Sunday, August 31, 2014

Five

"Mom, I want to have a butterfly birthday".  
An interesting choice I thought.
But ask and you shall receive.  
Oh, my sweet little butterfly is five years old.  


On being five...



You love your momma so much.  
You fill my bucket full of hugs and kisses and snuggles everyday.  
You always surprise me with the kindest words and compliments.  Your manners are impressive.  Please and thank you are as natural to you as breathing.  
You are super friendly.  You are chatty.  
You are brave.  You like to try new things. 



You are a tough cookie.  Bumps, bruises and Band-aids know you well.
You love Ozzy.  You want to go horse riding.  
You want to join swimming lessons and dance class.  
You like playing Barbies and princesses and strawberries and playmobile and Lego and almost anything!
You like to play games and build puzzles.  Paint and Play-doh too.  
You like to sleep in mom's bed.  You like to snuggle me and watch my "house shows".
You like to sleep in late.  
You love going to the beach, swimming, camping, and catching frogs.  You are my little brown bear!



You love chocolate and all things sweet.
Spaghetti is your favorite supper.  Granola bars are your favorite snack.
You like the color blue.  Sophia the First is one of many favorite shows.  You love to watch movies.
You love to sing...especially if it bugs your sister.
You only wear dresses, skirts, and leggings.
You prefer one hair pony down low.
You take forever in the bathroom.



You love your new girl, Leonie.
Your dad lovingly calls you Rusty and grandma calls you Stinker Muffin.
You are kind and caring.  You are starting school this week.  You are the apple of your mama's eye.
You are my sweet, sweet baby girl.
You are five.

Friday, August 29, 2014

More of August

Every summer a theme seems to emerge from how we've spent the days.  And when you think back you say things like "Oh that was the summer we read all the books" or " that was the summer of painting and yard work" "or that was the summer of all the beach days."  When I think about the summer we just had I would describe it as the summer of visiting and reconnecting with friends and family.  I visited face-to-face with people I haven't seen for years and years.  I also visited with my peeps that I see everyday.  Some of these visits were planned and some weren't.  That's the beauty of summer.  Oh ya, this was also the summer of Palm Bay's!

*****

A girls trip to Vegas was the kick off to a string of 40th birthdays that are going to be happening over the next year.  Eight women in sin city livn' it up...how crazy is that?  This trip is something that has been talked about for YEARS and it's hard to believe it actually happened.  Eight husbands and eighteen children were left behind and we all know that the planning and coordinating of all that is sometimes enough to just say forget it.  But we didn't.  There was some intense group therapy sessions and some good for our soul moments.  I would bet that as a whole, the mental health and well being of this group of ladies improved substantially... all for the low, low cost of a trip to Vegas.  Who needs professional counselling when you've got eight friends, drinks by the pool, shopping, limo service, dancing and the ability to sleep in as late as you want?  That's fabulous Las Vegas, baby!







*****

After three days in Las Vegas, I couldn't wait to see my family again.  Jon and the girls met me in the city and we had some family fun.  This included hotel water slides, new Build-a-Bear outfits, new school shoes and clothes for both the girls (yikes!), and a day at the Saskatchewan Science Centre. Oh, and we visited with our friends at their new homes.  I like to visit people in their homes and towns.  Then I can picture in my mind what they are doing when I talk to them or read their Facebook status.







*****
More reconnecting and camping at a campground that we've never been to before was next on the list.  The girls got to meet their cousins for the first time and we figured that it had been 15 years since the last time I had seen their mom's!  I didn't take a picture of us though.  I guess we were so busy watching the kids have the time of their lives catching frogs and these ginormous grasshopper/butterfly bugs that we had never seen before.  They must be prairie bugs because we've never seen them around our northern town.  I don't think we'll be letting 15 years go by again before our next visit.  I don't think the kids would allow it!












*****
The country roads took us to our final stop.  Our home away from home.  The farmyard of my BFF.  I've seen my friend three times this summer!  That is virtually unheard of but I'm so glad that's the way things rolled out.  I love visiting their home.  I love shopping in their small town co-op for the days meal, I love looking at her garden in all it's glory ready for a harvest, I love looking at the wide open spaces and glowing yellow canola fields, I love that the kids just pick up where they left off, I love visiting their cabin with all its good memories, and above all, I love my BFF.












*****
So that's where August went. Now were home, missing our friends and family but so grateful for the time we got to spend together.  Little sister had a big birthday this week and we're preparing for back to sch***!  Can't bring myself to say it, yet!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

What Happened to August?

Where did this month of summer go?  For us it was spent on the road.  I downloaded the Blogger app on my phone before we began our travels with the intention of posting as we went along but obviously that didn't happen.  Partly because the places we travelled had questionable cell service.  But mostly it was because I was so busy enjoying myself...visiting, seeing and doing things that the orange B on my phone got ignored.

Now it's time to look back to where we've been and answer the question...What did happen to August?  It started with a family reunion in a small country town.  


In true family reunion style there was lots of good company, lots of laughs, and delicious pot luck dinners. True pot-luck dinners.  The kind with no advance planning.  The kind where you just put what you got on the table and enjoy.  And I enjoyed more than my fair share of fresh picked raspberries!


This town has a lot of history for my mom's family.  I've been told stories of great grandparents homesteads and I've heard the many memories my family has from the area.  I have memories of my own from the family gatherings I went to as a kid.  My uncle has just began the journey of writing the history of this small village as part of his PhD.  I can't wait to read his work.





History is still being made in this town.  There are new cousins to meet, games of washer toss to be had, and little red wagon rides to be given.  



I'm sure if I looked back in family photo albums some version of these same pictures would be in them. There is such joy in seeing your own kids experiencing family history in the making, making their memoires to add to the collection.

*****
There are more August vacation photos to come but first things first... we've got a special girl turning five tomorrow and I've got a lot of work to do!  There are pink, purple and blue streamers to be hung and some butterflies calling my name!