This years candy stash......

Chris and Laurie are sleeping over at friends this year so I don't have pictures of them or their stash from trick or treating - in fact Chris is at a party so isn't going trick or treating at all....but here are the pictures of the younger three! When we got home we sorted out all the gum and got rid of that (not allowed in this house) and then threw everything into one big box. Chips and juice boxes are for school. Candy is shared out amongst them and LIMITED for a few days and then I put some away in the freezer for decorating cookies/ gingerbread houses and the rest gets put in the garbage. Some gets sent to the UK......some is used for family movie nights/ games nights.

What do you do with yours? With 5 children we tend to get a lot - Laurence will be out for hours and will come home with a crazy amount :( they get carried away. We didn't stay out long tonight - not as long as last year.

Ok I'm sleepy now finally...Lloyd is watching Ghostbusters with Sam who is still awake amazingly....weird because he didn't have much candy at all - we didn't let him have hardly any because it was evening - Sam doesn't do well with candy so we limit it after a certain time - he can have some in the morning! But still, he's excited because of the fun of the day :) He's enjoying the movie too :) I remember going to see this movie - the teachers were on strike and my WHOLE class packed the cinema out and the staff at the cinema kept coming to tell us off and it was so much fun! OMG I remember it like it was yesterday :) I remember planning that in French class.......in the language lab!!! Louise????? Do you remember that????

Goodnight everyone - I hope you had a wonderful Halloween 2008!!!!!! Didn't it come around again so fast?????

Trick or Treating at the Mall 2008!!!!

And Lloyd dressed up as a.....Funeral Director ;)

Hahahahahaha ;)

Lloyd bought this coat several weeks ago...I think they saw him coming....actually it doesn't look too bad in these pictures but looks can be deceiving lol! Most of the time I think it just looks out of place and he looks like a funeral director - so maybe thats why he looks ok out on Halloween at the mall hahahahahaha!!! I think he looks gorgeous in his suits....its just the coat I don't like....but he likes it and thats what matters....he wears it t work and downtown.....and I tease him about it if he wears it around me.....I just tell him he should be walking in front of a hearse..... ;)

Edwards relative??????

This guy was outside a store at the mall tonight and I thought it was a cute way to get people to give blood so I snapped a picture ;)

Happy Halloween :)

Gggggrrrr

I have made and thrown away 14 Edward Cullen ATC's....I finally have two to send off - today is the last day to send them. I am not happy with them but they will have to do. I can't be bothered to make any more - I am moving on!

Is it any wonder my Daughter has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and is a perfectionist?????????? ;) Ha!!!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

*original author unknown -

SARAH PALIN: Before it got to the other side, I shot the chicken, cleaned and dressed it, and had chicken burgers for lunch.

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART:No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash or need to be rebooted.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

My Little Dirtbike Rider...

Sams Halloween costume 2008......

Apple Bobbing

On Wednesday Abigails friend came back after school and we had lots of Halloween treats and did crafts and games. One of the games was 'apple bobbing. The children took it in turns to bob for apples (in a clean bowl of water for all you germaphobes lol) .

After supper we then took Abigail and her friend into town to a party at the library called the 'Monster Bash'. I bought the tickets for this in August!!!! I remember when I bought them, that the party seemed so far away - I can't believe how fast it arrived!! They had so much fun, made a lollipop ghost, had three stories, played with a parachute, got treat bags, made spiders........fun fun fun!!

Our squirrel.......getting cheekier ;)

Our little squirrel friend is getting braver - the workmen keep having to chase it out of their trucks now and it spends its days on the porch getting the bird nuts and seeds :)

Very cute!!!! :)

(EDITED TO ADD) I don't know how anyone can be TORN as to their feelings towards these CUTE little critters lol....they're so smart and sweet and funny and cheeky....

Ok just HAD to add this after reading a certain something froma certain someone HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Wednesdays sunset.....

If only.....

Grayson watching our squirrel through the window......he would LOVE to catch it......YUM :) but there is no way I'd let him :)

We enjoyed watching the squirrel munching the bird nuts and seeds on the porch though!

Sams Megatron!

Sam built this Megatron Transformer all by himself out of his bricks a couple of days ago and I was soooooo impressed that I just HAD to take a picture :) He has been building Transformers for a while now - he makes Bumblebee and Megatron and says they are him and Daddy and he plays with them for ages.........

My Tuesday.....sinks, hospital and coffee with friends

Yesterday was a busy day. Lloyd took the day off and we headed over to West Edmonton to pick up our new kitchen sinks, taps and pot filler for the new kitchen. They all look really nice and I can't wait to see them all in place! I seem to have a collection of sinks now....as we also have the new one for the downstairs bathroom which isn't in yet!

After that we had to head to the Stollery hospital which is the Childrens hospital in Edmonton at the University. there is soooo much construction going on around there so they recommended we get there early due to lack of parking. Luckily we weren't in the actual Stollery building - we were in the adult Neurology building in the Aberhart Centre and they had plenty of parking outside so we were fine :) We were there so early but they saw us straight away - good job too because the assessment took AGES!!!!! The doctor was WONDERFUL!!! OMG couldn't have hoped for anyone better with Abigail - he was fairly young but so great. They did a physical assessment as well as asking a million questions about Abigails day to day life, my history, Lloyds history, Abigails school day, home life.....just about everything!

Then we had to wait for the Consultant! We left around 2:30pm...tired!! Ran to Safeway. Lloyd wanted a burger so we ran to McD's for dinner. It was yucky. I had a hamburger and diet coke. Gave my fries to Lloyd. Yuck. Got home in time to get the kids something to eat and get Abigail to dance and then I headed into town to meet Samantha for coffee.

Samantha and I were supposed to see a movie but there wasn't a movie either of us had really wanted to see and its cheap night so it gets really busy...not my favourite night to go - in fact I HATE going cheap night - I'd rather spend the extra $5 and go on a quiet night. Anyway I kind of didn't want to go so I suggested we just meet for coffee and chat instead - thankfully Samantha agreed! So we sat in Starbucks all evening (until they kicked us out when they closed lol) and chatted and laughed the night away....then we headed back to Samanthas house and met our friend Lori and we chatted until just before midnight. It was a really nice evening.....just catching up. I think Samantha would still have preferred to go to a movie but I think Lori liked just chatting more and i know I did! But then to me a movie is ok if it's a movie you really want to see but I get together with friends to be with my friends and talk with them and you can't talk in a movie.....

I got home and everyone was asleep...Lloyd rolled over and mumbled hello and asked if I was ok....and when I woke up this morning there was a note on my cup of coffee saying he had missed me last night :) so thats nice :) He's out tomorrow night :( and tonight we have to take Abigail to party....Halloween week is a busy week!

Yes today I have a friend of Abigails coming back after school for the afternoon and then I'm taking them to a Monster Bash party at the library.....I have some Halloween crafts and games planned for after school before we go. I thought they'd enjoy that.

Tomorrow Sam has his Halloween party at Pre-K. They get to go Trick or Treating all around Millennium Place :) I might stay there with my camera and get some pictures :)

Superwoman

An old song....but it used to be a favourite of mine and something reminded me of it recently. Play it and listen to the lyrics :)

Lloyds idea of a joke!

Lloyd was holding my camera while I went to get my cup of tea this afternoon and he snapped a load of pictures of me walking back towards him....ha bloody ha! I was cursing him!!! It was freezing cold outside with a windchill of -11c!!!!! I couldn't find my lovely warm scarf so I had on Susies turquoise one and my lovely (lol) blue hat (remember Monica I said I have ONE hat that fits my big head and its blue so it doesn't go with any of my coats except my blue winter coat - well this is that very hat lol) anyway I am sooooo NOT a hat person but it was cold so I had my hat on and Susies scarf and I didn't care what I looked like because I was at home and no one sees me at home.......and then Lloyd thought it was fun to snap pictures of me ;)

Getting revenge for me taking pictures of him while he was sleeping lol!

;)

I realised this morning that Lloyd and I have been together almost 8 years....it doesn't seem possible! Its flown by! It really shocked me!! Of course when I said this to Lloyd he was quick to say that it doesn't shock him at all.......because its been eight long years of HELL!!!! ;)

OMG I married my Father lol...just the kind of thing my Dad would say - he always says about how long he's been married.....'almost fifty years...you get less than that for murder'!!!! ;)

Amber girl!!

And here is Rosies big Sister, Amber! Amber is completely different to Rosie! Hard to get a picture of! She refuses to pose for the camera. She does NOT like to play fetch. She likes to catch a scent and then run after the scent. She likes to run on and see whats around and doesn't like to walk slowly with us......where as Rosie will walk with us all the way. Amber is very slender where as Rosie is chubby.Ambers coat is silky and smooth and doesn't mat at all like Rosies. It's easy to groom and keep tidy. Amber doesn't swim.

Rosie Posie...

Today was as good a day as any to take my camera with me and the dogs! It was sunny with blue skies and the awful wind we've had the last week had finally gone! This is my Rosie girl! She carried her ball the whole way for Lloyd to throw and kick for her :) She LOVES to play fetch!

For Dianne and Dad :)

I know, I know......I haven't been taking as many pictures of the other animals....I'm sorry! I will try to do something about that! Here is a picture of Charlie that I took on Friday!

Charlie is doing good......the workmen adore her - Tim especially I think. They used to park their trucks on the side where the workshop is and she would stay over there near them...but now they have moved everything over to the side near the pond and the beehive.....so Charlie,too, has moved - and she spends her day over there with them - keeping an eye on them ;) Really though its because she likes company - she just likes to be near people! The guys think its funnny that she has followed them over!

She now has a woodburning fireplace in the workshop and yesterday two new garage doors were fitted to the workshop - so she is nice and warm and secure in there now :).

I will add more pictures of the other animals this week - remind me to take my camera on some of the dog walks this week - I tend not to because my hands get cold.

Oh and on Friday when I took my camera out, a wasp got between my hand and the camera and stung the palm of my hand and its still annoyingly sore and itchy :( there are still so many wasps everywhere :(

Our squirrel friend! Caught!!!

Susie spotted our squirrel on the porch today and called me to get the camera! I couldn't see it so came back inside only for Laurence to say it was back again! I saw it run down by the workmens trailer and all the cedar shingles! Finally - our funny little squirrel who appears every now and then and seems to be living in our side woods, is caught on camera!!! It obviously likes the bird nuts from the feeder :) We'll have to get a squirrel feeder and nuts for him now!!! :)

Sleepy.....

I was reading last night in bed but couldn't resist creeping out of bed and taking a picture of Lloyd and sam asleep snuggled up. They looked cute in the glow of my bedside lamp. Its driving me nuts having Sam in bed with us when he is almost 4 (because of Chris being in his room because of the renovations) and I will be so glad when Chris moves back to his own room and Sam can go in his own room...but there are things I will miss - and this is one of them - as well as having Sam snuggled into me in the mornings like a hot water bottle after Lloyd has gone to work!

Watercolour ATC's

These atc's are for a watercolour atc swap at swap-bot. They are both going to 1 partner so I have called them 'Great Oaks From Little Acorns Grow'. This weekend I have also worked on Christmas and Winter act's for a swap I am doing with Tess and Stacey - but because they both read my blog I can't post pictures yet!!! :)

Edward Cullen swap!!

This is a package I got for being in an Edward Cullen swap at Swap-bot!! I love the note that came with it :) I couldn't agree more :)

Staceys first Artist Trading Cards.........

On Friday, Stacey - from the 'Mollys People' blog (link to right) came over for the afternoon with her children so that I could snap a few Fall pictures of them. I know I for one had a lovely afternoon of chatting, tea and hot chocolate, walking in the woods and enjoying holding Kylies teeny tiny hand!!! It makes Sams hand feel ENORMOUS!!!! You forget quite how little they are when they're two!!! 4 hours flew by!! They met Charlie the pig (Taylors face when he met her was quite a picture lol! And luckily Abigail was home from school so she had a wonderful time playing with Kylie with playdoh and painting.....

Anyway, While visiting, Stacey gave me an envelope and inside were her very FIRST ATC's!!!! I feel HONOURED to receive these!! thanks so much Stacey!!! And I especially cherish the one of Molly!!! Molly is Staceys little dog and some of you may remember that I fell in love with Molly the night of Staceys Stampin-Up party when I made the Christmas Cards - I don't normally like little dogs, but I really liked Molly who was a sweetheart!

I've only posted pictures of these two cards because I will save the others to post when I get Tess's swap cards and then I'll post al the Winter and Christmas swap atc's at the same time :)

Halloween party night.....

Tonight the girls have gone to their school Halloween party night - a week early for some strange reason. I guess because many people go trick or treating on the actual night. The children didn't have school today either so I guess that gave the school time to decorate and get organised. Laurence spent all week saying he didn't want a costume and didn't want t go because the Jr High kids said it was babyish and not worth going to. Tonight he is sulking because all his friends are going and he doesn't have a costume. So I suggest costumes we have in the costume box and he isn't interested so his friends offer him costumes and he plans to go with them and now he can't get in touch with them because it's too late.....and now he's tired from his sleepover last night and sulking because he isn't out having fun! I'd happily take him but he's too busy sulking!

We bought Abigail a purple and black witch costume because on the packet it looked so cute - but when she put it on it was awful - it looked like something a paedophile would design!!!!! OMG so she didn't wear that - instead we got the dress up box out and she wore this rapunzel dress as a 'nice witch' instead! I had no body glitter so I rubbed red stickles on their skin lol! Oh scrapbooking supplies come in handy sometimes ;) I told them if they come out in a rash they should find a bathroom and wash it off quickly lol!

Susannah is an 'Evil Fairy' and her wings have black cobwebs on them....I made her wand.....a dowel and black felt hot glued and then decorated again with stickles lol!

Lots to blog about!!

I am going to blog all out of order the next little while!!! I want to blog about Stacey and her atc's, her children, postcards, the renovations, Oliver, my Nan, Halloween.....and so its all going to be out of order lol! And none of it is in order of preference - just in order of how the pictures are coming off the camera - and that tends to be back to front lol!

Painted atc's

Here are some atc's I received in the 'painted atc' swap at Swapbot. These came from Erna in South Africa. Erna is an artist and an art teacher! She actually contacted me on Facebook! Aren't these atc's exquisite? I plan to frame them and put them on the wall as they are miniature portraits in watercolour!

Grrrrr wind!

I've been awake since 4am! Our bedroom was full of smoke! No idea why - I assumed Lloyd had lit the fire in the workshop but he hadn't last night! So we checked the house and garage and everything and our place is fine - we couldn't see where the smoke was coming from so assume someone has a fire going and the wind outside was blowing it in this direction. The smell was so strong. We always sleep with a window open but we closed the window and the smell went. But the wind is so strong outside.

Anyway I was wide awake - so many things going through my mind......couldn't get back to sleep and before i knew it Lloyds alarm was going off so I suggested he had coffee with me. Now Laurence is awake and I can hear him having breakfast downstairs. The girls are still asleep.

Last night I went out for dinner with my friend Tess - we had a quick look around the new used book store near Scrapbook Memories, before heading to Eastside Marios (Joey Tomatoes had a 25 minute wait sadly) but thats ok because ESM's is Tess's favourite! We had a lovely evening and Tess even managed to get a head massage by some guy walking by (hahahaha)

I think I TERRIFIED Tess with my driving (and parking) skills lol and she can probably now quite see why I don't attend her crop nights lol...this is nothing new to Val of course who frequently sees my bad driving......Tess kindly offered to follow me home - and most people know how far I live away from town :) but I don't mind highway driving - its in town I hate driving!!! it's all the turning and signals and everything - the highways are easy!!! Once I hit Hwy 14 it was EASY :) you just have to keep an eye out for moose and deer then :)

Anyway, thank you Tess for a lovely evening! Lets repeat again SOON!!!

Anyone size 12 or 14 petite?

I have pants...practically brand new.....mainly Reitmans jeans.....in size 12 and 14 petite. Are they of use to anyone? I didn't wear them for very long at all........a few times only.

Free to a good home in the Edmonton area...or heading to the thrift store......

Let me know!

Crazy 8's

8 TV Shows I love to watch:

Little People Big World
So Graham Norton
sorry I don't watch much tv lol!


8 Favorite Restaurants:

Joey Tomato's Med Grill
Joeys Global
La Ronde
Ruths Chris
Wok Box
Milestones
New Asian Village
Blue plate diner

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

The wind took my breath away
Lloyd told me I looked cute in my pj's
I read in the bath
I ate melon and strawberries while reading at MP
I took Sam to Pre-K
I cleaned the toilets
Sams shoe fell off as we walked out the door of MP
The phoneline got fixed

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

the weekend
my new kitchen
moving away from here to somewhere friendlier
Oliver arriving
Lloyd retiring
Spring
this year ending
dinner tonight!

8 Things On My WishList:
Only Lloyd knows what is on my wishlist ;)

8 Friends I'm Tagging:
whoever wants to!

Wednesday.....

So Wednesday is here.....yesterday I was out chatting with the workmen...Denis was telling me his wife is sick. (his name is French so you don't pronounce the S) She is a migraine sufferer too and is on Maxalt like me.....she was in hospital on Friday and he had to leave early because of it.....not good :( PVC or something which is worrying but she is a nurse and was at work which is a VERY good thing as she was in the right place! So we were talking about migraines etc.......I was telling them about how I often call them all the names under the sun when I have a migraine and they are banging about outside lol! They were laughing and making jokes......It was sooo windy out yesterday 70km winds.

Sam had pre-k yesterday and while he was there I had to go and get the groceries that we couldn't get on Monday night. Stupidstore had quite a bit missing Monday night. So I ran to Costco and Save-On (because I couldn't be bothered to go far). I don't like shopping in stores I don't know though and found I was zig-zagging all around the store to find things. I bought Chris two bags of White Rabbit candies (not that he really deserves them lol) only to find out they've been recalled because of the melamine scares in China...sigh....and he's taken them to school today :( so Lloyd has texted him to tell him to quit eating them.......oops! They're his favourite candy! He won't be happy :(

Oh and when Sam walked into Pre-K yesterday the first thing he told his teacher was that he had 'moved into Moms bedroom'....OMG!!!! His teacher looked at me with a puzzled yet interested look! Lol! I laughed and told her things were chaotic at home....and then once I had settled Sam in class I did explain that my husband was STILL in the bedroom with me and that having a three year old in the room was the better choice over a moody 15 year old joining us lol - because Chris had moved into Sams room for a while during the renovations!!! Once she understood that, all was well ;) Oh and Sams other teacher has also read the Twilight books - this leads Lloyd to believe that every woman on the planet has read these books lol - but like I say, every sensible woman on the planet has read them ;) hahahahaha ;)

The girls had dance last night - Tuesday is STRESS night - dance and library (the mobile library is outside of dance classes and it used to be fine as the girls classes were at the same time but THIS year Susies class is after Abigails class so we are running backwards and forwards all evening and its annoying :( We take Abby then go to the library with Susie then come home. Susie gets ready we go and take her and get Abby, take Abby to the library and Sam, then come home. Then go back later for Susie....in between we do lunches, tidy up after dinner...do Abigails reading and anything else that needs doing......and if anyone else wants to go to the library they can....probably doesn't sound THAT stressful to most people but I don't DO stress well - and we choose NOT to do running about after activities etc so for me this is STRESS! Still the girls love it and its just once a week and they like the library too :) After that I soaked in the bath and read Eclipse and then got in bed and read while Lloyd snuggled next to me and watched Iron Man that I surprised him with yesterday.

Tonight I am out for dinner with Tess! Yay!

Phone line!

We have a phone line again :)

Pre-K Homework!

Sam with his homework from pre-k! He has to cut out and stick on a pumpkin to his calendar each day in October and then take it back to school on the last day in October. I took this picture this morning!

Horse atc's...

ATC's for a horse swap at swap-bot...