Barbie Girl and Others

Charlie is a Barbie girl - she loves clothes and shoes and, because her mom owns a portrait studio, she has learned to pose like a pro. Last week a local toy store had Barbie dolls on sale for $3.17 each and because Sara was a Barbie girl when she was young (first picture, circa 1979), she couldn't resist getting Charlie stocked up. Showing great intelligence and foresight, Sara also bought her a Barbie storage case where the dolls and their accessories can be tucked away when the playing's done. And yes, that's a Donnie Osmond doll Sara's playing with. Marie must have been out with the girls that day.

My sister and I would have been Barbie girls too if they had been invented when we were still playing with dolls. We each had one of the Barbie forerunners - I had a Debby doll and Wendy had a Susie doll. Each one had a range of outfits that could be purchased separately. I kept mine for years and gave it to my oldest girls to play with, and now I have no idea where she is.

Cropping Success

Emily and I went to a crop at Scrap-A-Lot last night and were very productive. We both ended up with six pages done - a personal best for me. I usually consider myself lucky to get two done in the 10 or so hours spent at a crop. I've decided to revert to my original simple style and just go outside of my comfort zone occasionally for an extra special layout. So what you see here is mostly my basic style. Consider that I have around 250 photos of our family reunion to work on, simple is best.

Chester

We're not a pet family. Not that I planned it that way - we always had cats and sometimes budgies when we were growing up. But I married a man who doesn't like cats and have kids who are allergic to some animals. I've had a couple of budgies in the 37+ years we've been married but that's about it. If I have the misfortune to outlive Lloyd, I'll become a cat lady in my old age :-). Two of our children have one pet each (I refuse to consider fish pets) - Sara has a yellow tomcat called Whitey, and Mary has a huge bull mastiff named Chester.

Chester is an interesting dog. He likes me - for which I am thankful because I think he's cool. He doesn't care much for men so the men in our family are very leery of him. Mary and Greg had him before Layla was born and we were a bit concerned about how such a big dog would react to a tiny baby. We shouldn't have worried. Chester loves Layla and is very protective of her, and Layla has always referred to Chester as 'my boy'... and sometimes as 'my brudder'. She's almost 4 years old in this picture, and Chester is 5.

Meanwhile...Back at the Zoo

The day we took the kids to the zoo 3-year old Max made his own fashion statement by wearing his cap backwards. I'm not sure where he got this idea - maybe from the neighbour boys, or maybe from television. Whatever it was, he spent the whole day with his cap turned around. It looked really cute on him.

Birthday Boy

We celebrated Aidan's first birthday today - cousins, aunts and uncles came for the pizza and cake and gave the little guy lots of presents. The highlight, of course, was the cake - which he enjoyed eating without having to worry about getting any on his face, chair and clothes. He still looks cute all covered in chocolate.

Carrots and Peas

Eloise is starting to eat baby food and seems to like it. Have you ever tasted baby food? Except for the applesauce and strained peaches, it's quite disgusting. Nevertheless, little Ellie is developing a taste for vegetables and really wanted to feed herself. I didn't let her, of course, but when we were done, I have her the spoon and empty jar and she tried her hand at pretending to feed herself. It's impossible to feed a baby without making a mess. Luckily, they clean up easily.

Bridal Shower

On Saturday Sara and Jenny hosted a bridal shower for their sister Emily. The August 23 wedding is fast approaching and it's fun events like this that make it seem more real. Here are a few pictures of the event.