Our “Canadian dinner”…
At church on Sunday night, we had an “International Dinner.” Everyone was supposed to bring a dish representing their home country. We couldn’t figure out what would be a signature Canadian meal. Since I was at a wedding all day Saturday, and we wouldn’t be home at all on Sunday to cook- Scott decided that we’d just bring “Canadian pizza!” Hey, worked for me! We threw in the Tim Hortons as well, cause that is definitely Canadian! :)
Hair piece..
From the beautiful wedding that I shot today. Definitely ready for bed…
Sneak peek coming soon!
Apple picking
She was a little more content than she was last year. I will have to post some more pictures from today, and share all the interesting events that took place. Like losing my keys in the orchard. I suggested that we all hold hands and “comb the field” the kids decided to play follow the leader and walk in my footsteps instead. Or how Eve caused a stampede in the petting zoo… Or how about Ella taunting Jeddy cause he was afraid of the goats?.. Ah yes, more pictures and stories to come. Eventually…
The fly…
The kids let a fly in the house today. It was one of those really slow moving, about-to-die flies. Except that it wouldn’t die! I even sent Elijah on a mission to “eliminate” the fly. He was unsuccessful. All night it flew at our faces, tried to land on our food, sat beside me on the couch… but somehow managed to avoid every single swat. Miss. Vicki, used to be my bug hunter. If it had more than 4 legs- she would kill it. Tonight, all she did was lay there on the couch and hiss at the fly. She didn’t even bat at it with her paw. She let out a pathetic little growl, and hissed… I think this may be a sign of old age?
Which I once again, received for FREE! Have I mentioned that I love Shutterfly lately? Cause I do.
I mean, it’s always exciting to get packages in the mail, right?
Especially when you’re having a crabby day feeling sick. This was the perfect pick-me-up for my afternoon!
Thank you Shutterfly!
It’s that time of year again…
Back in the hat-making business!
New colours and a giveaway coming up soon!
Working together on geography…
Our kids are all pretty competitive. (I wonder where they get THAT from?…) So naturally, they turn everything into a competition. Which I don’t mind. As long as they’re good sports about it- they can be as competitive as they want to be. Scott and I actually encourage it. Last year, we had simple prizes for the best grades. A weekly prize would be something like a chocolate bar or a sundae. Since it worked so well last year, we decided to step it up a notch this year! For the highest weekly grade I was going to do a dollar store prize, but then I figured that they’d probably want to pick their own. Then, I thought that I probably won’t be able to make a trip to the dollar store every single Friday. So I thought, “Well, I’ll just give them the dollar.” Then, I remembered that nothing is really a dollar anymore- so I made it two. They were pleased with that. The quarterly prize it a breakfast at Sunset, and the semester prize is lunch at the CN tower!
I’m counting on some really competitive grades this year… ;)
Happy 4th Birthday, Jeddy!
After making a roast beef dinner for a friend, making food for our ladies’ meeting, dropping off food, and going to the ladies’ meeting with the girls- we stopped at Walmart for an impromptu “Chocolate airplane cake” at Jed’s request. I did plan to make something extravagant for him- but time passed by too quickly. So we bought a $9.99 fudge cake and stuck a green model airplane that we bought for him on top. He was just as pleased with this as he would have been with my 8hr, marshmallow fondant, airplane cake. I realize that sometimes the things that I think are so important to do for my kids, are actually more for ME then for THEM… I’m learning. Although, I still owe him a giant chocolate chip cookie! ;)
He was given money from his great grandma and from his great grandpa, and now not only does he think that he is rich, he also expects to see money in every card that he opens…
What does he plan to spend all of this money on?
Three alarm clocks.
Happy 4th birthday to my adorably, dimpled, little, kindergarten buddy!
Did I mention how excited he was to start kindergarten?
Cause two days in, he declared that he doesn’t want to “do school” anymore. Ha…
Love you, Jeddy.
Jeddy’s “mote contwol car”
This morning, Scott decided to take Jeddy out for his birthday breakfast with Dad. It’s always a special treat for the kids on their birthdays, to go out to Sunset Grill and have a big breakfast alone with Dad. Except this time, Jeddy wanted to bring Elijah. So Elijah got to go out for pancake and bacon as well! After that, Scott took him to Toys R’ Us to pick out his remote control car that he has been asking for. Then the boys (including Scott of course) came home and drove it around outside for an hour. I love watching the three of them together.
“Charlie”
He now sits on our doorstep, waiting for the kids to come out and feed him crackers. What a spoiled little squirrel!
Mangoes…
I LOVE mangoes.
My grandma, since I was a child, has always had a supply of them ready for when I visit.
The only problem?
All 7 of my children are equally in love with mangoes.
Therefore, I only got to eat one of them.
And I honestly think that the only reason they didn’t ask for that one- is because I told them “the baby wanted it…” :)
“Nostalgic” – for some reason that word makes me feel old…
I referred to someone as “a kid” the other day- and then realized that when I was their age, I was married, owned my own house, and had 4 kids…
Scott and I got to go out shopping on a date for my birthday. I desperately needed a new pair of everyday shoes. My toe was about to poke out the front of my old ones at any given moment. We went to Aldo, Town, Spring, some other trendy place where they say “buy one get two free” but really they just charge you the price of three pairs for the first one… I’ve always had big feet, I accept that. Size 9’s, size 10’s after several pregnancies- but this time I had to ask for an ELEVEN!?!?
“I’m sorry, we don’t carry shoes that big.”
Back to Payless I went- where my feet still fit into a good ole size 10…
I had a better one of all three of them- but I love my grandpa’s and Ella’s face in this one.
I’ve been blessed by the influence of several amazingly beautiful, and unbelievably strong women. Though, I know if you asked any of them- they’d tell you that is wasn’t by their own strength they survived things, but by God’s grace. My grandma Joy is one of them.
As we all arrived to visit her on Labour Day, and she hugged all my kids, then my sister and I- I could see the tears in her eyes. She lost her oldest son (my dad) 22 years ago and I can only imagine what goes through her mind as she sees us all. As she must imagine what it would be like for her son to be there- with us all. She calls me from her restaurant, and tells me that she longs to see my kids. She asks me if I ever think about my dad. She tells the kids about their grandpa. She’s special.
My grandpa in the picture above- isn’t actually my biological grandpa. Though he has been and is, my grandpa. My grandma had my dad at a very young age and was a single mom. When my dad was a baby, he used to crawl over to my grandpa’s house, and my grandpa would sit on his porch and tell him stories. My grandpa loves to play with the kids. He asks the girls if he can braid their hair. He tells them that he has a tiny nose. He’s special.
I adore my family.
Keona’s first pair of heels
This child grew 3 shoe sizes this summer. In one season! Craziness… I have a feeling that she’s heading for size 10’s like her mom… Poor girl.
So I took her to Payless to look for some new shoes, and there were so many nice black ones on sale! (Must be the back to school time) There were some for $12 and some for $15… Then, Keona pointed out these ones. They were on sale too… for $27.
When we got home, Scott asked why I bought her those ones. I explained that she was willing to take the $12 pair- but I could see that she really liked the heels. That didn’t make sense to him. So, I just reminded him of the time that he bought her a $50 rock for her fish tank. A fifty dollar rock. As in 5-0. Because she was so cute when she asked him. He didn’t say anything else…
Now she just has to learn how to walk in them without spraining her ankle…
Playing in the rain…
I’ve always loved the rain. When I was a kid, I would look for excuses to go out in it. So when Jeddy looks up at me and says, “Mom, can I go run in the rain? Please!?”
How could I say no?
Ella went out too, but she barely ventured off the front porch! :)
Daddy and his Ellie
I was walking in from the van with Ella the other day, and everyone else had gone on ahead. She looked up at me and said, “Where’s my sisters? Where’s ‘Lijah and Jeddy? Where’s my hunny???”
She calls Scott “her hunny.”
No wonder she melts his heart…
Cutie pie Carson…
I am in love with his puppy dog eyes. Even if he did try to beat up on my kids all afternoon! He tackled them, and slapped them- there were a few hugs and kisses in there… Ella was laying on the ground and Carson leaned over to give a big kiss, but when she got up- she was crying! We said, “Awwww… did Carson kiss you?” She looked at me and said, “No him didn’t! He bite me!” She was OK. Though she wasn’t interested in playing with him again! I’m sure they’ll make great sparring buddies in a few years. Or atleast when she no longer refers to him (who is almost the same size as she is! And probably weighs more!) as baby…
It doesn’t even look like that many kids in front of our huge van…
It was one of those days today. I was emotional. Everything seemed to be going wrong. The laptop is having issues, my dryer died, the kids woke me up fighting… And I cried. Scott asked me what was wrong, and I said “nothing.” He said, “Oh yes, except in woman talk- nothing means something, and something- usually means nothing…”
How true.
Well, by the afternoon, my kids were getting along and helping me around the house- my dryer was fixed (and didn’t cost half as much as I thought it would!) and my hormonal imbalance had passed.
And what I said was “nothing” while really believing it was “everything” or atleast “something”- turned out to be nothing.
Thanks for putting up with me, Scott!
So much for my no-more-last-minute, oh-so-very-sad 365 pictures…
I HAVE however, eaten a Michelina’s after 9pm, every single night this week. Good thing Scott knows what he’s doing and stocked up on them. You’d think he’s been through this before… ;)
And tonight, I threw in a cheese bagel, with cream cheese on it just for good measure. Cause you know, the Michelina’s didn’t have enough saturated trans fat on it’s own…
