Time to buckle down and get to work!!

No more excuses!! I need to start SCRAPPING! I have my photoshop back, I have my old digi scrap stuff back, I have all my photos, I have time. It is time to get to work and make some books! This Christmas's book will be the biggest one I've made simply because it will have TWO years worth of pages in it! I will be documenting some very big moments in our life. Our move, Elizabeth's first day of Kindergarten, then 1st grade coming up in September, Christopher's first day in Pre-K and his first trip on the bus, last Christmas with my folks, birthdays and more!

My goal is 50 pages by December 1st. That should give me enough time to get the books printed as well as be able to get some photos of the kids with the Christmas tree and hopefully some snow photos. Wish me luck! The countdown is ON!!

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3rd term report card.

Elizabeth's teacher called me today for our phone parent/teacher conference. Mrs. Johnson was very happy with Elizabeth's progress, especially with her reading.

As a recap, from my previous post in February Second Term Report

They have 3 Scales.

Achievement scale which ranges 1- little understanding doesn't meet grade expectations, 2- Limited understanding, 3- General Understanding, 4- Thorough understanding always meets grade expectations

Effort Scale N- Needs improvement, P- making progress, G- Good, O- Outstanding

Skills Code- NA- Not assessed, X- Progress Needed, I- Improving, Blank- Acceptable.

Elizabeth's marks were

Kindergarten Readiness Skills- Achievement- 3, Effort G

Writing, Speaking Listening- Achievement- 3, Effort- O

Technology- Effort G

Reading Readiness Achievement- 4, Effort- G

Math Readiness- Achievement-3, Effort-O

Social Studies/Science- Effort-G



This report has following improvements or has stayed the same.

Kindergarten Readiness Skills- Achievement- 3, Effort- O <- effort improved

Writing, Speaking Listening- Achievement- 3, Effort- O <- stayed same
with the added improvement of her retelling a story.

Technology- Effort G <- Same

Reading Readiness Achievement- 4, Effort- G <- Same

Math Readiness- Achievement-4, Effort- G <- Her achievement has improved but her effort decreased a little, simply because she knows it and gets a little bored.

Social Studies/Science- Effort-G <- Same

She is improving with talking in class but still needs a gentle reminder now and then.

She has also read 25 more books this term.

They also did the AIMSweb test which is a requirement in our district.
The outcome measure is based on the following:
Letter Naming Fluency
Letter Sound Fluency
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
and Nonsense Word Fluency.

She score above average in all areas.

Mrs. Johnson commented on how much she has improved with reading in such a short time. We also noticed reading "click" in just a week or so. She is doing well with sounding words out and she is writing stories now without help, writing her words phonically. Elizabeth is a little big of a teacher pet, from what I gather.

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*swoon*

There are few things in life that make my heart pound just a little harder with want and desire. I'm not a materialistic person. I don't have a closet full of designer clothes or tons of jewelry. I don't own a fancy car or a huge house. But every once in a while I get a bad case of the I Want!'s

This little beauty, for a *eye roll* small price of $400 dollars, screams out at me BUY ME BUY ME BUY ME!!

Cricut Cake

Where do I sign up to be a random tester?? Cricut Cake, I desire you!

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Back to the grind.

Spring break is over. My sleeping in until 8am days are behind me. Elizabeth is off having a great day at school. Christopher is happily playing in his room with all his little plastic solders. The house is clean, dinner is leftover lasagna and I have absolutely nothing to do! I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. I've been so busy for the past week with spring cleaning, referring the kids squabbles, and of course having our little visitor Alexa come over to play on Thursday and not it seems like I have a little post vacation funk.

We had a great weekend together as a family. Saturday we had some running around to do. Grocery shopping and a trip to Sportline to pick up a petcock repair kit for the bike fuel tank repairs. We came home to throw some hot dogs on the grill for lunch. He took over dinner and make some amazing Chicken Marsala. We bought quite a big bottle and it was very sweet(he should of bought dry!) so Chris decided to head out once again for some strawberries. He also bought some blackberries and jiffy mix so we could make shortcakes! It was amazing, the smell from the berries simmering away in the wine was mouthwatering, the taste was even more delicious then I expected!

Sunday, Chris slept in until late morning. After his relaxing start to the day he was in a great mood. We laid on the couch all day watching movies and holding hands. I love sweet lazy days like that. In the afternoon we started on lasagna. By we I really mean, I chopped some onions and garlic, opened a few cans and let Chris do the rest! He added more meat sauce then he normally does to the lasagna this time because we were using the no cool Barilla noodles and wow the extra sauce really made the meal! I threw together a quick salad, sliced some fresh Italian bread and we enjoyed another meal together as a family. We don't get very many of those with Chris' schedule so every family dinner is appreciated even more than the last. I love weekends like this. Calm, relaxing and just all of us together.

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Best. Easter. EVER!

We celebrated Easter yesterday. Don't confused that with celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Chris, we celebrated the Easter Bunny and Chocolate. I am really big on holidays, the non-religious side. They are fun, I love watching my kids enjoy the magic of it all. Christmas, Halloween, and of course, EASTER!

Yesterday, we started the day with the kids digging into their Easter baskets. We didn't do a lot for their baskets but they loved them.

Christopher received a Black n Decker tool set which included a tool belt full of the tools he needs to do his important work, a vest so we can see him at all times, a hard hat and safety goggles because we all know how dangerous pretend carpentry is. He also received a sticker book just for BOYS. Full of fun stuff like bugs, trucks and spaceships.

Please excuse the Peter Griffin stroke eye.



Elizabeth received some sidewalk chalk, hairclips, a new ubber cool alarm clock and a new Melissa and Doug magnet calender.




After a very delicious breakfast of pancake and bacon (which was amazing btw, see my previous post MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT) I went out to scatter the eggs for the egg hunt. 250 filled eggs. Yeah, what was I thinking?

The hunt was soon on. We have a huge yard so it took some time for the two kids to gather all the eggs. We gave them two boxes to unload their full baskets into. The final count: Elizabeth- 139 Christopher-111. Math don't add up to 250? Yeah, we had to return and find the missing eggs.






After the eggs were gathered, we took a small trip to the grocery store for some hot dogs and the fixin's to rub on our beautiful ribs we had for dinner. We had the choice of a turkey or ham but with the day being a beautiful 75 degrees, We just needed to BBQ! Chris rubbed the ribs with some amazing spices, added some pepsi and wrapped those bad boys up in tinfoil for a low and slow bbq. We added some hot dogs for a quick lunch before decorating the real eggs. What is it about a hot dog cooked on the grill or over a campfire? To me it, they taste like childhood. Memories of camping with my parents all over BC and Alberta. After our perfectly cooked dogs, the kids and I sat down at the table for some serious egg decorating. 20 eggs to be exact. Why? No will eat them. Just because we can I guess.

The ziplock baggie method. Way less mess to deal with. Add your colour and some vinegar, drop in the eggs and let them sit for 10 mins or so. Swish the bags now and then to make sure they are evenly coloured.
Tinted gold paint makes a huge mess but the kids had fun so C'est la vie!

Our beautifully bright dyed eggs.
Elizabeth putting the final touches on the dyed eggs with glitter and stamps and stickers.

I would like you all to take a minute to bow your heads in honor of my next photo. Breath it in, can't you taste the bbq goodness? No of course you can. Trust me, they were heavenly! Sweet and tender. Mouthwatering. And I get leftovers for lunch!


Of course, a nice garden salad. The perfect side dish to our 'Summer in April' Easter Dinner!

Did I mention the ribs were mouthwatering... and I get some for lunch? Don't hate!

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Meat Meat Meat Meat

First I would like to apologize to any vegetarians out there for my following post. I am a carnivore, I love a good steak, love chicken and enjoy a pork chop now and then. Bacon, ham, beef stew, it's all good.

Last Saturday, Chris and I went to a local butcher. It is a small family run Mom and Pop business, supplied by the local farms. Organic, free range, tasty tasty meat. When we first walked in, we were a little overwhelmed. Not really sure what we wanted exactly, we could of picked from the small meat case or order a package to be cut to our own specifications. We decided on a combo package which includes beef steaks, roasts, stew meat, hamburger, pork roast, chops, ham, bacon, spareribs, italian sausage, whole roasting and frying chickens, and chicken breasts. The whole package of 62lbs came to $200 dollars. We requested a porterhouse steak to be cut right away and the rest to be picked up tomorrow. I am so thankful for our freezer. We would never be able to save this

We came home, Chris fired up the grill and cooked the most amazing steak we've ever had. It was almost sweet, buttery and oh so tender. Oh meat how I love thee!

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The jewels of my life

After almost a year, I decided to drag out the backdrop and take a few photos of the kids. We haven't been able to get all my photoshop goodies off my old computer yet so I didn't play around with these.

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I will be digital(-ly creative) once again

Almost a year ago, after moving into our new house, my computer's power supply decided to kick the bucket. I had all of my digital art supplies on that computer. For the past year, I've been completely out of touch with my creative side.

My wonderful sweet husband just found a very reasonably priced external hard drive for me, with the promise he will pull my old hard drive and hook it up to our new computer. We will take all of my supplies, the kids photos and my digital recourse bookmarks and put them onto the new external. This will leave the old hard drive available to be reformatted as a backup.

By next week I will be back! Editing photos, making cards, creating scrapbook pages and of course doing siggies for my message board friends. It feels so good to be creative again, I have ideas already for many projects! The search for new fun (FREE) kits will begin soon!

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Will Pride be the boost I need?

I am so proud to be Canadian and so proud of my country. The last 17 days have been amazing! I wasn't able to watch every event but I did my best. The USA/Canada Hockey game was by far the most intense moment of the Olympics. What a fantastic game played by both teams!

I'm inspired to get passports for myself and my kids because I really need a trip back home. Hopefully, we can make the trip by next summer. Elizabeth was too young to remember her visit but I think by next year, both kids will be old enough to take. There is a lot that goes into a trip this far, first being both kids making the 3 flights it will take. Going to customs is always a treat and then of course there is switching planes and making the next flights. I really want to do it but am terrified at the same time. I hope making the first steps of getting our passports will go smoothly and we can start preparing and planning. I need to thank Vancouver and the Olympics for giving me the homesickness I needed to get myself motivated for a trip home.

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Sloppy Taco Burgers

My kids love sloppy joes. My kids love tacos. Why not kill two bird with one stone? Sloppy Taco Burgers!

This recipe makes quite a bit but the meat freezes well for later meals if you prefer.

1 lb lean hamburger or ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can traditional refried beans
1 cup chunky salsa

hamburger buns(larger buns are recommended because they are easier to fill.

Toppers: shredded lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese if you like a little spice.

Brown and drain your hamburger adding taco seasoning with half of the recommended water on package. Add refried beans and salsa. Let simmer around 15 mins.

Lightly toast your buns under the broiler, then pile on the goodies. This is a great messy fun meal to combine two kid favorites!

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Vancouver 2010

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm obsessed with Winter Olympics. Even more this year as it's not only in my home country but my home province!

The opening ceremonies brought out so many emotions I did not expect. Overwhelming pride in my country and a complete and uncontrollable homesickness that had me in tears for 4 hours. HelloBC.com.. thank you for your commercial that turned me into a blubbering me. I call it home too.

There was only one thing that got me pass the emotion and stopped me from drowning my children like Alice in Wonderland where she cried herself an ocean. It was a song. Now I'm not much for pop music or Black Eyed Peas at all but this song... it was the perfect anthem for the evening. The evening where Vancouver welcomed itself to the world for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

There are many versions of this song on youtube but this is my very favorite.

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Kindergarten second report.

We received Elizabeth's second term report card today. She is doing really well.

They have 3 Scales.

Achievement scale which ranges 1- little understanding doesn't meet grade expectations, 2- Limited understanding, 3- General Understanding, 4- Thorough understanding always meets grade expectations

Effort Scale N- Needs improvement, P- making progress, G- Good, O- Outstanding

Skills Code- NA- Not assessed, X- Progress Needed, I- Improving, Blank- Acceptable.

Elizabeth's marks were

Kindergarten Readiness Skills- Achievement- 3, Effort G
Everything acceptable except:
She had a P for her phone number but that is our fault I think. I teach her my cell number since its my go-to always on phone and they have been asking her her home number and I think she is getting the two numbers confused. I wrote a note to her teacher about that.
She also had an I for dress herself (ie, tie shoes) which is up from P from last term. She can now tie her shoes but its loose and needs practice.

Writing, Speaking Listening- Achievement- 3, Effort- O
Everything was acceptable except:
Retelling a story she got an I. I totally understand this because she tends to rattle on, (like me!!)

Technology- Effort G
Everything was acceptable

Books to Read- There is 25 for the year they are required to read, she did that last term and added 15 more.

Reading Readiness Achievement- 4, Effort- G
Everything was acceptable

Math Readiness- Achievement-3, Effort-O
Everything acceptable

Social Studies/Science- Effort-G
Everything acceptable


The last thing that needed improvement was limited talking in class!!!

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Today, 6 years ago...

I would like to bring these two posts to everyone's attention

The day is set!
Introducing Elizabeth Catherine Boggie

6 years ago tomorrow, on February 10 2004, my life changed forever.


Watching my daughter grown into a beautiful little girl has been such a joy. She is a wonderful big sister and loves everyone. We had Elizabeth's birthday party on Sunday. Her first REAL party with her friends from school. She had such an incredible time, I loved watching her play and giggle with her best girls.

Happy Birthday to my sweet angel.

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Mexican Chicken and Rice.

Chris loves chicken and he loves rice. I'm always trying to find ways to make chicken and rice new and exciting.

The other day I was looking in the cupboard to see what I could come up with and after a couple tweaks here and there I created a new Chris favorite.

2 chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup uncooked rice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can finely diced black olives
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 cup water
1 clove of garlic- chopped
2 tbsp salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Garnish- sour cream and green onions.

I started with browning chicken pieces in a large skillet. Adding the tomatoes, olives, garlic, cumin, chili powder salsa, water and rice. Bring to a simmer, add a cover for 20 minutes on med-low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the rice was tender, I stirred in the cheddar cheese. I let it sit covered for 5 mins then served with a small dollop of sour cream and chopped green onions on top.

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Beef Stew with Cheddar Dumplings

I love stew. Since I'm Canadian and not American, I never got into the whole chicken and dumplings deal. Where I come from, stew is made with red meat. Deer, Beef, Buffalo, Moose, Elk and Caribou if you're lucky.

My stew is simple, basic and delicious. Stew isn't suppose to be fancy. It sticks to your ribs. This is my stew.

To start, I use a cast iron dutch oven with a lid. Having a pot with lid is very important if you are making dumplings. My cast iron goes into the oven so it is my preferred vessel. You can use a crock pot/slow cooker if you wish.

STEW:
1 large onion
1/4 cup veg oil
1 1/2 to 2 lbs red meat of your choice cut into cubes, dredged in flour
1 large cardboard container of beef stock, *College Inn Bold Stockis great!

Veggies that you may add:
potatoes cut into large pieces
carrots
cubed turnip
green beans
corn
peas
mushrooms

In your large pot on med heat, add oil and onions (and mushrooms if you wish). Cook until they onions are lightly tender then remove and set aside leaving the oil in the pot. Turn your heat med-high and add your meat. You want to brown the outside but not really cook the inside of your pieces. Add onions back to the pot along with one container of beef stock.

Simmer this on your stove top, in crockpot or inside oven at 300 Degrees for 4-6 hours. Stirring every now and then. Add your veggies when you are an hour from serving.

CHEDDAR DUMPLINGS:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup milk
1/2 grated cheddar cheese plus 1/4 cup (optional)

Combine dry ingredients and cut in shortening with a fork or your fingers until crumbly. Add your 1/2 cup of grated cheddar and milk and stir into a soft dough. Drop spoonfuls onto of your cooked stew, cover with lid(DO NOT REMOVE) and cook for 15 minutes.

The next step is something I prefer but is not necessary. After 15 mins is up and your dumplings are fully cooked. Remove lid, sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheddar on top and place pot under broiler until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Please make sure your pot is oven safe before trying this step.

Enjoy!

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Tissmiss

A photo blog of our Christmas Activities

Christmas Eve:














Christmas Morning:

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The Cluster

Yesterday morning, my parents were due to arrive from Seattle. I was expecting them around 11am. What I wasn't expecting, was a complete mess due to the recent snowstorm down the east coast.

It started in New Jersey. The flight from New Jersey to Seattle was delayed due to the snow storm which spiraled. Seattle was late going to Anchorage which was late going BACK to Seattle to pick my parents up to take them to Newark New Jersey. Because of this, they will missed morning connection to Albany from Newark. Great. Perfect. It is 4 days before Christmas, half the flights have been canceled while they other half are delayed and no one knows what they are doing.

At nearly midnight PST, they are on the red eye to New Jersey.

Standby.
Having missed their connection, my parents were automatically put on the first standby flight list to Albany at 12pm. No luck. They were shipped from one terminal to another terminal back to the first one and so on.
They were put on the next standby flight list to Albany at 4pm, which happened to be delayed 2 hours. Finally, they were ON the plane and landed in Albany nearly 12 hours late.

Arrival.

A little after 10:30pm EST they finally arrived at my house. Over 36 hours without sleep but save, warm and very hungry.

They are here. Yay!

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Potato Stuffing

Ingredients

7-8 medium Potatoes
8 slices fresh white bread
1 package pork sausage meat
2 large onions
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons pepper or garlic pepper if preferred
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon sage
1/2 cup softened margarine


Directions

Cook and mash plain potatoes, cut bread into small cubes, ground onion and uncooked sausage meat in food processor fully cook meat mixture, do not drain fat. Add salt, pepper, sage and poultry seasoning. Mix sausage, potatoes and bread in big bowl. Add margarine and mix well. Add more seasonings to taste. Stuff in raw turkey, chicken or bake in lightly greased casserole dish with tinfoil cover for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

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Christmas Time Christmas Time

I love Christmas. The excitement of watching my children open their gifts, the smell of the turkey roasting in the oven, the feeling of being with family is what makes Christmas so special to me. We've had a few hard years and the generosity of my online friends towards us just astounds me every year. I love Christmas.

Christmas is also the time of year that makes me a little more loonier then normal, if that is possible. There is stress that really isn't necessary but because I am the way I am, I stress out way to much over things that don't matter. This year I thought I would find a way to relieve my stress by writing everything down. The organization does help me keep my cool a little more. I wrote a note on facebook yesterday which started as a menu for the 3 days of Christmas (Eve, Day, Boxing Day) and turned into a shopping list as well as an itinerary for the activities. Realistically I know the itinerary is not as detailed as my mind wants it to be but you really can't PLAN Christmas. I thought I would share my organization on my blog. If you think I'm forgetting something or would like to share your own Christmas menu in the comments section, that would be wonderful! A few of the recipes are on my blog. I hope to add more in the coming days.



Christmas Eve:
Hot Spinach and Artichoke dip with Rye bread pieces
7 Layer Taco Dip with tortillas
Mushroom and Cheese Turnovers
Veggies and Dip

Dessert:
Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

Christmas Brunch:
Bagels
Assorted flavored cream cheese
Blueberry muffins

Christmas Dinner:
Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Steamed mixed veggies
Gravy
Cranberries
Crescent Rolls

Desserts:
Carrot Cake
Pumpkin Pie

Boxing Day Brunch
Leftovers from Christmas Eve
Turkey Sandwiches



Drinks:
Cranberry Gingerale
Pepsi and Coke
Sprite
Eggnog
Hot Chocolate



Itinerary

Christmas Eve:
Finger Foods
Scrabble
Watching A Christmas Carol
Wrapping presents and setting up for Santa

Christmas Morning:
Stockings
Presents
Brunch
Early Dinner
Watching A Christmas Story all day long on TBS(even if we have it on DVD) LOL

Boxing Day:
Grandparents Brunch


Shopping list:
(4)cream cheese
boursin garlic cheese
frozen spinach
(2)green onions
canned artichokes
refried beans
(3) avocado
(4) tomatoes
(2) cans olives
(2) cheddar cheese
pepper jack cheese
large sour cream
puffed pastry
4 cans mushrooms
swiss cheese
garlic
frozen veggies
half n half
coconut
chocolate shell
whipping cream
frozen mozza sticks
tortilla chips
rye bread
carrots (full and baby)
broccoli
turkey
potatoes
sausage
white bread
bagels
flavoured cream cheeses
crescent rolls
cranberry sauce
pumpkin
flour
shortening
eggs
Ziploc bags
roasting pan
tin foil
lettuce
cheese
sandwich rolls
french fried onions
bacon
(2)mushroom soup
(3)green beans
old english cheese
sugar
pie shells
soda
eggnog
coffee


Oh and my parents will be here in 9 sleeps!!

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My little secret

Although I'm not sure it is much of a secret to anyone who really know me, knows I'm a little freaky, anal, OCD, whatever word they may use to describe me.

Anyone who may meet me may think I'm friendly but a bit shy. What they may not notice is I'm freaking out on the inside. I have social anxiety and it is really debilitating at times. I'm not really sure when it started, sometime when I was a teen but living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, I dealt with it a lot better then I do now. Although I may appear normal, my brain is screaming at me to run away, hide, lock myself in my room, curl up into a ball and never come out. This makes life with two kids very difficult. I would love to join the PTA, volunteer with my daughter's school but there is this HUGE wall stopping me. Whenever I'm in a situation with new people I start to get very nervous. I get migraines and make myself sick. It is very hard being this way, especially when it is my dream to start my own business. I keep reminding myself that in order to work with people... I have to actually talk to them!

I love my online world, which most people would think is a bit sad, but to me it is perfect because I can really open myself up. I have two friends who I talk to daily and although I've never met them and they both live a bazillion miles away, they are my link to the outside world, to friendship and normalcy.

I'm not sure what to do to cure myself of this anxiety. I'm sure there is a medication that can help and therapy but with our health insurance we have now, only until February, I'm not sure I should start something when I'm not sure I can follow through long term. Am I destined to remain in my shell forever?

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