the little things

2011-12-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

So much for blogging every day in December!
Here's a little catch-up of what we've been up to this last week and half or so ...

Phil & I before heading out the door to his work banquet ...

I never, ever wear anything other than jeans, so I had to buy a dress for the banquet ($27.50 - thank you very much! sweet!!), I didn't even have dress shoes or anything, but I got the shoes for a steal too - under $20.

Henri Rousseau inspired oil pastel pictures

Christmas tree and stockings :-)

we made these orange pomanders yesterday by sticking cloves in oranges - they smell SO amazing!!

other than the usual work and school kinda stuff, we've been having lots of fires in the fireplace, family movie nights - watching all our favourite Christmas movies together and trying to find pockets of time to relax during this busy season

Bethlehem Live

2011-12-09T05:04:00.001-08:00

We went to Bethlehem Live last night with some friends. It was really well done! They say you get the 'sights, sounds and smells' of Bethlehem circa 4 BC and I'd say they delivered. I would highly recommend anyone to go. It's basically a 1/2 hr. tour through 'Bethlehem' - you meet Roman centurions, shepherds, walk through a market place, visit King Herod's palace, etc. It's very interactive - one of our friends even got thrown in jail for not being able to pay taxes.
*Oh, and it's totally free

We capped off our night with a trip to Starbucks :-)
The perfect December evening!

snapshots of our day

2011-12-07T15:39:00.001-08:00

the girls writing in their journals this morning

Anna got this certificate today because she finished another level in reading, and as a reward we're having a family movie night and she gets to pick the movie, supper and snacks. She chose Elf, tacos, popcorn & coke :-)

This is SO special and exciting for me because I'm the one who taught Anna to read. I'm the one who got to see the way her whole face lit up when it all finally clicked for her. I got to see the look on her face when she finished her first story and I get to see the look on her face when she finishes a longer book and is so sad that it's over. I'm also the one who was so scared that I'd mess this up ... the whole learning how to read thing. I was scared that I wouldn't teach her correctly and that it might screw up all further learning for her. Thankfully I didn't mess her up - at least not in this area ;-)

Anna was so excited because she found this Build-a-Bear puppy at MCC the other day and it looks exactly like Ginger Pye! Best part, it only cost her $0.50.

leftover lasagna for lunch (don't judge it by the picture - I had already cut it up when I took the picture) - it was SO yummy!

Christmas paper chains

thankful list

2011-12-07T05:02:00.001-08:00

okay, let's pretend that it's really yesterday and I didn't miss a day already ...

Thankful List:

- I'm thankful for good books and that I have some more gooders that I'm excited to read when I'm done this one

- Phil, so thankful for him for so many different reasons

- I'm very thankful for my time alone with God in the mornings, thankful that the girls don't wake up early

- treasure hunting at MCC with the girls

- science experiments

- I'm thankful that we have pets ... I really couldn't imagine life without pets and I'm so thankful that Phil and the kids are on the same page as me with that (I could and absolutely do, imagine life without all the pet hair though ...)

2011-12-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

we made these cute little owl Christmas ornaments today :-)

Manitoba Museum

2011-12-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we bought a family membership to the Manitoba Museum and we spent a bit of time there.

This is by far Sarah's favourite part of the whole museum (don't ask me why) - it's the largest complete trilobite fossil ever found.

both girls share my deep love and appreciation for diorama's

this is a picture telling a Native American legend about the creation of the world

the Nonsuch, a 17th century ship

This is Phil's favourite thing in the entire museum - it's a bear claw necklace that once belonged to Chief Sitting Bull - actually this is probably my favourite thing in the museum too.

We were pretty rushed for time, but still had lots of fun. Next time we'll make sure we go to the Planetarium and spend more time at the Science Museum.

Right Now ...

2011-12-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

okay, technically last night ...
thanks Chrissie from In His Grace for the slam book page

a picture from our 'It's a Wonderful Life' family movie party

we watched it in black & white

so much fun!

a new Dec. 1st tradition in the Burke house has been made

my favourite room in the house ...

2011-12-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

I love, love, love, our classroom
the walls are plastered with our artwork and other things that make us happy
we have a VERY cozy couch to snuggle on when we read

we have a TV for watching documentaries and our math & science DVDs on

we have a smart TV adapter thing so that we can look stuff up on the net when we have questions about stuff AND we can look up our internet linked books online with a nice big screen for us all to see (not necessary I know, but SO much fun!)

these paper chains from Toad Hall Toys make me smile every single day

these two smiling face make this room SO much fun (unless they're fighting, I won't tell you what this room feels like then!)

heat dish - oh how we love heat dish! as you can see, so does Simon
Sarah calls me a desert dweller because I always have that baby cranked as high as it can go

one of my favourite parts of our day is when the girls write in their journals every morning

i love seeing what they write about - sometimes I give them prompts and sometimes they can write whatever they want

messy art projects are another reason I love being in here

we made these nativity silhouettes yesterday

our first of many Christmas projects this December

I'm SO thankful for this classroom! I know it's not absolutely necessary, and we could 'do school' at the kitchen table or in the living room or any other room, but having a dedicated classroom with enough space for a couch, a TV and all our stuff is SUCH a blessing!

And speaking of being thankful ... I'm SO VERY thankful that we live in a province that lets us home school AND lets us do it how we want, using whatever curriculum we want (or none at all, for that matter).

It's a Wonderful Life!

2011-12-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, so my goal is to blog every single day in December. We'll see if I can do it.

Today we're going to watch It's a Wonderful Life with the girls while eating Shepherds Pie (vegan) and popcorn. I'm so excited! The girls haven't seen that movie yet and it's been years since I've seen it. I'm thinking this could be a new December 1st tradition :-)

Yup, we're back to eating vegan again. It's been 6 weeks now and I'm feeling so much better! Sleeping better, more energy, feeling 'lighter' (if that makes any sense). We've been trying out lots of amazing recipes that I can't wait to share here!

Happy December 1st!

2011-11-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yikes, I've really neglected the ol' blog.
Here's little bit of catch up ...

during one of my many nights of insomnia (it got a lot worse before it got better, but I'll save that whole story for another day), I made this canvas ...

they lyrics are taken from the chorus of one of my favourite songs we sometimes sing at our church

- God's grace towards me is something that I've been thinking about a lot in the last couple months, it's just mind blowing to me

- it felt VERY weird to make an art project with a picture of myself, but I have it up in the classroom and I really, really like the daily reminder and the visual of God's grace covering me

In October Phil's grandparents came out to stay with us for a week. It was a really amazing time! We heard such cool stories about the family and about the tribal history. It was such a special time! We were really sad when they left. BUT ... plans are in the works for us to take a train ride out to Washington State in summer to visit :-)

While Grandma & Grandpa Dan were out we went to Pineridge Hollow with them and my parents.

I fell in love with this beautiful one eyed sheep they had in their little petting zoo area. It was hard not to try and sneak him home with me.

My dad got some amazing shots of the girls! Aren't Anna's eyes just mesmerizing?! Okay, I'm a little biased.

My dad took these pictures of Sarah a different day when he took her to Village Green for a breakfast date :-) The peace sign in the pea gravel cracks me up - that is SO Sarah!

first day of school

2011-09-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Monday was our first day of school.

Phil and the girls surprised me with flowers, tea & cards in the morning before school.

this is a little mosaic art project the girls did ...

they glued glass blobs (from the dollar store) onto frames - I hot glued the glass onto the back of the frame

this is with the glue still wet, but they dried totally clear - they actually look pretty cute :-)

I made these the other day. WOW. So good!

Well, we've got three school days under our belts and it feels so good to be back in a routine again. I'm so thankful that we're able to homeschool the girls. I know it's not best for every family, but for us it sure seems to be working. Phil usually gets home from work sometime between English & Science, so he often sits in for the last bit of school which is always fun.

We're trying out a new schedule this year ... we're going to give year-round schooling a shot. I think it's going to work great, but time will tell - we very well may scrap that plan in a few months ;-)

meal plan Monday (a little late)

2011-09-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

Monday - tacos (kids picked tacos as the special first day of school supper)
Tuesday - chicken florentine, salad
Wednesday - texmex chicken & rice bake, salad
Thursday - lentil rice crockpot soup & homemade buns
Friday - homemade pizza
Saturday - spaghetti, salad
Sunday - grilled cheese & tomato soup

random ...

2011-08-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

- we don't have cable or satellite, so we're pretty late to the party, but we've been watching a lot of this lately ...

and laughing hysterically!

- this is the best coffee Phil and I have ever tasted (and that's hard for us to admit because we are very loyal Starbucks coffee drinkers) - the best part, it's fair trade AND you can buy it at Costco! We got the Tanzania dark roast and it's to die for! It tastes just as good as it smells! Totally makes waking up in the morning less painful.

- this post by a fellow homeschooling mom really spoke to me - not just as a homeschooler, but as a mother. Her quote - "I suppose if I didn’t accomplish anything else, I’d be most satisfied if my children knew and loved God, gave Him their hearts, and loved people well." really spoke to me!! Couldn't have said it better myself!

- The Ex-barista Strikes Again - love this post!! Man, I would looooove to work at a Starbucks!!

- I'm totally addicted to this blog - she takes a thrift store or hand-me-down dress each day (she's doing a dress a day for a year), some of them are truly horrific and she turns them into super cute little outfits! She makes it look so easy! I keep saying to myself, "I could totally do that!" but so far I'm way too chicken to actually try it. The only thing I know how to sew is paper!!

last few days of summer ...

2011-08-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we left bright and early for a day trip to Grand Forks. We had to go there anyway to pick up our curriculum (free shipping if we had it shipped to a US address), so we figured we'd make a day out of it.

We didn't really do any shopping, but we told the girls they could each spend $20. Anna picked out a really cool bakery play set for her Calico Critters from Target. Sarah got an MP3 player from Best Buy

We finished off our day with a late dinner at Paradiso :-)

Sunday night the girls had their 'stay up all nighter'. We started this little tradition last summer - we let the girls stay up all night (or as late as they can last) one night on Summer holidays.

Here they are at around 10pm ...

this is around 2am

this is 5am

Anna fell asleep sometime between 1-2am, Sarah fell asleep sometime around 6am I think. Good times :-)

Now, to get them back into a good bedtime routine for starting school!! Yikes, we've been SO slack this summer with bedtimes.

Holidays: the rest

2011-08-24T07:10:00.001-07:00

We are so sad that holidays are over!! We had so much fun just relaxing and hanging out together, trying to turn simple things into fun adventures.

(yes, that's all of us still in pj's at lunch time)

We stole my lovely friend Khrista's Salad Box idea and we're just loving it!! (Thank you Khrista!!!!!!) I can't tell you how handy it is to have all these fresh veggies chopped and ready to go for super quick lunches and suppers. The girls love it because they can create their own little masterpieces loaded up with stuff love.

This is going to make lunches so quick and easy when we start school.

more thrift store shopping - found a great pair of shorts & nightgown for Sarah

Phil and I discovered our very favourite new chocolate bar ...

Lindt dark chocolate infused with red chilis - so so so good! A week and a half until we start school. We're starting on Sept. 5 - I know, it's a little odd to start on Labour Day, but it works for us :-) I'm just so excited to start school and sink into a wonderful Fall routine.

Holidays: day 4

2011-08-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

We made our own sidewalk chalk paint by mixing equal parts cornstarch and water and then adding food colouring.

Phil's masterpiece ...

Anna ended up with just as much on her feet & clothes as on our driveway

Anna's work of art ...

Phil made root beer floats for the girls

We let them each pick 1 thing from the dollar store and they both picked a bag of lizards - they've spent hours upon hours playing with them. Best $2 ever. Anna named her green lizard Keith Green - that just makes me happy.

we made a canvas for the classroom ...

(another $1.25 MCC shirt)

we hot glued crayons to the top of a canvas

and then blow dried them on high until the wax started melting ...

we had so much fun!

the perfect piece of art for our art/craft area of the classroom ...

Holidays: day 3

2011-08-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

one of my MCC shirts from Holidays: day 2 - this one was $1.25 - sweet!

we went to Mc Donald's drive through for $1 iced coffee

kids got Sprite

then off we went to drive around the country looking for rocks

we're making a rock boarder along our lilac shrubs at the back of our yard, so we've been making many trips hauling rocks from the ditches out in the country - kids had a blast looking for bugs and pretty rocks

honey comb - kids snack in the evening - so yummy, but SO sticky!!

we may be over doing it a bit with treats on this holiday

and the BEST part of all ... we got a new A/C! Glory hallelujah! The guy was here from 9am - 6pm - so that kind of hijacked our day, but it was so worth it. It is gloriously cool in here right now :-)

Holidays: day 2

2011-08-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

Day 2 started with a bright and early trip to MCC - I hit the jackpot! We spent a total of $8.35 and got 5 shirts for me (after washing them all and trying them on later at home, Phil informed me that one of them looks like the 'puffy shirt' from Seinfeld, so that one will either get some tweaking or end up back at MCC - but 4 out of 5 ain't bad).

Anna got a beaver Webkins and Sarah got a journal and 2 books. All for under $9 - SCORE!

Then we picked up Toby and went to the car wash. I'm not sure why but our kids STILL get a major kick out of the car wash.

I had fun playing around with my new camera (I sold all my other cameras and bought this baby - so far I'm in love!)

A VERY sweet friend of mine borrowed us their brand new (new to them) tent trailer for the week. We didn't have the right kind of electrical hook up on our truck to connect to the trailers brake light & blinkers, so we couldn't actualy take it camping, BUT Phil and the kids had a camp out in it last night on our drive way.

They started off their camp out/movie party night with yummy tacos and refried beans (tomatoes from our garden - yummo!)

The girls couldn't WAIT to change into their pj's - they were so excited about the camp out!

No movie party is complete without popcorn and candy ;-)

They had a great sleep in the tent trailer - I could totally see us getting one of these down the road!

Holidays: day 2 - a total success! yay!

Holidays: day 1

2011-08-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

Phil's on holidays this week but since we did our little Clear Lake trip back in May, this week we're trying to come up with fun things to do with the kids at home and on the cheap. So far we're having a blast!

Okay, this doesn't exactly count as holiday fun, but our A/C stopped working a few weeks ago and it's apparently too old to fix (of coarse it would happen not only our first summer in this house but also the hottest summer in history). Oh well, we're looking into getting a new one. But even poor Toby is having a hard time with the heat in here :-(

We had my parents over for a pizza party movie night. I made WAY too much pizza, but I think all 6 of us will be enjoying the leftovers for lunch today :-) I made a bbq pulled pork & pineapple pizza. I made one with broccoli, feta, pepperoni & orange peppers. I made one with just pepperoni and for the kids I did one that was half pepperoni, orange peppers & broccoli for Anna and for Sarah I did the same thing but w/o the pepperoni.

We watched Soul Surfer. One of THE BEST family movies we've ever seen. Such an inspirational story full of faith and hope. We just loved it! This is one we'll be watching again and again as a family, I'm sure. It's based on Bethany Hamilton's book and I really, really want to get my hands on that book now.

can't wait to see what day 2 holds :-) something tells me there might be an early morning mcc visit in the works ;-)

just the reminder i needed this morning

2011-08-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

(photo credit)

2011-08-13T07:22:00.000-07:00

some links that make me happy ...

- what a cool way to use up scrap patterned paper for cardmaking!

- we're making this paint chalk this week :-)

- this post just makes me happy

- i bet even i could make this! just sew 5 pillowcases together and stuff with pillows :-)

- i want these so bad!

2011-08-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

what we've been up to ...

- hanging out with friends

- moving furniture around and re-arranging rooms (shocking, I know)

- little bit of painting

- gardening & yard work

- lesson planning

- barbecuing

- lots of reading

- staying up late

- sleeping in

- thrift store shopping

- dreaming about Fall

fun with friends

2011-07-24T19:06:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we hung out at our friends cabin for the day. We had the best day EVER!!!!! It was HOT, like about 33 celsius - the perfect weather to hang out in the water :-)
Here's a video Matt made of some of the pictures they took that day ...

Crazy Summer Heat

guess who got glasses??

2011-07-24T16:49:00.001-07:00

I love the frames she chose!

She looks so grown up, it's freaking me right out!!

Clear Lake 2011

2011-07-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

We had SO much fun at Clear Lake this Spring!! We saw tons of wildlife (9 black bear, 2 moose, 2 elk, a coyote, a beaver, a couple muskrats, and bison) ate lots of yummy meals and had a much needed week of relaxation. Can't wait to go back next year!

2011-05-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

just some pictures from the last couple days ...

the girls planting their mini green houses with flower seeds for the fairy garden they're planting this summer

poor Simon & Marley, wishing they could come outside with us

we've done school in the living room by the fireplace a few times lately - Phil got a cord of oak delivered last week, so we're having a lot of fun with that

Sarah helping Anna with her reading

Toby loves hanging out by the fireplace

my sweeties - they bring a different stuffie to school every single day (drives me crazy sometimes because it often takes them 1/2 an hour to pick which one they're going to bring)

the seeds they planted just a couple days ago

meal plan Monday

2011-05-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

Monday - lentil soup & homemade buns (if I have time to make buns)
Tuesday - rice & bean burritos, salad
Wednesday - ? - maybe a big salad and whatever leftovers we've got kickin' around
Thursday - Mexican beans & rice
Friday - Phil's planning something to celebrate our anniversary, not sure what though, but guessing we won't be home for dinner??
Saturday - homemade pizza

art projects

2011-04-29T11:06:00.001-07:00

thought i'd share some of the girls art projects just for fun ...

Modigliana inspired pastel portraits - loooove his elongated faces

this is Sarah's

this is Anna's

mixed media canvases we made:

we painted on canvases and then stitched over top with embroidery floss

I'm not sure why I don't have a picture of Sarah's, but this is Anna's - she painted an owl in a tree at night with stars in the sky

it was kind of tricky for her to stitch through the canvas but she did awesome!

Drama Recital

2011-04-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't posted in forever!

Some pictures of the girls drama recital last night ...

The play was called, "The Magic Fairy Scope"

They had SO much fun! Sarah was a fairy named Cleo

Anna was the Fairy Princess

Sarah also did a monologue from Alice in Wonderland

She did such an amazing job!

So proud of these girls!!!!! Phil gave them each a little bouquet of gerber daisies after the performance and they were so thrilled. Sarah kept saying over and over how the flowers made her day and made her feel so grown up :-) Really wish I would have taken a picture of Phil giving them their bouquets!! shoot. next time.

a few pictures from our week ...

2011-02-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy week of lesson planning over here. Realized we're ahead of schedule right now so I took the week off to spend it lesson planning. Hoping to get everything 100% organized and planned out (including every art project, craft and all the 'extra' stuff like that) until the end of the school year by Monday.

doing some Valentine crafts ...

last Thursday Nadia (my niece) came over for the afternoon to make a Valentine's present for her mom ;-)

pancakes with real maple syrup and homemade raspberry sauce - yummy!

the girls and I made some Valentine decorations the other day

contact paper, construction paper & glitter. good times.

this one is Anna's

this one is Sarah's

fun week!

Anna turns 6

2011-02-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

(pictures taken by my mom on Anna's birthday)

Anna and Papa :-)

Sarah showing off her latest MCC find

me and Heidi

Nadia had fun trying on Sarah's lipstick

and giving Uncle Phil a big fat kiss

Toby the wonder dog

my sweetie

making a wish ...

before and after

2011-02-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

BEFORE: living room felt too dark and crowded - love the big expedit and it holds so many books but it just felt too heavy for this room

AFTER: re-purposed the grey bookcase from another area of our house, added some floating shelves and a shiny new lamp to brighten it up

it doesn't come close to holding all our books though - i have two big boxes and a bag full of books at the bottom of my closet now, but maybe that's okay

think i could get away with adding another shelf or two or would that look too top heavy?? it's a super high wall b/c it's a sunken living room, so there's certainly enough room for it - what do you think??

this lamp just makes me smile

makes me wanna curl up in a blanket on the couch with some tea and read

down the road i'll paint the grey bookcase - something bright, maybe hot pink (to match some of the frames over our fireplace), green or teal (pretty sure phil will veto the pink)

art project

2011-01-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

They started off as art journals ... I thought we could add a page or two every week playing around with different mediums. As I'm realizing, most of the things we plan don't end up working out exactly like I envision, but thankfully usually end up a lot better.

With all the art/craft stuff I've collected up over the years I thought for sure I'd find 2 or 3 blank journals in our art closet. No dice. So ... we made paper bag books by stapling 5 brown lunch bags together. We painted, mod podged and glittered our books and later on we'll tuck little tags, photos, secret notes into the little pockets created by the paper bags.

oh my goodness, this kid and glitter make a lethal combination

is it just me, or does Anna have a crazed look in her eye??!! Let's just say, covering the table with paper before we started saved me from a whole lot of stress and worry over the fate of our table

oh my goodness we had fun!

okay here's Sarah's book (she wants me to clarify that she still has lots of things she wants to add ... photos, drawings, journaling and secret notes in the pockets that apparently I'm not cool enough to read)

in case you can't read this, it says, "A word from Sarah: kick back and enjoy life!"

"Whenever you feel sad just say, "I"m going to have a good day!"

"John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son" she ran out of room and couldn't fit the rest of the verse - the next page says, "I have a cat her name is Marley!"

Anna's book ... (or as I like to call it, "death by glitter")

her passion in life is glitter and for once I just let her go nuts (and I didn't even complain about the mountain of glitter on the floor - at least not to her)

mine

it turned into more of a prayer journal kinda thing ... I'll keep adding to it until there's no more room to write

lots of space to write stuff and I'm sure I'll end up filling the pockets with little scribbles of paper

just some misc. stuff that God's been talking to me about/working on me/trying to get through my thick skull, lately

such a fun day! I really need to spend more time playing around with paint (and maybe even glitter)

just for fun ...

2011-01-15T20:39:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd answer some of the homeschooling questions I get asked most often - both by other homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers.

What curriculum do you use?

We use Sonlight for history, geography, English & science and Math U See for Math as our basis - to which I add in a LOT of stuff that I put together on my own from other places - I absolutely adore our curriculum, seriously, can't say enough good things about it

What are your school hours and what is your routine like?

We can be pretty flexible which is both the best thing and the worst thing. We usually start school around 10am (I get up at 7am and read the Bible & pray till around 8am, then I'm on the treadmill from 8 - 8:30ish and then in the sauna after that for about 20 min or so). Okay, maybe I should be honest here and say that I try to do the treadmill thing every day, but realistically it ends up being more like 3 days/week - some days I take one look at the treadmill and say, screw it, and hop into the sauna instead ;-) The kids wake up somewhere between 8-9am (we let them stay up too late, so they sleep in) - they make their own breakfast together and then start on their chores (make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, the usual). When they wake up, they are allowed to come down and say good morning to me and then they have to march right back up stairs - they are NOT allowed to bug me, ask for things, play downstairs, etc. until I come back up. Starting the day with those two hours completely to myself is really my sanity. I guard it fiercely. Around 9am I head back up and hop in the shower & get ready. I make the girls and I each a spinach smoothie which we bring down to class with us. So we start around 10am and work hard till around 1pm or so, take a break for lunch and then dive back in. We usually finish up the day between 4-5pm.

What tools could you not live without?

Electric pencil sharpener!! Seriously. AND now that I have a printer/photocopier, I'd say photocopier - although, I lived without it just fine for the last year and a half, but now that I have it, it's my new best friend. Sometimes I just look at it and smile and think of all the things I could copy. Mmmmmm ... I feel warm inside just thinking about it.

Are you worried about socialization?

Where. to. start. This question really cracks me up now, but I totally understand where people are coming from when they ask it - it was one of our big questions and concerns while we were in the decision making process of homeschooling. I won't say too much about this because so many people who know a lot more on the subject and are a LOT better with words than I, have written at length about this. A few things I will say are ... you can't keep kids from other kids, seriously, our kids are with other kids all the time - they're in church, Sunday school, homeschool group, drama class, cooking class, art classes, they're with our friends kids, they hang out with their friends, etc. You really can't keep kids from other kids. The other thing that was huge for me was (and I really wish I could remember where I read this or who told me this because it was HUGE for me!), "do you want your kids to learn how to be responsible functioning adults from a group of 30 kids their age or from other responsible functioning adults?" Oh man, there's so much more I'd love to say on this subject but I know it would turn into a rant, so I'll spare you all :-)

Do you spend a lot of time prepping?

Oh yeah. And when I'm not actually 'prepping', I'm thinking about it (it's sort of an 'every waking moment' sorta thing). Thankfully I really do enjoy it though.

What do you like best about homeschooling?

I don't even know where to start ... the BIGGEST thing, is being with my girls all day. Learning right along side them. Watching them learn new things and most of all get really excited about learning. Teaching Anna to read - man, there's nothing as exciting as teaching a kid to read - watching her sound out letters and then seeing her eyes get big as saucers when she 'gets it'. I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she read her first book all on her own (okay, it was all of 4 pages and no word was longer than 4 letters, but hey, that counts!). I just feel so lucky that I get to be the one to facilitate that.

Another HUGE benefit of homeschooling is that I get to set the focus and direction of our learning. It's incredibly important to me that our family is globally minded. We spend a lot of time learning about other cultures and people groups - what makes us the same, what makes us different. We spend a lot of time praying for unreached people groups, missionaries and the different countries & cultures that we're learning about.

I also love, that if either of the girls are particularly passionate or interested in a certain subject or area, we can stop what we're doing and learn about that. I really believe that it's much more important to raise kids who are passionate about learning (who know how to learn - because that's HUGE!) than to get kids to memorize facts from a text book.

Are you worried that your kids might not be at the same level at public school kids?

The short answer is no, not at all. My kids love reading and love learning (like all kids). I couldn't stop them from learning if I tried. Generally speaking, homeschool curriculum is at least a full grade level above public school - sometimes a lot more. All that being said, if my kids get NOTHING out of school but a passion for God and what He's doing in the world and develop a love of learning ... I've succeeded.

The decision to homeschool was a huge one. It was definitely the road less travelled. It ended up costing us things we never would have dreamed. That being said, it's blessed us (all four of us) more than I could ever have imagined. There are a few people without whom we wouldn't have had the courage to take the plunge into homeschooling and I will forever be grateful to them. Obviously, my parents (wouldn't have even given it more than a second thought without you guys) who continue to support us in this non-stop and also D & M - you guys let us ask you both rapid fire questions and helped us get over our fears & gave us the courage to do this and not worry so much if other people thought we were crazy.

**I would like to add that I don't necessarily think that everyone should homeschool or that our kids are in any way better or smarter because they're homeschooled (because I don't!!!). Most of our friends' kids go to public school and we LOVE them and LOVE their kids and think their kids are awesome!! Homeschooling was and is definitely the right thing for us, but I don't want to come across as thinking that I believe everyone should do it or that it's better, or anything like that. I think it's best for our family, for now. That's it :-)

2011-01-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

some randomness from our week ...

had so much fun with friends last night playing Settlers (which I won!!!! first time ever!), eating yummy snacks and lots of visiting *during which time our kids and theirs made up and filmed a 'short movie' - we'll be hosting the premier in the near future after it's been edited - can't wait to see how it turned out (apparently it's a modern version of Rapunzel or something - all I know is that the 3 girls spent more time on costumes and makeup than anything else ;-)

a short poem Sarah wrote Tuesday afternoon

a couple Valentine card fronts from a HUGE stack that I made this week

a fun lunch for the girls on Tuesday

oh and here are some of the pictures from the book I bought at MCC the other day ...

aren't they beautiful - I can't wait to frame some of these

this one is my favourite

It's Saturday and I didn't get out of my pj's once all day. Now THAT'S the mark of a very, very good day :-)

today

2011-01-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

(these pictures are actually from Christmas break - right before the girls and I got sick)

The fireplace is one of my very favourite things about our house - it's the perfect spot to drink tea and read or be read to :-)

my sweeties :-)

Today we took a day "off" (I put that in quotations because every homeschooler knows that we often learn just as much if not more during the "off" days).

We worked really hard all week - actually finished our weeks worth of school early in the week and today just felt like one of those days where we needed a break. The girls and I spent the morning at MCC (after sleeping in ;-) slowly going through every section ... ahhhh... so much fun.

For $13.65 this is what we brought home:

- a Littelest Pet Shop lady bug stuffed animal (for Anna)
- 3 super cool beaded necklaces (1 for Sarah and 2 for me)
- a hoodie for Sarah
- jeans for Sarah
- long sleeve shirt for Sarah
- capris for Anna
- a bag of craft stuff (including a bunch of alphabet die cuts and 2 brand new & still sealed bottles of Pod Podge) - so excited to use that stuff for upcoming crafts in school
- a daily devotional/Bible that Sarah found
- a hardcover Robert Frost poetry book (Sarah's getting really into poetry these days and we're looking forward to reading some of these in school over the next few weeks)
- The One Year Book Of Devotions for Kids #2 - we got book #3 from somewhere (don't remember who or where - probably also MCC) and the girls loved it - I didn't think it was that great, not bad or anything, just sort of boring, but the girls loved it and where so happy to find book # 2 at MCC to go through this year ;-)
- The Usborne Internet Linked First Encyclopedia of Seas & Oceans - can't even put into words how much the girls and I adore Usborne books
- The Usborne Internet Linked First Encyclopedia of Animals
- The Usborne Internet Linked First Encyclopedia of Space
- Manners & Customs of Bible Lands by Fred H. Wight - no idea if it's any good, but for a quarter, it seemed interesting to me
- a blank journal (with grid paper which I thought was fun) that I'm thinking of turning into an art journal
- 5 different mystery chapter books that Sarah picked out
- and, probably my favourite find of the day ... a hardcover book called 'The Book of Jesus' published by Collins in 1977, BUT every other page in this 105 pg. book is taken from a series of posters by Marlene Reidel showing the life of Jesus. They are seriously amazing, moving, emotional paintings. I bought the book (for a whopping $0.50, I might add) with the intention of taking out some of the pictures to put up in the classroom - after reading through some of the book tonight, I'm not sure I'll be able to cut it apart - there is one painting showing Jesus as a shepherd looking after His flock, that I just HAVE to frame (okay, there are tons of them that are begging to be framed)

ALL THAT for under $14!!! Crazy hey??!!

Then we came home and had grilled cheese & spinach sandwiches (sounds weird, but we like 'em), potato salad & Dr. Pepper while watching 3 1/2 hrs. of ancient Egypt documentaries on Netflix (during which my little history buff Sarah, asked if I could take notes of some of the things she'd like us to read up on later). *side note - this evening, Sarah asked me if I could email myself a note to look up more info on the 'rain shadow effect' because she'd like to understand that better. CRAZY girl. I was SO not like that when I was her age. I'm telling you, these kids make it very fun and easy (most days) to teach :-)

It was a very good day :-)

meal plan Monday (a little late)

2011-01-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

Monday - chicken & rice bake, salad
Tuesday - roast, mashed potatoes & salad
Wednesday - pulled pork sandwiches (left over roast) & loaded baked potato salad (best potato salad on the planet!)
Thursday - enchiladas & salad
Friday - potato soup & homemade buns
Saturday - spaghetti & salad

Okay, so not the healthiest of meal plans, but we're sure in for a tasty week! ;-)

before and after

2011-01-09T19:04:00.000-08:00

When we moved at the end of October, we told the girls that we'd paint their bedrooms if they wanted. Anna right away wanted pink, Sarah on the other hand, didn't know what colour she wanted, and she didn't mind the colour her room was - so we told her that when she decided on a colour we'd do it. Well, after being inspired by Mica's new bedroom last week, Sarah wanted to go paint shopping ;-)
She chose a beautiful and bright teal colour (called Tropical Teal) that matches perfectly with her bedding. Then we found some lime green curtains on sale at Home Outfitters that were the perfect compliment to the paint and bedding.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

a lot more personality ;-)

Funny thing, when we went to EG's last week to pick out the paint, the paint guy told Phil, "I think we can give you a discount, you guys buy a lot of paint!" Phil got a big kick out of that - it seems we're always painting something ;-)

I actually really didn't mind the beige colour that her room was before, but I'm really excited for Sarah that she feels like her room has her own stamp on it now :-)

new house pictures :-)

2010-11-18T20:29:00.000-08:00

living room ...

kitchen ...

dinning room ...

love the built-ins in the dinning room

rec room in the basement

LOVE the 10 foot ceilings in the basement!

kids play area

our classroom

my favourite part of the classroom is the couch - we spend SO much time here reading

We've been here for over 3 weeks now and just LOVE it! It's felt like home from the second we walked in the door :-)

random ...

2010-10-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

- today is my nephew Jayden's birthday (we had so much fun shopping for a 'boy' present!)
(picture is Sarah & I with Jayden in Clear Lake)

- my favorite 'Jayden' quote is, "I like backhoes too" (said totally randomly ... maybe you had to be there, but it was super funny to us)

- found out today that I have packing ADD ... I get sidetracked with anything & everything and have about 5 different boxes going at one time (I'm really supposed to be packing right now)

- the girls and I went to MCC with Cathy yesterday and for under $10 I found total bliss ... an Usborne drawing book for Sarah for $0.25, a current atlas/geography book for school (also a quarter), 3 funky old head wrap/scarves for the crazy dreads ($0.25 each), 6 awesome OLD mugs from the 70's, mint condition dark purple/burgundy felt purse, stuffie for Anna and a little 2 tier cookie/dainty server kinda thing for Sarah (it's about 5" high) for tea parties with her American Girl doll. Poor Phil just rolls his eyes with all the crap I come home with ;-)

- you know how with motherhood comes worry, guilt, fear, questions, etc. well, I think that for a home schooling mother it must be doubled - been thinking about that a lot lately, hoping, praying that I'm doing the right thing, the right way, enough, not too much ... yeah (and thankful for a husband who talks me off the ledge)

- one cool thing about getting old (please, someone tell me that 32 is NOT old) is that you really start to get to know yourself

- I'm really thankful for my friends, old ones and new ones - I know that God has put them into my life (my family's life) to bless me/us and I'm so thankful

told you it was random

okay, gotta go pretend to pack for a while now

a little bit of grace

2010-10-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

So yesterday morning was a total disaster. Both girls had gone to bed way too late the night before and Sarah especially was very tired. I'm talking, 'crying because I asked her to push in her chair' tired. It was one thing after another - we went from crying to being super disrespectful to being down right mean, and back to crying again. I was losing it. About to lay down some serious consequences. Then I felt God tell me 'you know what, she's tired and what she needs now is a little bit of grace'.

SO ... we hopped in the car and went to my parents house to pick up some firewood (thanks mom & dad!), then went for a walk to collect sticks and pinecones (you were so right dad - pine cones are the BEST kindling). We made a nice big fire and spent the entire day outside.

What started out as a horrible day, turned into one I want to remember forever.

We took pages from an old book and painted them with watercolour, then we cut them out into simple shapes to make pictures, stuck them on cardstock and outlined them with sharpie. So fun! Got the idea here.

this picture cracks me up!

Sarah's reading The Whipping Boy to Anna

So they ended up making up a 'Sisters Rock' club complete with secret handshake. Sarah's working on a secret language as well ;-)

a little creative writing on the playstructure

my buddy, chilling out by the fire

It was so beautiful outside, we ended up staying out there all evening too. The kids snuggled in the playstructure with blankets and books and read while Phil and I read by the fire. Then we ended up roasting hotdogs for supper. Yeah, I think we fell off the vegan wagon hard this time.

Anyway, I'm very thankful that God had a little lesson in grace for me yesterday and I really hope it's one I don't forget.

happy list

2010-09-25T19:12:00.001-07:00

Time for another happy list :-)

- he makes me so, so happy (and he cooks - score!) I really feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have him - he's so patient, supportive, loving, forgiving, optimistic, centered, down to earth ... pretty much the most amazing person I've ever met. I want to be more like him

- my Toby

- using vintage printed glasses as tea light holders (photo and idea from here) I have tons of these that I've collected from thrift stores - can't wait to try this in the new house

- found a big stash of teacher resources at MCC the other day (lots of craft/activity books and a couple books that have assignment, activity & craft ideas based on books like Charlotte's Web, Beezus and Ramona, Little House on the Prairie books, etc.) I found tons of them and the most expensive one was 25 cents. I LOVE MCC :-)

perfect fall day

2010-09-25T18:26:00.001-07:00

We spent the entire day outside today - the weather was beautiful (and the inside of our house is over run with boxes so we're always on the look out for any excuse to escape the madness). We got a fire started in the morning and kept it going all day long.

the girls hauled pillows, blankets, stuffies, their DS's and books into the playstructure - man, we're going to miss the playstructure when we move

goofy girls

* we decided that we're going to eat vegan as much as we can at home but when we're out with other people we're not going to stress about it - as much as we love the idea of being 100% vegan, it's just really hard when other people are involved and it makes it pretty tricky for the girls when they're with friends, etc.

meal plan monday

2010-09-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Monday - spaghetti & breadsticks
Tuesday - chickpea cutlets and veggies
Wednesday - lots of grilled & steamed veggies (it's CSA day - so we'll have a box full of fresh veggies)
Thursday - lentil rice crockpot soup
Friday - BBQ tofu, mashed potatos & veggies
Saturday - broccoli polenta & herb scalloped potatos

my two sweeties :-)

Boon Burger

2010-09-15T08:27:00.001-07:00

Phil took me to Boon Burger for my birthday yesterday and it was AMAZING! The place is pretty tiny and there's very little seating but oh my goodness the food is awesome! They used to be a vegetarian restaurant but they recently went 100% vegan. They're at 79 Sherbrook St. in Winnipeg in case anyone wants to try them out.

We went vegan in July, then with putting our house up for sale, vacation, and some other things, life just got crazy in August so we took a break from the vegan thing. Yesterday was my 32nd birthday and I decided it was time to give myself the gift of health. Back to doing the vegan thing. Phil and the girls decided to hop on too, so we're all vegan again. Feels so good. Looking forward to being able to sleep again!

Clear Lake part 2

2010-09-15T07:42:00.001-07:00

Ominnik Marsh Trail - we do this every single time we're at Clear Lake - sometimes more than once - it's so much fun
(again, all pictures taken by my dad)

(the first real pictures of my dreads - pretty pumped!)

Our soon to be neighbors!! Yay! In less than 40 days we'll be living 4 houses down from my sister and her family :-)

Phil and Sarah's samurai sword fight ...

Clear Lake part 1

2010-09-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at Clear Lake this past weekend ...

(all pictures taken by my dad - photographer extraordinaire)

SO MUCH FUN!!!

happy list

2010-09-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

The last couple days have been kind of ichy ... stressed about a couple things, pretty sure the insomnia isn't helping either. So, after a night of wallowing, I think it's time I snap out of it and make a happy list again :-) Here we go ...

- 46 days until we move into a house we are head over heels in love with and can't stop dreaming about

- The Office season 6 came out on DVD yesterday and I'm thinking Phil and I will pull another all nighter and see how many of these we can get through :-)

- family movie night tonight :-)

- it's pumpkin spice latte time of year again

- I have a bunch of books on my nightstand that I'm excited about reading

- we're going to Clear Lake with my family this weekend

- piping hot bubble baths with incense and a good book

- beautiful Fall weather so we can 'do school' outside while sitting around a fire in our firepit

I think I feel the stress melting away already ...

First Day of School

2010-09-06T17:01:00.001-07:00

Since we're moving in less than two months (SO EXCITED!), we've started packing and the house is over run with boxes and all sorts of piles, etc. - we're 'doing school' at the kitchen table for now. We had a great first day and are looking forward to tomorrow :-) It feels really good to be getting back into the school routine!

I'm never combing my hair again ...

2010-08-05T19:25:00.001-07:00

I've wanted dreads for years and years and I finally had the nerve to do it :-)

SO PUMPED!!! :-)

Deena (the AMAZING woman who did my dreads) took pictures of the whole 12 hr. process - can't wait to post those when I get them from her!

quick update

2010-08-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

The last couple weeks have been a crazy whirlwind ... we put our house up for sale so we've been busy getting the house ready for showings, open house, etc. AND we were able to trade our free trip for 2 to Las Vegas into 4 tickets to Vancouver, BC to stay with my cousins for a week! We are SO excited! We leave in less than 2 weeks :-)

Off to do some more cleaning in case we have another showing tomorrow :-P

this and that

2010-07-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

Our new favourite restaurant ...

Mondragon is a completely vegan restaurant in the exchange district (in Winnipeg). They also have a small organic green market and bookstore. The food is beyond amazing and it's a real thrill for us to be able to go to a restaurant and be able to order anything off the menu.

(pictures are from Mondragon website)

My favourite is their veggie burger - I've had many a veggie burger in my day (usually with tons of mayo and cheese) and this one is hands down THE BEST - and it's vegan. Score!

My bestest friend dropped this little beauty off for me last night ...

Is that cute or what?! She found it at MCC for $0.50 - sweet! Anna said, "Wow, Cathy must really love you if she gave you that to keep!" I think Anna's right :-)

a sneak peek at what we've been up to in the kitchen (more pictures to follow at the end of the weekend, hopefully!) *and yes, I know I have decorating ADD - and no, there is no known cure - the plus side is that when you paint as much as we do, we have a wide range of paint in our shed to choose from, so this whole project was free :-)

Sarah finally won the fight for the chair ... we'll be moving the 'reading chair' into her room this weekend.

Phil and I are reading through our Bibles in 90 days together. Well, not reading 'together' but doing the challenge together. I'm really excited about it. I did it a few months back and I know it changed me. I'm really excited about us doing it together and being able to talk about what we're reading each day.

I love this post with lots of 'unplugged play' ideas. Perfect for us over the summer break!

Meal Plan

2010-07-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday - vegetable dumplings & salad

Monday - baby potatoes, steamed broccoli & bbq zucchini

Tuesday - lentil rice soup & homemade buns

Wednesday - Tempeh Shepherdess Pie (recipe from Veganomicon)

Thursday - spaghetti, breadsticks & salad

Friday - falafel, broccoli & brown rice (didn't end up making last week)

Saturday - brown rice stir fry

Lentil Rice Soup

2010-07-06T19:25:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to quick post the recipe for the lentil rice crockpot soup that I made for supper today. Phil and Sarah liked it, but Anna and I looooooooved it. Best part - it's super fast & easy to make and it's super healthy :-)

Lentil Rice Crockpot Soup

1/2 of a 14 oz. package of lentils (uncooked)
1/2 cup brown rice (uncooked)
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. unrefined sea salt
1/4 tsp. Italian herbs
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Wash & drain lentils. Put lentils & brown rice into crockpot and fill with water till a few inches from the top. Set on high for 2-3 hrs. Then add in everything else and leave on high for another 2 hrs.

That's it :-)

Meal Plan

2010-07-06T10:55:00.001-07:00

Monday - chickpea rogan josh (we couldn't find vegan naan bread, so Phil lightly toasted some pitas with a little vegan butter and curry powder)

Tuesday - lentil rice crockpot soup

Wednesday - we'll either bbq or roast vegan hot dogs & veggies

Thursday - spaghetti & salad

Friday - we're in the city so we'll be either going here or here for dinner

Saturday - falafel, edamame & brown rice

Canada Day

2010-07-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

So the first thing people ask me when they find out we've decided to go vegan is ... what in the world do you eat?! So from time to time I'll take pictures of our meals and post them just for fun.

This was the girls lunch today - half a whole grain pita with hummus, spinach & cucumbers, felafel's with ketchup and some blueberries and strawberries. It was super yummy!

The yummy strawberries we picked this morning :-)

Watching the Canada Day fireworks (which turned out to be super lame).

We got eaten alive by mosquitoes!

Happy Birthday Canada!

Strawberry Picking

2010-07-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun strawberry picking with friends this morning! We only ended up with 2 pails though, so I think we're going to need to go back in a week or two. I'm pretty sure these pails will be gone by the end of the weekend and I really want to make strawberry jam and freeze lots of strawberries for smoothies in the Winter.

That's one more thing to cross off our summer bucket list ;-)

Thanks for the pics. Cathy :-)

Summer Bucket List

2010-07-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

The girls and I made a 'Summer Bucket List' of things we/they want to do this summer - hopefully we can get them all crossed by Fall :-)

Summer Bucket List:

1. go strawberry picking (done)
2. go to at least one Goldeyes game
3. Summer Arts Day Camp (already registered)
4. DVBS (already registered)
5. Lower Fort Garry
6. Holocaust Museum
7. swimming lessons (already registered)
8. lots of fires on the deck
9. lots of art projects (done and will do more)
10. go to a water park (I'm not too excited about that one, but we'll see what we can do)
11. The Manitoba Museum (done)
12. family movie nights (done and will do more)
13. picnics
14. spend lots of time hanging out at parks
15. farmers market
16. try out some great vegan restaurants in Winnipeg (done)

what we've been up to

2010-06-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

- we ordered our history, geography, LA & science curriculum for Fall - it should get here towards the end of next week and I'm so excited to read through it and start planning & organizing for fall (I'm a total geek, I know)

- we changed our math curriculum a few weeks ago and so far are loving it (as much as you can really love math, I guess)

- we're still trucking along with school, planning to work through July and then take August off

- we've done lots of fun little art projects but I usually forget to take pictures of them - we studied ancient Egypt earlier this school year and it's been by far both girls favourite thing to study, so when I found this idea for a simplified way to draw & paint King Tutankhamen I knew we had to do it (Phil even wanted in on this one - although he hasn't painted his yet)

- we also had fun melting our own crazy heart crayons today - I bought a massive bag of crayons at MCC a while ago for about 50 cents and we had fun using the broken ones to make these ...

I'm thinking these would make really cute little Valentine's for Anna to give out to her friends next Valentine's Day

- we've been doing lots of fun science experiments lately too, but of course I never remember to take pictures :-(

- we've decided to give the vegan diet thing a go - just in case people didn't think we were crazy enough for homeschooling, now we're adding vegan to the mix ;-) I've been doing it for 7 days now (Phil and the girls started a day or two after I did). My goal is for us to eat 50% raw and 50% cooked - although I think it will take us a while to build up to that. I'm also working hard at cutting out refined sugar & processed food from our diet as much as I can help it. The whole vegan this is a big enough change right now for Phil and the girls, so I'm going slow with the other stuff ;-) I was a vegetarian (though not vegan) for a few years in jr. high and high school, so it doesn't feel like too big a stretch for me - then again, I'm only 7 days in, ask me in a few weeks ;-)

- last but NOT least, Phil won a free trip to Las Vegas yesterday! Seriously! A totally free (flights & hotel) trip for 2 to Las Vegas. He won it through a local radio contest auction - he's been working very hard for the last few months collecting points for doing different things and then using them to bid in this auction - anyway, the auction ended yesterday morning and Phil was the winner :-) We're pretty excited! We're going to see if we can change it to a place where we can bring the girls along and then pay the difference and add on the 2 extra flights. If not, we'll happily go to Vegas just the two of us (although we'll have 2 ticked off girls!).

TRC National Event con't

2010-06-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went back to The Forks for the last day of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee National Event. My parents joined us for a while in the morning which was lots of fun!

This was some of the info. in the Learning Tent ...

We read a survivor's first hand account of being taken away from her family (against her parent's will) at the age of 4 and taken to a boarding school hundreds of miles away, forbidden to speak her own language, treated horribly and only allowed to see her family once or twice a year. A FOUR YEAR OLD! This happened IN CANADA within the last 50 years - within the last 20 years even. How is this possible? Why should I have been allowed to grow up with my family in total freedom while other children where stolen from their families at the very same time, in the very same country? It makes me sick.

A 'signature wall' that Indian Residential School survivors could sign and leave messages on. Some of them were younger than me.

We all threw some tobacco and ceder leaves into the Sacred Fire and prayed.

The grand entrance to the Powwow led by Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Murray Sinclair (chairman of the TRC) holding the Eagle Staff and also Michaelle Jean the Governor General of Canada - both of whom gave excellent speeches.

Governor General Michaelle Jean

some Powwow dancers

Jingle dress dancers which Anna was completely in love with (her American Girl doll Kaya has a Jingle dress)

We had such an amazing time at the TRC and it was so cool to share it with my super amazing supportive parents too. Most of the above pictures were taken by my mom & dad - thanks SO much guys!!!

other stuff we've been up to ...

2010-06-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

lots of softball games & practises for Sarah
(picture taken by my dad - thanks Dad!)

messy art projects

We've been studying WWII this week with a focus on the Holocaust, so it's been pretty heavy. We're planning another visit to the Holocaust museum in Winnipeg. BBC has put together some great stuff for teaching kids about the Holocaust. Here's a link to a photo tour of what Auschwitz and Birkenau look like today.

A few days ago Sarah asked me, "Mom, what if there's a World War 3?". Oh my goodness, I wish I could tell them, don't worry, there's no way that will ever happen. But I can't. So I asked Sarah, "If there was a ww3, what do you think is the worst thing that could happen to us?" Sarah said, "Well, we could get killed." So I asked her what would happen then? She said, "We'd go to heaven. Huh ... guess that wouldn't really be that bad then."

Clear Lake

2010-06-18T12:38:00.001-07:00

We rented a cabin in Clear Lake last week. It was so much fun to get away and just relax. The week went by way too fast.

For sure the girls highlight of the entire week was collecting stones. Seriously, I think we hauled back 200 lbs. of stones which are now sitting in jars in their bedroom (and are priceless treasures, I'm told).

searching for stones

Phil and the kids skipping stones

Anna with some of her treasures

me and the kids at the park

We saw a ton of wildlife this trip - 3 black bears, a few beaver, 3 moose (one was a baby with his/her mother - SO cool to see!) and 1 elk. Most of them were way too fast for me to get pictures of, but I did manage a few of this guy.

this guy turned 30 on our little trip :-)

Ominnik Marsh Trail (where the beaver were spotted)

The week went by way too fast!

TRC National Event

2010-06-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

We've been spending as much time as we can at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada National Event at The Forks in Winnipeg this week/end. It's a 4 day national event (June 16-19) put on by the TRC with the purpose of teaching Canadians what happened in the Indian Residential Schools and honouring the lives of former students and their families.

For those of you who don't know much about Indian Residential Schools, here is a little background taken from the TRC website:

Indian Residential Schools date back to the late 1870's. Over 130 residential schools were located across Canada and the last school was closed in 1996. During this era over 150, 000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were placed in these schools, often against their parents wishes. Many were forbidden to speak their language and practise their own culture. It's estimated that over 80,000 of these students are living today. The impact of residential schools has been felt throughout generations.

Here are just some of the events that we either have seen or will see over the weekend: Lighting of the Sacred Fire Ceremony, Pipe Ceremony, Powwow, Unity Ride, and lots more. This is a really important event for our family because Phil and the girls are Native American and this is a chance for them to feel connected to and learn more about their very rich heritage.

Here are some pictures from the Wednesday night musical performances and speeches:

We staked out our spots a couple hours before the performance started - and it totally paid off - we ended up only 5 rows from the stage (and there were between 25,000 - 30,000 people there). Phil and I had the most amazing chick pea curry for supper - the kids on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with that and ended up with cheese pizza.

Sam Katz (mayor of Winnipeg) gave an amazing speech. He's the direct descendant of holocaust survivors and the treatment of Natives in North America has long been referred to as 'the North American holocaust'. He spoke of how the damage caused by these kinds of atrocities are carried on from generation to generation.

Elijah Harper gave a very moving speech (I was so caught up in it that I totally forgot to take a picture - oops) about forgiveness being the only way to really move forward.

He also read Isaiah 40:30-31, "Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

Tamara Podemski - she sang a few songs, but the one she sang in Anishinabe was really cool

Inuit drum dancer

Buffy Sainte-Marie - oh. my. goodness. She was absolutely amazing

and then ... Blue Rodeo

I love Blue Rodeo

they played almost all of my favorite songs, it was so much fun

We got home close to 1am - another reason I love home schooling - we can do stuff like this on 'school nights' and just let the girls sleep in the next morning and start school whenever we're ready :-)

It was really an amazing evening. There was definitely the feeling of being part of something big.

2010-05-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add these to my last post ...

replica of a mosasaur fossil (they had over 75% of this actual mosasaur's fossils there, but obviously that would have been to heavy to hang)

in the collections room we all got a chance to hold part of the jaw fossil of the above mosasaur - that was super cool!

Phil at the dig

(thanks for the pics. Cathy!!)

Saturday Recap

2010-05-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

We started off bright and early (too early for my liking) Saturday morning to drive to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Center in Morden. Phil and Sarah got to go on an actual fossil dig with a palaeontologist. Anna and I had to stay back at the museum because you had to be minimum 8yrs. old to go on the dig. That was a major bummer for us, but we still had fun hanging out at the museum - they had an activity room set up and we had a lot of fun looking at fossils in the digital microscope and playing around with some other cool stuff.

Okay, the big news is, Sarah found a fossil!!! Well, technically Phil found it ... when no one was looking he brushed it over into Sarah's area so that she could be the one to find it. Shhhhh ;-)

It's super tiny but they figured it was some kind of prehistoric fish vertebrae or something like that. She was one proud girl to have found an actual fossil!

When they got back we all went on a guided tour of the museum. We even got to go into the collections room which was pretty thrilling for our family of history nerds.

the lab where they prepare the fossils, etc.

After that it was time for a late lunch.

About five minutes after this picture, we found Sarah fast asleep at the table. These kids were wiped out.

A quick burst of energy for the ride home ;-) *5 minutes after this they were both snoring

That evening the girls were both sick with fevers - I'm SO glad they were feeling good for the dig!

The clothes line that Phil put up for me on Earth Day. I love the smell of line dried clothes :-)

Phil saying, "hurry up my face is burning off!"

We had the most amazing Saturday!

Grandma & Grandpa Dan are the BEST!

2010-05-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

The girls had been saving up their money to each buy an American Girl Doll for months. They'd been doing extra chores, asking for money instead of presents for gifts, etc. Anyway, Phil's grandma heard what they were saving up for and decided that she wanted to be the one to get them their first American Girl Dolls. We told her which one they each wanted, she ordered them and shipped them off for the girls (including some extra outfits).

The girls had no idea what was in this box when they opened it, they just knew it was a package from Grandma & Grandpa Dan.

They were completely blown away.

Anna's doll is Kaya

(their hair is pretty grungy because they spent the day outside in the kiddie pool - Anna had some kind of sand, sweat and water mixture going on in her hair)

Sarah's doll is Elizabeth

I haven't seen these girls this excited in a LONG time. It was a very big day in the Burke household :-)

our new chair

2010-05-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had a garage sale with my parents at their place. On the last day of the sale they haul out this ancient Lazy Boy chair to sell. Turns out this chair is ridiculously comfortable (the back rest goes way back and the foot rest pops out when you pull a lever). We all took turns lounging on it during the sale when it was slow.
By the end of the day they girls and I were way too in love with the chair to leave it there, so it came home with us :-) This chair is so ugly that it's kinda beautiful.

I think it's going to soon make it's way into the girls room (they'd like a special little reading corner and the two of them fit snuggled up in this chair together perfectly), but for now, this is where he's hanging out ...

I can't quite express how comfortable this chair is. Seriously.

what I'm loving right now ...

2010-05-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

- this guy ...

his constant need for attention and following me around everywhere I go drives me crazy, but I love him!

- spending the afternoon making smores

(top two photos taken by Sarah) - who knew I could make a fire ALL BY MYSELF?! I realize that most other women have started many a fire before, but this is a first for me and I'm feeling like super woman, so don't burst my bubble ;-)

- this article - I know I've posted this link here before, but as we re-evaluate and think about how our first year of home schooling has gone and think about the year ahead, I keep coming back to this article - something about this really resonates with me

- sleeping in :-) call me a total slacker (it's okay, I know it's true), but this week the girls have been waking up around 8:30 or so, coming into my room to ask if they can they turn on cartoons - to which I reply, 'you betcha' then I roll over and go back to bed for another hour or two ;-)

- MCC (local thrift store) - spent under $10 there the other day and I came home with 4 killer mugs, 4 super cute little platter things (the mini white platters in the tea party pictures), a boxed set of oil pastels for the girls, box of chalk for the girls, black lined notebook for the girls to color on with the chalk & gel pens, tons of fabric for Sarah (she wants to try sewing), 6 chapter books for Sarah, I think there was something else, but I can't remember what.

- Cooking During Stolen Moments - I've made tons of her recipes and they've ALL turned out (which is quite something for me)

- our 11th anniversary on Saturday :-)

thank you

2010-05-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented on Sarah's guest blog post yesterday - she's been reading all the comments and they're making her day!!!!

what we've been up to lately ...

2010-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

lots of snuggling on the couch in our pj's & reading together

tea party with homemade cookies (by the way, baking is THE best way to learn about fractions - at least for us it is)

these kids have hardly gotten out of their pj's this week (oops!)

some pictures Sarah took of me at our tea party this afternoon

we've spent a TON of time here ...

It's seriously the coolest thing EVER. There's a web cam set up by a completely wild bald eagle's nest on Hornby Island. The most amazing thing is watching them bring in fish for their chick and feeding it. It's pretty incredible! *thanks SO much Dad for sending us the link!

When we turned it on yesterday Sarah said, "Mom, quick I need a notebook and pencil!!". So I found her a clipboard and some loose leaf and she made her own observation chart.

here's what she wrote (I corrected her spelling, so you can read it ;-) ...

My Eagle Chart!

Day 1. Dad or mom cleans the nest, which looks like searching for food in the nest. Once in a while he or she looks out for predators. Isn't God amazing! Bert (she named the dad Bert) fed the baby! Looks like the baby eats a lot.

The girls went to a little junior gardeners workshop at a local greenhouse on Saturday (and it was free!). *Thanks for telling us about this mom! They each planted a marigold, cucumber and watermelon. They are SO proud of their little seedlings :-) Their cucumbers both just sprouted today, so they're pretty pumped about that.

Okay, this book is amazing!!! It came yesterday and the girls couldn't wait to start painting.

They made these really cute dot painting by drawing on black paper with white pencil crayon and then using Q-tips dipped in acrylic to fill it in. The picture above is Anna's - she drew a snake, turtle, some flowers and I think a spider.

Sarah drew a snake going down a path (above) and below she drew/painted a tapestry

We are SO running out of room in our house to store all their art work! Not that I'm complaining - I love it all :-)

Guest Blogger Sarah

2010-05-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hey my name is sarah I wrote this book all by myself. I feel very prowed. I play softball and I'm homeschooled!!! I like being homschooled. Plese leave me a coment if you like my story. Thank you Cathy for binding my book for me!

2010-05-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

treasures I found on Sarah's camera ...

there were at least 15 different self portraits ;-)

either Anna or I took this one

Sarah asked Anna and I to pose like ballerina's for her

pretty sure Anna took this one

you would not BELIEVE how many pictures of misc. toys and stuffies I found on her camera

Sarah's pictures

2010-04-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday the girls and I went to the zoo with some friends. Sarah brought her camera along and I thought it would be fun to post some of her pictures.

This picture of Sarah & Anna was taken by Hali (the cutie in the picture below) during our picnic lunch in the park.
Another picture of Hali taken by Sarah.

Apparently everyone needed their picture taken with 'Winnie'.

Hali took this one of Sarah

the kids looking at the prairie dogs (Ashyr ran out of the picture just as I was clicking it)

Sarah thought this flower was so beautiful she wanted her dad to be able to see it too :-)

We had such an awesome day with Juli & the kids at the zoo - we'll definitely be doing that again soon :-)

School Break Party

2010-04-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

We've decided to give a different school schedule a try ...

We're going to do school year round, but take the months of May, August and December off. I've heard of other home schooling families doing this and loving it. It seems to be a perfect fit for our family. The girls are excited about it because we promised them a little 'school break party' before each one month chunk.

Since we're actually ahead of where we need to be right now, we've started our May break a week early.

my camera has been acting weird for the last few months, so please excuse the crappy pictures (I couldn't get it to focus most of the time)

For a grand total of about $14 we threw them a little 'school break party'. We got the pinata, hula skirts, noise makers, glow in the dark wands and other decorations from the dollar store (gotta love that place).

we decorated our rec. room in the basement with streamers, table & chairs and Phil even set up all (or at least most) of their stuffies on the couch to join in the festivities

Phil covered their eyes and led them down the stairs so it would be a surprise

we served them chicken salad finger sandwiches, fruit & veggies, crackers & cheese and strawberry tea while they watched a movie (and after supper they each got to pick one treat from their pinata to eat)

after supper we quickly moved out the table and chairs and Phil set up the air mattress for them

they finished their movie in bed (with their glow wands - can't really see them in the picture) and then had a sleep over with all their stuffies

For their August break I think we'll let them each invite a friend or two over and try to think of something a little more creative, but considering this was very last minute, I'd say it went over perfectly :-)

And now we have a whole month off school. Yay!!!!!! I'm SO excited about the break - don't get me wrong, I love home schooling, but the break from lesson planning and craft organizing and all that other fun stuff is going to feel SO good :-)

book sale

2010-04-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

We LOVE a good book sale! We've been waiting months for this one.
Phil and I ripped into the city this morning and loaded up with awesome books. We found a few for ourselves, but we hit the mother load in the children's book section. We got a grand total of 45 books for the girls for $71 - you can't beat that (not to mention the money all goes to a great cause!). We got a few Usborne books, lots of DK books, other misc. history & science books, lots of early readers for Anna and a couple chapter books for Sarah.

A very happy day for the Burke household :-)

Meal Plan

2010-04-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

So after watching Jamie's food revolution, we've purged our pantry of basically all things processed, and decided that we not only need to keep doing our weekly meal plan, but I really need a lunch meal plan with fast, healthy lunches that the girls and I can make without too much thinking.
So here we go ...

Sunday - lunch: chicken & brown rice stir fry
supper: pork roast, mashed potatoes, veggies

Monday - lunch: multi-grain tortilla veggie pizzas
supper: broccoli & pesto whole wheat tagliatelle

Tuesday - lunch: cream cheese & tuna multi-grain wraps w/romaine
supper: pulled pork sandwiches & potato salad

Wednesday - lunch: egg salad on whole wheat
supper: gone

Thursday - lunch: crockpot apple oatmeal
supper: ground beef wellington

Friday - lunch: pack-a-pita (tuna, corn & other veggies)
supper: crunchy garlic chicken

Saturday - lunch: left overs
supper - spaghetti & bread sticks

Meal Plan

2010-03-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

today - bbq bacon cheese burgers & either pasta salad or potato wedges to go with it
Sunday - one dish chicken & rice bake
Monday - breakfast for dinner (bacon, eggs, toast, hash browns)
Tuesday - potato soup & homemade buns
Wednesday - farmer sausage, roasted baby potatoes & veggies
Thursday - Texas tortilla soup w/left over farmer sausage (thanks for the soup mix mom - it looks really good!)
Friday - dinner @ my parents
Saturday - 5 layer chicken enchiladas

Favourite Things Friday

2010-03-18T19:51:00.001-07:00

* ordered this book online and it should be here in a couple days (the girls and I are SO in love with Usborne books - especially the internet linked ones!)

* wasabi peas - my new favourite snack, had it at my friends house a while ago for the first time and fell in love

* cooking & baking - I'm serious. I sort of took over cooking the past couple weeks while Phil's been busy working on our little reno. projects and I'm loving it. Crazy, I know. I've made some really fun (and all totally easy) things in the last few weeks: loaded baked potato salad, gooey cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing, bbq pulled pork sandwiches, chick pea burritos, apple crisp, enchiladas, corn chowder, chili, and more - still can't believe I'm actually enjoying it

* this kitchen - we certainly won't be able to do anything with our kitchen for a couple years, and I know we don't have the space to pull off anything like this either, but a girl can dream

Happy Friday :-)

reason #236 why I love home schooling

2010-03-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today Sarah woke up with an idea for a story she wanted to write. We were able to take a detour from our normal lessons to give her time and space to write her story.

She started off by getting some of her basic ideas written out in point form.

Then she got to work on her rough draft ...

using her dictionary to check her spelling as she went

After she finished her rough draft she asked me if I could get her set up to type out her story on the computer, leaving room for her to add illustrations before we make it into a book.

In total Sarah worked on her story for about 6 or 7 hours today (choosing that over watching a movie with Anna after drama class while Phil and I made dinner). She's still not done typing it all out, but she's hoping to get that finished tomorrow. I have to say, it made me so proud to see her looking up words in the dictionary, using quotation marks without being reminded, adding different adjectives to her attributions, etc. At one point she said, "Mom, I've already started two sentences in my story with 'Then he', I should probably go back and change one to make it more interesting right?".

I'm so thankful that we were able to put our lessons on hold today and let Sarah just run with her ideas and creativity. I'll have to post pictures of her book when she's got it totally finished. I think it's going to be pretty cute :-)

It sounds cheesy, but it was a pretty exciting day for me, to see her put into use (all on her own), some of the things we've been learning in English class so far this year. Apparently she is paying attention after all ;-)

St Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T21:43:00.001-07:00

We learned about St. Patrick a few weeks back in school. Sarah was pretty fascinated by his life and it sparked so many great discussions - she thought we should celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year. And celebrate we did.

Oddly enough, Toby actually really liked wearing his shirt & hat.

Anna's St. Patrick's Day magnet craft

Phil put up a St. Patrick's banner in the kitchen (ignore the mess)

Phil also made the girls 'shamrock shakes' for nightsnack, but I forgot to take pictures.

We've been knee deep in little reno. projects for the past couple weeks.

The girls had been sharing a tiny, tiny room and so Phil turned the classroom (downstairs) into an awesome bedroom for them to share - lots of room for them and all their toys - also an en suite bathroom (lucky bums!). That meant I had to cram all our classroom stuff into the tiny bedroom upstairs. We made it work though, and I'm actually quite happy with it.

I'll have to get the girls to clean their new room really good tomorrow and take some pictures of it ;-)

Red Rock

2010-02-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I had the most amazing opportunity this past weekend to go to Red Rock Bible Camp's Mother/Daughter weekend retreat. I went along with one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world Cathy and her daughter to help out with the 2 craft sessions for the retreat. It was such a great weekend and so good for Sarah and I to get away together like that. The speaker was awesome, the food was out of this world, the weather could not have been more mild and perfect.

I only brought my old point & shoot camera along because I didn't want to get my new one ruined in the snow, also I knew that if I just had my big clunker, I'd probably never end up taking it anywhere and would come home with no pictures. So ... be warned, the pictures are pretty terrible, but they make me very happy anyway :-)

Here are just a few of the many, many pictures I took ...

this is how loaded down we were on the trip there ... 6 paper ream boxes full of craft supplies, all our bedding for the weekend and all our clothes, etc. the poor kids in the back had not only a massive garbage bag of sleeping bags, pillows, sheets, etc. between them, they also both had bags under their feet. It was pretty hilarious.

the food was so amazing - this was our night snack the evening we arrived: carmel cheesecake, fruit platters, brownies, spring rolls & plum sauce, pita triangles & hummus, tortilla chips with chili, guacamole and salsa. And to drink they had fruit smoothies and fraps. Yummers.

Sarah chowing down ;-)

Sarah in her bunk bed

Sarah & Mica working on their craft

snow shoeing

this is the one lone picture of me this weekend ... my snow shoes :-)
Oh and one of the coolest things - I had forgotten (well actually I couldn't find them) my ski pants, so I didn't bring any along - which really sucks when basically every activity we did was outdoors this weekend so I was stressing out about that a bit, anyway, when we got into our room, there was a pair of ski pants in exactly my size just sitting there waiting for me - someone from a previous retreat must have forgotten them - anyway, I was able to wear them all weekend and my legs were toasty warm :-) It was a little reminder to me that God cares about the details in my life :-)

snow shoeing was so much fun - and such a work out!

tube sliding

I think I won the award for 'over protective mother of the year' because I made Sarah wear her bike helmet over her hat while she was tubing

Such a fun weekend!

a little get-away

2010-02-10T05:33:00.000-08:00

Phil and I are heading off to Minneapolis tomorrow for a little 4 night get away, just the two of us. We're so excited!! Over a week ago already Phil had made reservations for every one of our dinners while we're down there. One of our favorite things to do (which doesn't happen often, so it's a real treat), is to sit down to a nice looooong dinner, just the two of us and talk, talk, talk. If you know our girls, you know they like to talk ;-) The thought of 4 nice dinners out, just the two of us, being able to talk with out being interrupted ... well, that's bliss my friends.

We want to spend some time talking about our goals as a couple and as a family. I'm also really excited to talk about our homeschooling goals.

Okay, and I'm also pretty dang excited about this (not that I'll be able to afford anything there) and this and this.

Yay! A romantic little Valentine's weekend away :-)

crazy forts & erupting volcanos

2010-02-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

Anna got 'Crazy Forts' for her birthday last week and we've been having non-stop fun with it!

Why didn't they have this when I was a kid?

Their latest obsession is having sleep overs in the fort - doesn't look too comfy, but apparently it's lots of fun ;-)

Last week in science we learnt about different types of rock - so here we are making our volcano erupt and talking about igneous rock ;-)

it was so much fun watching their reactions as our little volcano started to erupt

doesn't take a whole lot to impress these kids!

Pack-A-Pita

2010-01-29T14:48:00.000-08:00

These were seriously yummy!! Phil and the girls loved them, and even I (who hates tuna) really liked these. Super fast and easy and tasted just as good as left overs for lunch the next day ...

Pack-a-Pita

multi grain pita bread
1/2 cup canned tuna, drained
2 scallions
1/2 cup canned corn, drained
2 tbsp. reduced fat mayonnaise
sale & pepper
2 eggs
romaine lettuce

1. Warm the pita breads under the broiler or in the oven. Cut each pita in half to make two pouches.

2. In a mixing bowl, flake the tuna with a fork. Finely chop the scallions and add to the bowl.

3. Add the corn and mayonnaise and mix together. Season well.

4. Boil the eggs in small pan for 10 min. Cool under cold running water, peel and roughly chop eggs. Add eggs to the mix.

5. Wash and slice lettuce. Place inside each pita pouch.

6. Spoon in the savory filling. Eat now or wrap in plastic wrap or foil until needed.

For a Change: Mix with cold cooked chicken with mayonnaise and shredded lettuce. Spice up your mayo. with a little curry powder and a tsp. of apricot jam.

Chickpea Burritos

2010-01-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

These are the burritos my mom & I made when we took our Healthy Cooking class. It was so much fun! These are super fast & easy to make and they taste amazing!

Chickpea Burritos

8 8-inch whole wheat flour tortillas
2 15 oz. cans chickpeas
1 finely chopped, seeded small jalapeno
1 cup shredded reduced-fat monterey jack or cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup fat free or light sour cream
snipped fresh cilantro

1. Stack tortillas and wrap tightly in foil. Heat in a 350 oven for 5 or 10 minutes to soften.

2. Mash chickpeas and jalapeno with back of spoon (we used a hand mixer). Mix the mashed chickpea and jalapeno mixture with cheese and green onions. Put onto tortillas just below center. Fold over edge nearest filling, just until filling is covered. fold in sides until they meet; roll up.

3. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick coating. Arrange the burritos, seam sides down, on baking sheet. Bake in the 350 oven about 15 min. or until heated through. Serve the burritos topped with salsa, sour cream, and cilantro.
Makes 8 servings

If any of you guys try this, let me know how you like it!

meal plan and other stuff

2010-01-23T06:57:00.000-08:00

some pictures from lunch on Thursday ...

Sarah's really into helping out in the kitchen these days and she really wants to learn how to cook. Anyway, Sarah and I made lunch together and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself ;-) How cute is she in her little apron? ($0.40 at MCC - score!)

Sarah's yummy fruit salad of strawberries, pears, grapes & cantaloupe

veggie pizzas on whole wheat tortillas - makes such a nice thin crust

I took a cooking class with my mom last Wednesday at our local arts center (SO MUCH FUN!). Anyway, it was a 'healthy cooking' class and it really made me think again about the food we eat. We try to eat healthy but obviously there's so much more we could (and should) be doing. So, I'm on a mission to add extra veggies to everything I make (and I've found that if the girls help make the food, they will eat it - even if there are some 'questionable' veggies in it ;-) We're also going to eat meatless meals a lot more often and be purposeful about it. I'm also really interested in reading more about raw diets - so we'll see if we can incorporate that in there somewhere too.

Meal Plan:

Sunday - chili & homemade buns

Monday - whole wheat veggie pizzas

Tuesday - pack-a-pita (found in a kids cookbook - it's got tuna, corn, eggs, green onions, romaine lettuce, etc. in whole wheat pitas)

Wednesday - spaghetti & breadsticks

Thursday - chickpea & jalapeno burritos (my mom & I made these at our cooking class and they are SO yummy, super fast & easy

Friday - Anna's 'family' birthday party - I think we're going to do some appetizers and stuff like that

Saturday - mushroom lasagna

Should be fun and all of these are recipes that the girls, especially Sarah, can help us make :-)

2010-01-16T18:54:00.001-08:00

some pictures from our 'dinosaur dig' this morning ...

Anna was frantically trying to uncover her dinosaur bones
while Sarah was carefully chipping away at it

They were pretty cool little kits - you use the tools to chip away at the clay to reveal the dinosaur bones, then you use the little brush it comes with to clean them up and then you assemble your dinosaur

good fun for a lazy Saturday morning :-)

2010-01-13T18:07:00.000-08:00

The girls and I have been studying ancient Egypt in history this week ...

we made ancient Egyptian collars

and maybe most importantly, we practiced our Egyptian poses ;-)

we made a simple lunch today that the ancient Egyptians would have eaten (we substituted regular eggs for duck eggs - yuck!)

We made our own little play about Cleopatra ... I should have taken pictures, it was too hilarious! Sarah was Cleopatra, I was Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and Anna was 'the guy who killed Mark Antony in battle' and then she was the poisonous snake that Cleopatra used to kill herself with because she was so broken hearted that Mark Antony died. Anyway, it may not sound funny, but believe me, those girls some how managed to turn that story into a comedy.

Tomorrow we're going to write our names in Egyptian hieroglyphs and I think Phil and the girls are going to be building a big pyramid out of Lego.

If you're wondering if it's all just fun and games around here ... yeah, it pretty much is ;-) Okay maybe not math so much, although we try.

2010-01-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

Ever have one of those days where you just don't want to get out of bed in the morning? Not because you're tired (although after about 3 weeks of hardly sleeping, I sure am) but because you don't feel like facing the day. Anyway, that was my day today. I just didn't feel like I had it in me. Not sure why, just one of those days.

So ... I thought I'd post some random pictures I took a few days ago to cheer myself up :-)

reading to the girls right now

yep, back to bunk beds - the girls are sharing a bedroom again - it's no secret that we play musical rooms at our house & I really love that the girls get to try out having their own rooms, and then come back together again after a while, and then get their own space again when they need it. i have to say, my favorite is when they share a room. i love hearing them whisper to each other in bed. i love it when Anna climbs into Sarah's top bunk and they snuggle under the covers & Sarah reads to her. i love that they make up games and clubs and put up 'no grown ups' signs on their door.

These pictures make me very happy :-)

my MCC (thrift store) treasures from last week ...

i found this wooden tray for $0.25

found this chair for $8.00 - not exactly sure why I bought it, but it was just calling my name. you can't really tell from the picture, but it looks like one of those old farm house kinda chairs. it had been painted white, but the paint was in rough shape, so i painted it blue ;-)

how cute are these old dishes?! the girls get the hugest kick out of those 'fancy' cups ;-) i got the 8 plates & 4 cups for $2.00. i just adore that colour of green!

okay, these are my happiest pictures ...

2 mornings this week so far, Sarah has woken up and said, "can we do school now Mom, I really wanna do school now" There really are no words to describe how that makes me feel. Sarah's personality is very much like mine - glass 1/2 empty, I'm afraid. While Anna is very much like Phil - gonna have a good time no matter what, go with the flow, sees nearly everything in a positive light. For Sarah and I, that doesn't come easily - but we're working on it. Anyway, all that to say, for Sarah to be in such a hurry to start school that she wanted to do school while eating breakfast, was a BIG deal.

and last but not least, listening to a lot of this today, puts me in a good mood too :-)

(particularly this album)

Yup, I think that did it.

thanks :-)

meal plan monday

2010-01-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

Monday - Swedish meatballs, rice & peas
Tuesday - lasagna, caesar salad & lemon birthday cake (we're having a birthday party for my mom at our house)
Wednesday - bbq pork chops, mashed potatoes & veggies
Thursday - jambalaya & corn muffins
Friday - penne pasta & bread sticks
Saturday - corn chowder & homemade buns

Christmas recap

2010-01-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted.

Christmas seems like a long time ago already. Christmas Eve at my parents was so much fun - we were spoiled with amazing gifts from my whole family. I'll have to do a post about some of our gifts in the future (my sister & bro. in law got us this amazing big painted tile of a family of wolves which they picked up in Clear Lake - our favorite place in the whole world & wolves just happen to be my favorite animal in the whole wide world).

Christmas Day and boxing day we spent at home in pajamas. Seriously, we didn't get out of pj's for a few days straight there - it was awesome! We spent the days putting together the kids Christmas gifts (why does everything come is SO dang much packaging?!), eating, reading & watching movies. We were total sloths and it was F.U.N.

Okay I have to post a quick picture of this Christmas gift I got from Phil ...

Isn't that the most romantic gift EVER?! I love it! It's our initials engraved on a tree trunk. He got it from here. To say that I love it, would be a huge understatement.

Some New Years Eve pictures ...

Phil and I got engaged exactly 11 years ago on New Years Eve - 2 1/2 months after we stared dating :-)

We have a little tradition that every New Years we make a big 'appetizer supper' and have a games night with the kids, after they're in bed we usually watch a movie or two and ring in the new year just the two of us.

2010 is off to a great start in the Burke household. All 4 of us have our lists of goals for the new year. I'll have to post them yet. Phil and I have had some great talks in the past few days about our goals for the year - and actually they've been almost the exact same which is kinda cool.

Leading up to Christmas, we had my niece, Nadia over for a sleep over - on her birthday actually, which made it extra special. She was so excited to be 4 years old - the same age as Anna (although Anna turns 5 in less than a month - YIKES!).

Phil set up the air mattress in Anna's room and we got them all set up in there, with pj's on and let them eat supper while watching a movie in bed. We did 'make your own pizza' for supper and the kids had a lot of fun with that :-) Everyone went with ham & pineapple - Anna's with lots of olives and Sarah's with lots of onions.

We also did 'decorate your own cupcakes' which was an even bigger hit than the pizza ;-)

Just so you know Heidi, they also had apples & veggies on the side - so it wasn't all junk food! Although, as we all know, junk food is a seriously important factor in the whole 'sleep over' thing!!

It was so much fun and believe it or not, they actually did sleep ... a little ;-)

And by the way, I PROMISE to update more often in the new year!

Seriously!

Thankful

2009-12-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

... for meatloaf on the meal plan, because as we all know the best part of meatloaf is the left overs for sandwiches. Phil and I have perfected the meatloaf sandwich, well, we think so anyway: lightly toasted bread, mayo, warmed up slice of meatloaf and then the crowning glory of the sandwich ... jalapeno peppers. Oh. My. Goodness. So yummy.

also, so very thankful that I get to stay home with these girlies every day ...

sometimes they drive me crazy (and I know I drive them crazy too), but oh my goodness do we have fun together!

I love that we can take breaks in the middle of day for some snuggle time with the critters, or to bake a batch of cookies or better yet ... a nap :-)

this kid has the biggest, sparkliest eyes I've ever seen

so thankful for the bond these two already share

SO thankful for this website - Anna's eating it up and learning so much, and for this site - hoping this will help both girls get a little more excited (or at least a little less frustrated) with math

beyond thankful to hear this from Sarah this afternoon while doing science, "Mom, this is so much fun! I'm having so much fun learning!" - our days aren't always all peachy, but hearing this somehow erases all the hard ones

meal plan monday & other stuff

2009-12-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

meal plan (trying to save $$ and use stuff we've got on hand, this one is super simple and not the most creative - should still be yummy though)

monday - spaghetti & bread sticks
tuesday - meatloaf, mashed potatoes & peas
wednesday - french onion soup (frozen from Costco) & homemade buns
thursday - perogies & smokies
friday - homemade macaroni & cheese
saturday - my niece is coming over for a birthday sleep over - not sure what we're doing for supper, but we're going to think of something special - also the girls & I are going to have a special dessert made for her :-)
sunday - family gathering for supper

The girls have some sort of glitter addiction at the moment - apparently the messier the craft, the more fun it is. Who knew!? Anyway, I've been trying to come up with daily (or almost daily) little Christmassy crafts to keep the girls busy. Here's a cute one we did ...

(got the idea here)

{have to sneak in a picture of Toby because he's such a good puppy}

made one of these for Anna's room (will get more tissue paper to make a couple for Sarah's room as well)

another idea I had (found online somewhere a while ago) was to cut a sheet of kraft paper to fit our dinning room table and set out some pencil crayons

this one has actually been a lot of fun for all of us - the girls love doodling on it & we all love leaving little notes for each other to find

10 more days till Christmas, yay!!! :-)

2009-12-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

some pictures Phil took of the girls and I this morning just for fun ...
Anna is such a goof!

2009-12-03T17:54:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot the last couple days about all the things I have to be thankful for.
Just thought I'd share a few I've been thinking about today ...

- so so so thankful for my family - as in my mom, dad and sister (& brother in law and niece & nephew), I am so blessed to come from the most supportive, loving and embracing family in the universe

- I'm thankful for Lacey. I still miss her so. very. much. She really was the most amazing dog in the world and I'm so thankful that she was part of our family

- I'm thankful for fresh buns, even if they do look lopsided (I'd love to blame it on the fact that the girls shaped them, but they'd look like this or worse if I'd done it)

- I'm even thankful for the snow right now (and a fenced in backyard)

- thankful for Christmas cookies (and for Cathy's tried and true, soft & chewy grandma cookie recipe)

- I'm thankful that I'm married to a man as crazy about animals as I am

- I'm thankful that Sarah loves to read (and read and read and read)

(especially with Marley)

- I'm beyond thankful for my ridiculously patient and supportive husband, who inspires me to focus on the positive and not the negative.

and, I'm thankful that I hauled out my camera today and took some pictures :-)

random ...

2009-12-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying PLEASE excuse all the crappy pictures in this post. Almost all of them were taken in our basement with bad lighting. That being said, let's move on ...

my buddy Toby - he's always in my face and under my foot, but who's kidding who, I love it :-)

... and speaking of the zoo that is our home, I don't think I've posted a picture of Sarah's kitten Marley (Sarah named her after Bob Marley) on here before. We adopted her from the humane society a couple weeks after we adopted Toby. Holly passed away this summer and some how our house just didn't feel complete with out 2 cats and a dog, and since Anna kind of inherited Simon (he just seemed to gravitate towards Anna and he sleeps in her room every night), we took Sarah to the WHS to adopt a kitten.

The girls and I made an advent calendar for our classroom this year. We got the idea from Kids Craft Weekly and had so much fun with it!

Each day, starting today they open up an envelope and inside is a little slip of paper with a fun activity or treat for the day. Some days are things like: a new Christmas book to read together, going for a drive to look at Christmas lights, a movie party, bake Christmas cookies, a little craft to do, some days are a little treat like chocolate or something like that (in truth I still haven't filled in all the envelopes, I'm taking it day by day depending on what I'm in the mood for or have enough energy for that day ;-).

Anyway, today their little treat was their own little bottles of 'Christmas Coke'.

Today since Anna got such an awesome report card at pre-school we turned it into a little movie party for the girls. We set up a kids table in front of the TV in the rec. room and let Anna rent a movie and they got to eat their supper in front of the TV (all the while sipping their much coveted Christmas Coke).

In keeping with my spirit of randomness ...

every once in a while Phil goes through all the girls Playmobil and re-builds all the stuff they've torn apart while playing. Why oh why do they always dismantle everything? Seriously, do other kids do this or are they just weird?! Anyway, tonight Phil spent his evening in Sarah's room putting together Playmobil.

You can't tell by the picture but he seriously spent HOURS sorting through and rebuilding their Playmobil stuff. I won't even tell you what he all found in their Playmobil bins but I will tell you that there was old food in the mix. Better him than me ;-)

That's all I got for today.

Happy December 1st!! :-)

my lunch

2009-11-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

possibly not the most appetizing lunch ever ...

my lunch: 1 banana, spinach, baby carrots, soy milk, 1 tbsp. chia seeds and a hand full of vitamins & supplements

I won't lie, it's not the best smoothie I've ever tasted, but it's not as bad as it looks.

Seriously I should turn into the bionic woman after drinking this stuff.

meal plan monday

2009-11-23T18:59:00.000-08:00

Monday - Phil's homemade burgers & fries
Tuesday - spinach mascarpone pasta
Wednesday - corn chowder & homemade buns
Thursday - tikka masala curry & naan bread
Friday - enchiladas & cornmeal muffins
Saturday - spaghetti & meatballs, bread sticks
Sunday - pork roast, mashed potatoes & veggies

2009-11-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

we finally did it!

I've been wanting to try the whole 'open shelving concept' with our kitchen forever already. I finally convinced Phil to give it a go this weekend.

We were both really inspired when we saw this kitchen makeover at Apartment Therapy (re-nest). Since we had next to no money to spend on an actual kitchen reno - this little makeover seemed like the perfect solution. All it cost us was a bit of paint :-)

here's the before:

(the before pictures are from January - notice my Lacey lying on the floor)

and here's the after:

the paint looks blue in these pictures, but it's actually bright teal

We painted all the bottom cabinet charcoal grey, then we took off all the top cupboard doors (touched up the cream paint) and then painted the backs of the top cupboards teal. We just love it! Although knowing us, in a year or two we'll get sick of it and put the doors back on and paint the whole thing a different color ;-)

2009-11-19T17:46:00.000-08:00

For me a house just wouldn't be home with out a dog ...

Toby is such a sweet puppy. He reminds me of Lacey in a lot of ways. He's not quite 5 months old, but he's such an old soul kinda dog.