Graduation day

Kaylin is officially finished with high school. This chapter of her life is over and to say that she is excited to move on is an understatement. She will be studying nursing in Moncton in the fall and is thrilled to finally be pursuing her dream. I know that the next 4 years will be a challenge for her but I also am convinced that nursing will be an avenue she can use to serve others and use her God given talents. I'm so proud of her and so excited to see the next chapter of her life unfold.

Hamming it up in their graduation gowns.

Just having a little fun.

Wahoo. She is finished. And she finished strong. Recognitions and awards. So proud of her.

The complete family. I don't know how many of these photos we'll be taking over the next few years, but I'm thankful for the moments we are all together.

Sisters and friends.

5 wonderful kids. 

Kaylin requested her graduation meal at a Thai restaurant. A great ending to a wonderful day.

Things we love...

We love it when Kaylin watches the kids and bakes with them. Gaelle loves to cook anything and Peter loves to eat. It's a win win. Actually I think Peter helped frost the cookies. But we all helped eat them.

 We love recipes that have special memories. I have a few recipes that have been passed on to me from my family. This little cookbook contains some of Robin's moms most used recipes. Love.

 We love the Halifax waterfront. But the rule of thumb is to always have sweaters in the car no matter the time of year because it can be blazing hot at our house and downright chilly on the waterfront.

We love beaver tails. I don't know who came up with the idea but they are perfect. Fried dough dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar. Even better is a coupon for buy one get one free. Love. 

We love goofy statues. We have not met a statue that we don't want to have our picture taken in front of. We try to look just as goofy. Love.

Father's Day Fun

A group photo top off our Father's Day Fun. I should be able to wax eloquent about what a wonderful dad Robin is to our kids. I could never do it justice. He loves to spend time with all of his kids and is always up for a get together. He works at staying connected with all of them and that is no small feat. 

Emily spent some time going down memory lane with youtube videos of her favourite songs from her childhood movies. As you can tell, Peter and Gaelle are mesmerized. What you can't tell, is that Emily is just belting the tunes out. Good times.

Another milestone

So, how did we get to this place? High school is almost finished for yet another one. Kaylin celebrated her grade 12 prom on Saturday and at the end of the month she will graduate. Yikes. Why couldn't they just stay 5 years old? I don't actually mean that. I'm thrilled to see my kids grow and change and mature and develop opinions and interests all their own. 

Here she is with some of her closest friends from the past 4 years. Marcy, the girl in the purple dress, was her first friend when we moved here. They are so different in so many ways and yet they have managed to keep the connection of friendship alive.

Peter and Gaelle came with us and managed to ham it up for the camera. Gaelle was enthralled with it all and was not the least bit impatient.

Kaylin and her date, Jeff.

Sisters and friends. 

And finally, the proud parents.

Random shots

Our spring is so far behind so much of North America. But it is earlier than normal. Quite often we don't have lilacs until the beginning of June and this year they started the end of May. However my bush managed to be on time. It is in full bloom now. Love it.

If Snickers gets ahold of stuffed animals our house quickly becomes the killing fields. She will play with a stuffed animal for a couple of days without incident and then the holes and rips start and it's all over; in the garbage it goes. For some reason, she became owner of this stuffed animal and she has lovingly cared for it for a couple of months now. We are all amused by her and it. When we come home at the end of the day, she runs to get her "friend" as if to say, "Look, friend, my people are home.Look people, here's my friend. It's alright with my world." Tail wagging she trots around the house.

Peter loves to be active and play outside but he also loves to spend time on the computer playing games. He's such an 11 year old boy. People are always curious about how the kids are integrating into Canadian society. Make no mistake, he will always be Haitian, but he is fully 100% Canadian as well.

A Year Older

With so many different obligations throughout the week, it was great to sit down once again as a family for a birthday celebration. This time it was Robin's special moment. We are so blessed to have him in our lives as a husband, father, and friend. He really is our rock and our soft place to land. People have frequently asked me over the years what I did to deserve him. I don't know why we have it so good compared to others, but I'm so thankful. And because we want him to stick around for a while longer, this birthday was a heart healthy one. He loves all kinds of battered and fried seafood but especially scallops. I stayed clear of the grease and I found a recipe for scallops with a fruit salsa. It was easy and good. Then I came across a 5 Layer Cake recipe which I altered slightly but it was still heart healthy and low fat. The ricotta cheese layer called for 4 cups of ricotta. That seemed like a bit much to me so I cut the quantities in half. And I just toasted some almonds and walnuts for the crunchy layer. I omitted the oats and flaxseed. I liked it. The taste was good. I suppose my criticism would be that the taste was too mild. Peter gave his dad a frame just waiting for a photo of the 2 of them together. I think we'll use this one. Emily and Kaylin finished off the evening with a final corsage for one of the local proms this weekend. Emily's fund raising for Julia has gone well but she is taking some summer courses so has not had a lot of time. She still managed to pull this off and do well in her classes. We're so proud of her and all of her hard work. Overall, a wonderful day.

Staying home or going out

This short post is once again all about the girls. We were supposed to go for a full family outing but one member of the family decided this was not his idea of fun. So the girls headed out. And we ran into the Rogers mascot. Which has got to be the dorkiest costume ever. But great for a photo op.

We went to one of our favourite playgrounds and surprisingly, Gaelle could have stayed there all day. She had a blast. There were several kids that she interacted with and she also spent time showing off for me. And I can't forget the wonder mom of the playground. One mom started a rousing game of tag and soon had almost every child there participating. Laughter was ringing out all over.

The family was also supposed to go to a local nature park and once again, a certain member of the family decided this was not part of his plans. So it turned into a daddy daughter event. I think it's safe to say the nature park ended up being more fun than the stay at home event. Altho the stay at home event was great for me. I lit my candle and pulled out my book and notebook, put on some coffee, played my new instrumental CD and just had a nice relaxing afternoon. I don't mean this to be snarky at all. Lately we have struggled with outings and bad attitudes. It's difficult to know exactly how to handle it. We're not used to being snubbed by a child when we attempt some family fun. But I think we've found the solution because I love solitude. Neither child does. So if they choose to stay home, they are choosing indoors and quiet with mom. Surprisingly the last time we suggested a family event, the whole family was on board. No solitude for me, but I like being with my family even more. So it was a win win for everyone.

Crafty Giving Girls

Emily has a passion to help the children in Thailand with mental and physical disabilities get the services and opportunities that will enrich their lives. Julia is her friend who shares the same passion. Julia LOVES the orphaned women and girls who spend their lives in the wards there. All she wants to do with her life is to be there for them. Emily wants to help her be there.

We recently spent an evening helping Emily put together corsages and bracelets with every single penny of the sale going to help Julia stay in Thailand. Not only is this helping Julia help others, it's also an environmental bonus. She has been using left over material I have been hoarding for years.

My great Aunt Ruth took apart her old worn out slips and saved all of the lace and gave me a lot of it many years ago. I have used bits of it on several projects. Now it is going towards Julia. I know that would make her happy as she donated so much of her own money through the years towards missions all around the world.

Random photos

Gaëlle plays hard every single day. And at night she falls fast asleep. We've been fortunate that we've never had any sleep issues with her. Another cute thing is how she has become attached to this huge stuffed dog. She sleeps on it every night.

Now that Emily has her own apartment we are always excited to have her over for a meal. Or just to hang out.

Just missing one child this year on Mother's Day. But Kaylin took me out earlier and we had a nice time together.

With all this healthy eating nobody made dessert for Mother's Day. But Robin picked up a small chocolate cake and he didn't eat a single piece. Way to go.

Healthy Eating

Robin has always battled high cholesterol. He's often borderline and with his job he has regular check ups so he often has reminders to watch his cholesterol. Well this spring he was more than borderline high cholesterol and so he has taken steps to really watch what he eats. So we've tried a few new recipes to help him with his goal.

We're boosting the times we eat fish. I've always tried to have fish once a week but am not always successful. Now I'm working harder to have fish 2 times a week. At least for Robin.

This is actually a recipe we had before but it's a good heart healthy one. Crock Pot Black Bean Pumpkin Chili. Surprisingly you can't taste the pumpkin but it just helps to make the chili smooth.

I have several variations of black bean salads that I have been making. This one is a Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Salad. The kids chose to take this to school for lunch over a chicken sandwich.

Even with the internet recipes I have found, I bought a small cookbook called Heart Healthy Recipes. It's not specifically for low cholesterol but for better eating. This heart healthy meat loaf is one of the recipes we tried. The flavor wasn't as intense as we would like, but it was certainly a great alternative. Robin made this one and froze the individual meat loaves so he could just take one out and reheat it. I certainly hope this helps him to lower his cholesterol. We're all rather fond of him and would like to have him around as long as possible.