Finished Proofing!

After many hours with many attempts to get these images just right, plus a couple computer malfunctions, I finally finished & sent the mom a link to her album so she could view them. I kept trying to work on them, staring at them til I couldn't see straight, then decide I didn't like any of it and scrap it all & start over the next night. That's what happens when I try to photoshop too late at night!

It was all worthwhile when I got her feedback:

Thanks so much Kelly! The pictures are beautiful and we love the collages! It is so nice that you do this for us. I hate the stress of taking them to a studio. You make it so easy and stressfree!

So all's well that ends well! Here are a few of the shots:

A-Biking-We-Will-Go

With the bizarrely warm (well for us!) weather we had this week, the roads were clear, it was sunny & beautiful and a perfect oppportunity to head out on the highway, lookin' for adventure...

Since they hadn't had the bikes out in awhile, they had to learn the sterring concept all over again. It took many run ins with snowbanks & siblings before it started coming back to them though. Honey wasn't getting it quite as quickly, plus had all that worrying to do about potential cars (inherited Grampy's worrying gene!) and decided to mostly just hang out in the driveway but was pretty content there, watching.

Experiencing Technical Difficulties...

Horror of horrors! the computer is out of commission. I was editing some pictures last night when I heard a funny noise, sort of like a lightbulb popping when it burns out (first clue), I looked to see if I could see anything, then heard a sizzle & saw a little flash of light. None of this was looking or sounding too good. I'm immediately seized with "UH OH! there are LOTS of pictures on there that haven't been backed up ANYWHERE! inlcuding the mom who's waiting for her kids' bday photos....." Murray was out at hockey and unreachable until he got home at midnight. He immediately looked in to the problem & determined that the power supply failed and then caught on fire.... Everything else seems ok & he ordered a new power supply from BC so it could be delivered to the door within a week and save me the inconvenience of making a stop to pick one up anywhere. Hopefully it won't take a week because that would NOT be very convenient. I can use his laptop when he's at work or out for a run but in the evenings I don't think I'll be able to get him to part with it! Updates could be tricky for the next little while..... bear with me or go pick up my power supply : )))

oh and by the way, would the mother of the woman who drives a white minivan, please ask her to stop harrassing me and making wild accusations about me driving you out of the country while I'm walking on my own road, minding my own business? Thanks! ; )))))

Takin this show on the road!

After lots of time at home the last few days (except for the sliding & dinner at M&D's) I didn't feel a full day inside these walls was in anyone's best interests!

We got the morning in, cleaning up and then playing school for awhile (did some more art, a bit of writing and some math, silent reading and of course, recess!). They did watch a bit of tv as I cleaned up the kitchen & got lunch ready but it was under an hour so I won the tv vs. mummy war today! (2 points for me!)

It took some doing but eventually I got us out the door & over to Polly Pocket Land errrrr I mean, Teena's house. Boy, someone had it in for her this Christmas! Boo got several Polly Pocket sets which add up to about 4 million accessories the size of a pea (maybe smaller). I would like to personally thank any and all who considered Polly Pocket sets this year for my girls and decided against it. They can't possibly look after them or keep track of them at this age and it would be absolutely hellish every time Polly lost her beebee sized shoe! So the moral of the story here is: REAL friends (or insert "aunt", "grandmother" etc here) don't buy Polly Pockets for other people's children!

She's whistling! I've never seen a preschooler that could whistle before! I was amazed!!!

PJ Boxers

What's a visit to Grammie & Grandad's without a little violence? : )))) at least we avoided bloodshed... so far. My Aunt Wendy got this for Dad & he got it out for some fun with the kids and they loved it! If you nail the guy good, he starts talking smack. Good stuff like "is that all you GOT???" The girls thought it was hilarious.


and any boxing match would be incomplete without a little wrestling thrown in!

Lovey showing off her new pj's from Old Nanny (thank you!!!! they're gorgeous AND warm!)

Didn't take Sweetie long to develop a nice right hook!

and if you get bored, he's also good for dancing...

Murray's last day of vacation...

*sigh* all good things must come to an end....

It's been great having Daddy home all the time, the kids have been playing with him almost non-stop & he's really stepped in to his role as king/prince or whatever character they feel he should be at any given moment. I looked into the living room one day this week and Sweetie had placed a little pillow on the couch, hopped up there and laid herself out with her head propped up on the pillow, eyes closed and hands clasped on her stomach, lying perfectly still. If you've ever seen Sweetie LIVE, you know this requires unbelievable effort on her part. She didn't have to wait long because Daddy is one smart prince. "Oh! the princess is asleep! I will give her a kiss and wake her up!" Sweetie although trying to remain coma-like, can barely stay still a minute longer as she gets psyched up for her "awakening". Lovey & Honey see what game is afoot and quickly drop to the floor and assume the Sleeping Beauty pose themselves. Talk about cute & pretty darn funny!

With the warmer temperatures today (woohoo back to zero, maybe even plus 1?) Murray suggested we go sliding. So after lunch, we packed up and headed for the hill. Well! things have changed since we were there last! There had been enough sliders to extend the run down the full length of the hill to the point where a tow rope would NOT have been out of place! Oh my aching legs! Who needs a stairmaster? Just take your kids sliding! The snow was well packed and slippery so if you weren't careful, the sleds would take off with their cargo without you!

Sweetie was the first one off & she zipped down the hill loving it the whole way. Honey & Lovey weren't quite as keen. Lovey wanted Murray (and ONLY Murray) to hold her tow rope & run alongside her as she went down. Honey liked it but wasn't nearly as keen as Sweetie. The hill is total chaos too, sleds going every whichaway, people walking back up in the middle of the run with no obvious safety zone as the sleds bumped and flew down the hill, it was difficult to predict where everyone was going to go, it was different every time. Sweetie got broadsided once & her sled flipped over so she got a mouthful I think but this didn't deter her one bit. She squawked a bit and then was right back in there.

Creepy Crawly Crafts

Since everyone's still sick with colds & Murray's been coughing like crazy all through the night & not getting much rest, we decided to stay home from church this morning. I thought I'd let him sleep in on his last day of vacation & forced myself with superhuman effort, to get up when Lovey started singing in her bed this morning. No one else was awake so she & I cuddled in the rocking chair for awhile. I told her how I used to do that with her when she was a baby and she was pretty fascinated. They all love hearing 'when you were a baby' stories and if you're not around to tell some, they'll just talk about it themselves sometimes. "I used to do that when I was a baby". To them that must seem like such a long time ago but it really wasn't!

With them being a little more cranky than usual and the weather being so cold the last few days, we'd been letting them watch a fair amount of tv/movies. They never seem to get enough. Sweetie will have an apoplectic fit if you turn the tv off, even if she's already watched 5 hours of it. I'm talking full out screaming, crying, writhing on the ground type of freak out here.

This morning they made the tv request pretty early in the day but as soon as I offered to get out their paints, they quicky opted for that. So craft time began. I decided to use up some egg cartons I'd been saving and we painted our caterpillars. and painted them, and painted them until they were dripping & oozing paint! Lovey wanted hers to look JUST LIKE the Hungry Little Caterpillar and she painstakingly worked on hers for ages. The other two had decorated theirs with stars & flowers etc and she was still dabbing away. They set theirs aside to dry and painted a picture and she was still fussing over her red paint. Finally she gave up the brush, added her decorations and was satisfied with her final result. They didn't dry in time to add the eyes and antennae so we'll finish that up tomorrow.