Wednesday...

Today I don't have little E until 2:30-3:45pm so I have taken up the opportunity to get everything done that I needed to get done...today I did:

*Got Kennedy off to camp
*Went to childrens services to drop off our CWIS checks
*Went to police station to get a Crim-check form
*Went to the bank to get a 50.00 draft for the Crim-Check
*Went to Dollarama to buy stuff (off my list)...including Kennedys activity bags (post about it tomorrow)
*Went home, unpacked everything...did a quick clean of the house...turned dishwasher on, etc...
*Met my old business partner at the bank to close our daycare account and close the visas..
*Carwash-outside wash
*Home-totally cleaned inside of van and (finally) vacuumed it.
*Cleaned the garage up a bit, organized it out there...
*Put away the contents in the house from the van and garage (eye roll) Some items including (DS games, sweaters, socks, dog bone, books, numerous coins, etc)
*Updated facebook and blog (hehe!)

In 15 mins little E will arrive, we will pack up and head to a walk, feed the ducks at the ravine and play at the park...she will leave 1.5 hours later and I will begin supper and Mack has football. My sister and her family will stop over on their way back up north...for a night.

Busy but I really do love being at home and able to get the stuff done...

Flowers!

I use to buy myself flowers all of the time, but haven't since we have been so busy with moving and what not. I spotted these beautiful sunflowers at the grocery store-and HAD to buy them. They were a great steal at 5 stems for 3.99! Love them..they brighten up the whole kitchen...feels so lovely with flowers in the home!

Some house shots!

Living Room...

Kitchen

dining room...

Some updated shots of the house...I haven't posted any for so long as...well, I haven't blogged forever. I will post more but don't want to do it all now...have to keep something to blog about :o)

New things/Old things...

< Rose balls brand new in package (originally from Linens and Things) 1.99 from Goodwill. Placed in this cute little red bowl (Goodwill 0.99!)





(Below) the red children's wicker chair from Goodwill-3.99

The chair at my front entrance...cute little black crow pillow from eBay!

I bought this cute little wicker chair for children...it was 3.99 (a great steal!) so I grabbed it. I didn't like the reddish color it came in so I visioned it at the front entrance in off white. I'm really loving the crispness of off white in contrast with my dark floors/accents. I do have to switch to another color...just have to find it!

Tuesday.

Well today was a longer then usual day as Miss E (Baby E) arrived earlier then normal (at 8:30am) but that didn't stop us! We hit Goodwill at 9am and bought some things (the CUTEST little wicker chair that I will be refinishing!)...then we were going to meet a friend at Let's Play for a playdate but busses with children (and lots of them!) arrived so we decided to do a park instead. I grabbed us coffees and we were there for a a few hours...came home, did lunch put her to nap for 2 hours and cleaned. She woke up, we painted sun, birds and just a piece of paper-cleaned up and headed downstairs to play until dad came at 3:30pm. Pretty easy day. Kennedy is in daycamp this week. Mack was at his friends house but Fabe took him to his dentist appt. He got a procedure today where they laser off the skin between his 2 front teeth. That tissue stopped his teeth from growing together, and should have been snipped as a young(er) child...needless to say (and thousands later) he has braces on and coming off soon..so they wanted it snipped first. He's fine though..a little sore.

Mack has football tonight. Kennedys packing up for her field trip tomorrow. I have baby E at noon tomorrow. Not sure what we will do, maybe a different park but something outside forsure.

Tomorrow my sister and her family are having a stop over at my house as they make their way up to Fort Mac from Calgary.

Fabe is starting a new contract (not new job, same place but new job) and its pretty neat as I never even knew Edmonton was building a new one!!!!! Its a 3 year project!

And thats about it...

Stormy skies!

This year has had its fair share of storms, but it doesn't feel like its been 'really' bad or anything...these photos were taken a while back. Now with the balcony over the garage (off our room) I LOVE watching the skies out there now...on my sitting chair. I just noticed the lightening in the photo, neat!

This is what your TV could look like!

Not even a year old-our living room tv is already going...wow!

We are NOT a tv-watching-kind-of-family-at-all and its rarely even on..and its going going going...almost gone. Thankfully Samsung will fix it but its quite the hassle...

Some things from around the house...

The desk getting ready for delivery...check out the before shots of it...

Before...ugh!

Well this summer I have taken a very keen liking to altering some 'things'. Now when I go second-hand shopping I see things that are filled of potential. But I knew that I had things hanging around this house that have potential as well. And really, why buy more things when I already have stuff around here?

I bought an awesome painted photo from Goodwill a year ago with a yucky colored frame. I simply sprayed it down to another color more suitable and its perfect now. You will see the green crib. Well that was mine from when I was a little girl, actually it started off as my sisters play crib when I was a baby but I have actually slept in it when I was a baby...it was in the garage when our fire happened and luckily it wasn't too badly burnt, it was covered it smoke and showed signs of being in a housefire but didn't actually 'burn'. Anyhow, I sanded it and painted it with this LOVELY green of Martha Stewart paint and it looks brand new, it now is in my basement for Baby E to play with with her dollies. It will be passed along to Kennedy next...

Then the pine table I bought, which has a matching sofa table (not done it yet)..I LOVE love love the look of the off white-so shabby chic! Sadly, I have NO place for these in my house so I will have to get rid of them but I simply LOVE them...

But by far, my most time consuming task has been a desk that I got off Kijiji for 20.00. It was a white old (yucky) desk. It had shelf liner on the top of it so when I peeled it off I was greeted with a horrible top...it required ALOT of sanding..finally I finished it off with the same Martha paint as the green crib and sprayed the hardware with purple glitter spray...check out the photos! I was very proud of this desk. I didn't have anything to do with it, so I gifted my friend's daughter with it for her new room along with new bedding and decals for the wall to match...

I'm looking forward to doing some chairs (again, not sure where they will go) but I bought myself a purple Debbie Travis staple gun and I look forward to doing some chairs with funky materials. I may even get brave enough and do my own dining chairs as the WHITE (who puts WHILE material on chairs anyhow!?) is very worn...we'll see!

Zoo Day!

Today I took Kennedy, her friend Kaylie and Miss E to the Zoo today! I haven't been there for years, because quite frankly I went to the Calgary Zoo and it ruined the Edmonton one for me. I find it run down and 'sad' actually. But anyhow-it was a good day! We got there at 10am and left at 3:15pm. It sure filled up our day. When we got home, supper was ready (I was prepared and threw it in the slowcooker!) so we ate. Mackou w had football, so he left. Then Kennedy's friend's mom came and we chatted for a bit. Between the phone ringing and door bell going, it was hectic for a few minutes. I cleaned the mainfloor (aaahhhh) washed the floors, etc then cleaned out my purse (wow-waaaaay overdue!) and changed to a more 'summery' one! Now, Kennedy is laying in our bed watching the "New" Hannah Montana show she had PVR'd the other day. I am doing some laundry and packing up to head to the lake tomorrow. Miss E will come at 12-3:4pm so I will get as much done in the morning as possible and as soon as she leaves; I'm outie! Fabe will take his car out as well tomorrow night after work. I can't wait to get out there again to enjoy the lake. Its such a joy to go there.

I will take some new updated photos of around the house. Hopefully you will like what has been done thus far.

Other then that, I will get some photos up.

Such a funny blog!

This blog is soooo funny. You know how blogs portray a 'perfect' life-its sooo funny! This blog takes photos from catalogs and and pretends its a real blog..you just have to read it-so funny!

http://catalogliving.net/page/1

Need to organize?

This blog is seriously packed full of awesome ideas :o)

http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/

My favorite house blog...

I sincerely LOVE this blog...this little family is so cute and what they have done to their house is amazing! Check out their "House Tour" and "Our wedding"...to get to know them a little more...

http://www.younghouselove.com/

Crafty Steals!

Everyday there is some new items posted on here:

http://www.craftysteals.com/

I love it...

My Wednesday so far...

Today has been a good day Miss E arrived at 11am. We packed up and headed straight to the mall to get some summery books, a Baby Signing Time DVD and Kennedy wanted some books too! Then we played at the indoor park for a while...hit Dollarama for some crafty things and a container for our library books and finally, we went to Zellers for Kennedy to get some shoes for school. Came home, had lunch (Yummy chicken breast-leftovers, cheese sandwiches, cucumbers and strawberries). I put her down for a nap and tidied up the house a bit, threw some laundry in and on here now. Mom is heading over with her friend to show her our house-I have the Dollarama stuff left to unpack still. Kennedy is tidying her room. Mack, is finally awake...that boy can sleep in now-WoW! Speaking of sleeping, never ever ever drink Pepsi Max before bedtime (double caffine and Ginsing!) I was awake until 3am!!!!!

Tonight- gonna make supper (not sure what yet, I really need to go grocery shopping!) and Fabe and Mack will head out to football.

I'm thinking about Jane today...her dog Amber is so very ill. I'm heartbroken for her and her family. It has been amazing watching her dogs grow since puppies...she isn't a very old dog at all...but she has become so ill now. She is at the vets office, doing an ultrasound but it really didn't sound good. Please keep Amber, the beautiful golden retreiver in your thoughts and prayers...I hope she will recover...

Update and I'm back :o)

I'm hoping that I will stick to it. I have been missing it, and I do love doing it.

Here's a mini-catch up:

* I still love being back in my old neighborhood in my new house. I feel so safe being back in my old hood-I feel for the neighbors who still have not been able to move back. Their house is pretty much done, just the cleaning and what not. I can't wait for them to have the same feeling of being back home after such a horrible experience. Fires still pull heart-strings for me when I hear about them on the news...it breaks my heart to hear when a family looses a house to a fire (or worse, a family member)...I do realize that we were SO lucky to have gotten out of our house when we did (thank God!)

* The kids are loving summer break, although it doesn't feel like we are doing 'much' because we are camping every weekend. We are planning on heading to Calgary for a night to do the Zoo and Calaway. But other then that, the last few remaining weeks we will spend as much time at the lake as possible and just soak up the sun. Kennedy has done 1 daycamp and she will be there next week for "Camp Rock!" it should be fun. Helps to break up her summer a little bit.

* I am watching a little girl (Miss E, I will call her) only part time. Her mom was stuck for child care and I'm home so I offered and its just what I needed. She keeps me busy but not 'stressful' busy-just 'enjoyable' busy. We do crafts and fun things. I really am enjoying it actually. She is 15 months old and already has my heart in her hand.

* Fabe is working Monday-Friday which has been great! Lots of weekends at the lake!

* Mack's braces will be getting off soon. In Sept. they will be removing his wisdom teeth (*ouch*) they haven't even began to come up yet...my poor boy. They are taking them out already because they want to remove his braces (9 months of having them on only!) but they don't want too until his wisdom teeth are out as they will come up and cause his teeth to shift. His gap closed up so nicely...he has beautiful teeth now. So happy we did it!

* Mack has began his 1st year of Football. Fabe is volunteering as the 'trainer' which is sitting on the bench and attending to 1st Aide issues...

* Kennedy finished her outdoor season of soccer and now will be doing indoor this year...

* Kennedy was very sick 2 weeks ago with another bowel obstruction, it was very horrible pain for her. Thankfully they were able to fix it without surgery-its the damn scar tissue from her previous bowel surgery!

*Mack will be heading into grade 9 and Kennedy grade 5 in Sept! Wow!!!!

* We have applied for foster parents again. We are ready to jump back into it, we are just awaiting out license appointment and we are good to go-we are already all approved. We aren't sure what age yet-we will see. It will be a surprise!

*The house has come along so nicely. I'm pretty much all settled in and set up. I absolutely love it. Can't wait for the landscaping (to have grass!) and we will be completley 'back to normal'.


For September the plans are to continue to watch Miss E and she and I will register for some literacy based programs. I plan to make it a ritual to blog very often again. Comments make it more appealing though ;o)

I hope your all well. Check back often (and comment!)...enjoy August!

The Smallest Summer Home...

Where we have been spending our time this summer: Our trailer. We bought this trailer in 2008. It is a 28 foot regular trailer, nothing special. It has everything we 'need' and even a little more. What we LOVE about our trailer is the layout. It has a queen master bedroom with a TV area, 2 closets on each side of the bed. In the main area, there is a 'super slide' which has a couch that folds out to a a double bed. Also a dinette that is a double bed. The kitchen has the basics (stove, fridge, oven and microwave) another tv area with surround sound (lol) lots of cupboard space. Then at the back is 2 bunk beds and the bathroom (with a tub!). Its amazing how we only need 28 feet to make us fall in love with the place.

Our trailer we bought months before our house was destroyed by the fire (summer 2008 we bought it) and had our fire happened in the summer we would have lived in our trailer forsure...we love it THAT much. We couldn't wait until summer (after the fire) because the trailer is really our 'second home'. We have grown to love it so very much. I am so happy to provide our children with happy memories of camping every weekend, again another way we are so very blessed!

Lake Lot!

< The kids having 'downtime'...even they need it!






(below) The beautiful pool!


<>

(below) Matthew and Braeden getting ready to hit the pool..

< Poor Bandit, so hot! Taking refuge under a chair for some shade!

Our new campground this year is a beautiful one. While it doesn't have a beach it has a wonderful swimming pool. Quite frankly, my children would rather a pool then a beach anyhow as they are just that type of children (no bugs, seaweed, fish, rocks, etc,etc,etc). Kennedy spends hours upon hours at the pool. This campground is seasonal only-the children have made so many friends and its so neat to have the same children over and over. They come call on the kids now, its great. As well, we are meeting several families as well. I love taking Bandit for a walk and everyone greets you. Its just a great place to be. I wasn't sure at first as the price is above average for around here, but it has been well worth it afterall.

Lake Fun!

My nephews stayed a weekend with my sister and us at the lake...it was so great having them there!

Faulkner Chair-the BEST thing ever!!!!!

Many hours spent around this fire...

Kennedy running around our lot.

As usual-every weekend is now being spent at our lake lot. We will never question if our trailer has been a smart purchase for us or not. Its simply our heaven=we love it there so very much. Its amazing how excited Bandit is when we are only a few minutes away, just the last turn until we are there...his tail is wagging and he cannot sit still in the car. Thats how we feel too, so very happy. Its a place where we can escape too. Its so peaceful and calm there. There isn't cell service at our spot, however if I go to the boat launch then I get service there. I love that, at first I really hated it-what would I do without my phone, emails coming in...facebook updates? Actually its nice. I don't even take my phone out of my car anymore.

I love the lake so much.

Its almost my favorite place to be...

Our neighbors dog, Bowser was missing for a few days. They were heartbroken...they lost him on an acreage out of town...but happily he was found after a few days! They were so thrilled, as were we! We would be so lost without Bandit! I love happy endings :o))))

Camping Fun...

We have been enjoying camping so much and LOVING it!

Its been so much fun...

The kids love it too!