Name that Plant

We have been in our current home for almost five years, and this is the first year I've noticed this plant growing in our garden. You might wonder how I could possibly miss it. Well...our garden/yard normally turns into a jungle of weeds and plants that reproduce like rabbits each year. This year I'm determined to get our gardens under control and these pictures were taken after I had dug up a ton of plants that would eventually hide it from view. The leaves that grow out of each bulb/root are in a straight line (giving it a flat look), so each plant looks like a sailboat with green sails. Does anyone know what this plant is called?

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was special.

This is the first year that C did not hand me her Mother's Day gift as soon as she got home from school. Instead, she hid the present under her bed and told me she had a lot of work to do. She then spent part of the afternoon preparing other Mother's Day items.

On Saturday night before she went to bed, she said she had to give me part of my gift. I was handed a large home made card that said....

Happy Mothrs Day
I love you. you are the Best MOM I evre HaD.

I turned the page to see...

Breckfist in BeD and we are goning...

That was all I got to read. As soon as I read the last line, she took the card away and said the rest was for tomorrow. She just wanted me to know that I needed to stay in bed.

Sunday morning, I was served heart-shaped peanut butter and jam sandwiches, toast and coffee along with fresh cut flowers (that she ran outside and cut from our garden) and presents.


I was then able to read the remainder of the card...

and we are goning to eat at a restront. you will get a bocay of flawrs. you will asow get presints and I will red a Bed time story to you.
Love C

A bedtime story...that made me smile.

My presents were a a home-made jewellery box and newspaper bead necklace that she had made at school, along with two of her paintings.


Before she went to bed, we had to crawl into my bed where she read me Max Lucado's You are Mine and Dora's Happy Mother's Day.

It was so special for me to see C make all these plans on her own, and watch her carry them out with such love and excitement. A child's joy is so sweet to see and I felt very honoured and blessed to have such a caring child. Partway through the day C said...I can't wait until Father's Day when I can do this all over again.

Who's the Boss?

The other night when I came home from band practice, I found a rather large message written in sidewalk chalk across the entire driveway. It made me laugh at first, then curious as to why it was there..and then a little nervous about what possibly could have transpired between Hubby and C while I was gone.

It says..."I'm the Boss!"...and the big black rectangle...that's where she wrote her name. There would be no doubt in our neighbourhood as to who wrote the message.

I learned it was something minor that prompted her to write this message, something that did not go the way she wanted it to. I'm not completely sure why she chose to write this phrase, but I can tell you that she has learned that phrase from us. We have used it a few times on her when we want an argument to end...so I think she was just writing out what she had wanted to be.

We talked about it and the next day I found another message in our driveway.


I don't mind the messages in our driveway...it allows us to see what she is thinking/feeling so we can talk about it. I'm not so sure I'll use that phrase anymore on her...but I do know I'll be saving that picture for the day she gets married.

Bean-It-Up Salsa Chicken Combo

The first time hubby cooked this recipe, I took one look at it and thought..."This is dinner?" Mixed beans, salsa, tomatoes...these are low on my list of tasty food and here they were all mixed into the same dish. It didn't look appealing to me at all, but I tried it and loved it. It has become one of my favourites dishes. C loves it too but we have to leave the peppers out or she complains its too spicy. We eat it wrapped in a soft tortilla with sour cream, but I sure it would be excellent with nachos.

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
1 can of chick peas
1 can of black beans
1 small can (14 oz) or 1.5 cups tomato sauce
1.5 cups salsa
1 tsp chili pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 clove garlic
Parmesan cheese

1. Cook chicken in skillet over medium heat until fully cooked.
2. In a large casserole dish, mix chicken with all ingredients except cheese.
3. Cover and bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese.

It's UBP 2010 Party Time!

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 has officially started and I'm so excited that you decided to pop by. Let me tell you a little bit about myself and this blog.

I go by the name Cheri; a nickname I had growing up. I started this blog just over 3 years ago because I wanted a place to share our family tales with friends and family, as well as create a keepsake of the journey life had us on...the times we laughed, the times we cried, the times we learned valuable lessons, and the times when God was so good (both recent and past). I wanted to share craft ideas (like this cool Webkinz shirt) and even share a few stories from my childhood too.

Who are the "and Family" part of my blog? For the most part, that would be Hubby and C. Hubby and I have been married for almost 11 years and we have one lively, bold, beautiful 7 year old daughter, who fills our life with many unexpected things, but at the same time brings us so much joy. We are also a homestay family, and have hosted numerous international students in our home. We often joke that we are practicing our parenting skills on other people's teens, so that we don't mess up our own.

This is my first time participating in the party, so I have no idea what to expect, but I'm looking forward to finding out. I'm really excited about the prizes too.

My top 3 picks from the 5 Minutes For Mom prize page are:

• USC13 - A $100 Gift Certificate from Kay Jewellers
• USC8 - A $55 Amazon Gift Card from Kelly's Lucky You
• USC60 - A $200 Gift Certificate from Modern Wall Graphics, the Makers of Wall Slicks

If these are gone, I'd love to win USC57, INTL9, USC23, USC37, USC56, USC53, USC36, USC44, USC43...or anything else because winning is fun.

Blog Party Time

Most of my blogging friends are going to the party this year...so I thought I'd check it out too. "What party?" you ask...it's The Ultimate Blog Party 2010 put on by the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom. Head on over there to check out the prizes and see how you can participate too.

Sunday Afternoon Adventure

Last Sunday, hubby and I drove to a funeral visitation in a city that was an hour and a half away. We left after church, and drove in separate vehicles because we had borrowed my in-laws truck and needed to return it to them. Hubby drove in front...and drove faster than me. I didn't want to go faster than 10ish km over the limit as it was raining and I didn't feel like being on the alert for police. I had a general idea of where we were going, and assumed that hubby would slow down once we neared our exit off the main highway.

So...I was quite shocked when 2 exits before the exit I assumed we were taking, I noticed the truck on the off ramp as I passed by. I tried not to panic as thoughts raced through my head...Where is he going? Does he know a short cut? What should I do? Turn around? Wait for him on the side of the road? What happens if he tries to find me while I'm trying to find him?...Neither of us has a cell phone.

I decided to pull off on the shoulder of the exit ramp I thought we were taking to wait for him. I figured he would come looking for me as he would have seen I missed the exit. After 20 minutes of waiting, I decided to turn around and go look for him, assuming he must be waiting for me back at the other exit.

I made my way back to the other exit (which took a lot of time because all the roads I was travelling on were highways and I had to rely on exits to turn around)...but he was not there either. It was now close to 45 minutes since I had lost him. I figured he must have continued on to our destination (which was about 25 minutes away) and I should just head there too and ask for directions to the funeral home once I got there.

Upon arriving at our destination, I pulled into the first gas station to ask directions. As soon as I got out of my car, a black vehicle pulled along side and the guy insided hollered..."Excuse Me." As I stepped towards him, I noticed the crest on his arm...a police officer. I was quite surprised when he asked me if I was looking for a funeral home...Hubby had phoned the police.

When I got to the funeral home and chatted with hubby...we figured out what had happened. It wasn't his truck that had got off the highway early...but an identical truck. He was still in front of me the whole time. He had pulled off the highway just before our destination to wait for me and assumed that I had had to make an emergency washroom stop for C. But after too much time had elapsed, he became concerned that I had had car problems. He had gone back a bit to look for me, but when he didn't find me, had continued on to the funeral home. Here, he phoned the police to find out if they had come across my vehicle on the side of the road. They must have put a notice out for officers to look out for my car.

And what did C think of the whole ordeal? When I got back into the car at the gas station she said...

"That was nice of daddy. That just proves that he really cares for you."

"Why?"

"Because he sent the police to find you."

Under Construction

After 3 years of blogging, I've decided to jump on the blog redesign bandwagon. Some of my friends have been modifying their layouts...making some cool changes...and I want to do that too. I used to do web development at work, and I loved it. I'm not sure why I waited so long to give my blog a make-over.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be tryng some different looks out on my blog to see which one fits/suits me. I'm already on my second look. I first tried a green-themed background. It was nice and simple and matched my profile pic, but I soon realized it was too green and matching other colours to it was difficult.

So let me know what you think as you see the changes evolve.

Happy Birthday / Blogiversary To Me

Today is my 37th birthday, and 3rd blogiversary. Yikes! I find it a little scary that I'm creeping closer and closer to 40. One thing I have noticed over the past year is that I have started to forget my age. I used to think it really strange when other people would do this...but now I realize why...once you reach a certain age...it becomes just a number and mentally you feel younger even though physically you may not be.

Yesterday, C and hubby went shopping. The minute she came in the door she shouted with excitement..."I got your birthday present! Do you want to open it now? Please!". Waiting another day would have been torture for her. Inside the bag was a small furry toy kitten with a button that made it purr. It was the perfect gift from her.

Today she told me on the way home from church..."Mommy, I took your advice when I picked out your present. I picked out something I would like." She is right. I have told her this, but it was in regards to picking out birthday presents for her friends.

Hubby told me that she spent all her money in her purse to buy it for me...and did not complain once. Parting with money is a big thing for her...and knowing that she did it so willingly made the gift even more special to me.

Fabric Painting

Over the last few weeks, C and I have been working on some fabric painting projects. The most recent being a Webkinz T-shirt which turned out really well and wasn't that difficult to do.

C picked out the Webkinz she wanted to paint from a website I found that had cartoon drawings of all the Webkinz. I copied the image to Paint, blew it up, and printed it out in Black and White. I then outlined the print in black marker so that I could easily see it through the shirt to trace it in pencil. C was then able to go over the pencil outline using fabric paint. Once it dried, the painted outline provided a nice border to help keep the paint inside the lines when we painted the inside.

I was really impressed with how well it turned out, as well as how well C did. We have not fabric painted for almost a year and she has improved so much since then. She did a good job at suggesting colours/ideas too...the neon pink nose and hearts were her idea, and blended so well with the neon green shirt. I have learned that the neon and glow-in-the-dark colours are her favourite paints to work with and have suggested that we paint a colourful Webkinz fish on her next shirt...instead of neon orange whiskers on the cat.