Abigail - by Laurence

....and pictures by the fire, again by Laurence!!!

Portraits of Susie - by Laurence

I gave Laurence my camera for a while and the pictures that follow were all taken by him!!! He got some great pictures and most of them are quite funny!!! :) The children pose for him in quite funny ways!!! :) So they are fairly silly. natural pictures!!!

Chopping wood....

And NOT chopping wood - it took Laurie about an hour - to chop a tiny branch - ok slight exaggeration lol but it did take quite a while and so we were laughing and it was a fun time - Laurie was laughing too - it was a good evening out by the fire!!!!

Playing basketball...

One of the good things about having lots of siblings.....always someone to play basketball with!!!! :)

Sam rides the quad...

This year Sam is big enough to ride the quad on his own - he only rides it round the flat grassy area by the trampoline but he does a great job - we stay by him but we do let him go over to the trampoline and around it and back to us - and he feels sooooo grown up to do this by himself. He can stop it by himself now and start it by himself and is so so proud of himself :)

I guess it's time for him to get a REAL helmet then!!! :)

Fancy Nancy Tea Party....

Today was the day of Abigail's Fancy nancy Tea Party at the library.....she has been crazy about Fancy Nancy for a while now and we have had tickets for the tea party since they were available in June. Today her and her friend 'J' headed off to the party in their dresses and hats/ tiaras....they made necklaces and bracelets, learned fancy words in French....learned fancy dances, had iced tea and cookies and had to drink with their pinkies up and basically spent the whole time being all fancy and French!! Abigail came home with two more Fancy Nancy books to borrow...

It was lovely to see the library filled with little girls all dressed up in pretty party dresses and hats!!! It isn't often these days that girls wear dresses like that - when I was little we always wore dresses like that to birthday parties - but these days girls tend to wear jeans or just anything to parties - party dresses tend to be a thing of the past! Or maybe a special thing for Christmas parties and very little girls!

Work on the treehouse continues.....

There's a great view from up here Mom!!!!

Oh my Gawd this boy knows how to give me an ulcer!!!!!! ;)

slip and slide piccies....

Slip and slide....

On Saturday morning Lloyd and I went out for the morning to get a few things and had coffee out which was nice....then in the afternoon we made the kids a big slip and slide on the sledding hill. It worked out quite well considering we hadn't planned it well and only made it from things we had around the place - then today we went out and bought a giant roll of plastic and so next time we make it we will be READY!!!! :)

The kids had great fun though - we used dish soap and the hose and they went slip sliding down the hill for ages, cooling off in the 32c temperatures or whatever it was we had that day!!! :) We also had the paddling pool in the shade of the side of the house and they cooled off in that too but the slip and slide was the highlight!

I must say I am LOVING the wrap around deck we had built as we ALWAYS have shade at some point during the day and can stay cool all day long somewhere outside.......and I am also LOVING the air conditioning in the house!! It's so nice to enjoy the heat of outside but be able to come inside the cool of the house to cool off - and to be able to sleep at night in a cool house. It makes the enjoyment of Summer so much better :)

I am loving Summer :) I will be so sad when Summer is over! The children get older with every Summer that comes and goes...and they are little for such a short time. I am enjoying this time with them.....it is so fun...

Susie jumping in the paddling pool...

Sprite commercial!

Susannah was making a Sprite commercial....but then Abigail jumped in and started saying that it was also full of sugar and would rot your teeth....so Susie pulled a funny face!!! :)

Odd pretzel!!

Laurence seemed to think this pretzel was very odd and he wanted it photographed so it would not be forgotten!! Hahahaha! I'm not sure if he was worried it would kill him or what and whether he wanted evidence but here you go - the very odd pretzel!!! :)

Summer 09

This picture sums up many a Summer evening relaxing at home for me.......feet up by the fire pit with a bottle of Becks :) Making snakes on a stick (thanks Christie) watching the children roast marshmallows or ride their quads or play on the swings....reading a book, chatting with Lloyd....going for a walk, watching the birds, sitting on the porch, riding the quads late in the evening...walking the dogs......

How do you spend YOUR Summer evenings at home? I hope you're outside making the most of our gorgeous weather because before you know it these LOVELY warm days will be gone and the weather will be too cold to enjoy being outdoors! I know I for one, do not want to spend my life cooped up indoors!!

Susannah and her pig!!!