Brothers

These cuties are 2-month old Alex and 2-year old Kenny MacKenzie. They're in town with their parents for the family reunion this weekend. I'm having fun bonding with these little guys, spending time with them and their parents. Kenny loves his little brother and has adapted well to having a new member of his family. I think they'll be great friends as they grow up. At least they know Grammie loves them.

Baby Smiles

This is my youngest grandchild - 2-month old Alexander Lloyd MacKenzie - my second son's second son. We don't see him and his big brother, 2-year old Kenny, and parents very often because they live 3 hours south of us, but they're here for the week while Mike attends a business course. And, of course, they're here for the big reunion party on Saturday. They came by the house last night just as my Princess House party was wrapping up, and stayed to visit. I'll get to see a lot of this happy little smiler and his family this week.

Sitting Pretty

Eloise has a new trick...she can sit by herself...for about 10 seconds...and then gravity, and a round bottom, take over. It's a start though. She really seemed to like the feel of the cool grass on her bare feet. We'll work at improving her sitting stamina over the summer and before we know it she'll be cutting teeth, crawling, walking, going to school, graduating, moving away from home, getting married....oh dear. Maybe we'll keep her a little baby for awhile longer.

Grandmother Goose

Mum loves most animals, but most particularly cats and birds - any kind of birds. She lives in a first floor apartment with a patio and always puts seeds out so the birds will come. She loves to watch them as they fly around and eat the food she provides. Her cat, Munch, likes to watch them too, but she's not allowed out (luckily for the birds) so she just watches them through the window.

The other day in Winnipeg, we went down to The Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet and enjoyed the walk along the river bank. Mum got as close to the Canada geese there as she could, feeding them bits of her sandwich left over from lunch. I think she actually expected them to come eat out of her hand.

She taught her children to love and care for the gentle creatures too, and if it weren't for allergies I'm sure I'd have a pet or two in my home...budgies or a cat or two.

Mum's Birthday

I just got home this afternoon from Winnipeg where we celebrated Mum's 87th birthday. She can't remember having a birthday party before (she's had many!) so was very excited to actually be receiving gifts. I guess that's a small blessing of having Alzheimer's. Everything is a 'first', new and exciting. After her dinner (prepared by the best cook in the family, my sister Wendy) and the cake and gifts, she and my brother-in-law played cribbage while my sister, niece and I played Settlers. A nice little birthday party.

Faces of Childhood - Summer Edition

By the end of the day you can tell what kind of day it was by the look of the kids. Have you ever seen a dirtier face than Max's?? Or more freckles than Wyatt's (a neighbour boy who came over to play with the kids this evening)? Charlie's dirty too, but she has decorated her dirt with Barbie bandaids to cover the scratches she got out at her other grandma's house this afternoon. They were all happy and smiling and still having fun when it was time to go in to get ready for bed though...hopefully to have a bath first! Grammie and Papa left before the action began. We all had a good day.

Cards

I've come to enjoy making cards. The problem is, I hate to give them away. So when I make one I particularly like, I try to make two of it - one to give and one to keep to use as a model for other ones. Here's some I made last week.