Tag Archive | cucumbers

Company On Top of Company

August 18-24

The girls are over the moon with their mini fashion shows. We are so spoiled that Gammie can and does send us so many outfits.101_9281 101_9285 101_9287 101_9313 101_9317

In celebration of Jeff being here AND he and Daddy being busy in the sub basement we had an outside lunch on the front stoop.101_9289

Right after that I realized that We had missed a rather special LARGE present that had been mailed previously from Texas. I think she got the most excited opening this one. The way it was rigged up the large caterpillar sort of popped out for her. Instant favourite.101_9290 101_9291 101_9295

That evening we had special plans. Jeff headed out with Chris for beers and visiting and the rest of us were off to Aunty Judy and Uncle Jim’s for a special family celebration of Echo’s 4th birthday complete with a cake made especially for her by Uncle Jim! He works for the Pilsbury company and makes an AMAZING cake!101_9301 101_9303 101_9304

I really can’t think of a place the kids get more excited about visiting than “Robbie’s House” and he wasn’t even there that visit!20140818_204537 20140818_191820 20140818_174959 20140818_194011 20140818_194035

In the morning the kids pitched in and worked on Echo’s birthday present from Jim and Judy – a Barbie lego set! With a little blue pool.101_9305 101_9310

We continued our learning… mostly shark related…101_9311 101_9314

And then we paid each of the kids and extra dollar of allowance to spend the week pulling weeds! What an efficient crew we had out there from the biggest to the smallest.101_9308

And the guys continued their gaming… interspersed with cleaning out of the sub basement. This all went SUPER well until they were at the tail end and found… a leak. Sigh. I am so proud of Ken for jumping in an working so hard to create space and organization in our world. This new and improved healthy Kenny is AMAZING.101_9283

We had company on Wednesday, well additional company. Robbie and Alicia came over for dinner and gaming. The kids are in love with these two, rightfully so. And it is doubly amazing that they can enjoy boardgames with us.101_9319 101_9321

101_9329I found a spare moment and finished up a special wallet for my Renaissance Festival outfit. It will loop around my handle so that I won’t lose my ID etc. I love it, I altered a basic billfold style wallet pattern to fit what I needed and there you go – no lost nothings when I go out this year!101_9322

There was time for playing outside AND checking out the garden with our guests.101_9323

101_9325 101_9326All this while Ken and Jeff made us dinner – Curry and a yummy sort of pudding pie. SPOILED US!!!101_9328 101_9327

On the 21st you can check back and see our Treasure Box we got in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Mike HERE. We evened that day out with Munchkin (game) and time outside.101_9341

All the weed pulling led us to tweezers and patience as we removed burrs that attacked everyone pretty equally.101_9342

The kids have been loving another adult in the house. Especially one that knows all about Canada. Eases the homesickness a little, just like Grandma’s Canadian Treasure Box.101_9345 101_9351 20140816_175127

What a week!!!101_9358 101_9357

 

Really… can we keep Jeff forever? Because Ken has been so positive and the kids and I have enjoyed the company so much! We had all of Saturday and half of Sunday to enjoy with him and some lovely weather.

 

But then it was time to say good bye! Definitely a hard one… I don’t think anyone who visits us down here really realizes how much their visits and packages mean to us. A taste, touch, sound of home… thank you so much everyone for remembering us!

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PICKLING PICKLES!

August 8-10

After so much fun and amazing company with the parade the night before I was rather proud of the kids for getting the book work and learning done that we did.101_9053 101_9054 101_9055 101_9056

Everyone was excited to head out to the garden to see if the sun had helped our vegetables along. It is amazing how many green cherry tomatoes we have just awaiting that little bit more sun and heat to be ready for eating.101_9058 101_9059 101_9061

This has been the year for toads in the yard as well. When one is found we MUST stop everything and photograph it. I think we shall have to spend some of our time this winter and do a unit on frogs and toads!101_9063

And of course we had to do some mugging for the camera… selfies being a “real” word and all now!101_9067

On the weekend we figured we should take advantage of the sales and pick up some school supplies for our new school year. I try to keep a surplus around but at the beginning of the year each kid gets their own pencil case and supplies in those. Something new to start a new year with. I am amazed how hard it is to find duotangs here (the folders with the 3 sets of prongs for the paper holes).101_9085 101_9087 101_9088 101_9142 101_9143

Miss Echo sets her own style lately… quite well I might add!101_9080

The boys wanted to share their current display of Mixels. Gammie has sent them TWO series! There is a third yet to come. They are SO thankful that she felt she should send them these. A collection AND Legos… a match made in heaven!101_9089

Saturday evening we had a last minute plan change. With a garden full of cucumbers and lacking the knowledge about canning we called up Renee and Christopher. Their church was having a fair and is just down the road so after their mass they came over to our house for dinner and canning!101_9093 101_9094 101_9091 101_9095

So the kids ran wild in the basement while Ken and I were educated in how to make pickles!! Thank you so much Chris and Renee… we cannot wait to taste the pickles! And now we can move this knowledge to face the coming tomatoes and maybe even touch on our peppers.101_9096 101_9097

After we saw everyone off Ken ran out to take pictures of the (almost) full moon. This happened to be a lucky choice as at the high point (Sunday) we ended up with rain and clouds. I love it when we get a chance to play with the camera beyond the simple kids and pets.101_9105 101_9119

On Sunday we got our butts out the door to finish the bulk of our school shopping… (pictures above) and Ken yielded to temptation and got these… mixed results!101_9086

Oh and buy a dress for Miss Echo for her birthday – that was her gift from Mommy and Daddy this year. We lucked out at H&M and got a teachers discount!101_9123

What to do what to do to round off the weekend? Why… head to the beach once more!!!!101_9126 101_9130 101_9132 101_9136 101_9140 101_9141