My Little Chef

Sweetie decided she'd like to help me make supper last night & we were having the chicken dinner that I'd planned for Andrew. (Their game schedule threw off that plan, sorry Andrew!)


First, she peeled all of the carrots for me & that went pretty well. Then she wanted another job so I let her have a go at peeling the potatoes. She was very keen & very serious about it. She worked away at the pile and got them all done. perfectly. I did not help her with any or do any peeling whatsoever. I couldn't believe how thorough she'd been!



I told her how impressed I was and she got her sheepish little "tell me more" grin so I kept up the praise. She said "are you astonished Mumma?" LOL yes, I was pretty astonished. Her father's first attempt at peeling potatoes at the age of 28 or 30 wasn't half this good! ;)



About halfway through the potato peeling, she decided she's going to be a chef when she grows up. From now on, I'm to call her every night when I'm getting dinner so she can help me and practice being a chef so she'll be ready when she goes to school for this later.



Once she finished the potatoes, she snapped most of the beans for dinner and while I was checking into Lovey's "pwobwem solving" from that same day (see previous post), Sweetie moved on to another job. When I came back upstairs, she'd gotten a chair, filled up the sink, donned my gloves and started washing the dishes. Apparently chefs don't need practice in this department because she soon got distracted and was filling up the gloves with water, spilling it on the counter & floor etc. I graciously excused her from further duties and thanked her for all the help getting the vegetables done. She was so proud & pleased to tell her father when he got home.

Today she remembered her training plans and came to do more work tonight but it was a cheater night with a cassserole from Nicolle's freezer (yay Nicolle!!!!!!!!!) so there was nothing to do. She made sure I knew she still needed to practice every night though and to make sure I called her tomorrow's meal preparation.

Honey's feeling better & went to school today (stayed home yesterday). She was fairly miserable this afternoon though, cranky about everything, screaming and yelling fits and going around picking fights. She didn't last much past supper time and hopefully a good night's sleep will fix the attitude issues!

The church is having a dessert auction tomorrow night so I baked another cupcake cake and decorated that today and also got some chocolate cheesecake muffins made for the bake table at the clothing sale. Nice to have that out of the way, now to organize all the outgrown clothes & get those all priced & ready to go. So much to do, so little time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It finally happened.

*sigh* this is not a tragedy. it happens to just about everybody. this is not a big deal. it was bound to happen sooner or later. there are bigger problems in the world. it could be so much worse. it's only temporary.

Ok, having said all that I'm just crushed! Lovey was upset about her bangs being all cockadoodie today and was working herself into a rage when they wouldn't lay down properly. She insisted on the black comb and started wetting it & working on the bangs. They weren't quite complying with her demands & I could hear the beginnings of a big screaming fit starting so I left her to do that and went upstairs.

A little while later, she came & found me and said "Mumma! I fixed the pwobwem!" Keeping a smile on my face was pretty darn difficult. The urge to cry and or laugh was almost overpowering. She was obviously so pleased at having taken care of the issue that I didn't dare tell her any different.

Lovey: "Do you like my haircut Mumma????" (yikes! how do I get around this one without lying!?!?!?!)

Me: you are a beautiful girl! your haircut is very different, I think it's going to take awhile for me to get used to it (whew! dodged another one!)

and she didn't just get the bangs. oh no. she's thorough with her problem solving skills. hacked a little off the top there, took a chunk out of her little ponytail and plenty off the sides. Murray is somewhat impressed at the mullet she's given herself.

Her sisters had no qualms about giving it to her straight.
"Your hair is BAD!" " I don't like it" etc but she didn't seem upset with their comments.

They were upstairs quietly playing dress up with some new clothes that Shooter Shelley gave me that her daughter had outgrown while Lovey Scissorhands was at work downstairs.

I'm not sure how long Lovey's going to like her new haircut. I'm curious to hear what happens when we get to school tomorrow, or even when I'm trying to do her hair in the morning. She's already mentioned something about wanting it to grow back.

Weekend? What? It's OVER??????/

I can't believe Monday's on the horizon again already! Time flies when you're having fun right?

I got to spend lots of time hanging out with Mr. Bojangles so that's fine by me. He's so darn cute! Although it's not really all that long ago, I can't seem to remember many specifics from when the girls were that age. What were they doing, eating, playing at 18 mths???? No clue. Seriously. I'd have to scroll back through much blogging to find out and it's late & I'm tired. l0l

Murray & Andrew were part of an undefeatable team this weekend and won the hockey tournament they were in (or their division at least). Andrew had two shut outs and out of 4 games only let in 2 goals. This was no doubt largely due to the amazing defense skills of his big brother :) They both came home very happy tonight so that's the main thing. Too bad Rick missed it all.... ;)))

I was very impressed with Andrew's departure tonight! He got here & within about 15 minutes had everything in the car & was pulling out of the driveway. No messing around and he didn't forget a thing! I had Mr Bojangles all changed and started on his first bedtime bottle so he just needed his refill & they were set. (it helps to have an awesome SIL like me of course ;)))

Honey's been under the weather all weekend so that sortof slowed things down & limited our options a bit. She stayed in bed sleeping almost all day yesterday and a good portion of toay as well. She's had some fever on and off but nothing over 101. It's hard to believe how much she's gotten sick in the last month and a half. This can only lead to more people being sick later in the week. Hopefully I won't be one of them. Too much going on, I can't afford any downtime this week! Sale weekend is coming up, I have to bake something for the bake table for that plus get something for the church dessert auction to raise money for the Sunday School and for some reason we still only have 24 hours in a day. Can we not get that changed?????????

So having a 4th child for the weekend gave me no urges whatsoever. Andrew wondered if I'd get a hankering but I think I'm still all baby'd out from our early days. The thought of having bottles and diapers and feedings doesn't give me warm fuzzies whatsoever. When you do it our way, you get that stuff once & you're done with it. It seems so bizarre to me that most people have to keep going through all that hard stuff again and again. Every time I hear someone's adding another baby to the family, my first thought is always "oh mannnn they've got to start ALLLLLLLLL over!", as I smile and say "oh how exciting! congratulations!" hee hee! I also find it funny when people get all freaked out when they find out that our girls are all the same age. "Whaaaaaaaat? they're how old? No. what? they're... NO! they're NOT triplets! omigosh, that must be so hard. wow. I have three kids too but.... " My response is now "and what? you spaced yours ALL out? THAT'S CRAZY!!!!" (ok, this is how I amuse myself. I don't get to socialize much ok?)

Now lest you get the wrong idea, Mr Bojangles was no trouble at all! I adore him, I almost cried when he left. The girls doted on him and did anything I asked if it was for him. He was so well behaved. He had a little trouble when dad left him to go to the games but didn't have any long term freak outs. He went to bed like a charm, played nicely with the toys and didn't break or rip a single thing. This is more than I can say for my own crew! and have I told you how cuuuuuuuuute this guy is? No? oh well, then, by all means check out my favourite nephew! :)))

Ok, what's up with Sweetie and the wardrobe selections????

that's my turtleneck shirt she's wearing as a bizarre skirt...

and then there's this:

Now, I had to do some digging to pull up this top photo. It's from August 05, when she was ONE YEAR OLD.

THIS is MARCH 2009, almost FIVE years old now.... HOW is she still able to get on a size 18mths playsuit?!??!!? We do feed the girl. I swear. Anyone who's been to our house for supper can attest to this child's eating habits. She has obviously grown when you compare the two pictures. Admittedly, the suit is getting a bit snug & some of the snaps will come undone when she gets running around. BUT she can put it on AND do up the snaps.

She found it & just had to put it on and was in it all day. She even wanted to wear it to bed but then got too hot with her nightie on top of it.

After the boys got home last night we had a Rockstar party! Murray played guitar, I did vocals & Andrew was on drums. I started out on drums but after our band got booed off the stage 3 times in a row, I get reassigned and only got booed off once after that.

Best line heard during our Guitar Hero/All You Can Eat Junkfood party:

"I don't know. I can only look at my coloured balls right now"

Good times, gooooooooooood times! LOL

Mandy & Karen, your bday presents are en route with Andrew. There is a 2nd present in the bag for Karen (but I forgot to label it). Mandy your 2nd one will come at a later date because it's not ready yet but I think it'll be worth the wait.... at least I hope so!

Daddy's Home!

Murray had a rather sudden business trip & left on Wednesday afternoon. We took him to the airport and the girls had a bit of a hard time saying goodbye but didn't have any major breakdowns until we got outside & they actually saw the plane fly off. Then the waterworks started. They cried for awhile in the car but settled down after a few minutes. They made sure to comment how much the missed him fairly regularly though.

That night at dinner I was thinking to myself how strange it was not to have him in his usual spot and how lonely it was without him. Honey saw me staring off into space and asked what I was looking at & I said it was nothing really. She looked at me and nodded wisely and said "you miss Daddy too, don't you Mumma?" That girl has been observant since she was only a few months old! I remember many of our volunteers who came during that first 6 months would often comment that Honey was the 'watcher' who was always paying attention to everything going on and that she was like a mother hen keeping an eye on everyone!

I thought bedtime might be a bit rough but they didn't get too emotional and fell asleep nicely. Our busy day yesterday made for a quick drop off last night too and then I got a message from Murray that their meetings had gone well & they got everything covered in one day. He was able to bump his flight up to arrive this morning instead of tomorrow morning. Good thing I got all that housework done yesterday! (not that you could tell after the dog got into some candy and left crumbs all over the place ugh!)

This morning I got the girls to school on time (small miracle single handed!) and whipped through the grocery store, ran home, put everything away & got back to the school & picked them up early and then we picked up Murray! The girls cheered when they saw him waiting for us at the airport.

We got to have lunch with him at home which is highly unusual and Sweetie wanted to show off how she can now eat scrambled eggs (major hurdle for ages) so she & Honey had that for lunch. Lovey wasn't interested in proving anything and refused the eggs as we'd already had them once this week so she made herself a pb & j and ate that. Murray was suitably impressed with the egg eating though. He didn't last long after lunch and looked like he might pass out from exhaustion at any moment so I sent him to bed.

Grammie stopped by to do manicures & pedicures so I went to do some birthday shopping. April is a busy month in our families!

By the time I got home, Andrew & Mr. Bojangles had arrived. Andrew's here for a hockey tournament and has recruited Murray to play on their team. Mr Bojangles came along for the ride & will be hanging out with us girls while the daddies are out playing. We may try to catch one of the early games tomorrow, we'll see what kind of humour everyone's in!

We bbq'd tonight for supper, first one of the year so that was exciting! After supper the girls wanted to go for another bike ride and Andrew & Mr Bojangles came along. Someone was a little overly fond of the puddles and Andrew had to employ some manhandling!

We're all glad to have Murray home safe & sound again and looking forward to a weekend with the boys! :)

After we got the Wii for Christmas, Murray got interested in Guitar Hero! His birthday's coming up so his parents bought it for him. He just got it today but couldn't stay awake long enough to try it out but I'm sure he & Andrew will give it a shot tomorrow.

Yay for Days with Plans!!

I dropped the kids off this morning & then came home to do some housework as we have more company coming this weekend and the last guests were soooooooooo rowdy and they trashed their room again. I'm not sure why Murray lets them get away with that.... ;)))

When I got there, the girls were ramped up like you wouldn't believe. They were looking forward to our McD's lunchdate with Boo & Cheech. The 5 of them were just wild with anticipation. Pretty funny to see them so worked up. They could hardly concentrate to get their boots on they were so busy running around being goofs. Walking out the door they kept telling each other "No! you don't have to say goodbye to me! Just "see you LATER!" because we're going for LUNCH AT MCDONALD'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cheech's little sister & her mom were supposed to come too but the youner girl was sick. Cheech started crying when her mom said she wouldn't be able to go afterall but Teena & I fixed that. Her mom dropped her off & I took her home afterwards while Teena stayed with the rest in the play thing. They had a blast at the restaurant and were really good!

Once I got back from Cheech's, we got our kids packed up & went to the library. We had books to return so we decided to make a group trip and get some more. The girls were excited to show Daddy their "new" books :)

On the way home I remembered we needed bread so we stopped at the store & I let them pick out some cotton candy for dessert. Did you know it comes in different flavours?!?!?! It was quite a discussion. Honey wanted the purple kind, although she likes nothing else that is grape flavoured. It took awhile for them to come to a consensus. I just walked away and told them we weren't getting any if they couldn't agree on one kind. Boy did that get settled in a hurry! LOL

They thought it was completely scandalous to eat such blatantly sugary junk at the table!!!!!! Supper was fuss free and good portions were actually consumed. I might get more cotton candy if they're going to eat vegetables without a fight :)

After supper we went for a bike ride to give Murphy a bit of exercise and we went all the way to the main road and back. We picked up a follower along the way & he accompanied us & helped me corral the kids. He's so good with them! He was watching for cars & he kept up with whoever was in the lead, helped them up if they tipped, gave them a push if they got stuck etc. He's almost 16 & takes the time to hang out with us, isn't that sweet???????

The girls were tired out from the bike ride but they still had energy for stories so they got some of their new books read to them & then it was bedtime.

How's that for action packed??????

Crazy Day!

Oh man! did anyone else get overrun with escapees from Camp Ridiculous today?? The morning started off rough and just seemed intense the whole day long. First of all, I woke up at 6 am & couldn't get back to sleep so that was super annoying right off the bat. Wasting perfectly good sleeping time for no good reason is just plain dumb! I should have just gotten up & done something productive but I was still hoping I'd drift back off. So much for that plan.

They were not cooperative getting ready this moring. Sweetie wouldn't get dressed, Lovey took 15 minutes to get one sock on and Honey was lolly gagging with the best of them. Finally I got everyone out the door but we were late for school. However, we were among the earliest to arrive! There are 10 kids in the class and 4 more arrived just after we did! Something in the air today I think!

I had a nice morning & went to hang out at Shooter Shelley's while the kids were at school. We talk a mile a minute and even after 2 hours, we have a hard time wrapping it up! I showed her my new toys from Christmas, my awesome R strap, the girls' pettiskirts and my new lights! We had a good chat & she gave me some couscous to try out so I'll have to make that sometime. It's supposed to be much better than rice but I'm not sure how it'll go over with the little fuss budgets!

After school we zipped home to have some lunch before going over to Nicolle's for the afternoon. Had to nag like the dickens to get them out the door and then we ended up arriving early, before she was even home. No problem, we just hopped the fence & played in the backyard for awhile. Her kids didn't want to come outside so we didn't stay out much longer and went inside to play. I'd prepped some of the supper stuff but not enough. Making meatballs is too complicated with 6 little kids underfoot. Lesson learned & 'nuff said. I got home late but since supper was already made I just had to zap some broccoli to go with it.

At supper the kids were still wacky and loud and just about enough to shed some light on how alcohol might be appealing to some people! I resorted to what I can tolerate in the way of hard stuff. Pepsi. I was so glad to leave for circuit class and unwind! How sad is that?!?!?!?

Lights!

I've been collecting camera toys for awhile, I save up birthday money & the like and every once in awhile I get something new. I've been wanting a studio lighting kit for awhile but anything half decent is around a grand. Or so I thought! When Rick & Nancy were here, she brought out this mysterious long rectangular case that her Uncle Gerald had. Guess what's in it?!?!?!? LIGHTS!!!!!!!!!! As she told me, very bright lights! How exciting is that???? Ok, more so for me I guess but hooray!!! It takes up to 4 sortof floodlight type bulbs and has a little stand to prop it up on or you can attach a handle to hold it in your free hand (or I think that's what it's for, I'll have to play some more & figure all this out). I use the living room often when I'm doing portraits & the window light is great when they're facing that direction & camera right always looks ok because the light can bounce back off the white walls. Camera left is always a bit shadowed so I've been toying with the idea of looking for a reflector but now I have lights that can fill that gap!

The girls wanted pictures with their animals after supper & since it was still light out, the living room was fine but I knew I could use a little fill light on that shadow side & ta da! I plugged in my new lights. This is just my first attempt and I still need to learn to adjust my settings more to compensate for this newfound wealth of brightness so bear with me. These are a little overexposed but not a bad beginning!

The girls also wanted to each take pictures of their own & here are there chosen subjects.

Honey wanted a picture of Toosfairy:

Sweetie chose Bunny & Beige Bunny (Bunny originally was the same as Beige Bunny except for colour, poor BB is sooooooo unloved!)

Lovey, in the ultimate suck up move, picked me!

I'm not sure what was wrong with my face here. It was all red & blotchy in the picture, then I tried to fix it a little in photoshop & then gave up. Despite appearances, I didn't cry all day & then get a beating. Honest.