Simply Beautiful

At our new house there are many different kinds of flowers blooming in the yard, and the nice thing is, they were already here when we moved in. :) Right now, there are beautiful lilies blooming; I was out weeding a few days ago and could hardly believe how many different ones there are. I didn't get pictures of them all, but here are a few. I think my favorites are the bright yellow ones.

"Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Luke 12:27

Pink Tool Set :)

Not long ago my amazing husband surprised me by buying this tool set for me. :)I had been wanting a set like this for awhile, seems like I am always needing a screw driver or hammer for something around the house.

It includes about everything! Hammer,nails, measuring tape, rechargeable auto screw driver,pliers, and more. Plus it's pink so no one will take it:).

Belgian Championships & RCMP Musical Ride

This past week, we were able to drive over to Manitoba for the North American Belgian Championships. It's only held every four years so it's quite a big deal. The RCMP Musical Ride was going to be preforming at the show and we wanted to see that as well. It was a fun day, I enjoyed it a lot! :)

One of the four horse hitches.
William, shouting encouragement to the competitors. lol :)

Some of the three horse hitches being judged.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride was really neat to watch!

Abby watching.

Riding in Sync.
Telling where all the officers came from.

After the Musical Ride, you could go down and meet the police and their horses, which was interesting!
Watching them ride away.

Favorite Childrens Books

These are just a few of my favorite books for children. Most of them I remember from when I was growing up. We had lots of books and also visited the library quite often.

This book is out of print now and seems to be hard to find. It has been a long time since I read it, but from what I remember, it was a nice little story. :)

When I first saw this book I didn't really care fore the illustration style, but after reading it, it is a cute story about a little caterpillar who turns into a butterfly while learning some counting along a the way. Abby loves this one!

The Fire Cat Pickles the yellow cat with black spots :) I loved this one when I was little.

Buster Bear, Sammy Jay, Paddy the Beaver, Grandfather Frog, all characters in the animal stories by Thornton Burgress. When I was first learning to read, I would go and get these books from the library; I felt pretty important checking them out because they were chapter books :). Our library had the old nice hardbacks of the series.

Are You My Mother? This one is a favorite! I have a board book copy of it which leaves some parts out, but it's good for when the children are little.

Marcel the Pastry Chef What I remember most about this one is the wonderful illustrations! When I was younger we used to go to the library and bring stacks of books like this one home and my older sister would read them to us. :)

Good Night Little Bear I remember this book from when I was really little. It's funny, but the most vivid thing I remember about it is when the daddy bear is going to eat the piece of chocolate cake; I always thought it looked so good :). I haven't read or seen this book in years, but would love to get a copy.

Benjy and the Barking Bird We had this book when I was growing up. I spent some of my Swag bucks to buy myself a copy not too long ago.

Mommy Loves Her Bunny This is a cute little book, I love the illustrations and the words are sweet. I read this one to Abby just about every day before nap time.

What are some of your favorite children's books?

Take Time To Smell the Flowers

Abby, with some of her favorite things: her doll, green rubber boots, and "pretty flowers". Here, she is holding a dandelion for her doll to "smell". :)

Favorite Potato Salad

I found the recipe for this potato salad sometime last year and it became a favorite right away. Different from most, this recipes base has ranch dressing instead of mayonnaise and mustard. Cheese, bacon and green onion add awesome flavor:).

2 lbs. potatoes
1 bottle ranch salad dressing (More or less, depending on how many potatoes you use and how runny you like it.)
1 c. Cheddar cheese
bacon, cooked and crumbled (As much as you like)
1 t. garlic powder
green onions (I will usually add around three or four, sliced)
pepper

Cube and cook potatoes until tender, but not too soft. Refrigerate until cold. Gently mix in salad dressing and the remaining ingredients. Sprinkle with a few more green onions and crumbled bacon. Serve and enjoy! :)

Finally Moving In! :)

Our new farm house where we moved a few weeks back. This is the main reason I haven't posted in awhile, things have been busy! :) The house was built in 1916, since then there have been a few additions and updates, but the upstairs still has the neat original old woodwork and lath and plaster walls.

We got most of our belongings into the house last week and I have been working on unpacking.

Making progress! I am slowly emptying boxes as I can; looking forward to finishing and getting all settled into our new house!