A Walk on the Wilde Side

Blueberry Zucchini Bread (with Crunchy Lemon Glaze)

2012-02-02T17:23:00.001-07:00

I randomly decided to bake this this morning. I needed some baking therapy. And I changed the recipe a bit - added the lemon glaze, 'cause I thought it would be yummy.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

3 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup oil
3 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup white sugar
2 cups finely shredded zucchini
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 TBSP cinnamon
2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F
Beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla
Fold in zucchini
Mix the dry ingredients together and beat into wet mixture
Wash blueberries and dust with flour (this helps stop the blueberries from "bleeding" into the batter - it's not a huge deal with the recipe as the batter is dark because of the cinnamon, but I just do it anyway)
Gently fold dusted blueberries into batter
Lightly grease and flour 4 small or 2 large loaf pans
Divide evenly between all loaf pans
Bake for appox. 50 minutes in the small loaf pans and 1 hour 20 minutes in the large loaf pans
Place loaf pans on cooling rack for about 20 minutes to cool before removing from the pan to cool.

Now you could just stop here. And Anise wishes I had. But I just felt that a blueberry loaf wouldn't be complete without a lemon glaze, even though there is no lemon in the recipe. So I just scrounged one up from here.It's different that your everyday run of the mill lemon glaze (which I like just fine) which is just what I wanted.

Lemon Glaze

2 lemons, juiced (about 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix it all together and drizzle over completely cooled loaves. Tip: Put a piece of parchment paper under the cooling rack before you drizzle the glaze. So much easier to clean up.

Yum!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

10 on Tuesday

2012-01-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

1. Kananaskis was great! I got a bit of scrapbooking done, got to visit with Med School/Residency friends, play games and take it easy.

Sean going for the goal (which he got) during the UofC vs UofA ball hockey game.

2. Last night for FHE we went to IKEA. We had dinner there and then took Kaden and Anise to the play area. They were sad when the hour was up, and disappointed that we still had half the store to go through. Anise has already requested we go back to play again.

3. Maggie was really sad that she didn't get to go in the play place, so Sean grabbed her one of the kids stuffies so she would stay happy for us to look around. Unfortunately she then proceeded to chew on and spit chocolate milk on it, so now it lives with us.

It suits Maggie quite well actually. One of her favorite words right now is "socks" so she is really excited that her stuffy has socks too.

4. We finally tracked down Kaden's winter boots, and returned the other ones

5. We had chicken tacos for dinner tonight. I got the chicken recipe from here. And the weather is so nice that we even got to BBQ the chicken, which makes it that much better!

6. Kaden requested that he not get his hair cut until the weekend because he wanted to have a mo-hawk this week.

7. Sean has already started getting the paper work in for his license - and we're hoping that all his numbers and privileges will come before he starts working in July. Yup, it takes that long.

8. Sean and I are booking a trip to Mexico in April. Our first tropical vacation! Anyone want to watch the kids for us?

9. Anise is convinced that the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books are really called "Diary of a Whoopee Cushion" and we can't talk her out of it.

10. We got Anise's surgery date - April 19. Sean has explained everything to her about what is going to happen. She's excited for the Popsicle.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-25T23:14:00.001-07:00

10 on Tuesday (On Wednesday)

2012-01-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

1. Last week the stomach flu continued making it's way through our house. First me on Wednesday, then Kaden on Saturday. It was H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E.! Last night was the first night that I felt like I could eat a real (small) meal. Kaden was of course fine by Monday morning.

2. I'm so glad that the cold weather didn't stick around for long.

This pretty much sums up the weather last week

3. The week of cold weather froze a lot of water lines - including the one in the laundry/mail room in our court. So the washers are out of commission. Which means we have to go to the office to get a key for one of the other courts laundry/mail room, haul all the dirty clothes to another court, hope no one else is doing laundry and get it done before the office closes so we can return the key. Yay!

4. Sean really enjoyed playing in the hockey tournament on Saturday, and getting to spend time with friends from Med School. The kids and I did manage to swing by and watch one game before Kaden started throwing up (all over the arena floor)

5. Sean has an Emergency Medicine Conference in Kanaskis this weekend - and I'm coming along sans kids! Thank-you Mom and Dad Wilde! I just booked a facial at the spa and can't wait to have a bit of time off (especially after two weeks of throw-up fest)

6. After my facial I plan on getting some long overdue scrapbooking done. And some reading.

7. This morning I realized that we have lived in Calgary for almost 7 months, and I have yet to go to IKEA!

8. Maggie's favorite words right now are "juice" and "cool"

9. Kaden has brought home 3 or 4 different pairs of boots from school this winter because he doesn't know what his look like. A couple of them were 1- 1 1/2 sizes too small.

10. Anise has had some nasty kidney infections this summer - a couple requiring IV treatment. We now know that she has reflux, and that a simple 5 or 10 minute surgery can help correct it. We don't have an exact date yet, but probably sometime in April she'll have it done.

Climbing Mount Everest

2012-01-19T15:21:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine shared this article on her blog and I thought it hit the nail on the head.

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Every time I'm out with my kids -- this seems to happen:
An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, "Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast."
Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.
I know that this message is right and good. But, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn't work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong.
I think parenting young children (and old ones, I've heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they've heard there's magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it's hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.
And so I think that if there were people stationed, say, every thirty feet along Mount Everest yelling to the climbers -- "ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF!? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD BE! ONE DAY YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN'T!" TRUST US!! IT'LL BE OVER TOO SOON! CARPE DIEM!" -- those well-meaning, nostalgic cheerleaders might be physically thrown from the mountain.
Now. I'm not suggesting that the sweet old ladies who tell me to ENJOY MYSELF be thrown from a mountain. These are wonderful ladies. Monkees, probably. But last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: "Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast."

At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn't find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, "Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you."
That's not exactly what I wanted to say, though.
There was a famous writer who, when asked if he loved writing, replied, "No. but I love having written." What I wanted to say to this sweet woman was, "Are you sure? Are you sure you don't mean you love having parented?"
I love having written. And I love having parented. My favorite part of each day is when the kids are put to sleep (to bed) and Craig and I sink into the couch to watch some quality TV, like Celebrity Wife Swap, and congratulate each other on a job well done. Or a job done, at least.
Every time I write a post like this, I get emails suggesting that I'm being negative. I have received this particular message four or five times -- G, if you can't handle the three you have, why do you want a fourth?

That one always stings, and I don't think it's quite fair. Parenting is hard. Just like lots of important jobs are hard. Why is it that the second a mother admits that it's hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she's not doing it right? Or that she certainly shouldn't add more to her load. Maybe the fact that it's so hard means she IS doing it right...in her own way...and she happens to be honest.
Craig is a software salesman. It's a hard job in this economy. And he comes home each day and talks a little bit about how hard it is. And I don't ever feel the need to suggest that he's not doing it right, or that he's negative for noticing that it's hard, or that maybe he shouldn't even consider taking on more responsibility. And I doubt anybody comes by his office to make sure he's ENJOYING HIMSELF. I doubt his boss peeks in his office and says: "This career stuff...it goes by so fast...ARE YOU ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT IN THERE, CRAIG???? CARPE DIEM, CRAIG!"

My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn't enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn't in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn't MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I'd wake up and the kids would be gone, and I'd be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.
But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here's what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:
"It's helluva hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime." And hopefully, every once in a while, I'll add -- "Let me pick up that grocery bill for ya, sister. Go put those kids in the van and pull on up -- I'll have them bring your groceries out."

Anyway. Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn't work for me. I can't even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.
Here's what does work for me:
There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.
Then there's Kairos time. Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.
Like when I actually stop what I'm doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can't hear her because all I can think is -- This is the first time I've really seen Tish all day, and my God -- she is so beautiful. Kairos.
Like when I'm stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I'm haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I'm transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I'll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world's mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.
Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.
These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.
If I had a couple Kairos moments during the day, I call it a success.
Carpe a couple of Kairoses a day.
Good enough for me.

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Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

10 on Tuesday

2012-01-17T09:44:00.001-07:00

1. Sean got home from Lethbridge on Saturday afternoon. It's so nice to have him back. And it means he has only 4 more weeks of out of town time left. Yay!

2. I know we were getting spoiled with warm winter weather, but BRRRRR! Did it have to get THIS cold all of a sudden! I don't appreciate the -40 windchill

3. Last week was a week of sick for us. First Anise, then Maggie and Me. Kaden somehow missed it...lucky boy.

4. My eyes (and meal idea's) were bigger than our fridge this week. Luckily the weather has provided us ample cold storage space on the deck...maybe a bit too cold.

5. Kaden joined the Young Engineers Robotics club at school. The first meeting is today at lunch and he was so very excited to design and build robots today.

6. My eye finally stopped twitching

7. Sean is playing in the 4th Annual Kimmett Cup Pond Hockey tournament this weekend. The good news is a couple of the games are at the arena, and the forecast-ed high for Saturday is now 0, and not -18 like it was a couple days ago

8. I should be doing laundry today, but since I have to haul everything over to the laundry/mail room to do it, and it's so cold out today I think I'll make cookies instead. Or maybe I'll just eat the cookie dough.

9. Maggie is one busy kid. She's at that age where she is into everything all the time, and you just want to duct tape her to a chair for 10 minutes so you can catch your breath. Or give her your phone to play with and hope she doesn't buy or delete too many apps while you quickly run to the bathroom. Alone.

10. Despite the new windows, our house is VERY drafty. So I'm thankful that gas and electricity are included in rent so I can crank the heat - 'cause it's cold!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

10 on Tuesday

2012-01-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

1. We had a wonderfully fun and relaxing Christmas break in Lethbridge. It was nice to spend some time with friends and family - AND we got to see Sean!

2. Maggie needed some bribery (good thing Santa has candy canes) but she eventually would stand close enough that I could get a picture

Santa trying to bribe her

checking out the man in the red suit


finally got a picture

3. My left eye/eyelid will randomly spasm several times a day for over 3 weeks now. It's driving me CRAZY!

4. We miss the Steed's....a lot! So glad that we got to spend a day with them over Christmas break. We can't wait to move closer so we can take over their house on a regular basis again.

Maggie and Eli picking their noses....a match made in heaven

5. Sean will be doing out of town rotations for only 8 weeks in his third year - way better than the 8 months in his second year. AND because of the kids school schedule we get to tag along for almost 3 of those weeks!

6. I have a long long list of projects that I want to do this year. Unfortunately most of them involve our house in Lethbridge, so they'll have to wait until we get back...and I'm getting antsy

7. I'm making these this afternoon. YUM!

8. My BIL gave us some awesome knives for Christmas this year. Like real professional chef knives. They are awesome! I've only sliced my finger open once - nice clean cut.

9. I bought some Amy Butler fabric (for $7-$8/meter!!) and this book to make a quilt for our bed. I can't wait to get started!

10. I'm taking another stab at Project Life this year, and if you want to follow along you can here

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! We have :-)

Sean is currently doing an elective in Lethbridge Emergency for 4 weeks (starting December 19). Because he is now in a large city Residency program, Lethbridge is considered a rural site, so the program provides housing for him (and us!). So the kids and I headed down here December 23 once school was all finished, and have enjoyed having a bit more space, a dishwasher (even though it's a dinosaur and has to be dragged across the kitchen and hooked up to the sink) and a free washer and dryer that's actually inside the house! Those things alone would be a great Christmas present for me, but in true fashion, I was spoiled with other presents this year too.

My sister and her hubby were able to come up for a week for Christmas too. It was so great to see them again. Now if only I could convince them to move closer :-) In August, when Lurel was visiting I got this crazy idea that we should make a quilt for Dad for Christmas. We were fabric browsing and saw the cutest Dr. Seuss prints, and since Dad is a Dr. Seuss fan, and I wanted an excuse to buy some of it...well, you see where it went. Problem is, Lurel lives almost 15 hours away from me, and neither one of us has a private jet so getting together to work on it together was out of the question. So I made the top (since it was my idea in the first place) and she was in charge of getting the backing, batting and yarn. The plan was to back, quilt and bind it on the 23rd after I arrived with the kiddos. Now, for any of you who have ever traveled with kids you know that a scheduled departure time is just when the ideal time to leave would be. It has absolutely nothing to do with when you will actually leave. Add to that all the extra Christmas gifts, winter gear, dirty laundry (because it was free to wash and dry for two whole weeks! So of course I brought all the bedding too) it became van Tetris really fast. Needless to say, we didn't leave when I wanted to. So by the time we got here, unloaded the van, quickly took Kaden Christmas shopping for Sean, and made our way to Grandma's house it was time for dinner. By the time all that was done and cleaned up, it was getting late. Mom helped us get the backing cut and sewn, and then did the "pillow binding*" to save time.We got it on the frame, and called it a night.

Mom hates to hand stitch, and I inherited the aversion, but she may have sewn the hole a bit too small to get the quilt through.

*I have no idea what this is really called, or if it even has a name, so we'll go with that. You put your fabric right sides together, put the batting on top and stitch around the quilt leaving an opening to turn it right sides out, like when you make a pillow. Then hand stitch the opening shut - you don't have to do any binding, and very little hand stitching and save a ton of time.

Christmas Eve, we had Raclette and chocolate fondue. Maggie and Anise were extremely fond of the chocolate. Oh so yummy!

Raclette!

Carrots and chocolate, a winning combination

Ready to get started

Afterwards Lurel and I snuck downstairs to quilt for a bit before the kiddos were ready to get ready for Santa.

Maggie was even helping so we could be done in time for Christmas

We all came back to our place, opened Christmas PJ's and watched Mr. Bean's Christmas. We sent the kids to bed, and Lurel and Mom took off for Grandma's to get the quilt finished, while Sean and I finished wrapping presents.

Christmas PJ's sewn by Grandma

Yearly Christmas Stocking picture

Christmas morning was present time!


I made the pigs - thank-you pinterest!


Maggie trying to get to the bottom of her stocking

Kaden and Anise trying out their new Zipfy snow racers. Might as well, there is just as much snow in the house as there is outside.

Dad checking out his quilt!

Every one's all time favorite present this year

Luckily for us my parents ward started at 11:30am, so we weren't too rushed to get there. Lurel, Sam, Sean and I sang in the ward choir with Mom because they needed some extra voices with so many people being gone for the holidays. It was great being in a choir again.

After sacrament meeting, we headed home to change, and then back to Grandma Frache's for yummy Christmas dinner. We had so many people there, I don't think we could have fit anyone else in - it was great! Grandma and Grandpa Brooks came in for dinner too, and Uncle Rick and Aunt Sheila surprised them by flying in from Ontario for Christmas. After we played games and visited and had fun together.

As Maggie would say "OOOOOOOOOOO! Peety!"

The next couple days were pretty low key. We went to look at Christmas lights (which Maggie LOVES! - she even had a small tantrum when it was time to leave Bland's house. I think she could have stayed there all night) Sam, Lurel, Sean and I went to the Temple Tuesday while Mom watched the kids for us. We played games, we ate more yummy food, we watched movies and we relaxed.

Friday night we got together with friends from Med school and Family Residency. It was so great to see them and their kids (and our kids were uber excited to see their friends again too) and laugh and visit. I'm excited to live closer so we can make our get together a more regular thing.

The kids then got to go have a sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple days, while Sean and I had a "stay-cation". We got somewhat caught up on our sleep, played games, watched a movie, went out to eat and hung out just the two of us. It was a much needed break after all the chaos of the last few months. Thank-you Mom and Dad for watching the kids!

Sean with the giant Carcasonne game with all the expansions we have with us added

We've got a lot planned for this week before the kids and I head back, so I'll have to make sure I stay on top of posting here - it's my New Year's resolution :-)

Well wouldn't you know it....

2011-11-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

I am still alive!!!

I know you'll never believe it, but I'm sitting on the floor of a hotel bathroom waiting for Maggie to conk out and have a nap, while Sean and the kids are at the pool swimming, so I figured this was the most opportune time I was going to get. 'Cause we have a lot planned this weekend. Because we've been so busy that if we weren't really busy on our vacation too we probably wouldn't know what to do with ourselves and get bored.

So this isn't going to be a complete update for a few reasons:

1. Maggie will never sleep long enough for me to even begin to scratch the surface of what we've been up to the last 6 months
2. My computer battery will die long before I get to everything
3. My legs and but will fall asleep from sitting on a hard cold tile floor for that long
4. I don't have all our pictures on my laptop, and some stories are just better with pictures
5. The hotels internet connection is incredibly SLOW, so I don't think it could handle a post with more than one or two pictures and words all at the same time
6. You would all lose interest partway through the post anyway, and then still wouldn't know what we've been up to.

I will try my bestest to catch up slowly, and that will just have to do.

So back to the sitting on the bathroom floor of a hotel room thing.

Sean has just finished the last week of a crazy busy, 100+ hr/week, 10 week long rotation. So he needed a break, away from the hospital, and the 3 roads he drove on the get there and back (because lets face it, he hasn't really driven anywhere else in the last 10 weeks). And I needed a break from the house and everything else. So we booked a hotel, packed up the kids and drove to Edmonton. We're spending 4 days here and so far having a great time! We took the kids to West Edmonton Mall this morning, after "sleeping in". Now don't go and get all excited for us - these days our sleeping in is anything past 6 am, so when the kids didn't wake up until 7:30am and didn't make us get out of bed until 8:30am, it was heaven! We headed over to the mall, watched the Remembrance Day ceremony, and then let them marvel at the shear awesomeness of the mall. We spent a bit of cash, and let the kids go on a few rides in Galaxyland, and play some games. After a late lunch at the food court we came back to the hotel, and here I am hiding out in the bathroom so Maggie will sleep.

I will try and post some of our video's and pics when we get home (see number 5), but for now, I'll try and leave you with this great Remembrance Day video that I just stole from my sister's blog :-)

An Easter to remember - good thing we have pictures!

2011-04-27T22:18:00.000-06:00

Easter was crazy busy this year. My sister, her husband and his family (Mom, Dad, Brothers and Sisters) were here for their Canadian Wedding Reception. So we had desserts to bake, wedding favors to make, and of course Rocky Mountains to show off. Oh, and food to eat. And eggs to colour. And then hunt. And food to eat. And a gym to decorate. And un-decorate. And food to eat. And family to visit. And somewhere in all that, it was Easter. So we had food to eat. Needless to say, it was a fun and busy weekend. And I think all our pants are fitting a bit tighter than they should. Because we had food to eat after all.

So anyway, in a rare quiet moment with Sean, the kids and I we started talking about Easter and what it really means. Once we got past the Easter Bunny comments, we started talking about Jesus. It went something like this:

Sean: What did Jesus do for us?
Kaden: He died
Anise: That's sad
S: It is a bit isn't it. But what happened after he died?
K: They buried him
Me: Yup, and what happened after that?
A: They went to visit him, but he was gone!
Me: And why was he gone?
(silence)
S: Was he resurrected?
K: Oh ya
A: Yes!
S: Do you know what resurrected means?
K: No, not really
A: Nope!
S: It means he came to life again
A (while jumping to her feet and shaking her bum) : BOO-YA! BOO-YA!
S (while chuckling heartily): Yup, Boo-ya! Take that death!

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On a less sacrilegious note, I have this cookie recipe that you make as you read passages in the scriptures. Eater Story Cookies. I've had it for about 4 or 5 years now, but I always forget about it until just after Easter. This year, despite the running like a chicken with it's head cut off weekend we had, I remembered to make them with the kids. It was fun and a great spiritual experience for the whole family. I did however forget to take a picture of the finished project - so you'll just have to make them yourself.

Easter Story Cookies
To be made the evening before Easter

You need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important! Don't wait until you are half done. Do this now!)

Read John 19:1-3 Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the spoon to break into small pieces.

Read John 19:28-30 Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink. Let each child smell (and if they want taste) the vinegar. Put 1 tsp into mixing bowl.

Read John 10:10-11 Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Eggs represent life. Add egg whites to mixing bowl

Read Luke 23:27 Explain that our tears, and the tears of Jesus' followers taste salty. Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it, and brush the rest into the bowl.

So far the ingredients don't look or smell very yummy.

Read Psalms 34:8 and John 3:16. The best part of this story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to be close to him. The best part of these cookies are the sugar. Add the sugar to the bowl.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes until very stiff peaks are formed.

Read Isiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3 The colour white represents our sins that are made white through the Atonement

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheets (you may need two)

Read Matthew 27:57-60. The cookie mounds represent the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.

Read Matthew 27:65-66. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Put the cookie sheets in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.

Read John 16:20 & 22. Explain that Jesus' followers were sad to leave his body in the sealed tomb. They may be sad to leave the cookies in the sealed oven overnight. Go to bed.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.

Read Matthew 28:1-9. Bite into the cookies - they are hollow and empty - just as Jesus' tomb was the first Easter.

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And now for the fun part...PICTURES!

super duper cute cookies - we made them with a stamp!


Lurel baking up a storm

Kaden discovered that if he was helping in the kitchen he wouldn't get sent to bed. So he washed dishes for an hour. Clever boy!

It still works!

center piece

like most of the reception decorations, this belongs to Grandma


Colouring Easter Eggs at Great Grandma's


More Easter Egg fun


Maggie wanted in on it


Ahhhh! Aren't they cute?!

Maggie and Mommy all ready to explore Waterton

Kaden taking a break on the bench

Anise watching the falls

The Brooks', Wilde's and White's (x2)

having a picnic lunch

getting lost in a snow bank

AAAACK! You'll have to fix my camera again!

Prince of Wales Hotel

She didn't know he was there. He threw a snowball. It was funny.

In true Waterton fashion. It was windy.

Bears Hump

She gets dressed in the dark

Crayola coloured bubbles...not the good idea you think they are


Egg hunt

This is what Maggie thinks about grass

Anise and her eggs

Eggs and Kaden

Maggie playing with Grandma Brooks

The girls watching the hockey game

Maggie meets spaghetti

It's a contest!

2011-04-20T11:45:00.000-06:00

So I have this friend, whom I'm very blessed to know. She is an amazing person. She's also amazing at designing and re-purposing things for next to nothing. She has an eye for it. Well, she has this blog called DIY Design where she's been keeping everyone up to speed on her latest and greatest projects, and has since started her own business. And guess what? She's having a contest! And not just for a really cool piece of art, or re-purposed dresser. Oh, no. She's giving away an entire room makeover! Wahoo!! So head over here to check it all out and get in on it. You won't be disappointed.

Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps

2011-04-20T09:07:00.000-06:00

I just read this article and had to pass it along. You can see the article with all it's related links and videos here . I'm sure he is taking more than a bit of guff for it. So Mr. Granderson, from one concerned parent to another - THANK-YOU!

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Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps

By LZ Granderson, CNN Contributor
Grand Rapids, Michigan (CNN) -- I saw someone at the airport the other day who really caught my eye.
Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie "10" (or for the younger set, Christina Aguilera during her "Xtina" phase). Her lips were pink and shiny from the gloss, and her earrings dangled playfully from her lobes.

You can tell she had been vacationing somewhere warm, because you could see her deep tan around her midriff thanks to the halter top and the tight sweatpants that rested just a little low on her waist. The icing on the cake? The word "Juicy" was written on her backside.

Yeah, that 8-year-old girl was something to see alright. ... I hope her parents are proud. Their daughter was the sexiest girl in the terminal, and she's not even in middle school yet.

Abercrombie & Fitch came under fire this spring for introducing the "Ashley," a push-up bra for girls who normally are too young to have anything to push up. Originally it was marketed for girls as young as 7, but after public outcry, it raised its intended audience to the wise old age of 12. I wonder how do people initiate a conversation in the office about the undeveloped chest of elementary school girls without someone nearby thinking they're pedophiles?

What kind of PowerPoint presentation was shown to the Abercrombie executives that persuaded them to green light such a product?

That there was a demand to make little girls hot?

I mean, that is the purpose of a push-up bra, right? To enhance sex appeal by lifting up, pushing together and basically showcasing the wearer's breasts. Now, thanks to AF Kids, girls don't have to wait until high school to feel self-conscious about their, uhm, girls. They can start almost as soon as they're potty trained. Maybe this fall the retailer should consider keeping a plastic surgeon on site for free consultations.

We've been here with Abercrombie before -- if you recall, about 10 years ago they sold thongs for 10-year-olds -- but they're hardly alone in pitching inappropriate clothing to young girls. Four years ago the popular "Bratz" franchise introduced padded bras called "bralettes" for girls as young as six. That was also around the time the good folks at Wal-Mart rolled out a pair of pink panties in its junior department with the phrase "Who Needs Credit Cards" printed on the front.

I guess I've been out-of-the-loop and didn't realize there's been an ongoing stampede of 10-year-old girls driving to the mall with their tiny fists full of cash demanding sexier apparel.

What's that you say? Ten-year-olds can't drive? They don't have money, either? Well, how else are they getting ahold of these push-up bras and whore-friendly panties?

Their parents?

Noooo, couldn't be.

What adult who wants a daughter to grow up with high self-esteem would even consider purchasing such items? What parent is looking at their sweet, little girl thinking, "She would be perfect if she just had a little bit more up top."

And then I remember the little girl at the airport. And the girls we've all seen at the mall. And the kiddie beauty pageants.

And then I realize as creepy as it is to think a store like Abercrombie is offering something like the "Ashley", the fact remains that sex only sells because people are buying it. No successful retailer would consider introducing an item like a padded bikini top for kindergarteners if they didn't think people would buy it.
If they didn't think parents would buy it, which begs the question: What in the hell is wrong with us?

It's easy to blast companies for introducing the sexy wear, but our ire really should be directed at the parents who think low rise jeans for a second grader is cute. They are the ones who are spending the money to fuel this budding trend. They are the ones who are suppose to decide what's appropriate for their young children to wear, not executives looking to brew up controversy or turn a profit.

I get it, Rihanna's really popular. But that's a pretty weak reason for someone to dress their little girl like her.
I don't care how popular Lil' Wayne is, my son knows I would break both of his legs long before I would allow him to walk out of the house with his pants falling off his butt. Such a stance doesn't always makes me popular -- and the house does get tense from time to time -- but I'm his father, not his friend.

Friends bow to peer pressure. Parents say, "No, and that's the end of it."

The way I see it, my son can go to therapy later if my strict rules have scarred him. But I have peace knowing he'll be able to afford therapy as an adult because I didn't allow him to wear or do whatever he wanted as a kid.

Maybe I'm a Tiger Dad.

Maybe I should mind my own business.

Or maybe I'm just a concerned parent worried about little girls like the one I saw at the airport.

In 2007, the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls issued a report linking early sexualization with three of the most common mental-health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. There's nothing inherently wrong with parents wanting to appease their daughters by buying them the latest fashions. But is getting cool points today worth the harm dressing little girls like prostitutes could cause tomorrow?

A line needs to be drawn, but not by Abercrombie. Not by Britney Spears. And not by these little girls who don't know better and desperately need their parents to be parents and not 40-year-old BFFs.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.

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