So disappointed...

Just got back from the Grand Opening of the new T&T in Edmonton's north end...their grand opening ceremonies started at 9am and the website announces the grand opening as 10am today! As we were frantically trying to find a place to park, we see a group of performers packing up the dragon costume and the drums. We missed the entire thing, and Kylie has been waiting for this for months :( . Kylie was incredibly disappointed and I was too, for her sake. This girl is Asian-culture crazy, and it is near impossible to find anything other than New Year celebrations in February...even then, there's not much information published about it.

All of the little kids that were there for the ceremony got these little Chinese drum-rattles (I apologize, I don't know the proper name) and they had completely run out by 930.

Oh well...poor kid. We waited in the 6-person deep lineup to get in for about 10 minutes, and then it was wall-to-wall people inside. We got as far as the bakery counter and then left, it was just too hard for Kylie to get a good view of anything. And people were pushing and shoving, it was just unreal :( .

Maybe Gramma will take Sam and Jacob tomorrow afternoon so that I can take Kylie back again to shop. She has a whole list of snacks in her pocket that she wanted to pick up.

I am making the worst grouchy face right now.

Happy Canada Day!

...and happy anniversary to ME!!!! 14 years, baby, to the best guy *ever*. I couldn't ask for a better husband and better dad for my kids. But I just sent him off on a 5 day motorcycle trip with his friend Jason, and it will be Scott's first big highway trip. They are going to Hope, B.C. and will be back on Sunday night. It stinks to be away from him for so long, but I love that he is excited about this experience. Jason is a family man, too, so I'm sure they'll both fall asleep in their motel room by 10 o'clock, after excitedly sharing pictures of their kids lol. Either that or they'll go to a late art show (aka: peelers) and my husband will talk Jason's ear off so much that Jason can't enjoy the show lol.

The kids have been off school since Friday, and it's already getting hard to find activities that we can all enjoy during the day. The playground is still cool for Jake, and of course Sam can find fun in anything...but Kylie would really rather just sit at home and read or surf the internet. Her BFF is in daycamps throughout all of July, and I don't think she's all that happy about it...but whatever, her parents both work so what else can they do. I like that our summer is just about doing whatever the flying f we want to do, I just wish we all still wanted to do the same things lol.

I'm on the look-out for Crush cream soda in a can...do you know how hard it is to find, outside of buying an entire case of the junk??? Kylie wants to make some earrings for a friend and we found a cute craft where you cut shapes out of the pop can and file the sides with an emery board. Other than that, Kyle found some glow-in-the-dark flannel to make some pj pants...and she has some monster bean bags in mind to make for Sam's birthday. I'm also hoping to finally finish the felt food collection I started last summer for Sam's birthday...there are still some fruits and desserts that I want to do.

I made an ironing board cover the other day (finally: I only had the fabric for 6 months) and I just finished a huge stack of mending. Jacob made a blanket and tag blanket for his teacher, who is expecting a baby this summer...but he refused to let me take pictures, he even made me promise not to take any after he went to bed lol. So you'll have to take my word for it :) .

I have peas!!! Just itty bitty ones, but they're there. I have to get pics of my little garden to show you. My mom says there is still the possibility of frost over night, though, so now I'm worried about my tomatoes lol. Oh well, if they make it, fine...if not, at least I tried. Jake enjoys watering the garden daily...it's so dry here, the driest that it's been in 10 years. It will drizzle for a few minutes and then that's it for days. I can't wait for a good rain, so that I can take Sam out to puddle-jump.

Last night, we brought up Jake's train table and all of the Thomas trains for Sam to play with. She was so excited that she took Thomas to bed with her, she just couldn't bear to leave him for even a minute lol...

It's only 21C here today; I was hoping it would be nice enough to head to a splash park but maybe we'll just stick around the house today and play in the yard. This morning I found the maple leaf fabric that I bought last year, to make Sam a dress with for this year's Canada Day...so maybe it will get done for next year???

Later, taters.

Dear Crazy Crack Head Lady;

Ha!!!! Ha ha ha ha.....oh my God, ha ha ha ha....

(wiping tear from my cheek) Ha ha ha ha ha ha... hee hee....hee...hee hee hee...

Oh dear...*sigh*...

Yours truly;

Kylie's Mom.

Pics.

My biker babe.


This picture right here...this is a perfect representation of what kind of a dad Scott is. Here he is, just got home after a very long 11 hour day and he pushes his dinner aside, so that Sam can sit on his knee to read fliers with him. He could have just told her 'no', that he would pick her up later when she begged for some time with him, but he put his needs aside so that he could cuddle his baby.


My baby in a tutu with jam all over it, taking her dollies for a walk. My kitchen sucks.


Yay!!! Daddy got a laptop for Father's Day, so he doesn't have to work so many late nights at the office anymore! He can take it on the road with him, and into people's houses, and everything!!! I have to clap and clap and clap!!!


I won a yellow golf shirt at that insurance convention we went to last month, and I thought it would make a nice dress for Sam. Again, it's filthy...I can't seem to keep her clean lately lol.

Oh, and hey: 5 more days of school until summer break. Yay!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there (like my husband)! Hope you have a wonderful day with your families!

And a big Screw You to all the crappy/useless/or deadbeat dads. You don't know what you're missing in your kids.

Pics

Making cupcakes...

Then she stuffed them in jars, piped as much icing as humanly possible in and around the cupcakes...added 3/4 of a jar of butterfly sprinkles...

Finished project! Cupcakes in a jar for Kiki and her friend, for dessert on a sweltering 30C+ night.

Sammy Sunshine doing some colouring, perched atop the dining room table...

...and a boy who really needs a haircut but just can't stand the idea. He could probably use a clean shirt, too. Lookit those dandelions in the background...I don't know why, but it seems like there are just tons of them this year. But I don't mind them, they're pretty when they're still yellow :) .

3 posts in one night!

Can't sleep...Kylie's friend is sleeping over, but there's not much sleeping going on...

Last week, I took Kylie out of school for the afternoon so that we could visit the Koshashin exhibit at the Edmonton Art Gallery. Koshashin is a Japanese word meaning 'old photography', and I only know that because I Googled it lol. Kylie enjoyed it immensely...in fact, there were grade 8 classes there on a field trip who just rolled their eyes and acted silly, while Kylie walked from room to room, soaking it all in. She loved it.

When we got home, we Googled 'Koshashin', and found a koshashin generator here (in the upper right-hand corner, you can toggle from Japanese to English). We uploaded some pictures that we took last summer and she chose one to hi-lite with some pencil crayons. I think it turned out pretty cool...

Before (I actually can't find the *exact* picture right now):

After:



I'm going to frame it and display it in my bedroom, which is decorated with the kids' art projects. I liked doing this with her...reminds me of the days when Kylie thought it was cool to do crafts with me. Now I'm useless to her lol...