Orienteering

Joined the Orienteering group.  Once a week in the afternoon we grab a map and attempt to follow it. As it is for seniors, it is not very difficult to follow (to be truthful) but it does ensure a pleasant walk in (sometimes) a new area with friends.  This particular day we walked the trails by Yukon College.  I didn't even realize there were so many trails there.  I am looking forward to the next walk.

Middle of May

Spent the afternoon with the kiddos while Brooke planted some flowers/veggies/herbs.  It was another beautiful day.  As Siri said when I asked her what the weather was going to be like today she said SUN SUN SUN.  (She is so smart).  So, I put a little water in the pool and the kids got in.  The water was freezing cold but they didn't mind.  They were slipping and sliding and falling and getting up and doing it all over again and loving it.

They also helped Mom with the planting.  

Then came that very interesting garden hose.  They drank from it; they sprayed each other with it; they couldn't keep their little hands off of it.  SUMMER!  I hope this is just the beginning and that it won't end in a week, like it did last year.

Song & Wine tonight

Looking forward to attending Fawn Fritz's CD release which is paired with a wine tasting, tonight at the Firehall.  She is an extremely talented local artist and this is her second CD.  Learn more about Fawn and here a song from her new CD:  http://fawnfritzen.com

Hope it doesn't snow - LIKE IT DID THIS AFTERNOON!!!! --  and hope we haven't had our spring and summer rolled into one in the past warm month.

Happy Birthday to me

Just a quick not to say I had a wonderful birthday this year.  Dinner with the family at Boston Pizza whee everyone acted so well (and by that I mean the little ones were so good all through the evening) and I received more and bigger gifts than I could every imagine.  Also received a beautiful plant from my mother and a fabulous gift certificate from my sisters.  Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.
The next evening was a delicious meal put on at Nancy's house by my good friends.  Again gifts!! A bouquet of flowers and many cards.  So much fun and a wonderful Birthday weekend.

Sunday

Brooke cut into small pieces pepperoni sticks for the dogs.  She said both Lily - who never eats ANY treats - and Radar both love them, so if we are outside, just call the dogs and they will come running for Pepperoni.  Well, they weren't the only ones that loved pepperoni.   Emerson said very well "more pepperoni please" as you can see from the above video,

Jazz Night

Brooke's mom was in town so the "girls" went to see a jazz show at the Arts Centre.  

“Without question, one of the most gifted guitarists of his generation.” - Tim Ries, Rolling Stones Saxophonist

From Toronto by way of New York with his New York quartet, winner of first prize and the Public's Choice Award at the 2014 Montreux Jazz Festival International Guitar Competition, Alex Goodman has been hailed as "the next big thing in the jazz world" (CityTV News). With four albums as a leader (one nominated for a Juno), Alex is an accomplished composer with over one hundred original compositions for string quartet, philharmonic orchestra, big band, various jazz ensembles and film. He was awarded the 2013 ASCAP Herb Alpert Jazz Composer Award and was a finalist for the 2014 ASCAP Morton Gould Classical Composer prize.

It took me back to the time Merv & I went to jazz coffee houses around the U of T.  

Easter Sunday, Part 2

Oops, forgot to mention that Lily and the new member of the family Radar came as well.  Radar was so laid back, he slept in the middle of the floor and the kiddos had to carefully move around him.

I was so busy cooking and serving the dinner that I forgot to take a photo.  By the way, we had ham along with Angus' Father's special Mustard Sauce (Lauren Alexander's first book, Our Family Table, page 31).  I get compliments on that sauce EVERY time I serve it.  As well, compliments flew at the Broccoli Casserole (same book page 36) and the kids had Lemon Meringue Pie for the first (and probably last) time.  Apparently they had a sugar rush and were unable to settle down to sleep at night.  Here is everyone after dinner, ready for a nap.  Even Lily was yawning.

Then we started to wake up again.  Shaun and Brook were shooting the kiddos to the sky.  They loved it.

Easter Sunday, Part 1

My counter is ready for Easter Sunday guests.

And here is one...probably the prettiest one attending in her blue frilly dress.  The head band didn't stay on too long as you can see from the photo above but she wears her dresses well.

And the 2nd guest didn't stay still long enough for me to take a photo of just him.  And he was hungry right away so Cheerios and raisins were more important to him than anything else.

And there were other guests for dinner as well, like their mother and father, mom pictured above, 

and Joan and her granddaughter Gwen, pictured below.

Happy Easter

Tomorrow is Good Friday, the beginning of the Easter Weekend.  I will be lucky enough to have my family here for Easter Sunday Dinner.  I am looking forward to that.
Happy Easter to all my readers.  Hoping the Easter Bunny is good to all of you.

March 2016

Had some time with the kiddos this week.  Their favourite word right now is "shovel".  So out we went to shovel the deck.  No snow, but lots of shovelling.

I was taking pictures so I asked Alanna to "smile".  This is what she did.  Perhaps you don't know exactly what you are doing until you start to look in a mirror???

Then it was snack time.  Alanna has figured out how to blow bubbles into her cup.  Emerson hasn't quite got the knack of blowing bubbles so studies his sister to try to figure it out.

Emerson has strung together a number of words to make a sentence.  A whole sentence.  That is an accomplishment.  Unfortunately the sentence is "Open the door."  To which we have to say "No". 

And Lily just takes it all in.  She rests on her bed hoping it is a safe place but as you can see, the toys get closer and closer, as do the kiddos, so she is always wary, and so she should be.  Sometimes a wee one falls right onto the very spot she is laying,

Friday

Dear Grace, she organized the Chinese New Year festivities this year and organized the Big Heads (or should I say Dolls) and taught us the dance and gave us the costumes.  It was fun.  She wanted to thank us for helping out and invited us to McDonalds for coffee/tea.  All but one was able to attend.  It was very kind of her to host this little gathering.  She is teaching us a lot about the Chinese customs and language.  

And it doesn't stop there.  On the 26th there is a luncheon for ALL the volunteers to attend as another Thank You for our participation.  

March

March 6 we had Sunday dinner at my house.  The kids found the My Little Ponies that were still in their packages.  These were given to SR about 10 or 15 years ago as a joke.  But they are no joke now.  They are very important and were given to Dad open.

You can see Alanna has a little My Little Pony brush in her hand.  Each of the kids had a little brush and spent a lot of time brushing their own hair with it.

By the way, Gramma made roast pork shoulder for dinner and it was excellent.  Look for the recipe on laurenalexandercooks.blogspot.ca.  Of course I keep forgetting to take photos of the food, but eventually I will get the hang of a recipe blog.  And it is not on there yet ... but soon.

I drove downtown yesterday.  I left my house and the the sun was shining so brightly I traded my regular glasses for sunglasses.  I didn't drive but five minutes and I was in fog.  I didn't realize I lived in the banana belt.

RIP Little Timber

So far, this is a very sad year.  Today Timber met his maker under the wheels of Semi on the Alaska Highway.  He was found on the Klondike Highway around August of 2013.  Just a wee baby, all alone, walking the centre line in the middle of nowhere.  He found a wonderful home with SR and Brooke and developed a friendly disposition.  He was patient with the twins and was excellent at fetching the ball, no matter who threw it.  He will be sadly missed by all, including Lily, who already knows something is just not right at this moment.  RIP little Timber.  We all loved you.

Howling Contest with Timber

Here is a video of Timber at the Howling Contest during Rendezvous.  He did pretty good, being beaten only by a bigger husky type dog.  Two dogs were tied for 2nd place, so they had a Howl-off, and the WINNER was TIMBER, 2nd Place, won fair and square.

   

Happy 70th Joan !!

Joan's 70th today so we had cake and champagne for lunch at her apartment.  Monica made her a GF chocolate cake with coloured candles.

Cutting the (delicious) cake.

And serving.

And for the grand finale she sported her Minnie Mouse ears & Bows (from one of her Birthday Cards). just proving, we NEVER get old. 

2016 Academy Awards

Swag Bags are at the ready.  As guests arrive each one adds a surprise to each bag.  

This year was themed - Pajamas & Pearls.  

Everyone received their bags AND their Academy Awards quizzes.  The quizzes this year:

1.  Pick the movies that WON Best Picture (1991-2011) - had 64 movies listed and only 21 won Best Picture

2.  Name the Star - from a high school or public school photo of the movie star

3.  Oscar Ballot - Predict who wins in various categories

4.  and of course the ever famous Oscar Bingo

Everyone is hard at work.

This year it was an Appie affair.  And boy, everyone outdid themselves in bringing delicious appetizers.  The food was great and we visited that table many times.  Of course, there was lots of bubbly too.

And the winners are ...  My favourite was the Best Supporting Actor Mark Rylance for his role in Bridge of Spies.  He was excellent and I am so glad he won.

Rendezvous 2016

You can see how warm it was - 4 degrees with sunshine.  The snow was melting and none on the walkway.  The kids were here with Dad to support Timber's first appearance at Rendezvous.

Before the Howling Contest was the Pet Parade.  Above are two entrants of the parade.  I don't know who won this event as I was looking after kiddos who were pretty active.

Snow Sculpture Contest:  Above is my favourite.  And they won.  Unfortunately with the warm weather the sculptures were dripping and getting smaller by the hour.

This was my 2nd choice.  The dinosaur wrecking a ship.

Timber

Here is the 2nd Place Winner (note the medal around the neck) and his coach after accepting their prize.

Yukon Rendezvous

Our big weekend for Rendezvous.  SR took the kids downtown and I joined him there.  We listened to music at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.  The kids, although they love music, were apprehensive about this stuff.  I think it was too loud for them.  Anyway, Gillian Campbell fell in love with the twins and wanted a photo taken with her and the twins but they wouldn't have that, so SR stayed in the picture.

As you can see, even with their father in the photo they were not too thrilled, but at least there was a bit of distance between them and that scary lady dressed in bright red and lots of sparkles.

Feb 22

I babysat today - one child, not two.  This is a first for me.  Alanna went to appointments with Mamma.  It was beautifully warm, about 3 degrees so Emerson and I went outside so he could shovel - one of his favourite words.  Of course, we get out there and he immediately eats snow.  I took a couple of pictures then tried to teach him NOT to eat snow as I am afraid of his face getting frostbite.  But I must admit the piece of snow he chose looks like a heart - a great picture for Valentine's Day.

Eating snow makes him happy.