Splash Happy Kids

Old Nanny told them it was important to talk to their plants. After breakfast they insisted on going out to say good morning to them & giving them a drink. (note: Honey isn't really in this picture, I pasted her in from a different photo. Pretty cool huh?)
We gave the pool a test run yesterday and to say it went well would be an understatement! The temp on the surface was at 17º, I tested it at the bottom of the pool & it lost a couple more degrees! I was reluctant to be the first one in, for fear that they would change their minds when they stuck their toes in. I sent them up the ladder ahead of me to test it out. They were a little concerned that it would be too deep & didn't want to climb in without me so my plan was foiled right there. I took the plunge & hoped it wasn't wasted effort. They all got right in and started wading around. The water height seems to be perfect for them and they stayed in quite awhile, except for Sweetie who was freezing in no time. After about half an hour or so, Honey & Lovey retreated too. BUT they wouldn't stay out! They'd get out for a few minutes to take the chill off and then jump back in & play some more. We brought out all the bath toys & their new dive sticks (they sink to the bottom to encourage kids to go underwater) and they played and played. Even Sweetie whose shivering felt an awful lot like convulsions, insisted on practicing her swimming, again and again.

They kept it up much longer than I thought they would. Since I was always moving around, helping them swim, or carrying someone around, I didn't get cold but I come equipped with a little more insulation than most 4 year olds. After an hour and a half they'd had enough & were announcing "I'm FREEZING!" so we packed it in. They definitely loved it & I see the pool getting lots of use this summer!

Honey made several attempts to get a dive stick but couldn't quite work her way to the bottom. She's determined she's going to do it next time though!

Here they are cuddled up on their Uncle Dale beach gear, trying to get warm again. I like how Baby Monkey is cuddling Honey : ))

Party Time!

Well despite my best efforts, I have failed. These girls are growing up & getting older no matter how many times I've told them to KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!! They turned four yesterday. FOUR. I have THREE four year olds! Seeing it in print is just bizarre. Just for a little perspective, here's what I started with....


and here's where we are now! It takes two laps to hold our babies these days : )We've come a LONG way baby! They can't all fit in my lap at the same time any more BUT they're still pretty cuddly (so far anyway!)
What a day we had yesterday! I think I may have planned a little too much for one day but I'll know better for next year. Since their birthday fell on Wednesday, I took them to playgroup as usual. Why I felt the need to do this, I have NO idea!

Murray had taken a vacation day to be able to spend their birthday with them & was going to join us for playgroup but then we realized we'd be leaving the cake unprotected with Murphy! The towers & turrets were a little tippy & I didn't dare try to move it too far. Murray decided to stay home & while he waited for us to come back, he cleaned and tidied things up that I hadn't had a chance to get to. (he comes through in a pinch!)


Murray also stayed up with me the night before til 1:30am as I put the finishing touches on all the cakes. He filled loot bags, blew up balloons, hung signs and wrapped all the presents. He was so helpful with everything & never complained. These aren't tasks he'd normally be doing, he comes from the "plastic shopping bags are suitable wrapping" school of gift giving. BUT he knows those girls like to actually open presents the old fashioned way, lots of ripping and tearing and he wanted them to have that fun. He'll do anything for his little bunnies!

At playgroup, Aunt Cathy gave me their present from GG. Fancy little dreses made out of the same material that she made MY flowergirl dress out of when I was about 6 or 7 years old. (talk about long term storage!) I couldn't believe she still had the material and that she had enough for THREE dresses. They're soooooo cute & lightweight, great for summer. They wanted to put them on as soon as they saw them but I convinced them to wait til we got back to our house. As soon as we were in the door, they asked to get them on!

When we got home at lunchtime, everything was looking great! The table was set, fresh fruit was cut up & ready to snack on while we waited for the guests to arrive. Everyone got there shortly after 1pm and they ate their lunch and everyone was ready for cake! I made them each their own little cake (a lot of adult twins I've talked to are still bitter that they never had a birthday cake of their own the whole time they were growing up) as well as the piece de resistance: The Wilton Romantic Castle Cake for the guests & grownups. (this also prevents contamination from the girls blowing out their candles and otherwise getting grubby hands on the cake!) : ) I was pretty happy with how they all turned out, even if it did mean baking 5 separate cakes and staying up til the wee hours to finish. They liked their princesses and the castle too.When we pulled into our driveway, we had a surprise visitor waiting for us! Old Nanny came to see them even though she had a big dinner party planned that night for her family. She brought them their own potten plants, named Blendy, Rosie & Coral (or as Lovey has decided "Coyal-ah". She came in for a few minutes to give them the rest of their things which they were thrilled with of course. Old Nanny semi-adopted us when the girls were a few months old and made many many visits to our house, loaded down with meals and baking and would stay for hours to help with the babies. We no longer need that level of assistance (thank heavens!) but we still enjoy visiting her & having lunch dates at her house. They had 4 friends come to their party & I think that was a good number to start with, especially considering that when you add in the birthday girls that almost doubles the attendees!
They didn't take long to eat, they were too excited to get to their cakes and once they'd gotten their fill of icing, they were raring to go to town on the presents from their friends! There were many nifty outfits, games and toys. We only had one social blunder at the kids' party. Sweetie opened a beautiful dress (Children's Place too, not cheap stuff!) that was black with white daisies all over it. She looked at it and announced loudly "I don't like BLACK." Niiiiiiiiiiiiice. I'm hoping that as a mom of a couple 4 year olds herself, Yvonne is used to such bluntness....

Once the opening was done, the kids all ran off to play & we did some quick damage control in the kitchen & went downstairs to watch them with their friends. I didn't plan any games, I'm too new at this & had naively hoped that the weather would be decent and they could run around outside. I'd even considered telling everyone to bring a swimsuit but the rain nixed that. They had fun anyway and after I sat for a few minutes, the exhaustion started to hit me. I wanted to put my head on Teena's shoulder and pass out!!!
No rest for the weary though! Just as the kid party was breaking up, it was time for the family party to start! Honey had just asked how much longer til supper when Grammie was coming. I suggested we call her & see where she was. Grammie answered her phone just as she was coming in the door. Hooray!

Opening their first ever BARBIES!!!!!!!! They were thrilled with "Genna-meen" (Princess Genevive actually) and love to make the skirt twirl. Also the girl sized matching dress was a big bonus!

Not long after M&D got there, Aunt Cathy arrived! It was like a baby helpers' reunion at our place! These 3 were also instrumental in the survival of that first year!The girls had a wonderful day & loved everything! (well except for that black dress *sigh*....) We had supper when Uncle Dale got finished his shift and then they got to open his presents too. Sweetie opened hers and found a tote bag with a beach towel, straw mat & matching water bottle and tossed it aside and said "this isn't fun enough!" I reminded her of the talk we'd had earlier about just saying thank you when something wasn't our favourite and she kept her head down & just peered upwards with a slight scowl and said "thank you" in a none too appreciative tone so obviously THAT needs a little more work! Once she realized what was in the bag it was much more appealing though & was soon put to use.

They eventually went to bed & slept quite soundly & thanks to an overcast morning, they woke up later than usual!

Thank you to everyone who made their birthday so much fun!!!

Recent Work

I've been working on these photos for a mom from the multiples group all week & I finally finished. It only took me a week but I felt like I'd kept her waiting a long time! I was pretty happy with this set. I've been working on nailing the focus the last couple of weeks. So many times I've opened up pictures ony to find I'd gotten the blade of grass behind so and so perfectly sharp (or "tack sharp" as the pros say) and the person a complete blur!

My cousin Daniel is getting married in a little over a month & has asked me to do the pictures for the wedding so I feel a littlel bit of pressure to get this under control. Family pictures that come out blurry can be redone, a wedding is a one shot deal!! I don't think a blurry bride would be very happy!

Just under the wire... Happy Fathers' Day!!

Murray got his first Fathers' Day gift this morning in the form of a sleep in! He lazed in bed all the way til 9am! I got the kids fed, gave them a muddy bath (water still murky this morning) & dressed for church and teeth brushed. Once he was up, the girls gave him their presents: 3 raspberry plants, some clamps for organizing tools in the garage and books The Father Connection & The Last Lecture, some inspiring father-ish literature!

Honey is ready for gardening duty with her trusty new watering can from Grammie!

We made it to church at a decent time & afterwards we went out for lunch, Yumm! When we got home, Honey helped Murray plant his new crops and then they went for a bike ride while the other 2 lazybones camped out in front of the tv. Then Honey wanted her sisters to come ride bikes with her. When she came in to ask them & discovered the tv was on, she was suddenly done biking! Lovey went with Murray instead though & the bunny lover stayed parked on the couch.





While they were doing that, I got a start on my birthday cake creation! The first layer is baked & ready to be frosted tomorrow. I'm teaching another cake decorating class tomorrow & going to take pictures of my cousin all dressed up for prom so not sure how I'll get everything ready for the birthday on Wednesday but where there's a will, there's a way!





Once the cake was out of the oven, we hightailed it to M&D's and skated into the driveway just before 5pm. (sorry we didn't call before we left Mum, I never even thought of it til we got back here.) We had a bbq dinner and scrumptious brownie sundaes for dessert.



Dad opened his presents (a picture of him & the girls for his office or wherever & some Tim's coffee) and then we had to skedaddle to get back here in time for the water guy.
(should we have gotten Grandad some sunscreen????)

The girls ran around the yard as the pool filled up & got to bed verrrrrrrrrry late but crashed out very quickly once they were tucked in!

Pool Party People!!

Nanny & Grampy bought the girls a new pool for their birthday!! I picked it up on Thursday and Murray started putting it together yesterday while I was out to the gym & getting groceries.There was a fair amount of work for him to get the ground levelled and I helped stretch out the pool bottom to get the wrinkles out, then we started adding water. We didn't get far before it turned to dirt! Our well doesn't tolerate high volume usage well. It was enough for the girls to get excited about though. First they saw me in there pulling the liner around & came over wanting to know how come I was in there??? So we let them kick off their sneakers and walk around in it. Before long they started to "slip" and "fall". LOL After awhile they gave up the ruse of "accidental swimming" and got their bathing suits on. Sweetie wouldn't wear her hat so couldn't play in the sun. The other 2 had a blast in the ankle deep water though.

Tonight one of our neighbours brought a water truck out & added to our meagre beginnings and had it filled in no time. It's 4 feet deep but we didn't fill it to the top. Their noses should still be above water I think! : ] Billy was impressed with how well Murray had levelled off the area & that we'd gotten the bottom so smooth. He's filled quite a few pools so we took this to be quite a compliment. Being so experienced, he was able to help get the pump & salt water chlorinator thingy all hooked up. Murray is currently reading up on salt quantities and settings. Billy said that after adding the salt, that we probably should keep the kids out of it for a few days! Yikes! Good luck with that! The only thing that might help there is that the water is about 10 degrees. One jump in might be enough to deter much usage for awhile!

Honey was trying to get the flies off Murphy's nose when he suddenly turned on her & unleashed his weapon of mass destruction!!!!!!

Rock Climbing Kiddies

Now before Aunt Mandy gets too excited, THIS is about as high off the ground as they're EVER going to get!!!! ; )))

On Friday morning while we were waiting for Grammie, we went for a walk and went to check out the progress on Tulip's new home they're going to build. We'd heard lots of machinery noise for the last few days and decided to have a look. So far they just have a big hole in the ground with stakes marked for the corners of the basement. That wasn't too exciting but the highlight was being able to scamper around like mountain goats on this pile of rocks beside their driveway.
Sometimes it's hard to believe the entertainment value they can find in the ordinary things I don't even notice (unless it makes a good photo prop of course!)
and before you say "oh she got Lovey to pose again!", I didn't! She was just singing or talking about something and I happened to catch her with this beautiful grin. You wait, you watch and sometimes you get a little gem. When that doesn't happen, THEN you pose 'em!! : )))

After the walk I painstakingly worked on a problem I was having with Photoshop Elements that was driving me CRAZY (ok, so not such a long trip for me but definitely irritating nonetheless). My nice "do not copy ©" stamp had disappeared on me and while I was trying to figure that out, a bunch of the other brushes that I use for a multitude of editing tasks, also disappeared! The watermark brush I could recreate but the actual set that comes with the program... not so much. I pored over help boards, tried search after search, perused the so called "technical support" on the adobe site... all to no avail. I ended up having to delete the whole program & reinstall it. Luckily this worked and other than a bit of inconvenience & a bit of time, nothing as lost. I was afraid I'd lose all the cataloguing data I've entered. Each photo I download from the camera gets filed & marked by date & I cross reference groups of files by family, event etc. So if I want to look up a photoshoot I did for a certain family, I just click on their name & it brings up every picture I've ever taken of them & sub categorizes by date. Very handy feature & would be excruciating to recreate. This was all maintained, thank goodness!

So with my obsession with this issue, I had nothing done when Grammie got here! I ended up just running birthday errands & shopping for presents for the girls & fathers' day, grabbed some take out pizza for supper & came home.