Say it isn't so!

Unbelievably, it snowed again! in mid April!?!?!??!? This is getting to be ridiculous. I'm so ready to be done with the stinky holey winter boots that are cluttering up the entryway! Bring on the light coats and rubber boots I say! But no one listens to me!

So we make our own fun by having special guests! We lured Shirley into our lair with the promise of homemade Belgian waffles and she took us up on it. But not before she ran home to pick up the Easter presents she had for the girls. I swear we don't invite you just to get gifts Shirley!!! They were much appreciated and enjoyed though. The earrings have been a huge hit! and they never tire of chocolate ( and we don't tire of helping them with it muahahaha!!!)

After lunch we took Checkers for a walk only to be hit with this blizzard! Having special company took the sting out of the nasty weather and we enjoyed the visit!

Shirley Time!

We hadn't had Shirley over for dinner in a long time and now that it gets dark early, we decided to take dinner to her for a change. We arrived with chicken pot pie and a cheesecake and were in business! She had her table all laid out for us and we ate without any carnage or chaos. I'm always worried about her carpeted dining room! It always feels so risky! We managed to leave it unscathed yet again and Checkers refrained from adding anything to the decor in other areas of the house this time so that was nice of him!

The girls found Shirley's Russian nesting dolls and played with those enthusiastically for awhile. Several were named and various scenarios were acted out while we were there.

It was a great visit and it's such a nice change from dining at home (except for all that carpet stress of course!)

As we were leaving Murray took Checkers out to the car. Unfortunately he was holding the leash in his hand that's attached to the broken arm when the dog decided to bolt for the car. The jerk on Murray's arm had him gasping in pain. I was afraid it had re-broken but after a minute the pain subsided enough to head home.

Since I remember what a pain it was to cook for myself when I lived alone, I always try to make a meal big enough so we can leave Shirley an extra portion for her lunch or supper the next day. This time we had enough for her lunch and Murray's lunch too! Chicken pot pie for everyone, hooray! We packed the leftovers into the back of the car but when we got home, this is what I found. Checkers had no comment as to the whereabouts of the extra serving...

Happy 9th Birthday Girlies!

After all the anticipation, THE day finally arrived! Lovey had asked me a couple weeks prior: "Mom? do you think this year we could take cupcakes to school on our birthday like the other kids???"

A simple question but man, I wasn't looking for any more jobs that week!!! But on the other hand, it's not their fault they're triplets, if it was one kid, I'd totally send cupcakes on their birthday. I'm always trying to avoid any "injustices" of being a multiple sooooooo one late night of baking & icing won't kill me. Plus, as long as I do it once, they can't say they "never" got to do it right?

So after the pizza supper, prom visit, ear piercing, DQ treats and bedtime shenanigans, I fired up the oven and cranked out 4 dozen cupcakes, let them cool, got them frosted and packed up and went to bed. Since it had been a late evening after the mall trip, I let them sleep in and drove them to school so I could deliver the cupcakes unscathed (48 cupcakes on a bus=disaster). 

The kids got home from school and Grammie & Grandad were here to kick off the celebrations! Shirley was also able to make it to the birthday dinner so we had a quiet meal! Or as quiet as it gets in this place anyway! We had lots of favourites for supper, herb & tomato grilled chicken, Caesar salad, TGIFriday's Potato Skins, potato salad and everyone ate their fill. It was hard work getting that cake in afterwards but we did it!

Present time came up next and they were thrilled with all the gifts! Since we'd just put in the pool, we didn't add much to the pile and kept it simple. Between the grandparents and friends from the birthday party, there were still plenty of gifts around here! They're well loved!!! However, once a year for their birthday, I get them junky cereal and wrap it up. Needless to say it doesn't last long!

Greetings Churchling!

Our team was on the job again this week, chasing folks down, dragging them in from the street, parking lot, sidewalk or where they were spotted. Luckily most of them were actually headed into church anyway and that one lady that wasn't..... well she'll recover from the shock I'm sure! (kidding, no innocent passersby were harmed or traumatized Sunday morning!)

I'm not sure if there are points for this kind of thing, but I'm pretty sure we're in the lead for "most enthusiastic greeters". When they first hear that it's our turn at the door, there are grumbles and moans. Why? I have no idea. After they've been in the vestibule for about 30 seconds they start edging out to the doorway, onto the front step, down the walkway, jostling for position, trying to beat out the other 3 to get THEIR bulletin into the hands of the people coming in. Most people felt they were sufficiently greeted before they ever even hit the front steps!

They are especially welcoming of their favourite people!!! Shirley got extra special attention up on arrival this week! Their affection must have been obvious because another man walking in asked "those are Shirley's granddaughters are they?" I just smiled and said "well, pretty much. They're Shirley's girls for sure!"

Productivity!

The kids are still enjoying working on their science kits and checking on their "grow your own crystals' kit. (no crystals yet but they're still hopeful but no longer checking every 20 minutes)

We went to see a play by a lunchbag theatre group. A fun Christmas present from our wonderful friend Shirley! The kids were quite excited to head to the theatre and we got to our seats and settled in for the show. The story was part traditional with a a few improv twists. They were fervently hoping that Murray would get pulled up on stage to play one of the parts but to his relief and their utter disappointment, he was spared. It had lots of silly parts that kept them entertained and amused and also had lots of audience participation but I noticed the girls weren't as in to that part this year. *sigh* They're getting older and not as willing to be goofy in public. After awhile they loosened up and did some of the stuff when we were cued for it but Honey was fairly reserved! LOL

When we got home, Honey whipped up a couple batches of candy from her Sour Science kit and gave us all samples. Then she & Sweetie helped Murray cut up apples for a big batch of apple sauce, yummmm! and good to have because I didn't get groceries this week and we're running out of fruit options!

After supper Grammie dropped in and visited for awhile on her way home from Boxing Day sale shopping. I thought all the busy-ness and activity of the day would have worn them out but they didn't settle down to sleep until after 10pm!!! This vacation schedule drives me nuts! Then they're sleepy in the morning and sleep til 8:30, then 9 the next day and then yesterday it was 9:30 before the last one rolled out of bed!!!!

Today I woke them up at 7:30, trying to rein in this runaway train of partying all night cuz I'm NOT cool with that!!! We were busy, got outside for a couple of hours for skating, played and ran around the house for a long while. We put them in bed at 8:30 but Sweetie was still awake at 10pm again!!! Gotta get them back on track before school starts again but we have some time. 

Let the Parties Begin!!!

We had a birthday dinner with some of family for the girls to celebrate turning 7! Lots of hype & excitement leading up to this event :))) I'm not sure how many hours were involved in this year's cake, probably better if I don't add them all up, but 4-5 on assembly alone! I had pre-made all the little wrapped candies, gumdrops & lollipops on top. All that remained on the day of the party was to put the fondant on the cakes and make the twisty candy cane ropes and then stick on all the bits.

It didn't leave much time to clean the house, do a grocery run and shower & change in time for dinner! I made it though, but just barely!

The girls were very excited to get off the bus & see the cake! They had already seen the parts I had made before. I was talking to Honey about them one night.

Me: I wish my lollipops had turned out better.

Honey: I think they're awesome Mum!

Me: but the picture looks so much better....

Honey: that's ok, nothing hardly ever looks like the picture anyways.

Ain't that the truth???? Words of wisdom from my brand new 7 yr old :)))

They were thrilled with the finished product and didn't see any of the flaws but I hid the picture just in case :)
Lots of family were able to join us for dinner and we had a feast of chicken & noodles. Even Lovey ate her fill. I'd been planning a bbq and then Honey suggested this meal instead because she knew Lovey could eat it and everyone would be able to enjoy supper. Lovey enjoyed it SO much that she came in to eat again when Uncle Dale got here after he got off work! Sweetie had 4-5 plates herself. This is one of the few meals that they ask for seconds of.

After we cleaned up, (thanks Mumma!) it was time to go down and start opening presents in the nice cool basement. They did pretty well and even remembered to read most of their cards.

We love having our grandparents visit for special events and were delighted that Shirley was able to come to the party too! Honey phoned her up to invite her and suggest that she stay afterwards for the bonfire because it was going to be "a blast!!!" So she did!
During the "blast" of a bonfire, the girls had some sparklers and Honey touched the hot end after it went out and got a little burn on her finger. Can't have a festive event without some tears and drama. After convincing her that staying inside for the rest of her life really wouldn't be much fun, she came back to the bonfire.

After bedtime, Sweetie saw me in the hallway & waved me in to talk. I went in to see what she wanted and she leaned in and whispered:

Sweetie: Mum, I don't mean to be mean.... buuut you said if I be'd good, I could have the Tangled Barbie for my birthday! well, I didn't get it!!! So I be'd good for NOTHING!!!!

Me: but your birthday isn't actually til tomorrow so just wait and see!!

Project Manager!

Murray's taken on a new role around here! "Project Manager" The girls each have to do a project on an animal they wanted to learn more about. Honey chose the snowy owl (in honour of Harry Potter books) , Lovey's working on panthers and Sweetie's into leopards.

I started working on it with them and ended up with 2 out of 3 in hysterics, screaming, crying, the whole 9 yards. Honey gets so frustrated when she doesn't think she can get her work done and freaks out. Lovey gets so frustrated when you don't understand the idea she has in her head but can't express. Sweetie sat down and drew her pictures and now has 5 pages of data and illustrations but thinks she can probably add a couple more before it's due on Friday.

Seeing the chaos around me, Murray has stepped up! We let Lovey work out her tears and finally she was able to explain herself. She got worked into a state because she was telling me she wanted lines like Sweetie had on her page. The only lines I'd added were to Honey's page to divide it into 4 sections so she could make notes on different things about the animals. I tried this on Lovey's page. NOPE! I asked her to show me what she meant but all I got were tears and screams. She just kept repeating that she wanted lines, and it was all very clear to her! Finally, she was able to explain that she wanted me to make the ruled looseleaf look like the double lined pages they use at school for printing. (which Sweetie did NOT have on her page at all!!!!!!!!!!!!) Once that was sorted out, I set her up with the iPad to read about her animal, explaining that she should just jot down a list of the facts she found and write the info on her project after. I went to get pictures of the other 2 working on their projects. Then it was getting late so we all went back upstairs for stories. Murray checks on Lovey and then looks at me and asks "You're justletting her copy from the website????" I thought I'd done pretty well not to throttle the kid in the midst of the wild tantrum!!!!

We put the projects away & got out Anne of Green Gables. They are LOVING this book! I wasn't sure if some of the words might be too complicated for them as the vocabulary is pretty advanced for us sometimes! This doesn't seem to deter them at all, they're eating it up! Murray reads while we work on our cuticles, moisturize and clean our nails. It's one of the rare times of day that everyone is sitting still! They're very intrigued by the whole Anne vs. Gilbert angle and anxious to see where that goes! They love her imagination and the predicaments she gets into! It's very entertaining to read it again & get their take on things!

Oh and guess who came down with an ear infection yesterday? this might explain a small portion of her behaviour but I can't honestly say it's out of the ordinary, even when she's well!

Dinner Guest!

Last week we invited Shirley to join us for Valentine's but the weather didn't allow for easy travel so we postponed it. She missed out on the scallops but scored some meatballs instead. She had to fight Lovey & Honey for themthough! Those two can't get enough of that meal. It's still really odd to see them gung ho for a meat dish but hey, strike while the iron's hot right?

Shirley had read here that the girls were enjoying the 1st book in the Harry Potter series and brought them the 2nd one in the series! We were all thrilled to have the next one lined up as the first was almost finished. They chattered happily all through dinner, telling her all about the story. After dinner they dragged her right to the living room so they could have story time with her and give her the Harry Potter experience! It's funny to see them all piled up in the rocker like that. This was the norm when Shirley came each Thursday but the 4 of them fit in there a little easier back then!
We did finish off the Philosopher's Stone and are now into the Chamber of Secrets so we'll have to bring you book #1 so you get more than the haphazard Cliff notes version at the dinner table Shirley! Thank you for coming, we're glad to have you!!!

Whew! Redeemed Ourselves!!

Well, as much as we could anyway! I insisted Shirley come back for another meal and luckily she was still speaking to us and agreed. She was here Tuesday night, trying to convince us that she'd already had a real meal but we weren't buying it! No one in their right mind reheats a dinner in the microwave and considers that a proper job of hostessing! "oh good! you're here for dinner! I've been saving a choice selection of unwanted portions from our meals this week for you to choose from, come on in and take your pick of our dinner rejects!!!! It's the latest in entertaining fads! You're the first to try it, tell all your friends!!!!"

Thank you Shirley for being so gracious about my latest social blunder and humouring us by coming back! We hope you enjoyed our instant replay of dinner invitations.

For the record, we had classy chicken with oven baked potatoes, some fresh cantaloupe and a Toblerone caramel cheesecake for dessert AND sent her home with a doggie bag! (it's totally OK to reheat leftovers the day AFTER being invited to dinner)

The Dinner of Shame!

Now I know we all make mistakes. Oversights happen, things get misplaced etc. I think (and I hope!) I had the WORST case of forgetfulness EVER yesterday. Have you ever had that dream where you are at school and it's the day of the big exam and you completely forgot to study for it? The panic that hits is overwhelming, the fear of failure is immense. So that's how I felt when the front door opened last night at 5pm and in walked our invited dinner guest, Shirley. We'd been so caught up in our fire fest that the fact that I'd phoned Shirley up last week and invited her for supper, marked it on the calendar, included it in the week's menu planning and bought the groceries for the meal, inexplicably and unforgivably slipped my mind.

It was the most horrendous feeling of shame! Not only had I not prepared a thing, I had NOTHING I could make a meal out of on such short notice. All meat was frozen, no casseroles were on hand to microwave and NO dessert baked. I ALWAYS have a good dessert when someone's coming over. The kids were greeting her and chatting as I raced back and forth in full panic mode, freezer, pantry, fridge.... I'd already started re-heating plates of leftovers for the kids & Murray & myself. There was NOTHING I could do to pretty this up. I did find some meatballs in the freezer. I dumped those in a pot, threw some bottled sauce on them & slammed them into the microwave. Then I threw some butter in another pot & melted that on the stove and made the world's fastest batch of chocolate sauce. So I had 2 plates of corned beef and cabbage (Murray & Shirley), 2 plates of pork stir fry (Honey & Lovey) and slowly defrosting & reheating meatballs and some leftover rice from the stir fry for me. Sweetie wasn't interested in any of the meals until the end when all the pork was gone.

God love Shirley. She didn't bat an eye or question why the heck I was serving 3 different REHEATED meals for supper. All perfectly normal right? omigosh. The extent of humiliation was incredible. I sat down and came out with "uh, we're just sort of having an assortment tonight!" and left it at that for fear she'd run away if she found out what I'd done! During the frantic rummaging, I'd noticed I still had some whip cream left from the Angel Lush Pineapple Cake the other day (expired angel food cake had to be used right away so I couldn't save it for Thursday's supper). There were also some bananas on the counter and maraschino cherries in the fridge! We weren't having "nothing" for dessert, I was serving banana splits! That HAD to be planned right? No one just pulls that out of thin air!

At the end of the meal I fessed up and told her this wasn't really her dinner and promised a repeat invite with an upgraded menu! She was a trooper and said she had no idea and thought I must have been cooking all day to have so many options for the meal!

After dinner Lovey played for her and she gave the kids advent calendars that have messages behind the daily window. They're excited to check them out and get started on December 1!

Sweet Shirley :)))

Shirley was away when the girls had their birthday so she wasn't able to make it to the family party. Instead she dropped in to visit the other day and brought a few special items :)))

The girls were very anxious for her to arrive. I'd gotten them to do some cleanup so there would be actual space to sit in the living room. During that bout of harsh child labour, Sweetie exclaimed "I wish we had a housekeeper!!!!!!!!" When I asked her why, she responded "So I'd never have to pick up stuff!" Yeah, you and me both baby.

New dress the doll books, cool! Lots of goodies to play with and we watched the new movie on a recent car trip. As soon as it was over, Lovey wanted to start it and watch it again so it was a hit!

The best part of this visit was that we were actually able to do something for Shirley for a change. Now in the grand scheme of things, we'll never never never be able to repay the kindnesses shown to us from any of our baby days volunteers but on the odd occasion that we're able to give them a hand with something, it sure feels good! Shirley had upgraded her home internet service and needed some drivers (or some fandangled thing) updated. She'd spent many hours on the phone with tech support all to no avail. She left her laptop with us and Murray got stuff downloaded, took it back over to her house, got the tech people on the phone and got everything in working order. I tried to do some of it while she was there but we ran out of time and expertise :S and thought we'd better wait for Murray to get home.

Thank you Shirley, for everything you've done and given and shared and thank you especially for letting us help you in this small way.