Weekend at the Lake

Long time no write, but we spent the past weekend at my DH's Uncles cabin at Moth Lake which is just past the Ontario border. We had a great time, our last day was the nicest weather wise but we still managed to swim everyday. The kids did great, last year only my youngest daughter went in the lake but this year they all did! The dogs did really well & enjoyed swimming especially Clifford, but he couldn't swim with us as he always wanted to save us which meant drowning us because we didn't need saving. Blue didn't jump in like Clifford but did manage to enjoy the lake. I did manage to burn over my burn but not as bad as before. I probably have the most color that I've had in many years.

The kids finished up their swimming lessons & my son passed to Level 2 after being in Level 1 three times. He was so excited, he has come a long way. The girls have to repeat but they are both doing so good.

In regards to our proposal in case any of you are wondering, we haven't heard anything. We haven't called or emailed as no news is good news & it is summer things happen slower in the summer as people are on holidays. So we will wait & hopefully the outcome will be good.

In regards to my weight loss, I gained over our weekend, too much trail mix & smores but I haven't been able to stop eating!!! Hopefully in the days to come I'll smarten up & loose this extra weight that I gained back.

Hope everyone is having a good summer!

Cornerstone Community Residences Inc.

As some of you may know, my DH & I have been trying to start group homes for children with disabilities, basically the high needs children, the ones that are hard to place. Anyways, when we were in Ontario we managed to start a corporation and become a charity. We had a builder who was willing to build for us to our specifications and then lease the home to us. We had gotten pretty far except our organization would have never been operational because of several factors, mostly we couldn't get any response from our community Child & Family Services, for whatever reason, we even had an MP trying to speak to them on our behalf. Anyways, our idea was to move to Winnipeg & try again. We decided to start over, we are waiting to incorporate until we get the go ahead from Child & Family Services (it gets costly starting companies that don't become operational). Unfortunately for us there is an increasing amount of children coming into care each year & in Manitoba the majority are Aboriginal children. Another unfortunate part is that the kids are becoming increasingly more high needs. FASD(Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) contributes to the majority of Aboriginal children coming into care & FASD is 100% preventable! Our goal is to provide culturally appropriate homes for these high needs children (alternative care placements). In order for us to do this we need to write & submit a proposal to WCFS(Winnipeg Child & Family Services) to get a pre approval for licensing. This proposal has been a long time coming. I decided to finally write it, as the worst thing that WCFS could say would be "NO". Our proposal is being submitted on Wed July 11th. There is basically a 95% chance of them approving us for licensing. I'm basically writing about our organization for prayer. Prayer because I am very scared that our proposal is actually going to be accepted. I'm slowly coming to the realization that my life may be changing as I know it. I'm not sure how long we will have to wait for a response but I have a feeling that it won't be long as there is a HUGE need for our home. Our goal is to have the best organization in Winnipeg and to grow to have several houses. This actually may happen very quickly! I have a lot to learn, & our next steps after pre approval are huge steps to accomplish. "I can do all things through HIM who gives me strength" All I ask for is prayer!


Andy's Notes: I may decide to delete this post as this news should probably be private for many reasons but for right now please read & pray. Thanks

Banana Bran Bread

Banana Bran Bread Prep Time: 15 min Total Time: 1 hr 20 min Makes: 12 servings

1-1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup sugar 2 tsp. CALUMET Baking Powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 1 egg 1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 bananas) 1-1/2 cups POST 100% Bran Cereal 1/4 cup water 2 Tbsp. oil 1 tsp. vanilla

MIX flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Beat egg in medium bowl; stir in bananas, cereal, water, oil and vanilla. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. (Batter will be lumpy.) POUR batter into 9x5-inch loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. BAKE at 350°F for 55 to 1 hour 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Nutrition:(per serving)
Calories 170 Total Fat 3g Dietary Fiber 4g


Andy's Tips:
This recipe is really easy to make & tastes great! I've made it with Splenda instead of sugar & it turns out great. You can also substitute 2 egg whites for the 1 egg(I haven't tried this yet but I will). I also add cinnamon & you can add a few chocolate chips as well! In my oven it takes 35 - 40 minutes so check the loaf before the allotted time. If you are using mini loaf pans, I believe it makes 3 of these and the cooking time is less as well. Each serving is 3WW points. Enjoy!

Walking...

So the kids have had two days of swimming so far & they have been doing really well, I think going everyday is a good thing. My youngest daughter didn't like her teacher the first day (she did that the last session as well), but today she said that she likes him! I have managed to walk both days so I'm really happy about that, I know I should be walking farther but this is a start since I haven't been walking for a long time. Hopefully you'll see me post a weight loss this week.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to everyone & hoping that you all had a great long weekend. My DH had off this weekend so it has been pretty relaxing.

On Friday my son had his first Dentist appointment & he did really well. He cried a bit at the beginning but then was fine. They pulled out a rotten tooth(couldn't save it) & he had a tooth filled & a cap put on. He did great!

Friday night our friends from Ontario came for supper, we had a really good evening & everyone enjoyed dinner. I made sweet & sour sausage with rice and buns & butter & a big salad. For dessert we had chocolate delight!

Saturday my DH & I went on a date(we never get to go out) & we had a great time. We went to Pony Corral for supper & I had calamari, Cesar salad & pita bread, it was really good. After we went and played mini-putt, which is special for us as we played mini-putt on our honeymoon & if we get a chance we try to play it on our anniversary. Anyways I won, I even got a whole in one! Then we went to Osborne Village, they had the street closed off for Canada Day festivities, we sat on the patio at Baked Expectations and had Cinnamon torte which was really good, we couldn't finish it! We then went home, we had a really great night!

On Sunday we visited my Grandpa for his 81st Birthday & then went to the in-laws for burgers & hot dogs (I ate too much)

Today we are having Chinese food for supper that my Dad & Mom are ordering for us from St. Louis, we are looking forward to that (Thanks Dad & Mom)

Once this weekend is done I'm going to get back on track. The kids have swimming lessons for the next 2 weeks so I plan on walking home from the pool each day while my DH brings the kids home in the car. I have been the same weight for 6 weeks which is a little bit frustrating though this weekend I did get a few compliments, though I think it has been what I am wearing that has made me look like I've lost more weight. Maybe I'll loose this week!?