Day One.

Lloyd went back to work after Christmas today so last week didn't really count as our routine was messed although we did do a few things:

Abigail did some work in her 'Language Power' book.
She wrote a story about a character named Emma who wanted a horse.
We went swimming for two hours on Tuesday and to the indoor playground while Sam was at Pre-K.
We went to the Royal Alberta Museum on Wednesday.
Abigail wrote thank you letters t her Grandparents and received a reply from Grandma Thorpe.
Lloyd came back from England and brought back food and English money for Abigail to try/ look at.

Anyway, today we started our new routine. Abigail finished some worksheets left over from her classwork in school. I figured she may as well finish them. They were to do with long vowel sounds. Writing sentences using long 'o' words and then thinking of 4 words for each long vowel. She did very well.

She then started her daily journal and had to write five sentences about her week. She had to use full stops and capital letters and use her word wall folder to check her spellings.

She did really well! She also supervised Sams 'schoolwork' which was cutting from his new book 'I can cut' - a HUGE book of pages of dotted lines just for cutting - he LOVES to cut :) so she was telling him what to do! She kept an eye on him while I got my chores done and they finished there school work at the table. Then I checked what they were doing in between my jobs.

After their 'work' they did a craft at the table before playing, having lunch and watching a movie.

Tomorrow we have running on the track and swimming again if the roads are ok - it's been snowing all day today so I guess we will wait and see! Abigail also has dance class tomorrow night. Wednesday we have friends coming over for the afternoon and if the weather is good enough we plan to go sledding with them :) Thursday we have swimming again! Friday we may head to the library!! And each morning will be Language power, written work and I need to find her math program so she can work on that! Maybe dig out MathUSee again! See if she likes that!

I finally filled in her registration package though today as I was procrastinating over that!

And so the new year begins.....

.....finally!!

Lloyd has finally gone back to work today after Christmas and new year. delayed because of his trip to England for his Grandads funeral and his days off to get over the traveling. Last week I couldn't get anything done because of having Lloyd home, Sams birthday etc etc.

Today we start! New year. New routine. School work for Abigail. Pre School work for Sam. Decluttering and organizing for me.

I think I have 6 guys here today instead of the usual 2. Andy (the boss) will be here with the Inspector for a while, as well as the electrician and plumber I believe......

Blegh....and I didn't sleep well. New pillows and I didn't like them so I threw them on the floor and slept without one :( which wasn't much better :( now I'm really tired!

Happy New Year!

Tweens.

I forgot to say that yesterday I took Susannah and her friend to the mall. Lloyd was having his hair done with Abigail and I had to run some errands there (Lloyd had broken his glasses his glasses so I had to get those fixed, post some letters, buy a lunch box for Lloyd etc etc) so while I did all of that, Susannahs friend form the sleepover came with us and then we dropped her home afterwards before heading back out of town.

Susannah is getting to that age where she is just about old enough to go off to a few stores on her own for a while. She's almost 11 and while I won't let her go shopping on her own yet as an 'activity' with friends, I did let them go off to a few stores together while I was busy.

I'm really glad that we don't live in town cose enough to the mall so that Susie will be hanging out there regularly as she gets older. I don't mind it being a 'sometimes' thing but not an almost daily or even weekly thing like some girls do. In many ways I'm still glad we live out where we live. For a few more years at least (if we stay here). Just because these days girls are soooooo materialistic and sooooo into fashion and labels and everything - all the 'meangirls' stuff. And everything else that goes on in groups of girls/ teens.

Yesterday was fun though. We stopped at the food court for a while for a drink and they ran into a few friends. Even Abby ran into a friend after she'd had her hair done so she was thrilled :)

Silence

The house is silent. Everyone and everything is sleeping but me. I have so much I should do before I go to sleep but I'm just too too tired. My to do list did not get done.

Ah well, tomorrow is another day ;)

goodnight!

It's there somewhere..

Lloyd out clearing some of the driveway...not a job he enjoys in the cold and snow and wind :(

We are sooooo done with Alberta.....hurry up recession...we want to be living in Atlanta!!!!!!

Abigails new haircut...

Samsam...

Sunday morning...

....and the weather has changed again. It's snowing a lot again :( so much for hoping for Spring :(

Lloyd and Abigail have their hair appointments today that were postponed from Friday. We have to go and collect the girls from their friends house where they slept over last night. They always have fun there. It's great for Abby to see her friend too, especially now she's homeschooling again.

The rest of my day will be spent sorting out and planning for Abigails school work for the next few weeks....last week we didn't really do anything because Lloyd came home and messed our routine up and everything was up in the air....nothing ever gets done when Daddy is home!!! So apart from the trip to the museum and going swimming, not much was done - Abigail wrote a story one day and played on the computer quite a bit, but thats about all! I know learning takes place all the time but I do like her to do some constructive 'school work'.....

Lloyd goes back to work tomorrow. I'm sad and will miss him but I'm also looking forward t getting back to normal - my year ca begin! Our new routine can finally get under way. I have plans!

I will just be glad when the kitchen is finished so I finally have this place to myself - as nice as Denis and Tim are, I don't like having people here every day, and from tomorrow I will have electricians and plumbers here too.....all the wiring in the addition starts tomorrow for the puck lights in the ceiling etc etc....

5-2+1=4

Saturday night..have you seen the moon? Isn't it gorgeous this evening? Even before it got dark, it was big and full and low in the sky. We were over on Calgary Trail and the moon was just above the skyline. Huge and round and so, so bright! Bewitching!

The weather today here in Edmonton was (SHOCK) above freezing!!!!!!! It was sooooo nice to go out and NOT be cold! We had the car window open for a while and had fresh air :) Is it too much to hope that this is the start of Spring?????? (ok ok I KNOW thats too much to hope for...sigh.....

I hope you all had a good Saturday. Mine was actually LOVELY. My gorgeous GORGEOUS husband took me out for a wonderfully long lunch at Joeys Global www.joeysmedgrill.com/aboutus where I drank far too much wine (the Red Rooster which is actually a white wine and was totally yummy) and we stayed for dessert too. I had the banana nut chocolate pudding with whisky sauce :) - INCREDIBLE as usual!! We spent the afternoon out running a few errands together and enjoying our child-free time together, catching up after his time away last week.

This evening Susannah and Abigail are sleeping over at their friends house in town, which means we are two-less children tonight. Except Laurence has a friend sleeping over HERE tonight, so we have one extra here, so that makes 4! Chris didn't want to invite anyone over......

Tonight we're planning to watch a movie, while the boys all hang out downstairs with all the snacks and treats we got for them...

I hope you're having a fun weekend - whatever you're up to - wherever you are!! :)

Renovation blog updated.....

I updated our renovations blog witha few pictures, and will update it a little bit more tomorrow too.

home-renos.blogspot.com/

Today it's some indoor pictures, and tomorrow I will update with some pictures of what the work guys have been up to! We have a pony wall in the sunroom and a window in my kitchen!!! Woohoo (I know, I know, the silliest things get me excited...but do you have any CLUE how long I have waited for those windows???????????)

Sams Birthday trucks!

Sam couldn't wait to build his dump truck and digger with Daddy when we got back from Vals house today....I'm not sure who was more excited...the 4 year old kid or the 35 year old kid ;)

Cats new cozy home....

The cats new bed and play house in the mudroom.....

Saying goodbye to a friend :(

We had a lovely morning at Vals this morning but it was tinged with a lot of sadness.....it was (more than likely) the last time we will see her little guy 'I'.....as he leaves next week to be with his 'forever family' and be adopted. He has been fostered by Val ever since we have known her and so to us he has just been her little guy and part of her family.....we said goodbye today and I gave him a hug (he's two and has absolutely NO clue what is happening) but to be honest I don't think even I can quite register the fact that in future when we visit or when we see Val, he won't be there......he's just always there.....always just a part of our get togethers and to think that he won't be in future doesn't seem to make much sense..... :( I guess it will just take time to get used to the idea......Ok enough depressing sadness.... yes Val - lots of scrapbooking time for us :) we can look on the bright side - and I have my scrapbooking island to utilise soon too - if its ever finished...sigh......

I had a lovely morning at Vals - thank you so much Val for coffee - and brunch! Val graciously agreed NOT to count how many mini quiches I ate - Mmmmm they were good! Sam and 'I' played with these mini vacuum toys and watched (kind of lol) Fraggle Rock....(urgh and now I have said that name I have the stupid theme tune playing in my head - thanks Val)!!!!

Val and 'I' kindly gave Sam a birthday gift - which I will post pictures of in the next post! Lets just say it was a HUGE hit with Sam and his Daddy!!! Val picked well :) I think she knows Sam very well indeed :) Or maybe she knows my husband well hahahaha!

While I was at Vals, Lloyd and Abigail were supposed to get their hair cut, but the salon called while they were on their way to town, to cancel their appointments - they had had a water main burst and had the salon flood - so all appointments were cancelled. They have to go on Sunday instead! Abigail was so disappointed! Instead they went to the pet store and bought the new bed for the cats - we are fed up with the cats sleeping all over the place in the mud room - on shoes and coats and hats - so we wanted a special bed thing for them - the store in Sherwood Park wanted a crazy price for theirs so Lloyd went to the big store in Edmonton and luckily found one similar for half the price!!!! The cats love it already and are using it!!! We have three cats and they are outside cats when it is warm enough - but when it gets very cold they sleep in the mudroom. Our only indoor cat is Grayson who we rescued last year. The other two cats are our outside cats. They are supposed to be barn cats but we spoil them. Even though our 'barn/ workshop' has a woodburning fireplace in it!!!

And so I think I'm decided....

And Lloyd has won again.....I liked the Panasonic Lumix or something or other....but Lloyd suggested I get the Nikon D40 and a lens so that I can use my other lenses with it and then I have two SLR's and won't be frustrated by the slowness of the camera and missing smiles and shots etc and I'll be able to use my macro lens on it etc....

When we go to Elk Island Park I can have two lenses on two bodies and not have to keep switching lenses on one camera body.

I can have an slr here at home the whole time my camera is in for a service.

There is only $100 difference between the two including the lens. Thats $100 between an slr WITH a lens that can be used with ALL my Nikon lenses - and a point and shoot - that can't change lenses and only has an 18x lens. As nice as it is, it IS just a point and shoot.

I really did like it, but I think Lloyd is right - I WOULD get frustrated by the speed, the ability.......by the inability to change lenses...it will be nice to have two camera bodies....

On a sad note....my Nikon has to go in for at LEAST 8 weeks service and is going to cost a fortune......all the lenses need to be serviced too....sigh.......

Anyone listen to EZ Rock???

The guy who phoned in about his wife leaving him....she lost all her weight after gastric bypass surgery and then left him because she felt she could find someone better.....he was heartbroken because he reeeeeally loved her.....

I think they are calling him 'Sam'....

Lloyd and I are both wondering if his real name is 'John'.......

Anyone else???????