Happy Birthday Gail

My friend Gail turned 65 on Saturday and her lovely daughter arranged a Surprise Tea Party for her.

Jennifer made all the sweets and Joan was in charge of the sandwiches.

When Gail arrived, we were all quietly standing behind the table waiting for her to enter the room (no jumping out of hiding spots for seniors!!!) and when she entered we yelled SURPRISE!!

And she was - surprised that is.

Unfortunately the silence followed by the shouting scared the wits out of little Mayela

It was a great gathering of her friends and we all wish her a Very Happy Birthday! 

Bridge of Spies

Saw this 92 Tomatoes Critics Choice movie last night and I must agree with them.  Tom Hanks won't be nominated for an Academy Award for his role in this film but after saying that I can't fault his performance.  It was a straight forward story of Spy v Spy during the cold war of the late '50's and it is a true story.  Mark Rylance, an actor I was not familiar with, did an excellent job as the Russian spy Rudolf Abel.  Although just over 2 hours in length, the time passed quickly (which means a pretty good movie for me).  I give this movie 8 Stars out of 10.

Hallowe'en Night

The Farmers and their chicks came to my door on Hallowe'en night.

Gramma gave them pumpkin pails filled with goodies, like new mitts, finger puppets and (edible) goldfish.

The kids were so good, watching all the Trick n Treaters as they came to the door.  As the night lengthened, the Trick n Treaters became scarier and scarier.  They almost scared me and the kids sometimes ran away crying.  But they always came back the next time new ones were at the door.  It was their job to wave good-bye and shut the door, a job they took very seriously and did very well.  They were excellent little chicks all night despite the fact they missed their afternoon nap.  

Great costumes Brooke.  I think you won Best Costumes in Whitehorse this year!

October 31, 2015

Our first snowfall that will stay, I'll bet.  Usually our first snowfall that stays is October 11 (SR's birthday).  Quite a bit later this year.  And just in time for the Trick or Treaters on Hallowe'en night!

Hallowe'en

Today - the day before Hallowe'en - the kids are going to the Daycare Hallowe'en party.  Brooke designed and made their costumes and they couldn't be cuter.  Above, Alanna is getting dressed in her costume.

Emerson had to take a book break in the midst of his dressing.  Wheels of the Bus is his favourite.

And finally, they are ready.  

I think they will be the hit of the party!

                                                      Emerson                                                               Alanna

Their comb was bound to come off their head.  Oh well, they look just as cute and we can always use our imagination if we want it back on their head.

A Beautiful October Afternoon

Beautiful fall day today.  We all took the kids out for a walk, something they love to do now that they CAN walk.

The dogs came too.  Notice they are linked.  Timber doesn't always listen to commands.  Lily does.  Tie them together and when you say come, Lily drags Timber along.  It makes life so much easier.

In the picture below it looks like little Timber is coming out of SR's back pocket!!

It began with SR & I walking with little Alanna between us.  Let's swing her I said.  One, two, three, SWING.  She laughed and laughed and laughed.  We did it again and again, then I moved on to Emerson.

Above, he is anticipating a big swing.  He loved it as much as Alanna.

SR's Birthday

I can't believe a forgot to post SR's birthday dinner photos.  Alanna got all dressed up for the occasion.  She looked like a little princess.

Emerson got dressed up as well.

We had a - I would say lovely but this was the day my oven decided Not to work properly - so I will say we had a dinner.  Above SR is getting ready to blow out a wee ice cream cake, which the kids, especially Alanna, loved!

And kids will be kids.  They are not always perfect as seen the in photo above.  (But they are still cute!)

Saturday October 10

This is a first. I had the twins overnight this weekend while their parents had a well deserved rest at the cabin - baby free.  Yes, went there Saturday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon and I survived!  And so did they!  As you can see Alanna is now into fashion and shoes are a big part of that.  Here she is trying to wear her Mom's boot.

Breakfast was French Toast, Cheerios and fruit.  Alanna did very well eating out of the bowl I gave her.

Emerson, not so much.  He was trying the dog method of putting your whole face in the bowl.  Easier and quicker to get the food in your mouth I suppose.  Then Alanna would look at him, smile and try the same thing.  All in all, we had a fun time together - eating, reading books, playing games and napping.

Climate Change ??????? Friday, October 9

When I first moved here, there was no such thing as fog.  That was a Vancouver thing.  Now look!

And we had rain almost every day in the summer (Vancouver??).  Vancouver had a hot dry summer.  And today it was a steady drizzle (Vancouver??).  We are getting weather that is not normal!

The Martian

I am only going to say one thing about this movie:

BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!

Sunday with Stuart McLean

Went to the Arts Centre tonight to see Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe.  We were lucky because of the three day performance schedule, tonight was the night being recorded for the radio.  Tune in on October 24th (and they also said 25th - so I don't really know the CBC schedules I guess) to hear the performance I heard tonight.  I have seen him before and it was good but tonight was especially good.  It was interesting to see what happens when they record for radio.  We redid a lot when he made a mistake, for example he kept calling Sarah McDougall, the local entertainment for the evening, Sarah McLaughlin.  Time and time again he did this.  He also did a great interaction with the audience this time.  He is quite amusing.  He did some giveaways, one of which was to the oldest person in the audience.  She was 89 years old. One was to the youngest.  Thomas was 5.  It was Thomas that presented the gift to the oldest.  Very cute.  All in all it was a great entertaining evening.  I didn't really want to go and now I am so glad I did.

Just Googled CBC Radio here is what I found:

• Saturdays at 9:05 AM across Canada on Radio Two
• Sundays at 12:05 PM across Canada on Radio One 

Last Saturday of September

Last Saturday in September.   Watching my soccer game and look out the window.  SNOW.  My neighbours are having a garage sale so I look over to their house and there is Brianna making a snowman.

And considering the amount of snow, she made a pretty good one too.  Wonder how successful their garage sale was?

So I put on a fire and settle in to watch the rest of the football game (Manchester United won 3-0! and they are now sitting on the top of the table - yeah!)

Twinsit Tuesdays

My twinsitting has been moved to Tuesdays, now that daycare is in the picture.  And they are both walking now.  They are growing up quickly it seems.

I took out my camera and Alanna ran in front of me and gave me a big smile.  How could I not take her picture.

They seem to be learning a lot in day care - going there 2-1/2 days a week.  Emerson now pushes his trucks around the house.

Of course, there is still a lot to learn.  Like,  you can do a lot with books, but eating is not one of them.

And windows have many uses too, but once again, eating is not one of them.

Fall Time

Off to Carcross today.  It was sunny when we left - 40% chance of rain.  I know from experience that that means 100% chance of rain and it wasn't long before we had to take off our sunglasses and put on rain coats.  Well, really it wasn't that bad.  Just hit a few sprinkles but the fall colours are always more brilliant in the sunshine.

Above:  a mountain side while the sun was shining for a few minutes.

Travelled 26 Km down the Annie Lake Road to the Wheaton River.  Just past that bridge the road looks as if it becomes a 4x4 road, so we stopped there.

Then it was down the Carcross Road.  The scenery was spectacular considering the dull day.  Fall is my favourite time of year.

Friday, September 4

Yup, they were right.  That glorious day is over.  Today, more drizzle all day - grey and cold - 7 degrees C at 3 in the afternoon.  Yuck!

Thursday, September 3rd

Finally !!!! Looked out my kitchen window and saw the top of Haeckel Hill.  Maybe not exactly what I wanted to see though.  August had a record amount of rain.  (Of course it did - it rained every day didn't it??).  The average monthly amount fell in the last two days alone.  And our temperatures are suppose to be in the double digits and for the last week we were happy to see 7 degrees C.  But today - Oh what a day.  So I put on my shoes and went for a walk.

I was trying to get to a path in the bush that I like to walk and took some short cuts and stumbled upon this.  Lisa and John, you would have liked this.  An Adult Fitness Centre with a Child's Playground in the the back.  Kate could have had fun and you could have had fun too.  So I stopped for a bit here.

 After a bit of exercise, I moved on.

Ah, found the trail I was looking for.

The sun was brilliant, shining through the trees.  (I should have had some dogs with me to exercise them.  They would have loved being here)

And each mountain I saw was white capped.

This lovely weather was suppose to last ONE DAY.  So, when I returned home, I washed my windows outside and packed away most of my outdoor furniture and garden things.  Only a couple of chairs left out in case the weather does warm up one day and I can sit outside.  Look at the temperature at 3 in the afternoon (in the sunshine).  It might just as well have been 40 degrees it felt so hot and so glorious.