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I definitely see and appreciate these colours every day.
I think Mondays are most difficult for me when I haven't accomplished very much on the weekend. Today was difficult. But there was a bright spot! I received an award at work based on a coworker's nomination and my manager's approval. That was such a nice surprise, especially after the past couple of weeks which were extra challenging.
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I spotted these adorable children at a church picnic today! :)
What a day! First, we attended an outdoor mass followed by a BBQ/picnic and activities for the kids: dino bouncer, face painting, balloon creations, sack races, three-legged races, watermelon-eating contest (which Sophia entered), along with a band playing and numerous treats being handed out. We were there for four hours (10 am - 2 pm). We had a great time overall, but I must admit to being very frustrated with the face painting and balloon line-ups (I spent well over an hour in lines with Georgia). I think I'll volunteer to direct traffic next time. The kids totally loved this event.
After a short break at home, Neil and the girls took Dash for a playdate with his dogfriend, Chloe (3 pm). Soon after they got home, we went to the Irish Club's Mosaic Wrap-up & Prairie Gael School of Dance Wind-up BBQ/potluck (4:45 pm). We had decided to go for a short visit but not to eat (the girls helped themselves anyway). From there, we went to Neil's aunt and uncle's house for a family BBQ/potluck supper (6 pm). The girls loved playing with their cousins, Bronwyn, Gabe, and Avery. Georgia even had a bath with the two little ones. Also, we took Dash with us to the last two events and he was so amazingly good. He didn't bark at anyone!
June 20, ETA: P.S. I would be remiss not to mention the nasty, stupid fall I took this afternoon. While Neil and the girls were out, I wanted to photograph a couple of scrapbook layouts to post in the BSS gallery. I set everything up as I normally do, with my layout on the little round table by the back door (my light source) and a stool to stand on. I tried to take the photo with the 50mm lens on the camera, but couldn't quite get high enough to get the whole layout in the shot. I looked for the camera bag (with the other lens) briefly, then realized it was still in the van and Neil had taken the van. I was determined to get this done while the light was good, so I got up on the stool again, this time on my tip toes, trying to stretch as high as possible to get the shot... and I fell off the stool. In a split second, I hurt my right leg, arm, and chest, the dishwasher door, camera lens, and the layout. The layout wasn't too bad; I will probably put a sticker or something over the black scuff mark. Much worse, part of my 50mm camera lens was pushed in on an angle, so it can't move to focus. I hope this can be fixed, but I don't expect it. I had owned this lens for less than two weeks! :( Also, I had somehow pushed the dishwasher door down to the floor, so now it won't sit perpendicular to the floor without a stool to support it. And my arm, chest, and leg really ached for the whole week that followed. I guess I should just be thankful I wasn't injured worse.
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Pink and red (and orange). I took this opportunity to capture a favourite hat that all three of my girls have worn.
We were pretty busy today. First, Madeline had a hair cut at 9:00 a.m. She is now sporting an assymetrical bob which is very cute! Everyone tagged along so we could all visit a greenhouse afterward (WP Garden Centre, for which I had bought a couple vouchers through SwarmJam). We picked up a few more perennials and annuals to fill in some open spots in our garden. (A few of our annuals have died already.)
Perennials:
Annuals (all single plants):
The girls selected all of the annuals. We also bought some perennial Viola seeds to scatter. As soon as we got home, I went to work putting all of the plants into the garden. I'm quite excited about my new patch of perennials! We continued doing yard work until the last possible minute before we had to shower and be ready to go.
We went to Connaught Library for its 80th birthday celebration from 2:00-4:00 p.m. My cousin, Richy Roy, was there to make balloon creations and perform a magic show. The girls enjoyed Richy's balloons and show, as well as the bean bag toss, sack race, egg race, and making ice cream. We also went there to see Melinda and Bailey. The girls adore their second cousin, Bailey, who is two years old. After the celebration, it was fun to watch our girls reading library books to her.
When we got home, I resumed yard work while Neil made supper. There is still much to do, mostly with weed control, but the yard is really shaping up nicely. I'm hopeful that we'll have it looking better than ever this year. I love seeing a beautiful and tidy yard, especially when it's ours!
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Ten books I'm planning to read:
Hmmm, what does this list say about me? I think it's pretty obvious: I'm a big fan of food, scrapbooking, photography, organizing, self-help, life, awesomeness, and non-fiction!
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This post is part of a new series by the students of Shimelle's workshop, Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers. This month's participants are listed here: 10 Things.
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A child's hands are the perfect instruments of creation! Captured in the moment as I was the parent helper at my daughter's preschool this morning. Last child and my last time to do that...sigh. The years are short, as Gretchen Rubin says.
It was a fun morning. Madame reviewed a bunch of things with the children today. For example, they recited all of the months of the year in order, in French! Very impressive for preschoolers, I think. They worked on patterns, both in sound and sight. They worked on some complicated cutting -- a series of connected circles, like a string of beads. Georgia is a rock star with scissors! Seriously, I was so amazed by her fussy-cutting skills. After all of that and snack time, we took the kids outside to play on the school play structure.
Okay, I'm now compelled to record (or brag about, perhaps) something else that I haven't mentioned before: Georgia can add single-digit numbers in her head, as well as some double and single digits, such as 12+4. Neil and I were so impressed the other day at Boston Pizza when we learned she could do this! She doesn't have them memorized and she doesn't count out loud or use her fingers, but you can see that she's counting the numbers in her head. This kid is SO ready for kindergarten. I think she's going to wow her teacher. :)
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Tire texture. This is one of my favourite pictures of Picture Color so far. A tiny glimpse into life with little girls.
Sophia competed in the city track meet yesterday and today. She was in the 60m, 80m, and relay, and ran very well but didn't quite qualify for the finals. She was only 7/100ths of a second from qualifying for the 80m! Also, she's in grade 4 and competing against grades 4 and 5 (midget girls) in the large school division. Neil and Georgia went for awhile today and they saw her heat for the 80m. Next year, I'll book some time off work to watch her compete. Couldn't get away this year.
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The same cluster of flowers from two different perspectives: high and low. Here's another diptych with a different set of perspectives: near and far. Both shrubs are in our front yard.
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We have this one volunteer giant pansy in our yard. I think it qualifies as a "punch of color that cannot be denied." Right now, it's by far the most successful thing growing in our patch of annual flowers.
I was very happy to clear some stuff out of our house today. The Diabetes Association picked up a couple bags of clothes and shoes of mine, and I donated a number of household items and toys to a garage sale fundraiser being held by Georgia's preschool tomorrow. I probably could have tripled our donations if I had had more time to gather things over the past couple weeks. I will continue to purge and donate through the summer. It feels so great to get rid of stuff! That reminds me, I'm reading Organized Simplicity: A Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider. I'm only on the 3rd chapter, but I really like it so far.
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Neil made this yummy souvlaki dinner for us today. The tzatziki sauce is Alton Brown's recipe, and it is awesome!
This morning, I attended a great presentation by author Joseph Grenny on the subject of Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. Powerful information! I look forward to reading the book -- and changing some things. :)
P.S. Watch this Change Anything video for more information.
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It seems I don't have many white things around here, so I looked to my scrapbooking supplies. This was a tough shot! I found it very difficult to get the exposure right. After taking a bunch of pictures that were much too dark, I was forced to re-learn how to change the exposure bias on my camera. I hadn't done that for a very long time. Now that I remember how to do this, it might come in handy!
I took this morning as a half-day vacation, and it was awesome! I was so tired last night that I didn't get up again after reading a book to Madeline. As a result, I practically sprang out of bed at 5:30 a.m. which maximized my time at home. I was able to check a bunch of things off my to-do list. One of the things I'm very happy to have finished today is planting the garden. I planted a couple perennials and 10 pepper plants morning, Neil and the kids planted seeds in the garden after school, and when I got home from work, I helped Madeline plant her seeds (12 different seeds from a school project) into pots. Just in time for another inch of rain.
Also, Neil took our broken couch and broken blinds to the dump this afternoon. I'm so glad they're outta here! The kids keep asking what they're going to sit on. I honestly don't know. The ultimate furnishing would be something unbreakable, that dog hair can't stick to, that won't stain or soak up spills, and with no crevices where stuff can get trapped. I have no plans to get another sofa anytime soon. (Laurel suggested bean bag chairs, and I like that idea if I can find the right ones.)
This evening, I attended the kindergarten orientation for parents. The numbers are huge this year. With just a few more registrations, they may have to add a fourth kindergarten class. Also, the school principal delivered the entire orientation because none of the kindergarten teachers are here yet (one is coming from Switzerland). After the girls were in bed and Neil finished watching the hockey game, we watched Top Chef Canada. I can't wait to see it each week!
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My favourite jeans and shoes for working around the house and yard. I'm so glad this prompt fell on a Sunday! While I haven't been sitting around on the patio as this photo suggests, I haven't been super productive today, either. I'm recovering from this crazy week! Neil went to work at the pavilion shortly after 10 a.m. (until about 3:00) and the girls and Dash were away until after 4:00 p.m. (thanks to Laurel for picking them up!), so I enjoyed a quiet house for a few hours.
I updated our family calendar with the school activities and events happening in June and beyond. It's exciting to know that the girls' extracurricular activities are all finished now, with the exception of Sophia's track meet which happens this week during school hours. Also, with Neil's help, I did a complete inventory and reorganization of the items in the Irish Club's Children's Program bin. That took quite awhile but it really needed to be done, and it sparked some ideas for next year. To have ideas already is pure GOLD!
It was our 12th wedding anniversary today, too. As supper approached, neither Neil nor I felt up to cooking. The girls wanted to eat out and they kept saying we should go because it's our anniversary. I explained that most people who go out for their anniversary do NOT take their children with them! Plus, we didn't really want to eat out right after Mosaic, but they won us over. The idea of eating out was just too irresistable. And we didn't really mind sharing our unplanned anniversary dinner with them.
We went to Boston Pizza and it was a good choice. The girls were delighted with their meals, and the activity booklets kept them occupied. I'm not typically excited about chain restaurants, but I must say, I really enjoyed my BBQ chicken pizza on a multigrain crust and Neil enjoyed his linguine dish. While the girls ate blue Jello cups for dessert, the two of us shared a Sticky Toffee Pudding and it was yummy!
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I took many photos at the Irish pavilion yesterday where my daughters danced and my husband and I volunteered. While our pavilion is very lively and fun, it's certainly not one of the most colourful. This was the best I could do for my Picture Color prompt! But the scene does offer "a kind of technicolor merriment," don't you think?
I'm glad to have this photo because it represents our evening quite well. Neil was behind the bar from about 6:00 p.m. to midnight, and I sold bar tickets from 8:30 to 11:15 p.m. That was a new experience for me. I've never handled so much money in my life! We had three tills running with six people (one to make change and one to give tickets for each till). The line was solid almost the entire 2.75 hours, and we were selling tickets pretty darn fast. The volume was incredible.
Our day at the pavilion started much earlier, though. We ran the Children's Program from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. We had two crafts: a shamrock keychain (made with pony beads, pipe cleaner, and key ring) and an Irish flag bracelet (made with pony beads, cord, and lanyard hook).We also had Irish dancers from Prairie Gael in full costume (including our own children) teaching basic dance steps. We estimate over 80 kids participated which was a great turn out. Many thanks to Laurel, Bronwyn, and Donna for helping with the crafts!
Sophia and Madeline also performed on stage in the 2:05 and 4:15 shows, while our niece Bronwyn danced at 3:05 and 5:30 p.m. They all danced so well! I love watching them. All four girls (and Dash) went to Avonlea with their grandparents after B's performance. This allowed Laurel, Neil, and me to volunteer all evening. Fun and exhausting! The pavilion closed at midnight, and then we helped clean up/tear down for over an hour. I didn't get to bed until 2:00 a.m. Long, long day.
I'm not going into too much detail about our 2011 Mosaic. I wrote an epic post about it last year: Mosaic 2010. The main differences from last year are: I didn't dance (this year was so much easier; huge difference!); Sophia and Bronwyn didn't dance together (for the first time in 6 years); Sophia and Bronwyn performed hard shoe dances; I volunteered for bar tickets (last year, I cleaned tables all evening); and we were able to go to more pavilions this year (Greek, Filipino, Chinese, Francophone, Brazilian, and Korean).
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One of my tulips today. It'll be the first to bloom in our little patch. Yes, they're quite late! I was lucky to have a few minutes to shoot this photo between getting home from the conference and the kids coming home from school.
As soon as Sophia and Madeline were home from school, they got into their dresses and I got their hair ready for their dance performances at Mosaic (5:05 and 6:05 pm). Sophia performed her fast reel (soft shoe) with Sarah, and St. Patrick's Day (hard shoe) solo. Madeline danced in a large ceili choreography with nine others. They both danced very well! We're glad L&B were there, as well as Darren, Ali, Gabe, and Avery for the second performance. After that, we went to a couple other pavilions: Francophone and Brazilian. Bronwyn came with us and Laurel met us at the Brazilian pavilion just in time for the 9:00 pm show. Wowza! What a show at the Brazilian pavilion! Truly amazing, and totally worth the 45-minute wait.
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This isn't part of my daily routine (as the prompt suggests), but I was away from home for 15 hours today, so I'll take what I can get. Captured in front of the Legion Hall downtown.
Marketing development event, managers' conference, four pavilions with my family, back to the conference, and then home. I'm dead tired, with two very full days ahead of me. Good night! I'll be asleep within seconds, I'm sure.
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I love to surround myself with glorious green -- especially the kind that nature delivers. This is a patch of perennials in our back yard (Dianthus, I think).
Wow, June 1st already! Today is the first day of Picture Color at BPC and I'm hoping to keep up with it. This will be my sixth month-long daily photo project led by Tracey Clark. I've completed four of them so my track record is pretty good!
The girls had their stage practice today at the Irish pavilion for Mosaic. We have a colourful weekend ahead of us!
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