Tulips 2011

Tulip Fest 2011, Major's Hill Park, Ottawa.

Took a little walk at lunch time to enjoy the sunshine and check out the earliest of the tulips. They definitely did not disappoint! Amazing!

Museum of Nature

Mother's Day trip to the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Mother's Day Mass

This year Katie both sang in the Mother's Day Mass at church, and did a reading. It was awfully sweet. She's an excellent speaker :)

End of year bowling banquet

The kids are done bowling for another year! The banquet was today and both kids scored trophies, Jonah for highest single game among peewee boys, and Katie's team won the bantam division. Nice trophies too :)

I-spy with my little eye...

Princess's i-spy couch/nap quilt, finished. 50 inches square.

Backed with purple minkee dot, what a PITA it is to sew with that stuff, but oh does she love it. Some of my fave HR prints and some spoonflower fabrics in there, along with bits of her old dresses and other novelty charms that I've been collecting for awhile. Next up is one for her little brother, but he HATES the minkee dot, so I'll need to back his with something else (flannel perhaps?)

Jennifer's Quiltie

I joined a quilting block swap on Flickr way back in August 2010 - the 3 x 6 mini bee. The concept is that you commit for 1 quarter at a time (so you can jump in or out as your schedule permits), and each quarter you're paired with 6 other people. You commit to making a block for each of them, but the catch is that all of the blocks you make are identical in design and different in colour. We supply our chosen colours to the group and that's absolutely the only input we have in what we get back.

Anyway I joined knowing that what I wanted to make was a lap/nap quilt for Jennifer. Her favourite colour is purple, and I just don't have a lot of purple in my stash. I knew this would be a great way to get a variety of purples :) I chose purple, grey and white for my colours.

I completed 3 rounds of the bee and made a few extra blocks myself, and was able to deliver for her a sweet VERY PURPLE sampler quilt when we got together in New Hampshire for our yearly scrap, drink and gab session :)



I love it when a plan comes together ;)

Gas

I spent awhile two and a half years ago taking pictures of the gas prices every other day as they plunged ever lower.

Those days are over my friends. This was the gas price tonight in Montreal. Holy cannoli!!!

(You might need to click to make it large enough to read...)

Easter Cuties

They were up just before 6:30 to find everything the bunny left for them. Then we went to 9:00am Mass (oh my but that was early), then out for brunch with grandmaman and grandpapa, then home for a wonderful prime rib dinner.

What a wonderful Easter!

The Diefenbunker

C and I have been wanting to check out the Diefenbunker for a long time. Finally this rainy, quiet Saturday was the perfect time (plus we borrowed the pass from the library, so it was perfect AND free!)

We took a 1 hour guided tour, which was incredibly helpful because we knew squat about the Diefenbunker. Afterwards we spent another hour poking through the self-guided exhibits. Fascinating stuff, moreso because C and I are old enough to remember some of the cold war (there was an air raid siren on the school grounds at my middle school, but that's perhaps a story for another day). The kids enjoyed that the museum is very hands on, and they were encouraged to try dialing a rotary dial phone or pushing the keys of a manual typewriter.

Pretty Binoue

She's such a sweet kitty

Girls Weekend

For the 4th year in a row the girls have come together in New Hampshire at Purity Spring Resort for a long weekend of scrapbooking, chatting, laughing, drinking, eating way too much and shopping.

I look forward to this weekend all year long, it's truly wonderful, I enjoy every aspect of it (OK, I'm not that enamoured with the 6+ hour drive each way, but everything else :) )

And now it's over again for another year. Sigh.

Zombie!!!

Little J and I were playing with photoshop. Spoooooky!

Sugar Bush 2011

Brunch at the sugar bush with Nana and G-Paw, including a horse drawn wagon ride and taffy on snow. I love maple syrup... :)

Birthday crafting

I made water bottle holders to use as loot bags for the guests at Katie's birthday sleepover. I had barely sewn the last strap on when the first guest arrived, so I only managed this kind of crappy photo. The tutorial comes from Pink Chalk Fabric and is super simple. We stuffed them with bubbles and candy, jewellery and mini flashlights and they were a hit.

Fabric Basket Fun

Fabric baskets made from the awesome Pink Penguin tutorial (destined to be gifts for my April retreat-mates - Jennifer, Tina and Louise :) )

The big 1-0

My princess is 10. How did that happen? She's growing into a charming, intelligent, opinionated young woman, someone who I am proud to count as a friend, as well as a daughter.

I love you pretty princess.

My little bits

They just rip my heart right out of my chest :)

V-Day Surprise

We don't usually celebrate Valentine's Day (apart from helping the bits make cards for their classmates) but this year C surprised me with hockey tickets, and good ones, in the 100s, right behind the visitors net.

The return of Chris Kelly to Ottawa after being traded last week. Bittersweet for sure. We lost the game, but it was a great game nonetheless.

Burger!

C's favourite food, home made and dripping with cheese :)

2011-01-20

Swimming lessons... the blur in the centre is little J. We're not actually supposed to take pictures in the pool area, but since you can't make out anyone I'm not too worried.

The pool area is SO HOT. So so so disgustingly over hot. They pride themselves on keeping the pool hot for the seniors who take Aquafitness there during the week, but my goodness it's tough to breathe sitting in there watching (and there's really no other place to sit but there on the deck). Only 7 more weeks...

2011-01-16

First skate on the canal this season. Man it was cold. During the summer I delude myself into thinking I'm a half decent skater, but the first time on the blades each winter reminds me that I'm actually quite terrible :)

2011-01-15

Family twosome bowling tournament. Thank goodness the kids are decent bowlers because their parents sure weren't today!

2011-01-14

New mittens, a gift from Mary. I drove Jeff nutty by staging puppet shows over the cube wall with them... Friday fun :)

2011-01-12

I have literally dozens of things on my to-do list, but tonight instead of tackling any of them my little guy and I sat down and put together a 250 piece puzzle.

2011-01-11

Kids eat free on Tuesdays :)

2011-01-09

Chili that's been bubbling away in the crock pot all day, with a dollop of sour cream and a chunk of home made bread.

This is the life :)

2011-01-08

The joy of a Canadian winter... the bits enjoying their first skate of the year on a friend's amazing backyard rink.

2011-01-07

My little fashionista modelling a cute outfit she received for Christmas from her aunties... and mismatched socks. She's one of a kind, that girl :)