Baking on the First Hot HOT Day of the year

I decided that even though it is supposed to be the hottest day so far of the summer, if I needed to bake bread, and heat the house up more, I might as well back cookies and muffins too. lol

I let Brooke take control of the muffins. She went and got her baking hat and apron on, and we set off to work.

She put all the ingredients in herself, she even measured them herself and here she is whisking it all by herself. She only needed a little help with the mixing.

Here she is measuring out 3 tablespoons of mixture for each muffin. She also did this all by herself! She did fantastic work. These peanut butter chocolate chip muffins are going to be awesome!

Here is the finished product! You can find the recipe for these muffins here. The recipe only uses 3/4 a cup brown sugar and that's it for sugar!

 For Chloe's turn we decided to make chocolate chip cookies. mmmm...she was really excited to help. But I'll tell ya, 16 months between Brooke and Chloe really showed today. Things that Brooke was just ready and knew how to do, Chloe needed more direction and I really had to do most of it myself.

She was not less excited tho.

The butter was messy as Chloe thought she should put the butter in the cup with her fingers. lol 

By the time we got to the flour, her hands were covered in butter and just about everything else. lol The flour tho, she had no problems measuring and putting in the bowl.

Ok now you've seen Chloe's work space, scroll back up and see Brooke's work space. Chloe is quite a bit messier of a baker then Brooke. She was very proud of herself because she got to crack the eggs all by herself!

And of course, the best part...licking the beaters!!!

And the finished product. These cookies are sooo yummy!!! I'm not sure where I got the recipe for this one...but they remind me of the subway cookies. :)

Of course, as the mommy, I get stuck with all the dishes! lol I washed a lot of dishes today! 

This day was actually June 25, 2013.

Assiniboine Park English Gardens

This is the first of many many trips to Assiniboine Park, especially to the Engilish Gardens. Jeremy seems to love the flowers and trees there. I also like looking at all the beautiful flowers and I think it's a great place for photos. 

 So I decided to take a few on this trip, Brooke and Chloe sitting on the rock fence at the beginning of the gardens. Brooke's got an awesome look on her face eh? This was after she asked to have her photo taken. lol

 I never thought to take a photo of the whole thing she found her way into...lol but it's like a tower, Both girls found their way into them and stood up in there, so I snapped a quick photo of Brooke.

 And like every other time we go to the park, the girls need to have their photos taken with the bears. lol 

Magnet Spelling

I don't know about anyone else out there, but it's an exciting day when you turn around and see that your kids have spelled their names with the fridge magnets! I can't wait to see what other messages they will come up with once they start to learn how to spell anything other then their names!

Stupid Moving Company

So...This move was dreadful. First, they told us the truck would be delivering our stuff before we would even be at the house and before our allotted time was up. Which had us extremely stressed out. Second, they send us 5 packers to do a 3 packer job. They started out like this...1 guy in the kitchen, 2 girls in the basement, 1 guy upstairs, and 1 guy in the living room. I started in the kitchen telling the guy in there what not to pack, then I ran down stairs and folded some last minute clothing before heading upstairs to tell the guy not to pack the girls suitcases. The two girls in the basement asked me a bunch of questions.

By the time I got upstairs, the guy had packed the suitcases. Seriously, I'm moving and gonna be staying in hotels and it never crossed your mind to ask if I wanted them packed before packing them. So, I made him unpack the 2 boxes to get those out. This guy also would not pack my snow globes, because they had liquid in them, or an old glass ornament that i've already glued back together once. Even after I told him to pack it and I would just glue it back together once we got there...Nope had to move those by myself. I would have been more pissed off if I had of been moving further.

I had a really hard time managing 5 packers, and if it was to happen again I'd tell them to send at least 2 of them home. 

When we get to the new house, there are 4 of them to unload counting the driver. I wanted our wardrobe in the basement, they try to fit it in the basement and scratched the shit out of it, and put a hole in the back of it. OMG, seriously our unloaders were definitely not very gentle, only one guy and the driver were gentle the other two were very coarse with our stuff. 

Now for the whole reason for this post. Those sneaky little assholes...broke my biggest suitcase, the wheel is completely off the bottom of it...and the part that holds the wheel on is broken off the suitcase. As if that isn't bad enough that they broke it, and said NOTHING to me or Jeremy about it, they tucked the wheel inside the suitcase as if hoping I wouldn't notice. WTF'in Hell! I found this while I was already adgitated about the paint brushes. OMG, I nearly lost my mind! I'm still extremely pissed off. I hope they come here to finish off our claim, as they are going to be getting an earful from me. That is only if I don't find a business card before they show up. lol I'm gonna lose my mind on them...I wouldn't be nearly as pissed if they had of told me, I don't even know if they will cover new luggage, as I didn't notice it the day they unloaded. Trust me...if I have my way, they will be getting me a new suitcase, here is a photo I took.

Crafty Day

On Monday, June 24th, I had the most productive craft day ever!!

I started out buy making this floor length curtain into 2 shorter curtains to fit the window in the girls play room. That room gets a lot of afternoon sun so I wanted to get the curtains up. I figured out how to sew the curtains, but couldn't figure out how to make a curtain rod the size of the windows from the pieces the moving company left me. So for now it's tacked up until we get a new curtain rod to fit. I had to use white thread because that's what I had on hand...Jer mentioned it, I said I cold have went and bought new thread. He says No that's ok, white is fine.

Next, I decided I wanted to make this sign. which started out saying "Take a Deep Breath, You're Home Now..." but I didn't have room for deep and afterwards Brooke said Big and I might have been able to fit that...ohh well. Anyways, I had quite the problem with this task, as I couldn't find the pink plastic cup that holds all my paint brushes. I was getting sooo angry as I couldn't figure out where the packers could have possibly put the cup and brushes. I was almost to the point of nervous breakdown, when I found them. lol

This picture shows the sign not quite done yet.

The actual finished product. Only a couple of things that I would change...like maybe putting 2 hanging hooks on the back, those keys can get heavy and my sign is gonna go sideways. It was a good learning experience for sure. 

While I was searching for the paint brushes so I could paint the sign, I took a break to finally get the back put on Chloe's chair. Maybe on my next crafty day I'll actually get the seat finished and then have one chair completely done...provided I get the seat put on right away. LOL

YAY For Crafty Days!!!

Winnipeg Zoo Trip 1

I didn't take a lot of photos on this trip, I'm sure we'll be heading back to the zoo sometime as the girls and I both love the animals and they have lots of special events throughout the year too. Maybe some day we'll get a annual membership.

Brooke loves Hudson the Polar Bear and Chloe loved the Penguins who are visiting and will travel to a new Zoo in September. I, of course, did not get photos of either of those. lol

The Camels were pretty exciting for the girls. Brooke seemed to know quite a bit about camels, however, she did learn why one camels humps weren't standing up. But she knew you rode on them between the humps. 

 What's a trip to the zoo without seeing a bunny??? This little guy was right at my feet. 

 4 trips to 3 Zoos and I finally got to see Zebras. They were always hiding at every other Zoo we went to. lol  Just to prove it, I snapped a photo of them. lol

The other exciting exhibits are the Australian walk about...where you can actually walk around inside the fence with the Kangaroos and Birds (I forget what kind). That was lots of fun, altho the Roos weren't jumping around...they were also quite a bit away, we were told they are very shy.

There is also a Butterfly area where you walk around inside of the a dome while the butterflies flutter around you. It's quite neat.

There are tons of Prairie Dogs that run wild around the Zoo, the girls loved watching them run around.

Pre kindergarten Graduation!!

I'm a couple of days late Geting this post up but Friday, June 21, 2013 was the pre-k graduation for Brooke ane Chloe in Shilo, Manitoba.  Even though we have moved to Winnipeg,  Brooke, Chloe and I made the 2 hr (one way) trip back just for the graduation. They were very excited on the way there and sang and talked the whole way. I found out that Chloe loves the song "I love it" by Icona Pop and Brooke's favourite is "Crazy Kids" by Kesha,  so of course we had to turn the music up for those songs. We also sang the great hits...ABC song, You are my Sunshine,  and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Lol

After many are we there yets we arrived in Shilo. We went right into the MFRC,  where the girls were wisked away by their teacher, Miss Chelsea. To start preparing for the ceremony. I went to find a seat on the aisle so that I could get good pictures of the girls. Since Brooke is actually graduating to kindergarten she had a blue cap and Chloe who will be returning to pre-k in the fall had a yellow cap. The director of the MFRC gave a speech and then Miss Chelsea shared some tid bits about the kids with us. Just before the kids came out Miss Chlesea stopped and told me a funny thing Brooke had said to her. Chelsea said I feel like I haven't seen you two in  forever to which Brooke replied with "well,  we've been in Winnipeg cuz we moved there you know" lol

Next the kids made their way to the stage. First the returning students and then the graduates. So Chloe passed by me first,  followed by Brooke.  Brooke came in holding hands with Cale,  who she calls her best friend. It's odd because it's been a long time since she seen him. 

Tanis (Cale s mom) got a good photo of them.

Then the kids sang their favourite songs from the year. Please see the video. 

And then we jumped right into their binders and gifts. Chloe first then Brooke

After the presentations we had a bbq and carnival games in the outdoor rink. The kids had a fantasic time playing the games and they really enjoyed their hotdogs and juice. When we were ready to go we stopped for a photo shoot with Miss Chelsea and the girls cashed in their tickets (from the games) for prizes.

But before we could leave Shilo for possibly the last time we had one last play in the splash park.

Overall,  it was a great day.

In prep for Christmas

I love Christmas.  It reminds me so much of my dad.

Today, we drove into Winnipeg. It was a long drive as the Christmas excitement had me up at 430am.

Once we got to wpg I brought out all the gifts from family and this is what the tree looks like.

Jeremy's in Hawaii

And we are stuck in Shilo! That's what this post is going to be about. lol

I am very happy for him to be off on an adventure, but I think it calls on me going on a girls adventure somewhere...and somewhere other then Canada! lol I would love to go to Hawaii...so many great things to see there.

He just left yesterday, so the girls and I have been trying to keep as busy as possible while he's gone. Seems I have rarely been home in the last few days...but this is a good thing as the girls are tired when we get home. Today, we went to the MFRC for a free Slushie....I did not get one...it's not 7-11 so there is no point in getting one! lol We got home and the girls have been playing outside. This morning we went into Brandon to get our van back...I made a quick stop at Michael's for some yarn and the Future shop for a new adapter for the Satellite radio (which I had to return because it didn't fit...grrrr)

Jeremy however did send me a few photos from his journey this far that I thought you might like for me to share.

This is the airplane that Jeremy traveled from Winnipeg to BC.

This is the seating and accommodations of the Flight. Comfy eh?! Jeremy did mention that they would allow them to sleep on the floor...how kind of them. lol

This was the inflight movie. The Rockies from the air! Beautiful Picture!

Creativity at it's finest!

Sometimes, my children amaze me with their imagination and creativity. It's interesting to see how their little minds work, to watch them put a plan to action and see the outcome of  the plan.

For the last couple of days my dining room has looked like this.....

Anyone with little children might be able to guess what this is.....if you guessed Choo Choo Train you are correct. Chloe is the train driver, and all the stuffies and babies behind her are her passengers or Cussomers as Brooke calls them. Chloe likes to play Choo Choo the best...never know where in the house I might have a train set up. Brooke isn't in this picture because she was very busily working on something else...which is the second part of this post...

This is Brooke's creation....go ahead take a guess at what it might be...lol

If you guessed "Finish Line" you are correct. I should have taken a zoomed in picture so you can see what it's made of. Brooke spent and hour yesterday creating this. It's made from little leaves and tiny stickers. It took her an hour to make and her and Chloe played with it for 5 mins. lol

Tree Removal Excitement

So today we had guys come to trim the trees that border our house and the park. My driveway got a bit messy.

You couldn't really come out our back steps. The girls however had a great time watching the guys cut the tree branches from inside the house. I would get play by plays from them.

Just when I thought the day couldn't get anymore exciting, the guys found a wood pecker nest in one of the trees...which Jeremy and I call the wood pecker tree as there have been wood peckers in that tree since we moved in.

When he started trimming this branch of the tree..he realized there was holes inside and that something had made a nest in there. So he started taking smaller chunks of the branch off...He wanted to cut where the other little branch comes off. He took a cut about an inch or so down from the end of the branch and when he did he seen the baby wood peckers. 

This is a better picture of the branch where he would have cut and you can see the where he made the cut and hammered the tree back together. The guys were a little worried that they may not come back to the nest. As you can kinda tell from this picture one of the guys hammered the piece he cut off back onto the tree to put the nest back a little to the way it was. The mommy and daddy spent most of the day fixing their nest up and I got quite a few good pictures of them.

I was worried this wee little birdy would get in there and eat the babies...I kept a close eye on him. lol I don't even know if birds eat other birds especially ones this small but I couldn't think of another reason he was hanging out near the nest.  All in all the mommy and daddy have returned to the nest!

Pinterest Recipes I love! Part 1

Earlier this year...I found a new site along with many other people in the world called Pinterest. It's basically a bulletin board on the internet. If you find a picture, recipe, craft, video that you like you can "pin it" to your own personal bulletin board.  You can organize your boards by subject so that you pin all like items together.   If I have you interested in checking it out the website is www.pinterest.com, be careful as you may become addicted! haha!

I started pinning recipes when I started on Pinterest and for a long time (months and months) they sat there in my Cooking and Baking board. Recently, I've decided to start making these recipes and if I don't like them I can delete them, or if I do like them I move them to a new board called Cooking and Baking - Tried and Love.

Here are a few recipes that I found that I LOVE. Some are really easy to make and have ingredients that you likely have at home.

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken

4 Chicken Breast

Garlic Powder

Bacon

Chili Powder

Brown Sugar

Olive Oil

Pre-heat oven to 400.

Cut each of the 4 chicken breasts into 3 strips.

Mix together the garlic powder and chili powder. I put the mixture on a plate. (I didn't give amounts to use as it's really a personal taste thing...the more chili powder the more spicy it is. etc)

Roll your chicken strips in the mixture until coated.

Wrap strips in a piece of bacon.

Roll bacon wrapped chicken strips in brown sugar

Put a little olive oil in the bottom of the baking dish.

Cook in the oven for 30-40 mins.

I loved this recipe, the girls didn't seem to care for it as much as I did....sorry that Jeremy missed out on this one...I'll have to make it again when he is home. I served mine with potatoes and frozen green beans and corn.

Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne

6 tbsp butter (more for baking dish)

Pepper and Salt (we left out the salt)

1 pkg of Penne noodles

1 tsp Olive Oil

2 bonless, skinless chicken breast  (cooked and cubed)

1/2 cup, plus 2 tbsp Flour

6 Garlic Cloves (I used garlic powder and it's 1/2tsp per clove)

6 cups Milk

10 oz mushrooms (we didn't use these)

1 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained (I didn't use this either couldn't find them at the store)

1 1/2 cup cheese (we used marble)

1 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 400

Butter 2 shallow 2 quart baking dishes.

In a large pot, boil pasta for 3 mins less then the instructed cooking time. Drain and set aside.

Cook chicken in olive oil until opague 3-5 mins each side.

If you are cooking mushrooms...saute them in the hot pan without the chicken.

In a 5 quart dutch oven, melt butter. 

Add garlic and flour. 

Cook, while whisking for 1 min.

Whisk constantly and gradually add milk.

Bring to a simmer.

Keep Whisking frequently while sauce thickens.

Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook for 1 min.

Take the pan off the heat and add Cheese and 1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese.

Add the chicken and pasta to the pan.

Divide mixture between the two baking dishes.

Add remaining parmesan cheese to the top.

Bake, uncovered for 25 mins.

Let stand for 5 mins before serving.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy this dish. I also added frozen broccoli and cauliflower to the dish. I let it cook with the sauce for a min or two. I also seasoned with parsley.

One more fantastic recipe for you to try and then I'm going to end this post for today.

Fresno Potatoes

4-6 medium Potatoes

6 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

6 green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup Milk

1 1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp flour

2 cups shredded cheese (we used marble)

Salt and Pepper (we didn't use salt)

1/4 cup Panko crumbs ( I couldn't find these at the store either so I just used regular bread crumbs)

5 tbsp melted butter

Boil potatoes, until just tender but not fully cooked.

Drain, cool, peel, and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. (I suggest doing this earlier in the day if you can)

Preheat oven to 350

In a greased, 9x13 pan layer half the potatoes.

Add half the bacon on top.

Add half the onions.

Whisk the milk into the sour cream.

Spread half over the 1st layer, top with cheese.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add another layer of potatoes, bacon, onions, sauce and cheese.

Sprinkle panko crumbs over the top.

Drizzle the butter on top of that.

Bake uncovered for 30 mins.

This was a huge hit in our house. Chloe gobbled them all up, Jeremy had seconds and I had to fight the urge to eat more!

I have a few more recipes that are easy and don't require (odd ingredients) I'll add those another day. Thanks for stopping by!

Freedom of the City Parade and Dinner

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and went to the Freedom of the city parade in Brandon. It was raining and thundering and lightening. It was so loud and the lightening lit up the sky so much that poor Tucker was shaking in his skin as we were getting ready to head out the door. I didn't want to leave him...but, Jeremy assured me that he'd be fine...and of course, he was perfectly fine by the time we got home, except that his milk bones went untouched...which he normally has gone before we even get out the door. lol I got a couple of small videos of the parade, it took me a while to remember that I had a phone/camera/video camera to take photos/videos with, and then I couldn't figure out how to make it so that the videos were longer.

I'm a little upset at this point because I had wrote and awesome little write up for my blog and for some stupid reason it didn't save, so here I am trying to figure out what to say....AGAIN.

The Freedom of the City parade is where the 2VP PPCLI ask permission to march the streets of Brandon and to beat their drums and pipes.

I have no idea why...but I can't seem to upload a video and it's kinda pissing me off. So I'm going to try to figure it out at a later date and hope that I can put it on if not...I'll throw it up on FB and share the link. lol

After the parade, we headed home for brunch. Then, I got the kids ready to head to their friends, Faith and Logan, for a sleepover. (Thanks so much Erin!!! I owe you!) Brooke and Chloe were excited to go to Faith and Logan's house, but I was worried that Chloe wouldn't want to spend the night. I asked her several times on the way to their house "Chloe, Are you going to sleep at Faith's house?" Chloe: " No mommy" But once she was there she settled in quite quickly, and my only text from Erin that evening was letting me know that the girls were settled in for the night.

Once I had dropped the girls off at Erin's house, I headed home to get ready for the Mixed Mess Dinner. I gave myself about 2 hrs to get ready for the dinner, and I think I should have given myself more time as I needed to iron the dress, as well as shower, do my hair, put on my face, get dressed and add finishing touches.

I had originally made a daisy headband to wear...but I really didn't like how it looked once I got my hair done and added it to the hair...so I decided to put a few daisy's in my hair instead. I couldn't get them in where I wanted them, so I ran next door to my neighbor, Melissa, who was quick to save the day and place the flowers in my hair. Once they were in, we added hair spray.....and I'm really happy with how my hair looked. Thanks Melissa!

Melissa helped with the finishing touches as well...she loaned me her pearl necklace, and painted my finger and toe nails. Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my neighbors?!?! I love them all!!!

At the dinner, we had a great meal, good conversation, and heard plenty of speeches. It was 2am before we got home, which I think is the longest mess dinner I have ever been to, and the longest that I think Jeremy has ever attended. Our seat mates, Rose and her husband were nice enough to take this picture of the two of us. Somday, we will get a good picture of us at these mess functions!

Since everyone else there was wearing black or a dark color....I really stood out in my yellow dress...lol Even if I had worn the other dress I have, which is white with burgundy trim, I still would have been the brightest one there. Makes me wonder if it's a fashion faux pas to be brightly dressed at a mess dinner. lol I mean the guys are wearing red! lol

My feet were so sore at the end of the night, I decided to walk home bare foot. Normally, we go to the Officer's Mess for these functions and it's literally across the road from the house, but last night's dinner was at the Sgt's & WO's Mess...which is on the other end of base....really not that far since the base it's too big....maybe 500meters. We made it out of the parking lot, across the road to the side walk, and then an MP stopped and offered us a drive home!!!! Thank You Mr. MP!!!! I've learned a good lesson...pack flip flops in the truck/van for the walk home as my feet are likely going to be sore!

Tanis's Pool

On Wednesday, it was muggy and hot and just all around yucky. I had the kids out playing in the yard and trying to teach Brooke how to use a slip n slide. Which only resulted in me getting soaked, trying to teach her. She'd much rather jump her way down the slide.

After a few mins of that, the girls weren't playing on the slip n slide, so I decided to turn it off and get everyone in the house for a little bit...mostly because I was soaked and wanted dry clothes. lol When I got in I had an invite from Tanis to go to her house so the kids could have a swim in her pool. So we got our water wings and towels and away we went.

 Tanis doesn't have the ladder up yet for the pool, so there was a lot of us lifting kids in and out of the pool. lol The kids preferred to go in the boat anyway. At one point all 3 of them were in the blue boat.

 Cale taking his turn on the little boat.

 Finally got the girls to look at me to take their picture....they were too busy playing and talking to Cale. lol

Cale is really good at getting around in this little boat. It has feet holes in the bottom so the kids can kick their feet and move around.

When we first got there and the kids decided to get in the pool, Chloe took off her shorts...only for me to find out she doesn't have any on under them. Little Monkey must have taken them off when we came in the house to get changed. It was funny because I didn't even realize that she had no bottoms on until then. lol Then she was upset with me because she didn't want to get her shorts wet. lol What a crazy girl she is sometimes. The kids had a great time at Tanis's house and are anxious for our next visit on Monday!

Military Mess Functions....and some ramblings.

I keep thinking that I should post more often....and then things happen and I forget to post.

Tonight, I took a walk down memory lane (looking at old blog posts) with my friend, Erika, and I realized how nice it is to have my memories all in one place. That is, after all, one of the reasons I started this blog, so that I had some place to come watch videos, see pictures and read stories of my life, for when I'm old and can't remember the stories on my own. So, I'm going to try to start again with updating more frequently, so that I can have some place to read my life story.

I feel bad that there isn't as many posts of Chloe as there is of Brooke. I know that it was A LOT easier to write, update, photograph, and video when I only had one child. When Chloe was a baby, I was very busy chasing a 16 month old toddler, now I'm very busy with two toddlers. Between their activities at the Shilo MFRC and normal life happenings, I find myself running out of hours in a day.

Let's see what's new....well....2 weeks ago Jeremy and I went to the Spring Ball for the Officers here in Shilo. The meal was delicious and I heard that the dancing was awesome as well...since we didn't stay for the dancing, I can only go by what I heard. By the time the meal was done, my feet were sore and I was tired of being braless. Serves me right for forgetting that I threw out my old strapless bra...must remember to get a new one before the next mess function that I might need it for.

We have another mess function this weekend, but it's a cocktail dress code. I had to buy a new dress for that one and new shoes...which is a story all on it's own. lol I'll be sure to post new pictures of that mess function when I get them.

I guess I could share the shoe and dress stories....the dress really isn't all that entertaining as I bought it off the website www.ever-pretty.com and it was delivered to me here in Shilo all the way from China. It arrived on time and is exactly what I had envisioned. I actually got two dresses because they had a buy 1 get 1 sale on. So I paid 72 dollars for 2 cocktail dresses and 25 of that was for express shipping to make sure I had it here in time for the dinner.

The shoes, however, are a whole other story on their own. I spent 4 hours in the Polo Park Mall in Winnipeg searching for the perfect shoes. After going to all the stores in the mall looking for a particular style of shoe and not finding it in white, I decided to just go back to all the stores and look at ALL the available white shoes and make my choice from that. 4 hours later I walked out with a nice shoe to wear to the dinner.

Excuse the quality as the photo was taken with my cell phone in the mall. lol But these are the shoes I decided to go with. I also bought the inserts for the toes. Total spent 52 dollars. Needless to say, when I mentioned buying a purse to match, Jeremy suggested that I go purse-less. LOL