Getting Our Hands Dirty :)

Earlier this week we went and picked up some plants for the planters they got at Easter. Yesterday we filled them up. Lovey & Honey had quite a time getting this bag of dirt from the garage to our planting area.

Sweetie got her tomatoes done and as off to play in no time.
Those are some big planters! Filling them up took awhile but they were pretty happy working on this project and didn't complain.

Last night, everyone got dessert! Practically unheard of around here so I thought I'd better document it. It's hard to say when we'll see this again!
What magical recipe did I use that they actually all ate??? It's Speedy Chicken Stirfry, and it's superfast to make.

Little Visitors :)))

I was chatting with a coworker of Murray's the night before last. I'd noticed it was his birthday and Murray was hoping the guy would be at work so that the boss would get cake. So I wished the guy a happy birthday & told him how much Murray wanted to see him on his birthday :))

He mentioned that he didn't know if he'd be there all day as there was a babysitter snafu. I told him his daughter could come here for a few hours if he needed someone. His wife's a nurse and is on night shift & needed some sleep. So, little Calle came for a visit yesterday!

She got here before the girls got home and was a little hesitant about her dad leaving but I used my mommy magic and said 3 little words to put her at ease. "we have BARBIES!" We waved goodbye and were off! I was trying to remember how crazy the girls were at 3 yrs old, could I let her play with Barbies? they have small shoes and brushes and all that.... when does that stuff stop being a choking hazard???? I was pretty sure most things are marked age 3 and up so I decided it was ok. She was fine and played very nicely as I finished baking some cookies.

The girls were very confused as they got off the bus & saw me holding another little girl! LOL They just stood on the steps, staring at us. Once they knew who she was everything was fine. We came in and got rid of their school stuff and went out to the backyard for a strawberry snack. They showed Calle the playhouse and ate in there.

I was checking out our shambles of a strawberry garden and found the cutest little frog! They all came rushing over to see and took turns holding it.

I thought I'd try to get a couple cute snaps for the dad since it was his birthday and all!

I put the one below on facebook and tagged him with a "happy birthday" message. He said he was IMPRESSED and loved the picture. Then he emailed me to ask how much to BUY it!!!!
I told him it was a freebie for his birthday and to enjoy it. Well! I got another message back that floored me (English isn't his first language so don't mind the spelling):

i don't like freebie toward artists. I follow that strickly. Because artists put a lot of time and own money in their passion. A lot people assume it is just a second to make a picture. In reality it is long learning process what needs to be rewarded and respekted. What is your normal rate for this?

I thanked him and told him very few people understood how much is involved and what goes into making images and thanked him for the offer but that I couldn't charge him for this especially since it was unplanned, unrequested and not even a perfect image.

That didn't fly with him:

at a certain point in my life was tired of doing all kinds of work stuff for free. A lot people assume because i like it, i do it for free and somehow me bills get paid by God. Okay, i don't have the big budget. Is xyz$ okay?
You need to create a pricing set up for all. Some people will turn away but you will be surprise that more people will respekt your work more. People don't seem to respekt free work.
It is not because you take 1 picture or a full day. It is knowledge and experience you have build up to create that quality. Never sell your work, you sell yourself. People don't by art, they by work from an artist.

How flattering and cool is that???? Ya'll can now say you knew me when! I shared his comments with the folks on my photographers forum and everyone's impressed with him and are jealous! I feel guilty accepting money for this but who am I to argue with a rich professional????

Welcome to THE SHOW!

The girls decided to put together a little production after supper and made posters, got wardrobe changes lined up, set up a curtain and were soon ready for the big opening!

(poster reads: Big show, 3 parts I'm sure you will like it)

Sweetie seemed to be the director as the other two followed her lead and played along with the story line. There wasn't even any fighting or one bit of disagreement throughout the whole show. They picked up on the dialogue and filled in as they went but no squabbles!

The show had 3 parts. In the first part, Honey was a cat and the other two chased her. I think that was about it for the first act. Once that was over, they grabbed their next costume and dove into the dressing room (aka behind the LaZboy) to change.

The 2nd act began with a rock star (Sweetie) and I think a fairy and I'm not sure what Honey's character was supposed to be. The grand finale of this act was their star dance.

Here they come flying out of their dressing room going into the 2nd act :)
The third and final act saw them all invited to a ball at the castle! Woohoo! Our favourite activity. We just can't get enough of these royal engagements and luckily have the garb for just such an occasion.


Between acts and waiting backstage for the curtain (aka dalmation blanket) to go up.

The final piece de resistance, the star dance! An amazing collaboration here tonight! and for future reference, we were asked to complete a questionnaire after the show.

We had to write out what our favourite parts were. :))) Thorough bunch huh?

Just Beachy!

I know not everyone's a fan of the b&w images and I'm not all that cracked up on them normally but just this one seems to really work for me. I added the colour version for you though Nancy :))) I am sooo drawn into those gorgeous eyes!!!!!!

We decided to visit the cottage on the weekend and spend some time with Grampy, Andrew, Mandy & Mr. Bojangles. The girls were keen as soon as I mentioned the possibility. We packed up & hit the road within an hour of Lovey getting home from her violin lesson. Very impromptu, very hectic, very fun!
We didn't tell them we were coming and just showed up in time for supper which was neat. Rick was excited to see us and the cousins had a blast playing together and wandering around.
We brought our own food since we were showing up unannounced but Andrew cooked up a feast that we did steal a few samples of. :)))

After supper we headed down to the water to check out the shore. Still not warm enough for a swim but Murphy went in anyway and retrieved the rocks as the kids threw them in. They all got their feet wet and after awhile were miserable cold so we ran back & changed into the warm dry stuff I brought along in anticipation of this very thing! I'm smarter this year!

Lovey got tired of the camera in her face but Sweetie posed on the rocks for me and I loooooooooove this shot below! not that the one above isn't special in its own way of course!



Honey wasn't really keen on me shooting her either but after some cajoling, I got "ok fine, here!" and a 2 second window of standing still!