Falling down like Rabbits

A very slow morning today.  Tidying, reshuffling furniture in the basement, sorting Lego, Skyping Moo and Grandma.  We got to see some pictures of the snow in the UK.

A lovely elderflower meadow snow angel

Yahoo showed me our old bird table in the snow

Out of Grandma and Grandad's window 

And in their back garden

I got the veg out of the cold room.  Now I haven't mentioned anything about Mr Mouse for a while because we haven't seen anything of him, until today.  Something tells me Mr Mouse likes broccoli.

We had a lovely roast dinner (minus Broccoli)  and then off we went to watch our local ice hockey team play.  It was Stouffville Spirits against Newmarket Hurricanes.

smallest waiting for the team to come out (or was he waiting for the chocolate?)

It was cold in there (Huffle had assured me we would NOT need gloves, hats, scarves.  So armed with only a chocolate bar and thin coats we bought our tickets and sat on cold wooden steps.  There were heaters above us but unfortunately we sat in the away teams side and they don't get warmth!!

Ummm chocolate

Smallest had to go to the toilet quite a lot (because it was so cold?).  I heard a man in the stand shout "get the puck out".  I giggled.  Small asked me what it meant.  So I told him the man wanted the player to get the puck away from the other team (is that what he meant or was he being rude?).

Smallest also got bored so we watched a bit of the little ones practising next door.  They are so small and yet they skate so well!

At the third period or quarter (I'm new to this sport!) the kids got to throw pucks onto the ice.  "Chuck a Puck".  The person whose puck is closest to the centre wins a $25 voucher.  There is also a 50/50 draw.  You pay $5 and have a chance of winning half of what is taken.  We didn't win.

Chuck a puck

The team we came to see didn't win either though it was a good game.  Cold but good.  If we go again I am taking a flask, blanket, hat, gloves, scarf, hot water bottle.

This man got poked in the nether regions 

 And walked off bent double - ouch

Two men got carried off with hurt legs.  Small said "oh Mummy, they are falling like Rabbits". bless.

Two hockey sticks got broken.  Many people got sent to the sin bin!       

BRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

We came home, got warm, kids had some tea and watched a movie.

Happy Birthday Mr CWC

Not much of a lie-in today as we got up and went out.  We went to the local church and had breakfast for the start of the carnival.  Two Pancakes and a sausage swimming in maple syrup.  Different.  We got to sit with our lovely Neighbours, the 'Royals' who had their family with them who were visiting from the UK.  We had a nice breakfast whilst chatting about moving here and the UK and snowboarding etc.  
Then we went off to swap Small's boots for a new pair as his new ones from last weekend had a tear in them.
We drove back home and walked to the carnival.  The parade was just starting and we were walking alongside at the beginning of it.  We felt like we too were part of the parade.  "here they come - the newcomers!!"

Fire truck 

Beeeeaaaaverrrrrrsssss

There were a few floats, a marching band, fire trucks, police cars, horses, sheep and a donkey.  Old men riding minuscule motorbikes, people dressed as lions, a dog, a clown.  The Mayor, the Fire Chief, and at the very end some people who collected the horse poo and shovelled it into a van.

Elderly marching band

I think this was the day care which made us laugh because they appeared to be in a jail!

But then, so we're the school musicians

A lion giving the boys soft toys

Men on quads

Elderly men on very tiny motorbikes

Something from wacky races? And a clown wo came to talk to Smallest

....and wanted to get in on the picture

Heeeeeeee haaawwwww

We wandered to the community centre and looked at the stalls.  We met up with KP and Pol.  ClownRose was there with her best friend selling their homemade chocolate (which incidentally is the best chocolate ever!). I got to meet her best friend's Mum and Dad (also English) who gave me their number and told me to come and have tea with them one day.  I will.
The kids checked out the colouring competition only to find that Smallest had won first prize for his picture. Hurrah!

So proud

For lunch the boys had hot dogs and various sweets that had been thrown at them.  Huffle and I took part in the chilli and soup contest.  Three different chillis and three different soups.  We had to taste them and then vote for our favourite.  There was only one vegetarian soup so I voted for that.  But next year I am going to enter into it myself with one of my soups.  The winner gets the takings!  cool.  I am also going to enter the photography contest too.  I may even have a stall there if I can make enough things to sell - we'll see!
At the awards ceremony Smallest collected his $3 prize - he was over the moon.  He is going to put it in his new money box that he painted when it arrives.

"yay" he shouted "I got money"

As a family we took part in the scavenger hunt.  I think this is really for kids and the kids should have done it with their friends - oh we'll we know for next time - however we did it.  We had to reassemble some words to make proper sentences.  Find a snowflake.  Sing a song to Mr C.W.C.  (he was the man dressed as a Groundhog). We looked high and low for him.  In the end Mr Royal found him in the kitchen, he had to get changed into his costume (yes he's not real!) and finally came out to see us.  He didn't seem to know why we were singing to him and he kept trying to run away.  We also had to do various tasks like egg and spoon race, throw beanbags into buckets, Get a hoop around us whilst all holding hands.  We had to ask strangers questions and write their answers down.  We finished it without too much humiliation and won ourselves a goody bag and a chocolate milk each.

This is Mr CWT (Winter Carnival) the one we had to sing to.......

The boys had a ride

A tall man with ribbons dressed as a referee with music coming out of his back!  He followed us around a lot and walked OVER Smallest.

They boys queued for the face painting but it took too long so they queued for the balloon lady instead.   She made them each a hat.

Time to go home with all our goodies.

This is all the stuff we came home with!

I asked Smallest what he wanted for his birthday (end of March) and he said, without much thinking, 10 hot wheels cars, loads of money and a monster.  Right!
We had a sandwich and skyped Grandma and Grandad and MissK.  The UK is cold with a lot of snow expected.  oh Dear!

We played Leicestershire Monopoly and drew and coloured and tidied the basement.
Huffle put up the remaining curtain holders for Smallest's room....... And then it was bed time for the little bears!
Now we can eat that yummy chocolate that ClownRose made. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Poorly Small and an Angry Bird

This morning Small complained of a sore throat and wibbly tummy.   I checked his throat (and NO it wasn't my bread and butter puding!) and his tonsil was up a bit.  So I called the school and told them he wouldn't be in.  I made him scrambled eggs for breakfast and sent him to bed to rest.   I then walked Smallest to the Bus and asked the driver if he would be okay on the way back on his own.  The driver said yes of course he would be fine (but I still wrote a note to his teacher to say he would be on his own).  I felt like it was the first day of school again.  Silly me.
I should have been going to the hairdressers today with KP.  So I cancelled that (luckily, for me, the hairdressers daughter was poorly too so we remade our appointments for Monday).
Small skyped Grandma to see if he could get some extra sympathy.  She told him to rest too.
Once he had rested we played a long game of Disney Monopoly - well he was ill.  It lasted most of the day with stops for bath, cleaning, washing, lunch, a movie.  Small won easily.
We saw the most amazing bird in the garden today.  It was a really bright red and looked a bit like a cockatoo.  We think it might have been one of these..........

Which apparently is the bird that inspired this one

He skyped his best friend back in the UK (they can't normally do this in the week because of the time difference so it was nice to see them talking about what they were doing at school and what they had planned for the weekend.

We walked outside to meet Smallest off the bus.  Smallest had liked being on the bus himself - he thinks he's a big boy now!  He also brought home his ribbon for reading.

They played quite nicely together and Small read to Smallest to earn time on the computer.

I made a rice pudding because it is Small's favourite and I know how to make it and have all the correct ingredients.
 I have started playing 'Words with friends' on the Internet.  Last night we took the iPad to bed and played a game with a random person who we didn't know.  They were a bit slow so we started heckling them, saying helloooo are still there?  have you fallen asleep?  Zzzzzzzzzzz.  We were laughing and in the end we turned it off and went to sleep.  When I checked it today they had done the same.  There were lts of zzzzzzzzzzzz's.  It's funny.  Now I am playing with two friends and two randoms as well as the same one from last night.
Carnival tomorrow.

Groundhog Day

Today's headlines:

Groundhog Day 2012: Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam predict early spring; Punxsutawney Phil calls for more winter

This is Punxatawney Phil with his handler - who predicted more winter for The States.

Small went off to school.  It was assembley today but no-one told me and he won a ribbon for reading more than 20 times in January.  Oh I would have liked to have seen him get that!  Smallest should have got one too but he wasn't at school today.

He was so pleased to have won this.

Smallest and I met up with ClownRose and BabyMo and we all walked to the library. We got there just in time for Story Time.  There was us four and one lady with two children there.  The Librarian made us all sit on the carpet and started us off with a song which Smallest and I had never heard of.  Then some more people turned up while a story was being read.  She read us three stories in all and we sang four songs, some of which we knew, maybe with different tunes!
Smallest got to colour in a picture while I chose some books.  Some more Mum and kids turned up.  a couple of them I knew so we chatted while the kids played and looked at books.  It was good.  Some of Smallest's friends from his class came later for their story time (they go to daycare on the days that they are not at school).  He was showing them some Where's Waldo (Where's Wally UK) books and they were all giggling.  The daycare teachers had to move them along because they should have been concentrating on the story time and not on Smallest!!  I wish I had taken my camera today (I know, It's not like me to be without my camera), I could have taken some lovely shots.  Smallest and BabyMo were lovely together.
Then ClownRose and I and BabyMo and Smallest went to the cafe for coffee (Smallest had his usual grilled cheese sandwich).  While in there I bumped into another Mum I knew.  I was telling ClownRose that I didn't know anyone here except her but it seems I maybe know more people than her.  Then she bumped into someone she knew from a long time back.  It was a funny morning.  We stayed in there for a long time and Smallest shared his sandwich with his new friend BabyMo.  Bless he likes her - he wants a baby brother (NO WAY) but only so the three of them can fight in the garden!!!!  I don't think so Smallest!!!!!!
We walked back and it was definitely colder and we left our new friends and promised to get together again soon.  We like them a lot.
We skyped Moo, Yahoo and Grandma and Grandad.  We read through all of our library books and watched a bit of Princess and the Frog.  Smallest was missing Small so he went outside to meet him from the bus.  Before he went outside he said "I will wait till he's off the bus and then I will say 'have you had a nice day Small?'" Ahh bless - that's what I say every time they get off the bus - he does listen!

Just waiting......

Yay here is the bus

Aww he forgot to ask him!

I made Bread and Butter pudding (thanks Yahoo for your recipe) using the Cinamon Raisin Bread I ruined yesterday - Huffle did eat some last night and said it was good and fruity just not very bready!  So I figured what could make it better, so I made it into a pudding........  however, when I sprinkled the Cinamon liberally onto the buttered bread cut neatly into little triangles I failed to notice that the label said Cumin instead of Cinamon, whoops.  Honestly, I was good at baking before I came here HONEST.  So I chucked the bread away that had cumin on and scraped the bits I couldn't rescue (sssshhhhh no-one will know), and then added lots of CINAMON and ome choc chips to cover the spiciness! And bunged it in the oven. PAH - it will be fine.  I don't eat it, it's got Cinamon in it. Hehe he.  Grandmas suggestion was serve it with ice-cream (in fact just give them ice-cream was what she really said!)?
Now I sat here writing this post and forgot to take it out of the oven so it appeared to be a little (only a smidgen) bit burnt.  Well whatever!  The boys ate it and they loved it - yes really really.  They want me to make it again.

So next time, make sure I don't put the right amount of ingredients in, then make sure the raisin bread doesn't rise.  Leave it a day.  Cut it up nicely, butter it, pour over cumin, scrape it off, pour over Cinamon, and the correct amount of eggy milkiness (oh I didn't use cream either cos I didn't have any) and then bake it till it's burnt.  Yep got all that.  Oh by the way, Smallest  just said "Mummy this pudding makes my throat hurt" Oh that'll be the cumin then!  Have a drink and leave the rest.  PANTS - that's another disaster for the Kitchen of Famfa then!

Hello to my new(ish) Reader "Nicole".  For you I have some French I have learnt from The Disney Monopoly:-

Allen en prison, Stationnement Gratuit, Pour une visite, Passez GO et reclaimez un salarie de $200. not bad eh?  Everything here has to have the French as well - its the law, so if you wanted to learn Frech it would be fairly easy to keep practising.

Poor Bob!

The photos I posted last night of the snowman and fort we made in the front garden were nothing compared to this picture that KP sent me of a snow creature her and her little friend made at the weekend.

WOW.  We need to practice more I think!

As we waited for the school bus this morning we checked out what happened to the snowman and fort in the night!  It was very mild last night................

The poor fort - not going to protect us from much now!

Smallest pushed the carrot back in Bob's face and his whole head and body fell off.  Small rescued him by putting the carrot in and his twig arms back.  Poor Bob!

I spent the morning doing nothing much.  Washing, putting away clothes, Skyping Grandma and Cousin E.  Wrote a couple of letters.  Tried to fix the door I broke yesterday.  Got dinner prepared as boys off to Muppet Movie Night at the local Legion for Winter Festival.  Answered some emails.  Commented on and read a few blogs (that always takes up far too much time). Made a Cinaman Raisin Loaf in the bread machine.  Not the correct ingredients as I picked up a mix at Bulk Barn and obviously didn't weigh it as I didn't have enough, so I added a bit of all purposes flour, extra raisins, a couple of cranberries and blackberries - well I'm sure it all goes together.  I myself don't like Cinamon Bread but everyone else in the house does.

Cinamon bread mixing

 Not so good once it was finished though.  Whoops.

Something happened to the rising!  And it didn't quite mix properly on the bottom!  I never was a fan of these mixes - will find a recipe and make my own I think!

Went out for lunch with KP today.  We were supposed to go for a healthy walk but it turned into an unhealthy dinner!  I had Vegetable Moussaka which was nice but such a big portion.  Ooh my jeans are tight, which is why I wanted to go walking in the first place, now they are even tighter!

When Smallest took off his hat, his hair was very strange.  KP stayed and played with the boys for a while.  She helped them take funny photos.

I had a visit from my neighbour who invited us to story time at the library tomorrow.  I made her a cup of English tea and then had to tie her shoe laces.  She was carrying her gorgeous baby in a front baby carrier and she couldn't bend so I did it for her.  I think she might think I'm a little crazy!   Then it was off to see the Muppets Movie.  I dropped the kids off at the local Legion to watch the movie - they were very excited.  I left them there with a voucher enabling them to have a drink and a treat.  They had a lovely time.  They were so engrossed in the film they forgot to take their coats off!
Small came home and told me all about Groundhog Day.  It is tomorrow.
I read up on the Groundhog.  This is what I learnt.

On Groundhog Day, a groundhog in the small town of Punxatawney, emerges in the morning to a throng of onlookers. If he spots his shadow and returns to his hole, it means winter will last six more weeks. If the Groundhog does not see his shadow, an early spring is sure to come.

Not to be outdone, many other towns now have their own woodchuck weatherman.

Punxsutawney Phil is the original star of Groundhog Day however. He first predicted the weather 126 years ago and has had about 39 percent accuracy ever since. 

Now I'm not being funny but 39% - that's rubbish.  I could probably predict better than that surely?  But it seems a nice tradition to have so I will check out the news tomorrow and let you know what sort of weather he predicts.  I think the closest one to us is Wairton Willie, who is an albino groundhog.  

We had a couple of packages in the post today from our tv company Bell.  Look how pleased Huffle was when he opened them to find he had to install them because he had requested a new channel!

You want me to do whhaaaaattt?