Herding chickens!

Yes, our walk the other day was just like trying to herd chickens. That's the picture that kept popping into my head anyway. Let me explain. One day last week the kids were playing at the front of the house when a very nice neighbour came out of her house to walk her dogs. Smudge and JJ ran up to her to say hello and asked if they could help walk the dogs. This very nice, patient and kind neighbour graciously said yes, so we all set off on our adventure. Smudge holding one leash, and JJ holding the other.
We only went around the block, but it seemed much further than that...
as Kind Neighbour and I tried to keep kids and dogs off the grass, away from the road, and leashes tightly clasped in little hands. We were tripping over kids, dogs and leashes the whole walk.
Please note - Smudge got herself dressed on this particular day, and insisted on wearing her plaid coat with her striped pants. Buppa nor I had anything to do with the wardrobe, dear Mommy. She was happy and comfy and looked rather colourful and spiffy I must say. The perfect outfit for our dog walking/chicken herding adventure.

A good book

It's so nice when you can share a good book with a friend.
After all the climbing and swinging I am so glad the munchkins take a break now and then to relax on the deck with a good book.

If he's not climbing...

...he's swinging.
Sister wants in on the act too...
but she settles for a quite spot in the play tent.
That's much easier on this Amma's heart.

The little monkey...

What is it with little boys and climbing? As you can see in the pics below, JJ is always trying to get on top of things...
and climbing....
as high as he can.
He is giving Amma grey hairs he is!

Bows and other head gear

After we had a manicure the other day when Smudge and Daddy were over visiting, I showed Smudge some bows I made for her hair. She wanted them in right away.
She then went to the drawer with odds and ends in it, and found some Christmas hats that she thought she and Buppa should wear.
Cute little elf isn't she?
She likes to sit in Amma's closet and play "dress-up" when she comes over for a visit. "Dress-up" usually consists of putting on as many bracelets as she can, then adding a necklace or two, and a pair of sparkly shoes.
This day she found a magic wand and streamer hair ribbons hanging in the closet. After a dance over to the den to show Daddy how beautiful she looked...
she posed for a close-up picture for Amma.

The manicure

While JJ was napping the other day, Smudge and Daddy came over for a visit. Daddy was helping Buppa fix his computer, so Smudge came along for the ride. She found a bottle of Amma's nail polish and wanted a manicure like Amma's so we fixed her nails while Daddy was fixing the computer.
She was very good about keeping her fingers apart until the polish was dry.
Now she has a manicure just like Amma's.

Wiggles...

Guess who were treated to a Wiggles concert and got new hats as souvenirs?

Ballerina Towel

This series of pics makes me laugh every time I look at it. Hope it brings a smile to your corner of the world too.

When Smudge comes for a sleepover I dig out this special towel for her to use. It was a gift to her mother from Auntie Audrey, many years ago. I thought it would be nice to get Smudge's picture with the towel, but when I asked her to stand beside it, she had to try and pose with her leg in the air.
I asked her to just stand up straight, but all she did was change feet, and put the other leg in the air.
By this time we were all laughing and Buppa thought he would get into the act too.
Through the laughter I asked Smudge to stand beside the towel, but not to put either foot in the air. Below is the picture that resulted.
OK, one last try, no feet or hands in the air please....and this is what I got.
Oh my she does make me laugh. I gotta admit that these pictures are much better than any old picture of her just standing there beside the towel. Way to go Smudgster, you did a good job.

Breakfast on the Morch

Ahhh, holidays mean breakfast on the "morch". It was a tad sunny on this morning after Smudge's sleepover, so a smashing hat and sunglasses were called for.

After the sleepover...a big surprise

During our holiday, we had Smudge for a sleepover and a big suprise to follow the next day. She was so excited the next day when set off for the surprise...her first movie. Buppa has more pics here.

She had no idea where she was going even as we walked up to the theatre,
She did call out the numbers "24" as we walked across the parking lot though. "What's a 24?" she asked.
Once inside she looked around excitedly, and dropped her ticket. OOps, pick it up quickly!
First let's stop at the concession stand and get popcorn.
The chocolate bars looked good too, but we passed on those.
"What's inside this door?"
We found our seats...
got all settled in...
...and soon the movie began.
The adds at the beginning of the movie were VERY loud and it hurt Smudge's ears. She moved over to my lap and tried to snuggle into my shoulder to muffle the sound a bit, but then she couldn't see the screen, so we opted for this posture until things quieted down a bit.
Once Winnie-the-Pooh started the volume was turned down and she comfortably settled back in her seat with her bag of popcorn in hand. We didn't take any pics during the movie, but it was more interesting to watch her watching the movie, than it was to watch the movie.

After the movie ended and the theatre emptied, Smudge spent time exploring every nook and cranny in the room. Up...
and down the stairs she went...
over and over again. We didn't leave until the credits finished rolling, and the lights were turned up.
She was one tired Smudster on the way home.
Seeing as we were both up at 5am that day, I wished I could nap like this too. Sadly I had to wait until bedtime, but I was more than ready to drop into the hay early that night.

Beads, Parasols and Obama cookies

Thursday afternoon found AC and me in downtown Ottawa to meet a blogging friend for lunch. What fun!

We met Lorna a couple of years ago through her blog, and have since become good friends. When Lorna heard that AC had given me a set of beginner beading tools for my birthday she offered to take me on a tour of the Byward Market and show me her favorite stores for beading supplies. I soon took her up on her offer, and we made a lunch date to visit and do just that.

It was a hot sunny day, so Lorna came prepared to walk the sunny streets with her whimsical parasol, and I thought it looked fabulous. How neat to take the shade along with us wherever we went. After lunch we set out to do some power shopping at her favorite bead store. Oh my, what a selection, and most of the beads were on sale!!!
Glitter, glitter, sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!
AC wandered around taking pictures while Lorna and I got up close and personal with all the beads.
It was very hard to make a decision, but finally we each bought a couple of strands of beautiful beads, and shared them so we each had a nice selection to take home.

After our sparkle shopping at the bead store, we stopped for coffee, sauntered in and out of more of Lorna's favorite stores in an area of the Market we hadn't explored before, then headed back to our cars. Our last stop before we parted ways was at the little shop where Lorna had purchased her pretty parasol. I just had to get my own so I could continue to walk in comfort on this very hot day. What a bargain at only $8.98! Not only did it keep me cool for the rest of the afternoon, it will shower me with memories of the visit each time I open it in the future.
After Lorna made tracks for her car, AC and I wondered what to do with the rest of the day. We didn't want to head home in rush-hour traffic, so we stopped at a little cafe for a cold drink while we pondered what we would do next. When we walked in we saw huge pictures of President Obama on the walls, informing us that he had stopped at this cafe during his trip to Canada, and he bought a few of the Canada cookies. Well, we just had to buy one too.
You will notice that there are two cookies on the plate. The cookie on the right is the Obama cookie, and the cookie on the left is the one made to commemorate William and Kate's visit to Canada. Both were delicious I must say.

The sun came out while we sat at the outdoor cafe, so my handy dandy parasol came in very handy there...
...and also on our walk through the park leading back to our car parked at the National Gallery.
If you look closely you can see the glass domed roof of the Gallery through the trees.

What a fun day. Thanks Lorna!