floored

Look what Dave and I did this morning!! It's finally time to do the hardwood flooring, so he tore carpet, lifted staples, and I swept and vacuumed up every itty bitty particle of dust. The bits under the entertainment center and the computer desk (on the right), and the hallway (to the left) will be done another day. This was enough for a few hours work this morning, before Dave had to go to work, and I had other things to do. I guess other then laundry and the bathroom .. my weekly cleaning day got postponed.
This weekend, the hardwood gets layed! Ahhhhh!

baby, it's cold outside!

Making a mark on my mental calendar. Snow on March 28, 2008.
The girls were overjoyed first thing this morning, when they could scoop up handfuls off the car and eat it. (Jodene, yes we have cookies in Canada .. lol .. but because we live where snow isn't the 'norm', they eat handfuls of it .. particularly the youngest one)

See, she's forming it into a ball, so she can take a nice BIG bite! Sick!
And this little fawn strolled into the back, earlier today, looking for food I'm guessing. It chose to sniff the snow, rather then nibble on the grass lining the fence. Silly deerie. Losing the winter hair makes them look so ugly, and we also thought from it's relaxed stance (more so then the picture shows) that it was injured .. it just stared at us wondering what that black thing in my hand clicking away was. Then as it moved along, we noticed it was fine .. no crippling injuries .. just cold hoofies.

some kinda spring

Having over a week off school (with Easter nestled in there somewhere) with nothing but unpredictable cold weather .. we found ourselves having to do something to salvage it. On Monday we decided to do a little geocaching, despite the on and off again sunshine, wicked wind, and spitting rain. Our adventures led us down by the ocean (which was even COLDER, with the wind whipping off the frigid salty waters), but for as long as we could endure it, we soaked in every breath. The girls right away got to playing. The water had washed away little pockets here and there in the overly large rock formations, and the girls thought they made a great place to play house. With seafood as their nourishment, they played. I gazed out into the sea and giggled as I watched a seagull try to take flight, only to be whipped down and submerged under the water. I'm a horrible person for giggling .. but seagulls are NOT my favourite bird.

We got our fresh air and exercise that day!

finished

Sort of finished .. sans the chairs and the canvas art up on the wall above the desk on the right. But things are put away, neat and tidy, and the best thing is I have room to grow and expand! But I say that very quietly for fear Dave hear that. heehee

yitl #'s 11 &12

Suzanne gave us the words #11 - spring, and #12 - time .. and this is what I created in my brand new scrapping space. My scanning and cropping leave something to be desired, but I created, and for that I'm happy!

happy easter!

we dyed some eggs, ate some prechocolate goodies, had a wee egg hunt, snuggled the new girlie, had family time .. and NOW .. bring on the turkey dinner, the baskets of chocolate, the new spring clothes, the, the, the ...

Happy Easter to each and everyone of you. Enjoy your special family time!

ahhh .. spring at last!

Every year, I surprise myself by how much I actually LOVE this season. I always thought summer and fall were my favourite seasons, but after a long winter of rain, snow, overcast skies, damp coldness .. wow is it ever nice to see the new buds and blooms, the bright sunshine, the warmer rains, and hear the returning birds singing their little hearts out. It brings with it, hope for much warmer weather .. wiping the slate clean and starting fresh with the greenery, the colourful flowers and all the new little creatures.
I could literally climb up onto the roof top, at this time of the year, (and I'm petrified of heights so this would be a big deal) and sing at the top of my lungs .. it's so WONDERFUL to have spring here at last!

cousins

The girls got to meet their brand new little cousin, Anina, today. They soaked in every moment of the time she spent in their warm arms .. and gazed at her gorgeous and serene beauty. And upon returning home, their first question was "can we visit again tomorrow?" heehee.

We made matching t's for the girls and a onesie for the babe .. using fabric paint. The girls wore theirs to visit the baby today, and we can't wait for when she's big enough to wear hers too!

wordless wednesday

bird(s) on a wire

where the fun will happen

I'm extremely lucky to have come into having a crafty room FINALLY. It took alot to get to this point that you see here in the pictures .. and as you can tell by the heaps of scrapbooking stuff, there's alot left to do yet. Since taking these pictures, another desk was added under the window, and the third matching shelving unit has been placed beside the others too. That was Dave's grandma's entertainment unit, and we inherited it after she passed. We used it in our livingroom as a bookshelf/entertainment unit until just before C-Mas when we decided to downsize to something smaller, to make the room look bigger. I'm excited I get to use ALL three parts for albums/books/scrapbooking supplies, and a little displaying as well.

Once I'm finished decorating walls and finding the perfect drapery, I'll share more pictures.

happy patty!

Happy St. Patty's Day!! We're not Irish, and don't normally do anything in honour of the day except for wear green to school/for the day. Today, we're at the start of spring break, so no wearing green to school, but Dave WILL be getting his Guinness. And that has nothing to do with it being St Patty's Day either .. he just needs an excuse.

I made up a batch of playdough to occupy the girls while I slaved over moving my scrapbooking corner up to my new craft room. It just happened to accidentally be green. But I couldn't think of a more perfect day to play with green playdough .. can you?

growing family

Remember this little bump? She made her grand entrance into the world, this morning at 11:25am. Her name is Anina Diane, and boy are her parents super proud of her already. She's a little dolly, and we're THRILLED to have another little girlie in the family. She's extra special, because not only do they live in the very same town as us (unlike our other 23 nieces and nephews), but I had the utmost privledge of watching her be born. It wasn't a planned thing .. it just happened that things sped along quite quickly and before I knew it, I was being dubbed photographer. I couldn't have been more honoured, as the tears proved, to witness the birth of such a little miracle. She sure looks like her daddy (seems those genes run strong .. as our girls look alot like their daddy too).

Welcome to the world, Anina! You've already found a safe place in our hearts. :)

some new layouts

#'s 1,2 and 4 were based on sketches by Jodene (a scrapbooking buddy) for the 123-Scrap's 4th birthday party that's currently on the go. At least I had access to her sketches early, because I'm finding very little time to scrap this weekend. *harumph!* BUT, on the bright side .. we have our new hardwood floor sitting IN our home. Just have to wait until it's the right time to install it.
(meaning, Dave has a list of the order in which we're renovating things .. and the livingroom flooring is not the next in line, but the wood was on sale. blonde birch .. mmmmm!)

can you guess??

Can you guess what Dave and I did this morning? Yep .. that's plastic covering EVERY LITTLE ITEM in this house! This isn't even a portion of what I had to cover. There's the kitchen, the computer/craft corner of the livingroom, then upstairs and both bedrooms. Luckily the craft room was empty already .. so no covering things other then a desk in there. Next is craft room walls, so we can set up shop in there, and then the girls room and our room. Paint is bought and waiting for all three rooms. We've picked out the colours for the living room/hall/kitchen/dining (which other then the feature wall, will all be a very nice toasty almond colour), but need to commit to them and purchase the paint. Tomorrow we're going out for new light fixtures .. yippee!

So until we get around to the livingroom .. this is what I'll be looking at. Frosting topped walls. heh.

Oh and if it couldn't get any better .. there's also an online crop going on this weekend at 123-Scrap! If you're in need of some inspiration, and interested in joining in for fun, challenges, prizes, and wacky chats .. hop on over there. I'm participating in posting a challenge here and there, and am hosting tomorrow's 7am chat. So yeah .. can you see Dave chose the perfect weekend to get all gungho with the reno's?? Yeah, me too! *sigh* It's bitter sweet I tell ya!

biker babe

Dave and Hailey

yitl #10

This week's theme is GARDEN, and here's my card (front and back).

27 years later ...

This is me, a whole five years old and flower girl in one of my older brother's wedding. Somewhere around this age is the turning point to my platinum blonde hair. I have photos of me the next year, and already it has turned a light brown (more like Alissa's colour), but although I do have a post all about hair colour .. this one's not it. Lets focus on the adorable YELLOW dress I'm wearing. I remember the August day was cool, and I kept my arms nicely tucked up under the built on poncho, to keep them warm. But that's all I remember of the day. I kept that dress, through all our travels and moves .. and still have it hanging in the hall closet with other special dresses (graduation, wedding gown, matron of honour x3), and when my girls were around the same age as I .. for kicks they tried it on.

Hailey (@5), the same age as I was .. same platinum blonde hair too! And Alissa (@3), just a tad little in the dress, yet I so would have had either of them wear it, if it hadn't been so out of style. Maybe one of them will want to keep it for their daughter, and perhaps THEN it will finally be back in style. 27 years later .. three little girls, one dress .. :)

(photos of the girls .. circa oct, 2005)