Tuesday, February 26, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!!!



GUESS WHO'S 6 TODAY???

i can't believe how fast time is flying by and how big the kids are getting right before my eyes!

this day 6 years ago this squishy wiggly little 8lb 8oz baby was placed in my arms to love for the rest of my life...

and now he is in KINDERGARTEN, can count to 150, knows how to SIDE GLIDE at swimming lessons, is an expert WEBKINZ player on the computer, and counts his TOONIES by two's!!!

he makes me smile, he makes me laugh and he is the sweetest little guy in the whole world and I LOVE HIM SO!!!!




Saturday, February 23, 2008

busy...

...yesterday courtney had her dance exams so i thought i'd share a few photos of her wearing her National costume for the LAST TIME!! she got this costume when she was about 5 1/2 years old and even though it's gone through several 'letting down the hem' jobs, it has come time to admit that it is getting too small for her ever growing little body!!!! we have a NEW nationals costume that i'll share with you the first time she wears it...but for now here's goodbye to this one....how else would i go out with a bang ( me being me and all ) without a photo shoot???




...we will find out next week at dance lessons her results from her exams, but she feels she did well and was happy with her dancing...that's good for me!
below is courtney and kelsey...they both started dancing sept. 2002 together, had their first lesson together and still have their lessons together, and the rest as they say is history!! they have become good dance friends through the years and are always side - by - side through everything! however, it wasn't until i saw this photo i took yesterday that i realized....
1 ) either courtney has done some major growing ( which is true )
OR
2 ) kelsey is shrinking!!! just kidding....i always tell her to just say that " dynomite comes in small packages"....
:O)
...and this is the rest of courtney's dance pals!! she has her saturday workshops with them ( missing one here ) and they are all just a great bunch of talented kids!!
Lookin' good girls!!!!


today was another busy day....and lots of fun!!! a great relaxer from yesterday's stress!! haha!
I took courtney out for a 'mom and me' day today and we went to the MTS Centre to see the High School Musical on ice tour show!!! WOW!!! it was spectacular and so well done!! we really, really enjoyed their perfomance and would definately recommend it to anyone!
several years ago i took courtney to Disney's Toy Story on ice tour as well and it too was nothing but superb...Disney will be laughing all the way to the bank for the rest of their lives! sooooo awesome!!
here's just a few shots from this afternoon's show....




..after the show we went our for a little frech onion soup and shared veggie quesadilla at The Elephant and Castle and courtney ordered a root beer....
LOOK at how it was delivered to her!!! LOL...she had some fun swiggin' this bottle back and acting so cool.....for the most part...


Thanks for such a fun 'girls day' courtney!!!
:O)










Thursday, February 21, 2008

lunar eclipse...and beef tenderloin ( filet mignon )!!


....soooooo....
with last night being the last lunar eclipse ( when the moon travels into earth's shadow and is hidden from the sunlight ) until 2010, i decided to let courtney stay up late last night to watch its progression!! late as in 10:30pm...YIKES...on a school night!!!
tyler was excited too because he had the best seat in the house because it was right out his bedroom window...
i made several trips outside once the eclipse began to try and take some photos...DANG was that a freezing cold task....thank goodness for tripods, ya know?
here's the best of 'em...
9:00pm


9:40pm

10:05pm

10:15pm


10:45pm

...and then by 11pm it was all back to a full moon!!!
pretty cool actually! hope you took time to see it for yourselves! I have checked out just a few of the hundreds of different websites out there to see telescopic photos of the eclipse, pretty cool!!
...AND...
i made a beef tenderloin roast for dinner last night and i was soooo proud of myself as i had never done this kind of fancy / expensive roast before so i took extra care in it's preparation and it was so well worth it! we all like our steak done medium and i thought this was pretty close to perfectly done! had to share my excitement!!! mmmm, mmmmm was it good!!
...what's cooking for your dinner tonight???
:O)





Wednesday, February 20, 2008

feb.29 guest teacher class...and soup!!

R U ready???
had to share a quick picture of our warm 'n yummy cream of brocolli soup the kids and i had today...( they also got grilled cheese sandwiches ) man, did that HIT THE SPOT on a cold winter's day!!!

anyway.....
this is the project that the lovely and very talented
THELMA FINDLAY
will be teaching as my guest on friday, feb.29 at my house!
6pm - midnite
I have only 6 spots left available so you better register ASAP before this awesome class fills up!!
it is a wooden picture frame / shadow box in which the glass slides out the side to reveal a hidden accordian album inside the box!! soooooo awesome!! You will need to bring your basics ( paper trimmer, adhesives, scissors and BLING...)
and you will need to bring SEVEN 4 x 6 photos for the project in total.
get inspired and try printing your photos in black and white! you will choose what colors you want to paint with and cardstock color as well!!






ADDED:
Class Fee is $20 and will include your basic supplies...shadow box, use of paints, cardstock sheets, some embellishments and ribbon!!! And of course as with all classes, a half time yummy snack, coffee and tea!!!

...I've had some more registrations for Gimli Getaway, Gone Scrappin' weekend getaway in April...so you know what that means...
MORE PRIZES!!!!
( for more info on the Gimli Getaway, please email at
better get going...
off to the pool for the SECOND time today...LOL!
:O)






weekend catch up!!

...okay..i know i've been a bad blogger this week! we were really, really busy!!!
last friday i had a pizza party crop at home and actually got 3 layouts done!!! i used older photographs that were just sitting alone in my newly altered photo box so away i went!!
...this one is with a photo of courtney's very first chirstmas dance concert in 2002...just over 4 years old ( she's 9 now...)

...and this one of my grandparents is from a photo shoot i did of them in february 2000!!! told you they were older photos i dug out!! i've always LOVED this one!!

...for anyone who knows tyler well enough, they would know that tyler LOVES toonies!!! love = obsesss = wants them all!!! my mom gave each of the kids $10 with their valentine's treats and tyler almost fell of the floor in excitement when he opened his card from her!! it took a while to calm him down!! LOL!!!


...and my grandma got into the card making spirit with the kids this year and was helping them both make their family valentines together!! and as you can see, she also made her own valentine's as well!! she gave each of the kids a 50 pence coin and mike and i a 2 pound coin to add to our scottish currency collection for our trip!! the kids were thrilled to show off their 'scotland money'!!!!!! thanks Nana!!! hugs!!!

...grandma liz and papa ken also mailed us all valentines and tucked in $5 in the kids' cards...they eagerly added it to their scotland piggy banks...what ever happened to a chocolate heart and card for valentine's day?? man, kids are spoiled these days!!! hahahahaha!!!
on saturday courntey had her first Premier dance competition at the Convention Centre. It was also her first Championships competition too....there were a bunch of kids there from accross canada, mostly alberta, and they came and kids our winnpeg kids' butts!!! we weren't prepared to win anything as this was a huge and extremely tough competition, but courtney still won a medal in her highland fling dance and we were happy with that!! we are soooooo proud of her and all her hard work!! good job kiddo!!

...this is all the kids who placed in her class at the compeition, courtney is in blue at the end on the left!!!
( her friend kelsey is two over from her!! and good job to kelsey as well!! )


...i will be posting later this afternoon again as well as i have photographs to share with you for my surprise guest teacher for the feb. 29 mystery class!!!
stay warm everyone!!
:O)







Thursday, February 14, 2008

Love, Love, Love...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
last night we had a little 'valentine factory' happening in our kitchen! the kids were busy finishing up their cards for their classmates and teachers, while i baked, iced and sprinkled 48 low fat banana muffins for at school today! oh, and lets not for get 44 goodies bags for school as well!! I just LOVE valentine's day...it must be all that PINK!!




...this is the kids this Valentine's morning...
to their surprise they each got a new Webkinz pet!!
tyler named his new bunny 'Fluffy'....

...and courtney's new pet love frog hasn't got a name as of yet....

i have to work tonight, and despite how freakin' cold out it is, it's still Valentine's Day so i think that we will still be pretty busy.
WHAT ARE YOUR VALENTINE'S DAY PLANS?
:O)





Sunday, February 10, 2008

CCRRRAAASSSHHHHH!!!

...courtney and i had a little 'excitement' today...
after her dance lesson this morning, we were leaving to come home from her dance teachers house and just got to the end of chancellor drive and were stopped at a red light at the intersection at pembina hwy.
we were second from the front to go. perhaps a blessing today?
the light turned to our flashing green arrow to go ahead and turn onto pembina hwy and all of a sudden this car travelling north on pembina ran her red light and crashed into the vehicle in front of me right in the middle of the intersection and also hitting yet another car going south the other direction!!! it was an elderly lady driving by herself that ran the red light and hit the two cars. for some reason, the driver of the vehicle in front of us, the first one hit, just kinda swerved after being hit, then paused and then TOOK OFF!!!! ( no license? no insurance? man i wish i would have gotten that license plate...oh well, got a description of the car...) ...and the lady who caused the accident was then spun around and hit the second card ( an SUV ) going south in the other lane!!! WOW! I of course stopped in the middle of the intersection ( like everyone else ) until all the commotion settled and like in slow motion being right in the middle, i looked out to my right and saw this little old lady in her smashed up car, even though it was 100% her fault, she was in a mess...and then looked to my left and saw in disbelief as the first hit car just kept going south down pembina!!!! OMG!!! what is the matter with people??? I could have gone after the other car to get their license plate, as i'm sure that would have helped...but my instincts directed me to get to the lady in her car...
as i drove up right beside her, i could see she was conscious and no head injuries, i asked her if she could drive her car straight ahead into the Mr. Transmission parking lot ( aobut 25m in front of her ) and she said she could....i followed her in and got her to park her shattered mess of a car beside the building out of the way. i calmly told courtney 'do not get out of the van' and ran out to help the lady. a first scan of her miraculously ensured me that she had no life threatening injuries and she said she felt okay, just a little shook up...A LITTLE? i tried to open her driver's side door and it was jammed shut. i asked again if she was okay and then proceeded to quickly call 911 to report the accident. ( thank goodness for cell phones....never been so happy to have it with me ) while i was talking to the police a few more vehicles pulled in to help out. one of them being the driver ( a young lady ) of the SUV that was also hit. her back end of her vehicle was all smashed up and her knee was injured. Man, it was crazy!! the fire dept. and a police car where there within 4 minutes of my call. another witness and myself pryed open the older ladies jammed door and got her out. i walked her over to my van ( where courtney was glued to the window ) and sat her in the passenger seat to keep warm until help arrived! She is 73 years old, was on her way to visit her very ill husband at the Victoria Hospital, and i guess she was preoccupied in her thoughts and worry because she didn't even know she had ran the red light...
"I caused all this" she sobbed to me....heartbreaking really. I am just glad that once everything got all cleaned up and looked after that no one was badly injured. When i was on the phone with 911 less than 2 mins. after the accident, i gave them a description of the other car that was hit and left the scene. no plate number. just all i saw and which direction it was heading....i hope they found that driver.
the old ladies car was a wreck. both air bags had inflated. the windsheild on the passenger side had a whole the size of a ten pin bowling ball in it and was all cracked and smashed in pieces. the whole front end was totally smashed and lying in pieces all over pembina hwy...and the drivers door and front quarter panel were just smashed in....it is really a miracle that this little old lady walked out without a scratch on her head. she only said that her chest hurt a little from the impact of the air bag from the steering wheel.
WOW...one of God's miracles in action. it could have been so much worse and to think that all that i saw happened in like 10 seconds!!!
i hope everything works out for the best for her. i doubt she will get her driver's license anymore, and at 73 years old, maybe that's for the better....you know, after all my involvement and trying to offer her what comfort i could, i didn't even know her name? the paramedic's asked me to ask how old she was, but i never even got her name.
the police were taking her in their car to the hospital to have her examined and then to make a report. before they took her she came over and thanked me for "saving her life' and hugged me!!
i told her that it wasn't me who saved her life, but i believe with all my heart that SOMEBODY else surely did!!!
...that being lifted off my chest before i go to work now...i thought i'd shard just a couple pictures i recently took after a little 'VALENTINE' candy changing in our house...
i bought myself thse beautiful pink roses the other day...i saw them and they just looked so bright and cheerful, had to get them!! ( well, and of course they're pink...how could i not? )
{ GIGGLE }


thank you to all the ladies who came out for another fun hall crop friday night! i always appreciate your support and fun company!!!

Mike and I went for a drive yesterday afternoon out to Gimli to drop off some paperwork, check out the conference room for the getaway weekend ( SWEEEEET!!! ) and put up some posters in town for some crafty scrappin' gimli residents who may also want to attend with us and play!!!
hope so...
we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner in town before coming back home and it was nice to have some time alone for a bit and be able to chat and catch up on our household, activities, plans and each other!!!
life always seems so busy...make sure you take time to
'smell the roses'!!!!
:O)



Saturday, February 2, 2008

February Mini Kit Add On

...JUST ADDED...
February Add On / Mini Kit
includes:
1 12 x 12 bazzill textured cardstock in Bottle Glass
3 sheets edged patterned papers in Noteworthy by Making Memories
1 30 page spiral bound notebook in Noteworthy by Making Memories
1 yd. white cotton ribbon
...this all co-ordinates beautifully with the Feb. NOTEWORTHY kit!! ( following post for details )
Add On / Mini Kit SELL PRICE $12 plus pst.
(while quantities last )


...last night i went out with my mom and friends lori and thelma to a hall crop ( lora leigh's ) and got a few layouts done for courntey's PIRATE PARTY we had at home for her a year and a half ago....SEE??? i am always behind in my own scrapbooking....( too many pictures to blame...)
anyway, i made this first layout soon after her party with every intention of making her a special pirate album with her photos...then time was lost and last night i found myself in catch up mode...i still have many layouts to complete to add to the album, but here's to a wee start!!!
{ GIGGLE }



...after organizing all my photos the other day, i feel totally inspired to 'get things done'...but i must remind myself that there's only so many hours in the day and to take it one day at a time...
so, YOU TOO share my own advice ( in everything you do ) so you enjoy your days without overwhelming pressure and just do what you can and call it a day!!!
enjoy all your many blessings!!!
:O)