ducky house

hello and goodbye

A fitting title since my first post this month comes almost at the end of February. I am slow time of year, as I make my way through what I hope is the end of winter. Not that it was a bad one; our winter has been unseasonably warm this year, even kibboshing all attemps at an ice rink on the lake as customary for us. Still, I find myself day dreaming of gardening, beaches & warm sunshine on my skin, ahhh! 

For now we keep ourselves busy with:

 

~ posies: something special to spice up a little something I made this past fall

~ tea parties: now that they are reading & writing, little notes are given to me with special requests <3  

~ minecraft: because this mumma caves & gives them techie time   

~ doggy cuddles: because the theme for SPFebruary is with something you love

~ kale goodness: dehydrated for chips, in smoothies, lasagna, soup - as many ways as possible.

~ impromptu weddings: since my niece recently became engaged, the talk at the table & the play has been all things weddings. Here she is a flower girl & this summer my girlies will be her flower girls :)  

~ thank you iPhone for helping me capture a little bit of each day ~ 

cranberry bread

The girls and I have been busy in the kitchen making cranberry bread, The recipe is from the book Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende & Harry Devlin, which we studied & made lapbooks of during the thanksgiving season.

My girls are ever willing and capable in the kitchen these days, they always want to help & make and I'm all for that. On this particular day I set out the ingredients, they round up the tools. We work slowly and try to stay the course of the recipe all the while they chat up my ear. I'm happy to have them so interested in making even if baking with kids twins can be daunting. Patience I tell myself, one day they won't need my help anymore. 

They carefully cut up the cranberries, measure & mix the ingredients. Help me pour it into the dish and let me put it in the oven, there have to be some rules in the kitchen. The recipe itself was a nice loaf loaded with fruit, we reduced the sugar & substituted raw honey into the mix, we also substituted the oil with coconut oil. The first time around we made the bread as one large loaf and recently made it again as mini loaves for teacher gifts (aside: fruit should be reduced for the mini loaves, in my opinion).

my rating: recipe was good

time with the girls: priceless

hello july

You sure started out with a bang! No sooner did I post my summer goings on then we had another trip to the emergency room that very evening. This time however it was not one of the kids rather it was my mum. She was walking in a park when a young girl on a scooter ran into her knocking her over. What followed was: she couldn't get up...she knew it was bad...a trip to the hospital for x-rays plus a CT scan revealed my mum's hip was broken. Argh and $%&*@#% for her. A bugger of way to start the summer.  

My mum is a very active 80 year old who never spends a day in bed, to see her lay in bed waiting for her turn in surgery was both nerve wracking and frustrating. Finally 3 days after the fall she had her surgery - a partial hip replacement, pretty amazing what they can do surgically. She started walking (with a walker) on her new hip by day 2, day 3 she did stairs and by day 7 we brought her home with us. We have given her the girls room as it is on the same floor as the kitchen, LR, DR & deck. We have some fancy gadgets in the bathroom like toilet armrests to help mum in her daily needs. I get the pleasure of giving her a needle every day - not really my forte but live and learn right? 

Our summer holidays have re-adjusted themselves, first week was all about hospital visits and moving furniture to get a room set up for mum. Second week was spent close to home making sure all was well with mum. This week we have enlisted some help (for my mum) so we can sneak away with the kids on a few day trips to the local events & beaches...and maybe even a movie or two with my sweetie ♥ (I'm so behind).  Not exactly the way we had planned to spend our three weeks of holidays but right now flexibility is a very good thing and I'm feeling grateful that things were not worse (for mum). 

Until I stop by again, Happy Weekending. xxx.

off, in all senses of the word...

As I write this post I am thinking that it would be lovely to tell you that my absence has been due to mr. duckyhouse whisking me away for a week long adventure to some far off exotic land. Alas, it is not true. Instead I have falling off the blogosphere radar for family doings and general unwellness. 

Mr. duckyhouse's parents arrived a couple of weeks ago for a surprise visit and left yesterday to return to their homestead. It was nice to visit and break from our daily routine. We enjoyed extended family time, visits and eating out for Easter - oh boy, it was nice not to cook a big meal this time around - thank you mom & dad, xxx. 

The girlies took a while to get over their spring colds but not without sharing with me first. I was dragging my feet all last week but with a little help from vitamin D, I'm feeling back to normal.

Mr. duckyhouse was away on business for a few days, he headed off to the east coast for a conference that lucky bugger. He wanted me to join him, but I'm still stuck on the logistics of travelling and leaving kids behind. One day...

     

My beloved B-meister, Benjamin, turned 11 and we had his customary birthday party over the weekend with some crazy weather to match, it snowed again. Thankfully it is all melted and I hope I won't have to type the word snow again until November. His outdoor soccer season just started as well and that looks to keep us hopping a few evenings a week (or maybe that will be a dad/son deal). 

Birthday's and such make me realize things are spinning fast and the kids are growing up too quickly for my liking. I can't spend a lot of time thinking about it or it does a number on me. Life is all about moving forward and embracing the stages and I especially need to remember that this week as I feel a bit in a funk. Rationally I know it isn't real, I always tend to feel a bit off during/after being sick, it will pass as it always does but sometimes it really does kick me down.

Thankfully I believe in being gentle with myself, loving myself at all stages - all moods. I believe life is what you make it and when you can't make your day into anything special, that is when being gentle with yourself really helps. For me that means not getting much done beyond being with the kids, some stretching & exercise, reading and lots of hot baths. If you're wondering where I've been, that pretty much sums it up. I'm embracing my week of non-productivity and I write in optimism that the ol' funk will lift. Thanks for listening, even if you don't understand, it helps. Be back with a fresh perspective soon. xxx

a new banner

that is screaming "spring" to me. You wouldn't have known if you were here last Saturday. I awoke to this...yeesh.

on the other hand, crazy weather like that doesn't last very long this time of year and it was well on it's way later in the day. but still...I like it when things more like this in April.

I'm signing off for the weekend. Tomorrow is Good Friday and with Easter around the corner I still have to find the Easter baskets for filling. Hope you have a lovely weekend and I'll be back in this space on Monday.

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Happy Easter! 

80

news flash: I'm taking the day off from blogging to celebrate my mum.  She turns 80 today and I hope I look and feel as good as she does when I roll around to that age. Here she is a couple of years back. 

Happy Birthday Mum! Now off to eat cake. 

braided

she wanted braids

and i obliged her...how could I not? 

that crazy, bundle of sweetness. 

go team go!

Our indoor soccer season to came to an end on Wednesday evening. Ben, also known as the B-meister, (yes I've admitted his real name on the internet now that my hubby's last movie announced all the kids' names in the credits thus making aliases a moot point) played indoor soccer all winter long. The season lasts October to March and they went all the way to the b-side finals, yay! 

I wanted to make the day a little extra special and so cookies were in order for him and his team. We made sugar cookies and decorated them like soccer balls. Don't look to closely as my icing talents are not on par with martha & the like.  I need a lot more practice and while that is a good idea, it is not so good when watching your waist line - cookies with yummy icing need to be eaten afterall.

As for the game, I'm really proud of my soccer boy, he has improved so much over the year. He played a good game and even scored the final goal of the season. Congratulations Ben! 

;

family movie

Every once in a while the hubby takes a weekend off from renovations and creates a little movie memory with the kids. Without further ado... "Magic Land"  Enjoy!

Have a great day!

c-r-a-z-y

Miss me?  It’s been quite awhile hasn’t it?  I didn’t plan on being away quite so long, I’m actually quite shocked myself - have I really been away for the past three months?  And how do I catch you up on what I’ve been up to?  First off, I am well and the family is doing fine.  Secondly, let’s dispel all rumours, I am not quitting blogging, contrary to my actions.  Thirdly, here's skinny on what we've been up to:  (all photos are scenes from our summer)

In April I hurt myself really bad, remember? - the shoulder, the neck and then there was a non-stop buzzing in my ear (aka tinnitus)...it was bad, really bad - did I say that already?  In May things weren't feeling so hot (hence my departure from blog land) so I made a visit to the doctor who couldn't find a problem - umm yeah, this is not just in my head. Onto the chiropractor and massage therapist who provided me with some temporary muscle relief, but the ache/buzzing came back with a vengeance. Finally out of desperation I visited a chinese doctor specializing in acupuncture.  After two sessions resembling a fight with a porcupine, the pain lifted and so did the terrible buzzing. Yay for alternative medicine! Nothing like that whole experience to make you feel c-r-a-z-y.  

Then June happened and so did the rain. It rained and rained and rained and in between the drops, the hubby and I decided to tackle the outside of our house.  We patched, re-built and painted our way to a snazzy looking homestead.  What's a little spontaneous renovation when you already have a reno list as long as Santa’ beard... c-r-a-z-y right?

June also brought on garden season. When it was dry enough I seeded, things grew and then a war started with the cutest rabbit.  It’s was like Looney Tunes all over again.  I’d fence, he’d jump over, I’d cover the fence with netting and he’s chew threw the fence.  Finally I enlisted the help of the mr. duckyhouse and he rigged up the 4 foot deer/critter fence and bugs bunny moved on to greener easier pastures.  
c-r-a-z-y   - are you sensing a common theme here?

July followed and we continued working on the outside of the house during (our) holiday time - do we know how to relax or what? We also visited with the grandparents who came to visit - it was nice to see you mom & dad..miss you!  A family wedding and more visits with family/friends, including and impromptu visit from my sister (& her family) who literally stopped in town for a few days. fun, fun, c-r-a-z-y fun!

Now here we are in August and it’s raining again.  The kids are in swimming lessons every day, all month.  The hubby and I are still working on the homestead, putting the finished touches on the front gardens that we re-designed. We are also trying to shorten that reno list *sigh*  I am spending most of my days outside when it isn’t raining making sure the girls, who are water bugs, remain safe in our little pool.  I’m pretty sure this is where I will remain until the end of pool season, there and in the garden making war with the white butterflies that are laying eggs/caterpillars on my cabbage and broccoli.  
*argh* and c-r-a-z-y

September will be here pretty soon and so to I shall return.  Though I’m pretty sure I may push it off until closer to the end of September. Until then, happy end of summer. See you soon and may you too have a little bit of c-r-a-z-y in your life, xxx.

PS, It's also my birthday today and having recently watched Benjamin Button I've decided that the being in my early 40's, ahem, is a good time to start going backwards. So I am 40 again, just like I was back then.  sounds c-r-a-z-y but I like it!