Sleepover!

Grammie & Grandad have been getting ripped off in the visiting department ever since hockey season started up again. Sunday night dinners have become just about impossible so we've tried a few workarounds but they miss us coming up and eating their food, making a mess at their house and traumatizing their pets with our dog. Luckily there was no hockey stuff for March Break and the girls had a chance to go for an extended sleepover!

Mum picked them up on Tuesday morning and we just went to pick them up tonight! They went for walks on the trail, had a visit to the library, worked on a stained glass kit, watched movies, read books, played iPod games and there maaaaaaaaaaay have been a few snacks involved... in other words, a GOOD time!

They weren't the least bit anxious to get back or homesick at all!

They had to do a family photo while play The Game of Life! Grammie used her handy dandy iPad to capture this lovely family!

When did hot chocolate become a whole meal? Oh yeah, since Grammie. :)))

Beginning Hockey!

Despite many requests from the coach, we're still at 2 out of 3 for girl players! Sweetie does like carrying their gear though so she gets in on some of the action that way! The schedule is a bit less hectic this year as they're only playing on one team instead of trying to keep up with a mixed team (boys & girls) and a girls' team. They decided to join a girls' team and are enjoying it quite a bit. We tend to have one practice and one game a week and that feels like plenty to us. They are the only ones who aren't also playing on a mixed team so aren't getting as much ice time as the rest but they don't care.

A couple weeks ago, after reading an email from their coach, began the following conversation:

M: uhhh, how do you feel about 6am practices?
K: (smiling sweetly) Well, I feel like they don't affect me at all. and I feel like you better be really quiet when you're leaving :)))

Honey was with me on that one and enraged herself into a yelling fit over the whole idea and Murray didn't want any part of that at 5am and told her to stay home. Lovey hopped right up when the alarm went and headed to practice with no complaints. Apparently there were quite a few grumbling in the dressing room that day! Lovey was happy to a Tim Horton's muffin on the way to school (got there with a couple minutes to spare!) but was pretty tired by bedtime that day!

Their team has had a few games now and seems to be winning more than not and they're enjoying playing with the other girls and their skating has really improved! There are more away games as there aren't enough local teams to play with but so far it hasn't been too bad. Once the snowstorms start, it might be a different story though!

Million Dollar Words

At school, the teachers are encouraging the kids to stay away from "boring" words in their writing. Instead of "she said", use "she exclaimed" etc. So now they  like to play "million dollar words" at home. We all take turns making up random sentences with as many big fancy words in them as possible. We receive  point for every fancy word we use. I usually end up with a bunch of points but then lose them all when  I say or do something they dislike.

The last time we played, they hauled out the scoreboard and had me compete against Ginger, M-somebody, Sweetie & Bunny. I was doing quite well in the game and then suddenly it all went downhill and I lost all my points again. I'm pretty sure it was rigged!  sooooooooooooooooo unfair! ;)))

Lovey signing the guestbook: I ate chips. Happy Canada Day.

my quilt!
Honey's evening beach wear, we should all look so elegant for a sunset stroll!!

Murray trying out his new kite!

Every year one of my aunts invites all 4 generations of my family to her & her husband's cottage for the long weekend. Most years we have too much other stuff going on to make it. This year we did it anyway. They had a pretty full house so we actually slept at Murray's parents' cottage since they're only 9 doors down (I think it's 9 but Rick will let me know for sure right?) It was a fun filled weekend as they always are at just about any cottage! We had Grammie/GG, Auntie Ruth, Uncle Howard, Matthew, Jessica & Madeline, David, Uncle Ralph, Aunt Caroline & Clara, Mum & Dad, Aunt Wendy, Aunt Cathy as well as myself, Murray, the three girls and then there were the dogs, Murphy, Pip, Tory, Jazz & Max.

GG has a pile of leftover flannelette pieces so at least half a dozen quilts, including one for my house, were assembled over the weekend. It's quite a process to pick coordinating colours and patterns of fabric to design a decent looking quilt. Luckily Aunt Caroline has an eye and a flair for this and all I had to do was follow her excellent advice! I make a great gopher :)))

We spent most of Saturday down on the beach and Murray, Sweetie & I all ended up with some sunburns to show for it. The girls were excited to see G again this summer. I saw her come down with her dad & sisters, to head out kayaking. I went over to where my girls were playing and asked if they had seen her yet. Honey popped right up and wanted to go say hi. They all made a beeline for her and the next thing I know, G has abandoned her kayaking to play in the clay with 3 little adoring fans.

At night we went to the other cottage & tucked the girls in and then I ran back for more fun and games. We played cards, Dutch Blitz and Quiddler. Hilarity ensued as various escapades unfolded. These things are never as funny when described later but suffice it to say that we had a lot of laughs!!! GG is such a character, very inventive and sharp for 92 going on 93!!! and whatever you do, keep her away from your chips!!! oh and she cheats but what can you do??? As kids we always played lots of board games, word games etc so it was fun to recapture a bit of my youth (not that I'm overly adultlike the rest of the time....)

The weekend ended with Lovey coming down with the flu so we cut things short and headed home early on Sunday. Honey seemed to come down with a touch of it on the car ride home but it never developed into much. Lovey was still sick this morning but was doing much better by midday!

Easter a la Shirley!

Shirley came for a visit & we were able to convince her to join us for supper too! I made it worth her while with extra desser to take home! I'm not above a little sweet talking & bribery :)
She generously gave the girls some Easter goodies and they were thrilled to find their chocolate sheep in bubble wrap. For once the chocolate was set aside (and temporarily forgotten about!) and they had fun popping bubbles.
They also each received a game. Shirley initially mentioned that she could give me the sales slips if the items weren't right or didn't suit etc. After they made her play everything twice, I think she realized I wouldn't need to be doing any exchanges whatsoever. She was right on the money with these selections. Sweetie is in LOVE with her dominoes, mostly because they came in a hot pink satin box trimmed with matching satin ribbon!
a fairy game is always perfect for little girls and Honey couldn't have been happier with collecting all the right cards and making new "fairy friends".I forget what it said on Lovey's box but it's basically the game of Trouble from when we were kids. I love that you can't lose the dice! and everybody loves popping that bubble thing to roll for your turn! Murray was playing and left the room and they all ganged up on his men and bumped them all! (and found it quite hilarious to send them all home!!)

Thank you for coming to see us and sharing our supper! We enjoyed having you and hope your sweet treat erases all the craziness of the dinner hour! You can just munch away and maybe all that icing will block out the messy parts????? or is that part of our charm???? :))))