Monday, February 28, 2011

Bad Luck Comes in Threes - I Hope

This week has been full of adventure! Even though most of it has been bad luck we have been pretty blessed  because it could have been worse! 

First of all, last week I was preparing dinner for our company and our stove/oven blew up while I was cooking the meat. Everyone was expected to arrive in less than an hour and I had a pan full of uncooked meat and nothing to cook it with. Thank goodness for a calm husband who saved the day by suggesting the microwave and the crockpot  for a fantastic taco soup. Everything worked out perfectly.

Yesterday, I was boiling an egg before church. While I was taking it out of the pot of water it fell back into the water splashing me, scalding my arm and burning me quite badly.

Finally, today Patrick was headed to work on site just outside of Edmonton and because of the treacherous road conditions he was in a pretty serious car accicent. Luckily no one was hurt but the other car was a complete write off with over $20, 000 in damage.

I look back on all three of these events and I can see many blessings in the things that have happened. We were blessed to find a 'new to us' stove for a reasonable price that was a step up from my old stove, my burn could have been way worse than it was and Patrick was driving the work truck and not our car which may have saved his life. How blessed we are! I am so grateful to have a Heavenly Father who loves us and is always looking out for us.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Just a Hobby

A couple years ago I decided to get into cake decorating just for fun. I have always loved making cakes for my kids birthdays but I wanted to learn some of the more challenging techniques. So I decided to do some research and learn the craft of cake decorating.

After many hours of experimentation I have learned a lot and really enjoy myself. My family even enjoys helping me wherever they can.

Last week a friend asked me to make her a cake for her daughter's 2nd birthday. She wanted something that had a safari theme but pretty much let me take creative licence in designing the cake. This is what I came up with.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Keeping up with the Arts

When we decided to homeschool Leah I knew it would be challenging to keep the arts alive in our curriculum. She came from a performing arts school so I wanted to continue to educate her at the same level that she had been learning at with her school. But lets be honest, I am not the most artistic person in the world. Even my stick people need help. I am probably the least crafty person I know and as for my musical talents...well I can't really say too much about those either. I can remember fighting my mom every day on the way to piano lessons as a kid. I hated them! I played flute as a teen and I continue to play my flute whenever my husband dusts it off so I have a basic understanding of music but I am definately not a natural talent. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful mother who knows my strengths and weaknesses and urged me to get Leah into lessons. She also bought Leah a keyboard on her last visit. Now she has begun taking lessons from a real expert (not me!) and she is loving it! Thanks mom! (Notice Dillon singing in the background. These kids definately have McKee genes!)


We also study a different artist every Friday and then recreate his painting. Last Friday we learned about a famous Russian artist named Kandinsky. He was the first artist to create abstract art. We learned about different colours and how they work together and how they make you feel. This is Leah interpretation of Kandinsky's piece.
This is Kandinsky's painting. I think Leah did a pretty good job. Dillon did one too but unfortunately his ended up in the garbage as do most of his things. He is kind of going through a destructive phase as I am sure you have figured out from my other posts!