BLOG #50!!! I have posted here 50 times!!! WOW

Well another long weekend over, another year visited by the BUNNY and another year with way toooo much chocolate in the house!
Overall a fantastic weekend, besides the freezing morning we woke up to...minus twenty five???!!!! The kids were full of excitement all weekend busy planning the next 'mess to make' We baked more stained glass cookies in the shapes of eggs and bunnies (no pics the ears were bitten off right away!!!) We colored our eggs, and attended the local hunt at the community centre.
My parents arrived on Saturday just in time for dinner, roasted pork loin potatoes, and asparagus along with a bunny cake my mom brought along. A good visit with the folks, funny how gramma tends to go with the flow in our house and not be so...hmmmm anal mom like LOL maybe its cause she always stand by the phrase "if you are under my roof you are under my rules" But they still managed to take the kids to McBarf's for breaky Sunday morning. Something my kids have come to expect when gramma and grampa visit....a meal at McDonald's (the one with the playland) Of course hubby and I are always invited too...but yuck and barf...no offense to any McD fans out there....but I enjoyed my leftover roasted pork on toasted Rye with Mozza cheese much much more! About the only time we grace McD's doorstep here is on a four hour drive...and even then I am more likely to stop at a grocery store and make food on the road LOL. I will give some credit to the local place though...they had choc eggs hidden all over the restaurant for the kids there to hunt for...making it the second hunt for the kids @ 8am!!!
The third hunt of the day was 11:30 (conveniently for me after Cornation Street!) @ the community centre run by the town. They always put on a halloween night and Easter Hunt. This was the first year we attended, and it was nice but low key compared to the hunt we usually attend back home. The "easter Bunny" seemed to be more like the cruster bunny when Ryki ran up to say hello and beam at the basket full of chocolate she was holding. Her response? "hey kid you have to go find two plastic eggs before I give you chocolate...go find them but only two!" wtf?? "where's the happy easter little guy???? and what fun is it to find a field of eggs and be told only pick up two??!!! smarter back home where the kids can pick up as many plastic eggs as they can carry and trade them in for chocolate....I guess here you keep the plastic ...hence limit two! oh well... I am still happy knowing that the kids know...that is not the real easter bunny just one of his helpers cause he is sooo busy. I think it was Jake that asked me how I view the whole Santa thing and such. Well my theory is that my best memories of a child involve the fantasy world of Santa and the Easter Rabbit. We love to imagine, believe and fantasize about the fairies that live here around the Shoeless Acres, and hope to build a fairy garden this summer for them to play in. So for as long as my children choose to believe and fantasize...the better. Cause when reality sets in and real life hits...it can be a real bitch sometimes, so we will enjoy all the fun while it lasts!!!!

On the dog front, of course no matter what I do or how I try there is always something!!! Being Easter Weekend, I made sure to release the hounds early in the wee hours each morning, and kept them tied up during the day....cemetary next door and lots of visitors that tend to freak out when they see Nishka and her "vicious black and tan' plus she tend to bark alot (like the toy dog that raised her) So Saturday nite, it was 6:30, sun going down and temps at -15.....I let my old girl out for a run. I could hear her barking towards the only living neighbour's house we have close. Between us and them a small valley with the beaver pond and creek running through. I didn't even know the house was there till winter time because there are soo many trees. So I watch as Nishka suddenly runs down the hill to the open water. Knowing she doesn't do this EVER, I put on a jacket and boots and SLID all the way down to the creek....it is solid ice...I had to crawl hands and knees back up!!! So as I am peering through the bushes to see what is up? I find Nishka barking at a young girl (I am guessing maybe twelve) dressed in shoes and a jacket climbing down on her side standing right at the edge of the damn and the open water. Nishka of course being the NANNY barked until the girl back up...stuggling to crawl due to the ice. I apologized to the girl as I heard "gramma' shouting from the window..."get inside that dog will bite you!!!" Now I realize that she is a "big scary dog" but I also believe she might have just saved that family from a scary moment. Where the girl was on the edge is where the damn opens up. The current is very fast in that section of the creek, and by our estimates about four feet deep. Where were the stupervisors here??? sitting in their warm house celebrating while the girl was exploring????? she told me she just wanted to look cause it was so pretty. I warned her the ice is not safe, and deceiving with ledges over the open water. augh...still it will be my dog that gets the blame for barking....???!!!!
On a cemetary note....I am considering a little vandalism next door. What is up with people and graveyards??? I understand dropping the flowers, and trinkets to mark a grave. We go over in the spring to plant some seeds at the graves of the previous owners here as a thankyou for the Shoeless Acres. But noma moonrays????? do the dead really need nightlights?????? All I know is when I release the hounds at night it just drives them crazy....!!! They don't understand while suddenly there is lights on over there, like someone is there that shouldn't be or that wasn't there before. So I am now in a personal debate....do I go and unplug the annoying little bulbs inside and give the neighbour some peace from the barking???? I am not joking when I say there are six new lights beaming just after this weekend alone...I counted!