Random February

It snowed enough for Spencer and the kids to get in our backyard and make a snow man.  It was perfect snow....the wetter, stickier snow.  The kids got tired since this activity was preceded with sledding at a near by hill.  So in the end it was  Spencer's snowman and his good time. 

Nothing like using things from around the house.  Strawberry eyes, carrot nose and some rocks from the backyard for his mouth. 

Here are a couple of pictures of my kids all getting along and playing nicely together.  We have to find appropriate and fun things to do every Sunday morning since church doesn't start until 1pm.  I told them that I remember making "forts" out of blankets and couch cushions and that inspired them to make this. 

Pi Day

Thanks for Spencer volunteering to bring in pie's for pi day (March 14 or 3-14) for his group I was busy in the kitchen concocting some pies.  I do a lot of other baking and cooking in the kitchen for my family but pie isn't on top of the list of things that we like to eat.

I decided to try making a banana cream pie and a lemon meringue pie.  Everything was done from scratch except the pie crust.  They both turned out really well and both were eaten up at Spencer's workplace.  I had some left over filling and some tart shells in the freezer so I make up some extra tarts for the kids and I at home. 

Here is Evan giving a thumbs up!  He was sampling the banana cream pie and all the kids really liked that one.  The lemon meringue not so much. 

Next year if Spencer wants to volunteer again he'll be the one in the kitchen whipping up some pies or purchasing them for his group.   

February Update

It has been a while since I last posted....things are of course busy and this was at the end of my to do list...but here we go.....
For our date a month Spencer and I went to a Saturday afternoon performance of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.  We started with some lunch downtown, unfortunately I thought that the Old Spaghetti Factory would be a good Italian choice, I was way wrong.  The price was right but the food according to me was two thumbs down.  Thank goodness the company was good and it was close to our next stop; the Winspear center.  I especially love listening to the orchestra. We were way up in the top balcony 'cause those were the only seats left with two together, but even with those seats the sound was amazing and you actually got a great view of the whole stage and orchestra, maybe just a little smaller version of everyone.   The theme was "Disney" and they had singers who would sing the songs and there was even a little Karaoke for everyone to participate.  Before the show there were Disney Princesses in the lobby that you could talk to and get your picture taken with. 

Spencer outside the Old Spaghetti Factory. 

Me outside the Winspear Centre.

Me with Snow White. 

Some other highlights this month include our visit to the Silver Skate Festival. It turned out to be a beautiful day. We were lucky enough to find some parking down at the event. It was pretty packed. The kids spent a lot of time slowly walking across all the mounds of snow that were left after they cleared the lake for skating on.

Here we are at the start of the festival.  There was lots to do.  The kids standing in front of the first snow sculpture; a man carving a skate. 

There was a ton of other ice sculptures and here is one more snow sculpture; a cool couch in the shape of a clam shell.

There was a french activity of making some maple syrup candy on a stick.  We patiently waited in line for our turn.  The man would pour a row of maple syrup down a trough lined with snow and you had to roll your section of maple syrup around your Popsicle stick until it got hard and would stick.  That was yummy to taste. 

There was also a Native Tee pee and inside you could see what a real tee pee would look like.  They also had some crafts in there but the kids weren't too interested in waiting around.  They also had Bannock (a native bread that you wrap around a stick and cook over a fire).  My kids tried that one year and didn't too much care for it.

Here is Evan trying his hand or feet rather at cross country skiing.  He actually did fairly well.  It is always a bit tricky when you fall and have to get uncrossed and back up.  Aaron is down below getting the hang of sliding with just one ski on. 

Here the kids are going down the ice slide.  They loved this and would go again and again.  Now this is winter time fun!