Happy Birthday Sam!!!

We are celebrating sams birthday today while everyone is home....although
we will have the cake tomorrow! But Sam opened his gifts this morning - including the one from Grandma and Grandad which you can see he loved! And there is a picture of him with Aunty Clares card too!

Now we are off to the zoo :)

Have a great day everyone!

Saturday stuff......

We were out for quite a while today....we went to have a look at hardwood for the floors in the new extension...I think we've found the one we like. We wanted wide plank flooring but sadly they don't recommend it here because its so dry here and the wood contracts and expands too much :( But this wood is 3 1/4 inch width so thats not too bad.

I ordered Sammys cake - couldn't decide whether to make my own in the shape of a John Deere or whether to order one - so had a look in the catalog and they do a fab Construction site cake so we went for that :)

After the grocery store we stopped by the prize house in the Big Brothers - Big Sisters House lottery..it's worth 1.25 million!!! I LOVED the bathroom off the master bedroom -omg!!! to die for!!! HUGE shower - I swear you could fit SEVERAL people in that shower lol - and I loved that the bath is in between the his and hers sinks! If we win the house we'll sell it, but we will keep some of the furnishings - in fact there is a painting in the house that Samantha would LOVE!!! So if we win she gets her picture ;)

I apologise to whoever winds because Sam was banging around on the piano before we could grab him lol! I THINK it's still working ;)

Anyway, tickets are for sale for the lottery - $25 each, 4 for $60 or 10 for $100. For such a great cause. The house is in Fountain Creek in Sherwood Park and is definitely worth visiting if you like to look around showhomes! Sam tried to climb into the master bath - funny little guy was shouting 'I'm just gonna try it out.....I love it!'

The island in the kitchen was big - about 8' so when Lloyd says ours is going to be 14' I was like OMG that is HUGE!!!!!! It's hard to get my head around what our new kitchen is going to look like!

I got the new nuts and seeds for the birds today which I'm glad about! I love the wild bird store!!

Now I am off to soak in the bath before watching 'Notes on a Scandal' which is a Judi Dench movie that I have wanted to say for AGES!!!! I think Judi Dench (DAME Judi Dench) is such a wonderful actress! Have a great evening everyone!

Two sunsets from 2008

A few pictures of two recent sunsets...including tonights firey sky!

Webkinz...

A lot of people don't like webkinz, but I have to say that the webkinz I bought the girls are probably one of the biggest hits of Christmas!

Susannah and Abigail had never heard of them before Christmas Day and thought they were just given cuddly toys (which they loved anyway) but when I explained what they were they thought it sounded great.

Lets just say the girls have spent a lot of time together on webkinz.com and both are THRILLED with it. So am I! Basically their cuddly animals (Susie has a racoon and Abigail has a horse) came with a special code each. They get to go to the website and register their animal for adoption....they can take their animal to the online vet...they can earn virtual 'kinzcash' which they can use to 'buy' clothing, accessories and toys for their virtual pet...they can make friends with other animals and their owners online....Susannahs racoon was given 'pet of the month' which she loved. There is an arcade room where they can play games and earn cash etc etc - they can mine for gems for their crowns.....

I love watching the girls working together on it and helping each other....and I can't believe how Abigails computer, reading and math skills have improved....it's GREAT!!!

What kind of fool.....

Buys TWO tablecloths and gets home excited to put them on the table only to realise they have a zipper and hole and are actually designed for outside tables that have parasols?????

Yep...that would be me - my duh! moment of the day lol! I don't think Lloyd will ever let me live this down lol - but he was with me when we bought them too lol!

Too funny!

Susannah says I can just add a table arrangement in the centre to cover the hole ;)

I love these cheap plasticy covers because they are great for the kids to do arts and crafts on and the table doesn't get scratched and they are wipe clean!

Friday night

So last night wasn't too bad. We had the fire outside and it was so warm. The girls had soooo much fun sledding in the dark....I went down a few times - including one time with Sam and we ended up going backwards in the dark FAST lol - sooooo much fun :)

The kids all made their hot dogs and marshmallows etc etc...and fed Charlie all the left over buns....

The boys stayed up until late playing Poker, Risk etc etc and went out for a walk at some point too......I think they were all gone by 11:30pm except for Andrew who stayed over and so did Melissa....Laurie got home around 10:30pm...

This morning has been relaxing...we made pancakes and had coffee and now Lloyd and I are taking Sam over to Toys R Us to choose some birthday gifts.....Sam wants a 'big,small car or truck'...but really we think we will get him a big truck, a scooter and maybe a dvd....we are celebrating his birthday tomorrow when everyone is home.

I want to go snowshoeing later too.

We are going to look at flooring today - and maybe kitchen cupboards - we want wide plank flooring in a rustic kind of look ideally.

I also have to run to the Wild Bird store to get some more peanuts and sunflower seeds.....

Tara is putting in an offer on the house near us today! And I am hoping to hear from Samantha as to whether they have viewed the house next door yet!

I'm not sure what to do about a birthday cake for Sam yet - whether to make a digger or order a cake...

have to go!!

Friday...

Its been a busy chaotic day but actually not too bad.....not as bad as I had thought - so far we have only had 7 kids here - the next lot arrive at 6:30pm...but Lauries friends couldn't come so he had one friend here for a few hours this afternoon and when one buy gets dropped off in half an hour, then Laurie is going back to their house with his younger brother for the evening....

I think thats what's happening....

Lloyd is conveniently late home from work (lol) but is stopping at Safeway on his way to grab some soup etc etc.

I took Abigail and Sam for a walk this afternoon as the weather was so gorgeous! We came back via the mail box where we got two parcels woohoo! One of them was Lauries book I had ordered for him - the latest in the series he reads (Alex Rider). He opened it and was THRILLED...and tried to show his friend why he was so thrilled - and his friends said he wasn't interested because he 'isn't a reader'..........I don't think any of Lauries friends like to read. Laurence LOVES to read - every night he reads before he goes to sleep - says he can't go to sleep without a book! He's in the midst of reading about 4 right now! And spent the last hour or so reading through his 'Dangerous Book for Boys' which is FAB!

Susannahs been having fun with her friend - dressing up, playing on webkinz...I played some games with them....they did the jelly beans/ chopsticks thing.....and they are waiting for Lloyd to get home and light the fire so they can go sledding and roast marshmallows etc!

Well, Lloyd just walked through the door!

Byeeeeee

My Thursday...

So I didn't get my sewing machine out today....maybe at the weekend - not sure it will be safe with so many kids here tomorrow!

Chris ended up staying home today, so after dropping the others at the party, I came home and we went out for lunch! We then went to buy snow boots for Chris (none in his size) and then we came home - planned his movie for tomorrow - he's doing a French movie that is based around a fashion shoot....so he's using my studio lighting......my camera and the dress up box and they are going to have a Paris fashion show...so tonight he's watching The Devil Wears Prada for inspiration!!

Lauries friends can't sleep over now - so he is going to invite another friend over instead....Chris has the movie people coming in the afternoon and then he's having a games night all evening....so we went and grabbed some snack foods etc for tomorrow for that - and Lloyd WAS going out for dinner with his friend but thats cancelled so instead (as the temp is supposed to be good) we are going to have a fire outside and the kids can all cook sausages and have hot dogs and smores etc and sled in the dark.....fun fun fun :)

Saturday we have to go to DIY kitchens to choose our kitchen cupboards.....

Thank you Jennifer!

I just wanted to post and say thank you to Jennifer for her wonderful emails - they are just sooooo ME - the dark sense of humour, the sarcasm....they just always make me laugh out loud!

And I also love that you can be really funny but serious too - and you write LONG emails :) like letters :)

So thank you!

On the subject of emails - I have been soooo BAD at writing emails in the last couple of months - I owe so many - it seems I can find the time to write crap on LP but when it comes to sitting and writing a proper email to a friend I struggle......I've stopped taking my meds and so within a few days I hope to be less groggy and zombie like during the day and will hopefully be able to write emails again!!! I am so sorry to everyone I owe emails to......don't take it personally because there are a LOT of you :(

For Sale!!

Lloyd ahs decided to auction himself off on ebay.....he jokes that I have no idea how lucky I am (I do lol) and that he could make a fortune by acutioning him off as husband material lol!

This came about because we were talking on Wednesday about him going back to work......and we realised that I would have to make my own coffee for the first time since Friday 21st. And then tonight (Thursday) I will cook dinner for the first time since Christmas Eve...and he helped that night lol) and I would have to change diapers (yesterday) for the first time since Friday 21st........

Of course he's saying this, teasing me, while I'm crying because he's going back to work and I'll miss him sooooo much......and he';s joking that this is why I will miss him - because he does everything ;)

Of course there is that.....but I just miss HIM!

Quiet day

The kids are at an all day party today...sledding etc etc out at a friends acreage - so I have a quiet day....tonight maybe Lloyd and I will go out for coffee. Tomorrow we have 9 or 10 extra kids here for the day for a kind of end of holiday party thing.....several, but not all, are sleeping over.

I think I'm going to take advantage of the quiet and try out my sewing machine!!!

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Wah!!

Chris has grown at least 2 cm's since 21st November!!! He is now almost 2 inches taller than me! Susie has grown about 1cm since then too....Abby and Sam haven't grown at all since then. Laurie is out sledding so I don't know.

Giant knickers stop fire!!!

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tees/7167549.stm

For some reason this story reminds me of Christie......not that she wears giant knickers lol!