April in Pictures

April begins with Loki day!  For most this day is all about tricks and jokes but in our house we have a very close relationship with the trickster and we still do those things in his honor but we also take time to give him offering and thanks for all those lessons he brings to the for front. We  sing Rabbit`s Song by SJ Tucker and tell the trickster stories. Zed is a Loki worshiper and he is ever present when he is around, this can sometimes make for a disruptive atmosphere but we have learned to work with it and very early on learned the lesson that the trickster brings growth and learning always, whether you see it right away or not!

King Connaher turns 18

My sweet baby boy turned eighteen. He really was not excited about his birthday this year and and told me more than once that he was not ready to be an adult. It made me sad that he thought this age brought with it crushing responsibility and the loss of his childhood. We spent many hours talking about it and trying to sooth his fears that he would wake up on his 18th birthday a changed person that had to hurry up and achieve his goals and live an adult life. I explained to him how most people do not find them selves or the niche they fit into until well into there thirties and that no one was pressuring him to figure it all out. I told him he should take a few years to just travel and have adventures and that those years do not have to happen now either to just focus on his crystals and learn and that he would know when HE was ready to strike out into the world none else. Until then he has all of our love and support just like he always will. We were invited to a community potluck that day so we brought cake and celebrated his birthday with our friends.  That night after Daddy got home from work we celebrated with cake and some shooters (I used to be a bartender and could pour a mean shooter, I still got it!!)

Sacred geometry crystal stand

 Of course he got crystals for his birthday :) it is all he wanted. Here are some of them...

Set of platonic solids in amethyst and a nice little quartz point

and then the next day it was Bugs birthday and she turned the big 10!! Double digits she was so excited lol

Cherry vanilla cake for Bug

 Her big gift was her new puppy Finnigan.

Finnigan AKA Finn

 We totally surprised her with a tablet as well, you should have seen the look on her face :D priceless!! Hubby gifted me with a tablet in the winter (I think he thought he would ease me into technology because I flat out refuse to get a cell phone lol) I love the tablet tho and the Minions thought it was just the greatest. Bug never dreamed she would get one.

New back pack from Zed and new outfit from Willowtree

 

 With the growth spurt she just took she got a lot of new clothes.She pretty much ended up with a new wardrobe. We had a family swimming night at the pool in the nearest city and Chinese take out for supper from Bugs favorite restaurant.

More new clothes from Gramma and she got some more from King Connaher as well.

 Our first week in April is always crazy busy with birthdays but as soon as they were done we settled back into our routine and started a new unit for Bug on the principles of flight. It was review for the older Minons but a subject they all love. Grampa loved to fly and was a pilot, they grew up hearing stories of the far north and flying into places no one else could get to without a plane. He did search and rescue work as well and those stories always had you on the edge of your seat. King Connaher is fascinated in flight and wants to get his pilots license. Bug made a glider and a model airplane and tested there flight capabilities. I tied this into a physics unit on Parts of an Object. We watched a very good documentary called Birdmen about the creation of the squirrel suit and man`s quest to fly without a plane. We outlined and discussed Bernoulli`s principle. 
 

Grampa`s favorite plane The Blue Angel

YAY it is finally starting to melt

Bug and Finnigan

 We usually do not take the dachshunds for walks off the property as we do not want them to leave the yard when they are off leash. Every once in a while tho we will go on a big family walk with the whole crew.

My family

We watched the creek across from our house break up. It was a good break up. I told the Minions about the river break ups where I grew up The Hay River and The Mackenzie river in the Northwest Territories have spectacular break ups. This one still had its awe inspiring moments tho and we had a great discussion on the power of nature, erosion and how water and ice sculpt the land. 

The dachshunds liked watching the ice chunks hit the bridge

 

The creek got pretty high. this is directly across from our house.

My nephew practicing his golf swing

 King Connaher loves the art of ancient weaponry and spends hours learning about it. We believe it is important to keep the ancient ways alive and love to watch the boys practice. Here they are spear throwing. The Javelin is one of his favorites.

In art Bug made a plaque with her hand print and Finnigans paw print so she will always have a memory of her first puppy.

 The adult Minions and I went into Edmonton to a protest in support of the legalization of marijuana.

 With the weather warming up we have been doing spring clean up around the yard and having bonfire nights again. Bug finished her Ju jitsu classes. Willowtree started working on her Beltane costume. The melting is a lot slower this year and it really does not feel like Spring yet here but Beltane is just around the corner.

March in Pictures

The beginning of March we finally got the right snow to make snowmen and Bug was thrilled, she had been gifted a snowman kit earlier in the winter and tried many times to use it but the snow was just not sticky enough.

Jenga

I am always on the lookout for new games at the thrift shops and found Jenga this time.
Bug started Ju jitsu classes, she loves just about anything to do with martial arts. When the little village we live closest too decided to start these classes I was so happy as it is only a 8 minute drive away. The majority of the activities they want to do are in the nearest city Leduc which is a half hour away.

We bought a fancy new 10 tray dehydrator that is going to save me a lot of work. First thing I made was paleo skittles and OMG YUM!! The Minions LOVED them so much and they are super healthy.

The main ingredient is baked sweet potato, then you add friut, and some coconut butter, puree and dry. We made blueberry vanilla, lemon lime and strawberry raspberry to start with and they were all keepers.

 This is what they look like before they are dried. I am experimenting with different flavors but so far everyone I have made the Minions have loved. Here is where I found the recipe Paleo Skittles

Gridding his Aura sketch

 King Connaher has been working toward his certification as a crystal healer and is a natural. He used the aura sketch he had gotten in the fall to create a healing grid. I thought it was a brilliant idea and showed it to a friend who agreed. I then showed it to the lady who had done the sketch and she thought it was amazing as well and asked to share his idea on her website which is connected to facebook and from there it was shared with our greater community on various facebook sites. We are all so proud of him.

Bug's mosaic bunny

 Bug made another mosaic project this time a bunny to add to our Ostara decorations

The Minions decorated the house for Ostara and his year they noticed how the Sabbats are not lining up with the seasonal shifts like they used too and we dove into learning about climate change. It is a subject that they have heard a lot about but they wanted to take a much deeper look at it this time. Minion lead learning at its best :) Daddy is a weather watcher and Grampa was by trade as part of his job as a Flight services specialist a weather man :) He would have been proud of them. Daddy and the Minions spent many hours watching documentaries and surfing the net looking at various old documents and sites. It is an ongoing quest with some very different ideas and so many sides but they have all decided that we need people to wake up to what is going on in our natural world before it is too late! Their Grampa fought so hard for the environment here in Canada and almost every thing that was put in place to keep it safe is being undone or is already gone. Our vast water resources, animal resources and trees are being destroyed at such an alarming rate that we are worried the tipping point has come and we are going over. Balance needs to be restored and my Minions want to help :D Sustainability needs to become everyones way of life not just some of us and the consumer driven lifestyle we are mostly all guilty of has to change to do that. 

We can and the Minions have learned all about different preserving methods I was gifted a book by my Mom for my birthday a couple years ago called Preserving food with out freezing or canning by Deborah Madison and it is full of time tested preserving methods. In the fall we put down many many jars of crabapples and have enjoyed the fruits of our labors all winter. The more we can grow and wildcraft on our own the less burden on the system we are and those resources can be used on people who really need them. I am a big believer in growing your own food and think that if everyone were responsible for producing even a fraction of their own food we would be in a much better place as a whole.

I added three new statues to my Goddess collection. The bronze cast Maiden, Mother and Crone.

 We decided to tap our Birch trees and make Birch syrup

We searched our woods for trees big enough to tap and found only four. We do have quite a few Birch in our woods but not that many are old. You need them to be at least six inches around so the tree is not hurt.

 Daddy and Bug found one that was just big enough

 Zed used to go out with Grampa and Gramma and tap the maple trees when he was little. Here he is passing on what he learned to Willowtree

Bug amongst the Birch

Bug using a hammer to tap the tap in gently

Bucket on the tap waiting for the sap to flow

We saw a lot of wild rabbit signs in our woods and some deer tracks.

We decorated Ostara eggs three different ways this year, coloring with q-tips, the shaving cream method and just regular dying. The shaving cream method is by far bugs favorite. 

Shaving cream eggs drying

Q-tip colored eggs

Finished eggs

Ostara bunny loot

King Connaher sporting his Ostara crown lol

King Connaher has an amazing sense of humor and is always down for a good laugh. He amuses his little sister greatly and enjoys doing it.

My Ostara gift from the minions, cute eh! We celebrated Ostara with an indoor egg hunt as we have three feet of snow still. Had a wonderful brunch and then went in to the city and spent the day with our community just hanging out and having fun.

Bugs birthday is in the beginning of April,  this year she got something very special for her birthday and she got it early. Meet Finnigan, Finn for short he is her new long haired miniature Dachshund puppy. Now King Connaher, Willowtree and Bug all have their own puppy and we are full up!! No more dogs in this house!!