Family fun

We are working on some free time between our morning, and afternoon schedule, and the kids are busy crafting and enjoying their time together!

This is when you smile, and just feel good that everyone is happy, smiling, and working together without the aid of planned activities.

Behind the kids you can see our new cabinets for putting all our homeschool material together in one place! This is a first for us, and has made a big difference in our day to day school life. For an extra bonus, it even locks to keep Adrian out of things he should not be into!

Today is the first day

Today we tried our new lifestyle change. We got up and ate Apple pancakes. It is made with Whole wheat flour, stevia, and egg whites. We also tried to use Olive oil to cook them in. AHHH! I was so frustrated. the pancakes I tried to cook in the good pampered chef pans stuck to the pan, and the cheap pan, cooked them beautifully! I have no idea what went wrong!

We served it with plan yogurt, and berries, also sweeten with stevia. I was so full after two, I couldn't eat another, but Kenny, ate tons of them!!

One meal down..... tons more to try!!

Apple pancakes
1 1/2 cups water
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
3/4 cups Whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
2 drops stevia
1/2 large apple, finely chopped

Put the water and oil in a blender. While it is running, add the dry ingedients. Pour into bowl and fold in the egg whites, stevia, and apple. Bake on a hot griddle sprayed with olive oil. Serve with berries sweetened with Xylitol or stevia.

New Lifestyle Choices

We have decide to make some changes to our life. We are cutting down dramatically on our complex carbohydrates and red meat, as well as taking white sugar, and white flour out completely,! This is something that I am sure will benefit the whole family! We are nervous, and excited at the same time.

Today we went shopping, and purchased tons of fruit, vegetables, eggs and fish. We went past the bakery, and most of the middle aisles. We even made a stop at the health food store for some Stevia (natural sweetener), and brown rice syrup (Thought we'd try it out!)

We are hoping to also increase our exercising, and become an around healthier family!

Here is to trying it out!!!!

Mandys Dog

Auntie Mandy often brings her Boxer over to play with Missy and the kids. Sarg (sp??) (Sargent Pepper) is only 7 months old. He still has a lot of growing to do.

Here he is playing with Kenny in the livingroom!

Moms Birthday

This is what mom thinks about having another birthday!!

No- this actually what mom does when someone tells her to smile for the camera, and then she isn't fast enough, and daddy snaps the picture!

Todays look at school

It is coming to the middle of the school year, and I have spent some time wondering about what we have learned this year, and what there still to be done. I always like to evaluate, and make any changes that need be at this time.

I think we are slipping behind on our math, but I have a plan in place, that should pick us up again.

We also received a new history curriculum and we are loving it! I want to do it daily, it looks like so much fun, and kids love it too! Even nicole and Kenny are wandering around the house talking of Nomads and what they would eat, drink, think, and where they would sleep. The kids actually went out in the snow today, and wanted to make Huts for their stuffed toys, but soon discovered that nomads would have to be prepared for winter before winter came, or there would be no way get the support sticks into the ground, (Sarah), or dig up the frozen dirt and melt the snow to make mud bricks (Courtney). What a great way to learn!!!

I can't wait to see a warm day, and what kind of huts they do come up with.!!!

We also made game bags. This we drew on like the nomad people did, and would be used to place our berries, roots, live lizards or any other small items we would find to take home and share with the camp.

Sick, Sick Sick

We have spend several days trying to recover from the sickness that has hit our family. Nicole brought it home to us first. And spent several days feverish, complaining of headaches, and sleeping continually.
Then Saturday more of us felt it! Mommy, Sarah, Courtney and Kenny. We all had the chills, headaches and fevers. We wnet to bed that night medicated.
Sunday afternoon Daddy left to head up to Edmonton.
Sunday. Monday, Nicole was fine, and the rest of us suffered.
Tuedsay has arrived. We all have coughs, and mommy had a strange voice, but we feel ok.
Adrian now has it. He started the fever now too. So Daddy is the only one not to have caught it so far... Knock on wood!!!

Daddy is working again!

We forgot to announce that as of December 10, (So, we are a month late!) Daddy is working again!. He had been laid off in April and finally found a place that fits him and our family well.
He is working for King Electric, but in a separate division that sells and installs large alarm systems. Sonitrol. They install systems that use sound to determine if someone has broken into a building. It creates a live recording that can be patched through to the police. If you visit the web site, you can click "Listen to a real break in!" http://www.sonitrol.com/



The pay is good, he has a company vehicle that he drives to and from work, company gas card, and MasterCard. They pay for all hotels, travel , food (real food, not fast food!) and entertainment costs when he goes up to Edmonton. (Which is where he was last week, home for 5 days, then up again for the week, and home again on the weekend)
They currently working on a large system in Edmonton with about 560 man hours.


If he is working in Calgary, they pay travel and he still comes home every day! He actually walks in the door about 4:30 most days!




He gets along well with his boss, and they have not stopped boasting about him and to him! He is happy, snacking less, eating better,losing weight, and loving every minute of it!!




We as a family are adjusting to Daddy working again. We spend time during the day homeschooling and most evenings together playing games, reading stories, or just goofing off!




We all are happy, healthy, and Congratulate Daddy on finding something he loves, and we love too!!!

Amanda Singing!!

Go to her website to hear other songs and to vote, if you think she should keep singing!!! This is a song she wrote for her nieces and nephews.