Birthday Pool Party

So far behind in pictures and posts!!! Now that we're on summer vacation, I should have more time right? WRONG! Hopefully I'll get back on a routine soon and get caught up! I'm still working on pictures from the workshop in Michigan. Some days I don't even get my camera out because I know that's just another pile of files that will add to my to do list!

The pool party was a big hit, lots of little girls were able to make it and a good time was had by all. It was rather noisy at the beginning as we waited for everyone to arrive so we could do the cake & presents. Once they were occupied with food and watching the gift opening, things moved along well. I gave up trying to watch what each girl opened. They were all ripping and tearing at the same time so it was impossible to catch everything. I just tried to stay on top of keeping the gifts & cards out of the garbage.

Once they'd gotten through the pile, it was time to suit up and hit the water so that worked out perfectly. I stayed in the pool area for awhile, got my shots and then cleaned up the party mess and loaded everything back into the car while they played.  As soon as the guests left, we were ready to roll so I liked that!

 

This year's cake wasn't nearly as fancy but they liked it so that's the main thing and it looks like I can safely retired the castle kit! I was afraid they'd never get tired of that thing! I had the birthday message on the front as I forgot to leave room on the top for that! Then I put one name on each of the remaining sides so it worked out perfectly. I totally meant to do that too. ;)))

School's Out for Summer!

We played some Alice Cooper tonight at supper to celebrate the start of summer vacation!

They were all wild with excitement today for the last day and to meet their new teachers for next year. I love that they get to find out BEFORE summer starts and are already familiar with their new classroom and who their classmates will be etc. Lovey is quite sad that Acorn isn't going to be in her class anymore but Honey gets her so we'll still be in touch! There are only 2 classes next year so Lovey & Sweetie are teaming up and Honey stays on her own which is perfectly fine with her!

They had a great year & really enjoyed Grade 2. They all LOVED their teachers and that tells me that they must have been pretty awesome. We have been so blessed to have wonderful teachers who have really taken the girls under their wing and helped them thrive and love school each year. Would it be too much to hope that this streak continues a few more years???

I picked them up today and delivered gifts to their teachers and they were all sad to say goodbye but at the same time, pretty revved up to start their vacation! Unfortunately we had lots of stops and errands to do on the way home and I "wasted" all of their vacation so far!!!  Hopefully I'm not as inconsiderate tomorrow!!!

Birthday-Round One

On Saturday morning, we told the girls Old Nanny had a surprise for them. Of course they wanted to know what it was but all we told them was that they shouldn't wear a dress/skirt and they needed their rubber boots. Immediate guesses started flying. "Maybe it's tickets to Disney!" (rubber boots mandatory attire in Florida???). I asked if they really thought Old Nanny had bought us 5 tickets to Disney??? wouldn't that be a little expensive??? They looked at me like I was crazy and said "well, not YOU, she's only taking US!!!"

Then they got thinking a little more and thought it might be something involving dirt since they had to wear the pants and boots. "Are we going to bury dead people?!?!??!?!" Happy  birthday kids, here's your shovel!" LMBO

Finally we were at the meeting place and she got out of her car. ANOTHER hint!

At this point they were  highly suspicious that there might be a horse involved but weren't absolutely sure.

We arrived at the farm and confirmed that they were going riding and they were excited to get going. Old Nanny's daughter met us at the gate & took us to meet her horse. Honey was quite intimidated, Lovey plastered herself to his neck and Sweetie just wanted to get started!

Lovey was the most fearless so she went first and loved it from the instant her foot  hit the stirrup! Sweetie waited and waited rather impatiently for her turn to finally come and was up in that seat with no hesitation. Honey watched and kept telling me she wasn't going to take a turn, too scared!!! Finally it was her turn and she was still anxious so Jill offered to ride with her (not wanting a nervous rider on her horse) and then Honey didn't like that idea but Jill wasn't taking any chances. It turned out well because with Jill at the reins, she was able to go faster than when she's walking the horse. After a few trips around, Honey was comfortable so Jill let her ride on her own (but still leading from the ground) and she enjoyed the rest of her ride solo!

After the ride, Old Nanny spoiled us further by taking us to DQ for lunch! Yummm! We had to hurry off as the girls were invited to Tulip's bday party at 1pm and I still had stuff to do to get ready for THEIR party at 6:30.

Thank you Old Nanny for giving our little girls a fabulous birthday party! Every girl really wants a horse and Jill is living the dream!!! Thanks to Jill for sharing hers with us!

 

New Pets!

Since we're running low on animals to attend to and things to do around here, we thought we should pick up a few more! While visiting Tulip's a week or two ago, the girls saw their tadpoles and their interest and enthusiasm were rewarded with a bucket of our very own slimy, stinky, cannibalistic, messy blobs with tails. I initially thought it would be interesting to watch them change. Then I saw how much mess they produce. Ugh. disgusting little creatures! How something that small can have that much output, I have no idea. And how long do these suckers take to turn into frogs anyway???? We've had them since early June and the most excitement I've seen in that tank was when Murray was changing their water and squished one. He thought he might not have killed it so threw it into the tank where it was promptly devoured by its tankmates. IN FRONT OF THE GIRLS. Honey was traumatized. Wailing and screaming ensued. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT TO THEIR FRIEND?!?!??!? oh Daddy!!!! MAKE THEM STOP RIGHT NOW!!!! OH OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! (rinse & repeat until your ears bleed). She wanted to put them back in the pond after that but the others didn't and by the next day she was over it. So they're still here, a little bigger and teeny tiny legs have developed in the back but if you weren't looking closely, you'd just think it was more of the stuff that's usually trailing out of their back ends....

The End is Near!

As another year wraps up there is tonnes going on that I'm just barely keeping up with! Of course leaving the country for a weekend made things a little tricky but was so worth it!!! I got home late Sunday night and had a few days to prep for the girls birthday. Through the week we had the usual assortment of activities and events plus a Sunday School teachers' appreciation dinner at the minister's house, a violin concert (plus extra practice of course!) and then just general catching up from being away.

Lovey did a duet with an older girl and they sounded great of course!

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!

Out & About

Lovey had a birthday party downtown on the weekend so we dropped her off and wandered around exploring and checked out the library for awhile and then picked her up when she was done. We made a stop into a music store and found an awesome present for her birthday. Her sisters helped me pick out a new music stand for her and it's a red pearl metallic colour. How perfect is that?!??!? Can't wait to see her open that! We also picked up supplies to make some of the favours for their loot bags. Countdown to the big party is on!!!

We had the pleasure of a visit from Auntie KK & Uncle Tall Paul this weekend! AKK spent the day with us while UP did dog stuff. Then we met up for supper and went out for Mexican food. The restaurant had changed hands unbeknownst to me and the food wasn't as good or authentic and the service was reallllllllly slow, especially for starving 8 year olds. The manager came over to ask how things were going. Our waitress had told us our food would take 10-15 minutes and it was at the 25min mark when she asked so I commented that it seemed a bit slow. She immediately went to check on things and 10 minutes later our stuff was ready. Thank goodness for activity filled place mats & crayons! They did give us a $50 gift certificate to come back again so I might give it another shot.

By the time we got home it was too late for movie night but we watched a Little House episode instead. LOVE those shows :)))

Murray was in a race while we were running around town and had a great day!  His team placed 6th and came home dirty, happy and with some free beer!