Sunny days are here again

Its starting to feel like summer. Hence my lack of blogging, hehe. Actually, I have been knee deep in projects and Ariel isn't always the easiest person to convince that mommy needs to work. Blah. The mothers day video I am making for church is pretty much done. Funny how things go from bad to good in a matter of hours. I worked on it sunday, until the whole scanner incident went down. Monday I went to quilting, somewhat stressed about the lacking of pictures and was suddenly getting them left and right! I had several people come and drop them off in the evening and I started having some faith in this coming together again! Yay! Then tuesday I woke up at 4am with it on my mind and walked around the house thinking. I came back to the desk at 7am, and by 9am the rough cut was complete! I joke with people that I know the video is done when it makes me get all teary.... its done. Hee. I hope they enjoy it.

Ariel managed to cause some trouble the other night. She crawled behind the couch and was giggling away. Since I was on the phone, I assumed she had found a toy or something. Yeah, it was something.... the wipes! She managed to pull a good handful of them out and was throwing them in the air. It was pretty funny but of course it was, 'Ariel... no!' Try to say with a straight face with a goofy baby grinning back at you.

Today we walked down to Nana's for lunch and a quick visit with some passing through friends. By the time we got home, the princess had crashed and slept for a few hours. I took the opportunity to rest, clean and work. I finished the new table numbers for the ladies tea next week, but still have a few more things on my to-do list. I can't believe we are almost at 200 ladies!!!! The past few years we have gotten maybe 70-80 on average. Its a little overwhelming, and with mothers day the few days before, it makes for a crazy time. Add in a meeting I have tomorrow for a new project coming up, I look forward to only having one major thing for awhile... never lasts too long though.

When Ariel got up today, we waited for daddy to come home on the deck. I took the time to do some shots of the girly. These are some of my favs!

Dang

That seems to be the word of the day here. I was busy scanning pictures for the mothers day video I am working on for church, when suddenly all I am getting are files of nothing but lines, green streaks and basically a sign of bad things to come. After doing some troubleshooting and trying all the tricks in the book, I came to the conclusion, the scanner was toast. Dang.

Now, on any other occasion, this wouldn't have been such a big deal, but with my project deadline looming, I had no choice but to buy a new scanner. I am actually surprised the sucker lasted the length of time it did. It was over 5 years old and had its issues, but nothing serious. So, Ken called the local London Drugs to see if they had any scanners in stock. Sure enough they did and we all packed into the car and took off as we knew they closed early on sundays. Of course it was raining too, and getting a baby into and out of a car in the rain isn't much fun.

We picked out another scanner, actually we took the only HP they had. I was happy with the last one, so why mess with what you know, right? Came home and spent some time unpacking new scanner, unplugging old scanner and installing various things. Whee. Now, I am the happy owner of a new and improved scanner named 'speedy'. Its pretty darn fast, and compared to my old scanner, newly dubbed 'toast', its amazing. Ariel prefers the box, but what else is new.

Other news, we had a mellow weekend. We had planned to do some fun trips to the park downtown for Ken's last Saturday at home, but we weren't up to it after our news friday. Instead, we did some simple tasks of buying hamburger meat at costco and picking up the stuff I will need to make Ariel's birthday invitations. We are planning her big party for August 18th. Her real b-day is the 14th, and most likely will have a smaller gathering. Ken's family is coming in that week, so most likely will be off and about having fun.

I read a funny article in my parenting magazine about how parents throw huge 1st birthday parties, and it isn't so much for the kid, but a party to celebrate the fact they survived the first year of childhood. Haha.

Well, its back to normal tomorrow. I think I may try and get to quilting in the morning, we will see how princess is. Speaking of the darling, here is a cute pic in her cowgirl duds (as I refer to them as). Hope you all had a nice weekend, without a lot of 'dang' moments.

Goodbye Grandpa Priebe

Today started out so nice... warm sun, a nice walk and Ariel had a good length nap resulting in numerous things finally getting done. It sadly changed at about 230pm when Ken called me from work. His Grandpa had passed away suddenly in his sleep. I just broke down. I wasn't expecting that, as he was so full of life. He had come to visit during November's long weekend, and gotten to meet his first great grand-daughter! He was very blessed, as he also had a great grand-son from Ken's cousin Sara as well.

As my grief was evident, Ariel simply stared and then smiled... trying to understand why mommy was sad. She won't remember this or the time she got to spend with him, but she has some lovely photos that we can share with her. That is very special indeed. All I can keep telling myself is that he is finally back with his one love, grandma. He has missed her so much these past few years. Every month, on the day she passed, he would visit her grave. He only missed the day once, when he was away visiting family. Wow. Its really a testament of a wonderful marriage they shared.

He was a very special man, and I feel honoured to have known him. I will miss him.

God bless you Grandpa, and I know I will see you again one day.
Much love
Jay

C is for cookie

Today was a totally amazing sunny day! It was such a delight after a few rainy days that we had here. So nice to walk around the town and makes one feel so much more energized.

Yesterday was the birthday aftermath. Mellow and calm. Ariel and I hung out and had numerous visitors. First came Nana in the morning. Followed by Brenda and her son Brian in the afternoon. We are putting together a quick video announcement for church to promote Kids Club. Whee. She also brought over a big bag of toys her kids wanted to pass down to Ariel. Awe. There were 2 cool peg board puzzles, some fridge magnetic letters, wooden blocks, some dress up clothes and a talking Dora doll. Brenda demonstrated how the doll worked by putting the different toys in her hand, thus making her talk and sing. Ariel watched intently on the doll, then wide eyed looked at me... they WAILED. She was scared of it. Too funny! She seem to get over it rather fast when she went looking in the bag for it later. Hehe. When they left, Ariel was sad and cried, only to be happy with the arrival of Stella. Yay. However, when she had to leave, Ariel was totally deviated. Thus leading to a long nap for us both.

Today we met up with Erin and Carter for a walk. We decided to meet at the quilt shop, since Stella was working today. While there I found a cute little leaf banner/runner kit. I figured I should have it done by next fall right? Speaking of quilts, mine is finally getting done! Since it was too big for me to do on my machine, I sent it away to be pro quilted. Whee. It will be keeping us warm (finally) this winter. Its only been hanging in my closet for 2 years. Sheesh.

Erin and I had lunch at the cafe and the kids ate baby mum mum cookies. Ariel LOVED them. We then had to go buy a box. She is our little cookie monster I guess. At least the ones I got are made from veggies than the plain rice ones. Today also marked Ariel's first time wearing a hair clip and it staying in! Her bangs are getting long, so we clipped them back and boy did she look cute!

Well, its time to prepare for Daddy coming home, so please enjoy the clip of Ariel and her cookie. Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C!

Another year older...

Where does the time go? 28, interesting. Not quite at 30, thank you very much. Heheh. Still safe for a bit longer. So Ken woke up early to make me breakfast in bed but I told him I rather sleep in. LOL. Is this what it has come to? Opting for sleep instead of a romantic gesture. Lets hope not. Naw, I took a rain check, I wanted the extra zzzz's.

I finally rolled out of bed and enjoyed the quiet house until Ariel got up. We played downstairs, ate our breakfast and lounged in our pjs. Ariel is now trying strips of toast after she has her cereal. Its pretty mess still, especially since I add some banana to it. She prefers me to feed her bits rather than hold it herself. Talk about a princess!

We got dressed and Daddy called. It was then I saw he had left me a little treat by my bed. Man I felt stupid for missing that this morning. I got a cute card with this week's inside joke and a funny children's book I had seen at the store and a movie. I had already gotten my main gift of the Ariel pictures framed and the new Joan of Arcadia season 2 set earlier, so all in all, I was pretty spoiled.

Stella picked us up, and then Nana. We were going to a tea house up in Surrey. I had been there last year, not sure if it was a birthday trip or not. Bad memory, sheesh. It was fun to have Ariel there, instead of inside me kicking. She did really well and was busy talking to everyone who would listen. Stella let her try the cream for the scones and squish her fingers in the icing of a cupcake! Lucky girl.

During tea, I noticed something rather special about my plate. In this place, they used random china dishes, so everyone had a different pattern. While chatting with Stella and eating a yummy finger sandwich, I noticed the pattern on my plate and had to smile. It was my mom's china pattern from her special tea set, the one I now have at home. Talk about a moment, Mom had made it to my birthday in her own special way. Sometimes its things like this, that remind you there is a bigger force behind the world. Hehe.

After tea, we came home to drop Nana off. After a quick discussion, Stella and I decided to run into the fabric store today instead of tomorrow. I was after some material to make Ariel's birthday dress for August. We found a cute pattern for a pretty, party dress that I could doll up real fancy. Finding the right material took longer. After several thoughts and a point of giving up, we found it. A lovely pink and a stunning green for a sash. We even got a matching green toole for the crinoline underneath. I found some pretty trim for the edge of the skirt. Its gonna be soooooooooo pretty. Goes perfectly with the theme colors for the party. Yes, her dress is tied in, this is me your talking to. Hahah. Artist at work.

We came home, Ariel had a nap until Daddy Ken got home. He had brought me some white and red roses. Very pretty. We then went to the Boot for dinner. I had an awesome platter with a black bean and cheese burrito and bbq chicken while Ken had ribs. Ariel was taken with the hockey game for awhile, and was flirting with the guys at the next table. They were all gaga over her too, trying to make her smile.

Came home, showed Ken my birthday goodies from people: cookies and homemade blackberry jam from Fran, candle and napkins from Stella, skirt from Nana and a photo book from Mrs Champion with pictures of me and the other neighbour kids from my old street. Cool.

And so ends my birthday for 2007. It was simple and nice. I had a lovely day with wonderful people, doesn't get much better than that.

Remember...