The Trampoline is Back Up!!!!

We have to take the trampoline down every fall, so that it is not destroyed by the snow and ice. The kids barely miss it in the winter months, with all the snow to play in, but come early spring they ask regularly about when we're going to set it up. 

However, this winter just dragged on, and it seemed like there would be snow on the ground f.o.r.e.v.e.r.......and just when we started to take a deep breath, more snow would arrive.  We began to wonder if spring would ever really come - and then it arrived all at once:-)

And so it was that on Easter weekend we decided to finally set it up once more.  It was quite a task, as we needed to knock down trees for our garden, which needed to land right where the trampoline was to go.  Then cut up the trees and move the brush out of the way.  And then finangle the kids into helping us carry the heavy frame to its location.  And then when we were too exhausted to do any more, and I had to take off to a meeting so we promised them we'd do it in the next few days.

Of course, Jamie being a sucker, and Tiegan being the persistent sort that she is, they went out at 7:30 that night to put the rest together, and have a good bounce:-)

And the kids have been on it ever since.  Come morning, before Jamie and I are even out of bed, Tiegan can often be found out there jumping on the trampoline!!!!  The boys fight many enemies together on the trampoline, Kea practices her dance moves and Tiegan blares her music.  Everyone is SO happy to have the trampoline back for another season:-)

Celebrating Jamie!

Ooops, thought I'd posted these already!  On April 15th it was Jamie's big 42nd birthday, and we celebrated him over a couple of days!  His actual birthday fell on a Tuesday, so it was full of work and school for the kids and dance for Kea in the evening - life does go on:-)  But we did manage to head out to a pub in Carp that he's been wanting to try for a while, for some British Food and great beer on tap.  Then I made a carrot cake and we showered him with gifts, many of them homemade (always the best!)

Ry's reading is REALLY taking off these days, and he brings books with him everywhere........which is very much appreciated by his parents, as they were getting VERY sick of reading Bakugan and Pokemon comics.....

Tiegan's obsessed with painting her nails these days, and they just keep getting fancier and fancier:-)  "Hi"!

Beau's beer is always appreciated:-)

Happiest of birthdays, my love! xo

16/52

Another week has flown by, and once again I have to narrow down a bunch of portraits of the kids.  Made easier by the fact that my camera is acting up and I can't seem to download a bunch of photos from the camera:-)  So this is what you get - first off, more action shots, second set more full-on-face shots.  Ry seems to be changing so much in front of our eyes, I really notice his looks changing and his body growing.  And I LOVE his too-big teeth:-)

Kea definitely craves salt, white bread, butter, Nutella and chips galore these days.  So when she's not snacking on a Nutella sandwhich after school, she's munching down on chips and salsa.....I so remember these days from my youth!!!!

Spring is here, the sun is out and we finally set up the trampoline!!!!  Making for one happy boy:-)

Every. Single. Day. this girl is twirling and whirling and swinging too high on these rings!!!!  I think Jamie regrets hanging them up in the house, but Tiegan is in heaven:-)

All dressed up in her formal choir dress and on our way to her big Easter choir this weekend - where she sounded absolutely beautiful:-)  It's hard to see from this distance, but she's actually wearing blue mascara to match her outfit:-)

More trampoline fun.......multiple times every day!

Ry-guy, outside and in the mud every day now that it's spring:-)

Natural Egg Dyeing workshop

Meg's store (Dandelion Foods) hosted a natural egg dyeing workshop last weekend, so the kids all went down to decorate some easter eggs.  They used red and yellow onion skins, beets, blueberries and tumeric, and had fun seeing the colours they could produce.  But I think the most fun they had was seeing how the wax crayons would melt on the hot eggs, fresh from the boiling water!!!!!

I was kind of lame on the Easter front this year, doing VERY little in preparation, so I'm super glad that we made it out to this fun workshop - the only eggs the kids dyed this year.  So rare for me to not have a bunch of crafts and activities leading up to a holiday, I wonder what's going on?!  Luckily between school and community, the kid activities seem to be taken care of!!!!!!

Homestead Organics

I've been learning a lot about organic gardening, and have joined various local groups - attending workshops, sharing tips online, buying local seeds and going on fun tours.  Recently, we drove to Homestead Organics for a tour, and to buy natural fertilizers for our garden.

It was actually quite a fascinating tour, I know so little about this area of industry.  Tom's dad started the farm in the 80's when he became disillusioned with conventional farming techniques and opted to convert to organic farming methods.  Over time, his farm expanded and he began processing organic grains from other farms around him.  Eventually it became too big for him to deal with both the farm AND the processing, so Tom took over the processing part (what we were touring) while his dad continued on the farm.

Here Tom is showing us one of the many, many elevator systems that is used to move grain/soybeans around.  It's a very basic system - little has changed technology-wise since the water wheel concept was developed, though this uses a motor instead of running water, and little plastic buckets.  I thought a lot about my Grandad during this tour, with his fascination with all this farm technology and his hand-built water wheel that he worked on for years in the basement.

They've been building up this 'plant' for years, and have now outgrown their space.  They provide so much of the local soybeans and grains, both food-grade and animal feed.  We learned how they grade it all, both when the farmer first comes in and they need to do a bunch of quick tests in the office to make sure it's organic and dry enough before they pay the farmer, and then the extensive sorting they do through a series of complicated machines to weed out the best of the crop.  Amazing - weight tests and size tests and using air to remove dirt and even a light test that removes discoloured individuals.  I had NO IDEA how much was involved.....

We learned about what they put into various mixes, and how it's all weighed and combined and bagged.  Some of the recipes had 30-40 ingredients, and with some of them they are hand mixed.  Amazing.

This is a sewing machine, creating a basic loop to stitch the bags closed - very cool to see this in action:-)

Many of the products I regularly buy (to feed our chickens, and to enrich our gardens) - loved finding out how it all gets into the bags that I buy from our local feed and seed store.

I LOVED climbing up into the silos area, and seeing all the machinery and tubing and DUST - so much dust.  It was all rather alien-like and otherworldly.  And I couldn't help but think about how labour intensive this all must have been for early farmers.  Amazing how much technology is involved in the process now......

Having taken this tour, and fully appreciating how much time and energy is put into creating the food we eat and feed our animals, I no longer feel bad about paying the price we do - in fact, I now think it's a downright bargain!!!!!!!  HIGHLY recommend everyone getting out there (and taking their kids!) to see where our food comes from, it's fascinating to learn about:-)

Magic Tree House Club's final visit to Ancient Egypt:-)

We FINALLY hosted our final Egypt party.  You may remember that we started mummifying a chicken way back in September with a group of Ry's friends, and then life got busy and hockey season started for many of the kids, and it became challenging to find a time when everyone could get together.  So the chicken sat in it's bed of salts and baking soda, stuffed in our pantry.  It came in handy when Tiegan's class was studying mummies and I was able to bring it in for them to check it out (oooooh, gross!!!), but finally I decided we REALLY needed to boot it out of our pantry!  And since hockey was FINALLY finished for the winter, we were able to gather everyone together for dinner.

I made a chicken stew that I told everyone was hippopotamus (yum!), there were pyramids of cheese, mummy juice, mummified dogs and all sorts of goodies.

Funnily enough, no one wanted to taste the chicken.  Not to mention TOUCH him!  He was pretty leathery:-)

Tiegan and Clayton were the brave souls who rubbed cinnamon oil all over him, and then proceeded to wrap him in strips of cloth.

DEFINITE ick factor to this job:-)

You can see the amulets at the top of the photo here, that the kids made to wrap amidst the layers of cloth......

While the wrapping was going on, the other kids were looking through cool Egypt books, and also making items to bury with King Cluck, the Pharaoh of all chickens.  Things like stools and chicken food and hockey nets and balls - obviously things he'd want in the after life!!!!

Kea created a death mask for our long-dead bird, and here he is, ready for burial.  I also happened to time our party with the night before Jamie's weekly trip to the dump - so for the second time now we're burying a mummified chicken in the great 'pyramid' of the Middleville Dump.  Kind of makes you wonder what future archaeologists will make of these finds in the future???!!!!!

Who knows what's next up for the Magic Tree House club, perhaps we'll visit Ancient Greece.........