Something Different!

When I dropped the girls off for school on Thursday morning, one of the moms asked me if Honey could go to their house for a playdate after school. Oh. Now what do I do??? She asked if the other two would be upset...? I immediately envision the brainscalding scenario of explaining to Lovey & Sweetie that just Honey is going. Upset? Hah! understatement of the year!! Ok, we can handle this. They're each going to have their own friends and I don't expect other parents to take on all my kids just so nobody ever has to cry.

But no one said I couldn't have a counter strategy! I decided to make staying home fun for them so I stole another kid so they could have a playdate of their own. Mind you, the abductee and her mum were MORE than willing to be part of my sneaky scheme. :) Boo to the rescue! and as it turns out, Teena is now enthralled with Twilight so it gave her the opportunity to finish the first book. So it was a win win for everyone.

When it was time to pick up the kids, I got the other mum to leave with Honey without the other 2 noticing the departure. Finally everyone had pretty much gone and they still didn't notice that their sister wasn't there. We told Boo she was coming home with us and my two immediately protested that she didn't have anywhere to sit. I explained the situation and waited for the backlash. Sure enough "how come WE aren't going?" "why just Honey?" etc but Teena & I diverted their attention and shifted to "woohoo, playdate at our house!!!!!! won't that be fun!!!!! Boo's coming over, yaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!" and that seemed to work.

The afternoon went fine and these 3 had fun dressing up and playing all sorts of stuff, singing and dancing around the place. They even did a good job of clean up when I asked them to.

The whole afternoon, Boo kept pretending she was Honey and I felt bad that she thought she was just a replacement! My girls kept telling her she had to have Honey's spot in the car, Honey's dishes, Honey's booster seat at the table etc I took her aside and said "Boo, you do NOT have to be Honey! You can just be YOU and have fun!" She looked at me like I was crazy and said "No! I like it! I'm Honey today!" and off she went. I guess no permanent psychological damage was done :)

We dropped Boo off and went to pick up Honey. The other mum said they'd had a great afternoon, playing pretend imagination stuff. She commented that Honey was a lot like her daughter, acting stuff out with the toys and talking for them. I said that they did that a lot at home with their animals & toys too. I remember doing that with my Barbies all through elementary school, we'd do it for hours. Now I can do it for about 5 minutes before I get the "just shoot me" feeling. I've totally lost that imaginative side! Good thing my ridiculous side compensates well :)

Sunshine & Happiness!

Teena & I went for a walk this morning while the kids were at preschool and decided to go to the park and have a picnic lunch. The kids were thrilled with this of course and for once didn't complain when we told them it was time to leave the playground at the school.


We had gorgeous weather this afternoon and the kids played for almost 3 hours. Sweetie & I got a bit too much sun but other than that it was a great day!

Towards the end, we realized that the drums we'd been hearing all afternoon, were actually in the park not far from where we were. The kids had been enjoying it, Lovey & Boo were dancing to it! Honey kept thrusting one arm out and then the other, in time with the music and said "I got the beat and I just can't stop doing this!" Lovey & Boo named their dance the "cute widdle". After awhile, we decided to venture over to get a closer look.

The kids couldn't tear their eyes off the drummers. There were all sorts of drums that were being played, plus other instruments too. Lovey, Boo & Honey all went up on the stage of the gazebo and danced around as they played. Teena joined them but I didn't have the guts!

After watching for a few more minutes, we wandered off but they just couldn't stay away and they hovered near the edge, watching everything. Eventually, the leader guy asked them if they wanted to come up and try some stuff and that was it. They were in there like white on rice. :) The other kids showed them what to do with the different things and when it was all over, the girls helped pack up the drums in their bags and were quite pleased with themselves!

Bible Study Gone Bad!

For many years I thought about joining a bible study at church. It seemed like the proper thing. . I'm a Christian but hadn't really picked up much bible knowledge since the stories I learned in Sunday School, and that just seemed wrong to me. Especially now that my own kids are in Sunday School, I can't have them getting ahead of me!!! Buuuuuuuuut I would picture sitting in a room, everyone very serious and quiet and discussing deep subjects with extensive biblical knowledge. I'd be put to shame and well to be honest, I didn't picture it as being much fun but rather dull and stuffy.

In the last couple of years I've joined a few different book studies and have found them to be much better than I'd expected. It turns out they're all normal people with real lives! Our latest study was the Alpha course and we did a previous one in the fall, Power of a Praying Woman. I have to say I loooooooove this Monday night group full of other young mothers, some grandmothers and everything in between. The range knowledge, experience, love, support and encouragement in that room, week after week is phenomenal. As we get into discussions and talk about our own families and our worries or fears or share funny stories, things tend to get rowdy. Yes, rowdy. We have woken the hostess' kids up on more than one occasion I'm sure with our antics and howls of laughter. It is such a great feeling to be able to spend time with these ladies and my life is blessed with the input and sharing this group has given me.

I'd like to introduce you to my Alpha Chicks, they really are the best!

Mother's Day Part II

Yesterday afternoon we went to my parents' to have dinner with them for Mother's Day and the kids wanted to go exploring in the woods and see the river.

on the way they explored Grandad's new toy, the "gang plank" as he calls it.



thanks to their gymnastics lessons, they were able to make it across easily!



Sweetie was most of the way across when something else caught her attention and she just hopped off and moved on to the next adventure.

Hanging out down by the river is scary with these three. You look away for one minute and someone's stepping into the water! The current right now is raging and they have no fear!

some nature photography.... I don't think National Geographic will be in touch anytime soon.

bouncing around!

I had a great Mother's Day, the kids got me flowers on Saturday, made cards for me Saturday night with the babysitter (she brought her own supplies and everything!) and every time I turned around on Sunday, one of the girls was blowing me kisses or giving me a hug and telling me "Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU MUMMA!!!!!!!!" and I got to spend it with another super duper mother, mine! What more could a girl ask for?

Happy Mother's Day!

I have inherited the cherub choir director position and I was so impressed with my crew's performance today. I told them they're all my rockstars :)

Friends Forever

My longest standing friend (most know to get out before it's too late ;), was in town this week and came to spend a night at my house Friday night. Stacey & I met in Mrs. Perry's class in Grade 2 so this means we have been friends since I was 6 going on 7. Over 30 years ago. Wow. She has witnessed more blunders, fashion faux pas and every awkward phase I ever had and never bailed.

There is a comfort in a friendship like that. If they made it through all that stuff, how can you ever go wrong? They already know the worst, the best and all the in between and have influenced it or been party to it. You don't have to worry about impressing them (although I did clean like a fiend Friday afternoon but that was more of a health concern than showing off), or entertaining them. You are just you, the you that you've always been, the you they expect, know and love.

Stacey was worried about crashing at our place, that it might disrupt our schedule too much. Luckily, we are totally the drop in-able type of household. She (and anyone else!) could have called 5 minutes from the highway exit and I'd still have insisted she come and stay with us. No reservations required for friends and family.

There aren't many people that I'm still in touch with from high school, never mind Grade 2 so I'm always pleased to hear from her and get together whenever I'm up her way or she's down here. She's coming through again this summer with her boyfriend, his 2 teenage sons, her own son, and her Labrador puppy and I can honestly say that I really really hope they'll come and stay a day (or more!) with us on their way. If she can give more than 5 minutes notice, that'd be great though :)