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?

Instrumental Project

Honey & Sweetie were assigned a project last month. They had to invent/design/build a musical instrument. I am not creative with these things and always cringe when these assignments come home. Luckily, they have no such qualms and came up with their own and made them with very little help from Murray or me.

Sweetie used two plastic containers and I glue gunned them back to back. She added the decorations and stapled a piece of balloon around one end and filled the other side with rice and put the cover on. The balloon side was for plucking to create a drumlike sound and the rice side was for shaking.

Honey's was called a FlipStar or en francais une Tournetoile. She taped some small spindles together to create the triangle shape, wrapped tin foil around it and filled it with beads and added the outer starry decor. When you hold handles and turn the instrument, the beads rattle around to create the sound.

Honey

Ski Buddy/Bunny

I managed to talk Sweetie into skiing with me! Everyone else was at hockey so we hit the trails before her gymnastics class and the conditions were excellent! It was some of the best skiing I'd had all winter. You could glide and glide and it was fast going! We had to turn back to get her to her class but after watching her for awhile, I went back out for another 45 minutes and got another good run in!

Sleeover!

Sweetie has been on a kick lately, to improve her behaviour. Her efforts have been consistent and have yielded great results so far! I can see the wheels turning when she gets frustrated and wants to stomp and scream or argue with hers sisters. Her manners are better, her patience is thicker and when we talked about it she said it was hard at first but after awhile she got used to it. She's been extra sweet and helpful and kind and cuddly. Frankly, it's been kindof awesome! Her biggest goal was to be "good enough" so that we'd let her have a sleepover. She had asked a few times and we just put it off. We haven't let them go anywhere for a sleepover yet so if they start having friends to our house,it's going to lead to being invited to their house at some point. We're not ready to let them go sleep with people we barely know! (insert freakish paranoia level here --->)

Finally we couldn't hold out any longer, she'd worked so hard and was going over the top! One night, while tucking her in, Murray said "oh let her have a sleepover already!" She was thrilled and started thinking about who to ask. In the end Boo was the honoured guest!

They played outside for awhile and then came in for hot chocolate and did some other indoor activities. Sweetie came to complain that her sisters who hadn't worked on any self improvement whatsoever, were hogging her sleepover! I put the other two to work on some chores and Sweetie & Boo went to play in her room instead. It didn't go over well but she had a point!

She says she's going to plan her next sleepover to be when her sisters have a hockey tournament away so she doesn't have to share her friend! Triplethood does have its downside!

Chefs in Training

I've been trying to get back in the habit of getting the girls in the kitchen making meals each week. Some evenings just aren't possible due to activity schedules but usually Sweetie and I are on our own each Monday night so she likes to cook on that day. It's a good time as we don't get interrupted and can chat as she gets things ready. Last night she made plum chicken and curry noodles. It's one of Murray's favourites so she was excited to show him when they got home from hockey practice. She remembered part way through the preparations that she didn't actually like the meat but she loves the smell of curry so the noodle part was ok!

Murray was excited and impressed when he got in and let out one of his trademark "whoohoo!" shouts when he saw what she'd made!

I helped her find ingredients but she did all measuring, mixing, pouring and baking while I made a dessert and the salad. They're learning lots and tell me in astonished tones "nobody in my class can make supper!" or "so and so only knows how to make Kraft Dinner!"

It's a slower process but they've gotten so much better and love serving their meal. It's funny to see their annoyed expressions if someone complains about the food!

Trekkers

Murray was about to head out for a walk in the woods with Checkers when I suggested that Sweetie go with him. He gets to spend quite a bit of time with Lovey & Honey at hockey so we try and even it out with some Sweetie time when we get a chance. She's not always keen on outdoor pursuits but she does love having one on one and jumped on this opportunity!

They were gone quite a while and came home with rosy cheeks!

Living up to her name!

Weekly chores are hard to fit in some weeks so whenever I see a window, I usually push them through it! Last night the other two had hockey practice so I suggested that Sweetie cook dinner and get one job in early this week. At first she said yes but then felt the pull of the tv or her iPod or whatever and wasn't as keen. Knowing what's on the docket around here, I explained that there wasn't going to be much free time later on and almost none on the weekend and she might not get them done if she didn't get started. She grudgingly agreed.

Once she got going, she was as happy as a clam! It wasn't even a meal she'd picked but she enjoyed mixing her spices and making the sauce to baste the tenderloin. I was able to wash all the dishes while she worked beside me. She browned the meat, transferred it to the baking dish, spread the basting sauce on, set the oven and put it in to bake, then measured her rice & water and got that into the microwave and snapped her beans while those things cooked. I did help snap the beans once I'd finished the washing up and gave some instruction on parts she wasn't sure of but the rest was all her!

After she'd gone to bed that night, I read the lunch list she'd made for me. (keeping track of who likes what for lunch has proven to be beyond me so if they want a lunch they like, they have to make a list. If they don't, they're not allowed to complain if they get the wrong flavour of yoghurt or I mix up the crackers they like/don't like). Sweetie often writes me little messages on her lunch list and this one was pretty cute!

Mice Will Play!

Last weekend, Honey & Lovey had an out of town game but Sweetie and I stayed behind for her gymnastics lesson and to look after Checkers. But it didn't seem fair that THEY were going out for supper without us so we headed to the hotel (kids eat free! Coupon Kelly strikes again!) and some fish & chips (me) and chicken fingers (her). She gives high marks to the french fries at this place and couldn't even finish her chicken. Strangely enough she had plenty of room for her brownie dessert and didn't feel that I needed to help her at all!

We had a nice time and took Checkers out for a walk when we got back so he was pretty happy too!

iDisaster

If it's not one thing around here, it's another! This morning I was in the shower when Lovey came in to use the washroom. I reminded her not to flush or she'd burn me from lack of cold water. The next thing I know she's shrieking with utmost horror in her voice:

Mummy! MUMMY!!!!!! My iPod is in the TOILET!!!!!!!! MUMMY!!!!!!!!

I peeked out around the curtain and witnessed the disaster firsthand. The whole "don't flush" thing worked to her advantage as the ipod hadn't sunk all the way down and was resting on a pile of toilet paper. It was definitely wet but wasn't quite totally submerged.

Me: Get it OUT!
L: (paralyzed with fear for the iPod coupled with fear of touching toilet water & accompanying substances)
Me: Just grab it! You've got to get it out of there!
L: (stuck, except for the glassy eyed stare swiveling between me and the bowl of human waste)
Me: the longer you leave it, the less chance you have to get it working! (still no action) Get it OUT!!!!!!!!

She is suddenly spurred into action and makes a grab for it (extreme handwashing later!)

I told her to go turn both dials on for the oven and set it on the lowest temperature, I've got soap to get rid of and I race through the rest. (sorry legs, maybe next time!). While I'm doing that Lovey is so panicked and freaked out that she can't remember how to work the oven & screaming like a depraved lunatic does nothing to jog Sweetie's memory either. When I get to the kitchen they've set the temp but not turned the oven on (separate dials). Obviously we've slacked off on the cooking duties too long! We throw it in around 9:45 and begin the fun, time-filler game of "will it, won't it?!?!?". It was a long afternoon for one little girl!

Murray was out at the time of the incident but came home shortly after to monitor the drying out while we went to church and he stayed home with his bad cold.

On the way home from church, Sweetie starts pondering about saving up for a new iPod. She hadn't see hers since last Saturday and despite her "it always turns up" attitude. It hadn't. She wanted to know if we had any jobs she could do to earn extra money. I reminded her that hadn't worked out so well for us last time and she dropped that idea in a hurry!

She then wondered if we'd buy her a new one for Christmas. I told her that would take our entire shopping budget and no one else could get any presents if we did that. The other 2 quickly disabused her of that notion. She then decided it would be ok if we just gave her some cash towars it, like maybe $50. I said I didn't think that would be a fun gift to give.

Then they moved on to fundraising ideas. Hmmmm. They decided it was too cold for a lemonade stand but she still had a gum making kit from some Christmas past. The bonus being that even if she didn't sell any, she'd have lots of gum made up for herself to chew! Lovey was on board and started making signs when we got in the door. Meanwhile, Sweetie is outside playing with the little swing they made out of a stick and some rope hanging off the tree in the front yard (she'll make someone a nice manager someday!)

While she's swinging, she notices something on the platform. IT'S HER iPOD!!! Sitting outdoors for 8 days straight. More screaming ensues as she realizes this is not good, not good at all for an iPod. (check out their handmade swing to the right of the picture)

So now we have a two for one drying station and we wait and we wait. Lovey's was in there for almost 6 hours and Sweetie's was in for about one. To our utter astonishment BOTH turn on and are functioning fine so far.

Here are the two extremely fortunate and incredibly ecstatic girls.

More valuable lessons learned today:

-even though Mum says to never put the iPod near the toilet or sink, it doesn't matter, you can dry it out anyway!

-you don't have to really look hard for anything, you can either track it on "find my iPod" or it'll turn up eventually anyway and even if you leave it in the damp outdoor fall weather for over a week, Dad can fix it for you!

Honey's Cross Country Running Debut

Since Honey has been practicing for the 1K race coming up, I suggested she try the cross country team at school too. I wasn't sure if she would, or if she'd even be interested in it. One day she came home and told me she'd signed up. I said "You did?" She responded "well you told me to!". This instantly made me nervous. This could go either way. If she went and hated it, this was now going to be all on me! Luckily that didn't happen and I can now claim all the glory!

Her school had a meet with several other local schools at a park downtown and it was a mob scene. Kids and parents everywhere! It was hard to tell who was where or what the instructions were or where the course was. It was a pretty small loop so we only saw her take off and then again at the finish. It was divided by gender and grade. She started at the back of the pack but managed to pass quite a bit and was near the middle at the end and came in 35th place which she was really happy with.

I love the smile on her face here, so happy and proud!

and in other news today, Sweetie was working on her "treasure box". She has to bring in a decorated box of things about herself, things that are important to her and present it to the class. She wanted a picture of herself for the top of the box so we took this last night in her room.

She has caught my dreadful cold that wiped me out for 2 days but she's looking good so far! I spent most of yesterday sleeping and am pretty much recovered now. I'm crossing my fingers that Murray doesn't get it. He's got a half marathon coming up this weekend and will NOT be impressed if he gets this!!!

Ear We Go Again!!!

Ugh!!! Ears are our downfall this week! 

First, I took Checkers to the vet as he had really begun shaking his head almost constantly. We thought he might have gotten an ear infection but since they do t do anything or give antibiotics when  the kids get them, we thought it would clear up. The vet looked at me stunned when I asked her if that would have happened. "Are you talking about your kids' ears and your dog's ears...!?!?!?" Ummm uhhhh, no of course not cuz apparently that would be idiotic. (That last part might have been just in my head...)

So once a day we have to hold him, squirt cleaner into his ear canals, massage for a couple minutes to work it in well. Then I have to clean it all back out with cotton balls. Twice a day I need to jam the long nosed bottle of medicated drops down inside each ear and squeeze out 4-5 drops (which I can't actually see coming out and have to guesstimate that I'm applying the right amount of pressure to release), and more massaging. He fights us a bit less if we double team him and the bottles are warmed a bit first so they're not completely cold. 

So that's one situation. 

Next, we went shopping today for earrings. Honey had a $10 coupon for Claire's and Sweetie is able to change her earrings tomorrow but had none to put in. Honey couldn't find 3 pairs she liked so she and Sweetie shared her coupon and the buy 2 get 1 free deal. They decided to spend the extra and get sterling silver so they wouldn't have problems with the cheap metal. Yay! Lovey found some that she liked and everyone was happy. 

Happiness is a tricky thing. It can disappear soooooo fast! Sweetie decided to clean the new earrings so they'd be ready for tomorrow might. Unfortunately, she knocked over the bottle of peroxide which somehow bumped her brand new sparkly turquoise earring and send it....somewhere. We shook out the bath mats, we swept the floor, rumbled around in the drawer by the sink and we removed everything from the counter. Murray used his high power flashlight trying to catch a glimmer...nothing. The last option was the sink. It could have fallen down the drain. Sweetie was extremely upset and the tears were flowing. We examined the drain pipe and it has one of those U bend/trap things that looked like you could take apart! Maybe it was stuck on the little cap! Maybe it is. We'll never know because we couldn't get the thing open despite a few efforts with various wrenchy type things. 

So that was that. No earring retrieved but maybe more caution will be employed in future near open drains! (highly doubtful)

Well then Lovey decided to change her earrings to the new ones purchased today. She came to find me when she felt something hard and lumpy in the hole. "Mummy, I think the back of my earring got stuck inside the hole!"

That didn't sound good, or very likely so I took her to the vanity mirror to investigate. Oh dear heaven, there was something black and chunky in there!!! Holy crap! IS it the piece of metal that somehow got sucked into the hole and wedged there?!??? How would I get THAT out without a handy bout of unconsciousness?!?!? I decided to see if I could pull it out, but there wasn't much to grab onto. Luckily I remembered my tweezers and disinfected those. I almost had a hold of the piece protruding when she noticed I had tools involved and started screaming. We'd now been poking and pulling and disinfecting the spot for awhile and it was sore. I was worried about leaving it in but there was no convincing her to let me try much more. Instead I poured rubbing alcohol on the front and back, cleaned the studs off got them back in and put polysporin on and called it quits for now. We're hoping it is just some dried blood and will keep on disinfecting the site every day and watch it carefully. 

And if anyone (not naming any names... *cough*cough*Nanny) knows how to open that darn trap thing in the bathroom sink drain pipe, give us a call!! Sweetie is pretty sad that her $18.75 earrings are half gone!

Here are a few of the tools of the trade today!

*UPDATE*

Murray didn't give up! He was back at the plumbing tonight and managed to get the cap off the trap! There wasn't anything in there unfortunately. In a last ditch effort, he unbent a coat hanger and put it down the drain to see if it might have gotten stuck on the way down but no luck there either.

Except for some bad luck. The jiggling from the coat hanger caused the pipe to snap, although upon closer inspection, it looked like a section had already weakened and rusted away prior to tonight's activities.

But, all is not lost! Actually, all is found! He happened to look in the drawer beside the sink (previously inspected to no avail) and spied something glittering in the beam of his headlamp! Sweetie will be so thrilled that he found her expensive earring! We are not nearly as excited about the $200 plumbing bill. Nanny, cancel the trap order, can you come install a new pipe instead???

But all is not lost! Actually all is FOUND! He happened to look in the (previously briefly inspected to no avail) drawer beside the sink and spied something glittering in the beam of his headlamp! Sweetie will be so thrilled that he found her expensive earring. We are not nearly as enthused about the $200 impending plumbing bill. Nanny, please cancel the request for a trap opening and update us to "pipe replacement"???

On a brighter note, Honey had a lovely day, got some new earrings which she did not lose and found a great book to read in the latest pile from Grammie.

My highlight of the day was being able to dig some of that gunk out of Lovey's earring hole before bed tonight. The cleaning, disinfecting and polysporining seems to be working.

Must go look up that plumber's number...

Long Awaited!

Finally! I think Sweetie was the first one to start asking about getting ears pierced so it was surprising that she was the last one to get it done! Although, with her tendency to worry about everything to the extreme, I guess it's not totally shocking. For several weeks after the other 2 got theirs done, she really didn't say much. Then came the day they could change their earrings. Then she started telling me she thought she was ready to go back and wanted to know when I could take her. I told her we weren't going until she was POSITIVE she was ready. By the end of the day she was pretty sure and the next day she said she wanted to go do it, but she wanted it to be a surprise. I had taken the other two shopping while she was at gymnastics the day before so we just told them it was her turn to go. They immediately pounced on her though, asking if she was going to get her ears done. We deflected and evaded but they were suspicious. Earlier that day at camp, Sweetie had told Boo that she was planning to go, and Tulip overheard but they told her it was a secret. Tulip has a hard time with secrets! She told the other 2 while she was over for a swim while we were gone.

Anyway, we got to the mall and headed back to Claire's. There was a young guy working who told me they didn't have any consent forms left. Luckily I had the old one from when she balked, still in my purse. Unluckily, I'd already signed and dated it and they wouldn't accept any initialed changes (wow, they're more stringent than the bank I used to work for!!!). After we left, Sweetie said she was glad we couldn't go there because she was nervous about a boy doing her ears! We found an esthetics store that could do them for her so all was not lost.

She didn't take long picking out the earrings she wanted and then took her seat. I love her face as the first ear was getting pierced! She was really bracing herself! As soon as that was in, she smiled in amazement, and exclaimed happily "that was NOTHING!!!" She still held her breath for the second one just in case though LOL

The clerk noticed she'd put in the wrong stud though and out of the side of her mouth, to me, said "I'll give you 10% off"  and then explained to Sweetie what happened and talked up how pretty the wrong one was. The only choice was to take it out and make a new hole so we went with the pretty mistake instead (and the discount of course haha!)

She's really happy to have her new earrings and practically skipped back to the car, excited to tell her sisters her big news! (see what's coming here???) So we got home and found out they already knew and she was NOT happy and sooooo upset with Tulip for telling and burst into tears of disappointment and anger, demanding to know WHY Tulip told them. Tulip turned on the tears also and said she was sorry but Sweetie was too upset to listen. I walked Tulip home and she cried a bit more and said she doesn't like it when people tell her secrets because she knows she can't keep them! By the time I got back everything had settled down and they were getting ready for stories.|

She's been happily showing everyone her new look all week! (and will be excited to show her grandparents also, so you did NOT hear this from me!!!)

Extreme Room Makeover!

A few weeks ago, Sweetie asked me, "Mum, you know how some people have those bedrooms where, you know, everything... matches and looks neat????" with a bit of a wistful note in her voice. I said that I knew what she meant and asked if she'd like a room like that. Here eyes lit up and she responded "COULD I???" So I said we'd try and do it sometime when things calmed down. Her room is pretty small and used to be my scrapbook room that I'd painted a nice sunny yellow years before she was born. We painted and decorated one room to be the nursery when they were born and when she ended up in the other room, it never got any decoration whatsoever. I figured she was due to get a fresh look!

She showed me some colours she liked and as I was doing Christmas shopping I kept an eye out for bedding in that hue. I couldn't find anything quite right in the stores. Finally we went online and browsed there instead and found one she LOVED. Then I hunted around and scrounged up a 20% off coupon and headed out to shop!

We got the bedding set and then went to the paint store and got some paint to match and told her I'd start working on it "sometime when I had free time". :)

Then Grammie & Grandad conveniently arranged a 2 night stay for the girls at their place and once they were off, I set to work tearing down the shelving and pollyfilla-ing. Murray dragged out all the mattresses. A couple years ago she jumped on her bed (despite repeated warnings!) one too many times! The bedframe cracked and she had been sleeping on her mattress & bedspring, plus the mattress and bedspring from the spare bedroom from the downstairs flooded out spare bedroom, a la princess and the pea ever since. While I took the room apart, Murray repaired the bed frame for her. I got the room prepped and ready to start the next day!

The next morning I headed out in search of some accents for the room and hit the jackpot at Walmart of all places! They had exactly the touches I wanted to add and getting everything in one spot was pretty convenient!

I finally got home, slammed down a fruit smoothie for lunch because it was fast and got to work on the cutting in and trimming around the room. It took for-freaking-ever. I haaaaaaaaaaate painting. I'm messy and spilly!!! I don't have a steady hand and there were mistakes everywhere, aaaaaarghhhh!!! I was up til 2am getting the last of the painting done. I woke up the next morning, knowing I only had a few hours til Mum brought the kids back. There were a lot of spots to touch up and the room still had to be reassembled, some trim painted and accents put up!!! It was a whirlwind morning and I was nailing the last piece of trim back on as Mum's car pulled in the driveway.

The night before, Murray asked if I would be disappointed if she didn't like it. My heart sunk! I hadn't even considered that possibility! I'd killed myself all weekend, picking out all the perfect little touches, back breaking labour that I detest..... HOW could she NOT like it???? Yet, I knew suddenly, it was all too possible! This was the girl who disliked pants on sight because she could tell at a glance that they'd be too "rimbly"!!! She MIGHT NOT LIKE what I'd picked or how I'd arranged it!!!! It was too late though, I was already committed by the time he asked and I just had to hope for the best. It certainly didn't look worse than when I'd started so I decided it would just have to do. She had no idea I was doing it while she was gone so it could be a rude awakening...

Here's the before:

 and after!

 and her first look at the room, shocked! (shocked good? or shocked horrified?!?!??)

 annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd YES! It's shocked GOOD!!! Yay Mumma!

She's been in it a week and it still looks neat as a pin! She's been sorting through all the things we took out and discarding lots of things and sorting and organizing what she wants to keep. She doesn't want it getting junked up and has been diligent with it for 7 days straight, which I'm pretty sure is a record!

Before embarking on this mission of gargantuan proportions, I'd talked to Lovey & Honey about their room and whether they still liked their teddy bear & baby block border. They were quite adamant that they didn't want ANYTHING changed. I'd suspected as much. Those two don't like changing their sheets! I replaced Lovey's blankets once and it took a week of bedtime crying before she adjusted to the drastic change! Within 5 minutes of seeing Sweetie's room makeover, both of them did a 180 and are now in the process of fighting over colours and themes. After listening to the bickering for half an hour, I forbid any further vocal discussion and said all future negotiations must be done via text through their iPods so I didn't have to listen to it. So far Lovey is campaigning for some red but Honey's holding out for all purple and until Lovey agrees, she's refusing to part with the teddy bears on the walls. There's no way to work on it while they're around anyway so until someone kidnaps my children again, it's a moot point for now.  :)

Practice Practice Practice!

I've been wanting to get the hang of a lighting technique that comes in handy whenever the sun is not aligning with my schedule! Photographing in full sun is nooooo good! But if you can put your subjects with their backs to the sun and use some extra lighting so their faces aren't in shadow, you're set for almost any time of day! Sounds great right? Yep, in theory!

When I went to Seattle a couple of years ago, my (then) new friend Missy gave me a quick demo that was so clear and made sense at the time. Set your camera for the lighting in your background, use your trigger to fire your flash in your foreground and voila you've got the best of both worlds and everything looks great. Well Missy's unfortunately much too far away to practice this with me! So I brought my stuff to the cottage and went out to play.  I got so many random results, realized my batteries were dying and got some fresh ones. I still wasn't getting consistent results but did eventually manage to get some blue skies and subjects that were visible! So here are my short term models who cooperated with posing for all of 2 minutes. Why would you need longer than that right??? Fortunately, Sarah the stuffed bunny was much more patient after these 2 ran off on me!

Fancy

Sweetie loves to dress up when we're going out so she dug out her new fave dress (fashion by URAC aka Uncle Ralph Aunt Caroline!!!) and her jewels and fancy shoes for the restaurant trip. I'm pretty sure she wsa the best dressed one there!