Mother's Day Celebrations

We gathered at the kid's place for a family brunch on Sunday, and a relaxin' time was enjoy by Sha and me.  The guys did all the cooking while the kids passed around smiles and snuggles, and the moms relaxed.  

The tooth fairy has been paying lots of visits to Danica lately.  Cute huh?

JJ likes to tease Amma.

AC made his famous My-hop pancakes, and they were yummy.

Better than Wheelers.

When I got home in the afternoon, a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived at my door from the girls in Vancouver.    Pretty huh?

I also got a brand new iPodtouch from the family.  What a surprise.  I have been using an old hand-me-down iTouch that never worked properly for the last 5 years, and I must say it was frustrating to use at times. It would not connect with my computer,  so updating was a tear-your-hair-out problem.  I managed to download my favorite podcasts though, and used it mainly for that.  

What a treat to have a fancy/shmancy new iTouch that takes pictures, has room for my Audible books, music and lots of podcasts too.  Yahoo! 

More pics to come tomorrow of family fun-time in the sun.  Yes, the weather co-operated and sunshine graced our world for the whole day. 

Rainy morning

On mild rainy mornings we wait for the school bus on the front porch. The bus stops just across the street from our house, so it is easy to dash out the door when we see the bus coming round the corner at the end of the street.

Some mornings Dani just has to escape the confines of the porch though, and go skipping, dancing, and twirling in the rain

Always happy to pose for a picture.

iPads and Playbooks

I have an old iPad, and AC has a new Playbook. Neither have a lot of apps that appeal to the kids on them, but we do have a couple.  The kids know their way around on the devices better than I do.  Sheesh. 

On this afternoon Dani had my iPad, and I thought she was looking for her favorite app - Talking Tom.   The next thing I knew, she was into my music folder, and ended up relaxing on the couch listening to Leonard Cohen.  I thought she would listen to one song, and quickly move on to the next one, but no, she was actually enjoying listening to Cohen, and stayed there for the whole album.   Amazing.

JJ had Buppa's Playbook on this afternoon, and was enjoying an episode of Peppa Pig

Crafts one day, and iPads or Playbooks the next.  I better get some new running shoes so I can keep up.

Such creativity

Many afternoons after school, we sit at the kitchen table for a snack, then the craft box comes out. Scissors, glue, paper, stickers etc are all on tap, and the creativity begins. 

Cutting and pasting...fun at any age.

Tape and wooden sticks....what is JJ making?

Who is that behind the mask?

Lego never gets old

It is finally warm enough to sit out on the porch most mornings before school, and most afternoons after school, while waiting for pick-up.  It is not a huge porch, but it is our favorite spot to sit in late spring, summer, and early fall.  On this particular afternoon, it was raining, so we sat out in the porch listening to the rain on the roof. 

Soon, JJ got Auntie Ally's box of Lego out, and sister decided to join in on the fun.

They sat there the whole time, playing out their game on this tiny foot stool, in this tiny space.  Huge imaginations  were at play though. 

Lego never gets old.

More Easter Monday activities

After JJ helped me with the morning chores, he directed his energies towards building a city.

Cute little builder huh?

He added Super Heroes and the story began.

Explaining the layout of the city to Buppa.

Easter Monday

The kids had Easter Monday off school, but Mommy and Daddy had to work, so we spent the whole day with the munchkins.

Danica spent a lot of time working on her rainbow loom.

JJ wanted to help around the house though, so he put all the silverware away when we unloaded the dishwasher.

He then did a marvelous job cleaning the windows.

Inside and out, he worked at the task

It was a tad cool outside, but that didn't stop him from finishing the job.  He got his hat and coat and worked on.

I love the determination to get every spot.

The after party

We only stayed at the Princess Party for about half an hour to take pictures and meet the real live princess.  We joined the family later for dinner at home, and that was raucous enough for us!

Danica is very musical, and has mentioned piano lessons a few times, so we bought her an inexpensive keyboard for her BD, 

She has no idea what is in the big box

I think she is surprised.

How many people does it take to open a cardboard box?

Daddy and Amma play chopsticks.

The Party - cont'd

We arrived at the party room early to take some pictures before everyone else arrived.

Proud Mommy with her little Princess.

Hugs from Daddy

Snuggle with Buppa

Just plain cute with Amma

Mommy working hard in the kitchen stopped for a pic with Amma

Soon the main attraction arrive...a real live Princess.  Yes, Sleeping Beauty, in person, arrived to spend some time with all the little girls at the party.   As you can see, she also brought along her special party totes full of surprises for the girls.

This Princess didn't pay any attention to our cameras, she focused in on the girls only, and let the other activities happening around them in the room, go on without a blink from her. 

Danica was enthralled with Sleeping Beauty.  Here she is getting a Happy Birthday hug from her favorite Princess.

The Princess included all the little girls in her talks, but she mainly spoke directly to Danica. She gave Dani all sorts of extra attention as it was her BD celebration.

Sleeping Beauty soon got into her bag of treats, and the girls waited in excited anticipation to see what she had hidden there.

No words needed here. 

The first thing to come out of the magic bag, was a book.  Before the story began, Sleeping Beauty asked each  little girl what their favorite book was.   Here she is asking Danica.  Danica thought for a moment and then said "Right now my favorite book is the dictionary.  I enjoy reading about the meaning of all sorts of different words."  I bet that is the first time Sleeping Beauty ever got that answer to this question at a party for 7 year olds.

All the other little girls had a chance to answer the question too.

Some little girls wandered over to the snack table from time to time...

But most of the time they sat paying close attention to the Princess.

After stories and other activities each little girl could choose a princess dress of their very own to wear for a while.

Then it was time for a break to get a snack and wander around for a bit.

Next came the princess make-up. 

The smile when Danica saw herself in the magic mirror tells it all.  She was over the moon pleased.

We left after this point in the party, and it went on for another hour or more.  Sorry we don't have any pictures of the music play, or Danica getting her special Princess tiara and certificate proclaiming her an official Princess.  The fun just never stopped for these little girls.  Mommy was a bit knackered when she got home though.