Memories from De Anne's visit

I cannot believe the time with De Anne came and went so fast. We were action packed over the two and a half days and three nights we had; but, of course, there is never enough time to catch up and just sit and be. Here are some highlights of the times we had and I certainly can't wait until the next visit. I'll let you know I'm coming so you can leave the porch light on...



Talk about shock and awe!! I am completely overwhelmed...Thanks Karen for getting this shot.

The embrace of realization, joy and a dream come true. Thanks again to Linsey and Dennis!

De Anne and Dennis haven't seen each other in 6 years!!!!

Hey Smiley!!! We are still backing in the glow of our reunion at Bucca de Beppo. Yippee my Dee is home :-)


We were able to celebrate Josh's 4th birthday early and De Anne is watching the action along with Gage and Dave.

Mom got a surprise too!!


Kim, Kelly, Karen and DeAnne - don't we look like we just belong?! We needed Betty and the kitchen table to make the circle complete!
Our one and only up and close and personal shot and Jack took it!!!



Ali is so excited to be receiving her 12th birthday present - early! And we are so happy that Auntie Dee can be there to share the moment :-)

Our lady in waiting...

Pine Cove 2008

The kids had such a wonderful time this summer and Pine Cove was certainly a highlight. Dennis and I saw a tremendous growth in them all when we picked them up that Saturday morning. Growth in height, independence and spirituality. We have registered them to return next year (that side benefit of having a week alone with no children did manage to factor into our decision process a little bit!!) I hope in the far, far, distant future when they look back upon their childhoods that these weeks will have amounted to some of their most treasured memories.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall - or Not?!

My day today, literally began with a bang! I was actually happy to be up early, getting breakfast ready and making lunches ( I know this feeling will soon pass, so I was enjoying it!) I had just finished the last lunch kit and was talking to Kitty at about 8:10 when a very loud crash, bang boom occurred; not once, twice or thrice but about 27 to be exact. Jack came running into the kitchen where I was holding onto Kitty shaking. I now know that in the midst of a crisis I do not flee, I freeze. I put up the hand that wasn't around Kitty and asked Jack to stop, so that we could make sure that the noise was finally over.

I made sure we were all okay and we were and then we went to investigate. We started for my office/laundry room as that was were the noise had seemed to come from. We stood with our jaws open as we saw - NOTHING. It took a few seconds to register that everything was perfectly normal. What had made all of that horrible racket? All of sudden, Jack piped up, "Mom, I know what it was." I said, "What do you think, Jack?" "Your mirror," he replied.

Sure enough we backed out of the office and shifted slightly to our left and there was my beautiful mirror leaning up against my dining room table with glass everywhere. The kids and I looked at it dumbfounded and said a lot of "what ifs". We went to wake up Dennis and tell him what happened and inspite of the mess I still had to get them to French camp by 9:00!

Dennis and I left the clean-up until later in the day and actually made quite short work of it. We have remounted the frame on the wall, sans mirror and we'll decide what to do later. The kids would like to fill it with photos, I have thought of gluing a mirror to the wall itself and then placing the frame around it and I believe Dennis would like it restored. I'll let you know what we decide!!

Home Sweet Canadian Home

Our 7 week journey has come to an end and we are back home in Saskatchewan safe and sound. The drive was uneventful minus the big crack in the windshield from a loose stone about 100 miles from the house!!! An oil change and the wind shield repair are the first orders of business come Monday morning. Dennis is a wonderful road warrior and we are so lucky to have him behind the wheel. I only drove about 2o0 miles of our 1800!!

I have been uploading my photos from summer into the computer since last night when we arrived. I am amazed to see that I amassed over 700 photos in a short span of time and this does not include the two CD's of photos from Pine Cove which have over 900 pix a piece on them! I will spare all the time involved looking for a glimpse of a Gage and preview them and then add the GREAT ones to the blog!! As I uploaded these photos during the summer (onto Dennis' computer), I tweaked, cropped and removed red eyes, unfortunately, I get the opportunity to do it all again now that they are on mine :-( I will try to work in batches so that I can get some new highlights out to my devoted followers - I know that you are waiting patiently by your computers to see what I post next....

We had such a fabulous summer and were very sad to see it end. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is that we get to return for Christmas! Of course, we have so many wonderful memories and pictures to back them up, that I may be reminding you all of summer until then - lol!!! Thank you to our children and grandchildren for continuing to brighten our lives and reminding us what truly lucky people we are!! Hugs and kisses and all my love -

The best birthday surprise ever....

It may have been 2 weeks after my actual birthday, but I could have never recieved a better present with more thought and love attached to it. My wonderful daughter, Linsey and husband, Dennis arranged to fly my very best friend, DeAnne, in to visit me from North Carolina. We haven't seen each other in two years and a visit couldn't have been more needed!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone involved in making this reunion possible. I continue to consider myself the luckiest lady on the planet to have such amazing family and friends :-)

More Summer Fun...

The week following our trip to New York City found us with a house full of laughter, love, wet suits and lots of shoes!!! We were so happy to have my sister, Karen and our niece, Jordan staying with us as well as our grandsons Nathan and Josh and even a weekend visit by our son, Jason and grandsons Will and Andy. Of course, we were able to have Linsey, Gage, Jillian and Dave to hang out with too!!!

Please enjoy the pix of our activities and get a glimpse into how wonderful, full, joyous and blessed our life here in Texas is....

Summertime is always watermelon time

Is this a beautiful picture or what?!... Ali and Jillian

Big Daddy and Jilly - check out her reflection in his sunglasses!

Big Daddy and GiGi having fun with our littlest angel

So happy together :-)

Gage & Big Daddy and Nathan & Jack playing in the cave where it is nice and cool and dark!!

Pepa's birthday visit - July 30, 2008

Sisters just enjoying spending some much needed time together

"Breaking Dawn" midnight book launch at Barnes&Noble with Paige, Ali and Kitty

Paige and Ali; not only cousins, but Friends :-)

Love this pic too - it was great to have Jason and the boys visit this summer!

ANDY

WILL

Karen and Jordan

Jack, Jason, Josh and Andy

A group shot!!

The sign of a full and happy home :-)

Day 1 of Amazing New York City - REALLY!!!

It is hard to believe that I left for NYC two weeks ago today; where has the time gone...? Thank you for your patience and standing by while I attended to two of my grandsons for a week, my sister and my niece, a son and two more grandsons for a weekend - plus got the three babes ready for a week of camp! I must say I have been enjoying my quiet moments over the past three days, but enough is enough...on with the blog!

We arrived in NYC on July 23, 2008. Our morning started off perfect with us dropping off Jack, Kitty and Ali with my cousin Tina, Ali's Godmommy. They were in the best possible hands and we were on our way by 9:15 a.m.

After driving around DFW looking for a longer term parking place and finally finding one, I received an automated message from American Airlines saying that our flight had been cancelled - Not kidding!!! I called the 800 number from our shuttle van to the terminal and honestly had us re-booked by the time we reached the building. It was going to mean an hour and a half delay in departing, but the just meant we had time for breakfast! Well, it turned out to be lunch because it was after 10 a.m. at this point and everyone knows no one easts breakfast later than 10 a.m. So, a chicken ceasar for Dennis and a spicy chicken and rice pilaf for me.

We boarded our new flight on time and then sat on the runway for an hour. We got put in a holding pattern over Pittsburgh, PA due to weather in New York and to top it off were then told that we couldn't land at our designated airport because they had closed it due to weather - egads! Our pilot persevered as did we and kudos to him we actually landed at La Guardia :-)

Of course, we had dinner reservations for 6:30 p.m. (we were supposed to arrive in NYC at 3:00), so once we had collected our bags and caught a cab - hmmm, no rain was in site or wet ground to indicate it had rained - our cab guy said it must have been raining high up above us and just never made it to the ground - good theory, eh?! Anyhoo, we get to the hotel fairly quickly in relative terms, get checked in and have a half hour until dinner. We get unpacked, freshen up and hit the streets at Broadway and 7th. Crazy!!!

Our dinner was amazing at Amalia. It was NYC Restaurant week and we were able to take advantage of a prix fixe menu of three courses for $30. My cocktail, an Au Pear, was not included in the set price and was $16.50 all by itself - it was super yummy, but not $16.50 yummy actually. We enjoyed our meal there with great service and food. The waitress even overheard Dennis saying something about my birthday and she fancied up my dessert - no candles thank goodness!

We leisurely walked back to our home away from home - the wonderful Marriott Marquis - and took in all the sites and sounds New York City has to offer. I love this place; the energy, the excitement, the smells, even the people. What a special place to spend my 40th. I loved it!!!!

The view from our room on the 28th floor!

My hubby at Amalia
My lovely pre-birthday dessert

Times Square, NYC, New York - July 23, 2008!

We love Marriott! It has always provided Dennis and I a home away from home no matter where we land. Our room was beautiful and of course, we were right in the heart of Times Square and didn't miss a moment of the action.