Vio Family Adventure

Friday night I got the urge to make some goodies for Saturday morning breaky.  I ventured to my ultimate favorite website for some ideas and came across *this*  Heaven in a muffin batter is what I believe it should be called.  So, thanks to FFVegan for this ultimate breakfast yumminess.

Berry Spice Breakfast Muffins

The ingredients (not pictured are the brown sugar which was lovingly sitting in the measuring cup already, the lemon juice in the bowl and the pinch of cinimon I forgot to add until the very last moment [opps] )

 Yumminess in all its glory (the muffins have a pecan/brown sugar "spread" on the top.  The added flavor is devine!)  And yes, there are 3 missing.  Can you take a guess at who my three little taste testers were??



Added delish



Mouth watering?  This one had fewer berries then some of the others, with added natural apple sauce and spice (how Brookie likes them).  It just happens to be the picture which came out best.

Its 1:38pm on this gorgeous Wednesday afternoon and the perfect time to write a quite blog post.  The kiddlets are sleeping, all but my 2 of course.  Brookie just joined us out here.  Alexis and I have been outside gardening for the hour she was napping and now its the three of us enjoying this beautiful spring day.  Our backyard temp reads 23 degrees today.  Couldnt ask for better :)  We have 3 of the 6 gardens completely cleaned out, resoiled and seeded.  Now for the other 3 and then time to plant :) :) :)

So a few things.  I will be getting on posting the pics from Brookies party this weekend.  I've been doing alot of final school work with a bit more to go so the blog has taken a bit of a passanger seat in terms of priorities.  We've been real busy, planning lots of great things for this spring/summer. 

Great announcement, we are heading on our first "trip" in May.  May 21-24th.  We are heading to the great outdoors with my sister Jen and family.  Here is where we will be:
http://www.chutescoulonge.qc.ca/home.htm
I am so beyond excited to get back to canoeing, hiking, rockclimbing and ziplining!!  The girls are BEYOND excited and I am taking my nephew on the super ariel for his bday.  Should be FUN with zillions of pictures.  We will also be visiting the Barron Canyon that weekend for more outdoor fun.  The love of the outdoors, it runs in my blood (trust me, meet Jen! lol) and it definatly runs through my girls blood too.  THANKFULLY!!

So our family has joined a local CSA and we will be picking up our first basket next week at the farmers market.  We will be able to get a fresh basket for 16 weeks this spring/summer and into early fall.  Once that time runs out we will search for a fall CSA or hit the markets a bit of a ways away once a week or so.  We are very excited about this, have meet some neat people and learned so much already.  Who knew 50 different recipes for kale or purple beans?!?

So I want to share our meal plan for the day.  I know i've been slacking on this as well but doing what I can with the time Im given.  Our meal plans will be MUCH more exciting once CSA season begins :)

Breaky - apple-cinnamon swirl pancakes (FFvegan)

Snack - fruit wands.  FUN!

Lunch - brown long grain rice and mixed veggies

Snack - home froozen popsicles.  Its HOT out here! :)

Dinner - Potato-green been salad with lemon and basil

Snack - who knows ;)

Don't have time to post them all or make the big update, but I had to share these before I get back to post party madness.

Brooklyns ultra special Tinkerbell cake.  Anything for my baby!!!

Its been awhile.  Everyone home is napping so I thought I would make a quick foodie post before they wake up (or get woken up) and we head to the field to play ball.  We've been trying a few new things the past few weeks in hopes of narrowing down our food list for our big party on Saturday.

Breaky - Goats yogart and fruit.  Delish!

Snack - Veggies and hummus (red and green peppers, broccoli, celery, carrots and cauliflowers in a roasted red pepper hummus)

Lunch - Vegetable Roll (these are a WIN for the party!) (ff cream cheese, ranch, whole wheat tortillas, grated carrots, red/green/yellow peppers, green onion, broccoli florets and ff grated cheese).  Rolled and sliced into mini party spirals.

Snack - Sliced apples and oranges

Dinner - Tortellini salad (another party WIN). (Fresh whole wheat tortellini, diced cucumber, tomato, green onion, green/red pepper).

Dessert - Gelato on the beach (lemon and grapefruit for mommy)

Thats what lifes been this past week!!  So as I sit here and enjoy a bowl of Special K fruit and yogart, I'll try to catch you all up.

Friday was an awesome night.  Ab and Jeff brought the boys over for a visit.  We made some pizzas and hung out.  The kiddlets had a blast!  Once the youngins were in bed, the boys did their thing (boxing downstairs and then relaxed with some wii and UFC) and the woman were upstairs working on some deco for Brookies big cake.  They are happily in my gumpaste box drying and ready to be placed on the cake.  It was a late night with friends but gosh, too many laughs to count and what a great night it was!!!!

Saturday was a very busy day.  We did some shopping in the early afternoon.  More spring/summer clothes for the girls, a new carpet shampooer and some odds and ends for the house.  I was also able to grab all of the decorations for Brookies big day :)  I finished half the goodie bags and am only left with the little details of the party to get, which will be tonight or tomorrow.  Saturday evening once the girls were off into dream land, B had a boys night for UFC.  So worth every penny to hold them!  I went out with my girl and oh my.  hahaha.

Sunday was, again, a very busy day.  The girls had gym all  morning and we had a viewing day for Lexis team.  Those girls amaze me every single time I see them.  Who knew a group of 5/6year olds could flip and bend like that!  Ouchie!  After gym I hopped in with my mom, T, Lill and little M for a shopping trip over the border.  Shopping trip that was!  We finished in time for an amazing girls day out dinner.  YUM!!!!!! 

Weekend was over :(  It always goes by so fast but always filled with tons of memories, laughs and good times.  I crammed Sunday night and Monday for a final exam that I managed to write in 16minutes.  New world record? haha.  It is going to be a very, very busy week so apologizes if Im MIA.  I have alot of assignments to complete, activities to do with the girlies and a ton of things to finish for Brookies big party.

What a weekend it was!!  Friday morning we headed up with B's parents house.  The weather was beautiful  Sunny and in the 80s.  Could not have asked for better.  We filled our day with family and the great outdoors.  We spent alot of time with 2 of our favorite people, Uncle Nel and Jen!  We headed to the park, 3 times!  We played outside in the water and with the neigbours.  We went to the field to play soccer, and back to the field an hour later to play frisbee.  We decorated eggs, ate vegetarian all day (good friday, NO meat!) and had a blast.  Saturday the girls woke up to a big easter egg hunt.  They had a blast, Brooklyn thinks Easter is just amazing, she laughed her little butt off everytime she found an egg (equaled alot of sweet cute little laughs).  The girls got spoiled by their wonderful grandparents and even more spoiled once their great grandparents showed up Saturday for Easter lunch!!  We had a yummy lunch on Saturday, lots of food, lots of family and lots of smile shared by all.  I think I ate way too much!!

A bit after lunch of Saturday we headed out.  Alexis had a birthday party to attend later Saturday afternoon.  She spent 3 hours at the indoor play land and had a BLAST!  We know the parents quite well, so we were able to bring Brookie back with us for the last hour to play around.  In the meantime we went home to grab some grub, unpack and get in the days laundry.  Once the birthday party was over, we headed to the Bulldogs hockey game.  The game was awesome, as always, and the girls had a BLAST!!  These little ladies LOVE hockey!  My dad got us seasons tickets.  6th row, seats 1-4 right behind the penalty boxes.  Great seats!  Thanks Dad :)

Sunday morning the girlies slept in until 930.  They woke up to a HUGE egg hunt at home and wonderful baskets that Peter Cottontail left for them.   Brooklyn had a Princess basket (3 princess puzzles, tinkerbell dress up dress, Ariel outfit and a new nightgown [with matching nightgown for her baby]).  Smart easter bunny knowing she loved all this stuff!  Alexis had a tball basket.  How did he know she would be starting tball next month?  Her basket consisted of a new wood bat and matching ball.  A new glove and matching ball.  2 new nightgowns (smart bunny knew my daughters ONLY wear nightgowns....picky kids!) and a Hannah shirt from the disney store.  They were elated and loved everybit of our morning.  We topped it off with a hearty breakfast.

We had a few hours to spare before heading to Nana and Papas for Easter dinner so we decided to hit up the beach.  Yes, beach!  It was 82 when we left (at 11!) and sunny as can be.  We went to Port Dalhousie to play on the beach side park for a bit.  The girls had a blast.  Unfortunatly the carosel was still closed, but in due time.  We went for a nice walk along the water, played with some of the pups and laughed as they went for a swim.  Some risky folks were even tanning on the beach (cant knock them too much, I got a burn just from walking around and it was HOT!).  We walked the pier, checked out the docks and boats and visited the lighthouse.  Once we were done, we headed to Spice of Life for lunch (BEST Vegan/Vegetarian restaurant in the area!  They do offer a few meat dishes, but I highly recommend going there for their healthier options). http://www.niagaraspiceoflife.com/home.htm
Lunch was fabulous out on the deck overlooking the lake/beach.  From there we headed to Nanas.  Walked in the door and ohh...looks like the Easter bunny was at it again!!  The girls had a wonderful Egg hunt at Nanas, who, of course, spoiled them rotten.  We also enjoyed an absolutely amazing dinner.  Thank goodness my mom is such a wonderful cook (and that is an understatement) and that she eats so healthy.  Dinner there is such a treat!!
Monday was equally awesome.  We spent most of the day outside, playing at the park and with the neighbour kids.  We visited a few friends and baked together.  It was just great.  I could not have asked for a better weekend with my wonderful family.

Now, for the good part.  PICTURES!!  I posted over 100 on facebook but I narrowed it down to just a few of my favorites to post on here.  Check out facebook for the rest :)

Friday at the park, outside at Avos and Egg decorating:


Easter Morning and Port Dalhousie