ya ya ya.. so I'm not good at updating. Life IS a little busy you know and by the time nighttime comes, I really don't want to do much brain work.

anyway, here's a little shorty.

Big news? Stampin' Up is a go. My Starter Kit should be here tomorrow sometime. I am so excited! I've got some really neat stamps coming along with the other supplies. I did form a Stampers' 10 group and have 8 spots filled for sure with 1 probably and several other maybes. Don't think there will be any problem filling it up fully and possibly even starting another one. We'll see. I don't want to get too carried away to start with as I really don't have much extra time currently. I haven't even scrapbooked in over a month :(

It's September again and life starts getting even busier. As some of you know, I like to sing and this season I have decided to drop one group and continue on with just one mass choir of 120 people. It's a light hearted group with fun music and isn't too hard. I generally have everything learned and memorized by the 3rd week..lol. But it's a great group of people and light music which will be good considering I don't have a lot of brain power by 9pm.

Kids are doing well. They just spent the weekend at my parents place and they had so much fun! Shane and I went to a campout with friends of his from work. Another of their buddies has bought a campground that they have all been putting a ton of work into and it's looking great! We've decided that we want to buy a tent trailer or a very small travel trailer and head out there most weekends. Should be fun :)

Well, it's after 12 and I'm pooped. Will try to update slightly more frequently :) And with pictures too ;)

Ok, it's been a while.. been a little busy around here...lol.

Last weekend was my annual Pond Partay ~ This year hosted by my friend LeeAnne in beautiful Portland Oregon. I flew down and stayed with LeeAnne for 3 nights and 4 wonderful days. Was great getting to know LeeAnne even better and we had so much fun. I met some great people and although we missed many of our regular Partayers, it was still very worth the time and energy to go down. Here are some pictures that were taken by some of the others. Was a grand time! Looking forward to next years reunion which will be either in Vancouver or here in town or both. We'll see :)

Lets see, what else.. well I've got a new little boy I babysit 2 days a week on average. So far it's been a little tough as he adjusts to a new place to hang out while his parents work, but every day is a bit better so hopefully it won't take long before he's ready to have a great time a couple days a week. The twins are enjoying having a new playmate. Also our friend Addie has been over to spend time with us last week and this upcoming week too. Won't be long though until he's in his new home which is about 2 hours away from here. That will be sad for us.

I've started a new small business too. Or at least I"m in process of starting one. A friend of mine introduced me to a company called Stampin' Up that sells everything from stamps and inks to embellishments for cards and scrapbook layouts to all kinds of nifty adhesives. Found one I love that you can use on envelopes that you are giving for gifts. It dries and forms the adhesvie like on store bought envelopes that you lick or wet with a spounge to get it sticky again. Anyway, I think it's going to be an interesting move to get into it. To start with I plan on forming a group called a Stampers' 10 which is a group of 10 people who commit to spending a minimum of $25 a month for 10 months. Then each month one person is the hostess and gets all the perks that comes along with that. Also, the month they are hostess I don't mind doing demos or a make and take (where I show you a new techinque or two or three) so that the hostess can recieve even more free product and perks. I'm really looking forward to getting involved with the products. The ones that I have or have tried I am really impressed with. Plus they make great gifts! If you are interested in either joining the Stamper's 10 group or just placing an order with me, feel free to email me. KristaBlackmore@shaw.ca

Well, that's all I have brain cells for tonight. Hope you enjoyed the pictures from my trip :)

What a great day! We were babysitting Addie again today for a long day. almost 12 hours! He was so good and really seemed to enjoy hanging out with the twins. We spent the morning watching the kids line-up on the tv and playing with blocks and cars. And then after lunch, my sister Liz came over and helped us get ready to go to the City Park. It's quite the experience getting three 2 year olds ready to go swimming and playing in the water. And since I only have one double jogger (totally gapped that I did have a puddle jupper stroller) we figured one of the kids would have to walk. No way I could do that on my own and I was very glad that my sister was along for the ride. The kids had so much fun! At first Ethan and Addie were a little unsure of all the spray jets, but once they got used to it, they were off and running. Ethan tried catching the drops with his hat even :) and got completely drenched! They all did! Addie tuckered out first and had a nice little nap in the stroller while the twins ran around some more. After we got home, Andrew fell asleep until dinner and then they played while I watched some tv... Food TV of course, need to get ideas for dinner :) I think we'll go back again tomorrow :)

Well, with this heat, we are doing a lot more inside activities like coloring. I try to encourage just on the paper, and for the most part they do pretty good. I am glad to have the laminate floors though and washable crayons. Yesterday though, both boys thought it was a grand idea (after their shower no less) to color on themselves. Hard to see in Ethan's picture but his legs are covered from hip to toe and on his face. He had drawn on his shirt too so hopefully that comes out. . Andrew had crayon absolutely everywhere. I think the only place he didn't have it was his ears. Yes, even the hair.. looked like a bad halloween job...lol.

After that we went for a walk to Wholesale Club to visit some air conditioned comfort. When we left for the store, it was still 36 out which is 97 degrees.. ugh! That was at 7pm! At teh store we met up with a friend of mine who had 4 year old twins. She was busy getting lots of the sale clothes for her little girl. I really didn't like the summer wardrobe for the boys so I didn't mind that I didn't have to buy anything ~ both kids still fit their summer wardrobe from LAST year. The new fall line is really cute though for the boys so I've got several items that I want including a jeans/tshirt and bomber jacket set. One in blue and one in red! We really don't need much in pants as they are just fitting their 18m stuff I have for them so I'll just pick up some tshirts for the most part.

Other than that it was a pretty quiet day. The boys are behaving quite well considering I don't want to take them outside with the sun blaring and the heat near or over 100. I'm really looking forward to slightly cooler days.

Here is a picture from a couple weekends ago. Shane and I took the twins to a farm market that has a minature train that rides on real minature tracks. Just big enough for 2 adults to sit on the seat. Has several open air cars and then a cabboose that is closed in but without glass in the windows. Of course I didn't get a picture of the entire train but here is one of the engine and one of the many birch wood scarecrows.

Another brutally hot day here in the upper Valley. UGH! The kids and I don't want to do anything but watch tv by the time noon rolls around. Just too hot to do anything! Ok, so they would probably love to go run around outside, play at the water park etc, but I really don't feel up to dealing with two 2 year olds with heat stroke or worse right now. I really should take them across the street to the water park though in the morning... we'll see.

Today was a productive day overall though. My house was pretty much spotless by the time the mom came over which was nice. Of course it didn't stay that way but it was nice while it lasted..lol. And it looks like this babysitting job is going to work out as far as us as mom's go. Hopefully our kids are happy campers and we can make this a long term thing.

And DH was surfing around Ebay today and discovered a DVD set of BJ and the Bear that he wants to buy... and it's about the same price as a scrapbooking weekend mid September that I was hoping to attend but hadn't asked about yet (really, I don't NEED to go as I'm already going to another full day one in September plus the weekend one in August). But, my brain was on full throttle as he asked about this set and I asked about my weekend too.. of course he had to say yes :) Looking forward to that too now!

Didn't get anything done in the yard today though :( too hot and by the time the twins are in bed it's dark. HOpefully this weekend ...

That's about it today. Had a nice visit with my sister, cooked dinner for a nieghbor who has some health issues and watched an abulance sit in from of another neighbors house for 30 minutes.. so much for my nice quiet neighborhood :( Still don't know what happened though.

Awesome day! I've been stressing a bit over money as I've got a trip coming up that I didn't really save anything for. I just need money for a bit of entertainment and food so didnt' think it would be a big deal. But it's turning out it was.. anyway, I was talking to a lady I do occasional babysitting for of her foster son and turns out she needs someone this week to watch him for 12 hours and will pay me double my normal rate.. sweet!

And then I'm talking to my nieghbor while watering my new garden (the reason for my financial shortfall...lol) and she says her granddaughter is looking for part time daycare for her almost 2 year old son. I talked to her afterwards and it's going to be perfect hours! I'm so excited! It's not a ton of money but it will really help and it will help me feel good about helping a little with the financials.

And then there is my garden. Art Knapps was having a smoking sale (at least it was smoking after the guy helping me discounted some stuff for me on top of the sale..lol) In the last 3 days I've done so much digging and planting and its really comign together. I need to get some pictures of it right? Still need to haul a ton of stuff to the dump and get a bucket of bark mulch. Was just going to do it by the bag that that will be way more expensive. So I just have to wait :) My grandparent have a utility trailer and they'll be back next weekend so that should work fine. I still have to dig out that side garden though; I'm going to try to find a bobcat to help me. DH's uncle has one and if he's out working with it he might just stop buy and do a quick scoops and dump which is all I need.

Anyway, off to clean the bathrooms so I can make a good impression tomorrow :)

Woo Hoo!!! I figured out my password and signin name finally!..lol

well lets see, lots going on in our lives right now; spent a week in Southern Alberta at DH's family's farm/homestead for his family reunion. Over 100 people attended and it was extra special as they celebrated his Grandmothers' 90th birthday which she had in April. Was a crazy week for me though as I tried to chase two 2 year olds while camping and trying to feed us. The meals there are rather sporadic and that is hard for both me and the kids. Anyway, we all survived and I think it would be ok if Shane was more help. I do understand him wanting to see his family as much as he could but it made the week really long for me.

And now I get my break :) at the beginning of August I am off to Portland OR to an internet ponding reunion for 3 days. I'm flying down so that I can spend as much time as I can with my friends hanging out at her pond and seeing all the Portland and area have to offer. Really looking forward to that although 2 of my closest friends from this group are unable to join this year so tha'ts disappointing.

And then at the end of August I am going with a friend to a scrapbooking weekend in Whistler. Really looking forward to that one! i plan to do a bit of hiking and wondering through the village too so that I'm nice and refreshed to continue on :)

On the homefront, I have been working a lot in the garden digging out 3 years of neglect and planting a bunch of shrubs and grasses. The front main garden is almost done, hopefully by tomorrow mornign when MIL arrives to visit with the kids I can get out there. The side garden really does require a back hoe :( But as I don't have one of those handy I will have to dig it out by hand. It's about 20 feet by 4 feet long so going to be a project. The plan there is to just plant some cedars to make a low hedge. Nothing exciting although I may plant some annuals until the hedge grows up.

Anyway, tha'ts some of the highlights....

Good evening all...

Well, almost forgot to do this and it's only the second night...lol.


Was a good day today! Kids all played well with each other and then the Greats came for lunch between appointments. I also got to run out myself and do an errand sans les enfants. Was basically a PJ day as we didn't have any plans to go out.. at least until 4:30pm when I was talking to Jen and we decided we would take all 5 kids out for dinner... and not to MacDonalds! So got everyone dressed and out to Kelly O'Briens we went. Great service, good food and the kids were incredibly well behaved. I was so proud of my boys! Then we got home and DH was up watching hockey so the kids got to play with their daddy some more before bath and bed. And Ethan pooped on the toilet again! That makes only 1 accident in his pull up this week! I'm almost ready to make the switch to big boy undies. I"m a little nervous but I think that's more because making the switch means the kids are growing up. So we will continue playing it by ear and see where we head off to.

The other exciting news is we found one of Ethan's shoes just lying on the sidewalk. Of course today it had poured rain so it was very wet but hopefully if we find the other one it will dry out fine. Going to take the kids all for a walk tomorrow and hopefully someone has tucked it in a dry spot for me to find. Never know.

So, that's the big stuff.. at least big in my world. I even got to scrapbook tonght for a couple hours and got another LO completed.

oops, there goes a kidlette, talk to you tomorrow.