Snap Happy!

Clickity Click! I'm loving having my camera again, although after a month without any practice with manual settings, I'm feeling a little rusty & will have to get all trained up again. I'm getting a new lens next week that I'm excited to try out. It will give greater depth of field & should be quite a bit sharper than the kit lens AND let me shoot in low light without using a flash. Yay!

Today we took the kids swimming and you could tell they'd missed a few weeks. (we didn't go the last few Sat because they had colds) It took awhile for them to get comfortable in the water and Sweetie was panicky & clutchy almost right til the end. Lovey was still her foolishly brave self but wasn't even trying to paddle or kick and would just sink under the surface and then worry about what to do. We had to keep a close eye on her all the time or she'd be hanging just under the surface looking up at you with her eyes wide with panic. Well duh! let's see, you've jumped in 453 times without any effort to swim, did you REALLY think it was going to be different THIS time???? ; ))) Honey however, did pick things back up and was pushing off the wall and swimming underwater several feet to reach us. I'm sure the other 2 will be right there too if we're able to get them back in the pool regularly. Cold season is already upon us so I'm not sure how often we'll get there but we'll try. They're making such good progress and if they spend much more time trying to learn to swim in the tub, we're going to flood the basement.

Murray has decided to cook supper on Saturdays now so that's a treat! He did it last week when I had the sale going on & found he really enjoyed it & said he kindof missed cooking. I wasn't about to argue with him. It's nice to sit back & let him work in the kitchen once in awhile, although he did put peanut butter in the pork tenderloin tonight, trying to give it a little more zest... ; )))

After supper we went for a little walk to get some fresh air (and *cough*cough* photo ops) since we'd been indoors most of the day. The girls love running and chasing each other! When we got back to the house, they wanted to climb the trees and roll down the little hill. They're not always girly girls you know!

Back in the Saddle!

We're reunited and it feeeeeeeeels soooooooooo gooooooooooooood.....

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!! YES! the camera is home again & all is well with the world! (well, my world anyway). I was excited to get a call on Thursday from my FIL telling me that the camera place had called & my baby was ready and waiting. I phoned them to make arrangements for it to be shipped to me even though I'm going to be there next week. I couldn't stand for it to be sitting on a shelf for a single minute longer!! I expected it to arrive maybe Monday, or Tuesday at the latest. When Murray called me on Friday to say it had arrived I started shrieking with excitement! He realized that the $20 shipping fee was indeed worth it to me : )))

Whoa! who's the crazy lady stalking me with the camera???

Needless to say I got to his office as soon as I could and have been driving everybody crazy with pictures ever since!

Omigosh! I'm telling you Murray! She's just going to be nearly impossible with that thing

Swingset Action

What a warm day for late September! I'm trying to get out and enjoy the nice weather while I can, I know those snowsuits will be here before we know it & then we won't be able to stay out long at all! Today was 30º which is awesome here, I was wondering if they should have had sunscreen on.

I am TOTALLY hating our old digital camera. It sooooo sucks compared to my SLR! Arghhh! You press the button & about 3 seconds later, the shutter goes. Try and capture a toddler with THAT. Trying to get them to hold a pose is pretty much pointless. So the pictures are a little off but no fault of my own.

Sweetie was skinning the cat today, along with giving Murray & I a heart attack. She gets her feet up in the air and you're SURE she's going to crash land on her head but she just flips herself through and lowers herself carefully down onto the picnic table. Murray got some footage while I was spotting her. He's going to upload to YouTube later, email me if you want the link. Honey was also able to get herself up and over but Lovey didn't try it out.

Uncle Pookie's Birthday!

My brother had a bday on the weekend and even though he doesn't much care for cake, he felt we should have one because the girls would like it. Mum did make him his favourite too though, butterscotch pie! The girls did enjoy the cake though, they wanted to blow out the candles about 4 times and their blowing got stronger & by the last one, it was getting downright spitty so we decided it was time to cut it before it wasn't fit to eat.

They also had very specific plans for his party. First, they wanted birthday hats but Mum didn't have any so I brought some from home. When we got there, we had supper first. THEN they wanted to do the candles and then eat the cake and THEN Pookie could open his presents. Actually, they felt that THEY should open his presents but we had to disabuse them of that notion. We got him some very exciting laundry supplies that he needed (hamper) and they didn't think that was a very good present but I think he liked it!

Another day, a new experience!

You know, I constantly avoid things that I think will be too hard, too inconvenient, too much hassle etc. I have to sortof giggle inwardly whenever people look at me in awe & say "I don't know how you do it!" because, most of the time, I just don't do it. I don't attempt the hard stuff in order to avoid potential disaster. Normal people run out for errands and appointments all the time with their kids. I just don't go until Murray's home to watch them. I haven't had a personal doctor's appointment in over 3 years because my doctor doesn't have evening hours & doesn't see adults on Fridays, the day I can run out & do stuff on my own. So, today, I decided to try & be brave and take them with me to my eye appointment. I got them to each bring a story book & I packed their favourite treat and brought along their little notebooks that they doodle in. I knew it was going to be a short appointment & I thought we could do it. And we did! My first instinct was to get Murray to leave work early & keep them at home while I ran in but it didn't make sense for him to come home an hour early for my 10 minute appointment. I had a hard time talking myself into doing it though, I always assume everything is impossible! They were super though. They sat quietly on the bench in the waiting room & looked at their books, then came with me while I tried on a pair of lenses. They just followed along wherever I went. Once it was time to see the Dr. they came in & each sat in a chair while he checked the fit of the lenses. They were perfectly behaved & just ate their little snack (ok, so I cheated a bit but all's fair in war!) and then we left. It would have been a total waste of Murray's time to babysit while I did that. So, if you're one of those people who think that I'm "impressive", think again, I'm actually a BIG CHICKEN & wimp out every chance I get!

Invaded & Loving It!

I took the girls over to the resource centre for some craft time & they did more crafts in an hour than I normally come up with in a month! They loved all the colouring, painting & gluing. I really should do more of this but I'm just not on the ball in the art department!! But as long as I know who is, that's just as good right??

In the afternoon we were glad to have Teena & Boo over. Teena's husband works out of town through the week so she's on her own with her daughter except for the weekends. So on days like today, when she's tired out from having a cold & Boo wants to play play play, there's no break in sight, no relief shift coming in at supper time etc. She was hesitant about coming over but I thought she could use a change of scenery, a diversion and maybe a rest! Boo & my girls get sooooooo excited when they see each other & now they just run and play with almost no intervention by us. Them coming over here is the highlight of any day! To be able to hang out with Teena & get caught up on events & news, swap horror stories, get advice, vent my frustrations is like therapy for me! I love my girls & enjoy being with them immensely, but it can be a little lonely at times & having a friend of my own here is a huge treat!

We played outside, the girls enjoyed the sandbox, swings & slide & a Lucky Charms picnic at the table. After awhile we ended up indoors & they watched Pocahontas for awhile & gradually Teena gave up her "oh no, we couldn't possibly stay for dinner" stance & caved in & they joined us for the roast dinner I had in the crockpot. Don't fight it Teena, we're irresistable!!!!!! Take advantage of dinner offers when you get them silly!