Today is one of those day when all I want to do is curl up and watch tv. Unfortunately that isn't happening, maybe tonight. we are getting some bad wind, rain and a bit of snow. Just and icky day.

Mac has gone to a friends to play while the girls and I did some baking. We made a pan of brown sugar brownies and also started some molases oatmeal bread in the bread machine. I had to make a recipe up as I have never found one that we like.

Kira's Molases Oatmeal Bread

1-1/2 cups warm tap water
2 tablespoon margarine
2 tablespoons molases
3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoon instant nonfat dry milk powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup dry oatmeal
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Dump everything in breadmachine press start.

I have been working on finishing up some WIP and getting them ready for use. Here is my Spider Web Scarf.

I also finished up 2 dishcloth kitchen towel sets.

WIP Finally Finished

I'm so happy with myself I have finally finished my multi coloured afghan that I started not 1 but 2 years ago this month. I came to hate the pattern but I made myself finish it.

Melissa has claimed it saying that it is very pretty. I have decided that she can use it but I do get to cuddle up with it while watching late night tv which is what I made it for.

Renovations

I just want to say that I will be so glad when all the renovation are done.

Here is my living room

New paint is in and it looks really great can't really tell from this picture but soon I will be able to post completed room pictures.

My new floor looks awesome if I'm allowed to say so myself, thank you hon for getting it done.

The kids and Jamie helping to burn up the scraps from the renovations, still more let to burn.

Wow it has been a while again since I last blogged. I really have to get better at this or give it up completely. Probably won't happen. Oh well bare with me if you want.

This weekend is Mac's Hockey Teams first fundraiser, we are having a bottle drive after the practice tomorrow morning. So today I'm baking some treats for the kids to enjoy. I have made some Graham Cracker Squares and some chocolate cupcakes (used a mix this time).

Graham Cracker Squares

Whole Graham Crackers

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

Line the bottom of a 9X13 pan with whole graham crackers. Mix brown sugar, milk, egg and butter in pot and heat on stove until bubbly, remove from heat and add coconut and crumbs, sp[read over crackers top with another layer of whole crackers cool and ice with chocolate frosting.

Melissa helped me clean up isn't she cute.

She is now taking a bath to clean up.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving is this weekend. Our renovations are not yet complete, I really didn't think that they would be. Things are getting closer Jamie and Wayne are doing the baseboards up this morning/afternoon and Jamie is also working on getting the primmer in the half bath. yesterday we finished the floor, it looks great i will get some pictures later once the baseboards are in.

The weather has finally turned this week and it is cold in the morning. We have had frost the last two nights. I'm planning to do a craft with the kids on Sunday while waiting for the Turkey to cook. I found one that all 3 of my kids can do http://crafts.kaboose.com/construction-paper-turkey.html. Of course they will all be different and maybe even daddy will join in the fun.

Mackenzie is doing okay at the tryouts for the Journal Games. He seems to enjoy running. I hope that he makes the team but have told him that he needs to really push himself I don't think that he puts much effort into it. Hockey is really starting this weekend. We had a parents meeting Friday night and a practice on Saturday and a Game this morning. We lost 3 to 1 but the kids played hard nad worked together so it will only be time until they do better. From now on my weekends will be full of living at the rink again maybe I will get some work done on my afghan, I like to knit during practices can't do much during the games but practices are usually good for a bit of work.

Megan doesn't have swimming this weekend but she will have it again next week. Next week is also the big Cookie Blitz at Sparks I will be selling cookies like mad. She likes her swim instructor and seems to be in the right group.

Melissa my little fish loves her class but has to learn some fear or she is going to give everyone heart attacks.

I haven't been doing much crafting with the house is chaos and working on getting my AVON team in place I haven't had much time for anything else.

It's been a while since my last blog. All I can say is that life here has been really busy. School, Swimming Lessons, Hockey and Sparks have started for the year so my days are filled. Melissa is really enjoying her swimming lessons and her play group. Megan is liking kindergarten and is having fun and making friends. Mac is proud to be in grade 4 and seems to be doing well this year.

On top all that with the kids Jamie and I have been getting some work done on the house. We have painted the living room and are almost finished putting in the hardwood floors, Jamie has the half bath almost ready for primmer and then it will be painted and we can start on the hallway and kitchen so my main floor will have all fresh paint. I will post some picture once it is completed or at least a bit further along then it is now.

I'm back with AVON again, this time I'm not only selling but am recruiting and have a Sales Team under me, please feel free to visit my AVON site http://www.interavon.ca/kira.morrow/ This weekend I'm going to Calgary for some training. I'm looking forward to getting to know some other leaders and getting away from the kids for a couple of days.

School Is Back

School started back last week. It is so quiet here this morning. Mac is in grade 4 this year. He looks so big.

Megan was pretty excited about starting. She only had 1 day last week but goes all week this week.

Time just seems to be flying by.

This and That

Today is Sunday the 17th of August. I stepped on the scales and found that I am back up to 163.2 pounds again. Not happy with myself at all. Jamie and I want to go away overnight for our anniversary at the end of the month, I know that I will never be the 105 pounds I was at our wedding but darn it I want to be slimmer then I am now. Thankfully we will not be going on the Labour Day long weekend as the kids have school that week and Mac has his hockey tryouts. I plan to start this week with a cleanse and then really get back into my workouts, hopefully it will cool off a bit so that I will feel more like getting hot. LOL it is going to be hard enough to get my butt up and moving.

I have the yarn all ready to start working on the blanket for my friend's baby I had started it yesterday but had to frog it all out as I decided about 15 rows in that I want to use 2 strands of the yarn and not just 1.

I'm also working on a dishcloth KAL that started yesterday. I will do both day 1 and 2 today.

Today I'm babysitting for my friend, she had my girls yesterday so today I will have hers. I think that i will be going and getting a new kiddy pool at Canadian Tire. That should entertain the kids today and mine the rest of the week.

Wednesday August 13, 2008 - email

Morning can you believe that we are almost halfway through August already? I can't. Yesterday I tool the kids shopping for back to school clothing. One of my least favourite things to do. Of course the day was a total bust. None of the fall clothing was on sale and I simply refuse to pay 29.95 for pants for Mac that will have no knees in them before the end of September.

Last night Megan had her little friend Chantel sleep over they are having breakfast right now. I think that later I may just go over to my friends house for coffee and say no to cleaning again today.

My goals for today are simple to get the laundry finished or at least pretend that it is finished and to get my bedroom cleaned again and to work on finishing my wrap it is almost done.

Summer Vacation August 2008

Our vacation started on Monday morning. We got up around 7am and started packing, nothing like leaving it to the last minute. After squeezing everything into the van and making room for the kids to sit. Jamie, Steve and I got in and we were on the road by 11am which was about the time we had planned. We had a very nice trip down the highway to Drumheller. We arrived early enough in the afternoon to set up camp. The camp ground was nice, the kids really enjoyed the pool and park area. Mac loved being able to climb around the dunes and ravine behind our site with the other boys that were camping. We had a friend join us at our sight, the girls called him Fluffy the bunny.

Fluffy had lots of friends so we saw him and his buddies almost all the time, early in the morning you would find them trying to get into any food that hadn’t been put away. The kids had fun filling the air-mattresses up. Melissa wasn’t really impressed with things at this point but soon got into camping. While unpacking we realized that one of us needed to go into town for more ice and a few things that seem to have been forgotten at home. The biggest of which was the coffee press, morning without coffee would not be fun at all.

Jamie took the kids swimming at the pool while I drove back into town to find a grocery store and the Canadian Tire. Getting back to camp in time to start dinner of hot-dogs for everyone with potato chips instead of fries, which made the kids laugh but they ate them. Then back to the pool for a second time before going back to the camp site for our camp fire and marshmallow roast. Mac made several friends at the camp ground and Megan and Melissa had fun chasing the bunnies and running around pretty free. Bed time was a little hard getting 3 kids to quiet down from all the excitement was a challenge to the patience but we managed. Jamie and I found out the hard way that our air-mattress had a slow leak in it. Found out that the ground is pretty hard but it wasn’t too bad for me as I’m a little lighter then Jamie and so he pushed all the air under me. He tells me that it wasn’t too bad until about 3am....

Camping in the badlands was fun but very dusty. I’ve attached some picture taken from the playground area of the campground; it was almost all gravel dirt and sand with a little sparse grass. No one stayed clean that long.

The next morning we got up late and had breakfast then went into town to check things out. Of course no trip to Drumheller would have been complete with a climb up inside the Giant Dinosaur. I took quite a few pictures from inside the dinosaur’s mouth which sways in the wind.

Looking down from the mouth gave us an idea how high up in the air we actually were. Of course we had to take some pictures from the ground looking up too, plus, some pictures of the family sitting on the Dinosaur’s paw just for fun. The kids had fun and wanted to stay all day of course that was until we told them that we were going to McDonald’s for lunch. Then it was off to the Royal Tyrell Museum for the afternoon. Mac had to be there for 1pm for his Jr. Dinosaur Explorer Camp and Megan had her camp at 1:30pm. After the kids finished their camps we went through the museum and look at all the exhibits. The kids decided to hug one of the statues don’t they look angelic?

The camp ground was fun for the kids. Megan and Melissa made some friends at the park. Then before we left we had to make some soup for our meal and to feed the Dinosaurs.

The Next morning after a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs we left for Banff National park. Entering the mountains was so impressive. The kids didn’t seem to be that impressed until we were into Banff townsite itself. We camped at Tunel Mountain campground and were warned about bear sitings at the campground.

After a night of sleep we packed up camp and headed for Sulfur Mountain and the Gondola. We paid both our arms and legs but went up the mountain. Megan loved it and talked non-stop the whole way up. Melissa was not happy at all and screamed everytime the Gondola swayed at all. Once at the top we spent about an hour looking around then headed back to the line for the Gondola down the mountain. Melissa decided that she didn’t want to get back in, so it was fun to load up, the girl helping us in informed me that she deals with this kind of thing all the time. Crying all the way down while Megan excitely pointed out everything she could see. The gondola was really nice but I would love to try it without kids someday or maybe again when the kids are older and I don’t have to have a screaming pre-schooler on my lap.

Unfortunate after this we had to start back to Edmonton via Lake Louise and Rocky Mountain House we finally arrived back home around 9pm.

Our New Tent

Well we went out and did it. We bought a tent. Now we are planning our trip.

Here is the tent that we got Pebble Creek™ 10 Person Tent it can be found at http://www.colemanc anada.ca/ Catalog/TENTS. 7_to_10_Person. en.products it is bigger then I thought it would be but with 3 growing children I know that we will need the extra space soon.

I think that we will go to Drumheller for a couple of nights and then up to the Rockies for a day or 2. Later in the summer we will probably go to Calgary with the kids.

I'm starting to adjust to being at home. It still doesn't feel right. I'm waking up every morning at 5am an trying to go back to sleep but most days I just get up and enjoy a few minutes of quiet before everyone else is awake.



My van is in the shop getting fixed today. We get to pick it up on Thursday. I'm so looking forward to having it back and working.




On the way home from dropping the van off we stopped at Katie's to see the baby. I think that he is pretty cute.

We didn't get home until well after 10pm so the girls are still sleeping and Mac is playing the xbox360.

Jamie is getting ready for work he is the only one in this week in the sales department so he is pretty busy. I'm looking forward to his vacation the first week of August. It's been 2 years now since we had a vacation at the same time.

Canada Day Happening in the Morrow Home

What a nice Canada Day we had. It really wasn't too hot. Okay so it could have been about 5 degrees couler but hey it was better then the day before. Jamie took the kids to launch rockets

Here they are getting ready for the launch. I'm thinking that Daddy and his friend have more fun then the kids do but hey what do I know. I'm just the photographer for the event.

The rockets are ready to launch, just waiting for the countdown to start.....


An we have blast off of the first rocket...











Now for Rocket number 2....








All I can say is it was fun.

Melissa was sic again today. I really hope that she gets over this soon. I hate to see her this way. Yesterday all she did was sleep today she is whynny which probably means that she is getting better. Tonight she still wants to be near me all the time.

I'm home doing laundry and trying to catch everything up. Work is not happy that I'm home but Family comes first. I got this story in an email and think it is so true. Wish I could credit the author but none was given to me.

The Mayonnaise Jar and a cup of Coffee

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceed ed to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again i f the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you."Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities.

The rest is just sand."One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend."

Another week is over. Where is the time going. Mac and Megan each had a friend sleep over last night. They were really good, nothing like having 5 kids in the house to remind you that when you only have the 3 that live here it is quieter!!

Mac and Jack watch Spiderman 3 with Jamie, Wayne and I last night. This is my second attempt to get through the movie. I didn't make it again, the lure of the pillow strikes again.

Yesterday we go some new fish for our tank. 2 Dalmatian Platies, some zebra danos and a couple of Jamie's' weird tetra's. I also had to put a mama in the isolation tank as she is about to have her babies.

Today is starting out to be a long day. I'm sic I was up almost all night. The kids are eating their breakfast and getting ready for school and day care. Jamie is going to work to finish up some final things and then will be home. He has a job interview tomorrow and another one on Wednesday.

Our trailer sold and will close this Friday!!!! I'm so happy that we can finally stop paying for a home that we will never live in.

Yesterday was a nice day. We had Katie, Geroge and the baby in for the afternoon. Jmaie BBQed chicken tournatoes and ribs and I made some fruit and pasta salade. I also took the time to bake a cake, using a recipe that my mom gave me years ago that one of her friends use to make all the time

Sharon Smith's Sheet Cake
1 - cherry chip cake made in a 9X13 pan
1 - cherry jelo - made with 1 cup hot water only
1 pkg vanilla instant pudding
1pkg dream whip

Bake Cake. Cool. Poke holes in top of cake. Pour Jello mixed in 1 cup hot water over cake. Set aside in fridge. Make forsting using pudding and dreamwhip and only 2 cups of milk. Spread over cake. Let set at least 3 hours before serving. Keep this cake in the fridge.

The Kids really liked this cake.

It's a Rainy Staurday

It's early on Saturday. I'm working today so will be leaving for work very soon.

Yesterday was a relaxing day I took the time to tidy up the living room then I worked on my multi coloured afghan I have 3 strips.

So Much has happened

Can you beleive at how quickly time is moving right now. It seems like yesterday that it was Christmas and now here we are facing the end of February.

With my new job, and softball starting soon I'm not going to have as much time to craft as I would like but some things are getting done I hope to have some pictures uploaded soon.