Princess Pamela, you SHOULDN'T have!!!!!!

but ummm welllllllll, we're sorta glad you did!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your parcel arrived today and that box wasn't open 10 minutes before those girls had a complete wardrobe change! But first they held the dresses up and looked at them, then hugged their dress and said how much they looooooooooooved it. Then they spent 3 hours dancing around, running, chasing and playing princess outside.

does this show that they're in love with these fabulouse gowns or what???????

thank you so very very very much for spoiling us yet again. We greatly appreciate your generosity. Your handiwork is amazing and I know there will be many compliments on your smocking artwork :)

Deck Progress!

Things are really moving along on the deck! Dad's been working his fingers to the bone down here every day this week and topped it off with another 10 hour day today but got soooooooooo much done! The skirting is on all sides and we started screwing down the top deck boards today.

Murray got box #2 opened and done last night so we now have a floor and a back wall installed and in place on the deck. Tonight he assembled the front wall and has that ready outside to put up tomorrow night. Step 44 of 220 now complete.

"Congraduation" Day!

The girls had their last day at school today! Excitement has been high this week as this big event approached. Honey was more sad than excited though as she just doesn't want school to be over! Last night after choir practice, I decided they should have new dresses for "congraduation" (as Sweetie calls it) and dashed into the mall at 8:35. Unfortunately for me, no monster sales on at the kids' store so I ran down the hall to Sears where all the dresses were 25% off. Good thing Murray's got that second job!

When the girls woke up this morning, the dresses were hanging on their chairs at the kitchen table. Honey saw hers and loved it right away. Sweetie was almost speechless and Lovey was equally pleased with hers so the selections all worked out perfectly.

Murray & I dropped them off and ran to do a couple errands before going back for the ceremony at 10am. We met Grammie in the parking lot and went in to get a seat.

The kids were good and wound up by the time we got there and were excited to see us and came over for a quick visit until the teachers needed them back. They went out of the room for a few minutes and then all came back in wearing graduation caps! They were toooooooooo cute!

The ceremony was very brief and they all got diplomas and a little goodie bag & then we all had refreshments. Lovey got herself a plate of cheesies, chips and cake. Sweetie went and got some strawberries, carrots, cucumber, tomato, canteloupe and a slice of ham. Honey had a little bit of everything.

Afterwards, we were gathering up their things and saying goodbye to their teachers. They told them how glad they were to have them this year and how well rounded they were. Michael (their main teacher) told me that one of his favourite memories this year was during a show & tell day. They were going around the room one by one and it wasn't Sweetie's turn yet but she had her hand up in the air, waving at him. So, he asked what she wanted. "Michael? (pause.......) ummmmmmmmmmmm.... I love you." He also wrote a note to each girl & hers said "you are very talented at expressing yourself through art" which I'm pretty sure is teacherspeak for "you sure know how to make a mess!" LOL

Honey's card said she had a wonderful way of expressing herself, has wonderful manners and is very sweet. (knows her own mind but is fairly polite about it?)

Lovey's said "you are a really good storyteller" (talks too much?)

It thought these little notes were a nice touch!

Progress!

Things are really shaping up on the playhouse platform! Dad's been here almost every day for the last week and he's gotten so much done. All the support posts are on, levelled and most of the floor joists are bracketed in place. Now if you'll notice, the side decking boards are also on. Let me just say I am a screw gun wizard! Dad let me loose with those and I didn't break any! The girls have no idea what this is all for and are still speculating and are enjoying "assisting" Dad as he tries to get stuff done.

I had an exciting morning! Shooter Shelley & I went downtown to practice some shots. I wasn't sure if I was properly exposing my shots as they all seemed dull as dishwater half the time. It turns out I do know what I'm doing and just need some more photoshop skills to give them that punchy colourful look I see on the fancy sites! There's also some creative elements I need to work on for framing shots & composition etc. For now I'll worry about nailing down the technical stuff. I've got my eye on this course for the fall to learn more about post processing photos in Photoshop. If the kids are going to school, I should be doing something constructive too right?

Crazy Cousins Are The Best :)

It's true, just ask any one of the 17 I have :)



We had Shona, Ryan & BJ, Simon & my brother Dale over for supper tonight and Sweetie kept getting up from her Dora table to tell us we were making too much "racket" and that we should just talk "one at a time, remember?"



After supper things went into carnival mode which Simon unfortunately missed as he had to get back to school for his night class.



This colourful toy was fascinating to young and old alike ;)

Then BJ incited my girls into a pillow fight with her dad!

The kids had so much fun together, dancing around, being goofy and running up and down the hall.

Ryan managed to hold his own but then BJ got her own pillow and he started to struggle as he was now even more outnumbered!

BJ attacked from the back while the others continued their frontal assault. Their strategic manoeuvres would have been much more effective if they hadn't been laughing their heads off the whole time but I'm sure this way was much more entertaining ;)

This reminded me so much of when we used to go to Ryan's house when Dale & I were little and his dad would get down on the floor with the 5 of us for some serious rough housing and tickling.

Hittin' the trails!

I think they may have been overtired from yesterday's whirlwind of activity and company because they were wild in church this morning, wouldn't sit still in their seats, were belting out the introit and Sweetie tried to get the Sunday School leader in trouble by complaining that Nicolle hurt her! Murray picked them up and totally knew they were up to no good as soon as he set eyes on them and assured her he wasn't concerned. We talked to them in the car on the way home about their less than stellar behaviour and they didn't say boo, just sat silently in their seats the whole way home with a sortof dejected look on their face. They knew the jig was up and they were busted. They had a blast while it lasted though. I was in the choir loft, staring and glaring and signing to them to sit down, be good etc and they'd get the message for a minute but then fly into giggles and be twirling around in the pews etc. I could see them just feeding off each other's crazy energy and was tempted to hop over the railing and go help Murray reign them in!

After church today, we came back home for lunch and then decided to take Lovey & Sweetie for a bike ride down on the walking trail for a change of scenery. Well what a lot of bother for nothing! LOL

Despite the happy grins here (photos don't always tell the whole story!) it was a lot of whining and crying. They fell behind, couldn't get the bike going, Lovey got blisters, Sweetie had some other issue and about 20 minutes into the ride, Murray ran back for the car & drove to meet us. One block over from where we'd started!

is he a good dad and a good sport or what? that's some manly pocket decor!

On the drive to Grammie & Grandad's, they couldn't stay awake. I can't remember the last time they had a nap in the car....





On the way home I played with settings on my camera & discovered how to boost the saturation and sharpness and some other neat stuff. Sweetie doesn't have a raging fever, that's just me messing with those camera features! (I think I've since found a happy medium though)

Honey really enjoyed her sleepover. The girls called her after lunch to see how things were going and they all asked each other "did you miss me/us????" and they all answered yes. Then Honey said "I've been thinking about you guys today...." When I was tucking her in tonight I said I was glad she'd had a great sleepover and she cut me off with "BETTER than great Mumma!"