The breast cinnamon bun dough ever!

After church, Miss C had a snooze on daddy. Check out that outfit! That's what happens when a cute little 3 year old pics out her own clothes!!

I felt like baking today. Of course it had to be the hottest day of the summer when I felt the urge to whip out the Bosch. I asked Matt what he felt like and he said cinnamon buns. Miss A and I got to work. We put the wet ingredients into the mixer with the yeast and a couple of cups of flour and let it sit for a few minutes to proof the dough. When we came back, Autumn sat up on the counter and put 2 cups of flour into the mixer and suddenly exclaimed, pointing into the mixer bowl, "Mommy, You have two just like that!!!"
I looked into the mixer to see this:

I couldn't help but laugh. Hope you all had a fabulous Sunday!

Summer Lovin' - Had Me a Blast!!

Earlier this week, we got back from our summer holiday. Every year, we meet up with my side of the family and go camping together. This year, we met at Meeting Lake Regional Park in Saskatchewan. The kids had a blast playing on the beach with their cousins.

We went fishing together. My brother was nice enough to do the dirty work when he took all us girls out fishing. I caught 2 little Jack fish. Better than nothing. They are both back in the lake growing bigger, so I can catch them again next year. 

Monday, we planned on going to Blue Mountain, but we were really low on gas, and knew we needed to stop to fill up. This tiny little town called Rabbit Lake had a gas sign, but it was a misrepresentation. There was no service stations for 43 km in one direction and 76km in the other. We decided to attempt to drive to Blue Mountain and figure it out. We gave the owner of Blue Mountain some cash and they let us fill up from their big fuel tank. They saved the day. Nice people.

 Blue Mountain is between North Battleford and the campground we were staying at. It had a 500 meter zipline that we went on. The girls both had a fantastic ride down the hill, but Mr. Q started to cry every time we approached the tower, so we decided not to take him down. Miss C picked me a pretty flower. What a sweetheart!

Here we are flying down the zipline. Miss C and I went down together, sitting in the harnesses granny style. Matt and Miss A went down rodeo style. Miss C has asked me if we can go ziplining again about 10 times in the last half hour. The wind was really strong towards us, so Miss C and I didn't make it the whole way to the bottom and I had to pull us to the point where someone could grab onto my leg.

The top left picture is my grandma! I was really proud of her for making the leap. She is awesome! Way to go everyone! I thought this was such a fun, memorable activity. Thanks, Mom and Dad for such a fun outing.

I think my favorite part of the holiday was sitting around the campfire every night telling stories and talking with my family after the kids were tucked in bed, roasting marshmallows and looking at the stars. Gotta love that!

 Here's a blurry moment of peace on the way home. I do mean moment. It lasted all of 2 or 3 minutes. Mr Q was not a happy camper on the way home. We enjoyed the quiet while it lasted!

My Hottie Husband

We had a swimming birthday party & BBQ for Matt and his brother last night. The weather was beautiful while everyone was in the pool. We brought burgers, hotdogs and birthday cake/cupcakes and everyone else brought salads, drinks, veggies, fruit, chips, bread and dip. It was a great feast!
Clouds, lightening and wind rolled in, as soon as we finished eating. What great timing!

 I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful man for a husband! He holds down the fort twice a week so I can get away to work out for a couple of hours. Maybe that isn't such a big deal to others, but it does mean he has given up doing things he would like to do so that I can have some time to myself on a regular basis, and that means a lot to me. He folds the laundry and cleans up the kitchen after supper. He works hard supporting us, so I can stay home with the kids. He really is a wonderful father. I just asked the girls what they love most about him. Miss A said she loves cuddles, watching shows and when daddy plays music in the living room so she can dance. Miss C said she loves it when he makes her popcorn and when she gets to go swimming with him. He makes time for them, which I especially appreciate right when he gets home from work and I'm trying to make supper and have had a rough day. I love listening to the giggles and happy squeals when they have Wrestle Mania in the living room when he gets home from work. He is always dependable and does what he says he will do and reminds me when I forget something I've said I will do too.  I love it when he kisses me in front of the kids and they (mostly Miss A) say, "Daaadddy! Don't kiss Mommy!!!" and he always does it again. He is affectionate and sweet. I am lucky to have such a handsome and loving husband.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday, babe! I love you!

I pronounce the P in raspberry.

My sister, my mom and I picked raspberries yesterday. A lot of raspberries. We were raised to be gatherers. My grandma taught my mom and she taught us. I love eating jam that I've made from berries I picked. Here's a pic of our harvest.

 Today is Matt's Birthday so we made posters for him while he was at work and hung them on the fence so he would see them when he got home. We are going swimming tonight and having a BBQ to celebrate Matt & his brothers birthday. Hopefully we have a fun time and the weather cooperates!

Calling All Superheroes!!

Today is little C's 3rd birthday. We had a fun superhero themed party for her last week. Here's the invitation.

I tried to take a picture of all the little superheroes, but it was impossible. If someone knows how to get 9 kids 5 and under to stand still, in the same place, at the same time, for a picture, let me know! This pic has the most kids in it. The birthday girl was crying inside at this point, I believe, after whacking her head on the edge of the granite counter. It was a rough day for her, all around. 

I made capes & masks for the little superheroes, instead of giving out candy as treat bags. The capes were a bigger hit than the masks. I had a hard time judging the head sizes for the kids, and hardly any of the masks fit. I used my own children as templates and they have either abnormally large or small heads, so it didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped.

Here's a shot showing the capes. The kids all had their initial on the back. I was really happy with how cute they turned out. Miss C was still grumpy at this point and refused to look at the camera. Miss A is quite the ham, on the other hand.

We had an obstacle course of sorts where the kids raced marbles through pool noodles, threw a ball through hula hoops suspended in the tree, had to bounce on a ball with a handle around some traffic cones, then I was going to have the kids walk the plank (over the kiddie pool), but in the mad rush before the kids arrived, I forgot and then couldn't get it set up in time. I think they had fun anyway!

The kiddie pool had been filled with this homemade bubble concoction, which was basically water with 5 cups of Dawn dish soap and a little bottle of glycerine I bought at the drug store. When the wind had died down, it made some nice big bubbles. Of course, C sat down in the pool and got fantastically soapy and wet. She had a blast with the big bubbles!

We had rainbow themed food, since the superhero capes were a rainbow of colours. I bought a package of rainbow licorice and my (almost 3 year old) nephew probably ate 10 pieces. The rainbow jell-o was fun. I messed up on the bottom purple layer, but got the hang of it after that. It really looked cute! The rainbow fruit kabobs were also a hit. We had hotdogs and veggies, but I only took pictures of the rainbow foods.

Instead of doing a superhero cake, I decided to make a rainbow one. I bought a bottle of pink bubblegum flavoring at a little kitchen store in town and used that in the frosting instead of vanilla. What 3 year old doesn't like bubblegum? I personally thought that the cake looked a lot better than it tasted but whatever, it was a party for my little sweetie!

The birthday girl got to enjoy the first piece of birthday cake. Her favorite was the purple layer.

My sweet little "C" has been a joy to us since she joined our family 3 years ago. She has the most adorable tiny speaking voice and is always telling the rest of her family that she loves us. She is loving and kind. We gave her a package of 3 Lip Smackers lip balm (oh, how our girls love lip balm...) today and she let her sister choose which one she wanted, without us even suggesting her share it. What a sweetie! Happy Birthday, little missy! We love you!