Beautiful moon!

The moon was just beautiful on our way back from Calgary! I had to shoot it, even though the car was moving (My friend was driving!)...

Calgary Trip!

can you spot Kennedy? Her friend is wearing a red shirt near the front of the rollercoaster-

The trip was so much fun! I posted about it on my general 'update'...I'm so happy that I was able to make it there this year. Mack opted to stay home with Fabian plus he had football but he didn't want to go anyhow. Which I do understand as my friend's children are young.

Magazine day :o)

Love when I get magazines in the mail :o) Makes me day!

Yummy!

This was a big hit in our house! The kids loved it as did Fabian. I love when they enjoy what I have prepared for them. We had this with some corn and salad. It was seriously a good meal :o)

Sorry for the blogging break!

I'm back! I have still been meal planning and in fact did another week of it since its been going SO good! This have been pretty busy around here.

Our trip- Our trip was GREAT! Kennedy brought Darius, her friend since she was 2 weeks old. They are 2 weeks apart (his mom and I were best friends since high school-pregnant together!) anyhow-it was wonderful. The first day we checked into the hotel nice and early. Then we went to Walmart and bought some drinks, food and snacks for the hotel. They both begged me for a Hungry Man meal (??) and so I told them 'thats supper then!" and they were super happy (at 5.00 each plus my Smart One=13.00 for supper for the 3 of us-can't go wrong with that!) so then we went back to the hotel, ate our frozen meals and relaxed for a bit then hit the pool for a few hours! We went to Calaway Park the next day (Tuesday) for 7 hours, they absolutely LOVED it. 50.00 for the 3 of us, unlimited rides-can't complain! Got back to the hotel (ate frozen meals again, their choice!) and swam for several hours. Then final day, we packed up and headed to the zoo for the day then drove home. It was a cheap little break. It was perfect having a room with a fridge and microwave. The rooms were only 99.00/night. We had coupons for the zoo and Calaway. Bought a case of water, juice boxes and Gatoraide at Walmart to bring with us to the attractions. We did eat lunches at the zoo and Calaway Park but it was pretty good. They had tons of fun, without breaking the bank.

Meal Planning- As I mentioned its going super good. I have loved all of the simple recipes so far. And its even more important now considering its back to school today plus football is still 4 times a week...I need to be very prepared to ensure the family is eating a good meal.

Weight Loss- I have been back on South Beach and doing really good. In addition to this, I have been walking 45-60 mins a few times a week. I feel great and since January have lost 25 pds so far. We are heading to Vegas this month (Sept 30th) so I really would be thrilled to loose 5 more pds to bring it to 30 pds. I can really tell from my tummy, which is where I wanted to loose the weight the most.

Baby E- well since having her another friend has asked me to watch her daughter (who is in kindergarten) and her son (grade 4). I figured 'why not'...so that may or may not actually start next week. Plus, Kennedys best friend is needing a place to go afterschool and I had offered to her parents that I would take her if they stick her on the bus with Kennedy..and now they want too. What am I thinking??? Mack, Kennedy, C, M, K all at 4pm!!!! What the heck Tara? Oh well, at least Baby E is only Mon, Wed and Friday's 8-3:45 pm. As well, don't forget soon we will be having a new one of our own (okay, not really!) but Friday the licensing officer comes to (hopefully) approve us for fostering...wow!!! Thats alot of kids...

Back to School- Mack, grade 9 and Kennedy, grade 5!

House- huuuuge 'to do' list...but whats new with that? You scratch off 2 items only to get 5 more...you can't get ahead.

Well thats a bit of an update...I will add some photos of the trip and meals...

On a mini-vacation...

I might try to blog, we'll see!

I'm heading on a minivacation with Kennedy and her friend until Wednesday evening.

It will be to an outdoor amuzement park and a wonderful Zoo!

We are looking forward to a hotel, no cleaning and swimming time!

Have a great few days.

I will be back to blogging my Meal planning...so ensure to come back :o)

Thursday.

Today I'm very tired. I have been taking Melatonin to help with 'back to school' and getting back into a 'normal' sleep cycle. But I think its cutting into my next day so I'm done taking it now I think. I have been dragging my feet like crazy today, so not like me. Plus not being able to get outside to walk or anything, I'm not use to being stuck in my house all day (the smoke-see below!) So today Baby E and I just hung out in the house, in the basement really. We did lunch and a snack...there was no way she was going down for a nap today as she came late (noon) and left at 3:45pm. Tomorrow she will be here all day (8-4pm) that will be different for me as we don't have long days usually but thats okay. Not too sure what we will do...probably indoor stuff again.

I wish I can say I was productive today. I made beds, put away the clean dishes, prepared for tonights supper, made a loaf of bread and did 2 loads of laundry...but I really wasn't as productive as usual. I'm planning on going to bed early tonight and tomorrow I will have more energy!

Not too much this weekend for plans...

Friday night-not sure yet.
Saturday- 1st Aide (Fabe and I)
evening- BBQ at a friends house
Sunday-Not much...Kennedy comes home :o)
Monday-Kennedy and I are planning a road trip with a friend and her boys...for 2 nights...

I can't believe back to (hell) school is in less then 2 weeks already! I'm so sad...life is so simple with the kids being at home all day no rushing around, no hussle and bussle of activity just calm and simple...

Oh well, such is life.

Smoke in the City!

Sadly, fires in B.C are out of control

(wildfires)...and today the smoke in Alberta is horrible. I can't imagine it in BC...this scares me for Kennedy with her CF. Not a good thing, forsure for her. The worst thing is, she is with my mom up north and outside pretty much all day...thankfully she has her puffers and I have been calling to ensure she takes them. I worry about her lungs...

The sky is just a bright yellow color. No clouds-no nothing. Sun is a big yellow/orange hazey ball in the sky. Its pretty bad. There are air quality warnings issued now...

The photo I posted is in front of our street and usually I can see clearly behind the houses in the end there, there is a road and more houses...I can't see anything past those houses...

Day 2 of Meal Planning: Chicken Hurry!

Chicken Hurry...

My plate of supper...no rice for moi.

I found this recipe online I believe and it turned out excellent. I used brown sugar splenda and it turned out wonderful still...I chose to swap it for 'real' sugar just as a better choice for the family. Fabe was a little hesitant as he isn't a fan of 'sweet' stuff but with the package of Onion Soup mix it turned out soooo yummy! We had it with mixed medley vegetable rice and green salad. Forsure a keeper for a recipe in our house..and sooooo fast and easy!

Good Mail Day!

I absolutely LOVE Better Homes and Gardens magazine! I was thrilled today when I checked the mail and it was in there :o) I look forward tonight to relaxing with a cup of tea and indulging myself in it.

MmmmMMmMMMmm...

I have been using my bread machine for the past few days, and I'm loving it. Before the fire, we used ours alot. Then, we replaced ours with a new one and we didn't open the box as I didn't feel like doing it in the rental house. Now, I love it again! I plan to make my bread as much as possible now...I did a loaf yesturday and another one today. My little baking section (on my counter top) is filling up quickly with homemade bread and muffins. Too bad I'm eating healthy (this week) and choose not to eat it. Oh well, I love to see the family enjoy it anyhow...and at least I get to enjoy the yummy fresh bread smell :o)))

Wednesday!

Today I had Miss E for a whole whopping 2 hours. Still, we managed to meet a friend at McD's for some play time (and a pop/apple juice), changed a poopy diaper and walked out front of the house for a while...yes-all in 2 hours!

I grocery shopped this morning (after my meal planning-see below!)

Fabe got home at 4pm...Mack was at the skate park with friends BMX'ing for the afternoon. We had supper, I washed up and the my boys (Mack and Fabe) headed out for football.

Bandit and I are laying here on the bed...I'm going to take him for a walk...charge my Ipod first!

Tomorrow, Baby E is coming at noon. We will hit the park and do our walk in the afternoon. Friday she is here all day...again, not sure what we will be doing but something to 'kill' the whole day together...we still have to do the library so it might be a good day to go then.

We aren't heading to the lake this weekend...Fabe and I both need to take First Aid for our foster care preparation. Our 'checks' (Criminal record and Child Welfare) have expired so we had to get new ones, so we are awaiting that and our 1st Aide then we will get licensed. We have too really start thinking of an age...just not sure still.

I spoke with Kennedy a few times so far, she is doing good.

Thats about it :o)

My BIG project..

So, many months ago I did meal planning. It made my life WAY easier when I had it actively going. Then I stopped. Why. I don't know...but since then its the SAME battle 'what to make for supper'...its very annoying and just adds additional worry to all of the things that needs to be accomplished. Today I did it. I took a pile of my favorite books (traditional cooking with oven and slowcooker recipes) and I headed up to the loft by the printer/copier and I picked out family friendly recipes and photo copied them...

This is how I did it:

1) Gather your favorite recipe books.

2) Find a comfy spot, by a printer/copier

3) Find recipes that you know your family will enjoy (and you know its an recipe you will actually do!)

4) Copy them out of the recipe book

5) Write out a week of recipes (Meat, side dish and a veggie) (day 1, 2, 3,etc up to day 7-or more!)

6) Write down the groceries you will need (forsure pantry stuff, frozen items, etc)

7) Go shopping.

8) Be prepared to look at whats for supper VS. WORRY about whats for supper...

I left the parishables (fresh buns, fresh veggies, etc) for a shop before the recipe...since we have to do the usual grocery shop for bread, milks, etc.

I look forward to being able to LOOK at my sheet each day/night and preparing what I can the night before (slowcooker stuff) so that come supper times, its a smooth transition rather then how its been: stressful.

So I have Week 1 complete. My groceries are bought, pantry is stocked and my recipes are posted in the pantry on the bulletion boards. I'm ready...

Today, since feeling so inspired I made a new recipe. It turned out really good. It was a perfect day since Mack has football tonight so it was a simple yet filling supper. I made corn for the side dish along with a fresh salad.

I have taken a photo of the recipe just in case anyone out there wants it...it got great reviews from Fabe and Mack. We added a blob of Sour Cream on the top to finish it off.

Cute Bubbles!

I found these bubbles at Winners

for Kennedys room. They dont't really 'match' her room colors but they definetely work in her room. Above her desk is where I decided to stick them...hopefully they last longer then her butterflies from Avon that I bought for her walls. I have stuck those silly butterflies on her walls numerous times now, its been pretty annoying...even double sided tape a few times...I hope these last. I also stuck some to her white full length mirror for an extra touch...as it was pretty 'boring' before...

Kitchen Happenings...

I made some yummy carrot muffins for Fabe and Mack. Fabe is able to eat these as they don't contain any nut products. He likes to take them to work in his lunches. I like that Mack enjoys them as he is not a 'veggie' lover at all. Its perfect for him...

I like this muffin tin that is square along with the square liners-kinda makes them a little more fun to eat :o)

We had spaghetti (before my meal planning) as I was struggling 'what to make' it was a simple and quick fixing but it worked...but I look forward to my meal planning again..

My Tuesday.

Today was a busy day so far. Yesturday was *very* busy spending 8 hours cleaning. I didn't have Miss E and Kennedy is away with my mom for the week so I have been taking the opportunity to clean and just do the things we normally don't get to do. It was crazy spending that amount of time cleaning, but it had to be done. And now, I can enjoy the benefit of a clean house this week. Plus, we had brought back all of our trailer bedding this weekend so I had all of that to wash on top of all of our camping laundry PLUS the regular laundry so it was a complete laundry day...it was all done and now it feels so good. I did all of the bathrooms (4) and even managed to vacuum the whole house. Anyhow, you got the point; it was busy.

Rikki has been with us for a few days while my mom is at the cabin so I have to drive her to her camp, about 45 mins from here. Mack has an ortho appt this evening so Fabe will go one way and I will go another...

Tomorrow, I have Baby E for a few hours. We will go to the library and take back our books and get some new ones. We have been doing some good crafts and neat things together.

Last night, I took Mack out for supper. We rarely get any 'mom and son' time as he is so much older now and its not too cool to hang with your mom at his age-so I made him come. And we had a really good time. It was so nice for us...I missed him-as funny as that sounds. We will have to do it way more often...him and I.

The kids are getting ready for back to school. Kennedy has her supplies all ready to go, her clothes purchased and her supplies labelled. Mack has his supplies, runners, some clothing but he still needs some new clothes. We are hoping to get them this week.

I'm thinking of taking the kids to Calgary next week for a few days to do the Zoo and Calaway Park...not sure yet. I don't have Baby E Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday so we will see.

Around the house...

< Loft area...








(below) Kennedys room...

< Laundry room...

our bath-

room...

Around our house...trying to include more photos of the house. I'm still very much in love with our house.

Thursday...

Well my sister and her family got in last night fairly late. We chatted for a while then went off to bed. Well, Kennedy slept with us..and it was a horrible horrible sleep. Today, I got Kennedy off to daycamp...tidied up the kitchen and mainfloor. My sister and the kids left for their journey home. I tried to work in my craft room a but to organize it...its scary in there. Today was a really dreary day. Raining, cloudy and dark. It really does affect your mood because I felt like doing nothing. But I knew the bedding had to be washed from our guests. Plus, we are heading to the lake tomrorrow for the weekend so that requires someone (aka-me!) packing everyone up. On top of that, Kennedy is leaving for a week so I really had to pack her up as well. Miss E was here today until almost 4 from noon, so she kept me busy. Then she left, I grabbed Kennedy from daycamp and came home to my mom visiting. We visited. My friend stopped by with her 4 children..(her new 4 month old foster baby girl!) so we all visited then everyone left. We ate. Cleaned up. Fabe and Kennedy ran out. Mack and his friend came home. House is pretty tidy...

Tomorrow should look like this:

*Get Kennedy off to camp
*make beds, clean upstairs
*wipe down bathrooms
*make sure Kennedy is completely packed (bags ready to go)
*pack our bags for camping, put in van/truck/whatever

Miss E arrives at noon:

*run to groceries
*play in basement with E for the rest of the afternoon...do our craft for the week.

She leaves. Fabe's home. We leave.

Hopefully it all goes as planned :o)

Some things from around the house...

My craft room...this is a 'before' shot...and the 'after' one will come soon...I hope (**Sigh**)

Laundry room, top shelf!
<>

Old lovely dresser from Goodwil

The blue room is our spare room..but soon it will be a new member of our family's room. It was Macks room originally but then he changed his mind last minute and went to the spare room downstairs and left us with this lovely BLUE room. We aren't sure what age/sex of a child we will 'get' so once we know...it will be made accordingly so. For now its Miss E's sleeping area...spare room...Kennedys extra closet space...etc...

Time for a rug!

The dark floors in the house are super beautiful (when clean!) however I have been struggling with that. To be honest, had I know how HORRIBLE they would be to keep looking even half-decent I would have NOT gone so dark. Between the dust and footprints (pawprints too!) they are next to impossible to keep looking nice. When they are clean: WOW. But thats not too often.

So while at Costco last night, I picked up a nice shag off white rug. Its actually the same carpet as the house but our carpet is beige and not off white. I'm hoping it will help to keep it looking better...and less spaces to clean :o)

Plus, in the winter it will feel cozier...