Bye Harry!

Another one bites the dust! We finished Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets tonight! It got a little intense at the end but was a great read overall! I've heard the stories get a little scarier and darker as the series goes. I've been trying to slow things down a bit but all 3 choose more HP when it's their turn to pick each night. Murray & Sweetie were out running an errand last week and they snuck in to the bookstore to get the 3rd book so there wouldn't be any delay when we finished the 2nd one!

Thank you Shirley, this gave us many hours of family reading time!

Honey! We Lost the Kids!!!!

...... but not for long! Mum decided to finish off March Break with a bang and hosted a super sleepover last night. Movies, treats, nachos, Cocoa Puffs, chicken fingers, crafts, games.... she could sell tickets for this much fun! I drove the kids up yesterday and they happily scampered off to her car and threw me a quick wave and were out of sight & off to Grammie & Grandad's Fun Emporium! I know Bunny was quite looking forward to spending some time with Baby Pinecone!

On the way there I checked out the cliffs where the water runs off. During the spring there are some pretty cool waterfalls & with the up & down weather we've had lately, I'd hoped there would be some neat ice formations and found some!

The kids were quite appalled that I would get out of the car on the side of the highway to take pictures but were more shocked when I walked across the hardened snow. They were pretty sure I was going to get swallowed I think! Luckily the snow held & I got my shots :)))

After I got home I got a bunch of work done for the multiples group, answered a bazillion emails (it's rough being popular!!!) and then got ready to go out on the town!!!!!!! Murray & I went out to a Chinese buffet. We're getting old and can no longer bolt down half a dozen plates of this stuff. After my second, I was struggling! Uncle Wayne would be so disappointed in me! I wore my eating pants and everything. *sigh* I was even too full to get popcorn at the movie after (practically unheard of, I looooooooooooooooooove movie popcorn!!) We saw "Unknown" and enjoyed the suspense with all the twists! I think the story has been done before though, maybe similar to one of the Bourne movies? Not that it mattered, we were out, free babysitting and movie gift cards to blow!!! Wooooohoooo!!!!

The Last of the Wedding!

I think this is the best photo of Sweetie I've ever gotten! She rarely stands still, never mind patiently pose multiple times for me to get the lighting & settings figured out. She was in a very good mood that day & must have wanted to preserve the memory of her fancy attire!

Ok, I think this is the last of the wedding photos from last weekend!

The wedding planner/venue owner, took the kids to the bar and let them pick ingredients and create their own "drink" in these fancy cups! They were thrilled to say the least. i got to sample their work & it tasted as good as it looked!

Sweetie was so excited that HER sister was the flowergirl! Look at the big eyes she's gazing at Lovey with!



Is that a happy mom of the groom or what??? this picture is crap except for those fantastic smiles, otherwise it would have gone into file 13!

March Break!

The kids are on their break this week and it's going too fast! Tomorrow's their last real day off from school and then the usual weekend and then back to the grind! I thought we'd get out for lots of skiing, trips to the pool and other fun local stuff.

It rained on Monday and was messy out so we didn't go anywhere. They played some video games, and we watched a couple Little House on the Prairie episodes.

Around mid afternoon, I tried to find a partner to do some baking but had trouble getting any interest. Nobody was willing to lay down the DS! Finally I laid down next to Sweetie on her bed and stayed her in the face with the saddest expression I could muster and she caved :))) She said I looked too sad and she wanted to make me feel better. (good to know, file away for future use!). Once she knew there were eggs to crack, she was sold anyway. We made brown bread in the bread maker, chocolate chunk cookies and a banana bread. She's getting pretty good at measuring and levelling off and can crack the eggs without any pulverizing action now!

Murray was pretty happy when he got home to find the plethora of fresh baked goods!

On Tuesday we had no car as the "check engine" light had come on so it spent the day at the garage. The mechanic thought it was an airflow problem caused by a loose gas cap and we got out with only $22 in repairs! Unfortunately, on our way to a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper, it came back on again so we might not be getting off so easily!

Yesterday we tried to go skiing but it was too icy and it was a disaster. I gave up before I totally lost my temper and sent them to their rooms for a few minutes til lunch. In the afternoon there was a funeral for a former minister of our church. The kids all wanted to go but it was a long service so they went to visit with Aunt Caroline instead and watched a movie and got doughnuts!

Today we got into the fun stuff! I went to the gym and they got to play in the childcare section. We raced home, ate a bowl of cereal, packed treats & headed out to a movie at the theatre. After the movie, we went straight to the pool for some swimming! I'd told them we were going to have a fun day and once I'd explained the plans, 2 things happened. Lovey self combusted into a fiery ball of tears and fury over the movie selection. She was writhing in agony on the floor because she'd seen a preview and SHE didn't LIKE it!!!!!! Honey, upon hearing my plans for our "fun day" demanded to know what was for supper. I told her we were having pork chops. At this she crossed her arms, wrinkled her face and scornfully said "I thought you said we were going to have a FUN day!!!!!!!!! pork chops AREN'T fun!!!!!!!!!" and stomped off.

I decided she was right, pork chops aren't any way to cap off the one day of fun you're going to have on your vacation! The fact that I had loads of other FUN things lined up didn't count for much I guess! I decided to cave on this one and on the way home from the pool I announced we were picking up pizza!

While we were swimming we ran into Honey's teacher and Honey swam up happily to visit her and get a hug. The teacher's daughter and a friend were there and all knew the girls from being on the bus last year so they played with the kids and gave them piggy back rides! The teacher and her daughter left shortly after but the friend stayed with us most of the rest of the time we were there. It turns out she's going to be 12 soon and for her birthday her parents are letting her take the babysitting course because she loves kids. Wait. It gets even better. She lives one street over from us!!! I'll be tracking her down fo sho!!!!!!!!!!! :)))

After our "exciting" supper, the kids were still wound for sound so I coerced them into going for a walk since Murphy hadn't been out today. They were all dead set against it until I said they could stay home and do laundry instead. Somehow this heightened the appeal for an outing! They also hoped to find lots of returnables in the ditches since we hadn't done a sweep for awhile. Unfortunately everything's still buried or someone beat us to it because we only found one can!

And of all this fun and activity, what do you suppose the highlight of the day was??? Nope, not swimming. unh unh, not the movie either. We found a missing glove that the girls make into a hand puppet and call Madeleine. This was the best part of their whole day! What do I knock myself out for anyway?!??!??!

The polka dots on the upper part are the eyes and nose, the fingers of the top glove hang backwards for her "hair" and the thumb and baby finger on the bottom glove are Madeleine's arms. They LOVE this thing!!!

Wedding Part II

I thought I'd be updating sooner but then felt like crap the night after my last post & went to bed early instead! It turned out to be a case of "ate too much junk" and not a full blown flu virus!

The wedding made for a long day for the girls but they got to see Nanny & Grampy and Trish so those were definite perks! Honey must have been exhausted because once the ceremony was over, she started asking if she could go to the hotel because she was so tired. Since it was only 3:30 I told her she'd have to wait awhile and that the only thing to do if we took her back would be to have a nap. It worried me when she was happy with that answer and said she WANTED a nap. She hasn't wanted a nap in 4 years!!!!!!! I was sure she must have had some terrible virus about to surface and make for a miserable night!

Once the pictures were done, we went back to "Aunt" Cynthia's for dinner as the reception wasn't starting til 7pm. The kids planted themselves next to a jumbo bowl of chips and were munching away contentedly til I fired some peanut buttered rolls and a glass of milk at them (they passed on the homemade seafood chowder, surprise surprise!).

As soon as we got back to the reception, Honey started complaining again and clinging to one of us constantly, unless she was playing her DS, then she was ok! I was hoping we'd catch a bit of the dance but by 9pm I didn't dare put off bedtime any longer. We zipped back to our hotel & got them tucked in and Murray settled in to do some programming work so I decided to go back for the dance since we were quite close by.

Unfortunately they had run out of music and most of the guests had left by the time I got back! No matter, I got to sit with my flowergirl and chat at a leisure. She was pretty exhausted from pulling an all nighter decorating the wedding cupcakes with her mom! Once everyone left we packed up the centerpieces and loaded the car and called it a night.

I was pretty tired myself, all the rushing around and stress of trying to get everyone ready on time had taken their toll! I was looking forward to the cushy bed at the hotel! Unfortunately for me, our room was in a wind tunnel and the screaming and whipping around the building kept me up for awhile. Then at 6am, construction or snow removal began and it seemed like every truck in the city was outside our window and constantly in reverse.. beep beep beep beep!!!!!

The kids wanted to go for a swim in the hotel pool so while they did that with Murray, I ran out for a little shopping & came back to pick them up & check out.

We stopped for lunch on the way home and then I slept til we hit the driveway!

Flowergirl Rocked It!

Lovey was the flowergirl at a wedding this weekend and really enjoyed her role. So much so that she headed down the aisle and forgot about throwing the rose petals til she caught sight of my frantic gesturing! LOL

We got to town early & went to get ready at the bride's apartment. It took me forever to get her hair done! When I finished the bride did Lovey's "makeup" for her which was a big hit. Sweetie & Honey were with me too and they got some as well. I think Sweetie was more excited than anyone though!

At the ceremony site I took Lovey up to where the bride was with her attendants and stayed awhile to make sure she was comfortable and left when there were just a few minutes to aisle time. When I took my seat, Sweetie peppered me with questions on where Lovey was, what she was doing, how much longer til she could see her etc.

Lovey said she was a bit nervous with everyone watching her but it didn't show so maybe she won't suffer from my stage fright!

More to come tomorrow!