Swimming...it's been a while.

This is a post for Isabelle. She left us all and went away to college and never got to see Rosie swim so I promised her some photos.

Rosie received her first "proper" swim bag in the mail today. It's nearly as big as she is but she loves it. Now she is just like all the big kids and has her bag with all it's fancy compartments for goggles, hats, fins, towels etc. I ordered her a yellow one as orange wasn't an option, she looks a bit like Big Bird as she swaggers from the car to the pool.

I think she is drowning here.

backstroke

Free

My favourite....fly

She pulls up well but she is still really kittywompas

A butterfly making a crash landing     :-)

 we were playing Old Maid and the Old Maid is Medusa the swim coach!

A picture for you. Look it's your Mama and Helium Lady.

Chalk and Cheese

It was picture day at the girls school a few weeks ago and as is the norm they were asked not to wear their uniforms to school that day.

I asked the girls to pick out their clothes the night before. Rosie took all of 4 seconds to choose her clothes and I was not at all surprised with what she chose, her favourite Halloween shirt and her black leggings. For a fleeting second I was going to talk her out of it but then I realised that 20 years from now when I look at the photo I will say, "Wow Rosie I can't believe you actually chose a dress for picture day that year", completely forgetting that I forced her into it. She isn't a girly girl so it makes no sense to dress her as one for a school picture.

Lily on the other hand disappeared into her walk in closet and was gone forever. Outfits were being tried on and discarded hand over fist. She finally chose something that she loves. Of course once the clothes were chosen she had to chose accessories and then decide how she would style her hair in the morning. By the time she had finished making all her decisions Rosie and I were rolling on the floor groaning in pain.

I understand that there isn't time to make sure that the kids all look smart in front of the camera it's just sit, smile, shoot, next. I always remind them to comb their hair and smile but that is all I can do. I don't expect much from the photos and they never disappoint.

My big girl all pulled together and smiling.

And then there is her little sister!!!

Now I have already mentioned that I don't expect much but really don't you think they could have told her she looked like she had been pulled through a hedge backwards. I literally laughed out loud when I saw her hair.

I also need to add that all the other girls in her class were in such fancy schmancy dresses. Hah!

A perfect depiction of Rose!

She loves this photo of her and I do too.

WHATTTT ? ?

I don't think I mentioned in the post about camping that Rosie got bitten alive. I applied bug repellent to her in a liberal fashion but the little rotter promptly took a baby wipe to her face the second I turned my back. Hah, bet she won't ever do it again. To defend the poor kidlet the stuff I use for times such as camping (makes it sound like I do it all the time doesn't it) or sunsets around water is strong enough to choke a large horse and stinks to high heaven. We didn't notice at all on Saturday that she was bitten but come Sunday morning the child woke up looking like she had Chicken Pox and scratching like she had fleas. At one point she actually asked me if I thought she caught fleas from Pi. I laughed my head off at that one.

It is impossible not to notice the spots. Everyone has something to say and the word I have heard the most is "chiggers". I just thought it was a biting bug but decided today after someone else said, oh they look like Chigger bites, to Google them. What? OMG. How. Disgusting. Are. They. ? .

Take a look for yourself. CHIGGERS Disgusting, no?

So poor little kidlet has some utterly revolting skank again. On a bright side they should be gone in 2 weeks but Christmas photos are scheduled for Sunday. Perhaps you will all be so kind as to ignore the Calamine lotion in this years pictures.

I now have a new reason to add to my list of why, I don't camp.... . . .. CHIGGERS.

You can only see 6 but at the hairline there are loads and of course on the other cheek

under her skin, under her chin, take it from me ( sung to the tune from Ariel)

This nasty crud goes all up in her scalp and ears.

and way down her back.

She also has the bites on one foot and it is really swollen. This kid gets the nastiest skankiest stuff.

Traditions

This post got lost somehow and didn't get published. It's from Thanksgiving.

The girls didn't want to have a big Thanksgiving gathering at the house this year and they most certainly didn't want their meals served in reverse order and quite honestly I was quite happy to have just us. Before I started inviting the world and his brother over for Turkey we had started a traditional Thanksgiving morning walk where we would go out and collect pine cones. I don't know why or how it started it just did so this year I resurrected the tradition.

I might have done well to think it through a little more as the park we always visit burnt down a year ago so the pine cones were few and far between. It made things interesting and the girls really had to hunt for them. Once we have walked the perimetre of park we stop at the playground for a little while.

my turkeys

A rather burnt park

I love to see them holding hands

She was all smiles until I told her to watch for snakes

Weird mushrooms

Lily took this one of  the flowers

dead pine trees

Lily looking up a tree

smiley

We ate our turkey at dinner time, just the 3 of us. We liked it that way. we got to spend the day doing the things we liked while the turkey was busy getting cooked. I'm glad the girls spoke up...or should I say, I'm glad Lily spoke up and Rosie echoed her opinion.

Another award

By now you all know how I feel about this frivolous, foolish awards that are dished out by our school district so I will leave the commentary to a minimum and just post the picture.

I have no words

That fact is she was lucky enough to not get sick therefore she didn't have to miss school and got perfect attendance. She doesn't need a bloody award, it's her job. She doesn't need a fanfare for doing her job!

Monkey

When I take Lily to the park she always gravitates to the monkey bars.

She doesn't use them in the traditional manner

ever.

Her friend, Paula, found it odd at first but soon cottoned on.

Camping ! !

Today we went camping. Oh yes we did, there were tents and campfires and s'mores and bugs, lotsa bugs, and no showers, and no hair dryers and god knows I didn't see a toilet. I had baby wipes and apparently that was a novelty amongst the hardened crowd cos they snickered a bit but I was fine with it.

Next year we might even sleep in a tent and not drive home when it gets dark. . . . . . but probably not.

Allow me to back track a little bit. We received an invitation to join some friends on their annual camping trip. I politely sent back my reply thanking them for thinking of us and explaining that they must have lost their cotton picking minds cos I DO NOT camp.

Lets count the ways that I don't camp, shall we:
1. Germs.
2. Dirt
3. Dirt.
4. Dirt.
5. No electricity. (reminiscent of post hurricanes)
6. Dirt
7. um where do you pee ??? you do. well I don't. Lily either.
8. Dirt.
9. I might get dirty.
10. I'm scared of the freaking dark people. (but don't tell my kids)

Then I received another email that said, come anyway and don't spend the night. We'll watch the sunset, walk to the beach, light a campfire, eat dinner together.

Alrighty then, we are in.

So in my mind we went camping today (that was camping I saw the tents) and had a freaking blast. It was so awesome I can't begin to tell you. My brother would have been in heaven. The people we met were all so genuine, so un-Miami, so unbelievably nice. It was so carefree. Not one "Dance Mom" in the crowd, if you know what I mean.

At first the kidlets were a little unsure of it all but after about an hour they were all over the place with all the other kiddos. Lily was a tad freaked out at first because every inch of the campground was covered in red ant piles, which is kind of scary to a kid that can die from red ants but after I found her some socks she chilled out. Not really sure why the socks wielded so much power and the epi-pen none but it's Lily that we are talking about.

Both the girls were mesmerised by the fire. There was even a burning man  that was just amazing. Rosie helped to dress him in palm fronds to be sure he would really burn beautifully. The other aspect of the night that caught the girls attention was the little dog belonging to the host and hostess, Pi. They loved her and walked her all over the place. Poor pet deprived kids. When they lit burning man on fire Lily was holding Pi and she got a little nervous so Lily covered her eyes and she calmed down, it was actually so sweet to watch. She walked her back from the campfire and just covered her little eyes with her hand.

The time flew by and before we knew it was after 9pm and we headed out. Both girls were reluctant to leave and we even talked in the car about the possibilities of buying an actual tent and some sleeping bags but thankfully I came to my senses before that conversation went any further.

Crazy sock girl playing a crazy stick game with her sister

we walked ot the harbour as while we waited for the group to set up their tents.

stunning

the only thing that would have made this more beautiful would have been if someone could have rounded up the biting bugs. No amount of bug spray repelled them

Stiltsville off in the distance

Lily enjoying her feast

Some of the kiddies making s'mores and a certain munchkin eating chips!

The campfire

Lily became quite expert as s'mores

I have no idea...Oh wait, I do. A man was playing his guitar and she was dancing.

burning man, still intact.

Bye bye burning man

Poof

I just love the way the embers looked as they floated skyward.

Now seriously don't you agree? We went camping!
A huge thank you to our hosts, we had a fabulastic time and might consider the real thing next time. But where do you pee?

A much easier approach

Last year as many people snored in their beds I snuck out of my house and hit the stores in the middle of the night, 1:am actually, for some Black Friday shopping. I was going to do it again if anything grabbed my attention in the newspaper. My friend Kelly is in town and she was begging and hoping that something would leap out of the pages of the paper that I had to get. Well whaddaya know? It did but then so did the words, "available online".

I decided that if I was able to get the things online that the shipping costs would negate the sales prices so what would be the point. At about midnight I toddled over to my computer and checked it all out. BINGO. Free shipping. One of these, 2 of these, matching these, next store, ditto and done.

As much as I enjoyed my little midnight adventure last year it was really creepy walking in the parking lot. I have ever mentioned I am so scared of the dark!

All that is left are couple of shops that I will head to tomorrow for, Small Business Saturday.

Arthur, the mailman, is going to be making many stops here in the next few weeks.

**** I just made a madcap run to Target and the place was deserted. I don't know if everyone was there in the middle of the night but it was empty at 10.30. We also stopped at Pier 1 and that was also nice and calm. Both car parks were very easy to find spaces in. What's going on?

Thanks Given

I make a point of being thankful for what I have, everyday. I am trying to teach this to my girls. Today we took the time to count our blessings as this day is designated for such but honestly it makes me bat sh*t crazy that we have to have a day just to stop and count our blessings. Be thankful everyday....please.

Lily wrote her thanks down and read them at the table:

Dear Family.

On this Thanksgiving day I want to thank each one of you.

Rosie, I am sorry when I get mad at you when you are sincerely trying to help. I thank you for your help.

Dad, I thank you for always trying to keep cool while Rosie and I are really annoying.

And last but not least, Mom, I appreciate when you always do little things like laundry, making our meals, cleaning the house, etc. I would never have been able to do it myself.

With a thankful heart,
Lily.

Some of our dinner guests.

Turkey Eve

I haven't spotted any Pilgrims yet but i did spot an Indian earlier so I know that Turkey Day is very very close.

So that's what she needed that brown paper bag for at school.

The gang's all here

Swimming just hasn't been the same since September when Isabelle left and went to college. We are missing a sista and that's not a good feeling. At 2pm we all received the same text from her, Boarding plane now, will be home soon. See you at swimming.

Oh we laughed so much, snickered so much, gossiped so much and had a great time. I think I looked at the pool twice, twice, to check my children weren't belly up. ( have no fear there are 5 coaches and a pile of lifeguards) The sista's we all back together. Even the girls were excited to see her again. She's Isabelle, everyone is happy to see her.

I took a photo but we were laughing and I moved so it's blurred.

Isabelle, Jodi and Djanene

i couldn't survive all these hours at the pool without these ladies. We have the best times together.

 Oh, I did manage to catch Rosie ready for a dive.

She looks frozen

taking her position.

It's not all bad this swimming lark, don't let me fool you.

As mad as a hatter

Yesterday afternoon the girls wanted to head into the Grove and since we had no other plans we did. What they really wanted was to head over to Kennedy Park and see A.C. for an icee but as we drove down Main Highway they were distracted by an art festival and decided that we had to go and investigate it.

Of course it wasn't just an ordinary little art festival because we wouldn't happen across one of those, oh no, this was the Mad Hatter's Art Festival. As we walked down towards the bay we were greeted by many people wearing many odd hats and and were directed where to go by some fabulous signage.

Leave it to my girls to find such a thing.

Ya think?

No sh*t

men should try this.

The art festival had some super stuff and I managed to do some Christmas shopping. Phew, finally. As we were leaving the girls were handed hula hoops to play with.

hooping fool

Lily always shows more decorum

After they had worn themselves out made themselves dizzy we strolled back to the car. As the girls were deciding which medium they were going to use for their next art project and how much money they would sell it for they noticed this little fella and HAD to have their photo taken.

We never did make it to get an icee so we stopped for a frozen yogurt instead. Blech...it was horrid and as much as I hate to admit it I tossed mine in the bin. I think the girls have decided that they are going to paint rocks...oh lordy help me.