Blooming

already is our beautiful new Rose Bush!!!  (Mark's favorite!!)  I promised I would take good care of it and so far I am!!

For you...

my best friend...my everything.  A terrific Daddy to our girls, the best husband to me...you are my dream come true.  Happy Birthday today my love.

Much love always...xo

Wishing you were here...

Today is Daddy's birthday!!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!  We miss you, we love you and we will be sure you get spoiled when you get home...it will be like having 2 birthdays!!!  We are sorry that you have to work so darn hard on your birthday...

HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!!!  You deserve it!  If we could send you hugs over this computer thing, you would be squeezed very tight!!!!  Love your girls, xoxoxox

No school today

for our super tired Doodle Bug!  She's a little under the weather.  I am hoping that she is just in need of some sleep, she hasn't been getting much for over the past week...I sent her back to bed this morning at 6:30 and slept until after 9 am!!  Poor sleepy monkey.  We are going to have a lazy day today, we could all use one!

Sunday Dinner

 Gramma Shirley and Grandpa George are always so generous...they tell me anytime I want to join them for dinner to just go over...they know that some days get long.  So, after Maddie's friend went home and I shipped the neighbour's kids home, we walked over and invited ourselves for dinner, I was in need of some adult conversation;)  I brought our Steaks there and cooked our suppers together!  I cooked on the BBQ and George did the other work, while the girls (Gramma Shirley included!) sang and danced together!  I wasn't sure Maddie was going to make it through dinner without falling asleep on her plate, man, she was tired!!  It was a nice way to end a busy weekend!

Kids kids kids!

Maddie's sleepover fun continued today...it started at 5 am...we were outside from before 10 am until, well, all day!!  The girls insisted on swimming in the lake, I said that was fine but I was NOT going in...brrrr...Miaya and I sat on the dock and observed!!  Then the neighbour kids came over for the afternoon and joined in the fun!  Running in the sprinkler, water balloons and lots of other games they made up as they went!  These girls should sleep well tonight!!

 

Hit and Miss

Miaya loves to help water the garden...some flowers get more attention than others but she tries!!

Sleepover fun!!

When we got home from pictures, the girls had an agenda...I wanted to go for a walk and they said "I guess we can adjust our schedule because we have things to do!!"  Well then, guess I was told...

 We walked (I won but they were dressed up!), they jumped and laughed...I love listening to kids laugh...and Miaya helped water the garden!  I got Miaya to bed and the girls and I are sitting on the front deck having a fire roasting marshmallows chatting up a storm...Wonder what tomorrow will bring?!

Upcoming recital!

With Maddie's yearly Dance recital fast approaching, today was the day for pictures!  Maddie will be performing Little Red Riding Hood for her musical theatre group and she will be doing her highland dance too.  She loves both of her classes!  We had to wait between photos and Miaya was a good sport as usual...

 And this is one of Maddie's BFF's...she is coming home with us for a sleepover!!

Me and Our Girlies...

We hung out this morning doing not much of anything!  We stayed in our jammies until after lunch...we planted some more goodies in the garden and soaked up the sun! 

This afternoon we are off to get Madalynn's pictures done for her upcoming dance recital so there was no point in having baths before I had to get her "dolled up"!!

NIce...

So, Maddie is having a friend sleepover tonight so I had to get her extra bed ready...I pulled the Trundle part of her bed out, which I thought was for a mattress, and found this!!! 

In case you can't read it, it is a note from her teacher dated May 11/12...it says she cleaned out Maddie's desk and found some papers to get finished at home and send when finished...Now, even though it says "No Rush!" I am thinking she meant before the end of the year??!!!  Man...anyways, I asked her why she did that and she simply said "Because she didn't want to do it!"  Easy enough...So, if you are looking for me I will be hiding under my bed because I don't want to do anything anymore!!!

Skipping!!

And Miaya is not too bad at turning the rope!!

Work Work and Lunch!!

 I have the best little helper...she helped me cut the grass and then took a well deserved lunch break!!  (I love how nice the outside looks with the grass cut!!)

3 kids and a Water Hose!!

Afterschool fun!

Our little buddy is back with us after school and the kids played outside until bath time...After supper and ice cream on the deck, play time continued...Madalynn got bitten more than enough times on her poor shoulder.

And then I suggested helping me water the plants...oops!  Before the words were even out of my mouth, I know that meant everyone would get wet!!  Oh well, might as well enjoy summer while it's here!!

Good Morning!!

 Maddie's bus was super late this morning...we took pictures while we waited;) 

Dancing the night away...

Cheesy Bum!!

Miaya is becoming so independent now!!  She is trying to dress herself, which she does well...just needs to perfect it;)

Eating and gardening!!

I wanted to finish with my new gardens today!  (I call them mine because Mark said he digs and the flowers are my problem;)  I think I am happy with them...they will take a while to get them perfect but I am happy to have some colour at the front of our house!!!

Tuesdays stink!

Only because I have to return Daddy to the airport.  He is flying out later now though so we get him of the whole day...And Miaya gets some time with him and then he gets to watch Maddie at one of her dance classes.  I hope the next 14 days goes by fast for all of us!  Thanks Nana, for helping us yet again!!

Together

(I have to try and write this so it doesn't sound like whining...)  Mark is many things to me...my best friend, a terrific husband, a wonderful father...he is also a man who works very hard to provide for his family.  I think he shows that by working MILES away from his home, so that we can have everything we need and so that I can stay home with our daughters.  He is truly the most amazing man I know...And just because he does all of those things, doesn't mean he enjoys every moment (nor do I).  We simply do the best we can with what we have, in the amount of time we have.  It is hard to cram everything we want to do in 6 days...he needs sleep, the girls miss him, I miss him, the house needs work, he needs time for himself, as do I (the list goes on)again...we do the best we can.  With all of that being said, it is still hard to juggle everything around.  And I told him tonight that if one more person says to either one of us, "It's not that bad..." I might hit them...lol...We are both very appreciative of the things we have, please don't get me wrong, but he works 14 days straight, 14-16 hour days and I know I couldn't do what he does...He works hard, damn hard.  And that is why I love him so much...we all need to be told that more often than we are...

So, after working together on a few projects and getting lots of things done, we realized, after almost 9 years of marriage, we work awesome together still!!  We enjoyed a fire on the deck, some roasted marshmallows and some drinks tonight after we tucked our girls into bed...and had a great time, just the 2 of us...and I guess I just wanted everyone to know how much it means to be appreciated, we should all do this a little more...

Another productive day!!

After dropping Madalynn off at a friend's house for a play date today, we worked hard at getting a bunch of other work done...I do as much as I can while Mark's working but some jobs are for 2 people and it is hard to get everything done in such a short amount of time while he is here.  We do the best that we can though. The girls cleaned the table so we could eat dinner outside and then we all headed to the trampoline for some games, which of course, Maddie was in charge of;)

After baths, the girls enjoyed a book with Daddy, he leaves tomorrow so it will be many sleeps before they get another book read to them by their favorite guy.

Great Company, great food, great visit!!!

What better way to spend a beautiful Sunday of a long weekend...it really doesn't get much better than this!  The weather has been amazing!!  The kids played while we all got caught up...it has been awhile since we have seen my brother and family!!

 

We had yummy Steaks, fries and onion rings in Daddy's new fryer!!  Very tasty!!

And because Mark will be working on his birthday, we got him his favorite cake...McCain Deep and Delicious Chocolate cake...mmmmm....with candles!!! 

 We had such a fun day!  We got lots accomplished and it was nice to sit and relax...