Pool & Party!

Wednesday was a good day to be in the pool! We went to playgroup in the morning, after a quick run to the grocery store. It was already very warm and with the hot weather and vacations, very few people made it to playgroup. The kids only played for a few minutes before they were too hot and wanted to sit with me in the shade. We had a snack and then packed up and went home for lunch and then jumped in the pool for a couple of hours. It's getting to be a decent temperature in there, 25ºC! Not teeth chattering cold but not so hot that it's not refreshing anymore. It's definitely a great way to beat the heat.

The girls are getting really good in the water! Honey can do backwards somersaults and they all love flinging themselves in off the ladder and making a big splash. They'll dive to the bottom and retrieve stuff no problem and the new pool noodles were a huge hit. It's so nice to be able to cool off and have fun in our own backyard! (Nanny & Grampy, this is the gift that keeps on giving!)

We had a wedding shower to go to Wednesday evening for my cousin Shelley whose wedding is coming up in a couple of weeks. They were going to wait until next year but then decided to just have a small ceremony and do it this summer instead. Fortunately we're not away or tied up with previous commitments and we'll be able to share in their special day. It'd be a shame to miss such an event!

At the shower, Auntie Ruth gave the girls something she'd been working on, new craft smocks! They are completely awesome!!! They cover their clothes so well and have nice pockets on the front and the girls were immediately in love with them. We have to do some artwork to send off to AR to show her how well they work!

Heard In Conversation

Lovey: Daddy! I just decided something at breakfast!
Daddy: what?
Lovey: I decided I do want to get married.
Daddy: oh. that's good.
Lovey: I don't want to have bridesmaids though so Honey & Sweetie are going to be my flowergirls.
Lovey: there's just one problem though.
Daddy: what's the problem?
Lovey: I don't know who to marry!!!!
Me: well you only have 3 years to find him because once your sisters are 8, they'll be too old to be flower girls.

Since this, there has been much discussion about Lovey's wedding. It's going to be on a Saturday. It will be in our backyard and she's inviting everyone she knows :)

Exploring!

On Monday it was rainy and the kids have been asking to go to the library so after hitting the gym in the morning and grabbing some lunch at home, we hit the road again and went downtown.



They picked out quite a few books and then we decided to go for a walk and check things out in that area. They loved running across the bridge and dancing around on the round platform.

Here, I had to pretend to be a ballet instructor and give them a "lesson". Luckily, as with most of their little dramas, no creativity was necessary on my part. I just had to speak my lines as they were prompted and they were happy.

the "ok stand together & hold hands" pose. Not sure how much longer I can expect cooperation on this one but I'm pretty sure my time's running out!

They could see the shoreline below and wanted to go see the water. So we went down the ramp and around the corner and wow! look! young men hanging out with unusual smoking paraphernalia, looking at me like "huh. watcha gonna do NOW lady????" LOL Luckily the girls didn't seem to notice anything unusual and I claimed that the bank was steeper than it had looked above and we'd better go back up! I didn't feel like we were in any danger or anything, I just felt stupid having them standing behind me smirking!

Then we decided to have some races on the ramp. Check out these grins! Happy campers or what???

Sweetie has been very nervous, clingy and scared of so much stuff lately, especially if it involves being separated from me/us. Any time she's doing anything the least bit adventurous (but not dangerous or destructive), I've tried to play up her bravery and boost her confidence a little.

So even though these seem a little high and may be making you a little nervous, she was actually fine and enjoying herself as I followed along, commenting on how impressive she was.

CRS Golf 2009

Ok so I come from a family of golfers. My uncles all golf, my dad golfs, even my mother and brother have enjoyed golf for many years. I took golfing lessons one summer. My dad was all pumped for me to learn the game, he took me out and even bought me proper golf shoes. Buuuuuuuuut I was a teenage girl and awkward and shy and not terribly coordinated (I believe the term of endearment most used was 'klutz') and well I just didn't really get the hang of it and was too stressed about all the other good golfers in the class (what the heck were they doing in the beginner clinic ANYWAY??? like seriously, Robin Anne needed lessons?!?!?!? freakin' golf child prodigy..... but I digress). So that was the end of my golfing endeavours..... until some folks decided it would be a great idea to have a family golf tournament for all family members related to either my Grammie or Grandad.

This was the 12th year of the tournament. I've played every year except the summer the kids were born. My game left lllllllllllllllllots of room for improvement. Each year was another humiliation flashback. I'd go up to the first tee with a load of people watching us start off and I'd be so nervous that I'd swing right on past the ball, leaving it there annoyingly staring me or I'd bump it just slightly so it would roll 2 feet off and wonder what the heck to do then? I only nudged it by accident but did that count as my drive really? Pick it up and try again and be accused of cheating or pick it up and walk away and get told to go back for another swing? Oh the agony! One of the rules in the tourney is that sometime during the 9 holes, at least one drive from each player must be used. Every year, as soon as I got something that went more than 10 feet (assuming that I was able to get that) I would argue with the team captain to take that as "my drive" because that really was most likely the best it was going to get. They would always be foolishly optimistic that I would warm up & get better as we went. They knew my dad, no way could that be my drive! Then the stress would build, as we got closer and closer to the end and I whiffed by more shots or sent them flying parallel into ditches and woods etc. Pretty soon we'd be out of options and it would be the last hole. NOW they HAD to use mine, no matter what and nerves do not do you any favours when you're playing a precision sport. Eventually ti would all be over and I could just go to the party & games & bbq and forget the humiliation on the course. BUT in the eleven years I played, I never had a win. Dad makes up the teams each year. Each year I played with a different combo. He put me with every awesome golfer we've got in this family. They'd all won in other years and had the shirt to prove it. (even Murray has a shirt for heaven's sake!) Me, nada.

Then last year I decided that being embarrassed in my parents' backyard was the lesser of two evils and asked Dad to give me a mini lesson before the tournament. Now, Rome wasn't built in a day but he was able to correct enough that I could actually make contact with the ball on more than 10% of my swings. Once I knew that I was likely to send the ball somewhere other than 2 feet sideways, I could relax and enjoy the game! I started getting some half decent shots that weren't humiliating. I had a fabulous time at the tournament last year!! and this year, after another mini lesson the week before the tournament, my team actually won!!!!!!! They used at least TWO, maybe 3 of my drives!!! I sank a pretty long putt!! I got my ball across the pond and onto the green on the tricky hole! AND and I only lost ONE ball all day!!!! Now, I know I'm not Tiger Woods but I can't tell you how exciting it was to get my hands on the big trophy!!!

The big trophy stays at Grammie's and I get this one to keep! and I got this cool shirt from the prize table. What a day!!!!!!!!!!

After the golfing is all wrapped up, we have a huge potluck supper at Grammie's house (outside). Once the food is eaten, it's time for the games. The girls had been counting down the days til it was time to go to GG's (Great Grammie's). Every morning last week, they woke up and told me how many more til Friday. Even with the flu all around, they never lost their focus on the big event. Unfortunately, Murray got hit with it as we were on our way there and we had a few stops along the way for him. I set him up in a b&b and the rest of us stayed at GG's house. The girls were disappointed that we weren't sleeping in the tent but no major drama thankfully. Then, Honey woke up in the middle of the night complaining about her sore tummy. I was half asleep and just kept shushing her, telling to stop whining and fussing and omigosh! Honey, do you feel like you might throw up??? YES!!!!!!!!! Yiiiiikes! Luckily there was a garbage can nearby and I got her downstairs to the bathroom for the rest. As she's there puking her guts up, crying and very upset, she says "oh I don't want to miss the party!!!!!!!" By the next morning she felt fine and greatly enjoyed the festivities and we did sleep in the tent the 2nd night so they got their camping experience too :)

Twenty Bucks

Many times, as Murray has been about to leave, the girls get upset. Why is he leaving us? Why does he have to go? Why does he have to work????? We've often said that Daddy has to to go work to make money to look after us, pay the bills etc.


The morning departure is a disaster about 95% of the time. They all try to out yell each other, get in more "I love YOU's" than the other, wave their arms off, blow kisses until Murray can barely walk under the load of them he must be bearing and someone is always sure that he didn't wave to THEM! or he didn't catch their kiss or he did catch the kiss and it really just wanted to land on his back-ack or it was going to fly ahead and wait for him on his desk.... and there is generally at least one girl in tears after he leaves.

One day, they started hollering after him "MAKE TWENTY BUCKS!!!!!!". I thought this was interesting. They obviously don't know the value of money but I'm not sure how they arrived at "twenty". I mean, if I got to actually pick, heck, I'd be yelling "MAKE A MILLION!!!!" but maybe they thought $20 was quite a tidy sum??? Sometimes when he gets home from work, they'll ask "did you make $20 Daddy????" and he tells them that he did.

Finally, I asked them "What does Daddy do at his office?" Well, he makes money of course. They thought he was literally at his desk with scissors, paper, pencils/crayons and all other supplies and sitting there all day creating the money.

So when you wonder how we afford this glorious lifestyle, now you'll know, we just make more money when we need it!!!!!!!!!!