Sweet Treats

I saw six of the grandchildren in their Hallowe'en finery today and took pictures to mark the occasion. Here in Edmonton we usually are knee deep in snow by Hallowe'en but this year we're a balmy 8C (45F) and dry. That makes for a much more pleasant and bearable trick or treating evening.

Charlie was Wonder Woman, although I'm sure she has no idea who Wonder Woman is/was. She wore that outfit to school today and was so proud of herself.


Max was an astronaut (I called him Buzz) - a very elaborate costume Sara bought on line. The helmet has a speaker and sounds - very cool. He wore his costume to pre-school yesterday and was the best dressed 3-year old there.


Aidan was a shark - note the eye and the dorsal fin - it still seems odd to see him walking. He went out for about 10 minutes tonight - trick or treating wasn't very important to him.


This is Elly the Elephant. She wasn't crazy about her costume - kind of hard crawling with that trunk in the front. She sure looks cute though.

A better view of the costume.


Max, with the helmet visor up.


Kenzie - always a princess - she loves to dress up and looked sweet. She wasn't too pleased when her mother made her wear her winter jacket under the dress (not pictured here) but decided it was better than wearing it over the dress. It's her first hallowe'en to go out without her parents - she went with her friend and her friend's mother.

Sydney looked sweet with her hair done in a flip. She's some kind of super hero - Invincible Woman I think. She was just eager to get out and get candy.


Front shot of Aidan and his shark costume.

I wish I could have seen the other 11 grandkids in costume - maybe their parents will send pictures. I'm sure they all had fun.

Fall Garden

The prettiest flower first - Charlie and I checked out the remain of their garden after school today, and then she drove her bike around to the back yard.


We found this bird wing beside the dragonfly stone. Charlie didn't know how the bird flew away with only one wing.

The crocodile pond, with lots of rocks and pine needles floating on top.

The Inukshuk - he's pretty strong and will over-winter well. I want one in Arizona.

The last purple flower (aster?) in the bunch.

Rosebuds that will never open and live up to their potential - so sad.

Rose hips - from the roses that did live up to their full potential.

This yellow flower started it all. I saw it among the rocks at the base of the large rose bush - all by itself, strong and beautiful.

Play Day

Although I love my pretty pink Samsung flip phone, and used it for over two years, I felt it was now time to move up the techie ladder to something more...challenging and/or fun.


So, after watching Lloyd play with his BlackBerry for the past couple years, I decided I'd like to join the berry bunch too.


And mine is nicer than Lloyds..na na na na na! It has a camera! So I've been playing with it all day, trying to figure out how to use all the different features - like texting, and emailing, and browsing the internet, and taking pictures. I'm quite pleased with the quality of the pictures, although the BlackBerry will never replace my Canon Rebel or even my Fuji camera for my 'good' pictures.


This is the almost-empty glass of Diet Pepsi from Swiss Chalet, where we had lunch today.

This is my sweetie driving around as I exercise my thumbs on the BB keyboard. Isn't he cute!


And this very Canadian sign was just there as Lloyd was filling the car up with gas (for 97 cents a litre!!! - the economy isn't all bad!)

I hope you had a good Monday too.

Happy Birthday Papa

Lloyd's 59th birthday was yesterday. We had his family party tonight...fun time. The grandkids love birthday parties and the little girls especially like helping with the candle blowing. Here Sydney, Charlie and Kenzie take four or five tries to get the candles blown out. It was a fun time - five of our kids were there along with assorted spouses and grandkids.

Cinderella???

Yesterday Charlie decided she wanted to clean the kitchen floor, so after sweeping it she soaked a dishcloth in water, poured lots of dishwashing liquid on it to build up a healthy layer of foam, and got down on her hands and knees and began 'scrubbing'. She did a pretty good job on the areas she washed, but the 'ugly stepgrandmother' had to get the mop out and rinse all that soap off when Cinder-Charlie was finished. Good experience for Charlie though - she loves to help out around the house.


And then later in the day she had to provide the horsepower so the 'spoiled stepsister' could go to the fall ball!

Whoooo Loves You?

I love this halloween themed outfit on Elly and had to take some pictures of her in it, in spite of the fact that she has a cold/fever and her eyes are glassy. It/she's just so cute.




There's her poor sad eyes and drooling mouth. Poor baby. She sure looked cute today though.

Baby Cousins

7 month old Alex MacKenzie

Mike and Avril and kids are in town this week and came over to Sara's while I was there today.
While Max and Kenny played together with the Thomas trains downstairs, Elly was pleased to be able to be the 'big' cousin and show Alex what it's like to graduate from the play saucer to independent movement. She's not walking yet but she pulls herself up to her feet every chance she gets, and crawls like a whiz.

Alex (7 months) and Eloise (11 months)

It's been several months since Elly spent her time in the play saucer but she was happy to have a chance to play with it again when Alex was here.

They both had a good time.

Scarecrow Girl

As I was getting ready to go to my all-day crop yesterday, Kenzie and Amy came down to see if I had any "extra" scrapbooking supplies that Kenzie could use for a school project. (I have enough scrapbook supplies here to supply Kenzie's whole class!). She had brought home a scarecrow figure with the instructions to dress the scarecrow using different media. So I gave her buttons, rick-rack, paper leaves, ribbon, etc. and went to my crop. This morning I went up to see what she ended up with. Here it is:



The girls were ready for church so I took pictures of them too. Here's Kenzie, with her beautiful scarecrow.



And here's Sydney, looking like Little Orphan Annie, minus the curls.

Croptoberfest

Florrie, Barb
Mickey, Pat

Today, or I guess it's yesterday now, was the annual Croptoberfest at the Edmonton area scrapbook stores. So, at 10:00 Saturday morning until midnight a bunch of us converged at Scrap-A-Lot and worked on our scrapbooks, shopped, chatted, ate lunch and dinner when they were provided for us by the store owners, and generally had a scrapping good time.

Barb, Florrie, Mickey and I have been scrapping and going to crops together for about four years now and enjoy the chance to get together as often as we can to indulge our hobbies. We even have the t-shirts to prove it! Usually at least one of us will turn up in our "Scrapping Buddies" t-shirts, but this time all four of us did. Aren't we just so precious ;) A very enjoyable time for all of us.

Grammie's Helper

Charlie was washing her hands in the kitchen sink yesterday to get the marker ink off of them before going to school. She saw a few dishes that missed getting in the dishwasher and asked me if she could wash them. Silly girl - of course I said she could.



She had a good time squirting the dish detergent in the running water (cold) and washed what dishes she could find. When she was finished, very proud of herself, she checked her hands and was amazed that the ink was all off and her hands and fingernails were as clean as could be. She said "I was so interested in washing the dishes that I forgot all about washing the ink off my hands". She wants to help me again....hmmm....should I let her????

Hoodwinked

This 2006 computer animated movie is the best I've seen since Shrek. We've played it for the kids, who get a big kick out of it, but it's equally entertaining for adults. Sara and I watched it tonight after dinner, with Charlie (4) and Max (3). Although the kids enjoyed the action and the characters, they didn't get the subtler comedy lines. (This is the same movie Kenzie, Sydney and Brooklyn watched after Thanksgiving dinner last night). This was the 4th time I've watched it and I enjoyed it as much as the first. Sara is the first person I know who figured out who the Goodie Bandit was before the end of the movie. The characters are great - especially Grannie. I recommend it for anyone who wants a family movie night. There's a Hoodwinked 2 in production due to be released in 2010.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day in Canada - not the huge production that they have in the US, but thanksgiving nonetheless. So much turkey, potatoes, squash, peas, corn, and of course the cranberries, gravy, stuffing - topped off with pies. I'm so glad that Emily has taken over my pie duty. She makes lovely pies and tries different ones from the traditional apple, blueberry, strawberry/rhubarb, lemon meringue, coconut cream and pumpkin pies that I used to make.


Amy and Curtis hosted the dinner, which everyone contributed to. Curtis did a wonderful job with the turkey - it was moist and delicious, with plenty of stuffing. I made the gravy and brought mashed potatoes and squash. Sara brought sugar snap peas, corn and fresh rolls. Cindy brought a delicious fruit punch and a vegetable platter. And of course, there were Emily's yummy pies. We all ended up stuffed to the gills.

The Kids Table (clockwise from lower left - Max, Sydney, Brooklyn, Charlie, Kenzie, Anson)

We fed 10 adults (4 of our children and their spouses - the 3 out-of-town families had their own celebration) and 6 children and two babies.

After dinner Kenzie wanted the little girls to watch a movie in Grammie and Papa's apartment, so the four of them, ages 3 - 5, came downstairs and I put the movie Hoodwinked (a Red Riding Hood exposee - very funny) on for them. By the time I got around to taking pictures, Charlie had to leave, so I just got pictures of Kenzie, Sydney and Brooklyn. A blurry picture at that since I took the picture in the dark without a tripod.

Kenzie, Sydney and Brooklyn

And now Lloyd and I are waiting until we feel ready for our favorite Thanksgiving/Christmas tradition - turkey bunwiches before bed. Soooo good.

Aidan - First Steps

15-month old Aidan started walking about 2 weeks ago - just a few steps at a time. He's a stubborn little guy and whenever he saw a camera pointed his way he sat down and refused to stand or walk on demand.


Yesterday, this 13th grandchild of ours was visiting us, along with his sister Sydney, and I was actually able to catch him in the act. So although these aren't technically his first steps, they are the first recorded steps, and still among the first steps he's taken. Now he has to teach his 4 younger cousins to walk - but that might take awhile. Doesn't he have the sweetest face!!

Neighbourhood Wildlife

Yesterday as I was heading out of our cul-de-sac I spotted this bunny under one of the trees. I backed the car up until I was in line with him, rolled the window down, and with my never-without-it small purse size camera I took his picture - three of them to be exact - until the mailman walked by and scared him...unintentionally of course. He must have thought I was nuts leaning across the seat of my car to take a picture of a rabbit.



There are lots of these rabbits throughout the city. Poor things have seen their habitat plowed under, paved and built on but they've chosen to find various corners to stay in. Luckily there are lots of green areas and trees in Edmonton to give them shelter. This guy will be snow white soon - looks like his underside is already changing color.

My Style

I've been scrapping now for half a dozen years, struggling with my unartistic self to discover my true style. I buy all the scrapbook magazines and go through them marking layouts I like and think I could copy ("Scraplift", in the world of scrapbookers). When I showed this layout that I'd just completed to Lloyd last night, he said that this was his favorite style that I do. And I agree. I'm a very linear, everything has to balance, type of scrapbooker. That's what I am and I'm not going to fight it anymore. Although you will notice that I rebelled and put "THE" at an angle!!


Since most of my scrapbooking concerns events, where I have upwards of 200 photos to work with, I like doing multi-picture layouts - saves paper and tells a story more effectively. Again keeping everything balanced and even.


Occasionally I'll break out of my linear style (usually to scraplift a layout or to work from a kit) and create something especially nice, as this one of Brooklyn I did awhile ago - scraplifted.


And sometimes I'll go circular


Here's one of my favorites - linear, circular, handwritten journalling and bling. I love bling but have hard time figuring out where and when to use it.


So, although I'm basically a linear person, it's fun to see what I can do when I work 'out of the box'.