First Day of Grade 5 and 6

I can't believe the first day of school is here already...the Summer went by so quickly this year. I can  remember my Mum saying that once my brother and I were in school, how fast the time went by. Well, I can relate. My girls are in Grade 5 and 6 this year and I have no idea where the time has gone. It just seems like yesterday when they were one of those little primary students, standing so shyly in line, awaiting the new adventure of school and a whole new routine. Now, they tower over those little ones...Alex nearly as tall as some of the teachers!

The girls were both excited and nervous this morning.  They were happy that they'd be able to see all their friends again, but unsure of what the new school year would bring.  I assured them that they would do just fine and would have a great year.  Oh, I almost wish I could go back to the time when elementary school was my biggest stress in life...those were the days.  So carefree, but I guess the kids do have more to worry about these days in an age when bullying seems to be so rampant.  The best you can do is teach your children right from wrong and hope that they chose the right path and treat others how they would want to be treated.  I have two very kind-hearted girls, whom I've taught to be good to others and to surround themselves with people who make them happy and treat them well.  Life is too short to surround yourself with those who are not nice and bring you down.


I hope you all have a wonderful day and please remember to drive slow around school zones. :)
 

Happy 50th Anniversary, Mum and Dad!

I've been very bad at posting on here lately.  I've haven't created much in the past few months, but I do have a few cards to share with you in the next several posts that I've made for some special occasions lately for family and friends.

I'm so very proud to share that my parents recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  I think this is remarkable milestone and I wish them many, many more happy years together.

Here's a view of the inside of the easel card.

A few close ups...this one is my Mum and  Dad on their honeymoon.

This is a beautiful verse that I found online and thought it would be really nice inside the card.

A closeup of the embossed, 'Best Wishes' sentiment at the bottom of the card.

Here's a picture of the cake that we had made for them.  I love the way they can print a picture on edible rice paper and add it to the top of the cake - so cool!

Check back soon for the next challenge theme for The Stampsmith Challenge for the month of July!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)
 

Happy 90th Birthday, Cecil!

My father-in-law celebrated his 90th birthday last week and this is the card that I made him. Cecil is such a sweet man and is in such fabulous health for his age. I think he'll be with us for many, many more years to come.

Here's the inside of the card.  The picture of him was taken back in the early Spring with the beautiful Miramichi River in the background.

We had a birthday party for him and this is the sign that was outside the church where we had the party.  He was pretty surprised about the party.  We drove the 5 hours to Jim's hometown the night before the party, stayed in a motel for the night and showed up at Jim's Dad's place two hours before the party...just enough time to get him ready.  I think he was still in shock here in the picture!  lol  :)

A special thanks again to the many people that made this party a success.  We couldn't have pulled this party off without you. Also, thank you to those who attended the party in celebration of this special milestone.  I know Cecil was honoured that you all attended and he had a great time after he got over the shock!

OK, stay tuned, I still have a few more cards to show you...

Thanks for stoppin by! :)
 

Alexandria's Up Do

I just had to share this fun 'up do' with you all. I saw the idea on Pinterest, here, that provides a tutorial for how you create this look. It took me a little over an hour to do last night, and was pretty easy to do. I think it turned out pretty cute and Alexandria loves it. I don't think it will be an everyday look, though! I'm not that energetic to do this everyday!  lol :)

First, you section off her hair into rings, starting with the outer ring around the hairline.   Gather the inside hair into a clip or elastic to keep it from getting mixed in with the hair you're currently working on.   Make several little pony tails, and then with the second ring, take half of one pony tail and half of the odjacent pony tail along with a piece of the next ring of hair and put them in an elastic.  Move around in a circular motion until you finihs wiht one ring, then go on to the next ring.   It's a little confusing, but pretty easy to do.

Here's some other views...

My Sweet, Alexandria.

I braided the last bit and then swept it around in a bun.

The left side

The right side

After she slept with it in last night, a few of the elastics broke, so I tied little black and white grosgrain ribbon bows on the broken ones.  Quick fix and I think it looks even nicer with the bows in.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)
 

TSC39: Colour and Sketch Challenge

It's challenge time again over at The Stampsmith Challenge blog! This month, we have a colour/sketch to inspire your creation. Use Cream/Red/Brown and flip the sketch like I did, if you like.  Just use you imagination!  :)

I used the photostamp, Family Tea by The Stampsmith.  It's sold as a single and is an adorable image.  It would be great in a scrapbook page, too...hey, I might just stick this whole card front on a page!

I hope you decide to play

Cheers!
 

Happy 9th Birthday, Natalia!

Happy 9th Birthday to my sweet little girl, Natalia!

We had Natalia's birthday slumber party yesterday/this morning and I have to say, I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep.  It's crazy how loud 10 little girls can be when they get together...I think I can still hear the ringing in my ears! 

This is the birthday cake that I got for her.  I was really impressed at how clearly the picture came out.  This is the first time I've bought one of these cakes from Atlantic Superstore and Natalia loved it.   It's amazing what they can do with cakes these days.   They scanned her picture from a 4" x 6" that I provided, and they enlarged it to fit the top of the cake and printed it off onto Rice Paper.  I'm not sure how they get the rice paper onto the top of the cake, but very carefully, I'm assuming!  lol  :)   It's hard to read the sentiment on the bottom of my picture, but it was clear in person.  It reads, Happy 9th Birthday, Natalia.

OK, I'm off to relax and go to bed early...the last of them were up until 3:00 am this morning...yes, I'm getting too old for these sleepovers!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Proud Mama

OK, so I'm the proud Mama and I have to share some pics from my daughter's recent photo shoot. My friend, Chere, took the pictures and owns the Photography studio, called Chearle Photography. If you're looking for someone to take some pics for you, please think of Chere. She does a fabulous job at a very reasonable price.













I'll have another card to show you soon. Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends out there! :)

Hugs,

Happy 10th Birthday, Alexandria!

I'd like to wish my oldest daughter, Alexandria, a very Happy 10th Birthday today! :)

Oh my, double digits! I can't believe it's been 10 years already since I held her tiny little newborn body in my arms. Where does the time go? Now, I can see her growing into a beautiful young girl. Not sure if I'm ready for this... lol

I just had the girls' portraits done by my friend, Chere. I'll post some more pics of the girls soon. For now, it's Alexandria's day. :)

Stay tuned for an exciting post in a couple of days...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Halloween Sari by Kelly

My friend Kelly made this gorgeous sari for my oldest daughter, Alexandria, last year for Halloween. She got all dressed up to go to a costume party the other night, I even did her make up all fancy for her. She had a blast and said she felt like a real Indian Princess. So cute. :)

Here's a close up of her make up.
Both my girls went to their Halloween party for Brownies tonight. Alexandria was a Vampire and Natalia was a Vampiress. Oh, the Twilight, vampire craze, eh? I'll share more pics of their costumes soon.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Hurricane Earl passing through...

This picture was posted this afternoon on the Halifax Herald online, showing some downed trees in Halifax.

Well, it's been quite a week. We've had record temperatures here all week in the Halifax area peaking at 38 C (100.4 F) and well into the 40's with the humidex. Thank goodness for the air conditioning at work, but at home, the temperature peaked at +33 C inside my house! Not nice to sleep in at all! :( We finally got an a/c unit installed yesterday were able to cool the house down, but now the power has been going on and off with Hurricane Earl passing through. That means no a/c or fans! Hopefully the power is on to stay now, but we'll see. The last time we had a hurricane pass through, they was a lot of devastation and a lot of homes were without power for days or even weeks. You don't realize how much you rely on it until it's gone!  Stay safe, everyone!

My girls also started school on Thursday. Natalia started grade 2 and Alexandria started grade 3. They're two years apart in age, but Alexandria missed the birthday deadline for enrollment so she had to wait an extra year to start school. Then, they changed the birthday deadline, so Natalia got to go a year earlier. Seems weird that they're only a year apart in school. But, they're both doing really well. I'll post a pic of them soon.

Well, the wind is still really howling and I'm sure we're going to lose power again, so I'd better finish up with my post.  I'll keep ya updated soon.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Road Trip to Sheet Harbour Falls

My youngest daughter went to Sparks (the first level of Girl Guides) camp this weekend and after we picked her up yesterday morning, we all went for a little road trip to Sheet Harbour. We had a nice picnic lunch right by the water and the kids played at one of local playgrounds for a bit. Afterwards, we walked down through the woods to Sheet Harbour Falls and took a few pictures. This is such a beautiful place and the girls loved it. Here's a few shots of the scenery and of my girls. The picture above is looking up from the bottom of the falls while standing on a bridge.

This is the view you have of looking down on the falls while standing on the bridge at the road.

When you get back up to the top there's a museum and they have a beautiful little arbor and gazebo there.  Here's a pic of my girls sitting under the arbor.

This is Alexandria standing at the foot of a massive wood carving beside the gazebo.

Here's Natalia perched on the same massive wood carving.

This one of Natalia is just for fun, just 'cause I'm so darn proud of her!  She's been trying to do handstands and cartwheels for months now and she finally learned how to last week.  Here's one of handstands, following right in Mama's gymnastics background footsteps!  :)

Ok, that's all for now.  Time to head to bed.  I'm back to work in the morning, so I need to go get some sleep!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)