A photo post catch up!

What have we been up to since my computer cord died? Well, here are some photos to catch you up. :)

My little Scooter cat (on the right) has had some pretty rough days. She's been having strokes, losing feeling in her legs, falling against walls, throwing up regularly and even went to the bathroom on the middle of the floor. This is so heartbreaking. I've been pretty heartbroken about her and getting to the point where I know I need to make that horrible decision.. but then she'll turn around and have a bunch of really good days - like right now. This is so hard. She is so happy when she's not having a bad moment and honestly doesn't seem to be in any pain at all. Being a furbaby parent is not easy. I've had her for 15 years and I really don't want to say goodbye yet. I adore this picture of her and Mirri (the rather chunky kitty in the photo) because Scooter never lets the other cats cuddle her anymore. She's very bone-y and I assume it isn't terribly comfortable for her at this point. That evening she let Mirri rest her head on her bum and I could have melted. Awww.

We have had a double whammy of sick furbabies in our house. Tiernan's rat, Ratatta, has mycoplasma (very common among rats) which is a lung illness. She had what's called a "mycro flair up" and it had me crying for days. I didn't like seeing her in pain like that. She was wheezing, coughing, sneezing.. and not just gently. The poor little girl was so defenseless. She would have trouble eating because she wasn't able to breathe (but did eat, which is a good sign!), she slept a LOT, and she would look at me with those gentle little eyes asking for help. The worst was when she stuck her little paw down her throat to try and open up her lungs. Heart wrenching! I spent a lot of time holding her while she slept, giving her extra vitamins A & C and little bits of dark chocolate. I'm happy to report that the flair up is over now, and although she's still not "normal" again, she is much, much better!

Aww, look at Rhi's little nose peeking out from a hole in their hammock! Adorable! Poor Rhi felt lost when Ratatta was sick, too. Usually they cuddle together all day, everyday. When Ratatta was sick she made sure to leave her alone when she was sleeping. Ratties are so smart!

While we're on the topic of pets, November 2nd was Mystic's birthday. Mystic was our border collie cross who we had from the time Avery was 8 months old, and who we had to say farewell to back in February of 2009. She was a beautiful dog, full of life and spunk. She was a runner and loved to herd the kids around when they were little. She was a talker, could get a bit grumpy when kids crawled on her (she had back/hip/leg problems from before she was a year), and had the most amazing brown eyes. She was my buddy, my foot warmer and I miss her each and every day. Mystic loved ice cream cones and we took her over to a local burger joint to get her a doggie cone and she would literally dance across the street after she had one. Before we said farewell to her, we took her to DQ for a cone. Every November 2nd is Mystic Day and we have an ice cream in her memory. The sting from her loss is still there, and I am certain it always will be. My Mickey-Tickey, my love. I'm certain that she was the one who brought Tibby into our lives. I still remember talking about her with Kyle while doing the dishes one morning and just bursting into tears. One of us suggested going to the Quinte Humane Society to walk some dogs (something we did from time to time) so we headed out there that Sunday afternoon. We walked a few dogs, and then I saw him. Tibbs was sitting in his kennel, keeping completely quiet and just watching me. I was drawn to him like nothing I'd ever experienced before. We took him out and knew right then and there we couldn't leave without him. I truly believe Mystic was with me that day and helped me find this boy we have now.

I am a firm believer that sometimes we need down time. That goes for my kids, too. Rhianna was feeling really under the weather and was barely eating, so I suggested she stay home for a day to recoup and rest. It was apparently just what the doctor ordered because she felt 100% better by the evening and was back to her normal self - jumping out of bed the next morning with a bounce in her step, ready to take on the day!

Rhianna's birthday is back in July, but it's nearly impossible to organize a birthday party with her friends for summertime. Instead, we wait until the Fall to celebrate. This year we went out to the movies to watch Puss n' Boots with her brothers and six of her friends from dance and school. Unfortunately, one other friend of hers was unable to make it (the poor girl has been super sick.. we're thinking about you, Kayla!). Since the party was at the theatre we decided to make some popcorn cupcakes! Rhianna just loved them!

Even her loot bags were theatre themed! Everything you need to curl up and watch a movie. ;)

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We had a dance-a-thon for the dance studio the weekend before Halloween and I had a blast dancing around with the kids. :) I sent some snackies into school with the kids (these are the kitty cupcakes I sent with Rhianna), I made some Halloween themed food (but was in such a rush I only took pictures of one thing!), and the kids went out trick-or-treating with friends for the first time ever. I followed Rhianna around with some of my friends (mothers of Rhianna's friends) and admittedly felt a little strange without my boys! Guess I need to get used to this whole independence thing.

Here is the one photo I took - our candy corn pudding dessert. Cute, yes?

Avery dressed up as Charlie Brown's ghost from 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!'... not as the holy ghost as my friend Laura thinks! Haha.

Tiernan went as Link from Legend of Zelda!

And Rhianna went as Pippi Longstocking!

My lovely little crew before everyone dispersed for the night. Kyle dressed as a Wizard that night (I was a witch, as per every single Halloween). Even Tibby dressed up in Mystic's old hippy costume. :D I love them, oh yes I do!

How cute is Tiernan's Jack Skellington? ♥

So that about sums up our lives for the past couple of weeks. Add into this a whole lot of visits to the dance studio, a first visit to Brownies, lots of exciting soccer games for Avery (good grief, this level is intense!), plenty of soccer practices and development training, working for both Kyle and I, a tummy bug that has hit only Kyle and myself... and I think that may be it. Phew! ;)

Sometimes you just need melty peanut butter.

Have you ever had one of those days where things go wrong all stinkin' day long? Not really, terrible, horrible things, but little things that keep piling up until you decide to just do nothing for the rest of the day. That was yesterday for me. Because of that, this picture shows you what was for supper last night. Kyle made the kids fried egg bagel sandwiches and I sat down, on my own, and ate an everything bagel smothered in melty peanut butter. And you know what? It was delicious and just what I wanted. Now why was yesterday so bad, you ask.... well.. lemme tell you in bullet form...

*I had to drag my kids out of bed for the last day of school. (I know, you're thinking no big deal.. but this should have been an indicator of the day to come.)

*Before school I had to bake cookies for both Avery and Rhianna's classes at school. They had both asked me the night before, but I hadn't had time or energy after our busy evening. I'm quite the cookie baker and have it down to a fine art, so I knew it wouldn't take me long to get it done in the morning. And it didn't. EXCEPT.. apparently, I should not double my Skor Bit cookie recipe because the cookies were a big ol' FAIL! Puffy and thick and practically bread like. So much for my "expert cookie baking abilities"! (I almost wonder if I wasn't awake enough when I made them and miscounted my flour?) So, I tossed two whole batches of cookies. Not only that, but I also ran out of flour, brown sugar, cane sugar AND vanilla. This meant I couldn't make any more cookies until after I visited a grocery store.

*Sometimes, if my kids (mostly the boys - Rhi isn't interested) have finished their morning chores and have some time before the bus comes, I let them play some DS. The rule is that they can't play any games that are unable to shut down in an instant. They know this. For some reason, though, Tiernan decided to play a Pokemon game and enter a battle just as we were about to head off to the bus. And when I called them to go to the bus that morning it wasn't an "oh, we're leaving for the bus in five minutes" call, it was a "we need to go to the bus right freaking now!" call. I told him he didn't have a choice, he had to shut it down right then and he lost it. Completely freaked out yelling and telling me he just couldn't. Okay, no. No, no, no. This just wasn't the morning to pick a fight with me. I had a terrible Mummy moment with absolutely zero patience. The DS is now hidden in the garage and Tiernan was left in tears because he lost everything he did on his game that day. The good news is, we got to the bus in time.... but I was left feeling horrible Mummy guilt for giving the kids a bad start to their last day of the school year.

*After taking Tibbs for a walk, I headed out to get some ingredients for the cookie baking I still had to do. Only... wait a minute, where are my keys? I looked high and low. They were not in any of the places I would ever put them. They were also not in any of the places I wouldn't put them. They just weren't in the house. I retraced my steps from the previous night and was positive I locked them in the van. I had to call Kyle at work to ride his bike home to unlock the van to see if they were in there. Of course he had a super busy day, too. That figures, right? Anyway, he was my hero, as always, and we did indeed find the keys in the van between the two front seats.

*Once I finally get to the store and gather up the ingredients, I go to stand in a very long line up. It seemed like everything was going wrong for the cashier, too. Must have been one of those days for more than just me. As time is ticking, I start to panic. I realize I don't have much time to bake the stinking cookies so I do something I rarely do.... I put the ingredients back and go find some store bought goodies. In this process I clumsily knock down a bunch of Chips Ahoy cookie bags. Sigh.

*By this time I have an incredible migraine. My head is throbbing, and I'm super sensitive to both light and sound. I tried everything, and nothing made it go away until much later in the day when the skies cleared... pretty sure it was air pressure related. Or possibly stress!

*After I made the deliveries to the school I headed home and decided to sit on the couch and do nothing. Except, I can't really do nothing. I figure a couple of loads of laundry can't hurt. What can go wrong with laundry? I marched into the laundry room, put a load in the washer and sat down on the couch. I usually sit with my legs curled off to the side and this was no exception. My calf got itchy so I started rubbing my calf with my foot. I then felt something wet and assumed it was a few drops of water from the washing machine. I kept rubbing my feet and legs together until I realized that something just didn't feel right. I pulled back the blanket I had on me and found that my legs and feet were covered in cat crap. I'm not kidding. Oh, how I wish I was kidding. Alas, no joking around for me. I had smeared a piece of crap that I assume was left out of the litterbox (which is right next to my laundry detergent) and was then stuck to my arch. I know it must have been the arch because there was no sign of it on the floor, at all. It also must have been fresh and warm because I sure didn't feel it. And let me tell you - it wreaked! Oh wow. That was unbelievable. I cried in the shower. I felt so defeated.

*You know what I did until my kids got home? NOTHING. This time I really didn't do anything. I left the laundry in the machine and didn't move. I wrote out my next two week menu, watched some TV and puttered about on the computer.

*And then my kids got home. My kids have the best bus driver in the world, and she gave them each a jumbo freezee to celebrate the last day of school. Naturally, both boys were finished eating theirs, but my slow poke daughter still had her melty orange one in her hands when she got home. It was probably over half full. So, we are all talking about our days. Theirs went really well, and I told them about my horrible day. They laughed at my cat crap story and told me I should play some Wii to relax (haha). That's when Rhianna's freezee decided to flip itself over and empty itself all over my lap and my favourite spot on the couch! Yes, really. Orange on everything. My shirt, my capris, my couch. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Tiernan ran and got a towel to clean everything up, and Rhianna ran and got me a new outfit to change into.

*Luckily, aside from some tired, whining kids, the day did not get any worse. Thank goodness. Don't know how much more I could have handled.

Today has been a brand new day and was one million times better than yesterday! The first day of summer holidays was filled with blue skies, trips to two different libraries, a few drives out into the country, and a bit of shopping. It was busy, but also nice. I love having my kids home with me. They truly are the best company I could ask for. They are so smart, so funny and they teach me little things on a daily basis. Rhianna is off at a birthday party sleep over with a friend at her trailer. It's so strange not having her here. I miss her a lot! This is the first time she's slept at a house of someone who wasn't family. It's a big deal! I know her friend's mother is taking really good care of her, and we are looking forward to spending time with them tomorrow at the lake.

Tonight I was on my own for the first time in a very long time. I started the evening out with a walk on the trails with my pupperoo. It's the perfect time of day for it. The air is cooler, the sun lights everything up in this perfect brilliant hue, and the people are all smiling. Tibbs mingled with some dogs and I mingled with some humans. :) The funniest moment was when I took the picture on the left.. I had it on self timer (obviously) and it was flashing and beeping. As we were walking away a guy on a motorized chair comes over in a big panic thinking I was settling off a bomb. Hahahah! Yup, that's me. I look like such a threat. ;)

At one point during our walk, we sat down at this bench in silence, enjoying the view. Tibbs lay down and seemed to taking it all in. The geese with their babies. The boats on the Bay. The breeze in the air. I sure love that doggle of mine. ♥ When we came home I got some stuff ready for our Canada Day adventures and sat down to watch SYTYCD and 16 & Pregnant. All in all, a good evening. No complaints here after my day yesterday! ;)

Pretty.

That is one happy dog!

I will never tire of this view.

Nothing exciting to report for dinner today. We had some mushroom, monterey jack cheese and salsa stuffed quesadillas with a side of steamed broccoli covered in a scrumptious cheese sauce! Who doesn't love broccoli... especially covered in cheese sauce!? Unfortunately I really like it and had two large helpings of it... and now my stomach is paying for it. You know what they say about broccoli.. especially for those of us who are physically unable to burp! Eep!

Cheese Sauce

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

heavy sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup grated cheese (tonight I used a combination of monterey and cheddar.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the flour, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Add the milk and put it back on the heat. Stir continuously for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and add the cheese. Stir until smooth and then serve immediately.

We're alive and well!

I have been such a terrible blogger! June is typically a whirlwind, and this year is no different. It's been all wonderful though, so I'm not complaining.

So what exactly have we been up to? Well...

There has been canoeing on the Bay of Quinte!

There have been cousins visiting from Northern Ireland!

There was Dance Recital day for my two youngest kiddos.

There have been long walks along the trails and on the docks at the marina to drool over the boats.

There was Summer Solstice and all of the traditions it brings us!

And there was lots of crazy family antics!

This was only to name some of the fun. There was also a few different birthday parties, Father's Day, some soccer games for the biggest boy, watching of So You Think You Can Dance & SYTYCDCanada and more stops at playgrounds. This makes me even more excited for the adventures that await us this summer! Only three more days of school left. It's hard to believe.

Yes, we have also been eating delicious food. I admit to quite a few repeat dinners - ones that are pretty easy to throw together, along with some BBQs at my parents' house. I have made a few blog worthy items and I plan on writing a new entry tonight to include those. For now, I'm going to do some dishes and then maybe head out for a bike ride since it's not raining (yet!). They've been promising rain all week, but so far we haven't had much at all.

Enjoy the last few drops of your weekend, friends!

Tried & True.

I am so full now! We had a delicious dinner of Bulgar Patties, stuffed potatoes and cucumber salad. I know I got the original recipe from a Moosewood cookbook years ago (don't remember which one), and I only changed a few things about it... more garlic, and no eggs. If you're okay with eggs I suggest you add one because the patties will likely hold together better if you do. I, however, am not a fan of eggs (mildly allergic) and omitted it. The patties can be eaten on their own (with a splash of Bragg's!) or on a bun. Tonight we ate them solo. I saw the stuffed potatoes on a Rachael Ray show, and the cucumber salad is one of our (okay... MY!) all time favourites. It's so refreshing and tangy, and it's even better on a hot summer day. Mmmm mmm mmm. I made it early this afternoon and could not stop eating it. I seriously thought it would be all gone by the time dinner rolled around.

Bulgar Patties

3 cups water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 bulgar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup tahini

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Braggs

1 tsp Dijon mustard

dash of freshly ground black pepper

1 cup mashed chickpeas

Bring the water to a boil. While it's heating, saute the bulgar and garlic in the oil over medium -high heat for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the boiling water. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.

When the bulgar is ready, stir in the green onions, carrots, parsley, tahini, tomato paste, soy sauce, mustard, pepper and mashed chickpeas.

With moistened hands, form into patties. Cook for about 10 minutes on an indoor grill.

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Cucumber Salad

2 medium long english cucumbers, thinly sliced

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground dried mustard

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, dried mustard and black pepper in a bowl and stir until sugar and salt has dissolved. Add the cucumbers and chill until ready to eat.

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Stuffed Potatoes - Broccoli and Cheddar Style

5 baking potatoes

olive oil

coarse sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

between 1/2 and 1 cup vegetable broth

grated cheddar cheese

1 head of broccoli, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350.

After scrubbing off the potatoes, place them on a baking sheet and pierce them several times with a fork. Drizzle some olive oil over top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn them a few times to coat them.

Roast them for 45 min to an hour until a fork slides in easily.

While the potatoes are cooling down a bit, cook the broccoli pieces in an inch of water for about 3 minutes until crisp tender.

Once the potatoes have cooled down enough to be handled, slice them lengthwise and scoop out the insides into a large bowl. Mash the potato insides and add as much broth as you want to make it somewhat smooth. Add some grated cheddar cheese (maybe 1/2 cup or so), salt and pepper and mash them in. Add the cooked broccoli and stir to combine.

Stuff each potato skin with the filling and top with some extra grated cheddar cheese. Bake again for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and it's warmed again.

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After dinner we took advantage of our beautiful Spring weather with a walk to a neighbourhood playground & park. The kids ran up ahead of us, while Kyle and I casually walked our dog and chatted about our day. I feel so much better now that the weather has been so mild and the sun is shining. It's a whole new world out there! At the park we played on the swings, and kicked the soccer ball around.

Now we're catching up on the Amazing Race episode we missed from Sunday. It's a perfect way to end a really good day.

♥ I love his Sharpei neck rolls! ♥

He's growing up for too quickly. Far, far, FAR too quickly. So proud of him.

He's so handsome, that husband of mine.

Those who know me know I'm an avid photographer. I've always had a camera within arms reach. Even as a child, I took a lot of pictures with my little point and shoot film camera. When I had my first child, Avery, I was given my Dad's Pentax SLR, and I loved that camera fully and completely. I have some really great photos of my son.. like the pictures of him lying naked on his tummy on the floor with his Winnie the Pooh toys. I won't put those up on here since he's 11 years old now and wouldn't talk to me for weeks if I did, but trust me when I say they are adorable! A few years later I was introduced to digital cameras and I was hooked. I bought myself a Canon Powershot and took as many photos as I could. As much as I loved the fact that I could take a thousand photos and only print the ones I loved, I still missed the versatility of my SLR. When my husband bought me a Canon Rebel xt back in 2005, I was in heaven. I got the best of both worlds... SLR and digital? Oh yes! I literally took thousands of pictures a month until I finally laid it to rest in the summer of 2010. This left me with no DSLR and no means to buy myself a new one. My very generous children lent me their point and shoot digital cameras to get me by, and I really appreciated it (and even got a few great shots!).... it just wasn't quite the same.

It's embarrassing to admit this, but I became lost without my Rebel. I felt depressed. I felt like a huge part of me was missing and I was no longer myself. What that says about me, I'm not sure. And I'm certainly not sure I like that! However, it's the truth. I literally look at the world through the eye of my camera. I don't sit in the van watching out the window thinking, 'Wow, that's beautiful!'. I think, 'Wow, that would make a beautiful photo!'. There have been so many moments that my husband has had to endure my sighing and sadness over a lost photo opportunity. There have been many times that I've just passed those opportunities right by without bothering to try with my kids' cameras.

But today, that sadness is gone. Do you know what I did? After the encouragement of my husband, I went out and bought myself a new DSLR! Originally I had wanted to switch to a Nikon, but after taking the lenses and accessories that I already had into consideration, I settled on another Canon (t1i, incase you were wondering!). There is not one bit of me that's disappointed by that, either. I went out this morning and picked it up, and I've barely set it down since! I also picked up a macro lens (I already have a telephoto), some filters and an external flash. So many goodies, so little time!

I've been spending a lot of time trying to capture the personalities of my furbabies on camera now. They were all getting annoyed with me when I finally decided to call it quits for a little while. We have many furry friends in our house. Two ratties, Ratatta and Rhi. Ratatta (brown/grey) has been sick with a chest infection lately, and although the wheezing and sneezing went away while she was on two types on antibiotics, it seems to be back again (not even a week later). I have been trying to get some good pictures of her since she is my son Tiernan's rat and I know how heart broken he'll be when she eventually passes. They just don't live long enough, these ratties. Today, I finally got some good shots of both rats! That way my daughter Rhianna will have some good shots of Rhi for her own photo album. We also have three cats - Mirri (the plump cat in the photo on the left), Solange (the other cat in the photo on the left) and Scooter (who is an old girl and has been sleeping in the dimly lit corner in the basement all afternoon so no good pictures of her), and one dog - Tibbs, our Sharpei-Lab cross.

Expect lots more photos of my kids, my husband, my furbabies, our adventures and our food! Be warned! Hehe.

No photos of food today, though, sorry. I was planning on making sushi, but didn't have enough rice. We're going to grab some food out tonight.. something we so rarely do these days.