Evening Stroll

So before the after dinner stroll and after the countless games of candyland we ate dinner. We had barbecued pork chops (filled the propane and washed the car at the same time) with coleslaw and rice. You will notice that though my plate is full it is also a mess. That is because I did the hacking for the kids and wife (she was holding the littlest) before I sat down to eat. No don't cry for me Argentina, I ate well.After dinner we took a stroll to the local elementary school. It had cooled off sufficiently to be nice outside. Notice the wife is smiling. A real candid moment.The kids did a bunch of climbing and chasing. Some of which I was involved in.
There was also some showing off. But not in a bad way.
Then I got them all to pose for me and amazingly they pulled it off. Shocker.My cup runneth over.

Having our Cake, Mateys.

Weird I feel like I have used that title before. Today's birthday gang. Thank goodness it was 36 degrees so everyone could enjoy the water slide.The whole family pulled together and we managed to have a pirate birthday party today. And when having a pirate birthday party one must always have a treasure chest full of booty. (no not that kind of booty)
With great cake comes great responsibility. The responsibility to light the candles in a strong breeze. This was almost accomplished at the moment the daughter gave a mighty blow and so we can all rest easy knowing that a proper cake ceremony was completed.

Not in chronological order but there was lots of water sliding and trampolining. The occasional stampede back and forth caused an occasional set of tears but overall everyone seemed to have a good time.We finished off with a present opening and then everyone left with a loot bag. The loot bags were numbered to match up with some buried treasure cards that were buried in the garden under x's and had to be dug up by the guests. I think this may have been a highlight.Okay, now summer can begin.

Meh, Curry.

Well I didn't exactly rip it up this evening. I tried to overcompensate for a lack of chicken stock and low and behold there was too much cumin and vinegar in my curry. The mango I added didn't have any effect. Really I need to stay with apples. Pureed apple adds both a sweet and a tangy element. That and some boullion cubes definitely kick up the chick pea vegetarian curry to that next level. I mean I could have added ketchup or some pureed tomatoes. Anyways, this curry is still a work in progress. I would say I get it right about one in four times.

Next up is my son being mercilessly dressed up by his sister. Yes the schedule is still running so in the afternoon when they don't get to watch tv this is what they get up too.
Birthday madness tomorrow. Looking for a little strength here.

BBq is Back

Well we whipped up some bbq chicken for this evenings dinner. It was going to be shake and bake but turning on the oven that would have been madness, 33 degrees here today, 91 for our American readers. Funnily enough we were actually baking bread so I had to go outside and use the last of the gas. Note to self. Get more propane.
The chicken was good, the bread was out of this world, hot and slathered with butter. Boiled peas and corn with some leftover coleslaw and it was real barbecue here tonight. Day four of schedule madness was not quite as tight as it could have been but we have high hopes for tomorrow. Lots of bday party planning and cake making to get done. Note to self, keep camera handy.

Here are some more bread shots. This should last us two weeks.

Dueling Burgers

It is kind of like the dueling banjos only you get to eat them at the end. We ended up having dinner at our friends house in celebration of Canada's day of birth. Lots of playing, drinking and some moderate karaoke-ing ensued. The dueling part was the fact that we made some home made burgers and they made some homemade burgers and they all got grilled up together. Both were delicious. There were also three salads, our standard coleslaw, a lovely potato salad and a never before tasted watermelon, olive, mint and feta cheese salad. Intriguing blend of flavours. That is what is so nice about eating with friends. The opportunity to try something you wouldn't have made yourself.

The lack of dinner pictures is because I totally forgot. However, we did manage to take some pictures of the baby with various people at the party.Dad and son.

Son in lap acting all cool.Son eating hand in lap.
Surprised that she is out of focus mommy.
Future baby sitters and son.

So there you go, we fete'd Canada and had a good time. Back to business as usual tomorrow. Three days till birthday madness. Yikes.

Tofuesday. Again

Shout out to my sisters with a self portrait of the wife, the youngest and I. Well low and behold it is Tuesday and we are eating Tofu again. A lovely peanut marinade infused the fried tofu steaks with a lovely flavour. Then the left over marinade had a little more soy sauce and vinegar added to it and after microwaving became the sauce. This is definitely something to love about vegetarian. The marinade becomes the sauce. I am pretty sure I have learned over the years that beef, chicken, pork and fish marinades are supposed to be tossed out. Not so with the tofu steaks.

The daughter was on wok duty tonight and stir fried us up some lovely veggies. I think the second shot shows them off in a more realistic light but the daughter likes the first shot done with the flash. In other news, I was requested for a picture of the daily schedule that has been posted on the wall of our dining room. Here it is with two dripping kids standing beside it. That is because I am blogging and not getting involved in their bath time. So they are not being overly involved with the bath.
Well duty calls. Happy Early birthday Canada. You rock.

Tacos we don't need no stinking tacos.

Well the Mrs. didn't need any. She was all about the soft tortilla shell or even worse the salad. The kids however were all over the crisp shelled goodness that comes in a box of tacos. The son put away three and the daughter put away five. She was pretty stuffed by the end but never the less powered through. It was a double blessing as they both had a majority of the possible toppings on all of their tacos. I will not disturb you with the amount of tacos I had but it wasn't pretty.

On a different note today was day 1 of the summer schedule. We made a poster, it goes something like this.

Wake - 9:00 Free time and breakfast (kids Tv and Computer, Parents exercise)
9:00 - 10:00 Study ( Both kids and parents are expected to do some reading or writing)
10:00 -12:00 Outside time. (kids, play or help parents, parents housework, garden, or play with kids)
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch time.
1:00 - 3:00 Get out of house (Library, shopping, river, lake, park)
3:00 - 5:00 Quiet inside time (No tv or computer) or playing outside Parents make dinner.
5:00 - 6:00 Dinner time.
6:00 - 8:00 Tv time or play outside (if tv bath first, if outside bath after)
8:00 Brush teeth, book time, bed time.

We actually managed to get most of this done today. Although the shopping after lunch had us some cranky kids. On the positive side when they whined at us we could just point to the chart. Hard to argue with a chart, especialy when you helped colour it and tape it too the wall.

Fingers crossed we can stick with this for a while. We plan to take weekends off.