Happy Birthday, Little Star

For her seventh birthday, Alison has sported a little orange star sticker on her nose. See?


At recess, her teacher asked her what happens if she pushes the little star, and this is a dramatization of the resulting answer.





Alison did enjoy the bounty of her birthday. There were lots of fun writing things in that giant box (plus some other presents for somebody else's birthday coming soon), some cozy jammies, and a green ipod. Green! How awesome is that?

The big downside to the day was that her very sad dad got stuck on an airplane trying to make his way home from Montreal via Toronto. Oddly enough, there was a snowstorm in Toronto seven years ago as well....

Anticipation

It's tough when the parcels start arriving before your birthday. Especially when mean old mom makes you wait until your actual birthday.





The arrival of the giant package also inspired this lovely dramatic piece. Enjoy.

Rustle update

As the rest of the family is swamped with activities and the generally harried pace of life around here (and ski season hasn't started yet! Yikes!), it is important to reflect on life as the furriest member of the family.

Rustle is still busy shedding fur all over the dark blue carpet and running at full tilt in the dog park. He still wags his tail with gusto; whap-whap-whapping it against the bed to wake me each morning, or against the washing machine as I return from work each day. His new favourite toy is an old fleece hat which he has taken to carrying all about the house with him.

Happy, friendly, loves-to-be-around-us Rustle is still as cute as ever, too.

Spider-Girl

Sarah on the climbing wall. Woo-Hoo!

Happy Halloween

Trick or treat, Cowgirl!

Halloween Party

Oh my, it was spooky 'round these parts yesterday. Pirates and devils stomped about in the basement, terrorizing the clown, princess, cowgirl and Paris Hilton. Frightening, indeed.

The girls threw a little gathering, requiring mom to don her Caterer/Dog Handler costume while Rustle avoided the Invisible Dog get-up we hoped he'd adopt. Monsters were mashed, snacks were devoured and a good time was had by all the children.

Some photos...

Making their own fun

Self-Portraits

One of the most amusing components of our iMac is the Photo Booth. A couple of girls who really enjoy looking at themselves, especially if they can make faces, have snapped a lot of pictures. So, for fun, I've compiled a collection and put them to music.

I'm sure the ladies would indulge requests.






You can tell lots of these are over a year old. Check out the random chompers on Alison!

Happy Thanksgiving

Big Events

Posting on the blog has suffered as of late since I've been tremendously busy at work with a government audit and I've turned old. Rustle and the girls managed to keep some very big secrets around that big birthday, too. Rustle because he can't speak English, and the girls because they only knew one big secret and it was only for one day.

The biggest, bestest secret surprise ever was a whirlwind birthday surprise visit from the famous Auntie Mary. Yes, I cried. It was so great to have a weekend with my sister. We did lots of girl stuff, including a spa day at the Banff Springs. It was a wonderful birthday extravaganza.


Bob and the girls picked out a beautiful new mountain bike for me, too. We all went for a ride across Nose Hill Park and Rustle ran alongside us. It was way too long a ride on rough terrain for the puppy and he ended up with a sore paw. He visited the vet who gave him some medicine and he's feeling way better already. We'll still hold off on big bike trips with the dog for a while.