March 28 Snow Day (actually freezing rain...)

It is supposed to be early spring.  It is supposed to be a school day.  I woke up in the night hearing hard rain pellets on our roof.  I just knew the buses would be cancelled due to freezing rain.

This has been the endless winter of 2014.  I have felt dreary and dull during these days of deep cold temperatures and icy driveways and walkways.  The temperature has risen a bit today and this rain should help to start thawing all the ice that is covering the landscape.  I have looked out my window for over 5 months and have seen snow.  Holy Smokes 5 MONTHS of SNOW!  That must be a record!

Despite all of that, we have enjoyed our indoor time.  I have started quite a few little projects in my home, finished some of them, made an abundance of jam, baked and baked and baked and our kids have thoroughly played with their inside toys, made many crafts, used hundreds of pieces of paper for drawings and... shhhhh... have played on our ipad way too much.  It is now OFFICIALLY time to start spending time outside but we will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings because it is raining now.

Here's a snippet of our (hopefully last) snow day:

We decided to make 3 different colours of playdoh.

The kids took over the living room with their lego.

My plan for my day, before the buses were cancelled, included making a few batches of jam

 and I was happy to get that accomplished.

 While I was working in my kitchen I found two little people under the piano bench "cooking up a storm" with dishes and play doh... Grace was quietly writing a story on her own somewhere else.

It was truly a peaceful day... and then, to make the day even better, we had visitors over for a couple of hours.  My friend and I shared a couple drinks, gabbed about life all while the kids were running around the house playing hide-and-seek.
Then they ventured outside for some very wet fun.

It was a good day.

Baking Bread

I have always been interested in baking bread. I love all things related to bread; freshly baked bread is my ultimate favourite. There is nothing more comforting than walking into a kitchen that smells of baking...

The concept of baking bread has always left me confused. There are recipes galore out there but nothing compares to learning to bake bread from a seasoned baker. There are so many factors that allow bread to come out perfectly such as the temperature of the room, how to give life to yeast, types of flour and how to knead. This is not easily explained in a recipe. 

On the other hand, this doesn't stop me. I found a recipe today that made my kitchen smell amazing and didn't take me all day to prepare. I started at 4:30pm and was done by 6:00pm and this was the first time so the next time should be even faster.  I should point out that I made buns, which I am assuming do not take as long to prepare as bread. The following is the website which provides the recipe and pictures to follow. Easy peasy. 

http://www.inquiringchef.com/2012/11/05/1-hour-light-and-buttery-dinner-rolls/

They came out of the oven beautifully and not 30 minutes later this is what was left of them:

I am on my bread-making journey!

There are many reasons why I want to make bread for my family. The most important is that I strive to serve my family wholesome foods. The other day I was going through the checkout at my local grocery store. The clerk helping me was having a conversation with the customer behind me, someone she knew. They were discussing "this amazing bread that lasts for weeks without going bad". They were both raving about it. Seriously??? Do you know what is in that bread? I will take bread that goes stale and moulds over that kind everyday.  Yuck. 

Tonight's recipe was a success but I hope to shadow a bread maker one of these days... 

Hug Your Kids and Kiss Your Spouse

It is easy to get caught up in the little details of life... vehicles breaking down, laundry piling up, forgotten homework, a busy spouse, too much snow, crabby kids; the list goes on and on and that is LIFE. Every so often I get a reality check. 

I have been touched my sadness and an aching in my heart this week. In moments of silence my mind goes straight to what is happening to a friend and her family right now. I see myself in her, all the good things... love for her kids, patience, playfulness, zest for life, being in the moment.  She exudes such warmth and it is always nice to be near her, chatting about family, kids and activities. Her face is in my mind as she struggles for her life and no doubt she is struggling hard and hopefully winning. I can't help but have no doubt she will win. 

My husband left on a business trip this morning and I am going to miss him like crazy. More than usual I think. I had a restless sleep thinking about it but made sure I got up to see him off. A hug, kiss and sweet "I love you" was said because you just never know...

Hug you kids, kiss your spouse, be kind to others and yourself. It is always a beautiful day when you can get up and do those things and get them back in return. 

Another Winter Day

We have a very long lane so some days we drive the kids to bus but if we have time, we all walk. There have been way too many cold mornings so we drive much of the time but today we all bundled up and made the trek down the lane to catch the bus. 

This morning I was looking up to the sun for some warmth and found none. It was cold on my face. It feels like the middle of January, not the beginning of March. We are anxiously waiting for Mother Nature to change her mind on winter and begin the MELT. And what a melt it will be. 

Looking for signs of spring. 

This year we are planning on tapping some of our maple trees. This is our sugar bush and it looks a long way from being ready for maple syrup season. 

So we wait and I guess we should make the most of it. No doubt once spring arrives, the real work begins. In the meantime I need to buy two pairs of winter boots that don't have holes in them. 

Winter Weekend

This past weekend was just what weekends should be made of... it feels good to begin a new week knowing we had a fulfilling weekend spending time with each other, having some fun and relaxing. 

Saturday brought dance class, watching our nephew play hockey and then Alex having a hockey practice.  We had our family-favourite for supper: homemade pizza and watched a movie and then after the kids went to bed we watched another movie!  We haven't done that in a long time.

Grace went to a friend's house for a sleepover and then went skiing the next day. 

We enjoyed some nice winter temperatures on Sunday morning so we went sliding in our back field. There was a hard crust of snow making sliding really fun even though the hill isn't very steep. 

Spring is supposed to be around the corner but it doesn't seem that was this year. I know our weekends are going to change soon with what our farm life brings but it is hard to imagine with all the snow we have and the cold winter temperatures we are experiencing. I can't believe it is March 3rd already.  The big melt is hopefully coming soon.