Things I am loving today

Things I am loving today:
* Hope For Wellness - my friend Leah has just started a business balancing hormones. It is truly fascinating how much our hormones control our bodies and how empowering it is to learn how to maintain and balance them. Check it out!
* Music - Kevin bought some new guitar strings for me yesterday and while he was at the music store, the owner was giving away a slightly damaged guitar for free. The kids LOVE it and we have been having band practice every since.

* Yoga in my front room with the dog positioning himself right at the top of the mat, making sure I am doing it properly!!
* Far Away - Inspirations from Far East, a CD of beautiful Chinese bamboo flute music I picked up at the Southbank markets in Brisbane 10 years ago. I still love listening to it and it still stirs such powerful emotions in me.
* Our new garden path that my amazing husband and little helper Harry completed a few weekends back.

* The beauty outside right now! The flowers about to burst open, the strawberries soon to come, the colours everywhere all bright and sunny....what a beautiful world we live in.

* My little computer nook, located in the middle of the kitchen, the heart of our home and the place I seem to spend a large amount of time. I plan on making it look more 'pretty' (yikes, did I say that?!) but for now I am loving the comfort and location just as it is.

* Did anyone notice my new, lovely tea cup?? It was a present from my sister-in-law and I love it. It is so nice to have a special cup just for me. The tea tastes even better now - thanks Michelle!

* The return of my lush, green beautiful plant to our front room. Thanks to M.I.L and F.I.L for plant sitting while we were in Oz. He looks so handsome and how I have missed him.

I would love to know what things you are loving right now.....it is pretty fun too, to remind yourself of all the great things in your life right at this moment. Give it a go!

House sitting

On the weekend we were able to help out our friends by house sitting their farm. It is such a beautiful place to stretch out and enjoy but with it comes a lot of hard work. But we still found lots of time to play. I got to do some exercises with Betty, a lovely little horse I am very excited about getting to ride. She is teaching me a lot of things and even though I love to ride, I am enjoying the challenge and thrill of doing ground work with her more. Kevin found the quad in the shed and he quickly came up with an excuse to ride it. The boys enjoyed running around the big open spaces. It does make our dream of owning our own property one day burn brightly within us.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Last night I was running late making something for dinner and with Kevin's parents soon to arrive I had to think of something quick. I remembered the big jar of roasted red peppers I had bought and also this post by Julie for Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. I cheated a little by using the jar (Julie roasted her own) but it made it quicker. I will definately roast my own next time though. It turned out really well and I highly recommend it to you all. I also added a sprinkling of feta and used chilli spices instead of real chillies. So for a very quick and healthy meal, complimented by a spinach salad, I think we did pretty well. We ate outside and enjoyed the beautiful Spring weather. How about you? Do you have any quick and healthy receipes to share?

Tonight Kevin was at rugby training. (Yes, you read that correctly, I said rugby training). In Canada you ask? I guess it is really no stranger than Kevin playing hockey in Australia!! There are quite a few teams playing in this area and Kevin is enjoying the high level of fitness required to play. The training is at supper time though so dinner is always a casual affair these night. Seeing dinner was so yummy last night, the kids and I decided to have it again. As you can see by the boys faces they thoroughly enjoyed it!

Before dinner we decided to make some labels for the boys toy bins. Although I am not overly excited about the plastic containers, they were handed down by the boys big cousins, so in effect are being recycled. We had a lot of fun making the labels and it will make clean up time a lot easier for Sam. Sam enjoyed getting the tape ready and Harry liked placing the stickers 'just so'. Speaking of Harry, he is really into dinosaurs, as I am sure most boys his age are. I thought I would share some other dinosaur images from his room. Enjoy!

A visit to the Lake

Kevin's family from Calgary were visiting their parents at the Lake a few weeks ago, so we went for the day with Kevin's parents and his beautiful Grandma to see everyone. It was a cool day so although we were unable to swim in the lake we had a lovely day eating a yummy lunch, playing soccer, Baci, colouring and taking some time out in the hammock. Ah....welcome back to BC!!

Creating BC memories

We arrived home to a cold Spring here in BC. To be honest, it was a welcome change from the hot weather of Brisbane. The snow was almost all melted and the first buds were starting on the trees. Spring really is an exciting time of year here. I was already imagining the layout for our garden and dreaming of the beautiful, lush grass I knew we would soon have.
We had a BBQ in my in-laws backyard to celebrate being home. Do you know how many Chartres family members you can fit in a hot tub on a mild Spring day?

And there is Buddy, our much loved but very squeaky dog. It was so exciting to see him again, even if he has already busted the new screens and pooped on the floor. The kids are in love with him and are constantly calling him to follow them. They get very cross with me as he is a bit of a mummys boy and tends to want to follow me instead! He has already been on a mountain bike ride with Kevin. He was trembling with excitement and squeaking with great squeakiness, that only he can. He came home with some very tired, but very happy paws. He is sleeping now on the bedroom floor beside Harry. Very content and happy to have us home. I must say, we are happy to be home with him too.

Our last few days at home, I will treasure. I wish I had taken more photo's as there seems to be so many memories in my mind and no pictures to match.
We spent one day out at Paul and Bianca's playing with the kids. Thomas and Caitlin had a great playset in the back yard. There was so many areas for imagination and some loving memories created.

Our beautiful Caitlin watching over the boys!!

A secret meeting under the trampoline

I remember moments like these spent with my cousins. I look back on those times with such fond emotions. I do hope that the boys remember the fantastic times they shared with their Aussie cousins. They surely miss them already.

The Tuesday before we left we were lucky enough to be able to go to Dreamworld with Grant and his family. Now, Dreamworld is in no way as educational as Seaworld, but it was FUN!!!! The kids really enjoyed it and again, got to spend some very memorable time with their cousins.

Then, lastely, we had our farewell family dinner. It is always a loud, crazy and fun time when we all get together and this night was no exception. We had a very yummy lamb dinner (thanks again Aileen) and pavlova! It was bitter sweet though seeing the kids playing together so beautifully to know that would be the last time, for a long time. It makes me so sad to be apart from my family but I am ever so grateful for the 5 months we had together. I have a wonderful family and I miss you guys!

Lastly, I will leave you with some images Kevin captured of Sandgate the morning before we left. I will miss looking at that beautiful view every morning......

Farewell to dear friends

Hello to all our Aussie friends. We miss you already!!!! Wow, it really has been a long time since I have written. I thought I would take time this week to write about our last few days in Australia starting with Harrison and his farewell from Brighton State School. Mrs McNicols is a fantastic teacher and Harry is really missing her wonderful influence. He was also so sad to say goodbye to his dear little friends. They put on a lovely party for Harry and it was a day I am sure we will both never forget.......

The walk down to Harry's classroom

The bag area and front door

The kids cubby area....

Classroom...

Harry sharing a moment with his beautiful teacher

Prep M!!!

Harry and Sam celebrating with Harry's mates

We were able to bring some work books and memories from Brighton that Harry has proudly showed off to his classmates here. He has even worn his uniform once! He is missing the full days but he only has 4 more weeks of Kindy, a few months break and then into grade 1!!!!!!!!

I too had a lovely farewell from my friends. My girls (even though a few were absent, I know they were there in spirit :) )took me to dinner on the Redcliffe waterfront for a lovely, lovely Italian meal and wonderful company. I am going to dearly miss their friendships and hugs.....but most of all I will miss the sound of our children playing together, only slightly muffled by the laughter and chatter of us mums. My beautiful Wild Women of the Eastern Rainbow, what light you have shone on my family. I will miss you dearly but I know you are only a rainbow away!

As you can see from the collages I have found a new website www.picknik.com and have been playing around with it. I LOVE IT!!! I hope to spend some more time updating the blog and playing around with our pictures. See you again soon!!!