The Girls

I make beautiful babies.

I'm just sayin'.

The Hats

I love hats and this is the one I've worn for the past few summers.

My husband tells me I look like a scarecrow.

I think I look like what I am - a summertime dork.

Another Wedding Pic...

...and they're coming at you in dribs and drabs because every time I go to download a few the camera battery dies because I've forgotten to recharge it ahead of time.

But you've probably figured out that this is my son, Derek. And I think he is AWESOME.

When I Say Ugly, I MEAN Ugly...

We spend most of our summers at the lake and because I am on maternity leave we are spending more time than usual up there. Why not? I'll never have this kind of freedom again, so we're taking advantage of it.

I think some of you know that my husband is also a professional bass fisherman which means he spends a fair amount of his free time practice-fishing and doing tournaments - he had one this weekend. What I'm getting at is that while he is gone, I am with the kids keeping them entertained and this is often accomplished by playing with them in the water at our little section of beach.

After Saturday's experience I am now scanning our little piece of shoreline a lot more closely before any one of us dangles one tiny toe in the water...Livi was safe in her playpen, the dog was tied up, Dani was coloring in her books and wanting to get in the water with me but I asked her to wait a sec until I could get cooled off, which took all of 60 seconds because as you know, children are DEMANDING.

I ducked under and came up feeling cool as a cumcumber and Danielle decided she no longer wanted to get in the water. Seconds after this I'm a very happy mummy to have a child with the attention span of a gnat. I sat down in the camp chair (in the water) and watched Marla (the dog) walk 3-4 feet to my left and there she was sniffing at something, but I don't see anything, so I turned my attention back to the kids and then I heard a low growl. The kind of sound MY DOG DOES NOT MAKE. I looked back over and focused on a furry grey head that turned to stare at me and in the same second I screamed, ran for the kids, and screamed again for my neighbours, Clark and Marilyn, who came running.

It was the sickly, perhaps rabid, raccoon that has had everyone at the camp on high alert for the past two weeks. To make this story shorter, let's just say I owe Clark & Marilyn and another neighbour Paul (who did the dirty work getting rid of the critter...who knew that 2x4 would come in handy?) a lot of alcohol as thanks!

That drama ended quickly and then we looked over to find THIS UGLY THING sitting there on top of our pontoon wondering where the hell his dinner (and breakfast and lunch and brunch the day after) had disappeared to. It's a turkey vulture and they are prehistoric and frightening.

And then a bird hit the windshield that same evening.

After this, I think we're going to move into a bubble.

A Wedding

9 Weeks

That's all the time I've got left on maternity leave. How the hell does it pass so quickly?

It feels like only a few weeks ago I gave birth to Olivia and I had all the time in the world...

Baby Olivia turned 9 months old on Monday - she is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up to a standing position anywhere she can. She is a smiling, happy, easy-going baby and I thank my lucky stars to have ended my baby-career on such a lovely note.

It has been incredibly busy - so much so that my brain feels like it has been scrambled and I can't quite string together a simple sentence to explain it all. If you'll forgive me, maybe I'll just write down a few noteworthy bullet points!

• Jeff and I got married on June 12 and it was exactly what we wanted in our wedding. We had fun, the guests had fun and honeymooning was fantastic!
• The bass boat almost died. (Believe me, if you're married to any type of fisherman, but especially a bass fisherman - this is CATASTROPHIC news.)
• The kids finished school on June 22nd and we're still in shock to realize that Derek is turning 13 this fall and going into grade 8, while Danielle will be 5 and going to kindergarten.
• We are trying to decide what to do about our poor dog, Marla. Do we put her down which seems the humane thing to do or do we wait for her to go at home and traumatize the kids who may wake up and find her dead?
• If Danielle gives me attitude one more second she is going to lose every single thing in her room except her bed, a pillow and her blankets. Seriously. The shoulder-shrug and the "whatever" coming out of her mouth is enough to make me want to bitch-slap her. (And NO, OF COURSE I WOULD NEVER DO THAT, but jeezus, you other mothers get it, don't you?)
• We've been spending a lot of time at the lake because I'll never have this kind of time off work again. It really sucks to not be filthy rich.
• I'm in love with my husband. Still.
• I love my (generally) happy, and healthy children.

Life is good and I am blessed. Over to you.