Thursday, May 31, 2007

growing up..



Oh my god....
I just love these girls!! They are growing up so fast. Way too fast!!!

Playroom Challenge

Ok people...... I am putting out a challenge.
I am doing this for my own sanity.
For the life of me, I cannot keep our playroom clean! No matter how much I try, I vacum, I wash, I pick up, I throw away...I just can't do it!! When I ran my preschool (out of this very room) I was able to keep the room spotless!! Everything had a place, a bucket, a bin. The floors were vacummed AND washed EVERYDAY!!
Why is it that I can keep up with 6 kids and teach them thier ABC's and 123's, but I can't keep up with just ONE kid???
Ohhh I know. That is because Lily is also know as the "Holy Terror" of the playroom. LOL

There must be someone..somewhere who has a playroom that can never be cleaned!!
I want to see it! I want to feel "normal". LOL

Here is my before and after picture.

BEFORE:



AFTER:

Rock and Roll

Yesterday Lily and Abigail were jumping on the trampoline. Well..Abigail got bored and left.. and Lily stayed there bouncing..
I grabbed the video camera this time...and well...this is what I caught.
wait for it..it is towards the end.
Sooooo Funny..



Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Teddy in Belly mommy

I just had to share these photos with you. Lily wanted to carry her bear "in her belly"




She was sooo proud!!

Cutting down the tree...

We have a LARGE maple tree growing in our backyard. So big that it covers the whole yard with shade and it hangs over the house. (which causes your house to rot).
We had Saint Mary's Tree Service come by today and cut down all the branches that hang over our house.
Lily thought it was pretty neat and yelled TIMBER!!!

He was quite high in the tree..we have a 3 story house and he was up past the roof top!





Yeah...Yeah... I know, the house needs painting, but as soon as we paint it, the property taxes will double! So instead, we've fixed up the inside and this summer we're putting on a porch. (one that you can't see from the road) hee hee...away from the prying eyes of the tax assessment man!!

TIMBER!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

NEVER a dull moment...

I swear never a dull moment. On Saturday just as the kids announced that they were now "officially" bored, I looked out my kitchen window and saw.....


now you have to understand....we live IN the city....DOWNTOWN....we have squirrels, pesty awful pain in the butt squirrels..(yes I have issues with them) but it's not often you see a raccoon. We see the damage they do, eat our garbage etc...but we don't get to actually see them very often when the kids are awake.
So this big fellow was out in the middle of the day, hanging out on my neighbors roof.
Apparently if you see one in the day, and its moving slow...and not scared of people, it is probably sick.
Well this one hung out for the day...moving slow... and not scared of us (even Lily) yelling at it.
So..I made the phone call to the rabies hot line and the "raccoon wrangler" came by and tried to catch him, with a long stick that had a loop on the end. He would grab the raccoon by the neck and drop him into an awaiting cage.
Well let me tell you....NOW my kids were no longer bored.

It was getting dark and late so I sent the 2 older girls into the house to get ready for bed (Lily was already in her bed) and Frank and I went out to watch the excitement with our neighbor.
About a half hour later, I thought I would check on the kids. I came into the kitchen and it looked like a bar scene....there was: lemon juice, grenadine, orange juice, sprite, ice cubes, lemon slices and to top it all off...the martini shaker.... the girls were making "special drinks"
All I needed to do was add vodka and I would have had a nice little drink...!
I had them clean it up, and sent them to the window to watch.
( no I didn't get a picture.. I was too busy getting the gin down from the cuppboard)

Well, the raccoon outsmarted us, so the wrangler left a baited cage by the house and said he'd be back in the morning.
When we got up in the morning, the cage was gone and so was the raccoon.
So we made the assumption that he caught it.
UNTIL ..... Yesterday, when I looked out my window and saw:




Wait a second.....this is the SAME guy.... oh no....did he catch a healthy one and now its brain is disected in some lab in the states???
Ohhhh nooooo I feel so guilty.... I decided to let this guy live out his distempered life on the roof.

mmmmm cookies...

Abigail and Lily decided to make ginger crinkle cookies on Friday. I stood behind them with the vacum running and a wet cloth in my hand.

Measuring....


Stirring....
(Notice the roses......1 dozen for my birthday last week) :O))


Rolling...and Tasting....Cooked...uncooked.....
all good!!

Rubber boots

Lily LOVES her rubber botos....wears them ALL THE TIME...rain or shine! I thought I would share a few pictures from last week with you.



I love this picture...top of the head..nose and toes...


She's trying to pull his eyes out.

Monday, May 21, 2007

New Banner




Here is the new banner I made for the blog using FotoFusion. Now I just have to figure out how to get it onto the page.
I need it to be bigger and clearer, and without the trial version written all over it! LOL

hey...what's happening....

Penny, your right, blogger isn't allowing comments! I thought it was something that I did. Guess not? That really sucks. Were you able to fix yours?

I like the lock idea and going back to look for it. How neat!

Andrea,
I have a couple of pairs of shoes and a pair of rubber boots for Ally Cat! I think we should get together this week. What about Wednesday or Thursday? I'd love some help with the blog, obviously I'm having some problems!! LOL I am very tempted to but the fotofusion program, it's only 39.$ and I've downloaded the trail version and absolutely love it! I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Dianne.. Are you coming up for the hayride this weekend? I have a little something for you. ;)

Sunday, May 20, 2007

This post is for you Penny

Hi Penny,
I noticed you mentioned the area on the Geat Wall with all the locks on the Nickerson's blog. We did make it to that area and I had the pictures on my "old" now "lost" blog! LOL
I'm not sure they still sell the locks. We didn't see any place to buy them or have them engraved.
This photo is for you!






You could always bring an engraved one from home and lock it on!!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

she's taking the slooooww train....

Today I took out the preschools train table. I had it stored away since I finished teaching a year ago. Lily has never seen it.
Well!! What a hit! I knew she liked trains..but she is just crazy over this table.
She is so funny to watch, if the trains get de-railed, she picks them up and shakes them with rage, if they go too fast down a slope, she yells....oooohhhhh noooooo.......
she moves the trains about 5 inches...every 30 seconds or so, then moves her chair to match the distance, moves the train, then her chair.
It has been over an hour and she has yet to make it completely around the table!! LOL





I even fed her lunch at the table.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

also...

I am looking for a program that I can have fun with using my photos. I've downloaded smilebox, but it wasn't whatI expected. Then I downloaded fotofusion version 4 (the trial version) I really like it!
I would like to be able to create my own banner.
Can anyone help??

looking for a new look

I would like to change the look of my blog. I have no idea how to do that.
I was hoping for some suggestions and or weblinks for some free blogger skins!
It would be nice to design my own. I've seen one that had a pair of baby shoes with a LID on the toes. How did they do that??
Help....

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Some Arizona pics

Some acient ruins.


Horse back riding through the desert.




These are on the side of the roads and around bridges, big beautiful Mexican designs! Very pretty

Catus, of course

Sedona

Maple and her babies

This is Maple, Cheryl's baby. This picture was taken the night before she had her puppies.


What a big old belly, poor things could barely walk by the end, I totally was feeling for her. I even asked the vet if she could have a walking epidural! LOL

In this picture she JUST had her last puppy, only a few minutes old.

Just a few hours old.


Here are the puppies, about 2 days old, we had to take them to the vet to get Maple checked out, so I managed to grab a few photos while she was out of the box.




They are soo small!!

Cheryl and her "pets"


Here is a scopion just outside of Cheryl's bedroom door. My dad would "do a clean-up" every morning, looking under rugs and chairs etc.. for spiders and scopions.

and here it is after I saw it and squashed it!! LOL

This is Finch, he is so ugly that he is cute! He is so good!



This is Mortimer the Tortoise. He is sooo cool! He is heavier than my kids and will live longer than any of us! You actually have to put these guys in your will and "will" to someone.
Dad and I would look for him everymorning each of us thinking he liked us better than anyone else! LOL

Home again home again jiggity jig

WHEW.....I'm finally home!! I arrived home last week on Tuesday (actually wednesday at midnight), rested with the kids on Wednesday, did laundry and un-packed and re-packed on Thursday, and on Friday went to PEI with Abigail (another mom and 2 other gymnasts) for the last gymnastics comp of this season. We got home on Sunday afternoon in time for a wonderful Salmon supper with fresh fiddleheads. YUM. It was a Mother's Day / Birthday supper and it was very good! Isabelle and Frank made me chocolate cake!! Mmmmm Mmmmmm

I'm finding it hard to get back into the swing of things, get back into a routine! I have errands and appointments everyday this week so it feels like I haven't been able to take that breathe and "re-group". Hopefully this weekend will be a little calmer.

Happy Mothers Day

Monday, May 7, 2007

Last day in Arizona!!

I CAME..(with 1 suitcase)....I SAW...(shopped)....I CONQUERED..(leaving with 3 suitcases)..

It's 9:40am and it is already hitting 30 degrees. We've had a few cooler days which was nice. I have to get my final "lay in the sun" this morning.
I am all done shopping, I know, I know..Who would of thunk it!!
Can you guess my final purchase.......
YUP!! a bottle of good ole JOSE CUERVO TEQUILA .....Margarita time in Fredericton!! eh Lu??

I talked to Frank this morning, he seems to be doing alright. Our neighbor and good friend came over last night to relax with Frank and have a beer around 8:30pm and Frank had to refuse!! LOL He was just getting Lily out of the tub, and Isabelle was getting into the bath and Abigail had just informed him that she didn't understand her homework and had a test on it today!!".......ahhhhhhh........am I taking too much satisfaction in this??

Although I will give the man credit! He took all the girls (plus one extra) out for a huge bike ride on Saturday. He biked out to Lincoln with them. He said at one point he was pulling Lily in the bike trailer, and pushing Isabelle on her bike, and pulling Abigail and Victoria as they decided to hold onto the bike tailer. What a trooper. He said by the time he got to Lu's he was ready to pass out!! LMAO!!

Friday, May 4, 2007

Friday Night....Yawn....

It's Friday night....normally a "stay up with a glass of wine" night, however Cheryl and I were up all night last night.
Her little dog Maple decided to have her puppies last night at 12:30am till 8am!!!!
Soooo...needless to say...no sleep here!!
It's 7:50pm we went out for supper and we're all ready for bed!
Maple had 3 puppies, the first a girl, pure white, breech and Cheryl had to pull it out by its hind legs, we didn't think she was going to make it, but after some rubbing she let out a cry!! Then a boy, choc brown, he was stuck in the birth canal for over an hour and his sack around him had broken, and he wasn't getting any oxygen, so sadly, he didn't make it, then she had another boy, very quickly breech again...had to be pulled out...pure white...still with the sack intact...he was fine!! So 1 girl and 1 boy, what a night!!

We made sure the puppies and mommy were fine then headed off for a final day of shopping - still no sleep- LOL
5 hours later.....and supper out.....we're ready for bed.

Cheryl is having a small party here tomorrow night to celebrate Cinto de Mayo.
Should be fun.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

It has cooled down today..36degrees with a bit of a breeze. I am wearing Capri's, with a t-shirt today!!
It is even "chilly" in the shade! It is similar to a very hot summer day in Fredericton.

Mom and I are going shopping today at the Arrowhead Mall. Cheryl is dropping us off and going back to work.
When I told mom that we should bring her wheelchair with us, she caught on to my "concern for her well being" very quickly...She said " You just want the wheelchair to pile your packages on, and your going to make me walk"!
Oh..how she knows me!! LMAO

Tomorrow we're going to a place called Cave Creek...it has lots of little Mexican shops with lots of knick-knacks...
and lots of pottery and local artisans....I've gotten 32 2x2 tiles all hand painted, I am going to put them in my kitchen. They were only .50cents each. I have to pick up a bunch more. I would like to make a table top with them too.
I like this Southwest decor. It's not cowboy hats and horses...(which I thought it was) It's lots of flowers, and abstract designs, cactus and suns.. I wish i could bring lots home...

Hmmmm I wonder how much weight mom's wheelchair can hold....

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Shake before you sit!!

What a dangerous place.... If you sit before shaking out the cushions or the towel , there is a good chance you'll
you'll get stung or bite by a black widow spider or a scorpion!!
They come out at night, so every morning, you have to shake out the cushions. Or if you hang out your clothes,
give it a good shake....as those darn things like to hide in the clothes....
and the cockroaches.....holy dear god....they are the size of mice.....
My sister thinks I'm a freak, jumping and banging my feet when I walk. I think I am being smart...
scaring away the "little critters"!! LOL
Lu I don't think you'd like it here, just the thought of those black widow spiders gives me the creeps.
Cheryl has one in a big glass jar as a "pet" and has 5 scorpions in another jar.
What ever happened to normal pets???.......or normal sisters....haaaaaaaa

For my girlies..

Hi my beautiful girls!!
How are you??? Daddy says your being so good, getting ready for school and gym. Doing your homework.
I am so proud of you!
I'm having fun here with ma tante Cheryl and Papa and Maman. We are still waiting for Maple to have her puppies,
it should be any day (or night) now. She is having 3. I wonder if Lu would like one????
I will be home 1 week from today. I will be sure to wake you up when I get home! OK?
Abigail: I want you to try very very hard to be nicer to Isabelle. She really looks up to you.
I bet she could use a big hug!
Isabelle, I want you to stop teasing Abigail! I need you to walk away from her if she is being mean.
Give her space. You two are such good girls! I know it is different with me being away on vacation, but
I'll be home soon, all rested with lots of presents!!! Be good to each other!! I love you both!!
Daddy, I know your sick...tired...busy....but it's only for 1 more week. Try it for 5 months one day.
Your a fantastic Dad and I know your doing a great job! I love you.
Lily...I bet your having lots of fun with Mary!! Are you playing with your animals and doing the monkey dance?
Mary said your pooping on the potty for her!! Good girl!! Your mommy's little peanut!! I love you!!