flowers & rain

tiny red blooms & teeny drops of rain~ perfection!

my favorite ~ the poppies.
this one is particularly pretty.

Well, it has been raining for days & I needed to get out.
So, I decided to see what (if any)
damage had been done to my flower beds with all the rain.
Fortunately, everything was perfectly photographic ~ wet, but lovely!
♥♥♥ g.m.

the 'flower'

dandelion from my wee lassy just made my day!

chosen specially for me.

a tiny voice said:

"this is for you mummy!"

♥♥♥

Sharing these special moments ~ even if they seem tiny at the time ~ are important to the relationship between parent & child.
♥♥♥ g.m.

Did you hug your kids today?

♥Hug your childrεn!♥

Do it now.
Do it oftεn.
Do it rεpεαtεdly.
Tεll thεm thαt you αrε proud of thεm, of who thεy αrε & who thεy will bεcomε.
Tεll thεm how importαnt thαt thεy αrε to you & to thε fαmily in which thεy bεlong.
Tεll thεm thαt thεy αrε smαrt, bεαutiful, & complεtεly un-rεplαcεαblε.
Tεll thεm thαt no mαttεr whαt thεy do, thαt thεy αrε & αlwαys will bε forgivεn.

Tεll thεm thαt you unconditionally LOVE thεm.
& that you always will.
Support them.
Snuggle them.
Kiss them.
Don't let them grow up too fast.
Cherish every moment.
♥♥♥

XOXOXOX

Crazzzy Week-end!

Life did not slow down at all this wknd!

Firstly, it was the long Victoria Day Wknd 'aka' May 2-4.
Secondly, It was my step-D Raven's 11th birthday.
It was a joint celebration with hubby Jay, whose bday falls exactly two weeks later.

***The Birthday Ice-Cream Cake ~ the Fave***
***Rave chose the pumpkin candles ~ that's my girl!***

***The 'moustaches' ~ Ravey-kat's was a knitted bday gift courtesy of Aunt Amy***

I picked our Ravey-baby up late on Friday so that her mum could have a wee bday celebration with her before she left for her weekend with us.

This was a lil' bit of an inconvenience for me yet, I completely understood.
Now under a slight time crunch & fighting the long wknd traffic we set off to purchase groceries & presents!
I took her out & we bought her a new bike (with the help of my mum&stepdad) & then took her bra shopping at La Senza since she needed new.
This was a sad day.
The girls 'training bras' no longer fit & we had to shop in the women's section for bras. I & her father are a lil sad that she is growing & developing so fast!
Actually, I'm pretty sure that her father is in complete denial about the 'body transition' his young daughter is in!
Aren't they suppose to stay little forever???

So frightened of my children going through puberty. Not sure how to do it or handle it.
I mean, I went through it without a problem - sort of - with only the 'normal' teenage angst & no direct 'acting out' against the establishment & the parental units.
I guess I 'broke' my parents in being the oldest & possibly made it easier for my three younger siblings.
The hormonal imbalances & mood swings! ohhhmygawd!
Not looking forward to that in the next few short years!
But, I digress...

There was massive shopping, running around, cleaning, presents, ice cream cake, silliness, children smiling & a lot of wine 'sipped' throughout its entirety! Everything went off w/o a hitch though.

***My niece, Lilah was ♥'n the cake ~ juuuust before the 'brain freeze' struck***

And, to complete the birthday fiesta, Uncle Kelly - as always - brought Rave fireworks to end the evening.
It was an almost stressful day - surprisingly enough.
I had the dishes done & mess cleaned up early enough to sit, relax, & enjoy the sunset.

***Fireworks***
♥Happiness is friends, family, fireworks (of course) & good food!
♥♥♥ g.m.

Cuteness in Denim

Well, I attended my sons first school spring concert last nite. ♫♪♫

He is in Grade one this year.

In junior & senior kindergarten, they do a short Christmas type of presentation. You know the kind ~ the one with snowmen, candy canes & 'old school' carols about reindeer & sleighs.
Serving cookies & juice boxes at the end of the performance, while 'Santa' makes his appearance & hands out the 2$ pre-wrapped unisex gift that we (the parents) were asked to bring to school the day before.
Those days are over.
Now, as they join the regular school grading age, they start doing Spring Concerts in replace of the standard Christmas concert.

There is something that i hate to admit, but, I truly dislike watching children's choirs ~ unless, of course, my children (niece / nephew etc.) are in them.
Terrible, this I know.
But, listening to a bunch of kids singing really out of tune & commenting on how beautiful & wonderful it was is not my 'cup of tea'.
I'm sure that the majority of parents (who are honest about it) will agree with this statement.
You find your own child (or small family members) sweet, talented, & absolutely 'to die for'.
Others, not so much.

Anyway, his grade one class did a 'dance' number to the song 'Cotton eyed Joe'. When the number began I was overwhelmed by the cuteness of my own - very uncoordinated - sons 'dancing'.
He was trying so very hard.
He was tremendously adorable, but, I laughed.
Yes, it was hard to control my giggles as I watched & attempted to video tape the performance. There just may be some slight camera motion.

Anyway, I attempted to 'pull' myself together, & as I glanced over at my husband, I quickly discovered that he too was having the exact same reaction.
We were both wearing a huge smile & our pride was clearly written all over our faces.

So, I am sharing it with you now because it is MY boy, & yes, I find it to be amusing, sweet, & a happy moment for anyone to watch.
Bias, absolutely I am.
But, there is no choir singing.
Just dancing.
Torture free entertainment in my opinion.
Enjoy.

P.S. ~ I later discussed with my darling hubby, as delicately as one can, that our poor son had indeed inherited his fathers 'mad dance skills'!
Poor boy. Good thing he's cute!
♥♥♥ g.m.

Talented? I think so!

Circles ~ April 11.09

Butterfly ~ March 28.09

Stripes ~ August 9.08

Untitled ~ April 16.08

My talented daughter was barely a year when we realized her love for drawing & art.
She is now a little over three years old & the love keeps on growing.
Paint is her favorite medium.
It wasn't until about the age of two when we were struck by the epiphany that we should be getting her some canvas to paint on in order to preserve & save these tiny masterpieces.
Here are a few of those pieces.
♥♥♥ g.m.

bad bad blogger

I have to admit that i am a bad, bad blogger!!!
I'm sure that you can all understand how 'life gets in the way'. It is not an excuse. Well, actually it probably is.
But, it is a legitamite one.
I have made a promise to do better.
My son has his spring choir concert at his public school this evening with his grade 1 class. They don't do a 'Christmas' concert - which is absurd in a majority christian community, don't get me started - they instead have a spring concert. I will post again after that.
Generally speaking, i must fight for my time on-line now a days.
Between my husband, my 11 year old step-daughter, 6 1/2 year old son, & myself... there aren't enough hours in a day to share a single computer.
I promise you my readers - if there are any - that i will indeed put forth the effort & my boxing gloved right hook if needed, to blog whenever possible.
♥♥♥ g.m.