Tree Hugger, Ouch!

Lovey was at Miss E's bday party, running around having a good time,until... she got caught up in who might be chasing her in the game and ran smack dab into a big tree! Luckily she just grazed her cheek but that hurt plenty enough! She came home and we cleaned her up and put some polysporin on and then she was ready to go back for more fun!

What made this injury even more interesting is that Nanny had done almost the exact same thing only a week or so earlier. Lovey managed to skip the black eye, but other than that, they'd done the exact same job to the same part of their faces!

Regardless of the injury, Lovey stayed at the party til the last possible moment! It had started at 2 I think and they stayed there til amost 10! Good times! Sweetie left in the middle to go to her gymnastics class and 2 h rs later when she got home, things were still in full swing so she made a beeline for it and was thrilled to find out there was still cake left! Woohoo!

Nanny's Pride & Joy

Having a big cousins' sleepover on a Saturday night meant we could all go to church together on Sunday morning! Nanny was happy to have all the big kids with her and have a chance to introduce them to her friends there. It's been quite awhile since the girls were there although Mr Bojangles has had a few visits.

The New Sensation!

Our newest family member has arrived! We were so excited to follow Aunt Mandy's progress and hear about the baby being born and couldn't wait to go meet him. We arranged a trip to see him at 2 weeks old, it was good timing, not many activities that weekend to miss, it would be Easter so we could spend extra time and not be so rushed as we usually are on weekend trips there. Everyone was psyched! and then the flu hit. Sweetie was so sick! High fever and the whole nine yards. She started on Wednesday and we thought it might pass by the weekend but it raged right on through! Not only did she feel terrible just being sick, but she was so disappointed that we couldn't go see the baby! Everyone was sad to miss it but there was no avoiding it.

With other end of year events, he was a month old before we got to see him but we greatly enjoyed getting our hands on him at long last! We all took turns holding and admiring  him until the absolute last minute. Mr Bojangles was out at a birthday party when we arrived but he was very excited to introduce us to his baby brother when he got there! Baby Bash was a big hit!

Salad Hog

This kid cracks me up! We were finishing supper, or rather, I should say TRYING to finish supper and Miss Dawdly Pants was poking along and taking her sweet time while the rest of us were waiting to go somewhere or do something, maybe a bike ride, a swim? I forget now but Lovey was not on the same page at all! Finally I told her to give me the bowl and to leave! She started to hug it to her and chow down on the remaining Caesar salad, calling to me tauntingly!

Lovey: but Muuuuum it's SALAD! You can't be mad because I'm eating VEGETABLES!!!

She started laughing so hard in the middle of that, she could hardly speak! Hearing her mad giggles set the rest of us off. That little turkey knew she had me over a barrel and there was no getting around it. She was right, I couldn't very well chastise her for hogging the salad!

Happy Birthday Grammie!

We celebrated Grammie's birthday on the weekend with decorations, presents and most importantly, cake! Fondant is her favourite so we tried a new design this year and it turned out quite nicely. Bright colours and polka dots made for a tasty festive treat! I almost hated to cut it, it was so pretty! Luckily we did because it tasted as good as it looked (if I do say so myself, and as the writer, it's up to me to report these important details!)

                              

Fairies, Sparkle, Dance!

 This year's dance show theme was Peter Pan and it was wonderful! They had so many extra practices, extended classes that made for a great show! I'd say it was the best one yet. They put a lot of work into their story, adding lots of Irish twists and making everything flow well together. The costumes were top notch (especially that purple sparkly custom made one!) and the window prop was awesome! Honey's not too sure about continuing with Irish Dance in the fall so I'm glad she had a really great show to finish on if she doesn't go back.

She got her hair washed early in the morning so we could dry and curl it before dress rehearsal and got all our glitter gear on and headed to the theatre. Since she might not do another, I got all my shooting done during the rehearsal and got a sneak preview of the show. I realized at the actual show, just how much of the story and detail that I missed while running all over the theatre to get shots. Watching something through the lens is not the same as actually sitting and watching! So glad I got to do both!

Grammie & Grandad came for the big day but we had to scoot home quickly afterwards to get the birthday party started! Grammie made all the fairy wings and everyone appreciated her efforts since most of us are not sewing inclined! For my part, I made all the hair ties. And by "made" I totally mean "cut a piece of cloth into strips". Hey, everybody's got to do their part right???

Minecraft!

We thought that since the Wii dance party had been a big hit, we'd try another technological interest! As soon as I floated the idea of using Minecraft for the next church family event, the girls were all in favour! Their enthusiasm was promising and I talked to Julie about it and she was immediately on board as well and found some great table decorations plus a great big wearable creeper head! A friend of mine had used a Minecraft theme for her son's bday recently so I got some good ideas for party snacks from her and looked to Pinterest for decorations!

It was a lot of work and I may or may not have blown the budget but the room looked fabulous when the kids all arrived! I got there early and started putting balloons and things up. Julie & I had done a bit of decorating the night before but there's always the last minute stuff plus the food to set out.

Everything was awesome! One mom asked if we had any other games/activities lined up and when I admitted we didn't, she said "that's great! My daughter only wants to play Minecraft and she was afraid you'd make them stop to do other stuff!"  Until the kids all fired up their iPods/Pads/androids and could NOT get their games to join up. It was instant panic and stress! (and the kids were upset too!) THIS was NOT my department. THIS was the part that was supposed to take care of itself. I'd talked to my IT guy about having so many devices on the church wifi at the same time, no concerns there, and checked that off my list! We had more kids at this party than any other that I can remember! It had looked so promising, and did I mention the fabulous food and decor???? It was supposed to be fun and everything perfect!!! Everyone was going to go home and say our party was lame!!! The horrors!!!

Eventually Murray and Dale got things working so they could play but connections kept dropping and it didn't go as planned. I was upset but Dale cheered me up when he told me he overheard one little guy say:

"This minecraft party is awesome!!! I wish they'd have one EVERY week!!!"

and another boy had to leave early so the mom could get his sister to dance lessons and he was almost in tears he was so upset to go before it was over!

I talked to the kids on the way home and they all said it wasn't what they'd imagined but they'd still liked it and had a good time and would like to do it again. By the next day the sense of dismal failure had passed and I decided that our record breaking attendance was nothing to be disappointed in. Teena pointed out that to those who didn't know exactly what to expect were perfectly happy and it only seemed worse to me because I'd had a plan in mind. Those that didn't know the plan didn't care! and that's why she's my BFF! She fixes everything!   mmmmmwah!

Showtime!

Violin week was last week and Lovey had 3 performances. She ended up with 1 first place & 2 second places. In the end she was disappointed at placing second. It was especially bothersome to her that the first place violinist was only 6 and it stung a little to be outdone by someone younger. All 3 played the exact same piece so the level of difficulty was the same and I thought Lovey's had been just as good as the first place girl. Murray thought Lovey's had more feeling to it and the other sounded a bit stiffer. It hit Lovey pretty hard. She was very quiet and stared out the window the whole drive home as she thought about it. We'll see if it motivates her to work harder and take less breaks next year or not!

One of the highlights was that she got interviewed and had her picture in the newspaper!

waiting to go up for her final piece!



all done for another year.

 and posing for me because she left after her piece before I could take a pic!

                                

She made careful notes on the suggestions from the adjudicator on the first day to prep for her last performance.

Fashion Faux Pas

I had helped Lovey put her hair up in a high pony tail and it stayed there for most of the day. At bedtime she took it out and was surprised at the resulting style. She came out of the bathroom, laughing incredulously.

Lovey: MUM!!!!LOOK at my HAIR!!!! DAD LOOOOK!!!!
Me: oh wow, it looks nice!
Murray: yeah, it's great Lovey, I like it!
Lovey: (collapsing into giggles) MUM! DAD! It's NOT the 80s!!!

Easter!

Easter morning found new footwear and chocolate galore! It was a quick hunt but yielded good results, they're just getting faster. Unfortunately Sweetie had been ill with flu and fever for a few days and wasn't really feeling up to looking for or eating treats so we knew she was still really sick! It took over a week for her to feel better and be able to eat food again!

Someone brought in cupcakes for Sunday School just in case there wasn't enough sugar at home?

Exploring with Honey

Honey and I made our getaway one Saturday afternoon to go check out a waterfall. It had been a long week with a very sick Sweetie and Honey was feeling a bit neglected. This outing put some wind back in her sails! We had to park off the highway and hike in a bit to see the falls, but you can hear them as soon as you stop your car. With all rain and melt, these were roaring! We had a fun excursion and got a treat at Bulk Barn on the way home, unicorn bacon, yum!