Sweet Miss 'c'

Just a quick snap today...

Here's Miss 'c' , she was just emerging from "the tent"... 

WHY was she enticed out?

Because Mom had the camera!!!

I was trying to snap a pic of BOTH of them playing IN "the tent"...

but whenever they see the lens cover swinging and the camera strap hanging...

...they crawl as fast as they can in the hopes of getting a hold of them!

A Blushing Berries Prayer...

Dear Lord,

We are ever so thankful for the bounteous rain that we have had for days...

and days...

and days...

It has made the strawberries grow so big and plentiful!

We are indeed blessed with much fruit on the vines!

We thank you for such a generous blessing!

Could we please be blessed with a little less rain and a smidge more warm and sunny weather?

This would help the blushing berries complete their transformation into

the sweet red fruit that is most juicy & delicious!

Upon receiving this glorious blessing we will celebrate by making a most delectable strawberry pie!

We thank you for all of our many blessings and have faith that these blessings that we ask for will also come to pass.

Amen.

Radishes...Week 4

Getting closer...

Busy Bee!

Caught this bee doin' it's thang with my orange poofball plant!

I absolutely ADORE this plant!!!

Last year when it bloomed it was so hot out that the blossom balls turned brown in about three days!

I was NOT impressed as I look forward to seeing it's quirky orange flower ball blossoms every year...

So THIS year with all of the cooler, rainier weather I have been enjoying them ALL week!!!

I know...we are rather DONE with all of this wetness we have had to put up with...

But the silver lining is...

I get to enjoy these beautiful bloomin' balls for much longer than ever before! 

New SU!!!

Today my new Stampin' Up sets arrived!

Just the top three in this pic...

The new Summer mini catalogue came out a bit ago and my friend had a show...

I HAD to get these sets!

They are gorgeous and I am looking forward to playing/stamping with them!

Keep an eye on my Scrappy Bitz blog for the results!

You say Tomato and I say Tomato!

Ok so I am doing what I didn't want to do...

dh & I went to the Farmer's Market this afternoon and picked up some tomato plants.

Several varieties...colours & sizes...

I just wanted to go to Costco and get the BIG plants!

Last time dh was at Costco he asked and they said they weren't bringing them in!!!

Ugh!

So, here I go again...

Repotting, fertilizing & babying these plants in the hopes that they'll produce plenty of perfectly plump specimens for us to enjoy...

I must say it is ONE of my most favourite summer flavours... a fresh vine ripened tomato!

I say ONE because...well...you'll see why in a few days post...

Something's afoot!

So this is how 'g' ended her day...

While doing her run for P.E. class she stumbled on a tree stump and twisted her ankle.

Crutches were borrowed, ice packs were applied...

Oh, she did finish the run and clocked her best time yet!

She will be fine.

I'm a Birkis Girl!

Yes, it's true!

I'm a Birkenstock LOVER!

Check out my collection...

I adore each and every pair that I own!

And I receive many comments on them every time I wear them.

"Oh I LOVE your shoes!"

Hear that ALL the time!

And what do I say?

"Thank you! So do I!"

They just had to make it for at least ONE potd!

Do you have a favourite pair of shoes???

Or perhaps you have several!

Happy feet = Happy people!

Reading...

We read many books over the course of our lifetime.

As parents we read many, many books to our children.

We have started to read, as a family, our scriptures.

We are enjoying the time to read and discuss the teachings we find in them.

How many 7, 10 & almost 15 year old kiddos do you that will sit for several minutes and sometimes even an hour to do that?

They have all impressed me with their willingness to do that and their love of the things they are reading!

And here's the real shocker...

They don't want to stop!

"Can we read just one more chapter, please!?"

Yes, I have heard that several times!

Amazing...

So, what good books have you read lately?

Wild Play!

So for 's' birthday present we gave him a trip to Wild Play Park WITH us!!!

http://www.wildplay.com/nanaimo/activities/treecourse/index.php

What a fun workout!

We were on the course for 2 1/2 hours!

It was incredibly challenging but soooo FUN!

I was unable to finish the black course.

There are four courses...

green, blue red & black.

I must work on my upper body strength.

That was my downfall... 

Anyhow...here's a couple of pics of ds t-shirt...

front...

and back...

Definitely want to try it again!

Need to get a smaller camera so I can snap some pics of us ON the course too!

Friday Night Fun!

Started some Summertime fun tonight...

Yeah, I know... it's not Summer....just yet...

I'm just trying to give Summer a kick in the pants...it could use it!

So we fired up the wheelbarrow!

No...NOT the bbq...

The wheelbarrow!

See...here's  's' cookin' his supper...

dh picked up a bag of play sand and a bag of charcoal...

We brought out the hotdogs and marshmallows [for later].

All the bigger kiddos cooked their own dinner!

Here's  'g' cookin' it up...

Here's 'z' enjoying her hotdog!

The babez had their first hotdogs...we used the all beef ones from Costco.

They LOVED eating outdoors!

Check out this feasting fest...

Here's  'g2'...

and 'c'...

So, as you can plainly see, I have several potd!

Enjoy them all!

How does YOUR garden grow???

Mine is growing rather nicely!

Here's a pic of our strawberry plants!

Still bloomin'  like crazy with several sizable green berries too!

So excited about how everything is progressing...

I'm also looking forward to making some STRAWBERRY PIE!!!

Keep on growing gorgeous groovy green strawberries...

Mama's hankerin' for thee BESTEST strawberry pie!

A New View!

Snapped this this morning...

Now that the babez are standing,

they've discovered a new view!

They LOVE to look out the window and watch traffic go whizzing by!

So much motion & activity...so many colours to see!

Make sure to wave hello next time you drive by!

What a difference...

...a week makes!

Just look at those radish shoots!

I thinned them and we washed the ones I pulled to put into salad.

Such a nice mild radish flavour.

We are looking forward to eating some radishes...soon!

I think they call it SCRAPBOOKING!!!

Today was thee day!

I finally started scrappin' again!

Now... I'm just finishing up the "other" side of a deuce that I started....

Who knows how long ago....

But IT COUNTS and it feels GREAT!!!

Here's my potd...

Hope to finish it up soon!

Organization... feels SO good!

I am still working at getting my scrapspace  organized  ...

I am constantly 'tweaking' this and moving that...

Trying to make it the best it can be for how I work...er...play!

A lightbulb FINALLY went ON in my head...

I moved my SU inks onto my main scrapdesk so they are right in front of me!

No more popping up to get this colour one minute and that colour the next minute...

This is a great idea and I am so glad I finally thought of it!

Here's my other great thing for today...

I have ALL of my SU cs organized and the file tabs named so I can now find that specific colour very quickly!!!

So glad to have this done as well!!!

Now if I can just get the rest of my scrapspace THIS organized!

Bit by bit...shelf by shelf...drawer by drawer...pile by pile...

Can't wait to PLAY in an organized space!

Let the feng shui/creative juices flow!

Strike!

We celebrated ds birthday today... again!

It's not his actual BIRTHday but it was the day that we scheduled to have his friends help him celebrate.

He chose a bowling party and all the kiddos had a ball!

[Pun intended but they did!]

Here's the birthday boy after a strike!

He had a great time!

Happy Birthday Boy!

'Goodie Bags' !?!?

Here's ds "Thank yous" for his birthday party tomorrow.

Not a real "Goodie Bag"... but a Goodie Jar instead!

Found these gum balls with super cool colours!

Of course the bits & pieces are orange!!!

I used some baby food jars I had hangin' around.

Great way to 'recycle ' them!
Generated some text with the computer, used a couple of my circle punches added a touch of green ribbon...
 et VOILA!!!

Hope the party goers like them!

Sock-sational!

Socks are Miss 'c's choice for toy of the week...er...day...well...hour... ok... MINUTE!

LOL...

Anytime there's a sock within her reach... it's her's!

Not quite sure what the allure is...

She thinks they're so 'sock-sational'!

Nothing better...

Miss 'g2' absolutely LOVES stacking and unstacking empty applesauce containers.

It's such a bonus!

She enjoys eating the applesauce AND gets a great toy too!

There's really nothing better!

Track & Field Day

Today 's' participated in his school's track & field day.

His events were 100m, 400m, 800m and long jump.

They did the high jump previously at school. 

The other events are done at the big track.

They take a bus down and it's an all day thing.

Here he is mid  long jump...

And here he is doing his best at the 800m...

I didn't take these pics...

I was at home with the babez.

dh took the "video" camera and used the 'still shot' setting.
[Mental note: Don't use the 'still shot' setting anymore. Pics are too grainy!]

's' arrived home very tired and rather odorous...

That's how I know he did his best!

He went straight into the bath and came out smiling and smellin' fine!

Good work my boy!

Inside Blooms!

I have had this plant FOREVER!

This is the second time it has bloomed!

It happens so rarely and it takes a while for them to open.

I wait in anticipation...

Aren't they just so loverly!?!

I meant to snap a pic of them closed...

...but life gets in the way of my best intentions...

So I will have to wait until next time...

I wonder when that will be?

This plant resides on my kitchen windowsill and so I

have ample opportunity to enjoy it's lush green leaves and

these gorgeous blooms!

It just makes me happy!

Hope your day is happy too!

Happy Mother's Day!

I wanted to get a pic of me & all the kiddos today.

I remembered only just before the babez were ready for bed.

'c' was done and so she wasn't too thrilled about it...

It's tricky getting ALL the kiddos to look decent at the same time...

's' was jacking around in many of the pics so he wrecked a whole bunch of the ones where everyone else looked good...

I ended up taking this one.

Yeah, it's nothing stellar.

But it's better than the rest...

I know... I'm not IN the pic...

I'm not going there...

Peek...

Do you see them?

Those are eency teency radish sprouts!

Yes!

Only 7 days and POP!

There they are!!!

Kiddos were so excited to see something so quickly!

The seed packet did say 35 days.

Woohoooooo!

I think we will plant some more in another couple of weeks.

We have plenty of seeds left...and then we'd have

a longer radish season!

Yum!

Mirror, mirror...

Here`s my potd...

These are the babez`reflections in the mirror...

They were just playing nice & quiet.

Thought I should capture the moment...

Happy Birthday 'S' !!!

Ten years...

How it's flown...

Ten years...

How you've grown...

Ten years...

From babe to lad...

Ten years...

I'm sad & glad...

Ten years...

Are in the past...

Ten years...

It's been a blast!

And just what does this oh so handsome 10 year-old birthday boy do before he goes to school in the morning? 

Play ball with his baby sisters!!!

Yeah, he's most definitely a keeper!

Happy 10th Birthday Dearest Son!

Here's to many, many, many MORE!!!

Bathtubbin' Babe...

Here's today's selection...

Wee Miss 'c' enjoying her drink...er... I mean bath!

Love all the drippy drips...

Stand and PLAY!

Getting my blogging DONE early today...

Snapped this pic of the babez this morning as they were busy playing at their toy shelf!

They are most definitely making BIG strides towards walking!
{Yes, pun intended!}
With Miss 'g2' able to stand without any help,
I am certain that Miss 'c' will be doing that any day as well!
Thought I should capture this moment
because once they start walking...
Oy!
I'll say it again...
They're growing way too fast...
I feel a Cher song snippet coming on...
"If I could turn back time!"
LOL...
Enjoy your time today!

Bluems !

Just what am I talking about?

These!!!!

'Blueberry Blossoms'...or 'Blueberry Blooms'... or...

"Bluems"

Spied this fully loaded blueberry bush at the nursery on Saturday.

We were all piled in the car and so I didn't think about getting it...

Of course it ended up being ALL I thought about for the next couple of days!

So today once I had some helping hands back home from school...

's' & I jumped in the van and popped back over to the nursery...

After a few minutes of inspection I settled on this fine specimen!

It was raining fairly well when we got home and so 

I just plunked it into the backyard...

The plan was to plant it after supper...

But it was POURING BUCKETS by then...

I`ll get it into the ground tomorrow!

I`ll try to be ever-so-gentle in the hopes that it will produce

a bunch of delicious berries THIS summer!

There certainly are plenty of `bluems` ready to be transformed! 

My mouth is already watering just thinking about it!

Look Who's STANDING...ALL by HERSELF!!!

Miss 'g2' is feelin' mighty fine!

She's standing tall and squealin' too!

Look at what this babe can do!!!

This HAD to be my potd...

Had to share the latest milestone!!!

Noodle Nonsense...

So tonight dh let the babez enjoy some noodles!

Miss 'c' went from this adorable babe eating a noodle...

to this...

Noodle-strewn bib eating babe...

...to this...
Multi-strand, tongue-maneuvering,  noodle-chomping babe...

to this...

Full on "In-your-face" fist stuffing mouth noodle maniac!
All in a matter of moments.
Oh yeah, Miss 'c' LOVES noodles!