Zombies anyone?

I'm not sure, but for some reason I can't get the link to come up for this Youtube video so if you just go to youtube and type in plants vs zombies music video you'll get to see it. Olivia and William are singing this all the time. That's why I posted them lip singing to it.

He Likes it !

So here's a picture you don't see often. Derek actually liking something I make. He's not really into my vegan/healthy cooking so it is so nice when he likes what I serve. I want the kids to eat healthy but it seems at some point they always rebel. I have to say though, that my kids have been really good at always trying something and then in a few months trying it again. I tell them your taste buds change as you get older so you have to retry stuff. Anyways Derek is holding a plate of my Red Bean Coleslaw.

This is not your traditional Coleslaw. The dressing is not sweet, but flavorful, and it has soft kidney beans that work perfectly against the crunchy slaw. I use a bag of store bought coleslaw mix when I make this ---- SO EASY!. In the picture I had put my coleslaw on a mound of greens just for added nutrition but really its best on its own.

Red Bean Coleslaw
1.Combine in bottom of salad bowl and whisk till smooth and mixed. 3/4c.vegan (or regular) mayonnaise, 1/4c. red wine vinegar, 1T. sugar, 1 T. minced fresh parsley (have used dried 1tsp.),1tsp. dried oregano, 1/2tsp. salt, 1/4tsp. black pepper
2.Then throw in 3c.cabbage, finely chopped (or grocery store coleslaw mix whole bag as long as it's not more than 4c.), 1 small red onion chopped finely, 1 large celery stalk,finely chopped, and 1 19oz (540ml) can of Kidney beans, drained and rinsed. Toss this all so that the dressing is mixed through out the ingredients. Just before serving add 1/4c. imitation "bacon" bits (optional).

You should give this a good hour to marinate but if you don't have an hour you can chow down right away. The imitation "bacon" bits are optional and sometimes I just let people garnish their own serving. I hope you will give this recipe a try because it is sooo delicious and it's a great one to take to a picnic or pot luck. Summer is coming to an end and coleslaw always reminds me of summer. Hey! maybe that's why I have made this recipe three times in the last week. Chow til next time.

School

We have just completed our second week of school at the Macpherson Academy and things are as crazy as ever. Poor William, after that rainy weekend at the fair he came down with a terrible sore throat and finally after three days I took him to a walk in clinic. He had Strep throat,poor kid. So he actually didn't start his school work till this past week. Olivia has been doing great and sped through all her work before lunch each day. She waits for William and I because we do our History studies together. I feel that we are going to have another great year including some great projects that we always seem to put off.

"Oh no, not SCHOOL!"


William's Studies


Olivia's studies

It has always been difficult to fit some of those other things like arts and crafts into our program. William and Olivia both love to draw so it has become my goal to do some more structured art classes. I can't afford to pay for instruction but we will be using the book Drawing with Young children. I have been reading it and am really inspired to actually do it along with the children. So on Wednesday mornings we will be spending some of our school time in ART class. Here are a few pictures that Olivia just did on her own. She loves using color. Enjoy!

Whoops!

I have been trying to change the layout and design of my blog and I am so frustrated. I'm so not good with this computer. I am determined to work this out and learn something. I like to blog about things that are going on in our lives but I want it to look cool too. I've been visiting other peoples blogs and some of them are so amazing. How do they do that? Well I'll just have to keep at it because I really want to do this thing right.

Hey I did it!!! I like the new look - for a while anyway.

Vermont's Champlain Valley Fair

We went to the Champlain Valley Fair in Vermont this past weekend. It was so fun. The kids loved all the rides and being with their friends William, Matthew and Grace. A big thanks to Miriam for letting us crash at her house. It was nice to be with her in her new home. Which, by the way, is so adorable. I just love Burlington it's such a lovely city. Amy Venu came down too and we were able to sneak out without the kids to a farmer's market on Saturday morning in downtown Burlington. Vermont is a lovely state.
So here are some pictures for your enjoyment

Amy and I at the Farmer's Market


FREAK OUT!!!! This was Olivia's and Grace's favorite ride.


Olivia and Grace BFF's


Amazing sand sculpture.


This is the only picture I have of William M. and William B.


Munching Mums. If you haven't noticed by now it rained the whole day but we still had a good time. After the popcorn I got a funnel cake -- delicious !! Of course anything deep fried is tasty. I looked up funnel cakes online and found a recipe so I may give it a go. Maybe for my birthday?

Ottawa

Last week we took Derek to Youth Conference in Ottawa. Instead of returning home to Montreal the rest of the family stayed for a little vacation. Our friends the Mitchells had just moved back from Edmonton and we were so excited to see them. It is going to be awesome having them live closer again - we have such fun times.
After the drop off and a quick visit with our friends, mom, dad, William and Olivia headed to the Ottawa's Museum of Nature. It was under renovations but was still an amazing display of God's creations including the Dinosaur. Everyone enjoyed the experience and of course Olivia bought a stuffed toy. (like she doesn't have a million already!!!!)


We actually stayed at the Comfort Inn in Kanata, Ontario which is a town just west of Ottawa. It was very close so getting to Ottawa was very quick and the price was right. The motel provided a great breakfast every morning so that was one meal we didn't have to think about. I'm proud to say that we didn't eat out at all. I planned all our meals bringing food from home and buying stuff at the grocery store in Ottawa. We had sandwiches for lunch everyday and for dinner the first evening we bought a grocery store roast chicken and bagged salad and I had brought coleslaw and bean salad from home. For our first night we ate at Britannia Bay a beautiful beach with beautiful grounds and the water looked so good. Sadly we didn't go swimming there but I'm sure we will return another time. We finally made it to our hotel and unloaded the van. We just vegged out for the rest of the evening. The weather was amazing the whole time. We have been experiencing a heat wave with temperatures reaching over 30C and then high humidity so it felt like 40C.

Friday morning we visited the Canadian Mint. They make the most beautiful coins there. The children were very impressed by the bars of silver and gold. They brought home a holder for collecting the 2010 Olympic games coins. So far Olivia is in the lead with 3 coins. So if any of you happen upon those quarters we will be glad to exchange with you. Sadly, you are not allowed to take pictures in the Mint so we took some fun ones outside.





Later after lunch we went on a boat cruise around the Ottawa river. The guide, Adam was great, pointing out all the interesting buildings and telling us amusing stories. It was also a relief from the city heat to be on the cooling water because we were melting!!!



This is the Rideau Falls they were so cool and by cool I mean the boat got so close we could feel its wonderful spray.

The Rideau canal is amazing to see with the boats waiting for the locks to open so they can go out to the river.


You can't visit the capital of Canada and not go to the Parliament Buildings.

On Saturday we went to the Aviation Museum.




We had a wonderful time in Ottawa it really is a great city to visit with kids of all ages. On Saturday after the Aviation museum we drove around and saw Rideau Hall and the Prime Ministers house. Then we picked up Derek from Youth Conference and headed to the Mitchells for dinner and one last visit before hitting the road back to Montreal. We loved our vacation with all the sun and great places to visit it was a blast!!!

The Mitchells

Decluttering Chaos

Hello,
Well I have had a crazy week of decluttering my basement. It has started with just won storeroom but one room led to another. I have really noticed how much stuff we have that we don't really use but just have stored away in neat rubbermaid containers. Some I haven't looked in for 7 years, that's when we moved here! I've really decided to stop buying stuff. I'm going to Live Lean. I am going to ask my self myself important questions before I buy things--- Do I have the room? Can I borrow it? Do I really need it? Especially when it comes to crafts and things. I have way too much and really no time to do crafts. I wish I had a camera so I could have shown you the before and after,but the digital is with Stephen in Victoria. I do feel better now but now I have to clean cause the rest of the house has fallen apart. And I guess this means that I will have to work on the upstairs too. Now I have to try and keep it organized. I don't know why but I have a hard time keeping things orderly my life tends toward chaos.