Apri 26, 2012

I have never seen so many dandelions in the grass in our front yard.  Last fall we raked dirt through the grass in an effort to build the soil up a little more and I think all we did was fill it full of weeds....  It's great for the girls, they love picking all the yellow "sunflowers".  And now, much to Mike's dismay, most of them have gone to seed. 

April 25, 2012

My first mountain bike ride of the season!!  It was a beautiful day today and I loaded up my bike and headed to Boler for a few laps.  It has also been 4 months today without my Dad.  Riding the trails has always been a huge stress relief for me and I have been looking forward to getting out on the dirt again for awhile.  It is there where I don't have to think about anything other than my ride.  Making it up the next steep hill, a specific line to ride, seeing how fast I can get through the twisty sections and down the downhills without launching myself off my bike.  Not a care in the world, just me, the fresh air and nature.  Ahhhhh!

April 24, 2012

I have been looking forward to the budding of our Magnolia tree in the backyard and all the other flowering bushes we have in the spring.  It's been disappointing this year.  With the temperatures bouncing all over the place, the plants have been confused.  The buds have come out too early and have been burnt by the frost.  This is from our Magnolia tree.  At first I was trying to capture the browness on the bloom from the frost and then I got this picture.  The whole flower is still a touch on the brown side because it came out too early, but I still think it's pretty.

April 23, 2012

My Mum and Dad had brought back these klompen (wooden shoes) from Holland for Claire the first time my Dad brought my Mum there.  They have long outgrown Claire's feet and now Ava loves to wear them around the house.  She wore them around quite a bit today and they sure are noisy on the hard floor...  Here she is playing with "ski patrol Uniqua" one of the Backyardigans. This was the first toy we bought Claire.  Mike had found it before she was even born and now it's Ava's favourite, for the moment.

April 22, 2012

Both Claire and Ava had so much fun this weekend playing with "Umple Mark" and Carine this weekend, it was sad to see them go.

April 21, 2012

Tonight we went out for dinner and then bowling with the girls and Mark and Carine.  It was the first time Claire and Ava had been bowling and they were super pumped.  We had a blast!

Here's Claire taking a shot.

And the follow through!

And Ava trying her best.  Pretty sure her foot or hand, crossed the line every time...

Then after her turn, she would start breakdancing across the lane.  Hilarious!





April 20, 2012

We are having company this weekend, Mike's brother Mark and his girlfriend Carine are coming to visit.  I gave Mike two options, he could either take the girls to the park so I could get some power cleaning done before they got here, or I could take the girls to the park and he could do the cleaning.  I was shocked when he told me he would clean and I could go to the park.  Told me I could use the break.  What a nice man!  Clearly I got the good end of that deal.  Here's Claire playing on the big swings.

April 19, 2012

The sun was coming up on my drive to work this morning and it was huge!  However, by the time I stopped the car, dug out my camera, it was already coming up over the horizon and didn't look nearly as big as it had only a few moments earlier.  Now looking at this picture, I probably could have picked a prettier tree to sillouette, however, I was running short on time and the sun seemed to be shrinking by the second.  Still nice with the vibrant colours.

April 18, 2012

Technology.  It can be so great, but also so frustrating at times.  Today was one of those frustrating times.  All of our Ambulance Call Reports are now done on a computer and we are able to upload the data from our defibrillators right onto the computer.  Today I had done a call which needed the information from the defib uploaded to my form.  If only it was that easy.  I finished half of the form on the way back from the hospital and then when I went to complete the rest of it, it was gone.  No where to be found.  Grrrr.  I just wanted this to be easy and for it to be done.  Now on the phone with the help desk talking to someone who barely spoke English, the lost form was located.  Whew.  Now it's 4pm my form is finished and I can finally eat my lunch.

April 17, 2012

Today Abby and I went for a loooong overdue pedicure.  It feels so good to have pretty toes again!

April 16, 2012

Wow, what a windy day today!  Poor Ava was almost blown over by some of the big gusts and our neighbours plastic cupboard usually on their patio was blown to pieces.  At least the air was warm and the sun was shining!

April 15, 2012

My Mum is going to get some quilts made from my Dad's shirts and today I got them ready by cutting off the collar's, button's and cuff's.  I didn't realize it was going to be as hard as it was.  And I understood even more why it was a job that Mum shouldn't do.  As I cut each shirt, I remembered the places we had been and things we did.  The ones he wore when he came to visit and went for bike rides and took Maverick for walks.  The shirts he wore while I sat beside him in the chemo lab and what he wore while he was sitting in the waiting room at the cancer clinic, seeing his face light up when I walked in the room.  The shirt he wore that dark day in October when we were told there were "no more tools left in the tool box" and I had cried into that shirt as he stroked my hair thanking me for being so strong through all it all.  I had to leave the shirt that I had got him for christmas the year before until the end.  I really liked that one and thought about giving it to Mike, but then realized that I couldn't see him wearing my Dad's clothes either.  It needed to be in the quilt.

April 14, 2012

Today I worked a shift in Grand Bend.  I don't get back there all that often since we moved almost 6 years ago.  Sometimes I miss being there, it's so quite this time of year.  We used to live in a condo overlooking this river and would sit on our patio and watch the boats go by in the summer.  How simple life seemed back then...

April 13, 2012

Ok so I know I posted a picture a few days ago of this same house, I couldn't resist this one.  The fog was quite thick on my drive to work this morning and made this house look even spookier than it does on a regular day.  If only those walls could talk, imagine the stories they could tell.

April 12, 2012

These trees are out in full bloom everywhere now.  I'm not sure what they are called but I just love their pretty white flowers.  We have 3 Ash trees in our backyard that, unfortunately, will probably succumb to the Emerald Ash Borer within the next few years.  I have decided that when they do, I think they should be replaced with these trees.  They would look so pretty back there and a fresh way to start spring!

April 11, 2012

Today Claire and I tried out a new salon in Camlachie.  Typically I would make the drive to London to go to my hairdresser that I have been going to for years, but she is off work after having some surgery.  So it looks like now is the perfect time to find one closer to home.  This is Claire's new "do" quite a bit shorter.  We had to skip the afternoon nap today to get our haircut, so this mug shot was the best I could get of her new haircut. 

April 10, 2012

After working a 12 hour day shift, I love coming home to snuggles from my girls.  Claire will curl up with me on the couch and today I read her these stories, new books that she got for easter.

April 9, 2012

After a long day shift I came home and the sky looked like it was on fire!  As Claire would say, "look at the pink sky Mummy!"  This was taken off our back patio. 

April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!!  After this morning's easter egg hunt, we made pancakes before heading off to church.  The girls love to help and this morning it was complete with their apron's and bunny ears.  Too cute!

April 7, 2012

Claire loves birthdays.  We often have to count down through the year to see who's birthday will be next and so on.  Today was her best buddy from preschool, Keanen's, birthday party.  It was held at the YMCA and they have a gym with a bouncy castle, bouncy slide, plasma cars, hockey and trampolines.  The kids had a blast!  This is Keanen blowing out his candle on his 4th birthday cake!  Happy Birthday Keanen!!

April 6, 2012

This old run down house is located just outside of Thedford and for a while I've been thinking of the best time to photograph it.  Originally I thought it would be nice with a pretty sunset in the background, but then got to thinking that the house would be more of a sillouette and I wanted to be able to see the detail in the house.  This was taken as the sun was coming up on my way home from work one morning.  It gives the house kind of a glow, but you can still see the frost on the old tires from the chill in the air. 

April 5, 2012

I have been reading some tutorials on macro photography and I always seem to gravitate to flowers and nature when using my macro lens.  Today I tried to open my eyes to different things to photograph.  This is Claire's hairbrush.  She has lovely long and flowing hair, that is pretty but also gets very tangled.  This brush with it's bright and sunny personality, has been the source of many battles and tears.

April 4, 2012

Ok, so I really need to get to work on my gardens.  I had a few spare moments this afternoon and went to work on the front yard.  Now all of last year's dead growth is gone making way for the new, fresh, green plants.

April 3, 2012

Today Claire got herself all dressed up in her princess dress, complete with the tiara, bracelets, shoes gloves and necklaces and then came running to me and asked me if I could take her picture.  A snapshot of "Princess Claire". 

April 2, 2012

Back down to the farm today to pick up the girls.  I think the little winter that we did have is over and here is Mike taking the snow tires off my Mum's car.

April 1, 2012

I've been working nights and the girls have been spending the weekend at Oma's.  Having some time to myself this afternoon, I hopped on my road bike and went for a ride.  It was a chilly one and my toes were pretty cold by the time I got back.  I'm going to blame the colder temperature on my cold legs and their lackluster performance.  Really, I probably just need to get in better shape...  This is a picture of my bike computer.  It measures my heartrate, speed, km's and cadence (how fast my legs are pedalling).  Today I didn't like what it was telling me, must not have been working properly... because the numbers were either way to high (HR) or too slow (speed).   April fools?  Sadly no.

March 31, 2012

Poor Maverick has not been walked much lately.  I'm trying to make a point of giving him so more exercise, but sometimes it doesn't always happen between, work, laundry, groceries, cleaning etc. etc.  On our walk today on the nature trail close to our house, he actually looked like he was smiling as he happily trotted along. 

March 30, 2012

We were at the farm today visiting my Mum.  Her daffodils are out earlier than normal due to the recent warm temperatures, however, I don't think they enjoyed what the weather had in store today.  I'm not sure the clouds really knew what they wanted to do because we heard thunder and then it started to snow?  Not the sharpest picture, but you can see some of the snow that fell on the daffodil petals.