Its been a good 10 days since I last wrote anything in here but nothing much has happened to write about but I just wanted to let you know I have not fallen off the planet or anything :-)
Last weekend I attended a mini rally for my jewelry, it was really cool the new catalogue has just been released and the new jewelry is great, I can't wait to get some of it. I actually have my renewal show this month so that will earn me some free new jewelry so that is exciting :-) My calendar is starting to fill up a bit now too which is great since I have been very lazy since I got back from my SA trip. I did a show this past weekend and have another coming up this weekend, that's the way I like it. What is also exciting is I may be signing my second new jeweler soon, I don't want to jinx it too much but a fellow SA'n and friend of mine has shown a lot of interest and is deciding whether the show I am doing for her then end of August whether she just wants that as a normal home show or whether she is going to turn it into a training show which means she would have bought into the business, so hold thumbs whatever is meant to happen will :-) In this meantime I am just continuing to train my other new jeweler Laurie, so far so good :-)
Then the week was pretty slow, Jade had a couple of playdates which were cool and then the rest of the time we spent at the pool, we spent little time at our community pool though since Jade is enjoying me taking her to the YMCA pool which has more splash areas and slides which she loves :-) Many of the kids in the road are away on vacation at the moment so the road is very quiet which means I really need to keep Jade occupied in other ways, so far so good and well the Summer is almost over, I can hardly believe it.
Other than my show on Saturday night, we have a very lazy weekend, spending much of it in our pj's which was a nice change :-)
This coming week Jade has gymnastics camp Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and a couple of playdates inbetween so she should have a fun week, then the following week she has two parents day out playdates at school and a few more other pool playdates lined up and then can you believe it, the following week will be her last week at home with her schools open day on the 17th. She starts school on the Monday, the 20th, wow, I cannot believe Summer is almost over, thankfully we still have a few weeks of the pool being open but it won't be long and we will be moving into Fall again, this year has flown by, it's amazing !!!
So I guess that is about it, not much else to say ... I will see if any photo opportunities come up this week and might post more, but until next time, bye for now :-)
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Good I Took These Before Going To The Pool !!!
Well we are finally getting back into the swing of things after or latest family visit ... we still miss them lots !!! Anyway we are trying to keep busy which helps. Yesterday I went to Concord Mills (sorry Karen) as I needed to return something to Old Navy and also got to check out more of the Childrens Place big sale, this was a great sale, anyway I took Jade with and when she set her eyes and heart on this little grass hula skirt, that was it, so it was on sale so I bought it for her since she has wanted one since the beginning of Summer.
Anyway she loves the skirt so much that when I needed her to get dressed so that she could go with me to work last night, she decided she would rather stay home with her dad so she could wear the skirt. This was very weird since she has so much fun with all the other kids in my class on Wednesday nights that usually there is no way I can get her to stay home but anyway ...
So this morning before I got her in her bathing suit to go to the pool and told her she could wear the skirt to the pool, not swim in it as she thought but wear it to the pool. She looked so cute in it that I decided to take these pics, she has a cute little tan coming on too which is what she is trying to show Nana in that one little picture where her behind is showing some. Actally the picture really doesn't show it much she looks much browner in person, thankfully it looks like she has my skin even though she is so fair. I just love the last picture even though it doesn't even show the skirt :-) it's such a natural picture of her.
As I said in my title of this post, it's a good thing we took these pictures before we went to the pool, we actually went to a new pool, the Ballentyne YMCA which has some water slides, I hadn't taken her there before since I wasn't sure how she would do, I guess I shouldn't really second guess her swimming or any other water ability because she really is a little fish, she loves the water. She did the test that they have to pass to use those slides and passed it no problem first time, always a proud parent moment but anyway, she spent the next 3 hours going up and down those slides till she bumped her head or face on the slide going down and grazed her face open a little. It really wasn't anything big but the drama queen did her thing and begged me to put a bandaid on which then had her good to go for another hour before we came home.
I now notice she had a bit of a bump on her head too so she must have knocked it hard, hopefully she doesn't get a blue eye, but then it won't be the first time or I am sure the last, she is so rough !!! Anyway go take a look, the pics are pretty cute.
Enjoy :-)
Anyway she loves the skirt so much that when I needed her to get dressed so that she could go with me to work last night, she decided she would rather stay home with her dad so she could wear the skirt. This was very weird since she has so much fun with all the other kids in my class on Wednesday nights that usually there is no way I can get her to stay home but anyway ...
So this morning before I got her in her bathing suit to go to the pool and told her she could wear the skirt to the pool, not swim in it as she thought but wear it to the pool. She looked so cute in it that I decided to take these pics, she has a cute little tan coming on too which is what she is trying to show Nana in that one little picture where her behind is showing some. Actally the picture really doesn't show it much she looks much browner in person, thankfully it looks like she has my skin even though she is so fair. I just love the last picture even though it doesn't even show the skirt :-) it's such a natural picture of her.
As I said in my title of this post, it's a good thing we took these pictures before we went to the pool, we actually went to a new pool, the Ballentyne YMCA which has some water slides, I hadn't taken her there before since I wasn't sure how she would do, I guess I shouldn't really second guess her swimming or any other water ability because she really is a little fish, she loves the water. She did the test that they have to pass to use those slides and passed it no problem first time, always a proud parent moment but anyway, she spent the next 3 hours going up and down those slides till she bumped her head or face on the slide going down and grazed her face open a little. It really wasn't anything big but the drama queen did her thing and begged me to put a bandaid on which then had her good to go for another hour before we came home.
I now notice she had a bit of a bump on her head too so she must have knocked it hard, hopefully she doesn't get a blue eye, but then it won't be the first time or I am sure the last, she is so rough !!! Anyway go take a look, the pics are pretty cute.
Enjoy :-)
Monday, July 16, 2007
Lots Of Tears ...
Ok before I type up a new post I wanted to quickly tell you that I am trying something new that I saw on another blog, when you open my blog on the right of the page you will see a world map, this function will map where people that read my blog are from, I thought it would be fun. If you click there now, there won't be any 'red dots' yet as it takes a few days to update but if you pop back in a week or so, I thought it might be fun to see how 'international' my blog really is :-)
Anyway George, Karen, Amy, Megan and Sasha left at 5h30 this morning, I cannot believe that Jade slept through all the noise of them getting ready to leave but she did, and then at 7h15 when she first woke up, I told her to shhhhhhhhhh like I would if we had people visiting and she went back off to sleep till 8h30, which means we all slept till 8h30 and of course, being Monday Dave was late for work.
Even though Jade had said goodbye to everyone last night just in case she didn't wake up this morning, she was very heart sore and teary eyed this morning. I of course had already shed a good amount of tears before her getting up, I am so going to miss Karen's companionship, she and I are so alike in so many ways and then again so very different in others that it's been fun spending all this time together almost getting to know each other on another level. I cannot believe they were here a little over two weeks, time just flew by which shows how much fun we had right :-) The last time we saw each other was two years ago when Jade and I flew there to spend two weeks with them, we have now decided that driving to each other is a long drive but a totally worth while drive and that we are going to do this yearly, perhaps alternating every year :-)
So as I sit here in my very quiet house I know it is going to be tough getting back into the swing of things or back to normal but I know it will happen in time, hopefully quickly for Jade though since she has really gotten used to having company 24/7, poor thing probably is going to be a little lost today. Thankfully my new jeweler is coming over this afternoon and she has two kids so that will help a little and from tomorrow well it will be my task again to keep busy. This Summer has flown by so quickly, before we know it she will be back at school so I am going to try and make the remainder of her vacation time as fun as possible, we really have had a great Summer !!!
So I guess all that is left to say is, thank you George and David for helping this happen, without the two of you, well Karen and I still would have made it happen but you guys made it easier. George it was fun having you here the last couple of days too, I am sure Dave enjoyed the male company after living alone with six girls the past two weeks :-) Karen gosh, thanks for everything, you were this holiday to me like the sister I always wanted and never had, I had an awesome time with you and girls ... thank you too for being so nice to Jade and doing your parents proud with you manners and just the way you are !!!
We are all going to miss you so very much, Dave even said he would miss the warmth and affection the girls showed him on a daily basis :-) not to mention Karen making him coffee all the time !!! I know what I am going to miss most other than you guys of course PEPPERMINT CRISP PUDDING !!! I dare not make it for us, I best forget those ingredients (hehehe) !!!
I wanted to add some pictures of the trip below so you can see how much fun was had but all of us ... the pics are mainly of the girls, I have finally found someone that hates pics as much as I do (hehehe).
We took the girls to dinner at CiCi's Pizza for one of Megans birthday surprises ...
Playing with some of the kids in the road, Jade was so happy to share her neighbors with everyone :-)
It is clear that we often exhausted the kids right :-)
This was one taken at Lake Wylie for 4th of July ... now that I am thinking, I might have posted this pic already, not sure now but I aint gonna go back and check :-)
This was at Tina I's house, she invited us over to swim and celebrate another suprise birthday party for Megan
This was at Cane Creek Park, which was a lot of fun for the girls and I, Karen doesn't like 'lake water' she says give her a clorinated pool any day (hehehe) but it was as close to a beach we could get on short notice
At least the kids got to build sand castles, which was nice ...
Doesn't matter which dad was at hand, they were going to give him lots of love :-)
I am surprised all the beds held all the jumping on them :-)
These were taken in my back garden
The men bbq'ing
The twins ... or partners in crime :-)
These were all taken the day before they left, it was almost impossible to get them all to smile at one time for all these pics ...
Playing fashion models ...
And how can we leave Dave out of the fun, this gives being the center of attention a new meaning right ?
Here the kids were doing songs that they had practised the entire two weeks that they were here, they did pretty well, impressed all the parents :-) Very cute too.
Jade singing her sole :-)
Anyway George, Karen, Amy, Megan and Sasha left at 5h30 this morning, I cannot believe that Jade slept through all the noise of them getting ready to leave but she did, and then at 7h15 when she first woke up, I told her to shhhhhhhhhh like I would if we had people visiting and she went back off to sleep till 8h30, which means we all slept till 8h30 and of course, being Monday Dave was late for work.
Even though Jade had said goodbye to everyone last night just in case she didn't wake up this morning, she was very heart sore and teary eyed this morning. I of course had already shed a good amount of tears before her getting up, I am so going to miss Karen's companionship, she and I are so alike in so many ways and then again so very different in others that it's been fun spending all this time together almost getting to know each other on another level. I cannot believe they were here a little over two weeks, time just flew by which shows how much fun we had right :-) The last time we saw each other was two years ago when Jade and I flew there to spend two weeks with them, we have now decided that driving to each other is a long drive but a totally worth while drive and that we are going to do this yearly, perhaps alternating every year :-)
So as I sit here in my very quiet house I know it is going to be tough getting back into the swing of things or back to normal but I know it will happen in time, hopefully quickly for Jade though since she has really gotten used to having company 24/7, poor thing probably is going to be a little lost today. Thankfully my new jeweler is coming over this afternoon and she has two kids so that will help a little and from tomorrow well it will be my task again to keep busy. This Summer has flown by so quickly, before we know it she will be back at school so I am going to try and make the remainder of her vacation time as fun as possible, we really have had a great Summer !!!
So I guess all that is left to say is, thank you George and David for helping this happen, without the two of you, well Karen and I still would have made it happen but you guys made it easier. George it was fun having you here the last couple of days too, I am sure Dave enjoyed the male company after living alone with six girls the past two weeks :-) Karen gosh, thanks for everything, you were this holiday to me like the sister I always wanted and never had, I had an awesome time with you and girls ... thank you too for being so nice to Jade and doing your parents proud with you manners and just the way you are !!!
We are all going to miss you so very much, Dave even said he would miss the warmth and affection the girls showed him on a daily basis :-) not to mention Karen making him coffee all the time !!! I know what I am going to miss most other than you guys of course PEPPERMINT CRISP PUDDING !!! I dare not make it for us, I best forget those ingredients (hehehe) !!!
I wanted to add some pictures of the trip below so you can see how much fun was had but all of us ... the pics are mainly of the girls, I have finally found someone that hates pics as much as I do (hehehe).
We took the girls to dinner at CiCi's Pizza for one of Megans birthday surprises ...
Playing with some of the kids in the road, Jade was so happy to share her neighbors with everyone :-)
It is clear that we often exhausted the kids right :-)
This was one taken at Lake Wylie for 4th of July ... now that I am thinking, I might have posted this pic already, not sure now but I aint gonna go back and check :-)
This was at Tina I's house, she invited us over to swim and celebrate another suprise birthday party for Megan
This was at Cane Creek Park, which was a lot of fun for the girls and I, Karen doesn't like 'lake water' she says give her a clorinated pool any day (hehehe) but it was as close to a beach we could get on short notice
At least the kids got to build sand castles, which was nice ...
Doesn't matter which dad was at hand, they were going to give him lots of love :-)
I am surprised all the beds held all the jumping on them :-)
These were taken in my back garden
The men bbq'ing
The twins ... or partners in crime :-)
These were all taken the day before they left, it was almost impossible to get them all to smile at one time for all these pics ...
Playing fashion models ...
And how can we leave Dave out of the fun, this gives being the center of attention a new meaning right ?
Here the kids were doing songs that they had practised the entire two weeks that they were here, they did pretty well, impressed all the parents :-) Very cute too.
Jade singing her sole :-)
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Almost Time To Leave Again ...
I cannot believe that Karen and the girls have been here for over a week already, it has been so much fun having them all here. The plan was always to stay 2 - 3 weeks but George has decided to surprise them all the end of this week and to drive down and to come and spend a couple of days here with us and then for them all to leave either Sunday or Monday, hopefully Monday because the drive is a long one and at least George will then be well rested. George if you are reading this ... that is a hint !!!
Anyway we have done so much, but with the kids, it has been mainly trips to the pool since that is easiest. Yesterday we went to a small lake close to us which was fun as it has a little beach area, Jade and I had never been there before, it wasn't great but I think the kids had a wonderful time. The kids have also become quiet friendly with the neighbors kids in the road which has been so nice for me to see. The evening before July 4th they went over to Tina's house (Tina in the road) and had smores and watched the local fireworks go off. Last night while Karen and I were out the kids invited other kids in the road over for a movie party ... see what a push over Dave is, he said he was clearly out voted !!!
For the 4th of July we went out to Lake Wylie which was really nice, the fireworks were awesome !!! Unfortunately we battled traffic to get home but thank heavens eventually got home safely as the roads were very busy as you can well imagine.
Megan had a birthday while they were here and we tried to make it a special one her being so far away from home and all, I hope she enjoyed it. We went out to Cici's for dinner during the week, then the night before her birthday, my best friend Tina, another Tina, not Tina in my road, invited us all over to her house for a celebration for Megans birthday, her hubby Lewis put on a fireworks display for us too and I think Megan felt very special this was all done for her. There they got to swim and play on the trampoline, so we had a nice evening, thanks Tina, you are the best !!!
For her actual birthday we pretty much spent most of the day at the pool which the kids always enjoy :-) One thing that was a shock to the system was Karen has all sorts of traditions for birthdays that she does which is very cute and makes it very special for the girls but one that I don't think I will be carrying forward, two actually, the first being that the birthday girls gets to cut her cake ... no way am I letting any child of mine distroy cake (hehehe), Megan had fun but it was no fun me watching all that go down, Karen definitely has better nerves than me. Secondly on their birthdays they get to have cake for breakfast, now as much as I like cake, that is just wrong (hehehe) but it was fun all the same :-)
Karen and I have done tons of shopping, she is convinced that George and I have plotted together her 'death by shopping' it's all been very overwelming for her how much there is here. I have thoroughly enjoyed it all because as much as it has become the norm for me, I don't get to walk EVERY isle like she has made me do this past week and I have gotten to see so much that normal I would just not have seen. She is such fun to be with and we are so alike in so many ways that this has just been a wonderful experience for me. Hopefully one that we are going to do yearly.
Anyway, this morning we had a fashion show, last night Karen and I went shopping and bought the kids some new clothes and it was fashion show time, I think they had a ball. I have added two video's to YouTube hopefully by the time you view this they are loaded and you can view them, in the meantime, enjoy the pictures :-)
This is the four of them, golly we took a few pics of the four of them and you think we could get one nice one with them all smiling and looking in the right direction ... now freaking way !!!
This is just one of Jade which golly, tried to steal the show at every opportunity.
This is Megan, she is the one that just had a birthday here and turned 7 years old.
This is Amy that is 9 and Megan
I just loved this bathing suit for Amy and well it didn't take much to talk Karen into getting it for her but thankfully she like it too :-)
This is Jade and Sasha, they actually in one of the pics had same shorts on but Jade just fills them out a little more (hehehe) and she is a whole year younger than Sasha !!!
These were PJ's that I bought Jade coz the girls had PJ dresses as she calls them so I had to buy her these and she was over the moon.
This will probably be the last post before they leave, then afterwards I will write a little more but then it will be back to a quiet house ... I am so going to miss everyone, Jade is going to be heartbroken to see them go :-(
Until then enjoy the rest of your week.
Anyway we have done so much, but with the kids, it has been mainly trips to the pool since that is easiest. Yesterday we went to a small lake close to us which was fun as it has a little beach area, Jade and I had never been there before, it wasn't great but I think the kids had a wonderful time. The kids have also become quiet friendly with the neighbors kids in the road which has been so nice for me to see. The evening before July 4th they went over to Tina's house (Tina in the road) and had smores and watched the local fireworks go off. Last night while Karen and I were out the kids invited other kids in the road over for a movie party ... see what a push over Dave is, he said he was clearly out voted !!!
For the 4th of July we went out to Lake Wylie which was really nice, the fireworks were awesome !!! Unfortunately we battled traffic to get home but thank heavens eventually got home safely as the roads were very busy as you can well imagine.
Megan had a birthday while they were here and we tried to make it a special one her being so far away from home and all, I hope she enjoyed it. We went out to Cici's for dinner during the week, then the night before her birthday, my best friend Tina, another Tina, not Tina in my road, invited us all over to her house for a celebration for Megans birthday, her hubby Lewis put on a fireworks display for us too and I think Megan felt very special this was all done for her. There they got to swim and play on the trampoline, so we had a nice evening, thanks Tina, you are the best !!!
For her actual birthday we pretty much spent most of the day at the pool which the kids always enjoy :-) One thing that was a shock to the system was Karen has all sorts of traditions for birthdays that she does which is very cute and makes it very special for the girls but one that I don't think I will be carrying forward, two actually, the first being that the birthday girls gets to cut her cake ... no way am I letting any child of mine distroy cake (hehehe), Megan had fun but it was no fun me watching all that go down, Karen definitely has better nerves than me. Secondly on their birthdays they get to have cake for breakfast, now as much as I like cake, that is just wrong (hehehe) but it was fun all the same :-)
Karen and I have done tons of shopping, she is convinced that George and I have plotted together her 'death by shopping' it's all been very overwelming for her how much there is here. I have thoroughly enjoyed it all because as much as it has become the norm for me, I don't get to walk EVERY isle like she has made me do this past week and I have gotten to see so much that normal I would just not have seen. She is such fun to be with and we are so alike in so many ways that this has just been a wonderful experience for me. Hopefully one that we are going to do yearly.
Anyway, this morning we had a fashion show, last night Karen and I went shopping and bought the kids some new clothes and it was fashion show time, I think they had a ball. I have added two video's to YouTube hopefully by the time you view this they are loaded and you can view them, in the meantime, enjoy the pictures :-)
This is the four of them, golly we took a few pics of the four of them and you think we could get one nice one with them all smiling and looking in the right direction ... now freaking way !!!
This is just one of Jade which golly, tried to steal the show at every opportunity.
This is Megan, she is the one that just had a birthday here and turned 7 years old.
This is Amy that is 9 and Megan
I just loved this bathing suit for Amy and well it didn't take much to talk Karen into getting it for her but thankfully she like it too :-)
This is Jade and Sasha, they actually in one of the pics had same shorts on but Jade just fills them out a little more (hehehe) and she is a whole year younger than Sasha !!!
These were PJ's that I bought Jade coz the girls had PJ dresses as she calls them so I had to buy her these and she was over the moon.
This will probably be the last post before they leave, then afterwards I will write a little more but then it will be back to a quiet house ... I am so going to miss everyone, Jade is going to be heartbroken to see them go :-(
Until then enjoy the rest of your week.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Well ... The Van's Have Arrived !!!
Just a quick update while Dave has gone off to work, Karen is still sleeping and the kids are playing somewhat quietly upstairs ...
Jade slept at my girlfriend Tina on Friday and Saturday night, Dave and I left at 6am on Saturday morning to drive up to Cranberry to collect Karen, the trip up was pretty uneventful, we stopped once to buy gas and breakfast and then were on our way again, Dave played my mp3 player a lot of the trip while I caught up on movies and TV that he had DVR'd for me which was cool. We made good time as did Karen and George so when we met up, it wasn't long before we hit the road back again.
The kids were angels in the back of the car, they all had a DVD player to watch which helped hugely, it was amazing. We only stopped once, to fill gas, allow the kids to play a bit, get a restroom break and to grab dinner, all at once and then we hit the road back again, getting us home around 10pm which was amazing.
Yesterday Dave went to get Jade pretty early, the kids played outside a bit late morning which is something we don't do here in Summer that is for sure but I will have to get Karen used to how we do stuff here LOL, after a light lunch we went to the pool for the majority of the afternoon, the girls totally wore Dave out but he looked as if he had fun, or he put on a pretty good front.
When we got back, we had dinner, then I took a detour to the store to show Karen all the new developments around us ... and then it was relaxing for the night ... or so I thought. My child that is hardly ever sick and NEVER throws up, threw up in the night, I didn't hear her so poor Karen cleaned up most of it before getting me up. After that she seemed ok but still had runny tummy later in the night as well, so golly, I hope it was just all the excitement yesterday and that she hasn't caught a bug coz the good man upstairs knows, all we need is us all to catch a 'throw up' bug, well that would make our vacation :-( so hold thumbs !!!
So today I think we are going to take it easy, maybe do some driving around, go to the SA shops but easy stuff, hopefully we don't have to go to the pool today, and Jade can take it a bit easy, we will see, she seems fine this morning but hasn't eaten anything yet.
Anyway more later.
Jade slept at my girlfriend Tina on Friday and Saturday night, Dave and I left at 6am on Saturday morning to drive up to Cranberry to collect Karen, the trip up was pretty uneventful, we stopped once to buy gas and breakfast and then were on our way again, Dave played my mp3 player a lot of the trip while I caught up on movies and TV that he had DVR'd for me which was cool. We made good time as did Karen and George so when we met up, it wasn't long before we hit the road back again.
The kids were angels in the back of the car, they all had a DVD player to watch which helped hugely, it was amazing. We only stopped once, to fill gas, allow the kids to play a bit, get a restroom break and to grab dinner, all at once and then we hit the road back again, getting us home around 10pm which was amazing.
Yesterday Dave went to get Jade pretty early, the kids played outside a bit late morning which is something we don't do here in Summer that is for sure but I will have to get Karen used to how we do stuff here LOL, after a light lunch we went to the pool for the majority of the afternoon, the girls totally wore Dave out but he looked as if he had fun, or he put on a pretty good front.
When we got back, we had dinner, then I took a detour to the store to show Karen all the new developments around us ... and then it was relaxing for the night ... or so I thought. My child that is hardly ever sick and NEVER throws up, threw up in the night, I didn't hear her so poor Karen cleaned up most of it before getting me up. After that she seemed ok but still had runny tummy later in the night as well, so golly, I hope it was just all the excitement yesterday and that she hasn't caught a bug coz the good man upstairs knows, all we need is us all to catch a 'throw up' bug, well that would make our vacation :-( so hold thumbs !!!
So today I think we are going to take it easy, maybe do some driving around, go to the SA shops but easy stuff, hopefully we don't have to go to the pool today, and Jade can take it a bit easy, we will see, she seems fine this morning but hasn't eaten anything yet.
Anyway more later.
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