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!!!

My little Lloyd....

This was Sam after his bath last night and I just had to post it because in this picture, to me, I think he looks soooooo much like Lloyd did when he was a little boy. It's funny in some ways that I knew Lloyd when he was a little boy because there are moments when I look at Abigail or Sam and it's JUST like looking at Lloyd all those years ago!!! Especially in Summer with freckles and a sun-kissed face!!

loving this.....

.....Sitting by the fire pit while I blog.......on a gorgeous, warm summers evening :)

I can see dark clouds roling in though and I'm hoping we may get a storm - or at least some rain - it's so dry!!! we need rain!!

The girls are riding their quad bikes and Lloyd and Laurie are working on the tree house. I'm relaxing here, enjoying the chance to catch up with my blog and maybe some Emails and facebook if I have time!!

Lloyd worked from home today, my cleaning ladies came this morning and this afternoon the girls had their classes at the library and each took a friend with them. Susannahs class was a dance class and Abigails was the Fancy Nancy tea party which she just LOVED! I will post a picture of her and her friend in their 'fancy best' heading off to the tea party later!!

Horse show at Amberlea Meadows......

Yesterday morning before the berry picking, we headed over to Amberlea Meadows, to check out the Western Canadian Miniature Horse Show.....Amberlea Meadows always has free admission to their stables for the public - and it's a chance to have a wander round...see the horses, feed them treats and just get up close with the horses and riders for the girls - which of course they love right now because they are so horse obsessed!! There is a cafe there too which does great food and drinks :)

It's not far off of Hwy 2 just north of the airport if you ever want to check out a friendly stable!!! :)

Susannahs art journal.....

This is Susannah's art journal that she made last week while I was working on mine...I think she did a great job!!! I love the colours she used and the little gem stones she added down the edge!!! She is going to do some music pages as well as some every-day art journaling pages!!! I love it!!!!

Abigail has also been busy in hers!!! :) Abigail collects things to stick in hers when we are out and about - I love that she is thinking about hers during the day - she is very like me in that way and I can see her using journals as she gets older!!!

Sams flowers

Yesterday Sam and Susannah were out and about together and they came back and gave me a bouquet of wild flowers they had collected from our land. Sam handed them to me and it was just the sweetest thing EVER :) I was so grateful that I had my camera with me (I was snapping pictures of the treehouse developments) that I was able to catch the moment on camera :)

Using up the Saskatoon berries we picked!!

When we got home we put the berries to good use by making a compote to have with scones and cream!!! Mmmmmm we had this at A Taste of Edmonton too :) Saskatoon berry compote Mmmmmmmm

Today Lloyd made smoothies for the kids too :)

Saskatoon Berries are a superfruit as they are so high in nutrients!!! :)

A fun Summer Sunday....

More from the U-pick farm!!!