28 years

This past Monday I celebrated the end of 28 years and the beginning of my 29th. I love birthdays, and I'm not even sure why. Partly because I love celebrations, partly because I'm a 'quality time' person so having a day where everyone calls/texts/e-mails and we do things together as a family is special... This day was no exception.

We started out with David & Jordan and their two little boys spending the previous night and joining us for breakfast. Josh typically makes me crepes for breakfast, but since there was a group of us and I had requested bacon & cornmeal waffles this morning, I decided to just make 'em myself. Josh was a darling and took care of the outdoor chores for my while I was putting breakfast together.

At that point, we had no real plans for the day. However, once they had left, Josh suggested I come with him on a little service job he had, and then his ideas for the day blossomed from there.

We went into Olds, Josh did his job, and I did the shoebox shopping. I love shoebox shopping - it is such a blast! Peter thought he should be getting some of the toys as well...

Lunch was a pita from Extreme Pita and 3 delicious California Rolls from Edo's - mmmm!

By the time we left Olds, it was 1:30, so our original plan of exploring the Telus World of Science was exchanged for visiting Fort Calgary. It was here that I took a bunch of pictures - enjoy!

Doesn't he make a cute RCMP officer?

Lincoln logs - one of those delights from my childhood that I rediscovered on this lovely day.

Escaping from jail...

On second thought, it's easier to just charm the warden....

Peter would have stayed on this horse all afternoon if we'd stayed around.

Ahh, good old Coca Cola!

Watching a clip of Calgary way back when

Like my sweet ride? ;-)

We saw a black squirrel on the way back to the van! It ran into it's nest (below) and I really wanted to climb the tree and check out the nest, but Josh vetoed the idea...

From there we drove to Airdrie to enjoy supper at a favorite East Indian Restaurant, only to find them closed on Mondays. So, my amazing husband drove back into Calgary (which he hates) just to find me another East Indian Restaurant! It was very delicious, and I so enjoyed my day with my men! :-)

A Day in the Life...

My happy little man...

The other day I had fun taking pictures of pretty much everything we did that day, and thought it'd be fun to post a pictorial view of a day in our life...

I started taking pictures right after breakfast, when we were out feeding the chickens. The reason I initially grabbed the camera was because our three wild kittens were playing, and I wanted to take some pics of them.

This one is my favorite...

As you can see, the mother cat is also wild - Peter was getting a little close for her comfort.

This is Peter crawling under the gate between him and those fascinating kittens.

Once we finished enjoying the antics of the kittens, we continued on to the task at hand - feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs. They have been doing really well - most days I get 24 eggs out of 24 hens. In fact, I got 32 eggs the other day! (ok, so that was because I was collecting a bit later than normal ;-))

The eggs unwashed...

On the way back into the house, I was reminded of why I love pansies. This was a dug up bed, but this brave little flower popped up anyway despite below freezing temperatures.

I have been trying very hard to wash the eggs as soon as I get in the house so they don't get back logged, and so far have succeeded most days...

Peter wearing his cute outfit from Aunty Kirsten for the first time...

After the eggs it's laundry swap time...

What would I ever do without my little helper??

Who also regularly needs me to either take apart or fix this mega block car...

Ok, eggs are done, laundry is swapped, it's time to tackle the dishes!

I love the look of a shiny clean sink!

At this point Josh needed my help outside, so I bundled up the boys and took them out with us.

The one picture I got of myself - what I really needed was a personal photographer to really capture the day...

I'nt 'e 'andsome??

Josh needed me to hold this stuff so he could get a feel for the potential size of this as a utility trailer - more on that in a future post...

Somewhere in there I got another picture of the kitten outside, with Peter on the attack...

Thinking...

This is what I decided to attack next - my flower bed

Timothy decided he wasn't too pleased about his current location

First thing I found was this cute little caterpillar

Peter thought it was pretty exciting

It took a bit, but I finally got Timothy settled - for a short while

As always, Peter helped try and cheer him

Here are my gladiolus bulbs - I planted 50 and got 61 for next year! :-)

Peter had to do his part...

After that, it was lunch time - nachos!

While we ate lunch, Timothy crashed

Josh complimented his lunch with a peanut butter cookie - made at his request the previous day... :-)

Naptime!!

I love watching my little ones sleep... I slept for a short bit too, but didn't get a pic of that. ;-)

A phone call from Josh woke me a bit earlier than I had planned, so I was able to get the laundry folded, room tidied, and juice made before two guests dropped by for a visit.

I enjoyed visiting with Mel and Granny Smith. Granny is an older lady who's grown up in this area and is about as involved in the community as you can be. She's got me involved in the Caring Grannies - crocheting baby blankets for Pregnancy Care Centers. :-)

After they left I finished up my flower bed, and then made supper. My picture taking went down hill from there...

But I did get one picture of our Settlers game. :-) That was fun, even if Josh did beat me... :-D

And, of course, the popcorn.

It was a good day. :-)