Valentines Breakfast

Pink Pancakes in a pan

Blood Oranges

When I was a kid, my mom sometimes made us fun breakfasts on Special days. Green pancakes on St Patrick's Day. Pink heart shaped pancakes on Valentines Day. Sometimes my mom may have got a little carried away and coloured more than just the pancakes in the festive colours. Today, I was that mom. I hadn't even thought about doing anything special for Valentines day breakfast, but then I saw these blood oranges at our little grocery store yesterday. And that set my brain in motion, that's all it takes, just one simple thing to get my brain to start churning. So here is what I did for Breakfast this morning. Pink pancakes with chopped strawberries in them, but not in the shape of a heart, I tried...and failed. Pink scrambled egges, I used the new NEON food colouring drops, they make nicer brighter colours. I even added a few drops of red to the strawberry banana juice to make it red instead of orange.

 It was all very pink, but it tasted so good. When Kathryn saw it she said "But is it healthy?". Like making something pink suddenly turns it into candy or something. They all enjoyed it, infact they ate all their scrambled eggs and then asked for more...that doesn't usually happen.

The Pink Breakfast...very tasty

Fresh from my garden in February!

It is February 13th and we are still eating fresh carrots (never been frozen) from our garden.They are still crisp and tasty and not even growing yet.There is no need to ration them, in fact my only worry is that we might not be able to eat them all. So if you are having me over for dinner and you want me to bring something, it will likely have carrots in it.

Carrots in February

The last of the onions.

I have 3 more onions, again crisp and not yet growing. We were eating fresh tomatoes well into December, and would have been able to make it through until January if I hadn't left them in my garage when it got really cold and they froze solid (they are in my freezer now waiting to be made into tomato sauce). I love gardening. I love eating vegetables from my garden in the middle of winter. It is very satisfying.

The letter "R"

At the beginning of this school year, Kathryn was assessed and it was recommended that she start working with a speech pathologist because she could not make the "r" sound at all. She has been working really hard and very excited about it. I often would see her making funny faces and doing strange things with her lips and tongue. I'd ask her what she was doing and she'd say "I'm doing my exercises"(apparently she had a lazy tongue and lips). At first she began speaking with a very exaggerated "r", it sounded really funny and at times somewhat annoying. But she was trying really hard. and then one day about a week or so ago, I noticed that she wasn't speaking with an exaggerated "r" anymore. It's been 5 1/2 months. Her speech pathologist called me and asked if we could meet. So I went up to the school yesterday, and was told that Kathryn would be "Graduating" from her speech class. Her speech pathologist told me that she had never had any child improve as quickly and work as hard as Kathryn. Kathryn was eager to learn, to do what ever was asked of her. I told her about Kathryn doing her exercises all the time at home. She wasn't surprised. I am so proud of Kathryn. She worked so hard and didn't get discouraged because she had difficulties. She was just determined to fix it. As I listened to her read last night I paid particular attention to her "r" sounds. She sounded just like a regular kid. I guess her lips and tongue are strong now. It was all that work with the lip barbell. 

The Journaling class

Tonight I taught a class on journaling for a Relief Society Enrichment class. I had asked the Young Women to join us as well. The class went great. Here is my out line for anyone that missed it or is interested in doing their own.

Introduction

I believe that everyone has many stories to tell and that life grows richer with each story that is told. This is true not only for the teller, but for those who have the privilege of hearing or reading the stories as well.

As wonderful as it is to sit and talk with family and friends, many of our anecdotes will be lost if we don't take the time to write some of them down. When we write the stories of our lives, we take our sharing to another level.  Our memoirs can be a precious intergenerational gift for the whole family and can inspire other family members to preserve some of their own stories

There are many ways to record our stories and memories. There are of course your traditional journals where you record your personal life experiences. Blogging can be a form of journaling. Scrapbooking is also a way to record special moment and memories. Baby books are a great way to record the events of your childs life. You can keep a school scrap book that records the highlights of your childs school year, teachers, favorite classes, artwork, etc.(I had a display of the different kinds of journals I had, some of the other sisters shared art journals, gardening journals, and gratitude journals)

There is something about recording events that help etch them into your memory. I have a journal entry that I wrote on my ninth birthday about the gifts that I recieved, where I was, what I did. I remember that day very vividly. It is the only birthday that I can recall that clearly. It is also the only entry made about my birthdays as a young child.

 Anchoring Exercise (I played some soft meditation music while I guided them through this exercise)

Take a deep calming breath, relax.

Describe the experience of today.

How did your day begin?  Is today a typical day for you or is it unusual in some way?  Look around you.  What do you see, smell, and hear?

Who have you talked to today, or has it been a day of solitude for you?  What have you learned from the conversations you've had?  What have you learned from your solitude?  What feelings have come up for you today?

What has been enjoyable?  What has bothered you?  Write whatever comes into your mind.

Where did your mind take you?  Were you at all surprised by what ended up on the page? Which was longer, your description of what you enjoyed or what bothered you?

Sometimes our wisdom is able to speak louder to us during an anchoring exercise like this one because it is often the one pause we give ourselves to focus and reflect on the here and now.  Try to make the anchoring exercise part of your daily routine.  Pick a time of day which is a naturally good point to stop for a few moments and regain perspective.

Each story is an heirloom.

I think the most important thing in writing a journal is to put down the things that meant the most to you and perhaps changed or molded the person you are now; i.e. loved to go to grandparents' house?  Picture yourself in front of the house... what did it look like, what did it sound like when you went through the door... what could you smell....  why was it fun...  what do you see when you picture your grandparents standing there greeting you....  waving goodbye....  it is amazing how much information is stored in our brains that can come out if we quietly revisit in our minds...

Memories of a Place
Names
Traditions
Travel
Friends
Special Family Times
Pets
Parents
Parenting
Siblings
and much more!

If possible, pull out some old letters and photos to get a better feeling for times gone by.  Listen to some of your old records and make yourself a snack you've always enjoyed.  Sounds, tastes and smells are very powerful memory triggers

Describe some of the places you've lived, or a place that was especially memorable to you. Often, if we can mentally transport ourselves to meaningful places in our lives we are able to remember many events, or just simple day-to-day moments, that we otherwise might have completely forgotten.

What hung on the walls of your bedroom? What did you see outside you windows? Where did you like to read?  Did you like to climb trees?  When friends came over, where did you play?  What did you play?  Did you walk to school?  Take the bus?  Capture these moments!

Describe some of the "smaller things" you remember.  Sometimes people don't want to write about anything in their lives except the most exciting parts.  That's fine, but then your readers will miss out on the smaller details which, sewn together, give a more in-depth picture of who you were and are. Here is an example of a very simple, yet descriptive entry from my Great Great Grandmother, Katherine Love Paxman,

      "Richmond, April 19, 1885
                 Sunday morning, weather cool and cloudy, all nature seems hushed in quiet slumber and everything         seems to have assumed the look of quiet peaceful rest, on this, the day of rest."

Can you just feel that day? You can see it can't you? I bet you have experienced a similar kind of day. What a simple entry, yet it shows a bit of who she was.

As the memories come back, take as many notes as you can.  Remember to use all your senses.  What were the common smells in the kitchen?  Did you paint or color or play with clay in a certain room?  What was the texture of your favorite stuffed animal?  Do you remember the sound of your parents' car coming up the drive?  Or the sound of the ice cream truck?  What other sounds, smells, tastes and textures were part of your day-to-day life?

Meandering from room to room, into the yard and down the street, more and more memories will tumble into your mind like childhood cartwheels.

Journal prompts placed in a decorated jar are a great way to get started, especially if you feel overwhelmed by recording events from past years. Here are some Adult journal prompts, Youth journal prompts, Children(6-12) journal prompts, Children(2-6) journal prompts. Cut these word strips out and place them in your pretty jar. At least once a week, choose a slip of paper, paste it to the top of your page. Date your entry and answer the prompt. Remember to be descriptive. Think about the things that we have talked about. Allow yourself to relax and remember.

Another exercise that I have found useful, something that I picked up on Facebook, is to write 25 random things about yourself. I wrote my first list, and published it on my blog, and I found that over the next week I was thinking and remembering more random things. So I wrote a second list and published it on my blog. And wouldn’t you know it, that very night as I lay in bed, my mind was thinking of even earlier memories, I will be writing a third list.

After all the talking was done, I had the sisters decorate jars to put there journal prompts in. We had a realy great time and all the sisters that attended were excited to go home and get writing.

Totally fun and easy

Just a little note for anyone that was interested in my post about the fun printables. These fun  animal valentines are super easy and super cute. All you need is a printer, some paper, scissors and glue. My kids are having tonnes of fun making all kinds of animals out of hearts.

Another 25

I have read so many friends random 25 things that it has made me think of so many other things about myself that I wanted to make note of, for myself. And since I use this as another journal type thing, and I thought that others might also be interested, I'm going to post another 25 things...if I can think of a whole 25 more. Let see what we've got...

1. I spent the first 3 years of my university career studying in Computer Science. There were a lot of aspects that I liked about computer science. But there was just enough stuff that I didn't like that I basically hated my third year...and I had the grades to show it.
2. I lived in Victoria, BC for 10 months in 1997-98. In that short time I met many people that I felt like I had known for a lifetime. Two of whom I miss immensely and wish that we lived closer...thank goodness for facebook.
3. I have never kissed any one but my husband.
4. Number 3 is not because I was against kissing before marriage.
5. Number 3 was a result of not dating anyone except my husband.
6. Number 5 is not because I was against dating one on one in my younger years.
7. Number 5 was a result of being the type of person everyone just wanted to be friends with. Often the third wheel.
8. I didn't have a guy ask me for my phone number until I was in a serious relationship with my future husband. And then they came all at once. Lets see, there was park security guy(not so good looking) that would always come by and talk to me while I ate my lunch in the park. There was Telus guy(quite good looking), who came across the hall at the mall to the store I worked in to borrow a ladder. There was the gorgeous black guy that came into my store to buy luggage, although he didn't ask for my #, he asked me out to dinner. And then there was the not to bad looking guy that tried to pick me up on the way up the hill at the UofL, and ended up being in my religous studies class. All of these happened in about a 4 or 5 month period.
9. I think that having men actually interested in me (besides my future husband) boosted my confidence, and helped me to look at myself in a new light.
10. When I went back to University, I majored in something totally opposite from computer science. I studied ancient languages, with a side of Religious Studies and Philosophy.
11. My last three years of University were the most amazing years. And I had the grades to show for it.
    
12. I was terrible at learning French. I was pretty good at reading it, OK at writing it, but really sucked at speaking it and understanding someone else speak it.
13. I love ancient languages. They are dead languages, therefore nobody speaks them and I don't have to speak them, Just read and occasionally write.
14. My soul purpose in my last three years of university was so that I could read the bible in it's original languages, Hebrew and Greek.
15. I wish that I used this knowledge more.
    
16. I was a huge suck up to my philosophy prof. I discovered that he loved snacks and candies. I had his class just before lunch and I always had something to snack on, he always helped himself to my snacks(as he would with anyone that had snacks). One class he let the class know that if we really wanted to suck up to him we would bring him gumdrops or curry. Others had tried, and others had failed because they did not bring gumdrops. They brought jujubes. One day I brought gumdrops. I was his favorite the rest of the semester. I am not ashamed. Philosophy was a new way of thinking for me, I needed all the help I could get.
17. I dated my husband for two years before we got married at the very old age of 25.
18. Shortly after I met my husband in Grade 10, I had the very distinct thought that I was going to marry him. We didn't start dating each other until about a year after he returned home from his mission.
19. I lived on the same farm as my Grandparents until I was 5. We moved to Lethbridge in 1981. My parents are still in that same house. I will be very sad if the day ever comes that my parents sell that house.
20. I have one sister, and 6 brothers. Our house had 4 real bedrooms (and a room that was at times used as a bedroom) and one bathroom.
21. I've worked at a dentists office, a tire shop, Walmart, a gas station, 4 different fabric stores, a craft store, a luggage store, a hotel in Waterton(as mentioned in the other 25) and as a student marker(I marked first year computer science papers).
22. I went to Hawaii when I was 15 for a band trip...that was really rough.
23. I've always wanted to conduct a huge orchestra that was playing a really invigorating piece.
24. As I drove to Lethbridge today, I wondered how many millions of miles of electrical wire must span our country...you could see power lines forever, heading off into nowhere. I then thought about how you could likely connect every house in this fair country using said power lines and suddenly wished I had a REALLY big map so that I could try to connect me to my friends via power lines.
25. I'm really struggling to come up with this last one....oh...I forgot I was going to write this one earlier. When I was a child(about 6years old) I used to have this recurring nightmare about a polka dot machine. I was pushing my little brother(I think Neil) in his stroller, and suddenly there was this machine and some how my little brother would get sucked into this machine and he would come out all covered in polka dots. It freaked me out.

That was fun. I think I should force myself to think of random things more often. Don't be surprised if you see a similar post some time in the future.

Some fun stuff

Kathryn has been hounding me about Valentines Day. How many days until Valentines Day? When are we going to
make my Valentines? Almost every day since the middle of January she has been asking these questions. So the other day I had in my inbox an email from Disney Familyfun.com, (a newsletter that I subscribe to) that had some fun
Valentines ideas. There were so many easy and fabulous crafts and printables. More than needed for Kathryn's class of 9 plus a teacher. However, this inspired me and I typed "Valentines crafts" into my google search and I found some wonderful websites, not just for valentines but for just about anything you can imagine. My absolute favorite was DLTK's Crafts for Kids, It has colouring pages for everything you can imagine, printable learning games, bingo cards, match games and the list goes on and on. You really have to go check it out if you have kids and you need some fun Ideas to keep them busy. One of my favorites for valentines was the printable valentines cards that your kids can colour. Simple, easy and still home made and made from the heart.I didn't stop there however, I had to look further and I found MakingFriends Cool Crafts for Kewl Kids, again this site had some really fun craft ideas and printables. We liked the Hearts and Flowers bouquet. and have already started making them. And an hounorable mention goes to  Kaboose.com, more fun things to look at.
So if you have time on your hands go check these sites out. You'll end up with an endless supply of quick easy and fun things for your kids to do.