Band Mom

I just spent a very fun weekend being a chaperone for Chad's band trip to Victoria. 
Here are a few highlights!

 An honour to play on the steps of the Legislature!

I sure hope that Chad stays on with band!  It's fun to travel with those kids!  Aside from that,  the discipline and high standards that Mr Joiner expects from those students will teach them such valuable life skills.  I was most impressed with how they respected him. 

Go Screaming Eagles!!!

Mother's Day Tea

Liam's amazing teacher, Mrs Schalk outdid herself by putting on a 'tea' that make us moms feel very loved.  There was an adorable performance, treats, a few funny videos and a gift at the end.  

It was a lovely way to spend an hour this afternoon!

 Liam's rendition of me.  Hmmm...red hair and brown eyes?  Okay.

 The songs were so sweet.  I took a few videos for the archives.

 The gift was a painted mason jar for holding flowers.  Of course, today it held a mum!

Thanks Liam!  You really love me and I love you too!

Learning to Play

I will readily admit that I am not at all good at 'playing' with my kids.  They learned pretty quickly as little ones that asking me to play with them was a useless task.  I will sit down and play a game, color or watch a show with them but to just sit down on the ground and play for the sake of play....no.  I shocked the pants off Liam the other night when I offered to play cars with him.  Not sure what was wrong with me but I felt an urge to surprise him.  He looked very shocked and then pleased as he said "Mum, this is the FIRST time ever you have played with me!".  Now that is an exaggeration my boy but yes, it's a rare treat.  

We went up to his room after he told me all his room rules such as I have to do everything he says.  Right.

Well, it turns out that I need a purpose in my play so I decided to go through his Hot Wheels bin and organize by color.  He liked my rainbow but he then wanted me to push the cars around.  This wasn't very fun and after about 5 minutes I offered to read him several books.  Thankfully he was very happy to do so and I concluded my 'play' for the night.  You're welcome Liam!  Mummy has other talents....the next time you need to play ask your Dad or brothers!

Farewell to Daisy

Last Sunday it was time to say good-bye to our Thai guest, Daisy.  She was with us for a month and it went so very well.  We weren't sure what to expect exactly but to be perfectly honest it went better than we had even hoped.  She was a low-maintenance guest who didn't look to us to entertain her all the time, loved to visit and enthusiastically learn about Canada and answer all our questions about Thailand, be assertive and comfortable enough to tell us what she did and did not want to do and best of all cooked us lovely meals in the kitchen and didn't let me lift a finger to help.  She was GREAT!  A good match to our family.

 We present her with a few small Canadian souvenirs before she left which made her cry!  I felt a little bad I wasn't teary but I had mentioned to her the day before I don't cry easily so I hope she wasn't offended!

 Daisy took plenty of photos....and always two.  One on her i-phone and one with her camera.  She also took many photos of our house since she and her husband are building a new house soon and she needed ideas.

 William and Daisy got along like peas and carrots.  William seems to thrive on someone being very motherly towards him and Daisy liked to boss him about (in a good way).  She is a teacher through and through.  William won't get the motherly act from me as I call myself a 'hands off' parent so I hope he really enjoyed his time with her.

We dropped Daisy off at school to board the bus to the airport.  Most of the Thai students were having teary moments saying good bye to their host families.
All in all this was a wonderful experience but it will be good to get back to regular routine again at home.  It can be very tiring being 'on' all the time.  I had a few 'moments' this past month due to a ton of stress so I am hoping for a nice quiet May.

Time to Celebrate

 We were very excited to have Sinead and Ceara's visit to Canada coincide with Keith's birthday.  What a treat to have our dear friends around the table with us!

 We had a delicious steak dinner with all the trimmings.  I don't even think you can see my asparagus hiding under my salad.  After not having beef for a month while Daisy was here, that piece o'cow tasted divine.

 Somehow Ceara and Nate are back to cleaning the kitchen just like they were 5 years ago!

 I made Keith a guinness chocolate cake wtih salted caramel glaze.  

The kids played a little bocci after supper.  The evening was so very warm!

 Ahhh...the whole gang.  We certainly missed Darryl, Clodagh and Emma!

 Liam got to bed very late that evening and had a treat with Ceara reading him his bedtime story.

 Even though the hour was late we just had to have a dip in the hot tub.  

It was a great night!

FOUR-OH!!

Could this really be the same guy 20 year later?  My dear husband.  You have changed but so have I.  I know that 40 is just a number and it means nothing. What does mean something is that you have been my faithful companion for quite a long time now and I cherish it all.  The rotten times, the amazing times and the so-so times.  They all make up our history and it's you who I have built my life around and will continue to love.

Happy Birthday to my one and only!

ACT ~ That's A Wrap!

 Well, we had a pretty good fan base for the final performance with A.C.T!  We really appreciated all the support from friends and family.

 My parents, Uncle Andrew and their friends, Bill & Ella.

 The renowned 'Miss Smiff'.

 Our international contingent, Daisy and William.  Oh and 'hi' Keith!

 Auntie Tracy, Heather (aka Miss Smiff) and 'the mom'!

 Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Murray.

 And Auntie Tracy even brought her mom, Lynne.

 The show was great and Chad did a bang up job with the lead role of Aladdin.  What a lot of lines he memorized!  How many people get their school principal coming out to support them?  Nice!

 Daisy needed a shot with the star.

 Chad's bride...the princess.  Very nice choice for your first proposal, Chad!

 So proud of my two self-confident and self-assured boys.  They definitely did not inherit any of these qualities from moi!

 The whole cast...such terrific kids!

 Liam loved the show and was really into it.  Sadly, he faded fast after the curtain closed due to after affects from a booster shot the day before.  Ugh....poor guy.

I won a raffle basket this year!  Yippee!  It was packed with all sorts of baking equipment which was really appreciated as I rarely treat myself to new items. 

 

The following photos are not mine.  These were posted photos that one could order but we just took pictures of them.  I guess that's sort of cheating....yikes.

 

 

 

 

And now we move onto a new chapter in our lives.  Saturdays without waking up to get to rehearsal at 8:45 am.  Oh what bliss.  What joy!  What freedom!  The boys still have the acting bug...look for them in school productions in the near future.