Happy Easter.... again?

Grammie was reunited with her girls again! The kids always say they love Fridays. Now before Grammie gets a swelled head, remember, Friday is also show & tell day at school so that's also a pretty big deal to look forward to all week.... However, they'll tell you that they love show & tell but that the best part of Friday is when Grammie comes.

No wonder, she totally bribes them!!!!!!!!! :) A couple of months ago, I heard them talking amongst themselves about Grammie coming & one of them asked "I wonder what she's bringing us THIS week????" Horrified, I jumped in and said "Girls! Grammie doesn't have to bring you anything! What would you say if she just came to visit and didn't have any treats!??!?!" Sweetie piped up and nodded her head as she pretended to be talking to her and gave her patronizing answer, "that's ok Grammie".

This week was a little extra special as she brought Easter presents that she'd been saving for them. Between the multiples event, having company, and our various illnesses, we hadn't seen Grammie for a few weeks and the kids were pretty darn excited when she & Max arrived.

I stuck around long enough to check out what goodies the girls were opening up & then headed to the gym.

Murray was in a hockey tournament this weekend so the girls & I went for a scooter ride after supper (well, I walked). What a disaster. Guess what? Scooters don't roll as well on the road as the do the kitchen floor. Completely unacceptable. One by one the scooters got left in the ditch until everyone was walking and then we turned around and went home, collecting the discards on the way! I think the bumpy ground will take some getting used to as they're a bit spoiled by the linoleum! They think they should just be able to glide all the time. Lazy kids. No idea where they get that.... ;)))

Super Playdate!

Because 4 little girls just aren't enough, we decided to add one to the mix! On Thursday Teena was taking care of another girl from the preschool so the mom could stay home to look after their older daughter who was home sick from school.



They sure kept busy but frequently still wanted our input on what to do. After playing in the backyard for a bit, we headed off to the park to play there. I had thought they'd just run around and play there but nope, every few minutes they were back wanting more ideas.



We blew bubbles, had races, climbed on the equipment, used the swings, played Simon Says... we were running out of ideas!

After awhile we dropped off Miss E at her house and then the girls and I went home. Everyone had had enough playtime and was getting tired and cranky! While we were driving home, I decided to drop in on my cousin in law, Sharon and her kids and we had another little visit there.

I pulled into Murray's parking lot at about quarter to five, picked up the dog and beat it for home to make supper. He & Lovey had a date planned for icecream so he was coming home early to be able to eat & take her out & get back in time for me to leave for choir. He was quite surprised to find the table set & dinner ready to serve when he walked in! Sometimes, I'm just that good :)

All the way in the car Lovey kept telling him how excited she was to be going out for her treat (that'll be 20 beans please!). She picked cherry vanilla and he had strawberry and she kept up a steady stream of conversation the whole time they were gone. They have so much to say but don't always have a chance to get a word in edgewise around here! Then on the way home she told him she was happy they went out together, just all by herself with Daddy. :)

Mucking About

Well it all started off well! *sigh* We haven't been outside in what seems like weeks. Between storms, rain and illness/exhaustion, it has been a looooooooooooooooong time since we went outside and just played in the fresh air. It felt so great to be out in the sun! The kids were all keen on blowing bubbles & were anxious to get out there after lunch.

There was a bit of wind so the bubble blowing didn't really work out all that well so they moved on to playing on the swing set that they haven't been able to get at all winter. While they were busy with that, I noticed the yard had some unpleasant business to attend to. We were outside for almost 2½ hours, a good portion of which I spent picking up Murphy's winter collection that were currently on display. Yech. I kept having to tell the girls, don't follow me here! watch where you're stepping! don't go over there! It was time well spent and the yard is much safer to walk around in now :) I also ended up with a bit of sunburn which I thought was a great sign! not the healthiest maybe but still a great indicator that summer may actually come at some point! :)

The kids had school yesterday & were very excited to have recess time again. They haven't gone out to play on the playground since it turned cold in the fall. Getting them out of there was no small feat! Hopefully they'll do that more and more as the weather improves.

Somewhere along the line, the swing set appeal gave way to the glory of the muck. They dug in it, they jumped in it, they piled it up and unless my eyes deceive me, they may have rolled around in it a little! Oh well, what's a little more laundry around here? They were having a such a great time & I was so happy to be outdoors I didn't even care. Sweetie was bracing herself for a lecture and just about fell over when I said 'that's ok, that's why we have a washing machine!' LOL It's nice to keep them off balance a little. Of course, I've now left myself wide open for any other messy mischief that catches her eye, now haven't I????

Somewhere between yesterday and today, Lovey figured out how to swing! They've been trying to figure this out for a few years, although really only able to work on it a few months a year. Today I came outside and Lovey said "Oh Mumma! I was swinging SO high!" It took a second to click in that she must have figured out the pumping manoeuvre that I've been trying to explain/show to them. Honey was quite perturbed that she couldn't figure it out "But MUMMA I'm doing it just how you SAID!!!!!!" Lovey was feeling pretty good about this new accomplishment so I played it up for all it was worth and made sure to tell Murray about it when he got home. It's not often she gets one up on her sisters so I thought it was worth some high fiving!

Happy Easter!

Sweetie, as always, cooperative for Mummy's photo taking!

no one was spared the dress up time!

Lovey chilling out with Dad and a game of Membrane Massacre.

Honey & Sweetie needed more than Scotch tape to string up this troublemaker.

Easter goodies from Nanny & Grampy! they're so happy they paid for Express service to get this parcel to us well before Easter just so we could turn around & bring it back! They rarely get to see the girls open gifts from them so I thought I should save them.

We had Easter with Murray's family this year & packed in lots of family time! On Friday night there was a bday party for Auntie KK and you know how we love birthdays around here! The kids were very excited that they were invited to her party.

My sister in law, Karen & I always spend Saturday doing some big box store shopping and this time was no different, except that Murray's sister in law, Mandy decided to join us. We rarely get together so I had a great time hanging out with them! Mandy, next time, we promise, we'll do our running around first & call you when we're ready for the final stop! LOL

Here is part II of Mandy's bday/congratulations present that I was able to put together covertly on our shopping trip! I'd made up the storyboard before hand & just needed to get it printed & framed while we were out:

The Easter Bunny found the girls on Sunday morning and left a couple of goodies plus a zillion little eggs all over the house which they squealed in delight looking for. They each had a little icecream bucket and they ran around finding the little bunches of eggs. Every time any of them found a stash, they called the other two over so they could split the spoils. They were so nice & fair about it with no guidance from us, it was impressive to say the least. considering we can have some hungdingers over absolutely nothing, I thought that sharing chocolate would be much harder!

After we got the egg hunt over with, it was time to focus on the real reason for Easter! I dumped them all in the tub & we got ready for church, much to Rick's delight ;) After the years of going to church we've done, the numerous comments on what good girls we have, we anticipated a smooth service. But ohhhhhhhhh no. Someone had to have issues. It started as a wardrobe problem when I wouldn't let her wear her foodstained dress. She eventually chose another outfit and we left but she was working hard on maintaining that snit. She laid down on the pew, she pushed her feet on the seatbacks of the pew in front of us, she nagged and whined about goldfish crackers that I'd tucked into Nancy's purse for "emergencies". Murray & I were both astounded at this behaviour. We've never had her do this before and to have it trotted out in a different church was embarrassing to say the least! A little time out when we got home seemed to fix her up & the rest of the day went fine.

For fun, Nancy got out Nana's (their great grandmother) costume jewelry and they kept themselves occupied with that for most of the rest of the afternoon. It certainly helped that Flowergirl was there to play with them and of course sweep them off upstairs for one of their famous "secret meetings" that they're so fond of. When FG came to visit us a couple months ago they were quite put out that there hadn't been one so she made sure to get one in this time.