New Cousins!

This year at the cottage, we rounded up some extra cousins for the girls to play with! Murray's cousin brought his family to visit and it was SO MUCH FUN! Their daughter Kia was just a bit younger than our girls and they all played with her and she fit right in perfectly. Their son was almost the same age as Mr Bojangles so there was some boys to offset the girl craziness in there. For the most part all 6 of them ran as a pack, sortof like a louder, gigglier version of doing the Locomotion. They kept themselves entertained and there was always somebody to do something with. Their crew runs a pretty tight ship though and we were left in the dust every time at the "Getting Ready to Go Anywhere Olympics". We would plan an activity and I was still saying "ok, girls, get..." and bam. Those other 2 kids had bathing suits on, sunscreen slathered and towels & beach toys ready and were left waiting another 45 minutes while we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off and a lot of "Why haven't you turned your iPod off yet?" "Why is your bathing suit on the floor instead of on you???!?!??"  So embarrassing when it becomes blatantly obvious that we have no clue what we're doing as parents!!!

Despite our dilly dallying, they still hung out with us and we had one of our best visits that week I think. Happy, busy kids makes a world of difference! We swam, got them converted to our "eat meal, have fruit, get dessert" brainwashing, played Pictionary, had meals outdoors, jumped off the wharf and just enjoyed the great weather and wonderful company!

Paddleboard Adventures

 Grampy got a new toy for the cottage, a standup paddleboard! We've had it out a few times this summer and although I can NOT manage to stay upright on it, others have had more success. Apparently a good centre of balance is key. The trainer at the gym shakes her head in dismay and mumbles to herself as I tip over during some balance move or other "I just don't get it! I have worked on this with you for years...." She doesn't realize I HAVE improved. I never even used to be able to get into a balance move to tip OUT of!

I think Lovey had better luck after she got used to it but the other 2 seemed to get the hang of it faster than we did! I don't think I managed to stay upright more than 2 or maybe 5 seconds. Lovey did better than that so I'm the paddleboard challenged one in the family!

Music Camp

There's a church around the corner that has great camps every summer. They're just in the morning and have lots of great themes. There's a craft week, a science week, VBS week, music week and a few others. We can't make it to them all but we hit several and they have a great time there. It gets the morning in and we still have the rest of the day free for visiting, chores, pool or whatever.

This was the first year they were home during music camp week and they loved it! Honey had a lead role in the play and worked so hard all week learning her lines. I couldn't believe how big her speaking part was! She's not normally one to be centre stage so I wasn't sure how this would pan out! She was a little nervous and spoke a bit quietly but the microphone picked up all her dialogue and she did great! She was so cute in her royal finery and you could tell she was having fun!

Lovey couldn't have been cast in a more perfect role. She was HILARIOUS! She got to be a musclebound guy who parades around showing off his physique and flexing for the crowd. As soon as I heard what her character had to do, I knew she'd be awesome and I was right. She owned that stage (so says the proud momma!) and the audience ate her right up!

Sweetie was most comfortable in the chorus and learned all the songs and also worked on the fabulous decorations during the week. The songs all had actions and she had it all down pat and looked great doing it. Every day she came home telling us of all the fun stuff they'd done that day to get ready for the show.

Grammie had to be away but Grandad made it for the big show and said it was well worth the trip!  We thoroughly enjoyed it ourselves. The youth director and her crew deserve a huge pat on the back for pulling this all together in 5 mornings!

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!!!)

Party at Old Nanny's!

Since we inconveniently had their birthday fall on Bridge night, Old Nanny couldn't make it to the party. I think my mother was more disappointed than the kids as she loves seeing Old Nanny's party attire!

Old Nanny threw her own party at her place the next day instead and served up lunch and dessert that I thought was great but some people had a hard time getting down. Surprisingly, it was Lovey who ate the most of the mini beef buns and asked for one to take for her lunch at school the next day! Regardless of what's served, it's done with style and they love sitting at her lunch counter!

A snocone maker is awesome to have in this hot weather! Mmmmm! Sweet, flavourful ice to beat the summer heat! Thank you for all the spoiling Old Nanny! (oh and the free babysitting so I could run to pick up fish for our supper was a nice bonus too! not sure who's more spoiled, me or those girls!!!)

Grade 3 Finale!

Last bus pick up of Grade 3!

 

The girls had a great year and finished strong. We were so pleased and proud of their glowing report cards. Lovey & Sweetie's teacher said it was an honour to have both of them and the only thing that could have been better would have been to have all 3 in her class. Honey's teacher took a leave for the last couple months of school as part of a pre retirement option so she had Miss A as a supply teacher for the remainder. Their class had a pj party for the last day so that's why she has the wild pants. Acorn wanted in for the photo op!

Once we said our goodbyes & gave the teachers their gifts (homemade chocolate sauce & Chapters money) we headed out for a FroYo lunch. Yep. I totally did. It's dairy & they put some fruit sooooo 2 food groups covered and everybody was full. It's all good :) Actually it was more than good, it was awesomely tasty. For realz. After "lunch" we dropped Acorn off and went to load up on books & join the summer reading program at the library. Honey plans to read 55 & Lovey estimated 40 I think. Being read to counts as 1 and every 15 minutes or 5 chapters also counts. They're well on their way so we'll see how it goes. Actually recording the reading is probably going to be more of a challenge than doing the reading! Sweetie abstained from participating in this so she can read without all the pressure!

After supper, Honey & I headed back downtown to check out the culturefest and got some henna tattoos! A great end to a great kick off to summer vacay!

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!