Walking in our neighborhood

We have some amazing pathways right in our neighborhood. One we have to drive to since it is on the other side of our neighborhood but it is a fantastic walk. The kids and I went on this walk the other day. It takes us along the Bow River. The second picture you see is of the kiddos in the 'Whomping Willow.' (Those of you who are Harry Potter fans will get the reference). We went on another walk a few days later, at the kids' insistence, and this will become at least a bi-weekly event which is awesome.

My cake decorating exploits

I just finished up a fondant and gum paste class. We didn't learn how to cover a cake with fondant until the last class AFTER Luke's birthday but my instructor told me how to go about it. The Lego's could have looked a little better but I think I did a pretty good job for not having true instruction beforehand. The second picture is on a fondant covered cake plate and then some of the flowers that I made. These flowers were so easy! Well except for the carnation, that was a pain and I don't like how it turned out. I am awesome at roses though:) I do have a picture of my finished cake but I don't really like the colors on it so I don't want to post it. It has a ruffled part and has the Calla Lilies on top. I am supposed to start the icing flowers class next week so we shall see how that goes, but I think that anytime I put flowers on a cake I am going to use fondant.

Luke's 7th Birthday

Luke learned how to blow up balloons on his birthday!

The girls and I made bottle cap necklaces while

the boys made Lego cars.

This was part of the treasure hunt. They followed clues

until they found the treasure which was full of Lego Star

Wars S-wing fighters and bottle cap necklace makings.

Our homemade Lego brick pinata (that didn't last very long).

Luke had a really good birthday. We had a party at the house with some of his friends from school. At first we were only going to invite boys but then a girl in his class said that she wanted to come so we ended up inviting the whole class. We had a treasure hunt and some other activities that the kids really liked (whew it was hard thinking up things that these kids would like to do).

Jeff and I had a weekend getaway!

Our cabin

Wapta Falls

Natural Bridge (above and below pics)

Jeff and I went away to Radium Hot Springs for a weekend when Jeff's mom came up. We ended up driving about 700 miles total because we went to a bunch of different places once we got there. We had a hot tub in our room so we didn't even bother going to the Hot Springs! Our cabin was really cute and rustic and we loved it! We went to Yoho National Park and went on a short (2 hour) hike on the Wapta Trail that took us to a beautiful waterfall. On our drive back into town we stopped by Emerald Lake and a Natural Bridge. That was really neat to see. We came back into town and had dinner at the most amazing German restaurant, Old Salzberg. I would drive 3 1/2 hours to eat there again. The next day we wanted to go on another short hike before we came home but the trail that we wanted wasn't open yet due to the late winter and safety issues. So we just went into Banff and ate dinner and headed back. Nana had a great time with the kids and we were extremely grateful that she looked after them so that we could go see some beautiful sites.

Lauren activities

Lauren just started soccer and she likes to be the goalie, much like her brother. She is on a team with 5 boys and 1 other girl. If Luke is at practice then she concentrates on him instead of playing but at least they get bonding time.

Lauren is also interested in gardening. For Mother's Day her class decorated flower pots and so we have been caring for the flower.

Easter 2011

The kids woke up at 6:40am ready for Easter egg hunting. They had specially picked out outfits for the occasion:) Lauren's Easter basket contained her current favorite toys: Zoobles. She loves these things. Luke got a pirate eye patch and sword and some Lego minifigures. He was pretty happy. We went to Bowness Park with a picnic in the afternoon and had a great time and then finished our day with a bike ride to the park in our neighborhood. A fantastic, relaxing Easter!

Lauren's 4th Birthday

Lauren had a great birthday! We had a party at the house and some of her friends from playschool and MOM's club helped her celebrate. Her gifts from Mom, Dad and Brother were a bike and a Leapster Explorer game system. She wanted a butterfly cake so that is what I made. It was a strawberry cake (recipe courtesy of Aunt Dorene) and it was delicious. Lauren helped me with the gum drop decorations and the antenna. On her actual birthday we went to the park and she had a lot of fun.