And All Good Things Must Come To an End

After all those rowdy 'grown-ups' left, on came the dance music, out went the coffee table and in came the dance moves. Darryl....seriously hilarious even though Sinead doesn't think so :) I don't know that Nathan has ever laughed so hard in a long time. There is video but to protect their 'image' it shall be kept under lock and key :) It was funny to see Nathan and Chad out there dancing away and went it came to be 1:30 and time for wee children to be in bed they wanted to keep on going!

Poor Ceara and her tired eyes....verrrry late!

And when they had to catch their breath, they just sat and watched the 'show'. A great time! Thanks for the memories!!!!!!!!

PS. I had to wake Chad at 1 pm this afternoon. I think that if I hadn't he would have slept the day away!

And it went on and on....

After supper we all just hung out visiting and laughing and taking loads of pictures. The older generation sort of stuck to one room. After a few drinks they all started a big sing-along with Irish ballads, and show tunes etc. Very entertaining but we stuck to the other living room and just did our own thing. The kids ran from room to room, enjoying everything the party had to offer. Very unlike anything they had ever experienced...definitely. I think they wish they had a party to go to like this every weekend :)

Ashling and Ceara....what beautiful young ladies!

Keith and I

Ceara requested and received a nice foot massage from Cam. No one can say 'no' to Ceara...the accent is way too cute!

The gorgeous sisters!

Party like the Irish

Oh my oh my...what a night. As I post this it's 10:15 am and my children are STILL fast asleep! Unfortunately I woke up with headache (thanks for all the gin and 'pamplemousse' cocktails Orla!) and couldn't really sleep much past 9:00 am. Here's a little look at the best party I've been to in years! We were celebrating Sinead's youngest sister, Ashling's graduation from highschool. It sure made me feel old to think that the little sweetie that Sinead and I played with in high school is all grown up now. Crazy! Una (Sinead's mum) puts on great parties....there are young and old there and everyone has a great time. They are all such friendly people and made us feel very welcome and a part of the family.

Ah yes.....Nicky (the Aussie wonder) and Cam. Boyfriends of Sile and Orla. They were a bit silly in their ying & yang 'servers' outfits. Very amusing indeed, but they got the job done. They grilled up the chicken and steaks to perfection and made sure everyone was having a good time. Also made sure everyone's glass was always full :)

The wonderful spread. It was a delicious dinner!

The dessert were also amazing....look at sensible Ceara with her plate of fruit!

Dinner and Working Off Dinner

I made a big Mexican dinner for that evening. I just love Ceara's expressions and she told me that dinner was 'gorgeous'. Sinead told me that 'gorgeous' is reserved for food she especially likes, so I was very happy she liked it!

After dinner the rain finally let up so we all laced up our runners to get out for a bit of a walk. It felt great and although all the kids complained bitterly about having to walk 'SO far' I know they secretly enjoyed it!

After our walk we all had dessert and then since the kids were really not serious about being so tired we had a dance competition. Nate vs. Ceara vs. Sinead.....the Macarena. I'd have say that Ceara has some pretty sweet dance moves. Nathan is precise and rather robotic (he can't help his Menno genes) and Sinead simply just blew them all away! By the time we kicked them out it was 12:30 am and I was fading. Too bad I was the only one of the bunch that had to work in the morning!

Good Times

The past few days have been a whirlwind of fun and busyness being together with the international posse. So much fun though! On Wednesday evening, Darryl and Keith went out water skiing in Hatzic. Keith really isn't supposed to be skiing due to his neck injury so he was Darryl's official photographer. Very impressive skiing!

Thursday afternoon, Ceara came with me to pick up Nathan from his last day of school. She was quite interested in a Canadian school and we showed her all the nooks and crannys. Here they are in front of Nate's desk. She told me that they didn't get individual desks but that she sat a large tables with her classmates. Another thing that Ceara was a bit envious of was the fact that Nate gets hot lunch 1-2 times per month. She thought that was just 'grand'!

Of course, once class was dismissed we had to go and play out on the swings for a little while. Look at that million dollar smile!

And look at that nasty face. Makes a mother proud.

Last Day O'School

Not sure who's more excited...me or the kids! No more making lunches, driving, homework, newsletters, requests for money, assemblies, washing uniforms, blah blah blah! I think summer holidays are for the mums and dads!!!

Chad and Nathan have done very well this year and we are proud of them both. Nathan will be getting his report card today and we're pretty sure he'll make it into grade four :) Chad is just ecstatic for grade one to start in fall. He can't wait to be at school ALL day! He's done so well in Kindergarten. He's fully reading now too. They both deserve a summer of fun and relaxation!

Fore

Sunday morning found us on the golf course for our annual tradition of attending my staff tournament with Kori and Roger. We were to be there at 7:40 am which was quite difficult. The weather was quite gloomy but thankfully we only had a few sprinkles on the first and last hole. I do enjoy golf and do okay enough to not embarrass myself. We really only golf once a year so I can't set my expectations too high! We had great fun.

The lunch afterwards was held at the Ramada. The food was very tasty and definitely beat anything we'd had at past tournements. Plus the conference centre is very beautiful.

I was lucky enough to get a great door prize this year. As you can see it's a lovely candle lantern tree for our deck. I love it!

Keith wasn't so lucky as he won a golf shoe bag. Well this is what we think it is. Anyhow...definitely not as good as my prize :)

Just had to mention that we were honored to sit at the same table as Roger 'Woods' who got the prize for hitting a marshmallow the furthest. A talent to be very proud of :)

The Long Awaited Day!

Darryl, Sinead & Ceara safely arrived in town yesterday. We were thrilled to be able to pop by and see them......jet-lagged and all. It was great to be able to catch up in person after four long years. Another added bonus of having the Hamm family back in Canada is that we get to spend time with Sinead's wonderful family. We look forward to making many new memories in the coming weeks!

Date Night

Saturday night found us without kids (they were at Grandma and Grandpa's!) so we took it upon ourselves to make plans for a date. Murray actually was in town so we went for sushi and a movie. Murray is currently at school in Vancouver taking computer animation and is beyond swamped with school stuff so we're really happy that they shared some of their rare time off with us! The sushi was delicious and I seriously could eat it everyday. I just love it. We went to see the third 'Pirates' movie. It was very long but pretty good. I got my 'fix' of Orlando Bloom :)

And To Think that it Happened on Sports Day!

We woke up to drizzle and clouds. Somehow the weather always seems to know when it's sports day in B.C.! Keith and I had planned to spend the day at the school watching and taking a turn at the concession stand. The boys were so excited and didn't let the weather get them down. It was great fun to watch them having such fun. Yes, it was wet but it wasn't cold....bonus! At about noon the sun finally came out and it was gloriously warm and one would have hardly known the day had started off so poorly. Nathan came home with a second place ribbon in the sprinting event. My boy can run! Chad had an exciting adventure of his own. After they were done all the games, the kindergarten class stopped for some water and rice krispie squares. I told Chad that these would be great for helping his loose tooth fall out. Well, not two minutes later his teacher is squealing and pointing at Chad (she's very hyper).....I ran over and there is Chad a little stunned and alot bloody. It seems that after his first bite the tooth twisted sideways and so he pulled it out himself. This good news for him because he so desperately wanted to get on the 'Tooth Chart' in his class before year end on June 28th. He just made it! I think we'll be having a visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight. And to think she was just here two nights ago for a big molar from Nate.

Smile of the Day

I passed a hitchhiker at the freeway entrance a few days ago. The destination sign he was holding read:

FAR AWAY

Cranky

My nine year old has been very cranky lately and I am ready to do something illegal to him. I think that it's several issues:

-springtime allergies

-end of the school year fatigue

-not getting to bed early enough due to it staying light so late

-two loose teeth

For those of you with kids that are in the teeth-falling out years....was it as traumatic for them as it has been for my son? Nathan is seriously upset with these loose teeth. Wants me to pull them out yet changes his mind last minute just as my hands are heading for his mouth. He won't really eat....dinner time can last forever with his tiny bites and moaning. Honestly! He's moodier than a hormonal 13 year old girl.

Does anyone feel my pain?

Number One Dad!

Tomorrow is Father's Day and therefore a tribute is necessary. Cue the dreamy music!
One never knows how their husband is going to be as a father until that first baby comes along. I have to say that I was more than impressed at Keith's devotion to his first son from the moment Nathan was born. I did not get to change that baby's diaper for DAYS after he was born and never did get a chance to give him a bath until he was several months old. Keith is a 'hands-on' dad and has never pulled the 'it's not my job' card with anything to do with the kids. I love him for it!
Yes, he does have high standards for the kids but he loves them so much. Dads parent very differently than moms and I have to make myself stand back let Keith do his 'dad thing'! I know it's all good because our boys are such wonderful kids!
Thank you Keith for being the awesome dad that you are!

Ahhhh...time to let loose!

Hah! Well, here's to my first private post. Time to divulge all those juicy secrets.
I wish I had some to tell you!
It's not that I want to share more personal stuff but rather that I want to perhaps mention the town 'Abbotsford' or maybe use a last name now and again!
My parents have always told me that I am choleric aka 'control freak'. This proves it because I want control over WHO reads my blog. I am not okay with the anonymous readers who do not 'out' themselves. Plus with my new addicition to face book, I thought that just left my site way too vulnerable.
So at the end of the day you won't really notice a change in my posts. But thanks for putting up with my password protected site. I appreciate it!
I'm sure that I didn't hear from everyone yet that might want access to my site. If someone is trying to find my blog through any of you please let them know they can email me directly for an invite!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Summer is Coming When.....

....I get to make a batch of Monster Cookies! Oh yum, I do love these cookies! Anyone else out there have memories of eating these as kids? I cannot make them during the school year because they have peanut butter in them and I like to add M&M's with peanuts as well. So the kids can't take them to school. So when summer comes I make them and a full recipe will last us the entire summer. It's an absolutely enormous recipe and I did cut it in half yesterday because I didn't quite have enough ingredients or containers for my freezer actually! But even doing only half took me all afternoon and I have two huge containers plus an ice cream bucket full of yumminess.

This is just the first few pan fulls. My oven was on for several hours.

And doesn't that make a nice seguey into my latest purchase? About a month ago I discovered that my scale wasn't working. It said I only weighed 110 lbs and as nice as that looked it simply isn't and never will be true! Some people may be over-joyed to have their scale break but for me it's a very necessary part of my life. I struggle with my weight and have found that the best way for me to keep on track is a weekly weigh-in. No good for me to go by how my clothes fit. By the time I would feel a difference I would have probably put on a good 10 lbs! Anyhow, I bought this new baby yesterday and am happy to get back into my weigh-in routine.