Neighborhood Manners

So please tell me, because I am new to this. What are the standards for times such as these in regards to neighborhood manners?

The children down the road have somehow discovered that there are two delightful little boys residing in our home and also have discovered our doorbell.

They seem like very bold and lonely children and if the condition of their house is any indication...well it's a sorry affair. Anyhow....I definitely don't want my kids to be sheltered from reality and of course they can all play. But as these 'not shy' kids have told me (two girls and a boy) they are allowed to come into our house. Not that I have invited them!

I have already had a 'chat' with them about using the 'f' word on our yard. Blah blah blah....I could go on. (interestingly enough these kids go to a private Christian school!)

As the rules stand now, the boys can play with these kids on our yard only, or on the street within view of our house.

What are the rules for your kids of the same age group?

Bye for Now

We knew this day would come eventually. The much anticipated month of visiting with the Hamm family came to a close this evening. Saying good bye is always a little difficult! We made some wonderful memories this summer with them. We are very much looking forward to visting them in two years!

That's one heavy carry on bag Ceara!

We had a nice dinner with the family at Milestone's after they checked-in. It was great to get in some more visiting!

After dinner we had our traditional Starbucks drinks around the artwork near the security gate. Seems that we've done this a few times before! There were a few tears from Ceara and some wet eyes from Nathan. Lots of very tight hugs and plenty of waving them thru the gate! As I type this they are high up over Canada and we wish them a very safe and smooth journey home.

Oh Happy Day

Today was the day my cousin Daryl married his beautiful bride Teresa. The ceremony was held at Crescent Beach and thankfully it stayed dry the whole time!
We welcome Teresa to the family. She's truly a delightful person!

Girls Night....Baby Shower

Last night we rounded up the 'girls night' gals to spend an evening with Sinead as her time here is coming to an end all too quickly. We thought it might be a good idea to give her a baby shower at the same time! A little tibdit for you all....there are no baby showers in Ireland! It was fun watching her open all her gifts and discovering that five of us had the exact same idea of getting her baby a blanket! Sinead assured us that winters are very very cold in Donegal and the blankets would go to excellent use! We had a wonderful time visiting, eating and all those great things that happen when you put a few women in a room together.

Here's Jill cooking up some caramel sauce to drizzle over her divine Caramel Praline Cheesecake!

Sinead wasn't the only pregnant guest

Sleep Over

Ceara has a tradition of having a sleep over at her house everytime she comes to Canada. It always exciting for me to not be the only female in the house! She's such a gem and we had a great time. She's very imaginative and my boys did what ever she told them to do! They played candy shop, toy shop, school and dance competition. She's a born leader!

After all that playing they settled down with some popcorn to watch Narnia. After that I insisted they went to bed but Nathan and Ceara giggled and whispered in his room until past 11:30pm! Ah well....how can I complain since seeing her is such a treat.

Yum! We had pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. I love that Ceara has an excellent appetite...she kept up well with Nathan.

This morning we took a little field trip to the fire station. She wanted to see where Keith worked and to sit in a big ole fire truck. Looking good, Ceara!

Great Craic

Saturday night we had the priveledge of taking Darryl & Sinead out to dinner. It was technically to celebrate Sinead's recent degree in nursing but we also threw in Darryl's new job, Keith's new jeep, our new house, a few birthdays and any other major event over the past four years! We ate out at Paliotti's and ate some delicious Italian food. We also did some planning of our trip to Ireland in a few years to visit them! That was very fun and has gotten me pretty excited about finally getting over to see Ireland for myself.

Today we took a trip into Ikea to do something we had been putting off for too long. And that was getting the spare room to actually look like a spare room! Now I love it and may just move in myself!

before

after

Sweet Relief

We spent a fantastic day at Transcanada Waterslides with Darryl, Sinead & Ceara! Also with us was Darryl's sister and her family. What a great way to keep cool on these HOT summer days. The water was just pefect and I felt in fine form all day due to feeling 'just right' instead of overheated.

The river rapid ride was definitely a favorite. It's pretty rough so Chad couldn't try it out but he was happy on the junior size slides.

Ceara enjoying a ride down the 'mini' tube ride. She didn't like the full length version so much. One disappointment was that they don't let you 'double-up' on the big slides anymore. So you can't take your kids down with you and Chad certainly wasn't ready to do those big ones on his own. C'est la vie, I guess!

A little post tubing massage from the expert. I think Darryl and Keith went down the rapids way too many times for their old bodies!

Sinead played it safe and stayed off the slides due to her pregnancy. She sure looks amazing though for being 6 months gone!

This Says it All!

Crazy People Like This Heat!

We attempted to find a little relief from the city heat today up at Harrison. My cousin Erin and her brood kept us company...thanks for coming along! I came home to find my house a toasty 31 degrees warm upstairs (love that the computer is in the basement!). The forecast is for 37 degrees tomorrow....this is not good news for a girl that doesn't really enjoy scorching hot weather unless she is in a tropical location with a fruity beverage in one hand. Functioning in 'real life' in the heat is quite unbearable!

Summer Blooms

Chad in front of my clematis vine

The daisy would have been prettier sans insects!

Not sure what this is but I like it

And yes, I have lots of raspberries! They are very delicious straight off the vine.

The Boy is Home....along with plenty of filth!

Tonight we picked up Nathan from summer camp. I can't believe how quickly that week flew by! He had a great time and enjoyed it very much. He did miss us though so in a weird way I was happy to hear that. I'm not ready for him to be too independent just yet!

Here's picture with one of his best friends Andrew. Note the dust all over Andrew's nose and the grime around Nathan's mouth. He did admit he never really showered all week except for rinsing off after swimming. That doesn't count because he never used soap! Ugh.

Look at that mouth! I'm a bit OCD about my kids being clean 90% of the time so this was slightly distressing. I do wonder how many layers it was?!?!?!

Nate and Blake with their souvenier cards from their counsellors. They each got a personalized note and group photo. Blake didn't want his picture taken as you can see.

While Nate was at camp, Keith had bought his new jeep. What a suprise for Nathan as we walked up to it. He looked a bit confused and then the lightbulb went on! He definitely thought it was very cool. It seems to have become tradition to stop for ice cream on the way home from camp. Yum! I had Rolo and Nate had cookies 'n cream. We never turn down ice cream! See how close I got to my stinky boy? That is true mother's love!

The whole gang! They were lucky enough to all end up in the same cabin and had a blast. The only concern was that there were two other boys in the group that were 'bullies'. Nathan told me he learned a whole bunch of bad words. Won't tell us what they are though. I don't think I want to know anyhow!

And this washer full of smelly stuff awaits me tomorrow morning. Thank goodness for washing machines!

A New Toy for Hubby

Completely self-explanitory....hubby is happy therefore wife is happy.