Mountain Dropping

Ok, so if your kids HAVE to be involved in a dangerous hobby, words like `Mountain` and `dropping` should NOT be combined in the title! I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I heard them announce that they were ready to do their `mountain dropping` and felt it would be in everyone's best interests to head for the living room at top speed! Here's the set up I found:

Once again, safety is of the utmost concern to Sweetie. Here she is, tying together as many pieces of curling ribbon as she can rip off of her craft from bible school, and knotting them together for an extra safety line. Thank goodness she's so good at knots, I can rest easy knowing that she's got them covered for any and all sessions of mountain dropping!

and as you probably already know, mountain dropping without a solid anchor would be foolhardy at best. Good thing our kitchen chairs are mobile and accessible and the gymnastics rainbow twirling ribbon can double as a tether :)

The Friday Special!!! Videos!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's some VBS action! The lyrics might be hard to make out but through the diving masks but it's "I get down, He lifts me up!" :)))





and here they are all psyched up for their afternoon fun!

Walkin'

another adventure on our road! well not much "adventure" really, just a walk with Murphy!

They think it's quite something to put on their nighties and THEN go outside for the walk so this seems to be a new trend.

We had another good day at VBS! My kids are not in my group this year and it's made such a difference! I feel like I'm actually doing more than disciplining my own, I have time to yell at other people's kids now too :) kidding. However, I have already noticed the evidence of them being influenced by the older kids who already have a year of kindergarten under their belts! Yesterday Honey was quoting someone and said "and then she was like, 'I have to go!;" Omgosh, she's into teen speak after a day and a half!!??!? "she was LIKE?!?!??!?!" then today Lovey told me "I just LOVE High School Musical!", ummm since when? you've NEVER seen it!!!!!

The early mornings are taking a toll, especially since they've had a few late nights this week. They were in bed at a more decent time last night and I noticed a big improvement in the level of whininess today so sleep does help!

Today was another hectic, active, fun filled day though so we are getting a lot of enjoyment out of our summer!

At VBS today, the kids got a chance to talk into the microphone if they could give an example of a "God Sighting" or recite their scripture verse. Sweetie had her hand up first thing this morning but didn't get picked til the closing portion of the day. I was surprised that she'd be willing to go up and talk at all and was quite impressed when she relayed the whole Brown Eyed Susan story (although it was an abridged version!). They got to pick a prize out of the basket if they went up though so most of the kids are quite keen on it. She picked a decoration for her shoe that says "I Love Jesus". She could have had a spinning top like her sister or a bracelet and some other snazzy gear Nicole picked out to bribe these kids with but she thought the shoe thing was the best.

After VBS we met Nanny & Grampy and they took us to McD's for lunch where they got treated to a rare Happy Meal. Lovey opted out though as the Happy Meal only comes with 4 nuggets and she was hungrier than that. LOL Sweetie ate everything that came with her meal, plus Honey's fries. That kid can really put it away! When we got home it was sunny & hot so it was a pool day!!!!!! Nanny & Grampy got them the pool for their birthday last summer but have never seen the kids in action and I think they were a little impressed with their swimming skills :) They were showing off all their best moves for their new audience of course.

Sweetie cracked me up this morning when she checked her hair in the mirror and said "ughhhhh! Mummy! I LOOK like an ICE CREAM!!!!" Fighting back intense giggles, I had to go out into the hallway to see exactly what "ice cream" hair would be like. Apparently it's when your hair's all fluffed up and sticking out, round like a scoop of ice cream.

I thought the floor installer guy was coming today to finish off the basement but he got tied up on another job and couldn't make it after all so I wasted my precious free time waiting around on a callback about that and never got to the gym at all on my afternoon off. However, I got most of the front lawn mowed so it wasn't a total loss.

Not only did we get treated to lunch today but supper was provided as well! Nanny must have spent an entire day in the kitchen yesterday. She brought Chicken Pot Pie, 2 loaves of homemade brown bread, a batch of chocolate chip cookies and a load of cupcakes to boot. Don't that just beat all???? In the six hours they were here, that's a lot of spoiling for us! We cleaned up in the food category for sure. I spent every minute up til soccer mowing the lawn that I didn't actually get to sample anything until after the kids went to bed but when they did, I had quite a feast!

The girls were a bit tired & hot at soccer. These busy days are taking their toll! Nanny & Grampy left right from the field and I brought the girls home, read stories & chucked 'em into bed so I could get at that supper!

All the pictures are from yesterday, today was a blur and I didn't even have a chance to think of getting the camera out. I think Grampy got some good footage though! If only he had a blog.... ;)))

Black Eyed Susans

With VBS going on, our days are more full than usual, and many of you tell me they were busy enough to begin with!



Yesterday afternoon we went to a funeral for a neighbour who'd passed away from cancer. Mr. B was a familiar sight, he was always out for a walk with Mrs. B and would stop to chat with us and we occasionally dropped in over there as the kids loved to play in their yard, run up their little stone steps, jump off their retaining wall & have a little visit. I debated whether to go or not, funerals aren't the greatest event to take kids to but they'd already been to a few so already knew the drill and we'd missed the visitations so I really felt we should go. It was during the day of course so Murray couldn't keep them home with him so off we went. It was a bit of a rush, getting home at 12:30 and having lunch, getting cleaned up and getting to the church on time! Somehow we made it and even looked respectable! The girls chose their fanciest dresses (baby prom) and as I was rushing them into the car, Sweetie stopped and saw the brown eyed Susans growing in our (weed) garden. Frustrated, I told her to get a move on and she told me "wait! I need that flower" My first instinct was to tell her she NEEDED to get in the car like I'd asked but fighting about that would take waaaaaaaaaaaay longer than letting her grab the freakin' flower so she got her "need" fulfilled. As we were leaving the yard, I asked why she "neeeeeeeeeded" it anyway. She started to say it was for Great Grampy and then realized she was getting her funerals mixed up and shook her head and said "I need it for Mrs. B" Okaaaaaaaaaaaay. interesting. We found the church and it was pretty full but we found seats off to the side. Sweetie started looking around, searching. I asked what she was looking for. "I'm looking for Mrs. B, I need to give her the flower." Oh boy. The funeral's about to start..... do I send her or make her wait???? Then I figured she'd probably get nervous and change her mind and just sit down again, so I pointed out the front row (not far from us) where I could see Mrs. B sitting with her family. Sweetie starts off then quickly retreats. She can't remember what she looks like. I describe her and point her out again. People are curious about this little girl walking around with the flower. She stops in front of the wrong lady who vaguely resembles the description but she's not convinced and looks at me for more help. Finally I give in and walk up to the front row and take her over as everyone looks on. Mrs. B is delighted and asks her for a hug and Sweetie's pleased and we go back to our seats.


The funeral was well underway when the girls started to get very warm in their dresses. They were squirming and starting to get very uncomfortable. I tried to keep them quiet but after 40 minutes the service didn't appear to be getting any closer to ending. Sweetie then started asking to go to the bathroom but I told her she'd need to wait. She'd just gone before we left so I wasn't convinced that this was legit. It only took 4 words to change my mind! "I have to POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Well, you just don't mess around with that. I stalled her a few more minutes til the guy finished his speech/eulogy thinger and everyone stood for a hymn. We slipped out as discreetly as possible with three 5 yr olds and found a bathroom quickly and waited out back reading some stories we found until the service ended about half an hour later. We went down for the reception for a few minutes so we could say goodbye. The girls found the buffet and wanted to dive right in but I distracted them with the juice table! Once they'd gotten a drink & a cookie, I headed over to the family and Mr. B's son came over to us immediately.


Son: Kelly! oh my goodness! those black eyed Susans!

Kelly: uh well, a good distraction I guess?

Son: it couldn't have been MORE perfect!

Kelly: oh. yes, that's good!

Son: Dad LOVED those flowers, they were his favourite!

Kelly: it was weird because we were getting in the car & suddenly she insisted she needed that flower.

Son: tell her to keep following her instincts, they're right on.

That evening we ran into Mrs. B out for a walk and she told us that Sweetie's flower absolutely made her day.


How does a 5 year old know just the perfect thing to give a grieving widow at her husband's funeral???

Too Tired for a snappy Subject Line

Babycakes came to hang out with us for the night, woohoo!!!!!!!

Evening bike ride/walk turned into supermodel shoot!

I love that she's totally comfortable wearing an Ariel nightie, a helmet and only one shoe and is happy as a clam!

and what would an excursion be without Bunny????

Have Tink, will travel!

Missed A Day!

Looks like I skipped over Saturday's activities! Oopsie! Everything's such a blur around here, who can keep track????

My circuit class was cancelled on Saturday so we took the girls to see the new Veggie Tales movie that's out and then ran some errands while we were out and got home in time for lunch. The girls enjoyed the movie & it was cute to hear all the kids singing along to the theme song in the packed theatre.

It was another sunny day so everyone jumped in the pool! Murray & I took turns mowing the lawn and keeping an eye on the kids swimming. By the time I'd mowed an hour and a half, I was more than ready for a cool dip! I didn't even get half the lawn done but I think I made up for missing my class!

Once I'd gotten cooled off I went in to prepare a feast! We had bruschetta appetizer, then seared scallops with herb & garlic orzo and asparagus, corn on the cob and berry bliss cake for dessert!

It was still nice after supper and the girls wanted to get out the jumper and they bounced around in that for awhile. They've grown so much since they got that 3 years ago! While they were doing that, Murray got a little bonfire going. I was inside working up a new profile pic for the photography forum I'm on. There was a time limited offer for bonus points if you were one of the first twenty to put up a new one. I got Murray to snap a few for me then ran inside to work some photoshop magic and upload it. I made it in, whew! When I came back out, Murray had gotten the fire going with a little help from a shot of gasoline. With all the rain, the twigs & branches I'd cut down were a bit on the damp side. He sure fixed that! The kids were quite impressed by the "WHOOOOOSH!"

I had picked up a package of some colour stuff and it made these really cool green flames! Pretty neat. It recommended throwing in 2-3 packages but I wasn't sure it would really do much so I only got one but I'll have to splurge next time :)

Sweetie's blanket was a little too close when a spark popped out and singed her blanket. She instantly burst into tears and started wailing. This was the baby quilt that Mum made for my baby shower so she's had it literally FOREVER. It was very upsetting to have it scarred like this. Mumma, got any scraps of this material left that we could patch it with???

The kids had a wonderful day, they played outside for hours with us and got to stay up late doing cool stuff. What more could we ask for????

Sunday Splash!

Another sunny Sunday means more slip 'n' slide action! Lovey called Grandad this morning (she loves dialling the number herself and is pretty proud of having it memorized!) and put in the request but he'd already gone golfing so Grammie took a message after assuring her it would be available for them when they got here.

Sweetie was anxious to hit the road and kept following me around asking if I was ready YET!?!??!?! She kept hollering stuff like "vamonos!!! ok, we've got to hustle here!" until it was finally time for us to load everybody in the car! We had sunscreen and everything on & just bathing suits in the car so that they could hit the hill as soon as they got here. It was another great afternoon of water sliding!

We had Murray's favourite (or one of them.... which meal doesn't he like???) for dinner, RIBS!!! and Lovey is in total agreement. This is the only meat she seems to actually enjoy. Most things she will eat the mandatory one or two bites but these, she actually gnaws to the bone. The other two liked them the last couple of times but tonight they changed their minds & don't like them anymore so Grammie got some ham slices, cut up some cheese into sticks and then rolled them up into the ham. Fancy schmancy service here at G&G's cafe, that's what they keep coming back for I think ;)))

After supper they got out the baby dolls and were playing with those, then we took them out for a walk in the stroller. I heard them earlier today at home, playing with their babies and overheard Lovey say "she was SO upset to see the bandage on her arm, she pooped in her diaper!". What the heck??? Since when is that a standard reaction?? I've yet to get cranky about something and decide to fill my pants in a fit of rage. I've heard of fear doing that to a person but.... hmmmmm well whatever makes for a good storyline I guess!

While out for the walk in the field, we chased down some stray golf balls, let Murphy chase a few and checked out the trail and left a trail of brown eyed Susans and some straw so we could find our way back if we got lost. Those girls just think of everything!

Since there was only one doll stroller, this quickly became a problem of course. Grammie dug around in the barn and found Uncle Dale's old wheelbarrow and cleaned that off. It was big enough to give a couple dolls a ride and to fetch and carry golf balls in too!

Every week the girls like to read stories here before we go home. Since it's usually past their bedtime by the time we actually get there, it's nice to have this covered off! This week they all climbed up with Grandad and did their reading there. Tight squeeze on a hot day!

Thank you Grammie & Grandad, we really enjoy the VIP service at this place!