So the summer begins...

So glad that school is done. Definately needing a break this year. Hoping to have a quiet summer, poor Ron can't even take his long vacation days like he used to. In previous years he's been able to take all 3 weeks at one time giving him a really nice break. But this year with him being the boss, not going to happen. He's planning on doing a few days here and there. In mid-July he's taking a few days with my dad and uncles to go quadding up by the Fort. Mac. sanddunes. I'll have to make him take the camera :)

So this summer will be lowerkey, which is so okay with me. We are planning to take the kids to Walking With Dinosaurs Live and then head to Calgary to see my brother and his wife. We need to deal with the US consulte to get Ron's passport straightened out if we do decide to go to Vegas with my aunties/uncles.

Hoping to get lots of scrapping done and finish a huge chunk of my braille course and maintain the peace around here. Planning on giving the kids some jobs and such. Now if we could only get some nicer weather.....

soooo very busy....

but I feel guilty that I haven't blogged. Between end of school stuff and finishing up projects, Abby's birthday things have been crazy. Now that I'm on holidays I will really try to be more bloggish...;)

Anyhoo, here's some pictures from Abby's 5th (!) birthday.

more pictures....

These were all taken at the very top of a swing set. Love these pictures....



this was too cool to pass up, I'm not a big fan of honey bees but I love watching them stick their butts out of flowers when getting the nectar.

Spring!

My beautiful iceland poppies and pink tulips!

just a few from the weekend

These are mostly from our "talent" night and we all near about died laughing at the uncles doing hip -hop! Yes that is my dad! Dena and I were saying that we now have the best pictures for the newspaper when he turns 60 next year!
Uncle Wally, Uncle Les and my dad

Ethan sure made Ron run on Jaden's little quad. He just loved it!
Maylong weekend wouldn't be complete without Ethan's jokes ;)
The Germain boys (minus 1) did a very convincing performance of "men in tights"
My Abby and her cousin Nadia dancing to the "hamster dance" I think that Abby was nervous and couldn't think of any other moves cause this is what she did the whole song, lol. Normally she's full of great dance ideas.

Of course the ma tantes! They did a menage of country queens, including Tammy Whynot.

More pictures later when I download them....

So for all my going ons about "seeking a balance" in my life I've so not being doing it the past 2 weeks. I've taken on more than I can handle and yesterday I just broke down and cried. Didn't cry because of anything bad but Ron putting a card in my lunch kit yesterday. A lot of this stress is self induced and if I had just stood up for myself and insisted that "this get fixed the way I wanted" I wouldn't have had 3 nights extra work. But I didn't and now I'm paying for it with a pain in my neck, literally.

I'm so not ready for Maylong weekend, not like I wanted to be. Today is Friday. We have company coming to stay over and my house looks like its been ransacked. The grocery store didn't have what I wanted (grrrrr!) so Ron has a long list today. I'm going to be racing home from work to clean like crazy. So not prepared for the whole camping thing, honestly don't even want to go. I'd love to just hole up at home and not do anything but straighten up, do a little laundry, scrap and eat. Heck I don't even feel like eating much...that's how stressed I am.

On the upside, I haven't had any canker sores for about a month....thank you yogurt smoothies! I really wanted to get myself a wide angle lens and a remote for maylong (for my camera) but I just never got around to it. Hopefully my pictures will be ok. Got to remember to clear my memory card.

Just going to leave with a favorite layout that I've completed lately. The pink makes me happy.

Scrappy post...

Just some layouts that I've done recently. The one below came about from finding a "lost" picture that I didn't know I hadn't printed. This layout is one of my all time favorites. The rest of these are for the Scrapper's Haven design team that I'm on. Have fun playing with the new Urban Lily Happy Everything line....
Also my all time favorite picture of my son. One of the only pictures that he's taken in the last year that doesn't have his eyes over to the corner or a goofy smile. This was taken in the play area at WEM.

This weekend's pictures

Just some crazy kids I know....

and my cutie patootie :)

I swear that I've spent most of the past 2 weekends dealling with pheasant club stuff. Right now I'm avoiding the last 2 pages of bulletin and playing on the 'net. I've really got to take it to the printer's but so so wanting to scrapbook. I've actually got great ideas floating around and new supplies to play with but no actual time :( and the next weekend is totally booked with MayLong. Hoping to get some new great pictures then. I think that I need a day off this week that doesn't include kids so that I can clean my house and just veg.

Rainy day fun

The kids got new umbrellas in their Easter baskets (like they need any more chocolate) So on the first of many rainy days they went out to play.

gotta love chocolate

Totally love Ethan's expression here. Would that I could eat chocolate without abandon.
The joys of being a kid and being able to eat the chocolate straight out of the box, no guilt.
Abby and her funny bendy bunnies that she got for Easter :)

And they're cleaning...

I knew it was too good to last. My kids have been getting along for the past 3 days. Today they are cleaning their rooms already. lol. My theory is if they have energy to fight they've got energy to clean. Big meany huh? I could be just grouchy cause of the canker sore (%&*#@ AGAIN!!) and a massive headache. But the fighting has got to stop before *I* lose it. Got to make a bunch of phone calls today (benefits and such) and we're supposed to go visit Grandma but we'll see. Hoping to go to Edmonton tomorrow to take the kids to galaxyland to play but we'll see. Depends on how the rest of the day goes.

early Easter pictures

More fishing pictures

A true fisherman. Sitting on the cooler with the food. Easy access.

I love this picture of Ron and Ethan.
The kids got bored and we told them they could walk to an island that was quite a ways away from where we were fishing. I think they took 3 breaks during the entire walk.

Notice the *huge* fish that Dad caught. I tell you its for the record books ;)

Speedy Gonzalas BABY!

At last at last! I've got high speed internet! I feel like I'm zipping around in a sports car instead of using the horse and buggy. Be forewarned that more pictures will be added and hopefully more frequently. Here are some from the last ice fishing trip the kids went on...

Time for a change

More to come later...but with spring on the way I felt there was a need for change.

Just weary

I am seriously so sick of butting heads with people. Between professional and personal I'm just tired. Seems like all I do lately is stuff for everyone else. Partly my fault for agreeing to do so much but its like its all accumulating too quickly. How do you motivate kids? What about teenagers? Anyone have any suggestions please pass them along.

Gorgeous weather!! Snow pics

This is such a typical Abby pose now a days. She insists that she's the queen, but I told her Mommy is the Empress and that the empress rules the queen. Lord help me when she's a teenager.
Ethan was showing off and balancing like the karate kid on the top of this huge pile of snow! You can't tell in the pictures but the pile is at least 10 ft. high.

Got him in mid-slide (showing off again for the little girls) :)

This is one of Abby's mid-slide jumps. The kids just had a blast playing outside.

All pictures are unedited and uncropped and I just loved how they turned out.