Getting into the swing of things...

Summer is over...well summer "holiday's" are over, and now that we have entered the world of sending a kid to school, we actually can say we DO summer holidays now. It's been a big week for our family, Abby started school, Madison started at the daycare, and Gillian is getting ready to start nursery school. Big, exciting changes that luckily everyone is very excited about.

First there was the obligatory Back to School haircut last week. Took the girls to the "Salon" and they got washed, cut and curled... a very exciting thing for them - they are such rough and tumble girly girls! Curls one minute, rolling in mud the next!

Then came home to play in the yard






(Madison isn't quite ready for haircuts, but won't be long!)

School didn't start for Abby until Tuesday, so Monday we did a quick trip to Valley View Animal Farm... where the kids always have fun:

And then it was time! Time for Abby to move on to the next stage in life... with routines, responsibilities, learning, fun, new friends, and new experiences... Kindergarten!

We are so lucky that our neighbours and babysitter take the same bus.
Someone to watch over her and help her!

And for the other girls.. a few more years to wait. So it's home time with Mommy - which is special too!

The Weekend Update!

I think last weekend was the most popular weekend for going to the sugar shacks around here. You know how boxing day is the most popular day for shopping and Dec 23rd is the busiest day for flying. Well around here some weekend in March is time to sugar shack! Just check out Beth's blog, she went... :)

We went to Domaine L'ange Guardien just north west of Gatineau, and while the grounds are nothing to write home about (or photograph for that matter) the food and atmosphere is GREAT! It's an all you can eat breakfast with everything from french pea soup to pancakes to sugar pie (just in case you didn't get enough sugar with all the syrup and taffy, they have to throw in classic Quebec sugar pie!!).

On Saturday we had our own little sugar shack operation going on at our place. We (Eric) tapped about 6 trees and after two weeks we had enough to boil off. Saturday morning, Eric got up early, set up the fire and boiled for most of the day. His set-up isn't the most efficient, but it's sure is rustic and traditional, giving our homemade maple syrup a unique smoky flavour to it. Very good! Girls loved it, and spent most of the day outside!

Scrapbooking Challenge #14

I'm in the middle of finishing challenge #13 but I thought I would post our next challenge today, in case I don't get to finish it today.

ETA: Finished the page, well almost, I just re-read the challenge and realized I didn't meet the criteria, it was supposed to be 5 images of equal size, oops!! Anyway, I'm just happy I got one done, here is mine for this week:



This week lift the following Creative Inspiration Copy Cat Wednesday, AND post your layout on their site (via Designer Digitals or however way you want!).

Have fun scrapping!

Busy but fun weekend.

This is really just a boring update of our weekend! Nothing too deep or insightful here, just a recap with a few pics to illustrate!

I returned from a good trip to Toronto on Friday. It was quick and I was walking around a lot, but overall good. The conference trade show was interesting, however having to talk to sales reps all day can be very tiring.. it's hard to cut through the sales crap (no offense Richard, you of course never talk crap - you keep it real!). On Saturday night I met up with Richard, Deirdre and Evan (my cousins) for dinner at Sushi Queen. It was very yummy and I ate too much! Afterward I went back to their place to chat, which was nice because I never visit them enough so there is a lot to catch up on! What was really fun was that I got to play with his $8000.00 camera!! Wow, cool. I had dreams about the wicked fast shutter speed that night! 15 RAW files/3 sec or something ridiculous (Richard can correct me if I'm wrong on that, but whatever it's lightening fast!) Too bad they are so pricey!

I returned to Ottawa Friday night to three beautiful smiling faces (Eric was smiling because I could now relieve him and he promptly took off for hockey!!). Saturday morning was Abby's second gymnastics class. We switched to the earlier time, which was full initially, but all the traumatized kids dropped out, leaving space for us!! Yeah, separation anxiety!! It is not only at a better time, but it's also at the same time as her buddy Savanna. So I got to hang out with Phyllis (our daycare provider and her foster Mom) which was fun.

Sunday was packed full of visits, first Eric's cousin Chris, Beth and their kids William and Sophie came for a visit. They also live in Toronto and we rarely see them! William and Abby had a ball raking and jumping into the leaves! Again the pile was taller than either of them, and for a while we couldn't even find William because he was completely buried by the leaves!

Putting the kids to work raking up the leaves.

Suddenly William disappeared!

Gillian looks on in amusement.

Leaf jumping!

After Chris and Beth took off, we got ready to host dinner for our friends Den and Alexei and their children Harrison and Sophie. It was their condo we stayed at in Maine back in July, so it was a very belated thank you dinner for them! We had a yummy roast beef with mashed potatoes and strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert.

After they took off, we basically crashed! Burnt from a fun but busy few days!

Never Say Never....

The rest of the week was busy at work, and a VERY late Wednesday night game... more like Thursday morning, by the time we got off the ice, meant not much blogging this week. Eric also had a golf tourney Thursday with dinner, then his hockey end of season party Friday, so I was on my own with the girls. Thursday night I basically went to bed as the same time as them... fun! Friday I made it a little later, but wasn't really in the mood to write or scrapbook. What I did do however, was have another go at the photo I had tried to scan for my Mum, but couldn't get an image from. I looked at the negative a little closer and noticed that there was some detail in my grandparents faces. So I fiddled with my scanner, adjusted a few things and got this:

So it makes me think what did I do?? But it also makes me think - Never say never when it comes to this stuff, there may always be a possibility!

Today we went to our friends house for a pool party. They had just build a new pool in their backyard, so they invited a group of their friends over, of all ages and had a party! Abby was excited about it. Before her nap she said - I want to go to the pool party, when I get up. So when she got up we packed her backpack, she got her hat and sunglasses on, and then had to wait because Gillian was still sleeping and Eric was at the Yacht club. It was so cute to see her and how excited she was to go. Of course while there, we couldn't get her out of the pool! She went in on three different occasions. By the time we left she was saying "I'm tired...".

I'll download the pool party pictures tomorrow, in the meantime I did this layout from photos I took at the daycare on Friday! More swimming....

Toddlerville and Montreal

So we are STILL living without a washer. After two months of no washer, I'm officially going to loose my mind. Yesterday turned into a not so good day. Abby woke up with a bleeding nose, one that wouldn't stop, she was incredibly cranky and irritable also. The bleeding nose stopped, but the mood didn't. She basically spent the day pushing Gillian around and not listening to me EVER! Since Eric was volunteering at the GRYC, I decided that I couldn't go shopping, but had to go to Mom and Dad's to do our laundry. It takes so long to do one load, so I only got through 1 1/2 loads before I had to go home for the kid's nap. Abby, of course, chose yesterday not to nap, and spent the day screaming, crying and being the toddler from hell. Luckily there was a light at the end of the day, and that was dinner at our friends Leif and Wendy's place. As always we had a wonderful meal, some great wine and a fun with Shamu in their new pool!

Gillian checks out Daddy working the crash
boat at the GRYC Invitational.

Looking for Bender's ball here.

Today we drove to Montreal for my cousin Frank and Christine's son's baptism. I was designated god-mother and hadn't seen them in a while, so it was nice to go and catch up. It was a lot to do in a day - especially with the two girls, but worth it. Although poor little Richard Jr. didn't care so much for the baptism part and did what any toddler would do - scream! But in the end he was baptized, and we got to introduce Abby and Gillian to the rest of the family. I'd like to plan a more civilized visit with the family - one where we don't have to go running out the door because the girls are starting to melt down!

Little Richard (newly baptized) and Abby (un-baptized)
These two are 7 months apart.

The older generation -
(not sure who the gentleman on the left it), then my Dad, My Uncle Peter,
my Mom and Frank (Richard jr.'s dad and from the middle generation.

Gillian checks out her (second) cousins

Richard, Adrienne and Abigail take a juice break

it was hot in the church...
(Dad, Frank, Eric and Christine Denis - the second)

It was a long weekend, not a whole lot of resting and too much rushing from one thing to the next. So we've designated tomorrow a veg out day. We'll go swimming, maybe go for a walk in the woods, but generally just take it easy and not rush anywhere with crazy toddler and baby in hand!