Jillian's first riding lesson

After visiting the farm last week, Jillian could hardly wait until her first riding lesson.  I was expecting her to love this, but I admit I was a bit surprised and impressed with how relaxed she was on the horse.  Jillian loved every second of the lesson, from brushing and getting Boo sadled up, to riding and then getting Boo back out to the field.  At one point while she was riding the horse sped up from his trot into a full out canter...I was nervous watching while Jillian wasn't scared at all...brave girl.

meeting and getting to know Boo

Up on the horse and ready to ride.  Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, the horse does have a heart on his, um, behind.  The other side has his name.

 

navigating around pylons 

Kyle and Leah hanging around outside while Jillian was riding.

big smile after riding...not hard to tell she loved every minute

aren't we outdoorsy these days?

Not all in one day of course but we've certainly been out enjoying this beautiful fall weather

Jillian went tree planting in a local park with her brownie troop.

visiting a new boardwalk style park trail

Hiking the trails around our favourite art gallery.  Notice Leah with a stick...while we are hiking or walking anywhere Leah always has a stick (and often a rock) in her hand.  She changes her stick throughout the walk, exchanging them frequently as she finds better sticks.

and a little indoor play after all that walking

horses

Like many other little girls, Jillian has become obsessed with horses.  We live in an area with lots of farms and she's always pointing out horses as we drive by.  I have a friend with daughters have been riding for over a year now and I thought it would be nice to take the kids to the farm to check it out. 

If you couldn't tell by Jillian's huge grin and constant interaction with the horse, she is in love and can't wait to try a riding lesson herself.  I'm a bit on the fence about this hobby...on one hand I think horseback riding is an amazing activity, especially for Jillian who is emotional, I think connecting with a horse and mastering how to ride would be great.  On the other hand it's freaking expensive!  This farm looks great, the horses are obviously loved, there's a large indoor arena for bad weather days as well as lots of room outdoors for riding.  And I don't need to commit to a large number of lessons, we can try it out for a few weeks, paying as we go until we see if Jillian wants to pursue this hobby and if we can fit it into the budget.  For now I'm excited to see my girl ride on Monday.  If her experience helping her friend look after this horse on Friday is any indication she will love riding.

Kyle enjoyed helping N with her horse, both brushing and cleaning and then getting him out to the field and giving him a treat

Leah wasn't a fan of the barn with the dogs around (although they were very nice dogs who didn't bother us at all).  But she did like being held up close to pet the horses

Jillian walking with her friend E who so nicely explained everything about the horses.

mommy guilt

It comes along with being a mom.  All the moms I know have it, even the best of the best.  I had it when I was a working mom and I naively thought becoming a full-time stay-at-home-mom would help in this area.  I was wrong.  The guilt is still there but now it's different things...I should be making their snacks from scratch, I should enjoy spending every single minute with them, I should have everything in the house in perfect order at all times.  That would be no, not every single minute, and a very big NO. 

I was feeling especially guilty about the snacks thing the other night.  I mean, I'm a stay at home mom for goodness sake...my kids should have freaking home made snacks in their lunch!  But laziness won out, making things from scratch is not my forte (it's amazing how I manage as a sahm with baking, cooking and cleaning being low on my skill list...).  I took a look in the cupboard and decided to play around with what I had on hand.  If pinterest has taught me anything it's you don't need to follow directions on box mixes.  With that in mind I ended up making banana chocolate chip muffins with extra fibre, and lemon raspberry chia seed muffins.  Sounds fancy, doesn't it?  They were so simple I had both of them mixed up and in the oven in less than 10 minutes!

Here's what I had on hand and what I made:

Banana Chocolate Chip muffins (with some added fibre)

1 package chocolate chip muffin mix

2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup psyllium seed husk flakes (these are great to add to smoothies, muffins, etc)

 

 

Lemon chia seed muffins

1 package lemon cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup chia seeds

frozen raspberries (optional...I did this for some of the muffins)

For both I mixed them up and followed baking directions on the box.

Both were a big hit with the kids.  I liked that they took only a few minutes to make.  My mommy guilt was temporarily relieved as I packed them into the kid's lunches the next day. 

I've somewhat embraced the mommy guilt. I'll always feel guilty when I have an angry outburst.  I'll always feel like I should be spending more time with the kids, doing more.  But that's just part of being a mom, right?  I also know I'm the best mom I can be, frustrated outbursts, storebought snacks and all.

delicious

I just discovered if you take a can of condensed milk, get a big pot and cover it with water, then boil for 3 hours you get this...a can of absolute deliciousness.  It's sweet, caramel-y, and oh so yummy on ice cream (or just by the spoonful...um, that may have been my choice).

On a related note, I keep meaning to do a post on pinterest and all the amazing ideas and recipes I've been finding (and trying).  This was yet another pinterest find.  Unfortunately these 2 cans are already finished...but don't worry I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought more!

summer photo shoot

It started with Kyle and Jillian and turned into an annual beach photo shoot.  While last year's photo shoot was planned months in advance (and is by far my favourite), this year I just didn't do one.  First reason is we didn't have a lot of beach time this year.  Second reason is I drove my family crazy with my picture taking on our Disney cruise in July...I think talking them into yet another photo op would have been difficult at best.

That being said, one evening we stopped at a school with some fun climbing trees and I snapped these pictures...since the kids are colour coordinated (totally by accident) and I love how some of them turned out I'm calling this the summer 2012 photo shoot.

Here's what my kids think of all my picture taking.  I'm pretty sure this is what they'll be talking about in therapy as adults.

a general rule when outdoors with Leah...if there are sticks, she will pick them up.  Rocks too.

 

I looked up and saw the girls with this beautiful sunset in the background but for some reason I didn't hold my camera straight.  Every single shot I took has the landscape on an angle.  It's still a keeper though because I love the sunset and silhouette pictures.

school year has begun

It's the start of yet another school year in our house.  What's new and different this year is we have three...that's right all three...kids in school.

And we have other new things for this school year. Both Kyle and Jillian have several friends who have moved out of our school (school boundary changes).  We also have a lot of new staff at our school this year.

Jillian is all ready for grade 3.  She's in a split class this year with several of her friends and the same teacher she had last year.  Jillian adores this teacher and was thrilled to see she would be in her class again.

Kyle all set for grade 6.  We have several new teachers at our school this year including Kyle's.  I was able to chat with her for a bit this morning and she seems very nice.  I know we'll be talking soon to make sure Kyle has a great school year.  A fun surprise was finding out his best buddy is in the same class.

Leah officially started school the following day as she goes on Mondays, Wednesday and some Fridays.  Since Leah goes to the school in our neighbourhood we are able to walk there just after getting Kyle and Jillian onto the bus to their school.

After arriving at school I was very happy to see Leah has Jillian's former SK teacher (who is lovely and a fantastic teacher).  Leah was thrilled to see her best buddy Keira is in her class along with another little girl she knows from dance class.  How great to have 2 buddies in your class from the start and a class full of new soon-to-be friends!

Leah was oh so very excited to start school. We didn't need to be at the school until 1:20pm as her first day was only a half day. But she got herself dressed in the morning, had her backpack packed in the early afternoon and asked me at least 10 times if it was time to leave yet! I love her enthusiasm and hope it continues through all her school years!

Couchiching Beach Park

Long weekend.  Forecast of beautiful weather.  A day entirely free of plans. 

It wasn't too hard to convince the kids to take a road trip north to Orillia for a day at the waterfront park there.  This is a great area, Orillia has done the waterfront area very well...it's kept up nicely, multiple playgrounds, beach area, food vendors, marina with boardwalk for walking, large grassy areas for playing and to top it off a mini train ride.

Kyle goofing around on the train tracks (you never have rope when you need it!)

 

The girls loved the little train ride around the park.  Afterwards they were allowed into the engine car to blow the whistle and ring the bell.

summer swinging

I love the blue sky with fluffy white clouds

 

The girls love to play in the water and sand 

and collecting shells is one of their favourite beach activities.

(which always turns into a fight discussion at the end of our beach day when we tell the girls seashells stay at the beach).

Jeff & Kyle braved jumping and diving off the dock a few times

my view where I was hanging out on the beach blanket with a book

Not only was it a fun day, it was budget friendly...we brought a picnic lunch (lots of picnic tables in the shade) then bought ice cream + train rides which set us back only $20. This was much cheaper and more fun than some of the other day trips we considered before settling on this one.