately, C was in the 2nd row (2nd from left) and you can't see her!

They are cutting the hay in the field next to us today.

(Ha, it looks like our kitchen table is outside!)

Last year they didn't cut it til July 4 or 5.

K took N to COPA for Kids for the 2nd year.  It's where kids get to go up in little planes with their pilots.  N had a great time last year.

Enjoy your weekend!\:-)

Tasty Tuesday

Hi!

Here's our menu plan for the week.

• Mon- Rotini Pasta, Ragu, Crispy Baked Kale, Chickpeas
• Tues- Chicken Nuggets, BBQ Potatoes, Veg- Frozen Peas
• Wed- Frozen Bean & Rice Enchiladas Maple Glazed Salmon with Pineapple with leftover rice
• Thurs- Salmon Frozen Bean & Rice Enchiladas
• Fri- Pizza Not sure what we had...
• Sat- Leftovers Frozen Pizza
• Sun- HH's Soup Leftovers (N to camp)

:-)

Monday, Monday..

Mornin!

Well, the weekend's over.  Only 3 more days of school!  The weekend went by fast.

N designed his Minecraft Skin cake and we got it done.  Here he is making sure I'm doing it "right"!

Here's the design and cake side by side.

And here's the final cake. (N's skin is in the middle.  The rest are popular players that N watches on Youtube.)

Here's the birthday boy opening some presents.

K & N went sailing on Sunday in Summerside.  I ended up taking C and 2 of her friends up to the birthday party that afternoon.  It was at a hotel pool 30 min west of here (Summerside is 30 min east.)  I dropped them off and went up to Backyard Folk Art (even further west!).  It was fun to look around.  I especially enjoyed the "Grandma's Attic", where there was lots of old junk- just the kind of stuff I think my mom would've loved.  I found a few things I liked- an old garbage can with a swiveling lid, some hooks, and doorknobs- but I didn't buy anything.  I may take the kids back one day to see the world's largest egg beater and then I can buy some stuff!

We didn't get much work done on the yard, except mowing it. I'm about to head out shortly to start digging...  

Have a good week! :-)

TGIF (Front Yard Progress)

Hi!

It's the last weekend before summer vacation!  And it's a busy one!  C is having a friend over for a sleepover tonight. N's birthday is coming up and he's having his party on Saturday. He's invited 3 friends to see "How to Train Your Dragon, 2" so there's not much planning.  Although, he has ambitious plans to do a Minecraft cake with 9 You-tubers Minecraft skins.  We'll see how it goes...  Sunday, C has a friend's birthday party to attend and K & N are going sailing in Summerside.

Instead of walking yesterday, I decided to do yard work (I'm doing the same today.)  I'm working on the front corner of the yard.  Where I cleared some brush earlier.

After I found out how much it would be to rent a skidsteer to move some dirt ($300 + $150 delivery and pick-up), I decided to move the dirt myself (or with whoever wants to help- so far nobody :-( ).  It's not too hard.  So far, I've dug the sods off the pile of topsoil.

Before:

After (from the other side):

I also removed the sods from the the pile of fill to the left of the juniper in the pic below.

Before:

After:

I moved the sods to the front part of the yard. Then I threw shovel-fulls of dirt over the brush that we left in place.

I had to remove some invasive bushes that start to grow from branches on the ground. This involved a lot of cutting and digging out the roots.  Here are all the branches.

As I was digging, I discovered a bird's nest right in the low Spruce branches that kept hitting my head.  I don't think there's a bird living there anymore, but I'm glad I didn't disturb the nest.

 Here's the front of the hill of fill.

It's really hard to see what's going on in the yard with my pics...

Ok, I'm off to do some yardwork!  Have a great weekend! :-)

Wednesday (Menu)

Mornin! I'm a bit behind on my posts...

Sunday we had a nice Father's Day Brunch at the in-laws.  Then we headed over to Bedford, NS to visit K's uncle and aunt. We had to go so we could get N's US Passport done at the Consulate office in Halifax on Monday.  After that, we stopped by Citadel Hill.  Here are the kids with the clock tower in the background.

Here are K, C & N with some fake soldiers.

And here are the kids next to some sort of gun.

We had a nice trip!

Here's our menu for the week.

• Mon- Taco Bell from Truro, NS on way home
• Tues- Frozen President's Choice Chicken Nuggets, Mac & Cheese, Rapini, Crudites
• Wed- Tofu Veggie Stir fry, Rice
• Thurs- Salmon, Potatoes, Meat Pie from bakery, Veg
• Fri- Pizza- Tortilla with frozen Pepperoni
• Sat- Enchiladas with leftover frozen Beans & Rice Bday Party Dominoes Pizza
• Sun-K's Soup Nachos with Hamburger

Enjoy the rest of your week! :-) 

Friday

Hi!

It's raining today.  I skipped my walk....

I had a nice dinner at our principal's house last night.  It was the principal and his wife, 3 other Home & School members and me.  I was a bit nervous to go, but had a good time!

What have I done this week?

I finally got a picture of the little baby horse.  See it, beside the mama?  This is right behind where our hammocks go.

I made mung bean sprouts.  1/2 cup of beans makes about 4-6 cups of sprouts.

First you soak the beans overnight, then put them in a bag with holes, so the water can drain out, and cover with a cheesecloth.  Place the open bag in a colander, cover and put in a warm place (I put mine on top of the fridge).  Every 4 hours or so, give them a rinse.  This is after one day.

And here's the end product.  About 5 cups!  You can remove the little green husks, (which is how you'd get them if you bought them in the store), but it's really hard to get all of them removed so I left some for extra fiber!

It's June, so we have June bugs.  See them in the basket that stays on the front porch?  

 Yuck!  They kinda remind me of locusts (cicadas).  I remember as a kid, I collected a ton of locust shells one year. I googled it and there were locusts in LA in 1976, so I would've only been around 5. I thought I was older because I thought my oldest brother helped collect the shells. Anyway, I remember getting large paper bags full of shells.

Does this seem to be an unusual thing for a child to do? ;-)

I dug up the concrete things by the juniper and placed them on the left porch garden.

Then I dug more topsoil and filled it in.

And finally got the other hydrangea planted! I think I'll have to buy more mulch. That little part of the garden needs it along with the courtyard garden.

I also had to go under the porch and secure the skirting boards to a horizontal backer board by the ground.  I was kinda dreading this and procrastinated by doing things like laundry and mowing the grass!  However, once I got under there, it wasn't so bad- actually it's kinda nice under the porch!  Like a secret hideaway!

We have a busy weekend.  Today, the kids go to the dentist after school to go over their orthodontia plans. I wonder what they will be... It's also Father's Day this weekend, so to all the dads "Have a great weekend!"

 :-)

P.S.We had a terrible tragedy in the Maritimes last week.  Three mounties were killed by a gunman in Moncton, NB.  As we watched the news coverage of the funeral Tuesday night, here's what made me teary eyed, one of the officer's dog was at the funeral.  (And I'm not even a "dog person".) What a sad, tragic event...

Tasty Tuesday

Mornin!

I've got the morning off, so to speak!  We have so much food in the freezer and pantry that I'm not going shopping this week!  K will stop by the store and get a few perishables (fruit, bread) and that's it!

Since we've had our wardrobe pantry,

it seems it just keeps getting fuller and fuller with food. I'm not sure what we did when it wasn't there. I do know we kept our fizzy water and pop beside the kitchen island, but I think we just didn't have as much food! Which perhaps is a good thing, because as I've mentioned before, our grocery budget seems to be getting bigger all the time.

Ok, here's our menu for the week.

• Mon- Baked Chicken Breast, Potatoes, Leftover Carrots for adults, Raw purple carrot with dip for kids
• Tues- Frozen Roasted Veggie Lasagna
• Wed- Beans- Spotted Rooster (Black Beans & Rice) (World Vegetarian, pg 14)
• Thurs- K's choice (most likely Mac & Cheese). I've got dinner plans!  (The principal has invited the regular Home & School members to his house for dinner to celebrate the end of the year.)
• Fri- Leftovers
• Sat- Pizza
• Sun- Father's Day- Brunch at in-laws, Dinner in Bedford, NS at Uncle and Aunt's.

C'ya! :-)

Weekend Update

Hi! 

Another busy weekend.  C (DS has told me he no longer wants to be referred to as DS on my blog, so now he will be known as N.  Therefore, DD will be C, HH will be K and I'll be me!) had another sleepover birthday party on Friday so N and I went to Ctown to do some shopping- mostly to go to Target. I restrained myself and didn't buy any housewares or such, so that was good.  

On Saturday, K and I went out to the Landmark Cafe for a nice dinner.  N & C spent the night at their grandparents.  

Sunday, K and I got to work!  What did we work on?  Well the front porch of course!  We put up the skirting boards under the front porch.  Here's how it looks.

Here's how it looked before, when you could see all the junk under the porch!

The cedar boards are from the old back deck.

Right side,

K also worked on the side stairs' handrail, but we need to buy some more 2x2's to finish it up.

Left side.

(See the black fan- to keep mosquitoes away!) 

Also, my FIL suggested filling in the left side so it's more level with the right side.  That's why that 6x6 is lying there.  Although, I had the great idea to dig out the fancy concrete block things from around the Juniper

(The tree closest to the front- you can't see the blocks because they're covered with grass and dirt.)

This way the left side will match the front side garden.

  

And yes, I'm aware that the concrete block things are on their sides.  I like it that way!  Plus I think we're going to eventually get more gravel for the driveway, so the sides (tops?) will be covered.

Oh, and one more thing.  One of the horses next door was pregnant and had her baby last week when the kids were sleeping in the tent.  The foal finally came out in the field behind our house this weekend.  I will try and post a pic later.

Have a great week! :-)

Stuff From the Week

Man, our yard is like a science experiment!

When we re-did our roof,

I carefully set aside some asphalt shingles.  One's that were in good condition and we could've use for an out-building or something.  Well, fast forward almost 4 years later, and they're a mess!

All gross and falling apart!

Once I left some old paint cans out by the front shed.

After a couple years, guess what happened?  They rusted!  Who would've thought? ;-)

I've also seen the miraculous transformation of perfectly good wood rotting!  I find it all very interesting...

Ok, here's what I did this week.

I loaded up the trailer with the ruined shingles and other junk to take to our Waste Watch Facility (aka The Dump).

I filled in the front porch garden.  Here is how it looks before the last few loads of soil and mulch.

I might move that front little plant out a bit so it's even with the matching plant on the other side.

Here it is with mulch! Oh, how I love the look of freshly mulched gardens!

I ended up changing around the side front garden a bit.

.

Mulched!

And finally, mulched.  

I ran out of the mulch I bought last summer- may need to buy more, but will probably not and I'll just wait for the plants to fill in.

Here's the old temporary garden.  There's one lily or iris plant left... Not sure where to put it.

I transplanted some tiny spruce trees from the sledding hill to the courtyard.

(Notice, this part of the garden needs mulch!)

I finished shingling the back breezeway wall, put an old outdoor mat that I'd cut up into smaller pieces around the sink/counter (beside black BBQ) and weeded the courtyard!

Plus, I mowed the grass! 

Oh, what a busy week!  Today is raining and it's supposed to continue thru the weekend.  I'm glad I got so much outdoor stuff done.  Now I can sit back and enjoy! ;-)

Have a wonderful weekend! :-)

Tasty Wednesday

Hi!

Ah, I can't believe it's June already!  The kids' last day of school is June 25, so they're counting down the days!

Here's what we're eating this week.

• Mon- Frozen Spaghetti & Sauce baked with mozzarella cheese on top, Salad
• Tues- Salmon Melts (Canned tuna-style Salmon with mayo on bagels topped with Monterey Jack cheese (and tomatoes for adults) and broiled), Spinach Kale mix with carrots
• Wed- Black Beans with Rice (World Vegetarian, pg 13)
• Thurs- Chicken Breast
• Fri- Leftovers Free for all- C gone to sleepover, N & I pizza in C'town, K-leftovers
• Sat- Tortilla Pizzas Leftovers- Chili & Pasta
• Sun- HH's Soup Kids gone so we had nachos while watching "Orange is the New Black" Season 2!

The kids put up the tent last night and slept out there!  They got up around 6:30am- usually I have to wake them in their rooms at 8:00!  They may sleep out again tonight.

:-)

What We did on the Weekend

Mornin!

We had a busy weekend. DD had a birthday party sleepover to go to on Friday night.  DS stayed home and we watched "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".  DD no interest in it.  I'd finally convinced DS to read the first Harry Potter book (at least most of it), thinking it would be a new series for him to get into.  He liked it ok, but didn't love it.  Same with the movie.  I'd seen it when it first came out and didn't really remember much.  I felt the same about the movie.  It was ok.  I'm not sure we'll go out of our way to get more movies (or books).  

 HH and DS went for a sail on Sunday.  The boat needed some repair so it wasn't ready Saturday.  That day they went for a canoe ride instead.  They had a good time canoeing and sailing!

I finished the trim work on the back breezeway windows Friday.

And I started putting some cedar shingles back up.  I installed the flashing (most of it) yesterday.

I also did some work on the front side garden.  

We're going to have our dirt piles leveled so I wanted to take some good top soil from one of the piles before that happens.  It's so soft and smooth to dig up. 

 Not like the gravelly stuff we had to dig out of the side garden.  I took over 3 wheelbarrows (1/2) full of dirt, then took a break.  I took a couple more loads, then started dividing plants.  I had a whole plan to work with.

I got the plants in, but I still need a bit more dirt.  Plus I want to move a couple plants around again!

Now I have to work on the front porch gardens and get the Hydrangeas planted. 

I have to move some gravel before I start filling in with top soil.  That should be what I work on this morning!

Look what I found on the back pathway...

I think our cat Lisa must've had something to do with this.  (It's a little bird- still alive, just sitting there!)

Have a great week! :-)