projectdavid: August 2016

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Birthday partying

Elisabeth turned ten this summer and so I finally got my act together and planned a party. I love having parties, and I love planning them even more, but I find the communicating with strangers in the time before parties the stressful part. And now that I'm a working mom and I don't know the moms of my kids' friends, its a source of major stress.

But sometimes you just have to get over yourself!

David helped me decorate. It's so handy to have a tall son who can climb on counters and reach places I'd rather not.

Elisabeth and her BIG party hair.

One of Elisabeth's guests was gluten sensitive so we planned a sundae bar instead of cake. Elisabeth made signs for the candies.

Elisabeth is such a girlie girl! I was talking to Ashlie about her birthday parties and she raved about spa parties. I don't have the entourage to pull off a spa party with my friends, but I'd heard of Lime Girls. They bring the party to your house and do all the work. So we had a small spa party (manis! pedis! Chocolate face masks!) and they brought the chairs, the tables, the rugs, the boas! It was awesome.

I one hundred percent recommend doing the party this way. So easy. And then I could sit and chat while the girls had fun.

Unfortunately, they only do parties for girls (and senior citizens). Us in betweeners aren't as fun to party with.

Then the girls went outside and did the bean boozled challenge. YUCK

With flavours like baby wipe, vomit, cut grass and dirty socks, I was not interested in playing. I also made the kids play outside so if anyone did barf, it wasn't in my house!!

Birthday pizza.

And birthday sundae.

And the icing on the cake, so to speak? Lizzie lost a tooth too!

Can't believe my baby is ten :(

Around the house

Sometimes even almost 12 year olds crash in the middle of the day:

And I still love watching my kids when they're sleeping. There's something so peaceful and beautiful about their little faces when they're asleep.

Ada and her family are moving to the Sunshine Coast. We're mourning their loss in our every day lives already, but trying to make the most of the moments we do have with them.

Elisabeth finally purged some of her favorite dresses from her closet, and holy cow, they fit Ada!

<3 br="">

I was tagged

And the kids want this blog to be a record of their lives, so hey, here's a snapshot of where mom was at in 2016. In fact, maybe I'll try to get David and Elisabeth to fill this out too (though the last time I tried a questionnaire with them, things went badly).

44 Odd Things You Don't Know About Me
1. Do you like blue cheese? Not even a little.
2. Have you ever smoked? Despite having a father who smoked and growing up in the 80s when smoking around children was no big deal, I never tried a cigarette until a university trip to New York. Then I was introduced to Cloves. I promptly broke mine and walked around pretending to smoke it and hoping no one would notice I was trying to hold the two halves together. Luckily, you can’t buy Cloves in Canada so I never turned into a chain smoker. I do like the smell of some brands of cigarettes though; I think they create a sense of nostalgia for the good old days on the farm.
3. Do you own a gun? Nerf guns and water guns galore!
4. What is your favorite flavor? I’m just glad we live in a world with so many delicious flavours. I could never pick just one!
5. Do you get nervous before Doctor visits? Some people hate the dentist, I loathe the doctor. Mostly because I think they’re all idiots who couldn’t diagnose their way out of a wet paper bag…
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I try not to; it ruins the experience.
7. Favourite Movie? See answer about favourite flavours. I just love movies.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? (And the afternoon, and the evening and I’d live off it if I could…): Coffee!
9. Do you do push ups? Sure. I push myself up out of my chair, out of bed, off the floor. The older I get, the harder it is to do this. I should probably do some exercises so I’m not so pathetic, but if I want to live off coffee you can bet I’m not really the healthy type.
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? I LOVE rings; almost never wear them. Love earrings. Basically (as my friend Michelle says), I’m a magpie.
11. Favorite Hobby? Sleeping. Also reading. Don’t get to do either nearly enough anymore.
12. Do you have A.D.D.? Don’t we all?
13. What’s the one thing you dislike about yourself? Lack of confidence in my abilities and courage to try scary things.
14. What is your middle name? Elisabeth
15. Name three thoughts at this moment. I should be working. I wish I had more coffee. I wish I was wittier.
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Coffee and water
17. Current worry? That the rain is gonna come back before I get to play in the sun.
18. Current annoyance right now? All the chores I should be doing that get in the way of the playing in the sun. Also, my coffee cup is almost empty.
19. Favorite place to be? In the sun. But if I could, on a boat in the sun.
20. How do you ring in the new year? Hanging out with friends at my house.
21. Where would you like to go? Switzerland.
22. Name three people who will complete this. Kandace, Michelle and Natasha
23. Do you own slippers? Multiple pairs I never wear.
24. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Navy/terracotta and off white.
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No, but I lovvvvvvvvvvve flannel sheets in the winter.
26. Can you whistle? Novice whistler.
27. What are your favorite colors? I used to say blue, but I’ve finally caved and admitted it’s probably more green. But basically all blues, greens and browns.
28. Would you be a pirate? Not since I learned that pirating isn’t like they told us in Peter Pan.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Somewhere along the way I quit singing in the shower. I hope this doesn’t say anything bad about my psyche.
30. Favorite girls name? Katie.
31. Favorite boys name? Benjamin.
32. What’s in your pocket right now? Nada.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Erm. I’m sure it was Kandace.
34. Best toy as a child? My cement mixer.
35. Worst injury you ever had. I got pushed off the adventure playground as a kid and injured pretty bad. My kindergarten teacher thought I was being a big baby and made me do all kinds of things (like pretend to be an elephant and swing my injured arm).
36. Where would you love to live? Lenk. Or on a lake somewhere.
37. How many TV’s do you have? I think we have three. But only cause people keep giving them to us. We don’t have cable and we mostly watch Netflix on our laptops hidden away from each other.
38. Who is your loudest friend? Kandace.
39. How many dogs do you have? This is a touchy subject. Next.
40. Does someone trust you? I sure hope so.
41. What book are you reading at the moment? The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
42. What’s your favorite candy? Chocolate with nuts
43. What’s your favorite sports team? I don’t have time to follow teams, but I do love hockey, football and the winter Olympics.
44. Favorite month? Anything but the rainy ones.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Waterslides!

Our friend Ron offered to take David and Elisabeth to the waterslides in July. They bussed out early Friday morning but I decided I wanted in on the action so at lunchtime I drove out and met them there. Kandace, Denis and their boys came too.

This was the first time Elisabeth had a friend who wanted to do all the rides with her. She was in heaven.

Of course that only got better once Denis and Griff got there.

It looks like David and I didn't even get wet, but let me assure you that we did many laps in the river on the tubes. We just like our rides a little...safer...