Mothers' Day

Let me tell you about my Mothers' Day this year - a lovely day!

I got to sleep in because church doesn't start til 1:00pm.  I wasn't sleeping but instead I was enjoying reading a novel by a local author called "Finding Rose".  And then, breakfast in bed arrived!!!  They served a meal fit for the queen that I am - eggs and hash browns, granola, bananas, grapes and strawberries, and orange juice.

Here's Mackenzie ready for church, demonstrating her obsession with toothbrushes these days.  She hauls them all over the house, but when I found mine by the toilet, and wet, I decided it was certainly time for a new one!

Notice the lovely hairdo (how could you not?).  On Saturday we were all working over at the house, except Carlee - she was babysitting Mackenzie.  But Carlee got involved in a special project she was working on, and didn't notice Mackenzie get a hold of some Avon Care Deeply Lip Balm.  Well Kenzie gouged out every bit of that lip balm and smeared it all through her hair, and on my pillow.  Shampoo wouldn't get it out so we're just doing the waiting game til it wears out.  I did put some baby powder in and that helped absorb some of the greasiness - hence the lovely coiffure.  And she smells like a wet dog!!!

Anyway, back to Mothers' Day - had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting.  It wasn't all praise to moms - the kind that makes you feel like you're far from being the perfect mom - it was realistic and spiritual.  I especially loved the bishop's two little boys beating each other up during the Primary children singing "Mother I Love You" - that was priceless!  Rich wasn't feeling well so he stayed home with sleeping Mackenzie, so I actually got to listen to church without distractions.  I sat by Jordyn and she was so still and reverent compared to what I'm used to!  And then they handed out flowers at the end of the meeting - yay!!!

My girls were very thoughtful for Mothers' Day . . .

Jas made this coconut cream pudding that was SO yummy, especially with a dollop of whipped cream.  She knows I have a weak spot for coconut!!!

Katia made me this pen flower stuck in a flowerpot at her home-school Thursday class.

Jenna made me this Sundae at Activity Days.  It's bath salts and an exfoliating puff scrubber.  And notice that Lindor chocolate tied to the bottom - mmmm!  She also made me the cute card in the first picture.

Carlee and her special project.  She latch-hooked me a daisy pillow that she designed herself - wow!!!

Jordyn used her drawing skills to sketch a picture of each one of my babies - fantabulous!!!

(You can see a more detailed version here.)

They also allowed me to be completely lazy - reading and napping - and then they fed me.  They're so sweet!!!

Me and my pretty flowers!!!

I delight in being a mom - it's constant, and busy, and tiring (like last night when Mackenzie was upset for two hours in the night because she's getting a cold, and had a poopy diaper), and often thankless, but oh, so rewarding.  I love my kidlets!!!

My Birthday

Yeah - I had a birthday!!!  You'll be glad to know that I'm 42 now, and so much wiser!

Sitting down to the birthday feast the girls made for me.  We had a baked potato bar, which was perfect because Rich had taken me out to lunch and I'd already had my meat quota for the day.

And the girls on the other side of the table.

Time to open gifts . . .

Enjoying the homemade card and lovely messages from my family.

Jordyn and Carlee each gave me a bunny for my garden - they were so cute and Mackenzie just loved them to death.  She kept kissing them!

Lots of birthday loot - clothes along the back, garden decor (bunnies, frog on boot, garden stone and garden welcome sign), a daisy shopping bag, my daisy twig vase (you can read about that here), a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates from Ying (where I went for lunch!), and chocolate covered almonds to replenish my closet chocolate stash (that no one knows about!!!).

And then . . .

. . . Pavlova for dessert!!!  Jas made it - haven't had Pav in years and I do love it so!  This one actually looks like some kind of little frog with big kiwi fruit eyes!  Mom used to make Pavlova all the time so this brought back some good memories - good enough memories that I had to eat three pieces of it!!!

I had a lovely birthday, including over 67 greetings from Facebook friends!!!  In my "me" time I redesigned my blog - made it look more like me than the generic blog I had started with (which was great for starting).  Do you like my new blog look - with the daisies?

Believe it or not, I delight in birthdays!!!  They're good for you.  Statistics show that people who have the most birthdays live the longest.  And it sure is nice to be remembered!!!

Who Needs a Dog Groomer?

I seem to recall mentioning months ago that Lacie, our cocker spaniel, needed a furcut!  But we just never got around to taking care of it.  So, during Spring Break last week, some of my darling daughters decided that they would become Lacie's groomers.

They put her in a laundry basket to contain the mess (what thoughtful gals!) and grabbed their school scissors and got to work in the middle of the living room.

Katia is the official brusher with two old brushes.

So then I made the mistake of doing something in the kitchen.  Well, Lacie is a food addict so she jumped out of the basket and headed for the kitchen, just in case I was doing something with food, and just in case a crumb fell to the floor!!!  She took half the clumps of fur from the basket along with her!

Ha ha Lacie - love this picture!  She's half done!!!  Now the song kinda makes more sense - "With her ears cut short . . ."

Back in the basket and Mackenzie is keeping her occupied.

Now, how do we do her tummy and feet?

Obviously not using the laundry basket!

There's one paw finished!

Clip, clip, clip on the tummy fur.  I love the way Lacie sits on Carlee's lap like a baby.

For all this hacking away with the little school scissors, Lacie only let out one yelp and went running away.  Jordyn nipped her belly.

So while Lacie was recuperating, the girls vacuumed up - love ya Dyson!!!  Then they realized that things were drying up and warming up outside, so they decided to finish the job out on the deck.

And Lacie got some doggy treats for her good behaviour and for allowing the girls to entertain themselves.  Lacie is now sporting a hack job fur cut, but amazingly, she looks so much better!!!  And her ears don't hang in her water dish and then drip water all over!!!

And as for my delight?  I delight in dogs - a delightful creation and so many variations.  And Lacie is even learning how to lick my feet from time to time (if she likes my flavour of moisturizing lotion!).  Even now she is sitting at my feet, being a quiet and loyal companion. 

And now, I must take my girls to go and take care of some friends dogs - Duke and Cassie.  They're beautiful Labrador retrievers.  

House Exterior

Last week was Easter/Spring Break and the weather was pretty good for most of the week.  That meant we (and when I say "we", I mean Rich and the girls!) could do some exterior work on the house, and not be completely bogged down in mud.

Take a close look at the back of the house so you can see how it changes.  And who's that taking a rest on the scaffolding . . .

. . . Carlee - our 12 year old gopher!  (Go fer this, go fer that!)

While Chelle and Carlee helped dad, Jas and Jordyn got to paint the smart board.

And sometimes they painted each other!

Not afraid to get their hands dirty!

Kevin jumped into the picture of Jordyn displaying the painted smart board stacked up in the shop.  This smart board is going all over the place - around the windows and doors, as fascia on the gable ends (where no eavestroughs are required), trim on the edge of house, etc.

Ready to see some of it . . .

Okay, you can see a bit of smart board - like the spot where we ran out!  But mostly this shows Rich doing stucco wire on the shop.  The shop is the only building that's insulated and drywalled so far, so it needs the exterior protection from the spring rains that are sure to come.  I believe that is "peel and stick" in his hands for sealing doors and windows.

The shop is all finished - paper and wire that is!  There will be stone on the front below the smart board line, and shakes up in the top part of the gable (where its blue.  Rich has seen this done lots in the city and assures me that it looks great!).

Jordyn is collecting pop bottles from the job site.  Our trip to the bottle depot earned us $63!!! 

Our stone will be browns and blacks and tie all the colours in nicely.  And I can't wait to see all the fancy, decorative hinges put on the front of the garage doors!

Okay, back to the smart board . . .

Wow!!!  Doesn't that just make the windows pop!!!  And look at the soffit and fascia - awesome!!!

Loving that living room window!!!

This is the back of the garage and north side of the house that no one can really see unless they walk around the house.  Those high parts are all soffited and fasced!!!

Rich and I were in the living room, watching Chelle and Jas in the horrible wind, trying to get the saw ready for moving to a new location.  They'd both stop and turn away from the wind and then continue with their job once the wind gust died down.  Such good workers!

Now, notice all those pieces of scrap wood laying around?  We don't pick those up because they are actually our sidewalk.  When it rains or snows and the ground is a mud pit, we are so glad for those pieces of wood to walk on!!!

And the huge propane tank that we used to thaw the basement is still there.  They have to come and empty to propane out of it before they can haul the tank away.  I hope they don't ruin the sidewalk when they come pick it up!!!

This saw was Richie's Christmas present - so many gadget, gizmo's and special features!!!

I delight in watching my girls work together.  It might not be the most fun job they're doing, but they make it more enjoyable - singing, laughing, talking.  Their camaraderie and cooperation is very delightful!!! 

Full House (hahaha!)

I'm glad to be posting these pictures because these are the ones we lost, and then they were there again after someone jiggled the memory card - yay!!!

There's Richie at the bottom of the flight of stairs he just built.

These stairs are in the garage and lead up to . . .

. . . the bonus room!

This will be a sweet room to have for . . . whatever!!!  Probably storage to start with until we get all the shelves built in other places of the house.

Rich and his new helper building the bottom part of the stairs.

That orange tarp is still casting an orange glow on everything!

Who is the new helper?  Why, it's . . .

. . . Chelle!!!  Finished a year of college and is hired by daddy for now!!!

The tarp on the garage floor is just keeping the new cement floor warm.  We had a few cold nights and didn't want it to freeze before it was completely cured.  I like this picture because there on the right side is Katia swinging from the scaffolding.  She goes over to "help daddy" and finds ways to entertain herself.

All the rest of the pictures on this post are from Good Friday and Saturday.

Katia - the best helper ever!  Picking up scrap wood so Chelle can sweep.

Just like this!

Jas and Rich were building more interior walls while the rest of us were cleaning up.

Action shot of Jas on the chop saw - see the sawdust flying!!!

Furnace guys were finished so now Rich was building a wall around their stacks.  This is in the mud room.

My job - vacuum the garage floor!  The tarps are gone now and the floor has been "cut" so I'm getting rid of all that fine cement dust.  We don't want to breathe that in forever!

Carlee and Jordyn were out in the yard cleaning up.  Yeah - it was really muddy.  Carlee can't push the full wheel-barrow up the muddy incline - she's slipping backwards in the mud and Jordyn doesn't want to help because she doesn't have boots on!  Carlee actually ended up dumping it over and falling down!!!  (On accident, she wants me to add!)

Ya gotta love a muddy job site!!!

Katia modelling the new stairs in the garage and me, I'm still vacuuming and getting shocked every few seconds!  You can bet your boots that I'll be doing storage under that platform!!!

Jordyn and Carlee doing nothing productive except playing on the scaffolding!!!  And where is Katia?  Oh yeah, that's her swinging again!!!  (Please notice the clean cement!!!)

Now you're probably wondering where Jenna was through all this?  Well, she was helping too by babysitting Mackenzie while she napped.  The house isn't really too child friendly for a baby right now!

Nice weather and dry ground meant it was time to do some exterior work before more snow or spring rains came and muddied up the ground, or moisture seeped in between the plywood walls.

So what's new in this picture?  Soffit and fascia on the front of the garage!!!  It's chocolate brown.

Chelle worked the saws and Jas was the gopher while Rich installed.

Chelle's action shot on the chop saw!!!

While they were doing this, I was inside . . .

. . . drawing out the kitchen I had designed on paper onto the actual kitchen floor.

I have about 2 inches of adjusting cabinet sizes to do on one wall.  Good thing to know before I start getting quotes!

There's Rich and Jas doing the soffit.  I took this picture through the living room window.

Soffit and fascia done on the back wall of the shop and first pieces of smart board put around the window.  It looks marvellous!!!

I delight in watching my family work together.  I'm glad that my children know how to work hard and feel a sense of accomplishment in the things they do.  Building a house to live in together is certainly a wholesome family activity!!!