Spectacle 2010

The end of year spectacle (that's the French word, but it's so fitting in both languages :) ) at the kids' school. Adorable performances, hamburgers and hot dogs and even the in laws coming to watch. I really love this school, small and friendly, it's particularly a good match for little J (who is the one with the orange collar sticking out here, right between his two girlfriends. Heaven help me...)

Award Day

Today was the award ceremony for the Deputy Minister's awards for excellence. It was every bit as overblown as I imagined (feared!)

The recipients followed the marching band through Tunney's Pasture to the Banting Theatre. There was a loooong presentation, which was actually pretty good. We didn't receive our awards individually on stage, the presentation was to the team leader, afterwards we filed past the DM and associate DM and shook hands and took a group shot, then we were given our awards as we filed out to a banquet where I sipped non-alcoholic champagne (with raspberries, very swank ;) )

I got a nice certificate and a super heavy glass trophy.

Seven

My last baby is 7 today. Wow does time fly! He was a wee babe when I started blogging (on a different blog than this one), my earliest entries were about breastfeeding issues and sleep deprivation. How the times have changed! Now he's finishing first grade, reading, making friends. He has a very strong personality this little man of mine, he's opinionated and stubborn but oh so sensitive! He's loving and funny and quirky. He is a complete joy.

Happy birthday little J.

Another year older

and yet no wiser. Yes, my birthday has come around once again. It's not a year that ends with a 0 or a 5, so it's not 'a big one'.

My parents came up for a birthday dinner for me, along with my in-laws, a rare and special treat. They, and the kids, and especially C, spoiled me hugely!

My parents gave me fat quarters of fabric in orange and purple (neglected colours in my stash), cool metallic machine threads and special needles to use with them. Big J gave me a gorgeous fat glass apothecary jar and a Michaels gift card (he does know me well!), the little bits (with some help from papa) gave me a rainbow of summer shirts (much needed) and C gave me a gorgeous 8 gig ipod nano, in the most awesome cobalt-purple colour! I have been coveting one for ages!

On top of that, there was lemon cheesecake. Bliss I tell you, bliss!

Tooolips...

I love living in Ottawa :) Tulip Festival hasn't officially started yet, but everything is in full bloom.

Near the War Memorial

Lilacs 2010

I love lilacs. My parents bought me a pair of little lilacs for my birthday last year, a purple and a white. They're small, but they're thriving, and rewarding me with a handful of small fragrant blooms this year...

After the rain...

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. ~Dolly Parton

Don't like the weather?

Then just wait a minute...

Yup, it snowed last week. This week - it's 29C at 6:45pm. I think Mother Nature has Alzheimer's, she's forgotten what a day in early May should be like...

Go fly a kite

A perfect day for it, windy and balmy and overcast. We went to the big field beside the community centre (too many trees in our yard) and the bits had a blast. Yes, I had to untangle their strings more than once, but that's OK. I did manage to get quite sunburned though, through the clouds. I'll never learn...

Blooming

Our fruit trees are mostly in bloom (the pear isn't quite there yet, but is only a couple of days away from full flower). The smell in that part of the yard is intoxicating, particularly from the plum tree, those blossoms are amazingly fragrant.

Faux Karsh

Inspired by Karsh's iconic pictures of the tulips on Parliament Hill with Parliament looming in the background here are a couple of the tulips in my front yard with a castle of a different sort :)

PQS3

I joined my first quilting swap last year, the placemat quilt swap. It seemed so low pressure and friendly... and I had a blast :) Fast forward - it's now Placemat Quilt Swap 3. And while I haven't *quite* finished the one I'm sending out yet, I received this beauty from Laura in New Brunswick (along with matching pcnic bag and sandwich container full of ymmies!). I am a seriously happy camper :)

Mother Nature is a crazy &*(%&*

April friggin' 27th people! Mother Nature is a crazy bat!

Soccer!

A new season of soccer starts. J-man is loving it. Katie is having way too much fun playing with her little friends to be very involved in the game. And that's ok, this is a fun league, they're getting exercise and enjoying our community :)

A week in the life - day 7

Playing board games together

A week in the life - day 7

I've taken all of the pictures, now I have to work on making them into a story for my scrapbook. C asked me why anyone would want to see pictures of our ordinary life and I told him - I have no idea what my grandparents' day-to-day life was like outside of what I imagine based on Leave it to Beaver re-runs. This is a gift to the future, a glimpse of our very ordinary, but very blessed lives...

A week in the life - day 6

Welcome home!

A week in the life - day 6

Bowling queen

She won a trophy (a big one), best team in their age group. She was some pleased! :)

A week in the life - day 5

Garbage day in our neighbourhood

A week in the life - day 5

A week in the life - day 4

Dinner! C cubed and marinated a beef roast, then grilled it up. Heaven! I ate an obscene amount...

A week in the life - day 4

A week in the life - day 3

Homework - a week in the life, day 3

A week in the life - day 2

Blowing bubbles in the yard on a windy day...

A week in the life - day 1

I'm trying to follow Ali Edwards' 'week in the life' project. I'll share a picture (or two) from what I hope will be hundreds here every day.

Chip truck fries for lunch.

A week in the life - day 1.

Winner!

Gorgeous and much coveted pile of fabric goodness sent to me by the amazingly generous Heather as a blog prize.

Made my MONTH!

2 years

Dear Jodi;

It's been two years. I still think about you every day, though I no longer pick up the phone to call you or write you emails before realizing you can't receive them. I guess I've accepted that you're gone, though I'm still just as heartsick about it as ever.

Miss you

March Break tea party

The bits are off school this week for March Break. I could only afford to take two days off to be with them, but I am well and truly enjoying our time together. Most of the time I really wish I could do that stay at home mom thing. Alas.

Today we had a quiet day, enjoying open windows and sunshine, baking cookies for a little tea party and just spending time together with no pressures...

9-patch quilt top

I dunno - it's supposed to be a generous twin-size quilt - this is it on my queen size bed... and there is still 4 inches of white border to go. I'm not sure if I'll be adding the white border, it might be too big if I do. I think as-is it'll almost touch the floor on a twin...

Baby quilt top

I started this with really very little idea who it would eventually go to. At the time I'd just found out that a friend was expecting his first child, but even now don't know if that baby will be a boy or a girl. I think I was just itching to make a pretty pink frou frou baby quilt :)

Here is the quilt top done. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 here, I didn't notice when assembling the squares that the solid pink has a fairly obvious difference in warp and weft, and when the light hits it right you can see which squares are facing one way and which are facing the other. Oh well, once it's covered with baby barf no one will notice :)

The dark pinky-red swirls came from my mom's LQS, the fairy tale fabric is Alexander Henry Rock-a-bye rhymes, I only had a remnant but I think it works great for these stars!. The pink solid I have no idea about, an old 1/2 yard from my stash.

9 years

This precious little girl has now spent 9 years on this planet. How the time flies!! In many ways it feels like yesterday she was born with a full head of long dark hair, yet I can hardly remember life before her.

Happy birthday my princess!