This is NOT what it was meant for!!!

Last Thursday we had a few of the gang over for dinner.  I was busy bustling around in the kitchen cooking and when I looked into the family room I saw ..... one daughter talking on her phone, one daughter on her laptop, one grandson playing on his iPod, Gerry checking stuff out on his Blackberry and another granddaughter playing on my iPad!!!!!

So I decided I was going to put a basket by the front door for family to put their electronic gadgets in there when they came in ... that way I would be able to at least have a conversation with members of the family! I think at one point two of them were texting each other back and forth as a gag!!!

As you can see, my "electronics basket" is being put to good use ... just not for the purpose it was intended for!!!! LOL

Graduation Day for Our Dear Ozzy

What a lovely graduation ceremony today for the graduating grade 5'ers from Austin's school.  After the certificates were awarded, a DVD show was put on of all the graduating kids from kindergarten onwards.  I must admit Nana was moved to tears ... where did all those years go?

Congratulations my love ... what a handsome young man you are!!!!!

Nana Has the Best Strawberries!

My Topsy Turvy strawberries are doing so well ... first thing the grandkiddies do when they come to Nana's house is to check for ripe strawberries to eat! LOL  We should get lots of them this summer as I planted 21 strawberry plants for the kiddies!

Phew ... no more weeds!

Well, the weeding is finally finished.  The only problem with weeding is that one has to go back and do it again in a couple of weeks!  At least it won't be so bad as this was a belated spring cleanup this time around!  The baskets are hanging and are really lovely this year.  All that's left is all the pots to be planted with flowers.

Summer is Here!

Summer must be here!  At least Emma, Lauryn, Austin and Auntie Traci thought so!!!  Brrrrr ... the pool temperature was a "refreshing" 74 degrees F - a bit too nippy for this ol' gal !! LOL  This didn't stop the kiddies though and even pooch Bella took a dip! LOL

What a excellent weekend ... Gerry is away on business for a couple of days, the kiddies have gone home and the house is so quiet you could hear a pin drop ... ;-(

Pretty Keisha

This is our  Keisha ... never quite seen those kind of curly cues coming out from the ears like there is on this kitty! 

   

A Fun Weekend with Nana & Poppa

We have been enjoying having Emma and Lauryn stay here with us since Friday after school.  They really are very good kiddies and a pleasure to have.

This morning the fun started from the moment they woke up and crawled into Nana & Poppa's bed for their morning cuddles and stories ...

Chocolate Chip pancakes were requested for breakfast which they devoured.

The rest of the morning  they had fun helping Nana and Poppa clean out the garage and chalking on the sidewalk - along with time out for a snack and icing some cupcakes Nana had made.

After lunch we stopped off at the Salvation Army with loads of things and then went onto Auntie Traci's house for a wonderful afternoon/evening and a delicious bbq.

What a fun couple of days.  Tomorrow, the girls are so looking forward to seeing Mr. Sun as Auntie Traci has invited all of us over for a swim in her pool.  

What good kiddies Emma and Lauryn are - it is such a pleasure to enjoy them for a whole weekend!  The house seems so quiet when they leave to go home! ;-(

A Picnic in the Park

Today started off pouring with rain and quite chilly - not a fun day for a picnic in the park.  Happily though it cleared up beautifully and allowed me to accompany Emma's class on a school picnic to the park.  It was great fun - the kiddies had their bathing suits on under their clothes and screams of delight could be heard all over the park as they were running through the "water park."  Brrrr .... still a bit too nippy for this ol' Nana but the kiddies don't seem to notice the weather when there is water around!

Afterwards we enjoyed hot dogs, potato chips, cheesies, fresh fruit and veggie platters with juice.  Lots of Moms there with the teachers and me, the only Nana ! LOL  What a fun day!

What a Brave Girl !!

As part of Emma's birthday present, she wanted to get her ears pierced.  So, after school on Thursday Nana took her to get them done.  Mommy was working and gladly gave permission for Nana to get them done - it was tough for me to watch too!

Emma was so brave ... she didn't cry and Nana and Lauryn were really proud of her.  She picked out little pink crystals in a silver setting for her earrings and has to wear these for 2 months before switching to the lovely gold earrings that her Auntie Dee Dee and Nana have given her.

Guild Day

Today was our monthly guild meeting and I attended both the day and evening meetings which were both a lot of fun.  I handed in my "doorway" challenge along with all the other participants.  What a bunch of talented ladies we have in our guild.  All of the wallhangings were spectacular and the competition fierce! LOL  Each lady's creative  interpretation was amazing ... I learned so much from just viewing all of the other entries.

The viewer's choice winner will be announced at our July meeting but in my mind each entry was a winner ... truly they were all simply wonderful.  I can show you mine now as the voting is closed ...

My idea in creating this was for it to depict the outside walls of a castle leading into the inner depths of the castle.  The ivy was sewn down using free motion down the vein of each leaf and then given a ragged raw edge look to create a 3D effect, as was done with the brown ferns below.  I used sand (from Cancun) and miniature stones on the inner path and fibres for added effect throughout.

I really enjoyed taking part in our guild's challenge and have learned so much again from trial and error in the planning and execution of this wallhanging.

New Look

It just occurred to me that I never did post any photos of the new carpeting and natural stone we had installed.  The trim still has to go down and the new draperies up in the living/dining room but this will give you an idea of what it now looks like.   We are so pleased with our colour selection and quality we chose - I must have changed my mind 10 times before settling on this ...

Mischief Lookin' for a Place to Happen In ....

This photo of Lauryn taken yesterday says it all .... look at those beautiful eyes and that mischievious grin!!!  Precious!

Birthday Party for Emma!

It was wonderful for the family to get together again last night to celebrate Emma's birthday.  We were greeted by this sign in the driveway that the kiddies had drawn.  Too funny!

Emmy was so spoiled by her Mommy, aunties, uncles, cousins and Nana and Poppa.

It's always a lot of laughs when our family get together.  Gerry and I are so very blessed!

Happy Birthday dear Emma!

WOW - our little girl has just turned 8 and what a little doll she is!!

Mommy is preparing for a family birthday celebration over at their home tonight.  It will be another great get-together with the family to enjoy a meal and time together.

Emmy told me a couple of days ago that when it was someone's birthday in her class, that they were allowed to bring in cupcakes for all the kiddies.  So yesterday, Nana (with the help of my Lissy) made and iced 30 cupcakes and decorated with candies.  I took them into Emma's class this morning and when she saw me her little face just lit up!!  You just can't put a price tag on these moments!

More pics later ...

Father's Day

Today will be another fun day as we are having a family brunch to celebrate Father's Day for Gerry ... well deserved too, I might add! ;-)  Will add some photos when I get back home. Home again and here are the pics ... what a great day!  My daughter Traci had prepared an absolute feast for us to enjoy!

    

I managed to get quite a bit of quilting done yesterday as it was very dreary and rainy outside - always a good time to play in the quilt studio.  I am just putting the finishing touches to the McKenna series "Faith, Hope and Love."
http://www.threadsandpatches.co.uk/acatalog/Faith_Hope_Love.html

Rather than turning this project into a quilt, I have decided to mount each of the 9 blocks onto a 12" square canvas and create a montage on the wall.  All of the fabric designed to be used with this pattern line has been exceptionally dyed and the colours are a wonderful blend of the subtle and misty - a beautiful line of exquisite fabric called "Glacier Lights" and designed by McKenna Ryan.  I will be sure to post a photo when completed.

I also managed to complete my "Doorway" challenge for our guild.  I will be taking this in next Wednesday to our meeting whereby,  along with 26 other entries, it will be hung to be voted on by our members at both the daytime and evening meetings.  There is a nice prize being offered to the winner of Viewer's Choice.  I can't post a picture right now as the wallhangings are being voted on with a number and names are anonymous.