I bid the bloggy world GOODBYE! I’m pleased with myself to be writing my 198th post! And, although I still have 30 or 40 “post ideas” written in my little journal, the time has come to put my energy into other things. Like sleep .

I’ll miss all you bloggy friends out there! I’ve enjoyed watching more and more people come by to visit in my “stats” log. I’m happy to have gotten to know some new people through this blog with continued email chats, and I hope to continue those relationships.

I’d end it all with a photo, but I can’t even muster the energy for that today – sorry! lol.

Anyhow, I’m off to water my tomatoes, wish my daughters well on exams, feed the boys breakfast and get outside, dig into some great devotionals, meet with friends and – gasp – perhaps even start a book!

Peace!
Alison Kent, aka Momma.

p.s. For the heck’of’it, I posted the rest of my poems below .

We’ve been on HOLIDAY! Again! After 2 days of fun-in-the-sun watching the girls each play their first beach volleyball tournament of the season, the boys + I left for Victoria to visit my sister + their cousins. Good times were had by all. Sleep was had by all but me.

Whilst on the isle, we went to the BUG ZOO. Who knew such a thing could exist. It was tiny (well, they ARE just bugs), only 2 rooms, but the kids loved it. We hit a “tour”, so the bug guide let the kids hold all kinds of creepy crawlies. Ick.

While we were gone, Hubby got A TON of things done around the house! I don’t know whether to pack up the boys more often so he can get all our odds + ends done, or send them all away so I can finally get some things done around the house… Tough call, that one…

Before I left I attended my first Homeschool Conference! It was … ok. I attended one chat, which was … ok. Then walked around and picked up some science kits and a King Tut game for Tt, none of which was on our list of things to consider by our new teacher. I’m not sure I’m liking the list we received, and our teacher hasn’t met Tt yet, so we’ll see what happens .

Well, back into the swing of things means I need to get ready to head out for a meeting. *Sigh*. But, alas, we still have Maui to pay for…

Enjoy the sunshine!

copyright AKent 2009

copyright AKent 2009

copyright 2009 AKent

copyright AKent 2009

copyright 2009 AKent

copyright AKent

Ain’t they just too cute??
And too in need of haircuts???

Every year for the past 5 or so years, I have taken the girls to the Secret Garden for “start of summer” lunch. Well, ok, I’ll admit we go a lot more often than that… But we love it! It’s quaint, it’s pretty, it’s YUMMY. What more do we gals need??

They do serve “high tea”, which you MUST rsvp for. It’s a real treat, but don’t let those tiny little sandwhiches deceive you – it’s filling. We have never – ever – finished the entire thing. We generally order breakfast : french toasted croissants or apple pancakes; lunch : shrimp salad on croissant with roasted tomato soup; or demi-high tea : a smaller sampling, also very filling, of the yummy tiny creations.

Yum.

The tea is a pleasure, too. Lots of great flavors, although I must say I always order the same thing. I’m a real creature of habit – either vanilla or strawberry rooibos. Hmmmmm. It comes in your own individual little pot and they refill your hot water frequently.

Their wall of teas – you can go sniff ‘em out before you order your flavor. Or take some to go, like I did – Buckingham Palace and Secret Garden teas. Hmmm.

My favorite part?? THE SHOPPING, of course! Throughout the middle of the store and the cash area (of course) are alllll kinds of cute little things TO BUY! Especially handy if you know or have any wee girls, but I always seem to find something pour moi. Oui!

We were stuffed and had to take our desserts to go. The puffy thing w the gooseberry on top is TO DIE FOR YUMMY! Well, maybe not, but it’s super super yummy.

Definately one of our absolute favorite places in Vancouver.
To get in on a weekend, you almost have to make a reservation or JUST happen to hit it between high tea sittings. They only take rsvp’s for high tea, so you  may as well just make one and have high tea . Oh, the sacrifices.

Enjoy!

copyright AKent

We once bought packages of this metal “sheet” that came in rolls and made these reliefs with it. They adorned everything from birthday cards to tags for gifts, and were real pretty to boot!

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This goes down as the weirdest craft ever conceived. B and her BFF sat on our porch one day after school and made these guys out of sticks – and chewed gum… ya. They do look kinda cute, though.

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Often our party invitations became craft times as well. This one is for one of A’s bday parties when she was younger. We had a stock of funky fonts (thanks to Gramma!) and pics back then to use. It was always a fun part of planning a party.

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Don’t let these plain old popsicle holders (from the dollar store, because we needed so many) fool you – these are works of art. We used to spend one day after school was out and go down to Granville Island and pick out all kinds of fresh fruit and make our own popsicle combo’s. The flavors got more and more interesting as time got on.

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Sometimes crafts are done “to” us. This is one of my Hubby’s brothers’ crafty gift at Christmas one year. He made these cards, inserting family faces into actual game shots, for the girls (soccer and baseball) and Hubby. There were even all kinds of made-up stats on the backs! They were a real hit, and a great Photoshop craft.

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Another “done to us” craft. Hubby’s bro (again) photoshopped each of the girls (and their friends – this was from B’s grad) into a published shot – Miss Universe, and I think A’s was a professional baseball game. Crazy fun! I really gotta learn photoshop…

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More, again, to follow, one day. Including crafts given to us by others! Stay tuned. Again.

I had THE MOST incredible experience last night – I just have to share. It was amazing! It was… SLEEP! I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30pm and woke up just before 6am, and I DIDN’T WAKE UP IN BETWEEN!! I woke up feeling like I had actually slept! Amazing. Hubby asked if I felt “all better” after one night. Uh, not. But it’s a start. Now I just need about 2 more weeks of the same (please, Boo, please!!) and I’d be a whole new woman.

Otherwise, I’m dreading the passing of the next 12 days. The last 12 days of my eldest daughter just being home. *sigh*. I have special dinners out planned – nowhere fancy, just our faves – for our final two wednesday eve’s, and we have a big dinner event planned on our last Sunday before she’s gone for volleyball this and that for most of the first half of the summer, and again most of the last half of summer. Then she’s GONE! On res, studying, busy, working hard, living away, playing big vball games. Gone. *sigh*. I’m dreading it. MANY a photo will be taken over the next 12 days.

But, otherwise, I’m excited for summer because this is the first summer I can remember in a long time where we’re mostly at home! In my yard, picking tomatoes! Going on local outings to you-pick strawberries, aquabus adventures, afternoons at Granville Island followed by evenings cooking, BBQ’s, beaches, etc. I’ve heard it’s going to be a hot, sunny summer here, rather than our usual chilly rain until mid-July. Wonderful. I love to be home. Where do you love most to be?

Have a happy, sunny Tuesday.
I’m off to water my tow-maters.

Ballerina espadrilles in pale pink!! There is quite a heel on them, you just can’t see it here…

I found them completely by fluke in a thrift shop, as I was looking for more crystal glasses while out with B, and thought of A immediately.

My little (ok, taller than me…) ballerina.

Guess how much. No, really, guess. Because the price makes them even more precious.

Six bucks.
Get out and thrift! (OHMYGOSH, the old me just turned over in her grave…).

Generally I’m not crazy about anything growing that I can’t eat, but 90% of the flowers in our yard grow “wild” – without any care whatsoever from me. In that, they’re a carefree pleasure when they bloom.

Enjoy all that spring has to bring!

We’ve been hard at work on the backyard and getting everything pretty and ready.

This weekend the weather man had promised SUN and temperature in the 20′s, so we set up to host three big BBQ’s! Add friends and the odd glass of wine to eating outdoors?? BLISS.

The first BBQ was my Mom/Dad/Nana. Reeee-laxing.

Next up was A’s entire vball team – and parents – for an end-of-year celebration. Not so much on the relaxing, but a lot of fun.

Then we capped it off with good friends we hadn’t seen in awhile.

Who needs anything more in life.
Aaahhhhhh.

I was working on our applique (aka wearable protest signs) and thought we should put a website or something up for people to go to, and be educated on the plight of sharks. So I emailed Sharkwater to see if it was ok to use their name on our wee little shirts.

YES, they said, and told us we might be featured on their blog!
A few days later, these came in the mail. The poster is AUTOGRAPHED by Rob Stewart, the creator of the documentary Sharkwater.

Here’s an excerpt from one of the mag’s…

Anyhow, we finally finished up our T-shirt appliques and even sent our first one out to bloggy friends (it’ll be there soon, Obi!). Tt was proud to wear his out and about.

I was telling my daughters the story and they said they’d wear them to school – AND their friends too!

So there we go! Tt’s wish to “make a sign so people will stop killing sharks” is getting out there.
Join his little protest!
Go to www.sharkwater.com and learn about the shark situation.
Join Jackie Chan and Yeo Ming with WildAid and DO NOT eat shark fin soup.
And, comment below for your own t-shirt applique (sorry, shirt not included. I’m on a BUDGET now, remember?!?).

Ain’t they sweet??

This was too cute for words.
Apparently Mikey is doing well since his surgery and making himself right back at home.
(It’s taken at night w/ my camera phone, so not very clear, but you get the cute factor regardless, no?!).

Of course, if Boo were awake, he’d chase and torture poor Mikey to no end.
I guess Mikey knew it was safe to snuggle in for bed.

WELL! I can pull at least ONE thing out of the black hole of the unfinished abyss!

MY HOT HOUSE!
Well, technically it’s just a “greenhouse” I think, until I get my heat lamp in there, but I just like saying hot house more. Hot house. Da hottest, baby.

Clean out old crap? Check! (Thanks, Hubby!).

Install new tempered glass? Check! Well, almost… Middle pane coming.

Buy tomato plants (b/c it’s too late to plant from seeds) and buckets to stick ‘em in and dirts to fill ‘em up? CHECK!

Et voila!

the low boxes in front are onions + shallots. I hope. one day.

a beat-up outdoor-ish old storage room. perfect.

I bought tow-maters in 4 different sizes, hoping they’ll ripen at 4 different times?!

You can tell I’m excited about tomatoes – I’m using a lot of !!!’s!

Now, tomatoes – GROW! Zebras – GROW! Golden boys – GROW! Pineapples – GROW! Romas – GROW!

I can taste the salads and pasta sauces now… AHhhhh.

Not only is this tough for someone with 4 kids who LOVES to scrapbook and capture every moment, it’s tough for a blogger to NOT HAVE PHOTOS!!

On our recent drive through the Rockies to Alberta, I bought 2 down and dirty disposable cameras. The bad thing is that the photos aren’t terribly clear or colorful, but the good thing is that you can grab it FAST and click – no turning it on, waiting for it to warm up, etc. And FAST meant I could capture 2 of the 3 wildlifes we saw! Oh, was I excited to see wildlifes.

I took many a shot of white capped mountains with the disposables, our cell phones, anything I could find. It was a lovely drive, although I think I would have come out of it feeling completely jipped had I not seen wildlifes. Bright yellow signs kept promising there would be some AT THE ROAD! Every time I saw one of the signs, I’d grab my camera and wait…

Anyhow, I’d better get at least some of my cameras fixed soon, or I’ll run out of things to scrapbook/post really soon…

Things are GROWING! Yesterday someone came and measured our old window down in “the hot house” so we can get new, safer, tempered glass. It’s in direct line of back-yard play, which means it WILL get hit, and inevitably break. I also went out and bought 12 new TOMATOES to put in there! I bought “goldens”, “zebras”, “millions” and “romas”, all in different starter sizes. Am I the only one out there that gets this excited about tomatoes?!?

I also bought some small onions and shallots for our planter boxes that weren’t doing anything anyhow. We’ll see how they do, but at $3.00 per bag of bulbs, I may as well just buy ‘em at the grocery. I do want to try my own garlic next year though…

Hubby and kids being tired of travelling, I got to take B down to her Seattle/Bellevue vball tournament over the weekend! My Mom/Dad/Nana came along and we did all the shops along the way. I was PRETTY GOOD, until we hit Banana Republic at Bellevue Mall. I-ya. I cannot resist that store! THEN I went for the first time ever into a Crate & Barrel. OHMYGOSH I love that store!!!!!! Kitchen supplies up the ying-yang! And affordable! Well, not for me right now, but in general AFFORDABLE! I’m sure everyone on the planet already knew that store, but I’d always assumed it was like Pier 1, which I don’t care for, so I never went in. Like I need another favorite place to shop.

Well, better get breaky going. Gotta take Tt to an Astronomy field trip today! How cool is that?? He still talks about making his movies (and commercials, and…), so we HAVE to get on that. Boo was up about 30mins last night with what I think were night terrors. FUN. Def have to turn off the TV more.

Over and out, bloggy buddies.

Maybe I’m just “being a girl”, but I foresee a lot of bruises, boo-boo’s and bandaids in my future…

It’s my high school’s 20-yr reunion coming up, so this photo of all of us was posted on – where else – facebook. I can kind of guess that I’m the PINK gal on the top row at the left end of the second balcony from the right…. Pink. I designed it and helped sew it myself. It was poufy and lacy and pearly. I’m very grateful there are no closer photos than this.

Anyhow, I ain’t going. I barely remember ATTENDING high school, forget about remembering any of the people or whether or not they’d remember me either. How many people actually attend ther high school reunions??

On with life, and life now is about my oldest daughter graduating.

How time flies.

At the beginning of your child’s – especially your OLDEST – grade 12 year you think, “Ohmygoodness! How did we get HERE already? Well, at least we have a year before actual graduation!”. Then you get caught up in grad photos, dresses, Christmas, university applications, prom, the “last high school… this and that”, and POOF! As suddenly as it came, that year is gone, and your once 8-yr old daughter is now TELLING you (not asking, I might add) that she’ll be taking the car for grad and will be home around 4am. (It’s 6:30am and she’s not home yet – they decided to start a harry potter marathon??! crazy kids!).

And you look back a bit, realizing that gradually you have indeed come to this point.

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And then you look at the next one, and you realize that while you were obsessing over the moving on of one child, your next one has sneakily grown leaps and bounds of their own. Somewhere along the line, you let go a little bit of her too, allowing her to take the bus on her own, hang out at the mall and meet friends more often.

Even Tt has suddenly gone from holding my leg and wanting me RIGHTTHERE to waving goodbye as he runs off across the park to the soccer field, looking back only to give me a thumbs up that he’s got his coach and is good to go. If it wasn’t so danged cute, I’d cry! But you just let go a little bit, and move on, thinking, “Well, at least my BABY still needs me. I can still cling to HIM!”.

Boo is much more mobile now too. How do they all let go of me at once??
He’s up and down stairs, doesn’t need help getting around or up on his chair and plays with his toys on his own for periods of time.

I watched B last night as she played outside with her little brothers, so happy. In a few months she’ll be off, living in Residence, taking University classes, meeting new friends, attending a new church and playing PREMIUM volleyball . I’m going to miss her, and I’m sure the boys will too, but hopefully she’ll be home often.

And in the meantime, it’s probably best I keep a closer eye on that sneaky-growing-up daughter #2…

The good part of letting go a little bit more, is that more time for me = more time to blog!

Tt : Mom, are sharks real?

Mom : Yes, Tt, you know sharks are real. You’ve pet them, and seen them in lots of different aquariums.

T : Oh, but I mean are GREAT WHITE sharks real.

M : Yes, you’ve seen them on TV. Oh, well, most things you see on TV are not real… Ok, um… Movies are stories which are rarely “real”, but documentaries tell real-live stories. We’ve seen two documentaries on sharks – do you remember?

T : Oh, the one where they were killing all the sharks? (Sharkwater)

M : Yes, that was one.

T : And we learned that sharks can kill people.

M : Yes, we learned that sharks sometimes (about 6-12 times a year) kill people by accident, but people kill over 1 million sharks a year on purpose.

T : And some people had those signs, and they walked around.

M : That’s called a protest. The people were upset that sharks were being killed, so they wanted to tell people to “Please stop killing sharks”.

T : I want to make a sign. And walk around with it, so people will stop killing sharks.

M : When we get home, we’ll get on the computer and see what we can do to help stop sharks from being killed.

T : When is the new Transformers out?

Apparently that was the end of that conversation.

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Sharkwater is a documentary on the status of sharks in our oceans. Sharks are a top predator in our oceans, whose presence and well-being have a significant impact on the entire ecosystem of our oceans. The cinematography is amazing, and it hits sad, amazing, angry and inspiring notes. Go rent it today at your local video store. (Sharkwater)

Help stop the killing of millions of sharks a year, and start by not eating shark fin soup. Actually, stop eating at any restaurant that even serves shark fin soup. Our family is half chinese, so it can be tricky. Join Yao Ming and Jackie Chan by refusing to create demand for the finning of sharks. (ABC News : Decimating the Shark Population for Some Soup) (Westcoaster : Shun Shark Fin Soup)

Call ahead to restaurants and ask if Shark Fin is served. If they say yes, then let them know you will not be eating there and find somewhere else. Leave an anti-shark fin soup message on popular restaurant websites such as Yelp.

Write a letter to your local government to stop the importation of shark fins (and/or finning).
Find your local (Canadian) MP here : Find Your Member of Parliament

Send a letter to the UN requesting the banning of finning. Email : inquiries at un.org, I believe. We’ll give it a try anyhow.

Wear a shark-lovin’ shirt! Tt drew this applique (which I will try to get him to re-print…), which can be mailed TO YOU free of charge if you will iron it on a shirt and wear it about! Just put your interest under the comments section and we’ll hook you up via email.

There we go, Tt.

& Tt Kent.

Baby kisses
Can you feel
How much I love you?
It’s very real.

Baby snuggles
Can you smell
How much I love you?
I’m sure you can tell.

Baby giggles
Can you see
How much I love you?
Always believe.

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copyright AKent

I’m hoping it will magically come together. Scientifically speaking.

Between trips to places like Science World and the Exploratorium and their gift shops, I’m hoping buying “science kits” and a wack of books will create said magic. We bought an electricity kit from the Exploratorium (San Fran), and Tt was all over it – he LOVED it. He may not understand what a magnetic switch in an electrical loop is, but he can show you how to make one! (And he can show you over and over and over and…)

Of all places, Fry’s Electronics (US) sells these cute little science kits. We bought one on crystals, and B was excited to help Tt make 3 experiments. Tt LOVES experiments now. “Let’s do an experiment, ok Mom?”.

Now even mixing homemade lemonade counts as an experiment .

We’ve also been taking 1-hr workshops at Science World on Plants, Float/Sink, Rockets, etc and Tt loves them. Then we pick up some of these small intro kits – we have “magnetism”, and next will buy “light”. At this age, it’s really just a familiarity with something, he doesn’t completely understand it. And neither do I…

I’m afraid I have a kid who (so far) thinks science is really cool, matched with a Mom who is afraid of science. I’m guessing that as he gets older, he’ll either be so into it he’ll basically be able to teach himself, or I’ll send him to Science classes…

Lord help us!

We JUST got back from yet another road trip – through the Canadian Rockies to Calgary, Alberta and back. Daughter A was playing the volleyball Nationals there, while daughter B was in Team BC (summer provincial games) tryouts back at home. Both gals did awesome!

The Rockies are beautiful! I kept taking pics of silly mountains with snow and ice on them. We stopped in a few little towns along the way and got to know our province just a little bit better. Found what seems to be a great water-ski lake(s) (Shuswap), a tiny town with an awesome restaurant (Golden), and a Whister-esque puttering shoppers paradise (Banff). And in only 10 driving hours each way…

We caught up with my cousinS G+J for a bit, the boys got to swim in a POOL every day (to them that IS the holiday) and we even went to the Calgary Zoo!

And just like that we’re plunged back into day-to-day life. We’re supposed to all travel to Seattle this weekend right after B’s grad prom for more volleyball (B’s turn), but decided JUST ME would go because everyone else just wants to stay home. Just me! I get a tiny holiday! I get ONE WHOLE night’s sleep away from Boo! I get to browse the outlets without interruption! I get to chat with other Mom’s without having to constantly leave to chase a child! Yippeee!

Well, no real plans for this week but to stay home as much as possible. Tt has a new book on Vikings we’ll get through, a new puzzle on Knights to do and we’ll TRY to get to his “movie-making” project he keeps asking to do.

Wishing everyone a nice, relaxing week too!

1. Freedom. I love getting in my car and just going. No stress getting to the airport on time, if you’re stuck in traffic, you have all your comforts with you, if you want to stop you may and if you change your mind, you just go somewhere else. Ahhhh, freedom.

2. Turtle-syndrome. Is that a thing?? I love having my home on my back, all my stuff with me wherever I may go. Flying you pack 1 bag plus 1 carryon which has tons of restrictions. In my car? Dvd players, laptops, iPods, snacks, coolers with drinks, a change of clothes, 10 pairs of shoes. Seriously – who wouldn’t pack 10 pairs of shoes if they could??

3. Saving money. No matter how we cut it, our trip to Cali was $1,500 or more LESS than if we’d flown and rented a car down there. AND – the cost doesn’t go up much if we bring 2, 3 or all 4 of the kids!

4. Peace + quiet moments. Airplanes? Naps do NOT happen, even on (daytime) long-hauls. Bumpity, moving, swaying car? Guaranteed with my kids. They generally nap longer, or take TWO naps as well! Bliss. Mommy’s iPod tunes Bliss.

5. Wal-Mart Super Centres. I gotta say it again, sorry. I LOVE the fact that you can stop a few hours, you don’t have to pay $100/night for a dumpy 2-star hotel, security watches over you, and that you can shop at 2:30am if you want! Crazy fun!

6. Changing my mind. Because I can. And I will. Our last two major roadtrips, we found out-and-about places (beaches) that changed our minds on previously planned activities. And it was so easy to do with our own car, time and schedule.

7. Stocking up on new DVD’s. We use every road trip as an excuse to buy tons of new (or new-to-us) DVD’s. It passes time in the car, especially for the kids, and gives us something to hunt for on all those 2:30am Wal-Mart Super Centre shopping sprees.

8. Finding new places. Other than beaches, by car you find all kinds of stops you’d never have noticed. Outlets, Waterslides, Tulip Festivals, Olive capitals – you name it, it’s probably on the side of a major highway somewhere.

9. Real quality family time. When there’s no yelling, crying or screaming, that is. Nothing like hours and hours in close quarters with the ones you love! Really, nothing. Side note – this could also go on the “hate” list.

10. And my #1 reason to LOVE roadtrips? Because it doesn’t require me to float up in the air on a giant metal tin can. I-ya. I’d drive to Maui this summer if I could. Seriously.

*(ewwww – no makeup!)

Go take a roadtrip! Even if it’s just across town!

Not even one week now since we drove alllllllll the way back from Oceanside, CA, we’re heading out to Calgary, Alberta (that’s in CANADA…) for A’s laaast volleyball tourney of the year – the Nationals! Silly moi decided it would be nice to drive the 12-hrs and stop to see the Banff National Park on the way. I-ya. What was I thinking again???

The following weekend, after B’s PROM (really? already???), we leave for her laaaaast volleyball tourney – of highschool – in Bellevue/Seattle. At least it’s closer… And UofW campus is gorgeous. Next year it’s UBC-vball-Baby!!

In bewteen all that I have a ton of work, and usual kid-stuff, and blah, blah, blah…

So, here it is.
My posts for the next few weeks will consist of random photos from the last month or so.

this isn’t great quality, it was just so cute of the boys at the dophin window the other day. and typical – messy hair and all. their mom should really comb in once in awhile…

LOOK!!! LOOK!!! My plants have not died!! So far!

Not the best streetscape, but was walking home from the tanning place pre-trip and thought it was so pretty outside w/ the sun going down and those DANGED cherry blossoms everywhere. Like Christmas in April… Except blossoms stick. To everything.

I was out in the yard the other night making a tomato/feta salad and suddenly thought “My, how colorful!” and OF COURSE took a photo!
By the way – it’s POURING RAIN and FRIGGIN COLD outside right now… *sigh*.

So, that’s it for today.
It’s 12:30am, and I’ve just finished working / adding photos at brief intermissions, and I’m going to bed.

Have a good day, later, like in a few more hours!

Enjoy!
And head out for a walk somewhere…

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Other posts you might enjoy:
Lovin’ Vancouver! Our favorite places : Vancouver Aquarium
Lovin’ Vancouver! Our favorite places : Granville Island

Over the weekend I went with my Mom + Nana to a farmer’s market. There wasn’t much there, but inside another building was a tea shoppe, and I found a lovely Cream Earl Gray. Add a splash of vanilla syrup, and YUM. Sunday I was back on iced coffees since it was so warm and I have a fab new insulated cup from Starbucks .

Mikey is meowing at my feet for his breaky. As it turned out, there is a lady in town who’s life is spent helping sick cats find homes. Our sick cat had a home, so she offered to cover the surgeries Mikey needed to get back in tip top shape. Amazing – we are still in shock, after having made the call to have him put down because we just didn’t have the $2,000 to help a sick, older cat that we’d only had 5 days. Amazing! He seems very happy, is eating, and avoiding Boo…

Mother’s Day was lovely, and in fact took up an entire weekend. We just know how to party around here! I got to spend quality time with each of my kids individually, drink wine ’til all hours with a friend I’d lost touch with, see my Mom + Nana, go for brunch and on Sunday I got to do something I’ve only been dreaming of – sleep 12 hours. Bliss!

My garden is growing! On the weekend we also had our neighbours over for dinner/wine/marshmellow roasting. We chat all the time, and had been talking about getting together since we’d moved in 6 years ago, so it was nice to finally do it. Anywhoo, they told us that this old, dingy area below our sunroom used to be used as a hot house for tomatoes/etc! OHMYGOSH! I hadn’t even thought of it. So, I made Hubby clean out all his tools, and hopefully he’ll re-install some shelving and I’ll get right on a bunch more of them ter-mat-ers.

Well, work has been keeping me busy these days, taking my evenings away from too much blogging, but I do miss writing and most of all looking up old and new blogs to peruse! I’ll get back at’cha all soon.

Peace out,

We ‘did’ Mother’s Day on Saturday this year and had a good time.

It was a sunny day! I picked up Nana and met my Mom/Dad at a Farmer’s Market in North Vancouver for a walk-about. Tt joined in the fun and had a good time running about with his Grampa. He’d made me a lovely bracelet out of metallic pipe cleaners that I wore all day.

We left there and met Hubby, the girls and Boo at a Milestone’s in West Van for a brunch.
They brought me a lovely card and all the Moms some flowers!

And of course there was shopping nearby, so we walked about and shopped!

But I only bought something for B, then later something for A… I told them they owe me next year .

We went on home and played in the backyard, gardened, the girls did a bit of homework, had a friend over, then our neighbours stopped by with their granddaughter and we ended up BBQ’g and roasting ‘schmallows – YUM!

My younger daughter A had made me this WONDERFUL cake from a Williams-Sonoma mix we’d bought while shopping together on South Granville the night before! It was YUM!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
It’s another sunny day and we’re off to Mother’s Day service (via Starbucks non-fat easy-iced latte), Japanese food for lunch and shops in Kerrisdale. I saw a lovely bracelet the other day while shopping with B that I think I NEED as my gift for raising 4 wonderful kids .

Enjoy your day!

copyright AKent 2009

Who’s idea was it to take a 2-yr old on a road trip again????!
Oh, I guess that would have been my idea…
On the “not great” side, 2-yr olds don’t bode well on car trips.
On the “great” side? We’ll never have to road trip with a 2-yr old again.

Next time he’ll be 3.

We actually had a great – albeit exhausting – drive down to California as far as Oceanside/Carlsbad.
And, naturally, wanting to one day achieve a “perfect road trip”, there are lots of tips and tricks for me to remember and to share. Some might be repeated from other “travelling with kids” posts, but we’ll just tack that up to old age.

1. Take a GPS. And train your hubby how to use it BEFORE it’s late one night and you’re driving because he can’t drive at night and he doesn’t have a clue how to work it and you really don’t want to stop the car unnecessarily because it will wake up the finally sleeping 2-yr old in back but you really really need to find the next potty stop.

2. Wal-Mart SS’s (24-hrs) ROCK! Am I the only person who feels JIPPED to spend $80+ on a hotel that you’re only going to use for 8hrs or less while driving through?? We slept/shopped at a Wal-Mart SS lot (apparently you can stay up to 3 nights free) one night when I couldn’t drive past 1:45am, and were back on the road at 4:45am. Three hours. Done. Gone. Thanks. AND we picked up groceries for the next day all in the same spot. Sweet.

3. ALWAYS plan to make stops, even if you feel like you can keep driving, and ESPECIALLY BEFORE A MAJOR CITY where rush-hours will keep you locked in for extra hours. Always. Do it. With Boo we tried to stop every 3 hours, even if he had just napped for 2 of them. Targets and Wal-Marts were abundant and easy for a potty break, cheap toy bribe and a kiddie run-about, but next time I think I’ll mix them up with more rest stop stops. They’d cost less.

4. Check the schedule of all theme parks/activities!!! We almost missed Legoland, having no idea it would possibly be closed mid-week on a regular basis. Whew! Also, if we’d wanted, we could have scheduled Disneyland on a week when they didn’t have masses of tour groups – you might be able to call ahead and check what big groups will be there the week you’re planning.

5. Plan a “flex” day – or have an extra day or two built into your schedule. Upon seeing how gorgeous Oceanside is (purely by accident), we ended up ditching Sea World (I’m sure Shamu will understand) and spending a day at the beach. It became the hilight of our entire vacation. Surfboards and all.

6. Chat with locals to get great food/restaurant advice. A few times now we’ve found amazing food by asking some locals (i.e. random lady sitting beside me at Legoland) where to eat off the beaten touristy path. This round was some great Mexican in Oceanside, through which we also found a great pizza place, and through that we found our surfboard.

7. NO FAST FOOD! While this may be do-able for adults, we didn’t bother as much with the kids, especially Boo. We were just happy when he’d eat ANYTHING. As the boys get older, it’ll get easier. We had a cooler, and bought tins of salmon which they loved and other yummy healthy alternatives like fresh grape tomatoes and english cucumbers. I confess I ate Disney food twice – fish ‘n chips (disgusting) and caesar salad (disgusting). I regretted both and wish I’d brought a baguette and some fresh tomato at the very least. Next time I’ll bring a thermal lunch bag for the days milk/salami/tomatoes, etc.

8. Hotwire it, baby. We didn’t book ANY hotels before hand (easy because it was off-season, but we’ve done it in July too). This worked sometimes, didn’t work others. After our WM parking lot, we went d/t San Fran with no rsvp and grabbed whatever we could find downtown for $150USD. Ouch. We could have saved HALF by using Hotwire.com to get a hotel. We used Expedia on the next hotel, but could have done much better on Hotwire.com again. The third hotel was a Hotwire deal – nice, clean, beautiful 3.5 star hotel 1 block from Disneyland, for $80USD. Sweet. I’m sold – goodbye Expedia.

9. Take time to do nothing. Go nowhere. It can’t be a vacation if you’re rushed the whole time, trying to do far too much, now can it?? We spent an entire day in a hotel room just hanging out once. It was great.

10. Take a chance on something new. Every year we try to see one new thing in San Francisco. This year my sis-in-law suggested the “Exploratorium” and we all loved it! Even Boo – there were so many things to touch and move and watch. We spent almost 4 hours there and could easily have gone another 2. It was a homeschoolers dream, but more appropriate learning-wise for 6-12 yrs old. (Last year was the Monterey Aquarium, which was also fabulous).

Whew!
Well, we’ll see how we do next Spring… With a 3-yr old…

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Other posts you might enjoy:
Travelling with Kids – Roadtrip 2009 Warmup
Travelling with Kids – Extra Advice
Travelling with Kids – Italy

Well, back from a holiday! And that always means one thing – I need a holiday. I need sleep! Why, oh why, do I never get to sleep on holidays??? Every night Hubby and I were crashed out by 9 or 10pm, and the last two nights at home I’ve gone to bed at 8:30, and still I am tired. Thanks entirely to Boo for religiously waking up with SCREAMS at 1:30, 3:00 and 6:00 am’s. *sigh*.

We came home to a bit of cat-drama. Mikey has been living at the vet the past two weeks. We had him home for only about 6 days before taking him in for checkups, figuring if he hadn’t run away in a week he knew he lived here and he was “ours”. The vet found ulcers in his mouth – can you say PAIN??  We came home to the vet telling us that while he’s done well on all his meds, he now needs a $2,000 oral surgery/geriatric panel. Apparently he is OLD. We don’t have $2,000 to spend on a really OLD, stray cat. And the SPCA doesn’t take really OLD, sick cats. So our only option was to have him put down, and Hubby had the wonderful task of going to the vet last night to discuss. We’ll see what today holds.

Otherwise, back to life as normal! I have a new client to meet this week, and other work to get caught up on, as well as dinners, parties, driving the girls around. I literally have NO IDEA how I’m going to get everything done, so hopefully I’ll surprise myself! Ya, right. But I can truly say life is never dull around here.

On the bright side, my new apple tree has blossoms!!

Have a great week!

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Other posts you might enjoy:
tuesdays for tea 09.04.21
tuesdays for tea 09.04.14
tuesdays for tea 09.04.07

If you missed them, check here at Photo of the Day for all the shots.

I’ll be back with “tuesdays for tea” tomorrow and a few holiday re-caps this week from our 3rd annual California Road Trip!! We ventured from Vancouver to Oceanside (Carlsbad), CA and back in 10 days. In case you’re calculating, that’s almost 6 days of driving and only just over 4 days of “fun”… Met some very nice ‘Mericans, saw Canuck jerseys in Disneyland, “surfed” and completely memorized every last detail of the inside of our mini-van…

(Boo was in there s’where with me… I look veeeeery serious!)

Ok – off to finish unpacking, do laundry, update myself on life this week and just STAY HOME for a bit .

Yes, even our pumpkins get downright crafty! One year we eve had one with little white lights poking all around it. These ones are an owl and an… anteater?? Can’t remember. We’ve had some pretty impressive ones around here, though. I’m pretty sure I remember these templates being in a Martha Stewart mag.

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It’s a bit hard to tell what this particular craft actually IS by this photo… We bought dollar store colored sponges, cut them into strips and tied 6 or so together to make water bombs! Then we put up barriers, like the trampoline on edge, and bombed each other away. They also made good, fun, wet, baseballs to hit with a bat for a splash. And far easier to “fill” than those fussy water balloons!!

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This craft was a great birthday gift for our then-4 year old niece/cousin. B painstakenly drew out the Dora and then her and A decorated away, front and back. She got to wear it the whole day – the whole year!

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Nothing is safe from a crafty soul – not even breakfast. With tubes of raspberry sauce and spray-whipped-cream, anything is possible!

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“Craftiness” around here not only includes food, but also clothes. B bought this “Gr 7 Grad” dress during our trip to Paris, and then sat and sewed on row after row of matching colored beads around the bottom rim and top collar. Way to go, B! It was a very rewarding craft – she was so proud of it on her “Grad” day.

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I can’t remember what we did with these after we went to all that trouble to make them, but at any rate, here they are! I’d found a dough-bead recipe online and away we went from plain round to super fancy. Dough-beads were fun to make, that much I do remember.

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Keep tuned for more craftyness!

Enjoy her fabulous shots of all things heron + flowers (I’m guessing ).

I’m not bugging her to add shots to the “Latest” at the top of my main page, so just SCROLL below to see a great new shot each and every DAY! (No pressure, Mom!).
Oh, and don’t forget to leave her some comments about how fabulous her photos are, or she’ll never do this for me again. Lol.

Enjoy! I’ll be back in 10 days with 10 Reasons NOT to do a long road trip with 2 kids under 5…

copyright 2009 AKent

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Other posts you might enjoy:
Poetry of Life – #005
Poetry of Life – #004
Poetry of Life – #003

What can I say… A also really likes PINK. And this baby is REALLY PINK! I was embarassed to even buy it. She’s told me that when she’s performing on stage and I’m video taping w/ her camera, she can actually SEE the camera in the audience from the stage.

This past weekend in Kelowna for B’s vball tourney, we (meaning Hubby, Tt, A + Boo – NOT me) spent some time in the pool and here are some of our most awesome shots! UNDERWATER! How cool is that?!?!

This was the point where A realized that Tt didn’t have his water wings on… He can’t swim yet… It was not shallow…  But it made for a good – QUICK – picture!

A view up into Boo’s nose from underwater… EVEN from underwater you can see those eyelashes! Amazing!

I took this one from the edge of the pool . No, it is not officially bathing suit season yet. I have… 3 more months until I can be expected to be seen in a suit, so just leave it alone.

An artistic shot from A from below the water… Well, I thought it looked cool anyhow !

Is there no end to the ways we can photograph!?
What have you photographed lately?

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Other posts you might enjoy:
Manual Photography Selections : #03
Photos : Granville Island (Spring)
Ser-VICE!
Cellphone Photography

I know I promised to be more “uplifting”, but life this week is overwhelming to say the least. A heart-hand-ful of dark, black tea is just so fitting. And, no, it’s not my photo .

We just got back from a roadtrip to Kelowna! B played her little heart out at the U18 vball provincials. They came in 9th, not as well as hoped, but it doesn’t matter – LAST WEEK SHE WAS CONFIRMED A SPOT TO PLAY FOR UBC!! She is now UBC (University of BC) Women’s Volleyball’s newest Libero for her upcoming first year of University! WOAH!! We’re all so excited for her. I haven’t kept up, but apparently UBC is #1 in Canada, and possibly moving up to NCAA soon. Anyhow, she may be on the bench the first year or two (or three), but we’ll sure cheer them on anyhow! Woot woot!

We had to leave really late for Kelowna because sweet A was a FINALIST for their high school IDOL competition! She was TOP TEN and got to be part of a big concert performance!! She didn’t make top 5 after that, but she was awesome anyhow. Such bravery! Such a voice!

We left right after, and hauled the almost-4 hours to Kelowna. It was a good “pre-road-trip” practice. We learned that a) Hubby can’t see well enough to drive after dark, and b) Hubby can’t ride in the back when Momma is driving after dark. Let’s just say, we apologize to the authorities for the barf-stained pillow case (MY barf-stained pillowcase) left on the side of the highway at approximately 1am. Lessons learned. ‘Nuff said.

As Hubby was feeling ill, what we didn’t know was that a friend of his back home had breathed his last and moved on to see his Lord that same evening. During a hockey game – THE last game of the season to play, his dear friend had a heart attack and could not be revived. He left behind a dear, dear woman and their two small (a year older each than Tt and Boo) boys. Our hearts – our prayers – all of it, goes out to them.

And, it goes out to dear Mikey the cat, too. With a stray, you don’t always know what you’re getting. And we got a “geriatric” cat with ulcers in his mouth. We left him at the vet as we left town on Friday to get some meds and TLC, and today heard his recovery is slow. I’ll find out more today, but he will likely head straight to the SPCA, where we’ll see if we can find a new Mikey.

On top of it all, our washer completely broke down as we’re trying to get pre-trip laundry done (of COURSE!!!). I had to spend my morning shopping for a washer/dryer that we have little money for.
So, as you see, life is full of big emotions this week. And I don’t even USE the washer/dryer. Jk.

Friday, immediately after the memorial service for our friend, we leave for our big road trip to California. I sincerely hope to find rest, peace, and much time for prayer as we drive. And drive. And drive.

I’ll be posting from Cali – with any luck – next Tues!
Stay tuned!

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Other posts you might enjoy:
tuesdays for tea 09.04.14
tuesdays for tea 09.04.07
tuesdays for tea 09.03.31

2. Eating from my own garden! There is nothing better than making a recipe and saying “Oh, I have this ingredient down in my garden. I’ll go get it.” Of course, all I’ll have this year are tomatoes and raspberries, so we’ll be eating a LOT of tomato salad and raspberries on French Butter Cake…

3. BLOGGING . I’m 160 posts in, and busy as all heck, and still manage to have things to say just about every day. People are even reading – AND COMMENTING! I love – LOVE – getting comments and answer every single one. It’s validating, sure, but I also enjoy the ongoing conversation of it. The comments always add to the piece, so it’s cool that way. I already have the Poetry of Life poems set up to post twice a month through until OCTOBER. Ooooh, the anticipation !!.

4. Dinners. Family dinners, dinner parties – give me 90 minutes in the kitchen, and preferrably an unlimited budge, and I’m in my happy place. Dinners out get harder the better you begin to cook, but if it’s something I woudn’t cook at home, I still enjoy it! Once a year I get two dinner cravings – and only ONCE a year : for a Big Mac and for Chinese Food. Chinese was done last night, so I’m good for another year. We’ll talk about that Big Mac.

5. My sleep… Oh, I do love my sleep. I miss my sleep, desperately. I love my pillow – I take it with me on every holiday to ward off bad sleeps. I love my warm fuzzy blanket. I love my med-hard bed. So far these two hotels have offered THE ABSOLUTE BEST sleeps : Manteo Resort in Kelowna, BC and the Sofitel at the Heathrow Airport in London. THE best beds in my life.

6. OPI. We have a bit of nailpolish and are ever-collecting, but must say OPI is our fave. Not only great colors, but they go on smoooooth as silk, and aren’t too soupy or gloppy. Are soupy and gloppy words? Who cares. We particularily liked the “France” collection.

7. Fashion. Love to look at clothes. Always have. Always will. Wish I had money and time to dress half way decent. Always have. Always will. ‘Nuff said. Check out my “wish list” and my “Fashion picks“. I won’t bore you with a photo of how I currently dress. Yawn.

8. Homeschooling. I’m so excited for September to come! To get a teacher-aide, to get fresh new boxes of books, to watch Tt on his first soccer team, to sign up for piano (oh, wait… that will likely be painful…). Ahhhh, it’s hard to wait for Sept when you really don’t even have to . Tt? Not sure I would use the word “excited”. He still thinks that school IN ANY FORM is “optional”. *sigh*.

9. Thrifty shopping! Guilt-free shopping – who knew? So far the only things I pick up are collared shirts for the boys (mostly Boo – the older ones are too worn or just plain old UG-leee), and kitchen gadgets, but it’s the thrill of the hunt. We’ve about exhausted the thrift stores and will be moving up to “home consignment” stores in the near future. Will keep everyone posted, I’m sure .

10. Tea. Nothing like beginning the day with a cup of tea while making the boys breakfast, reading our Bible story and talking. And nothing like ending the day with a cup of tea while softly tapping away at my computer (except for that DANGED “I” key which Boo yanked off that never sits quite right and so I BANG it into place and say bad words) visiting people near and far. Ahhhhh, tea. Especially on tuesdays .

Which ones do YOU love too??

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Other posts you might enjoy:
10 Things I LOVE : 09.03 Recipes!
10 Things I LOVE : 09.02
10 Things I LOVE : 09.01

Grilled trout, with lemons + parsley

Eldest daughter, B’s from-scratch Angel Food cake – YUM!

MMMmmmm – crabbies and clammies, in hot garlicy butter, with caesar (of course!) and fresh-squeezed lemonade to boot!

Even Boo is getting all gourmet – care for a San Pellegrino anyone? That trip to Italy really stuck with him…

And you know it’s warming up (slightly) when the roasting of the sh’mallows begins… perfect toastiness is an art form .

Happy Eating from our house to yours!

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Other posts you might enjoy:

Family Dinners

The Wonderfully Versatile Baguette

Dinners around the World – France Edition

This was my “trial run” – potted herbs bought from the grocery store.
They have neared death many times already.
We seem to be in a steady two-way relationship now.
I water every day, they make my food yummy every day.

This was a sunflower seed we planted at a homeschool group. Our bean-stalk project last year birthed ONE BEAN before it died, so we’ll see how we do with this one… So far, so good.

All was well, so we ventured this past day off into deeper waters.
Tomato starters.

A blueberry plant (apparently we need a second so it can “mate” – who knew??).
And should I even ask – WHAT is mushroom fertilizer? Do mushrooms actually poop??

Red AND PURPLE!! raspberries. I never knew there WERE purple raspberries! I hope they don’t taste like crap, because I’m really excited! They’d better grow…

More herbs…

And the piece de resistance – an APPLE TREE for our front yard!
Tt was so excited about his blueberries and his apple tree, he actually snuggled them the whole way home.
I hope he’s just as excited about weeding…

Let the growing begin!

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Other posts you might enjoy:
Manual Photography Selections #01
Rain, rain, you can stay (but only while we play today)
There’s busy, and then there’s BUSY

What do you think?

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Tt: “Did you know that herbivores have flat teeth and carnivores have sharp, pointed teeth?”

Mom: (imagining he got this from one of our many informative, educational books) “Where did you learn that from?”

Tt: “A Shark Tale (movie), where Lenny tells Oscar…”

Mom: *sigh*.

Tt: (going over to Boo, with a scary-sounding voice) “Looks like the freak wants to play…”

Mom: “Wha??!”

Tt: “OH, that’s from the Spiderman video game, Mom”.

Ooohhh. Of course.

Last time we watched “Kung Fu Panda”, Tt recited just about every line.
And acted out all the fight sequences.
Then he stood up and declared himself a “TV actor”.
*sigh*.

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His latest is to follow Boo around chanting, “Waaaariors, come out to plaaaaaay.”
Don’t worry – he hasn’t actually seen the Warriors. Even we have limits!

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I could go on forever. TT goes on forever – he’s an ongoing dialouge of 1-liners. He literally does not stop talking the entire day long.
Verdict?
Obvious, isn’t it…

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Other posts you might enjoy:
From the Mouths of Babes – From 2 to 12 in 6 seconds…
From the Mouths of Babes – Being a “COOL” Mom
WHAT Just Happened??

(trying to  build a pyramid out of sugar cubes, a la PW)

And I’m all thinking we’re up on it, doing well, keeping up with “other kids” – until we happen upon one of these other kids… Then, usually after an hour or so of playing, I look at Tt and realize – whether telling left from right or tying your shoe, there was a little boy who didn’t know what to do!

(I must admit, it was NOT very structurally sound… maybe it was the glue?!)

In all our adventures in books, walks, playgroups, field trips, etc, we’ve seen many BIG things – and I’ve completely missed and/or forgotten to teach him BASIC things! Many a “D’oh!” moment has occurred.

Now, once in awhile this has been intentional – what adult doesn’t know his left from his right? He’ll learn it when he needs it. I assume he’ll figure it out one day, go back to studying bugs on our walk, and don’t give it another thought. Until “other kids” bring it up again. D’oh!

(voila! or whatever “there it is!-ish” is in Egyptian. I don’t think they have a heiroglyphic for that…)

I can’t help wondering if not purposely integrating the basics into our teaching will come back to bite him in the butt one day. Maybe. He really doesn’t seem to care, and I’m mostly comfortable with the bigger picture of what we’ve been doing. But for now, we’re looking past the individual tree and just enjoying our meanderings through the entire forest – one step at a time.

Enjoy learning something today!

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Other posts you might enjoy:
Homeschool #015 – For the Record
Homeschool #014 – Where the Wind Blows
Homeschool #013 – Math/Spelling Worksheets

It is a GORGEOUS, warming up, sunny day out here in Vancouver! That just lifts the spirit any day.

Since my “garden trials” turned out ok (more on that later), we decided yesterday on our extra day off to head out to the nursery and pick up some PLANTS! I haven’t gardened since my Grampa died, over 10 years ago. I really miss it.

Of course, everything we picked up to plant is EDIBLE. I just can’t see the point of planting something I can’t either eat or cook with. We’ve decided since we hardly use our front yard, to plant an apple tree there. We bought a variety of tree that actually has FOUR different types of apples all spliced together! We don’t dare hope to get an apple this year, but it’d sure be nice. I also planted 4 raspberry bushes along our side fence – 2 red and 2 purple so they can cross-p0linate, which is apparently important. We planted only 1 blueberry bush, so we’ll have to grab another for the same reason. We’re also planting lots of tomatoes and herbs! Bigger post on all that to follow when I regain strength in my extremeties from all that digging, weeding and turning of soil.

We’re thinking of hiring a “sleep therapist” for Boo. He woke up at 3:00, 3:30 and Hubby took him straight back into bed. The second time he gave him milk, which usually konks him out, but at 4:00 he was back. I stayed up with him on the living room floor, squirming all over the danged place, until 5:00am. We won’t last another year of this. I’ll track his sleeps first – what we did the day before vs. how he slept, bedtime routine, etc. If I can’t figure it out from that, perhaps the sleep therapist can.

So, off to make my tea this morning! I think I’ll take it straight up, no “latte’ing” the heck out of it today.

Have a wonderful tuesday!

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Other posts you might enjoy:
tuesdays for tea 09.04.07
tuesdays for tea 09.03.31
tuesdays for tea 09.03.24

HOWEVER, there were many a hilight to the weekend…

• Thurs pm after Hubby was finished work we went out to pick up MIKEY!
• Friday Hubby + Tt went to see “Monsters vs. Aliens”, which according to one was “the worst” and to the other “great”. You can guess who said which.
• Friday was also filled with cat snuggles… And the girls were home for the weekend! YAY! We rented movies, ate junk + chilled. Sweeeeet.

• Saturday I drove A to her vball tourney for the day, while Hubby and the other 3 played. We came home to a wonderful lamb, caesar and corn dinner. YUM! The girls didn’t play as well as they’d hoped, but I did a DANG-GOOD job at scorekeeping, so at least one of us did well!
• Oh, and Momma beat Hubby at a game of crib. Guess it was just MY weekend!
• Sunday am we were all up for waffle breaky and Easter service. A man in a kilt played my all-time favorite song – Amazing Grace – on the bagpipes. Beautiful.
• Then out to the mall for Japanese for lunch. All you can eat. We ate 56 items between 6 of us. And only stopped because it was taking so long anyhow. Then I took Hubby next door to the pet store and introduced him to our next pet – a Beagle.
• Momma + Tt read some books and did an “easter craft” of painting eggs to paste to a basket. We’ll take it to SFran with us in another TEN DAYS for my Bro + wife.
• The 4 kids played at home after being outside. Spontaneously! So nice to watch. Leaves a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart – especially thinking of B going off to Uni soon…
• Momma made “Breaky for Dinner” – eggs benny. YUM! A + Momma were already tired after lunch, so we changed into our jammies right away – before walking to the corner for groceries! I’m sure people thought we were strange. We took this pic to show how strange we were – even though you can’t even see our jammies and rain boots. Trust me, we looked ridic-ulus.
  
  
  
• Right after dinner B + Hubby went out for a drive around her soon-to-be-new campus together! They had great chats and a nice time, from what I’m told.
• I set up “Cozy Corner” for Boo + Tt to watch some cartoon while B, A, Hubby and I watched “Sex in the City” movie. OF COURSE, I bawled. Again.

  

• Hubby and Momma taught A how to play crib, while B started a bake-a-thon with her friend (for the record, Angel Food cake from scratch is SOOOOGOOOOOD!). Momma won. Again.

Ahhhh. The girls go off tomorrow am, but we still have one whole day at home – what to do! Clean the house? Put down soil for my tomatoes? Do some more work? Sit around and eat leftover French Butter cake and Angel Food cake?? The options are endless.

Regardless, it’s been a lovely, relaxing weekend with no one much about except us 6.
Just wonderful.
I hope your weekends were all filled with great memories too.