#100HappyDays 19-22

Tuesday, May 20
Kent's birthday!  But unfortunately we were busy as usual, being a Tuesday night.  Rock-star that he is, he was very understanding about not having a special birthday cake or dinner.  But Madison's teacher from last year found this little lion plaster-scene that somehow was lost until now.  Madison was happy to see it!

I was scraping the barrel on this one.
Wednesday, May 21
I came across this little flow-chart about how to tell if your body is appropriate for a bikini.  I was taken in while reading it, and it mentions a lot of the things I think of when choosing a bathing suit.  Loved the surprise ending, though!

Thursday, May 22
Gorgeous sunset as I came home from TKD class.  This photo doesn't capture the colours that I witnessed, but I enjoyed noticing it just the same.

Friday, May 23

My wonderful mother invited us over for dinner.  We had a good visit, a lovely meal, and I didn't have to cook!  Thanks Mom!

Saturday, May 24
I had mistakenly made a top for Caylie's friend that was too small.  So today I made another one and I'm sure it will be just right!

Madison's Birthday

This year my daughter turned 12.  Wow, 12! 

Lately we have been giving gifts of experience rather than toys or "stuff".  With that in mind, she set her sights on horseback riding.  She simply HAD to get on a horse this year!  After looking into the options and prices available for an experience with a horse, we decided on a trail ride for her and two friends at Kettle Valley Trail Rides and Carriage Co.  I also invited my Mom to join us. 

The girls borrowed some real riding boots for the adventure

Madison swinging her long legs over that beast

Sitting astride

Grandma mounts her mare, Sage

Here we go!

Madison adored her mare, Dinah

Posing with "Pappy"

 Then the girls all came home with us for an afternoon of hangin' out.  And then a sleepover. 

Happy Birthday!

So much candy on this cake.

#100HappyDays 9-18

More happiness!  Here is what happened this week:

Saturday, May 10: 
I took Madison, my Mom, and two of Madison's besties horseback riding for Madison's birthday.  We had a lovely time, and Mom took this great photo of my with "my" horse, Sunny. 

Sunday, May 11:
Mothers' Day!  The kiddos surprised me with cards and gifts, and Kent cooked an elaborate meal including crab's legs. 

Monday, May 12:
New babies.  Kent brought home some baby tomatoes and an oregano in need of loving. 

Tuesday, May 13:
Kai and I had our hair cut together at the Garage on Tuesday.  He was nervous at first because he's never had his hair cut by a professional before, but in the end he loved what she did.  He was pleased with his new "cool kid' look, and I was pleased to be rid of his long hair!  I canNOT figure out how to flip this picture so you can see it properly... Grrr!

Wednesday, May 14
Caylie has a Rainbow Loom (thanks to Auntie Eleana) and loves making bracelets.  She decided to learn via YouTube how to make butterfly charms on it.  After some very frustrating disappointments, she was successful; and oh so proud of herself!

Thursday, May 15
New Tea.  I stopped by DavidsTea and bought myself a little treat.  Watermelon mint flavour is perfect for summer.

Friday, May 16
Long drive after work down to Winthrop for the weekend.  The kiddos were watching a movie and being very quiet - happy quiet moment for Mom and Dad!

Saturday, May 17
Race Day for Madison, Kai, and Caylie.  They ran a kids' "Fun Run" on the trail Saturday morning and were super-pleased with themselves on finishing.  Way to go, guys!

Sunday, May 18
After dropping Kent at the start of his race, we had some time to kill.  I took the monkeys to The Rocking Horse (a cafe/bakery in Winthrop) to get a Breve Latte (Yum!) and some treats for elevensies. 

Monday, May 19
Great laugh.  Walking through Winthrop, and I had Kent hold Revy up to the photo-hole.  Then we laughed and laughed....

#100HappyDays Challenge!

I joined a challenge this week to find and photograph one happy thing per day for the next 100 days.  The idea is that once I start to look for things that make me happy, I will fall into the habit of focusing on the positive, and therefore actually MAKE myself happier. 

May 2, 2014: 
It's Friday!  And on Fridays I get to indulge in a little treat; today's treat was homemade ice-cap made with my awesome Bullet.  And you can see the beautiful day we had 31degrees on the car temp thingy. 

May 3, 2014: 
Saturday afternoon I spent some time gardening with my son.  He loves wearing gardening gloves, and he really tackled those dandelions. 

May 4, 2014
11-mile long run completed!  My running buddy and I went from Skaha Beach to Okanagan Falls together.

May 5, 2014
 My little girl's 12th birthday!  Madison and I spent Saturday night making a brightly-coloured batch of flood cookies for her to bring to her class on her birthday.  She was super proud of how they turned out. 

May 6, 2014
Tuesday nights are busy for us, and it is hard for me to fit in time to make a decent  meal.  Today I had an abundance of delicious leftovers that everyone was happy to devour and I didn't have to cook!

May 7, 2014
I had to drop the truck at the shop, so I walked over to Madison's school and we walked home together in the sunshine.  It was so neat to spend a little special time with my kiddo!

May 8, 2014
My soup day at work.  I made a batch of tortellini soup last night, and prepped the dough for some fresh bread.  This morning I baked the bread and the whole house smelled heavenly! 
*side note* The bread was greatly appreciated and inhaled by the staff at work.

May 9, 2014
I came home today after a long week to find a surprise bouquet of beautiful spring tulips waiting for me.  My thoughtful friend, Maria left them with warm wishes for Mothers' Day.  What a darling!

Art Gallery DIY

Two kiddos are in art lessons once a week.  They have been bringing home masterpieces that they've created so we needed somewhere to display them.  I wanted to make framed spots to hang the artwork, but it needed to be easily changed because they keep making new ones. 

I collected several frames of different sizes and shapes.  I wanted the finishes to be eclectic and mismatched, so I had an eye out all over town for second-hand framed art that was not too expensive.  The project stayed at a stand-still at this point for months because I had a few but not enough, so until I found just the right number of just the right frames, I was stuck waiting.  Finally Kent nagged me to get moving on it (maybe he was tired of my stacks of materials cluttering up our house) so I went looking for more... and found the perfect addition to my project!  Hooray, now I was ready to begin. 

Next I had to decide what medium to put inside the frames.  My choices were bulletin board (they sell cork by the roll at Staples) with maybe some fabric to pretty it up; or sheet metal cut to fit.  Again Kent stepped in and voted for the metal because he has some tin snips and it would be easy enough to cut it to shape.  Ok, we were on our way! 

Freshly painted frames

I took the innards out of each frame and spray-painted them all the same almond colour.  After a few coats, they looked like new!  I used the discarded backings to trace the shapes I needed onto the metal and Kent loaned me his snips to cut them out. 

Cutting the sheet metal

My mom loaned me some dark gold finishing paint, and I rubbed it into the grooves of the frames, then wiped it off to give a distressed, antique look. 

Antiquing the finish

I painted the metal pieces with a light brown and light blue.  Unfortunately the brown colour didn't come out the way it looked on the strip, so it was more of a tan and too similar to the frame colour.  But I was impatient and left it anyway.   Once everything was cured, I put the metal into the frames, re-backed them, and was ready to go.   After only nagging Kent a dozen times or so, we finally got around to hanging them on our dining room wall.  Now I can use magnets (I bought some supermagnets at Home Hardware) to tack up the artwork, and I can change it as often as we want! 

Finished Art Gallery wall!

I'm really proud of how it turned out, and the kiddos are pleased that their works are admired by everyone who comes to our home. 

Disney!

California Adventure Park

Medieval Times

Medieval dinner

Sea World

Caylie's Turtle Encounter

Space Mountain

 Our Disney Trip!  We had such a great week.  First we drove to Seattle, then waited all day for our flight in the airport.  Once in Los Angeles, we took one day to see some sights.  We saw Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica Pier.  So much fun, and the sun was shining. 

Next day was Universal Studios!  We loved all the interesting movie stuff - The kiddos adored the rides and the tour of the studios and sets.  We saw the sets for King Kong and Psycho, and experienced a subway earthquake.  We rode the Simpsons, Transformers, the Mummy, and Jurassic Park rides. 

Then our first day at Disney!  We'd waited and planned for so long for this adventure and we crammed everything we could in.  We rode all the rides we could, met characters, saw shows, and watched the parade.  The kids loved Space Mountain and Peter Pan, the shows were spectacular. 

Next day was at California Adventure Park.  Some awesome new rides have been added, and we saw the famous World Of Colour.  We rode Grizzly River Run, Radiator Springs, California Screamin' and Soarin over California (among others).  Still the sun shone down and we had a great time. 

Last day at Disney/California Adventure and we crammed in everything we hadn't tried yet as well as our favourites one more time.  Plus, Shopping!  Everyone was decked out in new clothing, keepsakes, and we also managed to pick up a few gifts for home. 

That evening we had to leave a little early to get to Medieval Times for dinner.  A real knight battle jousting and sword fighting, while being served a feast!  The kiddos loved it, and we definitely had an experience!  Kai and the girls got to hold a real sword, and they all came away with something interesting as a keepsake. 

Last day of vacation, we drove to San Diego where Kent's Disneyland awaited... Roadrunner sports store shopping extravaganza!  Then to Sea World.  We happened to be there on Baby Shamu's first birthday and got to take part in his birthday party!  So neat.  And there was tons to see and do at Sea World, we could hardly cram everything in.  We saw turtles, flamingos, whales, sharks, rode the Manta and petted manta rays.  Amazing place. 

When the park closed we were tired and hungry and every restaurant was packed because it was Valentine's Day.  But we happened upon a greek buffet restaurant that was perfect for everyone.  We had an excellent meal and enjoyed meeting the owners.  What a perfect ending! 

Next day we spent traveling home... Kent had to drive all night in snow and ice to get us back at 3:30am!  But we made it and were very happy to be reunited with our beds and our pets. 

We had a fabulous trip, took tons of pictures, and came away with lots of wonderful memories!

DisneyDisneyDisney!