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.