Hello Summer!

 I am officially on SUMMER VACATION now!! YIPPEE!!! Time to catch up on sleep, go on a few amazing holidays, catch up with friends and family, work on my tan, and just RELAX!! The month of June was a total blurr...

which I suppose it always is! 

We somehow went from this...

...to THIS in a blink of an eye!! 

So here is a lil recap of what the month of June looked like for us...

We took a road trip to Calgary for the weekend for one of my friends weddings! More to come on that soon!

Headin' to Calgary!

Cody and Brit happened to be in Calgary that same weekend so they stopped by our hotel room for a visit! And then Cody and Damian had some champagne ha! 

Well aren't they romantic! 

Father's day projects at school! I had my kiddos paint a canvas, then we glued 'Dad' onto them. I used my Silhouette Cameo for the letters of course!

We had the opportunity to go out to the school I used to teach at and meet our pen pals! My students LOVED this entire day!! 

Listening to an elder drum!

Brit finished school!! Yay! This girl is one of the hardest working people I know, and her program was totally INTENSE! Like 10 courses at a time intense!! Congrats Brit!! 

Woo Hoo you survived!! Lets celebrate!

We made 'Summer Bucket Lists' at school! Some of the things that my students want to do this summer were pretty darn funny!! Ha! 

The end of the year was quickly approaching so I had to come up with some sort of 'year end gift' for my students. My students were OBSESSED with drawing with chalk for the last 2 months of school so when I saw these little packs of chalk at Target I knew I had to get them! Actually, all of these items were from Target...which I am slowly changing my opinion of...shocking I know!! More on THAT will come soon...

Chalk, Kool Aid, Crazy Straws!

I used my Silhouette Cameo to make the tags!

Voila! Easy Peasy gift for my students! And they totally LOVED them!!

Summer Fun Day! It was a beautiful morning and the kids had a blast taking part in all of the activities! Unfortunately I only caught the tail end of it, as I was at home bailing water out of my broken sump pump and very wet basement!! Yikes! 

This is the only picture I managed to take on the last day of school...ha! We had a class pancake breakfast in the morning and then played games and enjoyed our time together in the afternoon! It was a wonderful end to an AMAZING year!!! 

This is me...classroom all tidied and packed for the summer!

 I can't believe I just finished my 5th year of teaching!!! 

NOW LET'S GET SUMMER STARTED!!!!!

Goodbye Diet Coke...

I DID IT!!! Well so far...

I have CUT OUT my beloved DIET COKE...

It has been almost a whole MONTH since I have had a diet coke!!! 

Some of you might think this is not exactly a thing to celebrate...however I WAS ADDICTED TO DIET COKE!! I think I had aspartame flowing through my veins!! I would drink at least one, sometimes two diet cokes a day...a BAD habit I picked up in university and seemed to stick around for much too long! So after YEARS of people telling me that I was going to DIE from all of the aspartame I was consuming, I decided to STOP!!! And let me just say...the first week was a flipping NIGHTMARE!!! I think I had a headache for an entire week straight ha! Sad but true! 

Now just to be clear... I am in no way affiliated to the following products or companies...but I wanted to highlight the fact that these two products have been LIFESAVERS on my stand against diet coke!! So if you are looking to cut out pop from your diet and need a healthier alternative, try these!! They are DELISH and WAAAAY healthier for you then my beloved diet coke!! 

MMMM LOVE me some
 MIO!!!

This is what I drink when
I need something carbonated! 

I have also learned how to drink wine! ha ha
Actually not...I still think it's disgusting, but my "go-to drink" of Malibu and diet coke is no longer a good option! We attended a wine tasting party a few weeks ago and I drank 10 kinds of wine! Shocking I know! But the best part was that there was a draw at the end of the party for a basket of wine and some other goodies! AND I WON!! I NEVER win anything so it was super exciting! 

Look! I'm a big girl drinking wine now! ha!

YAY I WON!! 

Even tho I won some lovely bottles of wine, I do not plan on actually drinking any of it...it's just not my thing! Icky! Instead I shall stick to my Mio...ha! 

GOOD BYE DIET COKE!!!

 I miss you dearly...

Best.Dad.Ever.

SO first off...I pretty much have the best Dad in the world!!

 But also...

ha ha Right Dad?! ;) I probably should buy this shirt sometime soon!! ha! 

Yesterday was Father's Day! A day to celebrate the special Dad's and Grandpa's in our lives! Like I said above, I have a pretty wonderful Dad!! He is a very loving, patient, and dedicated man who has been my biggest fan through all of the ups and downs in life! He is also an AMAZING cook!! The boys and I are truly SOO lucky!! Through the HUNDREDS of hockey practices and games, and the endless dance classes and recitals, he was there for it all! We love you Dad!!

A little blast from the past...

Kellen, Dad, Me

Dad and his kiddos! 

We celebrated Father's Day at my parents house this year with a yummy 'Greek' themed meal! It was an awesome family dinner and of course filled with LOTS of laughter!! 

Can you feel the LOVE!?! Ha ha

Group HUG

Poor Dad...ha!

Cooper is also very thankful for Dad!! 

Me and My Daddy!

Dad and his boys!

We gave my Dad a Wheel Barrow for Father's Day!!! 

How exciting!!! ha ha 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!! 

We all love you VERY much!!

~Of all the walks we've taken together, this one is by 

far my favourite! I will always be your little girl.~

XOXO

Kels 

Are you feeling hangry?!

Today I am sharing an easy peasy, healthy 'weeknight' meal. I consider any meal that can be made and to the table in 30ish minutes a 'weeknight' meal. And this is very important to me because when I get home from school at around 5:00 I need to eat STAT! 

Or I get a little 'hangry' as my husband puts it...ha ha 

I seriously need this pillow!!

Anywho...back to my 'weeknight' recipe...

Teriyaki Chicken Thighs & Greek Quinoa Salad 

What you need:

1/2 cup Asian Sesame Dressing (I used Kraft)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp minced ginger root

2 tbsp honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

6-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs 

Preheat oven to 350'

Whisk together the first 5 ingredients.

Pour over chicken in a plastic bag, turning evenly to coat.

Pour chicken and sauce into a glass baking dish.

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. 

ENJOY! 

Whisk all the ingredients together!

Throw it into a bag and mix!

Into a glass baking dish, and bake!

What you need:

1 cup quinoa, uncooked

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup cucumber, chopped

1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed

1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped 

1/2 cup greek salad dressing (fresh or store bought)

Bring water and quinoa to boil over high heat,cover. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. 

Cool quinoa in the fridge while your chopping your veggies.

Prep all your veggies and the feta cheese into bite sized pieces.
Combine the cooled quinoa, veggies, feta, and greek dressing. Mix thoroughly.
ENJOY! 

Prepare quinoa!

Chop the veggies and feta cheese!

Combine Quinoa, veggies and
 greek dressing!

And there you have it!

 A quick, easy, and healthy dinner in 30 minutes! 

No excuses to get 'hangry' now... ;) 

MS Walk!

A few weeks ago our family participated in the MS Walk. My Dad's sister was diagnosed with MS almost 20 years ago and has been battling with the disease ever since. When we were younger we all used to participate in the MS walk each year, but as we all grew up it always seemed like there was too much on the go! So this year, one of my other aunties organized 'Team Kunyk' to walk on behalf of Aunty Kathie once again. It was a beautiful spring morning in Edmonton and the walk had a GREAT turn out! We definitely hope to make this a family tradition once again!! 

Some of the girls!
The runners had already started! 

My uncles and Dad!
Can hardly tell they are brother eh...ha! 

Ma and ME!

They did a group ZUMBA session to warm up before the walk started! I didn't really warm up...I enjoyed watching Grandma and my parents 'attempt' zumba WAY more!! ha ha!

Grandma's got the moves!!

Bet you would never know his knee is
actually made of METAL! ha ha 

It's GO time! 

Action shot while we walk! 

LOOK I WON! ha ha 

Team Kunyk! 

We love you Aunty Kathie! 

We all look forward to walking in your honour again next year!! 

It's a boy!!

I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for my cousin Lyndey last weekend! She is having a little boy in just a few weeks!! Can't wait to meet the new little man!! 

Me and 'Mommy to Be'

So as you all know...I LOVE throwing parties! And baby showers are at the top of that list! I was especially excited to host this shower, because it gave me the opportunity to use my AMAZING Silhouette machine for something other than school stuff! I decided on an elephant theme for the shower with accents of polka dots, and a variety of shades of blues and greens! That may seem like a lot ha ha...but I was pleased with how it turned out! 

These were the invitations I made...

I also used my machine to make the 'It's a Boy' banner! I also added baby pictures of Lyndey and her hubby Randy on the mantle. And of course a stuffed elephant! 

I think one of the best parts of any shower is THE GAMES! Woo! This game is an oldie but a goodie! People had to guess how big Lyndey's baby belly was using a piece of ribbon. It was pretty funny how WWWAY off some people were!

 Ha ha! 

Grandma testing out her ribbon!

WINNERS!
Our cousins Amanda and Jen! 

Lyndey received MANY wonderful gifts for her new little guy! 

I had read about using a story book as a guest book for kids birthday parties on Pinterest! So I decided to use a classic story book as the guest book for the baby shower! Because I am a teacher, I have a serious obsession with children's books, so I figured this would be a great way to give the little guy his very first book! And bonus, it's signed by everyone that was there to celebrate HIM! 

I decided to have a 'mini' sandwich bar as the party food! It seemed to be a hit! Yummy food!! 

Elephant center piece of course! And he was the perfect colors!! 

It was actually surprising how many 'elephant' themed items are out there!! 

And as guest were leaving they got a small bag of carmel corn. I made the little elephant decals using my silhouette of course! I LOVED how these bags turned out!! 

And that was the baby shower! Like most parties when your the host... it was a total blurr! But I had a great time planning everything and hosting! I said MANY times as I was planning this shower, how fun this would be to do as a job someday! Plan and make things for parties! Sounds pretty sweet if ya ask me!! Ha! 

 And now we all can't wait to meet this new little boy!!!!