June 12 -14 - Busy Weekend

June 12 - Ugly shirt self portrait
On Saturday night we attended a ugly shirt party. I dug out this shirt that I made in grade eight with my best friend Dawn. We had matching hats too. What were we thinking? This shirt is horrible. I cant seem to let myself throw it out - but I have retired it to being my hair dye shirt. Anyways, my ugly shirt did win me the prize of the night - dinner for two - a box of Kraft Dinner. Too funny. We had a good time, but as soon as I got home, off came the shirt. Enough ugly for one night.
June 14 -
I finally got out the invites to the Little Man's pirate party. I am very happy with the way they turned out. Charlie was so excited to drop them off at his friends houses. We have a few more to drop off tonight.

June 13 & 14 - And She's Off!!

The Kids is on her way to Quebec today with the school. She will be gone for 4 days. I know, not long, but it's the longest and farthest away she has been from home. I am sure she will do fine. At least I am pretty sure she will do fine. She tends to have a low bullshit tolerance - and that makes me worried that she will stress herself out instead of enjoy the experience.

I knew that I would not be able to drop her off myself with out making a public embarrassment of our family. I did have a bit - okay a big cry on Sunday night. After all the lists were checked, the clothes, ipod, camera, books for the bus, deck of cards, bathing suit, umbrella, emergency first aid kit, emergency rain poncho....it hit me she was going. The Kid would have to take care of herself if there was a problem, I could give her the tools, but she had to be the one to utilize them. Its what we do as parents, teach your children, so they can be independent. And if the goal is independence, then what then is my role as mother. My role as mother is to be ready and interested to hear all about her adventures. To be a soft spot in the world to land, to give encouragement or advice when needed. My role is to step back and watch her grow.

So I am watching her grow. It used to be that I would look at her and see traces of the baby she once was, and now, I look at her and catch glimpses of the woman she will become. If I look hard enough there is still evidence of my little girl, just check out Winston, her teddy bear packed in her bag.

June 9 - 11

June 9 - Beat it
For real. I get me a little sad for my hubby because he doesn't have time for his hobby, drumming. If and when Hubby gets free time it is usually after the kids are in bed - not the ideal time for banging out a beat. poor guy.
June 10 - Funky Fungi
We have had so much rain in the last few days, that these Funky Fun Guys showed up on an old stump in the back yard.

June 11 - Suck it up Buttercup

Okay so I realize that it is not a buttercup, but the colour is right. The day lilies are so much happier since I removed some of the huge hostas from my garden, ( which, I just learned are another type of lily.) -now the lilies and cone flowers have room to stretch out and grow.

June 4 - 8

June 4 - Hope
My sister in law participated in the Relay for Life on Friday. We went to cheer her on and watch the opening ceremonies. The weather man called for thunderstorms and rain. Just after the Survivors Lap, the sun tried to break through the clouds. It gave me a sense of Hope, not just for the night, but for all those fighting cancer. Inspirational.
SIL's team "The Wonder Women" won best costume, and was the second highest fundraisers. Way to go!! I am so proud of these "Wonder Women"





June 5 - Pirate Booty
The boys went to the stock car races on Saturday night, The Kid was at a sleepover, so I had the night all to myself to work on the Little Man's party decorations. ARRGH!



June 6 - Crusty Dusty Bottles

June 6 -Rockin' Robin

The baby robins are growing- almost the size of their parents now. I wonder if you could call them teenagers?

June 8- Side Gate

One of my favorite things to do is to drive around the neighbourhood and hunt for junk. I spotted this gate at the side of the road and knew right away it would be perfect for the side of the house. Hubby had to make some alterations to it -( I think it may have been a headboard for a single bed at one time) but I think it adds charm to my least favorite part of my house exterior. I am looking forward to the next big junk garbage day to find my next project.

May 31 - June 3 - Life is Pretty Good

June 3 - Feel the Rain

"Reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it,
Release your inhibitions - Feel the rain on your skin,
no one else can feel it for you.
Only you can let it in" - Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten

June 2 - Life is a bowl full of cherries...

Yup, and at $10.00 a bag enjoy them to the fullest, before they rot.

June 1 - Welcome to the Jungle

When I was taking this picture of the boy's toy story Lego I couldn't help thinking of Ernie from Sesame Street, looking down into his flower box at the Doodle Bugs.

May 31 - Peony

The worker ants did their job and ate away at the outer part of the peony bud, now the flower is free to bloom. I would love to cut these and put them on my table, but every time I do, I end up with a house full of ants. I will just enjoy the image.

My 365's this week look pretty optimistic - kinda a mirror to how I am feeling. I am taking care of the crapped out knee and going to physio, planning a birthday party for the little man ( arrgh, a pirate theme! ) and I finished planting the vegetable garden. This weekend brings a return to the Saturday morning coffee date, and some much needed house keeping. Looking forward to some nesting.

365's From Camping

May 29 - New Friends May 30- Day vs. Night - (okay not quite May 30th, more like afternoon/evening May 29th. I didn't get a 365 for May 30th with rushing around to get camp closed up, and when we got home we invited Gramma up for dinner. These are fun anyways and I am happy I did not have to cut them.)

First Camping Trip Of 2010

us

the Kid and her Daddy

The boys found some caterpillars

Papa Skadoodle and his puppy Freddie came along

The spring weather in our area has been so unseasonably hot, that we were able to go on our first camping trip of the year almost 3 weeks earlier than we have before. I have to say, that all the running around, the packing, the extra laundry was well worth it. Camping forces us to slow down, unplug and connect in a way that we don't do at home.

best brothers ever

the Kid with Freddie, in a quiet moment

Tug of war with the little men.

Home sweet home - counting this one as my 365.

Ugh, still more catching up to do

May 25 - didn't get around to my 365 today, this is a picture from Mother's Day @ the zoo. Self Portrait Thursday - May 27

May 26- Worker Ants -

May 24 - a great end to the long weekend.

Mom invited us to her place for a BBQ on the Monday of the long weekend. Mom's friend Paul was the chef cooking up burgers, onion rings and fries. Hubby had pulled out a steak for the night before, but got "called out" just before dinner. He brought it to Mom's and finally got to eat his steak that he had been dreaming of for days. This is a picture of Mom and her cousin Pat. I really like cousin Pat, she is warm, interesting, and interested. The kind of person who doesn't pass judgement on anyone she comes across. Great Lady. I had a very relaxing time. A nice way to top off a busy weekend. My sweet boys- best of buds, fresh out of the hot tub.
I love the contrast of the hydro lines and the weeds in this one.

One of the things that The Kid always likes to do at Gramma's place, is go for a walk in the field.

This picture of the poppy and the iris is one of my new favorite pictures.

Has It Been That Long?

Wow, has it been that long? I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. Here are some recent 365's.


May 23 - Fireworks
May 21 - Sassy self portrait

May 20 - Contemplation

May 19 - Legacy

365 Project - may 16-19

May 18 - Apples and Oranges May 17 - Make a Wish

May 16 - Papa's New Puppy

May 15 - First Campfire of the Year

Hubby was on call this weekend, and my brother in law was on a boy's fishing trip, so my sister in law and I decided to have a slumber party with the kids. Such a good time. We had movies, campfire, pancakes for breakfast and just plain silliness. I think we have a new tradition.

May 14- Stuck in the Dungeon

Every home has a spot, where the junk collects. Ours is the laundry room, probably because it is the room that has access to the crawl space. Which if you are wondering, is a mess too. I've been wanting to clean house, so to speak and get rid of what we don't need or love and organize/ pare down on what we have, so today I had a "free day" to spend in the Dungeon slaving away. One of the items that I have decided I don't need is my smiley face balloon I bought for myself as a birthday present. He is not looking so happy now, in fact rather deflated. He should go. But he brought me such joy....and you see the problem. In the end, I did get rid of a HUGE pile of stuff, but Mr. Smiley is going to stay - just for awhile longer.

May 13 - Thursday Self Portrait

Okay, so maybe I'm more of a Roseanne than a June Cleaver, or maybe I'm neither. Maybe I am me and I need to stop comparing myself to the TV moms. Life is so much more complicated than a 30 minute sitcom, or even 1 hour drama for that matter. Maybe I need to just work on being me - warts and all.

May 12 - Morning Mist

May 11 - Goodbye Bling!

Today The Kid got her braces off! I convinced her to do a before and after. I think this may be one of maybe three pictures of her with her braces.
and TaDa!

(growing up too fast, where does the time go?)

May 10 - Communication Breakdown