Bake Sale

Saturday was the big garage sale for the whole neighborhood. Yup, this Saturday...as in the one where it poured rain like we were in India during monsoon season. At 9am it looked like 9pm...but Ant was out and had most of the stuff squished onto the porch. My Ant, the brilliant woman that she is, gave me the idea of having a bake sale during the garage sale and then my cousin, Nate got on board and made lattes. Because of the rain we set up in the foyer and just opened the door...
I have never had a bake sale before....I am so glad I did. It was a lot of work the night before and in the morning but it was definitely worth it.

I made red velvet cupcakes that were more like pink velvet cupcakes...but still a big hit!
I made cinnamon buns, muffins, cookies, scones, and chocolate peanut butter cupcakes...
We had a blast and I would totally do it again!! Hope everyone out there enjoyed their weekend and stayed dry!

Cake, Cute Puppies, and a trip to the ER

This post was supposed to happen yesterday...but it didn't because I took my oldest brother Si to the hospital because of a leg infection. Now, I am not a hospital go-er...in fact the only time I've been in a hospital for treatment was when I was born. But I went and we waited, and waited. We watched Dancing with the Stars...it was the finale show...we picked apart their outfits and their dances, it was actually pretty fun! After one couple did their dance Si scoffed "oh, even I could dance better than that". I believed him. We ate nanaimo bars from a vending machine that I had to ask someone how to use, slightly embarrassing considering that I just wasn't pushing hard enough on the door thing-y. We watched a movie, oh and we watched some late night talk show tv. And then we waited some more. At 1 am we finally saw a doctor and Si was iv-ed up. I ate some stray mints from my purse and witnessed an old lady with an open back gown heading down the hall, classic. We eventually headed home shortly after 2 am. I'd show you a picture of Si with his iv in, because of course I took one, but I'm fairly certain he would maim me in some way and I'm not quite ready to back to the hospital.

Before all this happened I went out to the country with my cousin to look at a pair of 9 week old golden retrievers my Aunt and Uncle just got..awwwww! They were so cute and soft!How can you resist that!Annie Rose took this next picture as we were driving out...I have to say it's one of my favorites, it sums up almost everything I love about the prairies!

This weekend was my Grandpa's 80th birthday party and I was in charge of the cake. I hadn't made such a big cake since the last wedding one I did 2 years ago...I had forgotten how much I loved it! This one was a lemon cake with a rhubarb curd filling!

Summer day....

Today felt just like summer...it was so hot and sunny. I loved it. I made up some peppermint iced tea in the morning and took my brother Si for a walk in the park. We both brought our cameras and took at least a hundred photos. I made Si take a picture of my jumping off a bench....we had to take at least 20 before we got ourselves coordinated....Then we found a cherry blossom tree and pretended we were in Japan...we said the few Japanese words we knew while standing under it.

In the afternoon I baked bread and then spread a blanket out in the front yard and read in the sunshine...this is the life. In the evening we biked to Assinaboine park for a picnic...the first one in the park this season!

Punk's Party

Yesterday we celebrated Duncan/Punk's 7th birthday in the country...

There was lots of food, which means LOTS of eating...A highlight was the shrimp lollipops that the birthday boy helped make!And the presents!!
The cake was not only delicious but was possibly one of the coolest birthday cakes I've seen. Courtesy of the amazing Christine!I think he was pretty impressed...It was a great evening...especially that because we got to spend the entire time outside and because we were celebrated a pretty important little boy!

P.S. My favorite picture of the evening was this one...So weird. Hee!

Home.

We got home late Tuesday night and boy was I glad to be back in Winnipeg. It is so beautiful here in the spring...

I have so easily slipped back into life here, it's like putting on your favorite pair of jeans or worn sneakers...it just feels so good.

So far, I've helped the girls with their new job as flyer girls...Gone out for supper with my oldest and tallest brother, who was beyond entertaining...
Picked a bucket full of dandelions with a 3 year old...Spent a chunk of time in the kitchen...hanging out with my mixer!Made cute little cakes from a pan that my Dad bought me for graduation...so cute and delicious!
And marveled in the beauty of all the new flowers and greenness around me!

Can you tell me I'm happy to be home!

Note: The last photo and the photo on the banner were taken by Nathalie. She wanted credit. Good photos, eh?

Day 5

Today we went to visit Anne of Green Gables! It was Stacey's dream come true! The rest of us really enjoyed it too....

Here we are in front of the house that inspired L.M. Montgomery and is now a replica of Green Gables in the books. I milked a cow!
We walked through the house with Stacey who read the Anne books most recently and she told us little stories about each room we stopped at! Here she is telling Zach something...
And posing in front of Anne's room!
Then we walked down 'Lover's Lane'...it was beautiful!
We visited the gift shop and Zach tried on an "Anne" hat...eek...Which is very similar to a picture I had taken earlier in the week... Cutest "Anne"s I've ever seen!

On the drive home we drank our Raspberry Cordial and ate little mini scones!
It was an awesome day! Tomorrow we leave Charlottetown and head towards the prairies! This is my last post from the east coast! Aurevoir!

Day 4 (Mother's Day!)

Happy Mother's day to all the Mamas out there!

Today we celebrated our Mamas by taking a trip to the beach and having a picnic. The sun came out for a little bit too!When we got back I popped a farmer's market chicken into the oven and roasted some baby potatoes, sauteed some fiddle heads, and tossed a spinach and watercress salad. And then we ate some more! I think the mother's felt appreciated!