oh happy day

this pic summarizes the day:



Kris' dad was able to come over for the afternoon. they finished putting all the shingles on the roof. {sort of hard to see....look close...they have the biggest grins on their faces}

this was as close of a shot of the roof i could get. i do not like heights. and they had that ladder....like a ladder. could they not have put it at any kind of angle? i still wouldn't have gotten on the roof...but maybe i could have photographed the shingles. because you would want to see them. no. oh. really? you're right. probably better in person. if you are driving down the back alley? what?! you don't want to hang out for awhile? we only have a portion of our yard as a hazard...

fine. more news...

the garage is now lockable and waterprooof.

can't wait for the siding to go on. white is such an interesting color.....NOT! oh well. it does act as a great light reflector. and with the cloudy days we've been having....not a bad alternative!

i am REALLY hoping our pile of concrete, junk dirt and other junk will be gone in the next week. we're hoping to dispose of it, then get some dirt. and some sod. and somewhere along the way some solid advice on how or even what to do when we go about repairing our lawn situation. that should be fun.

THEN.....the fence will be up. and that will make me happy.

even happier than this!

Kris' mom came along with the dad package today. the kids got a great deal. and so did i!! Kiara tried to escape her nap and get in on the deal....she missed the afternoon "gamma" time, but got plenty on either end of it! Aidan thoroughly wore her out. i think the three of them should sleep quite nicely. oh and i'm sure Kris and his dad will also be joining that group. for the first time i am the one with the energy. and no i did not take any migraine meds!!

i took the kids to a nearby park. it was SO FUN!! this one is quite safe. i used to take Aidan here a lot before Kiara came along. they spent about half an hour running up the stairs and racing down the slides. this was one of those trouble-free trips. it was SO GOOD that i wondered if all the stress and frustrations of the week were just my imagination....yeah, it was that good of a day!

i did get several useable photos. what does this photo remind you of?

the famous Kate Winslet pose from "Titanic"? that's what it reminds me of. i guess you could say that this is the prairie version....

just Aidan having a good time.

ahhhh. great memories.

i just finished this album. you can see all of the pages here. it was a stinkin' amount of work! but the kids love pointing at themselves and the rest of us.

the photos are just of us. taken from this spring. you may just remember seeing some of them here!

so happy it was a good day.

this week

at home....


well, holiday time is up. Kris started his new job on Monday. it went well. if you factor in that he has training stuff to do! it will be that story for awhile too. although they did put him to start on a project this week. only another engineer would find those details interesting. to me...well...i just have to smile and nod. as long as he's happy, then i'm happy! honestly we've both been quite tired this week so a lot of talking has not happened anyway. i'm sure we'll catch up on the weekend. yes. the whole weekend. he will have two days off in a row. it will be like....a mini holiday! (if you are just tuning in...he just finished a job where he was lucky to get one day off per week...so we missed him a lot.)

and to celebrate his first day returning home from work....


do you think it looks like him?!


Kiara and i made GIANT chocolate chip cookies. sorry no photo.

then Aidan and i made some cranberry oat cereal bars. (would you believe they were both Marth Stewart recipes? fact!)

truthfully....these are not my taste. but both of the kids love them. so it works.

it has three of their favourite ingredients. cranberries. cheerios. marshmallows. and really how can you lose with marshmallows?! isn't it cool how the melted marshmallow looks?

and just some evidence that spring really is trying to arrive at our house. maybe they will even bloom this week?

it is rainy. and some snow has fallen. today. tomorrow is supposed to be better. and by the weekend we should be back outdoors.

yesterday (and the day before!)

we walked to the park. together. holding hands. mostly.

they are adorable. mostly.

love this action shot!

and this one too.

so just a taste of what our summer will look like. too bad i didn't get a photo of me. the sun and fresh air are good for me too.

now if we can just get this sun to stay for longer than four days.....

i'm also on a mission these days. an exciting mission. i'm working on a mini-album class for my favourite scrapbook store. yay! and some challenges. i'm up to it! and i can't wait to share either. for now they have some new classes posted. they fill up quickly. there have been some classes that filled up right after they have been announced. okay. and that fact along has me sweating from pressure! some talented ladies.....they also have some projects displayed that are really inspiring right now.

i also was checking out angies blog today. it was a heavy post. but also a really cool word picture. she shares about her daughters learning to deal with the loss of their baby sister. and the help that her daughters have been to deal with her own grief. it's worth a look.

well...off to the chilly basement to start some creative stuff with Aidan. wonder what he'll teach me today?!