SPRINGTIME IN VANCOUVER

On Sunday I went to Vancouver to get 'a new eye'. Ok, so it wasn't really an eye, but rather, an artificial eye. I've been without one since April 7th when we did some minor surgery to try to fix a 6 year old hole. It took a while for the doctor to feel confident that we were successful, but I finally got the OK for my new prosthesis. I won't say much more about that now since I have some pretty graphic pictures to show you the whole process in the next blog post... but I will say, that the ocularist that makes my prosthesis is amazingly TALENTED!

I took Emma and my mom, and hopped in the car for a fun 4 day trip to the coast. We stayed with my wonderful university roommate Mary, and her family. They were great hosts/hostesses. They are such a nice family, and the kids are so kind and helpful, and cheerful. It was a delight to get to stay with them and get to know Mary's family better. I wish we lived closer to each other so we could see more of each other.

It was so nice to finally see flowers growing, green grass, leaves on the trees, and all the fruit trees and berry bushes blossoming. I love spring! too bad it's taking it's own sweet time arriving in Calgary.
Here are a few highlights from our trip. Most of these pictures were taken in Stanley Park.



My personal navigator extraordinaire! Emma with my iphone with mapping capabilities.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

Yesterday I got a new recipe from a friend. She hadn't tried it, but her friend said it was good. I thought it sounded fun. 5 Minutes from start to finish for warm chocolate cake - just what we need, haha.
Well, since i can't do any taste tests, i had my trusty apprentice give it a whirl. A day off school, and nothing to do.... and 5 minutes later, cake.

So here's the recipe for a fun after school snack, or late night snack, or a sanity break, or whatever you may need ...

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp chocolate chips (recipe says they're optional, but not in this house)
a small splash of vanilla extract (we used almond extract, cuz that's what was used by the person that wrote the recipe, i'm guessing mint flavor might be good too)
1 LARGE microwavable mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add chocolate chips.
Add flavor, and mix again. Put mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
Cake will rise over the top of the mug (ours didn't). Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. Eat. It's pretty big, so it could be shared by two. Even Marissa couldn't finish hers.

Of course you could fancy it up with some ice cream, or even cherry pie filling and whip cream for a mini black forest cake.

Marissa says it was pretty good, but just too much to finish. She says it's good enough to keep the kids happy, but "not good enough for the queen". I'm not sure when we started trying to impress the queen, but I guess it gives me an idea as to where it ranks in the recipe file. Haha.

We had a little visitor on our deck tonight. This picture wasn't taken by me since he was too fast, but it looks a lot like him. Apparently he is an ERMINE (in the winter, when he is pure white), or a short tailed weasel in the summer, when he is brown. I hope Toby doesn't find him.
He sure looked soft, but i'm sure it would take a lot of them to make a nice coat.

MY FIRST ATTEMPT

For our laurel class activity a couple of weeks ago, one of the girls taught us how to do rolled fondant cake decorating. I didn't get to participate that night (other than observing and helping the girls) due to a major kitchen disaster. I had tried to make my first gluten free chocolate cake that night - in way too big of a hurry..... and lets just say I've never made anything that dreadful in my life. A rubber hockey puck comes to mind. I should have taken a picture and blogged about it, but really it was just too sad. Anyway, I came away from the activity excited to try something new in the kitchen. I figured that we have 3 girls birthdays in the next 3 months, so I'll have lots of opportunity to practice.

Emma's birthday was first. (I'll post about her soon). So this was my first attempt at rolled fondant cake decorating. I used Natalie's recipe for a marshmallow based fondant that was super easy to make. Covering the cake was the easy part, then it started to get more finicky.


A stiffer cake would have probably given me better results, but other than super long loops on the bows, i think it turned out pretty good. At least for a first attempt. I'll have lots of chances to practice, so hopefully each one will be better than before.

At least the birthday girl liked it, and that's what matters most.
Yay for trying something new. (oh, except trying new gluten free baking, lol).

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO LATELY

Wahoo!! We're actually here in Hawaii. After a quick dump of the luggage, we're back to the beach to check it out. Tomorrow can't come soon enough - we want to play.
(Friday)









Not enough time on day one to actually play, but we had to stop and soak it all in.
(Friday)







The biggest piece of coral I've ever seen wash up on shore. Makaha beach.
(Saturday)














Ross and Emma having some fun.
(Saturday)


Our morning wake up call. At 4:30am!!! (Strangely, I don't mind at all...)







The Temple is closed for renovations. It's not looking so pretty. All the white paint/parging is missing, so all you see is the grey crushed lava that it's built with - and boards in the windows. Hopefully it won't be long til it looks good again.
(Sunday drive)


A quick stop on the North Shore - I think this was Sunset Beach.
(Sunday)


Ko Olina lagoons. Did some snorkeling here too. Saw lots of cool fish (angel type, rainbow type, pencil fish, pretty yellow striped fish, big fish, see-thru fish... i love my fish names - unfortunately my book with the proper names is at home in Calgary), urchins, sea cucumbers, etc. Fun.
(Monday morning and early afternoon).


Makaha beach. Our favorite. The waves were in the 10-16 ft. range. The kids love playing in the waves as they crash on to the beach, and riding the waves on the boogie boards. That is Ross in the center, and a stranger on the left. I haven't figured out how to edit people out of our pictures yet.
(Monday)


Matsumoto shave ice in Haleiwa, North shore.
(Tuesday)


Bruce was a good sport at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We did so much there, that it will need its own post.
(Tuesday)








Coconut milk wasn't a huge hit.
(Wednesday at the Aloha swap meet)















We had a visitor on our beach. He was huge! (Wednesday)


We LOVE Hawaii!!

THEY WON !!

Yay! Marissa's basketball team at school finally won a game.

We couldn't believe how well the game was going, so we took several pictures of the scoreboard throughout the game.







(This one is the final score: 15 - 41)
Sorry the pictures are far away and fuzzy - I just had my cell phone, in a gym...not a good combination.









The team has come close to winning, and had many tight/ close games....but this time, they took the lead at the beginning, and stayed ahead the whole time.








Marissa is in yellow on the far left.













The BEST part was - Marissa played well this game, getting rebounds and being at the right place at the right time, and made 5 baskets! YAY!!






Getting a rebound. (Missy is Yellow #6)
















What a fun game to watch. With any luck at all, there will be many more fun games to watch. I don't know why, but it sure is more fun to win (I know that's not the politically correct response, but the girls just seem happier, and work better together when they're winning).

WHAT IS GOING ON ?!?

Marissa's junior high school went into lockdown again today! The second time in one month! Good grief! This time, rumor has it, a boy who goes to the school and has been in trouble with the law before, made bomb threats to the school. So they evacuated all the kids while the police came to arrest this boy, and search the school for a bomb. No bomb was found, the boy is expelled. I say it is rumor, because the school, and the news are very vague, and don't really tell us anything. I think the letter to parents said something like "there was an incident at the school today, causing us to take precautions, but all is well". And the news on tv wasn't much better. (I tried something new, if you click on the title to this entry, it should take you to the news clip with this story).

A couple of weeks ago the school was locked down because one of the boys was suicidal and allegedly had a weapon - either a knife or a gun. So again the police had to come.

Right before Christmas Marissa came out of school to see multiple fire trucks across the road, and one of the condos engulfed in flames. The next day, the kids were locked in the school while the police investigated a shooting (a man was shot in the stomach multiple times) across the street. It was actually next door the house the burned the day before. Hmmm, wonder if those two are related??

I'm starting to feel like I'm sending my little girl out to school in the projects of Harlem, or at least Forest Lawn.

What's a mom to do???

Marissa still has one year left of junior high, and Emma and Erica are coming close behind. The next closest school would involve me driving them to and from school every day, and to be honest, I don't know if it's a good school either. How do you know if a school is 'good' or not?

What would you do???

I AM SO BLESSED

I've been having one of those days, or weeks, where I've been feeling great, and like things are fitting into place nicely, and how blessed I really am! While I worked on computer stuff this afternoon, the music on my blog was playing. I once again enjoyed the two songs "Blessed" by Martina McBride, and "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. I've been so blessed!

I was born into a fabulous family, raised in the church - always actively involved, and still enjoy great relationships with each of my siblings, and my parents - they're all so important to me - I love them and I know they love me too. My brothers all married wonderful women, and have the best children around. I love all of them too, and feel like I am loved by them too. Christmas this year was great - to have everyone 'home' and around for a few days.

Then I married the most amazing guy I know! Bruce also came from a great family, which I was welcomed into immediately. I love this family too, and know they love us too - I just wish we could see them more often.
When I married Bruce, I hoped and prayed that he would be a 'good' husband, and a good father - and treat us well, and take care of us. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank my Heavenly Father for the wonderful gift that Bruce was for me. How did I get so lucky!? He's everything I dreamed of, and more.

Then our four kids have just been the cherry on top. Each one of them has been a delight to have in our home. Not that things have always been easy or smooth, but they are delightful, smart, talented, loving, humorous, and fun to have around. Ross is planning to go to U of A (in Edmonton) in the fall, and while I'm super excited for him, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it. I know I will miss him terribly, but I tell myself that it's a weaning process, preparing me for his mission the following year. (Plus, I'll still have 3 girls home to keep me entertained, and busy). I'm so glad that we've planned one more family vacation before Ross leaves home, and even happier that it will be in Hawaii 16 days from now!

I feel so blessed to be healthy. I know that technically I don't really fall into the healthy category, but as my brother said - I'm the healthiest sick person we know. Honestly, if the doctors didn't keep reminding me that I'm not well, I honestly wouldn't have a clue. I feel fabulous. I feel so blessed to feel stong and energetic (most of the time... if I don't stay up too late).

I'm grateful, and blessed to have a lovely home - and only one home this year! Nice to only have one driveway to shovel and house to take care of (well, only one that belongs to us).

I also have the best friends and extended family ever. I have had so much support and love shown to me and my family....they are so kind and thoughtful. I hope I can be as loving and supportive to them in return.

Well, this post could go on and on.... counting my many blessings. I'm just glad to have so many days in my life where I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for my many blessings. Do you ever have those kind of days?

A VERY LATE CHRISTMAS POST

Christmas Eve. Apparently Barb's magical sleepy soup hasn't taken effect yet.










New pj's on Christmas eve. Tradition.
















Christmas morning. Ready for kids.

















Keeping with Olson family tradition - as soon as the stockings were emptied, the feet went in. Can't break traditions, they must be passed down from generation to generation.







Fingerpaints from Santa to Ross. Santa must have heard Ross whining about his mom not letting him fingerpaint or play in the mud as a youngster (even though he did - lots!, including pudding finger painting). 32 colors of his own finger paints. Incidentally, Ross had some friends over tonight to play games, watch movies, and finger paint! You're never too old to finger paint.









I wonder if Santa has any idea how ironic this gift was for Marissa.....not speaking?!?
















Even Toby got in on the action.

















The most meaningful gift this year! Ross went shopping with his friends at the thrift store 'Value village', for another Christmas project, and hit the jackpot! He was thrilled to show me his 'find'. An old insulated mug from Green's Pop Shop. This was where Bruce worked thru high school, til he went on his mission, and again when he got home. Apparently Ross listened to stories Bruce told him, and when he found the mug, he bought this little piece of nostalgia for Bruce's Christmas present. How thoughtful!



Marissa wearing her gift from Uncle Craig and Aunt Steph. We all had a good laugh, and Missy was a good sport.














What could it be? We thought we got all our presents at home, but what's this one here at Gma and Gpa's??



The much hoped for and anxiously anticipated Guitar Hero 4 'World Tour'




The guitar hero was enjoyed by budding musicians of all ages.











A new experience for New Year's Eve. Apparently our kids have never tried using a real nutcracker before. They made quite a mess.

I LOVE CALGARY!

While we're waiting for me to make a post about Christmas fun, I just had to quickly say....
It's days like today that makes me love living in Calgary. On the news we keep hearing about how most of the U.S. and Canada is in a deep freeze, with nasty cold temperatures. But for the past 2 days we've been basking in a balmy +8 degrees celcius (i think that's about 46 fahrenheit). And there are some weather reports that say that on Sunday or Monday we will get up to 16 celcius (61 fahrenheit). I sure hope so.
The only problem is that with all the snow we've had, the roads are a mess, and my car looks like mud. People have been getting stuck in the loose snow, that never got plowed, all over the city. However, some of us are more skilled than others, and have been just fine :)
I LOVE chinooks!