Photo Friday

In honor of the Royal Wedding today I will post a few pictures of a wedding I was in a couple years ago.  This was when one of my longtime friends got married.  It was a gorgeous country wedding which I was thrilled to be a part of and will always remember this special day.

This is probably my favourite



This is me helping fix the bride up before the ceremony.



Thankfulness

There are many things in this life that I have to be thankful for, my children, my family, my farm, my animals and living in a wonderful country.  (to name a few!)  This past Easter weekend was one of those experiences with which I will always be thankful.  My cousin invited us to enjoy Easter Sunday with their family at their hunt camp for an old fashioned Easter.  We met at noon and enjoyed the afternoon and evening with no cell phones, tv's, video games or even electricity and plumbing. 

All we had to do was look at the spectacular view and our breath was gone.  What a beautiful lake and wilderness.  My mom and dad are on the dock looking out over the water.

The wee ones were busy playing with their cousins and uncle.  Their was no toys or electricity but yet they were never bored.  They played the entire day with just them, there other cousins and their surroundings.

The cabin itself was spectacular and was built mostly by the hands of my cousin-in-laws father.  He was definitely a very talented man.

It is still fairly chilly up here and so we had to get the fire going right away.  What a beautiful fireplace to sit around and catch up with family, no one was complaining that day.

Well except maybe Seth when he fell into one of the puddles and had to get a change of clothes!

My grandmother was also there (90 years old!) and had a great day as well.

How could you not enjoy such a beautiful, quiet, inspirational place?  Even the dog seemed a little more relaxed and rejuvenated after the day.

This is an Easter that I will always remember and be thankful for.  What was your Easter like?

The Hunt is ON!

We were very busy this past weekend.  We have had a lot of Easter.  We were very fortunate to be invited to 3 family functions.   Which meant a lot of visiting and travelling so today was a very relaxed and rest the wee ones day. 

The first egg hunt was with 6 other cousins and was outside.  There is nothing better than having 8 children under the age of 10 running around outside on an egg hunt.  The older ones even suggested that the younger ones (being my 2) have a head start. 

It was a great egg hunt and was fun for everyone.  Grammy made sure that everyone had lots of eggs in their basket.

Then all the Mommas took the wee ones out for a walk in one of the fields.

You can see Seth on the right side in his brown hunting jacket, he looks SO small!  The kids just loved running around in the field.

Next we were off to Nona and Grampa's for the Easter Bunny egg hunt. 

There were eggs everywhere!

And of course that made the wee ones very happy.  They couldn't believe how well the Easter bunny knew them and what they wanted ;)

Photo Friday

Happy Easter

Spring, Where are You?

Just when we thought that spring had finally arrived and we had our thoughts filled with wonderful visions Mother Nature came back with a vengeance.  I remember thinking about what I would plant in my garden, cleaning out the chicken coop and getting it ready for the new flock and checking my little perennials that I just planted last year, wishing and hoping that they will make a grand return.  This is what I awoke to yesterday.

This is a pail that the wee ones were collecting leaves and sticks in the day before.  Now it is in 5 inches of snow.  Yes we woke up to a morning of freezing rain and snow. 

Where is my Sage?  Under snow and ice.

This says "Welcome to my Garden", I think is should now say "Welcome to my SNOW Garden"!!

It may be a little hard for the wee ones to pull this wagon through the snow.

Oh, the wonders of living in Canada!  I guess it's called the Great White North for a reason.

On the plus side I am getting a lot of work inside done.  I have been working hard on painting our living room and painting and installing the trim for it as well.  I am feeling very empowered knowing how to use a Mitre saw and Nail gun. 

Easter Card for Kids 2

Well I finally got around to making the second Easter card for my wee ones!  It is another super easy one that only took me about 15 minutes to make.  Which will probably be worth it when they only take 30 seconds to look at it and then move on to their candies and toys.

For the card you will need: foam paper
                                             markers
                                            construction paper - pink, yellow and orange
                                            googly eyes
                                            feather

Start with cutting out 2 egg shapes in the foam (you can pick the colour) and cut a 'break' shape out of the one egg around the top.

The one with the crack in it is the front.  You can decorate it however you want to, I put on silver dots and wrote the word 'Cheep!' across the front.

For the inside I just cut out all the pieces from construction paper and used googly eyes and a feather for his hair.  Like I said, it's nothing too exciting but hopefully the wee ones will be happy with them.

I should also mention to make sure you have your chicks head in the right spot so you can see it through the front of the card. 

Painting Bunnies

All you need to say is paint in our house and the wee ones go crazy!  They love to paint!  So when I picked up a couple ceramic Easter bunnies (that are actually suppose to be banks) at the dollar store the wee ones were thrilled.

Each one came with their own paints and paint brushes as well, all for $1.25.  What a great, fun, cheap Easter craft.

And look how well they turned out!

These are bunnies that only a mother could love :)  and she sure does... 

Lazy Days

The sun was up and shining bright, it was one of those days where everyone is outside and enjoying the day.  The farm animals tend to be a little lazy on warm sunny days. 

The new barnyard babes are enjoying the sun.  They like stretching after a big nap and then running around in little gangs.  One of their favourite games is playing king of the manure pile. 

Katie can also be seen laying out in the sun relaxing. 

We went for a walk in one of our fields to try and see some Canadian Geese up close but no suck luck they flew away almost as soon as the saw us coming.  We did get to see a fossil on this rock up close though.

These are the geese that were flying away, a small bunch of them.  I seriously can't believe how many there are this year!

This is about as close as we got to the geese, which isn't very close!  It's nice to enjoy some lazy days on the farm too.

Photo Friday

The wee ones having fun on the farm gate. 

 I remember doing this when I was young as well. 

Maybe when the wee ones have their own wee ones this will be a memory for them as well.

Colours, Colours Everywhere

I have been working on making a game for the wee ones for their Easter gift.  I found this good idea on the internet some months back and would tell you where but I have no idea where it was.  This happens quite often, I see something I can make and remember the idea but very rarely remember where it was.  I'll try to work on that.

For this game you will need:
                 Paint/Colour swatches
                 Clothes Pins
                 Glue

You start by getting colour swatches from your local hardware or department store.  They are free which I always like.  Make sure you get two of each colour.

Cut one of the colour swatches to separate each colour.  Then glue a clothes pin on the back.  I used wooden ones because they are flat and would stick the best.  I pick up a pack of 50 clothes pins for $1.49, that's pretty good!

That's it, you have just made a colour matching game for your wee ones. 

You can give them only the one set of colours or mix more in depending on the stage your wee one is at.  They just clip them on to the matching colours.

It is a super easy gift that is really cost efficient too.

Chipmunk Hunting!

It was a pretty dreary day here on the homestead and with Sadie off to school it was just Seth and myself here.  We were in the living room and Seth looked out the window and saw a chipmunk (which he referred to as a black squirrel!)  I told him it was a chipmunk and he stayed and watched it through the patio doors. 

The chipmunk kept looking up at us because not only did he see Seth and myself watching him but he also saw this...

Eclipse waiting patiently for a chance to pounce.

Don't forget Orangy is ready to get him too.

But he is SO cute!!  After a few minutes Seth came back in with his coat on.  He said he was going to go out and catch him, but don't worry Momma, I'll wear my mitts to pick him up.  Heehee, I'd like to know what chipmunk let a 3 year old pick them up.  So of course we got ready and went outside to catch the chipmunk.

No luck, it went inside his house but it was fun to go on the hunt.