Anson's Birthday

Lloyd, Mum and I went to son Rob and Cindy's home to celebrate Anson's 7th birthday tonight. It was a lot of fun. Anson was more 'into' his birthday than he has been in previous years so he enjoyed it too.
Anson's not plugging his ears because he doesn't like our singing, that's just an autism behaviour he does.

Lloyd, Brooklyn, Rob, Cindy, Anson and Great-Grammie.

Opening presents.

I couldn't resist posting this one of Brooklyn as she watches Anson blow out the candles.

Fingers and Toes

The color - the same that Grammie's wearing


Pretty girls, pretty fingers

Toe wedges.

Further to the last post, Charlie and Kenzie came to visit for awhile this afternoon so I did their fingernails and toenails for them...complete with kleenex between their toes. Fun for all!

Fancy Fingers

Charlie loves playing with her play dough - her favorite color is the confetti white. I kind of like it too so I joined her the other day and we made fancy fingernails, rings and bracelets.

Time with Great-Grammie

This past week Mum has come with me to Sara's place while I look after the three kids. She's managing all right for the most part, in spite of frequently forgetting the kids' names and repeatedly telling Charlie that she has a boy's name. Here are some pictures from our week.

Mum occupied the kids, or they occupied her for nearly an hour the other day throwing the ball up and down the slide. Charlie sure looks like she's having a good time.

Charlie, Mum and Max on our walk this afternoon. I'm ahead of them with Eloise in the stroller.

Mum reading a book to Eloise - a frustrating exercise since Ellie just wants to turn the pages and Mum thinks she should be listening to every word she reads. It's a wonder they interact as well as they do given the 87 year age difference!.

Mum walking with Max across some stranger's lawn.

Mum playing with Max. They had a really good time together. Max is a very lovable and loving little boy.

Grandkids at the Wedding

Eloise (9 months), the baby flowergirl. She was carried down the aisle by her dad who was one of the groomsmen.

Charlie (4), followed by Brooklyn (4) dropping their flower petals as they walk down the aisle.


Our oldest grandchild, Jonah Quist (11), was one of the ushers.


Jonah's brother, Sam (9) was also an usher.


Max (3) was not officially in the wedding party but when he saw all the girls getting dressed in their red outfits, he insisted on wearing his Dracula costume. Luckily it was a classy one with a satin band down the side of each leg, a red tie and white vest and matched the colors of the wedding party. Unfortunately Max felt the outfit wasn't complete without the cape. Partway through the ceremony he walked down the aisle to stand with his mother, who was one of the bridesmaids.



Kenzie (5) and Sydney (3) sitting quietly during the ceremony.

Max, just before he walked down the aisle.

Flower girls Sydney (3) and Brooklyn (4).


It's always risky having kids involved in a wedding, but we were lucky - they were all very well behaved and added a lovely measure of 'cute' to the proceedings.

Moments

Charlie, the bored flower girl.

Lloyd trying to pin my corsage on - I ended up doing it myself.

Amy fitting flower girl Sydney's coronet on.

You may now kiss the bride.

Lloyd walking his last, and youngest, daughter down the aisle.

These pictures represent random moments from Emily's big day.

Mr. and Mrs. Allan Taylor

I haven't taken any pictures since the wedding so until I do, I'll just keep posting various wedding shots. These ones were taken by the official wedding photographer, Elsa Duff.

Baby Flower Girl

My grand-daughter, Eloise Hardwicke-Brown, was the honorary baby flowergirl. Her dad, Quincey, made the tactical error at the reception of giving her a red frosted cupcake. These pictures are the result of that episode. Thanks to Mickey for these pictures.

Emily's Wedding Day

What a busy couple days it's been. Last night we had the rehearsal dinner and a meeting of the families. So much fun. We really enjoyed meeting Allan's family. His parents are great - we really hit it off. Today was the wedding in Sara's back yard - everyone looked so nice - especially the little flower girls. Then we all went downtown for the reception which was another three hours of fun. The best thing about a family wedding is having dear friends and out-of-town family to visit with. Of course I had an emotional meltdown early on - after all, this was my baby getting married - but managed to rally and enjoy the fun. I didn't take a lot of pictures because Elsa was there as our professional photographer and I know her pictures would be better than any I'd take. I'm looking forward to seeing them. In the meantime, here are some of the few that I managed to take.

The final phase of the wedding happens tomorrow morning when all the out-of town family are getting together for brunch. And that's it - I have no more kids to get married. I've told them all that there'll be no do-overs, so they better make these marriages work :)

I just noticed that there's no pictures of Allan the groomsmen and Allan's family here. I'll wait till I get Elsa's, then post them.

Visiting With Great-Grammie

Mum arrived today and Kenzie and Sydney were eager to come and see her. They've been talking about her visit for awhile now. Mum was glad to see them and enjoyed their visit. She'll be seeing a lot of them in the next 2 weeks. Both little girls are flower girls in Emily's wedding on Saturday - it'll be so cute...but that's another blog entry for next week.

Mum is 87 and has Alzheimers so quickly forgets the names of my children and grandchildren. We'll be reminding her of names quite often over the next couple weeks. I'm glad she enjoys the kids though, and they're quite fascinated with her advanced age...and the fact that she can take her teeth out at will.

Baby Cousins

9 month old cousins, James and Ellie, were together this morning while their mothers went to their bridesmaid dress fittings. They were so cute together. We had two highchairs with a tray only on one of them, which they shared.

Sharing Grandkids

Mickey brought her grandson, Eamon, over today to play with Max and Charlie. It was the first time the kids have met and they got along very well. Max and Eamon are both three and Charlie is four so they had lots of common interests. It also gave Mickey and I our first chance to visit since before I went to BC. A very enjoyable morning. These pictures are ones Mickey took and emailed to me. Thanks Mickey.

BC Branch of the Family

Although we lived in BC (Prince George) for six or seven years throughout the past 35 or so years, and four of our children were born there, none of us has been back to live there since 1995. Ten months ago Mary and Greg moved away from the Alberta center of our family and settled in Oliver, BC, the wine capital of Canada. I find there's a real psychological factor to having one of our children's family on the 'wrong' side of the mountains - makes them seem farther away than they really are. That's what makes visiting them special.

On my last day there, last Thursday evening, we went out looking for nice locations for their first family picture since Baron joined the family. This is what we ended up with.

Oliver, BC - The Last Day

I couldn't finish my Oliver, BC blog while I was still there because of problems with the internet - so here's my final report - I think.

It was a hot day - at least 35C. We took Layla to her day care and then the four of us - Greg, Mary, Baron in his stroller, and Chester on his leash - drove to a starting point for a 5 km+ walk along the Okanagan River. It was a beautiful spot - the river on our left and trees on our right. I was pushing the stroller and Baron slept the whole way. At one point where the river was shallow there was a small beach-like cove with easy access to the water. It's a spot where Mary and Greg always let Chester go into the river to cool off. This time Greg and Mary waded in almost to the center of the river. I was in long pants, socks and sneakers so just stayed on the side - that is, until Mary called to me that there was a great photo op from where she was standing and I should come and photograph it. They were both completely shocked when I proceded to do just that, shoes, socks and all...I hate to be predictable! It was so-o-o-o cool. By the time we walked back to the car, my clothes were completely dry.

In the afternoon we went to the Burrowing Owl Estate Winery - the largest one in Oliver. What a beautiful place! There are acres and acres of grapes, and the winery itself if amazing with a great view of the valley. I wish I could afford to stay there, but at $350 a night with a minimum stay of 2 nights, it's a bit out of my league. I also discovered that I'll never be a wine drinker - I can barely stand the smell of it, let alone the taste.