Hello Neighbours!

Good morning Little Carrie & Big Kelly, get comfy with your coffee, there's lots of new stuff today! : ))))

Snow Much Fun!

Another snowfall yesterday but not one that really merited much shovelling so I just goofed off with my camera outdoors instead of doing anything useful like clearing the driveway. We can just plow through that, that's what they make snow tires for, right?

Also, I saw a rather bothersome news report about companies who troll the internet looking for blogs or sites with "real" pictures of kids/people/ stuff, then they swipe the image and use it in their advertising as surveys indicate that consumers respond more favourably to images that are genuine. In some cases, the image was used in unflattering and even insulting ways. These weren't little unheard of companies either, I believe one of the companies accused was Microsoft! The article recommended marking your pictures on the web to copyright them so I made up a little stamp to slap on my pictures because I definitely think my darlings are worth stealing! : )) Not sure how high tech my security feature will be but I find it makes just about any crappy photo look better when you pop a little logo looking thingy on it!

Here's my Mandy shot of the week, better than my crap on a rock but still not quite jaw dropping.

Tea Party

I hosted a little tea party this afternoon and was joined by my good friends, Mrs. Flowera, Mrs. Lexie and Mrs. Summera. These ladies are what you might call "heavy drinkers". Luckily I had over 2 litres of "tea" on hand because they went through it all in the hour they were here! There may have been a little spillage but most of it was actually consumed as they chatted endlessly about their vacation plans (going to the beach), their children (they have 3, 4 & 5 each respectively) and all about their jobs at home (very busy you know!).

They managed to stay in character most of the time but every once in awhile forgot they were pretending to be grown ups & would slip and talk like a kid again. It was pretty funny to hear them go on and on (with a little help from me of course!) about all these topics. Not surprisingly, Mrs Flowera wet the bed twice last night....

Unfortunately, Mrs Flowera had a little spill on her dress which brought the party to a rather disastrous end. Understandably, it would be a little upsetting to have a damp spot on your favourite dress, but I mean really now! I didn't beat any of my guests with a hot poker as this photo might suggest! This face is 100% caused by the water on her dress. Yep.

More Math Time!

I got tired of numbers, or rather, couldn't think of any activity to do that involved numbers so decided to switch to geometry instead (or whatever that subject is called that involves shapes....?)

They love anything that involves glue so I figured this would be a sure thing. I was partly right. They were totally into it for awhile but I put too many shapes on the page and although they thoroughly enjoyed the glue & the toothpicks, they lost interest before we got all the pieces put on. Good idea, just too much. Also, as they got more glue on their hands, it became more fascinating to peel & pick at this than to work on their project. I remember those days! You know, where you spread glue all over your fingers on purpose and then tried to peel off a whole fingerprint intact... or back when you said the heck with the project and just ate the glue because you thought it tasted good. (Stacey Anglea S., you DID SO!)I tried some the other day and either the recipe has changed or my tastebuds have cause that stuff tastes like crap.

Social Butterflies!

Yep! that's us! we've had a whirlwind of a social calendar lately. Ok, so it was only 3 days but we felt pretty darn popular for a whole weekend! ; )))

On Friday night we invited a family from our church over for supper. The mom is the youth minister at our church & a good friend of mine from playgroup. It took a few tries but we finally got together despite some dicey weather earlier in the day. So they brought their 3 kids and our 3 kids were thrilled! Their middle child is just a few months older than our girls so they've known each other pretty much from day one. Her older sister is now in kindergarten but for a year or so, she was at playgroup with us and was my little assistant when it came time for those potty runs. She'd take them by the hand & help me get them in & out and was a great helper every week. Stupid kindergarten!

In preparation of this big event, I went on a major cleanup. Well, of the kitchen anyway. I was determined that we would have a visible countertop & get that room decluttered. After Christmas, I bought containers to organize some of the toys & our craft stuff. I removed all my scrapbooking stuff and got a lot of junk out of there! I washed down the walls (just the kitchen & only the bottom half where the worst of the scuzz was). Since we had to reschedule a few times, and due to some sort of juice spillage, I mopped the floor TWICE that week and it was looking downright presentable for our meal together on Friday night.

Anyway, we had a great time & so far my kitchen still looks good. Hopefully I can hold it together til Friday so my mother can see it before it all goes to he!$ again. ; )))

On Saturday we were invited over to Teena's for a big family lunch and stayed for some playtime for most of the afternoon. The kids all at at their own little table which they loved although I'm not sure if anyone had time to actually eat anything with all the playing they needed to get done! We, on the other hand, highly enjoyed our homemade chicken fingers & mac & cheese. Dessert was by me so I have to say that was pretty good too. Dale especially thought so since all Teena serves lately is fruit & yoghurt! I felt bad for the poor guy so I hid two containers of chocolate chip cookies in the freezer for him before I left. Shhhhhhh! don't tell her! She won't read this til Friday though & by then, if he's smart, they'll be long gone & unable to tempt her. She's been working hard & being careful and is looking absolutely terrific & has lost quite a few pounds. Yoghurt & fruit seem to be paying off!

After lunch we all played musical chairs, marching band, follow the leader and everyone opened Christmas crackers which were a big hit. I decided to take a day off from camera duty so I don't have any pictures but lots of great memories of our fun filled afternoon of family, friends, food & fun!

Sunday was another busy day with church in the morning and dinner at M&D's that night. The kids were cranky since they're still tired out as they recover from these interminable colds. As soon as we finished eating & cleaning up , we wasted no time in loading & hitting the road for home. It was a little rough getting them to bed as they were in fine form by then but we made it before things really got ugly. Whew! dodged another bullet! ; )))

AWOL!

I know, I know! no updates in what... forever right? I'm a busy girl you know, I can't be catering to you blog fans alllllll the time ;)))

Most nights this week I've been working on some photos from a baptism in our family. I really wanted to get those finished up so they could show them to people as they forgot to bring their own camera.

So that's what I've been up to, along with the usual!