A Guilty Conscience and a Troublesome Laptop

Hi! Just to let everyone know that we have not dropped off the face of the Earth! It's been super busy here with landscaping projects, attending Alec's graduation and seeing him off to California. We've spent a nice weekend in Muskoka with Mom and Dad and are gearing up for a vacation (to celebrate Evan's 5th B-Day) at Great Wolf Lodge.

I'd post all the pics of our adventures but it seems that either Blogger or the laptop are not allowing me to upload pictures. Ahhhh.................so as soon as I figure it out I'll post a "catch up" post!

What have we been up to..........you may ask?

Just doing a little swinging..............

and generally

hangin' out

with friends.............

She Went and She Conquered!

Today was Claire's annual "Rainbow Extravaganza" at the gymnastics club where she trains 4 hours per week. She's been working so hard to prepare and her performance surely did not disappoint all her family, grandparents, and aunts that turned out to cheer her on. Her group won 1st place for balance beam and floor routine and 2nd place for vault. Overall they won the gold medal for the day's event.
Great job Claire.................we are so proud of your dedication and hardwork!

Searching out Spring!

The weather Sunday was miserable...........rainy, dreary, and COLD............and it was Adam's only day off work in what seems like ages. So we headed out, desperate to find an indoor venue that would not break the bank but would offer some fun! We ended up at Allen Garden's...........we went last year and it was a hit and again it proved lots of fun.............made even better as I got to experiment with my new camera.



Brother and Sister love..................well, most of the time..................

Our "ray of sunshine" on a wet day

"Come join me Mom!"

Today we went

to the park

for some of this

and a little of that

and a lot of sploshy, soggy

FUN!

and it was

GREAT!

Water Xylophone........

It's here..............

I picked up my new camera Wednesday night and have been having been working on learning how to use it. Unfortunately I'm not really one of those people who enjoy the learning process........I like to skip right to the "expert/proficient" stage of learning. I know, I know...........typical "Type A." Anyways, I've been having fun, reading the manual and experimenting with the different shooting modes and configurations. I'm mostly frustrated with the editing software package it came with. The basic program is pretty slow and clumsy to navigate through. It comes with a more advanced editing program but the problem is that you really need to know "your stuff" and all the lingo (saturation, tonal curve etc.) and I'm not even close to figuring all that out yet!
Here are a couple random shots I've taken so far. As you can see, after 4 months of almost no snow we;ve finally been dumped on. It's that wet snow that's back breaking to shovel! The kids are enjoying making snowforts though and the only other positive thing is that it makes the trees look pretty..........except when you are standing underneath and the branch decides to dump it's load!

I'm SO excited

that I could jump right outta this old chair! My very sweet, hard working husband is buying me a present. And the best part is that I get to pick it out myself!
I've been wanting a Digital SLR camera for like...ever.... but it always seemed that something would come up (braces, gymnastics lessons, summer camp, renovations, $200 sneakers.....well you ge the idea). Well, Adam insisted that I buy myself something.............and baby an awesome camera is what this girl wants!
Choosing has been tough! In fact up until this morning I was convinced I wanted a Nikon D90 but then (drumroll please)......Canon releases a new, totally amazing, even better than the Nikon.......SLR camera.............the Canon Rebel T2i. It won't be available until the end of the month but the wait will be worth it. I can't wait to retire my little point and shoot, and take some seriously cute pics of my kids!
Speaking of pics, here's one of my new baby.....................what do you think? And now if I only knew how to use it.................oh well, one step at a time.

Inspired by This

I created these.....................

I know they are not quite as fancy and could use some extra decorations. Frankly I was scared of screwing them up as they were so darn cute! They are for a surprise 40th birthday party this weeekend..............

I'll be making Valentine Heart cookies for Claire's class party next week.........and I have BIG plans to make them really amazing!

In case you are wondering who to make these delectable treats I suggest you head over to
http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/ to see the amazing creations, recipes and ideas!

Truly inspirational!

Guess Who Came to Visit

Did you guess?

You have to look really close..............

To see..............

The missing tooth!

My baby is growing up..............and the tooth fairy made the visit to our home for the first time in many years.............since Alec was Claire's age.................wow