Felicity's 8th Birthday

  Brrr.....It's -14 c this sunny Thanks Giving morning. What happened to all that unusually warm weather we were having this October? A perfect day for catching up on my Blog though. With Tristan entertaining Isabelle and Felicity at a sleepover, I figure I better take advantage while I can.

  Felicity's 8th Birthday was a success with the girls enjoying the craft projects Felicity and I planned for them, and they were just thrilled with the hand stamped Goody Bags stuffed full of girly things. We had Felicity's Favorite Chocolate Cupcakes with multicolored icing and sprinkles of course.

  Although this was supposed to be a no presents party, each of the girls insisted on getting her a little something. They sat on the floor and played spin the horn to see who's present she would open first. She was ecstatic to receive a grey Webkins kitty to replace the one she lost on top of the school. She also received a lovely bracelet and necklace set in her favorite color - purple!, and an adorable tin full of special goodies and trinkets.

  These girls are so goofy! I couldn't get a group shot with all of them smiling, as they were determined to wear their party hats on their faces. They look like a group of Dodo birds.

  Each of the girls had a different bead kit from which they created necklaces or whatever else they could come up with.  It was fun to see thier individual creativity as no one copied the pattern that was included in each kit.

  With more stickers and embellishments than any girl could want, they had a blast decorating and personalizing the mini albums Felicity and I made for them. I took pictures throughout the party and printed up pictures on my little printer for them so they would have photos for their albums. Some of the girls used the albums for a diary, using stickers to put the name of a cute boy they like on the page. Lots of giggling and whispering at the kitchen table.


  After the parents collected these party goers, Isabelle passed out for a much needed afternoon nap, and I sat back to survey the damage.  Cake crumbs everywhere, and packaging and paper all over the kitchen table.  But over all there was little cleanup, and most important, the afternoon had been a success!

Fall Splendor

As Autumn here in the north is such a short season it would be a crime not to enjoy the bug free and splendid moderate temperatures this season has to offer. It is in fact my favorite season! This is the season of Turkey and Cranberry sauce, Ghosts and individually wrapped chocolates, Golden leaves, and crisp frosty mornings.

The kids and I spend many of these beautiful fall afternoons hiking through various trails surrounding our town. The dogs especially look forward to these walks as it means off leash as there are rarely anyone else to encounter on our trails. This little lake is one of my favorite this time of year as the trail is easy enough for the kids to walk and long enough for me and my dogs.

Chewy and Kiara took great pleasure in diving into the lake for a drink of fresh water and then running past our legs soaking us in the process. At one point Kiara disappeared into the grassy shoreline and I could here yelping. When Tristan went to investigate, he found she had fallen in what looked like a bear den or a beaver's hole. After that she stayed close always making sure I was there before venturing further down the trail. I was sure relieved that nothing came out of that hole besides my fuzzy white mongrel.

Felicity is always trying out new poses for the camera!

Tristan picked these flowers for the photo and waved them around in front of Isabelle. She found this rather hilarious and giggled each time he moved them. I couldn't resist filming this, but forgot that I had the camera in portrait position so unfortunately it ended up sideways and I have no idea how to flip it.

Look Mom, I'm sewing again!

Although I have yards and yards of fabric, and all the tools any seamstress could need, I have not had the urge to sit down at my sewing machine for a long time. That is until today when Isabelle kept falling sideways as I tried to sit her down on the couch. No matter how many pillows I propped around her, the end result was always the same.

I had seen pillows like these in catalogues before, and thought to myself, "this couldn't be that difficult to make, why not just sew one?!" And so this was the end result.





The pillow ended up a little skinnier than I originally planned, but it pretty much works as intended. It also made a great nursing pillow when turned around. Who knows, maybe this will spark future projects. In the mean time, I'm going to make my 8Th attempt in the last three weeks to finish an Easter layout I've been working on. If only I were a night owl, it would make it so much easier to get things done. But as the clock is ticking, I better get moving or I will be off to bed without having done anything.