We're back!

The house is nearly back to normal, the yard still needs to be cleaned up before snow flies, Gracie has matured and is now a 13 year old trapped in a 2 year old's body, and I have new grey hairs..... but we're home and things are semi- sane.

We had a fun trip to Ottawa to visit Brad, but he's so busy with his course, we hardly saw him. Basically, he gets 8 hours off at night. So, he got back to the hotel, got stuff ready for the morning, studied a little and fell asleep. I didn't switch Gracie over to Ottawa time, so her and I stayed two hours behind just so she could stay up late enough to see him at night.

Luckily, he gets weekends off, so we explored Ottawa one weekend and Montreal the next. It was really nice to be there in the fall. Beautiful colours and pretty nice weather.

Unfortunately, I brought two cameras and both stopped working, and now one is missing, so most of my pictures are from my phone....

Anyway, here are a few from a petting zoo/museum/playground we visited in Ottawa:

As she was feeding the animals and racing from one to the next, another father said, "she's fearless, isn't she?" His daughter was probably 6...

Riding the train through the corn fields.

The creepiest toy there, and Gracie loved it. Kind of gives me nightmares.

New Sign

Just thought I'd show you a new sign I made for the house.

I wanted to rearrange my photo wall and since I have so many travel photos up, I wanted a quote about travelling.

I found a great tutorial on pinterest for making canvases look like weathered wood, so I thought I'd give it a try.

This is what I came up with:

And here is the new photo wall:

Sorry about the awkward angle, I still have some decorations up (yes... I do) and I had to take it around them :)

How I did it:
Pretty simple. I covered the canvas in old pieces of newspaper and mod podged them on. I let it dry, painted it black (let it dry) and then sanded down the edges and the surface to rough it up a bit. I added some distress ink to the rough bits, and added my quote, which I cut with my cricut.
Done!

Hope you like it!

Gracie's Birthday Party

Gracie had so much fun at her birthday party! We had lots of good friends, good food, and well-behaved kids (no really, they were all great!) I think she enjoyed it.

My top moments from the party:

When I was taking her down from the table after she had a cupcake, she told me she was happy, and asked if I was, too.

Her reaction to seeing all of the people and decorations.

When Brad and I were out of sight, she wandered around the party yelling, "Mom!" or "Dad!" until she found us.

Seeing all of the kids running around the backyard, playing.

Gracie enjoying all of her favourite foods until she literally blew a button on her dress.

Gracie giving everyone hugs for the gifts. She was really happy with all of her new goodies. She got spoiled and she's had so much fun since Saturday playing with everything.

What a sweetie!

Welcome to the party!!

Gracie enjoying her sidewalk art sign

Balloons!!!

Best neighbour ever and Gracie

She blew out her candle on the first try!

and got right to business

Couldn't even slow down for a family picture

Cookie monster and Elmo....

decorations.... It was a Sesame Street theme ( in case you couldn't tell...)

decadent cookie cake...mmmm...

Opening Gifts

Berlyn and Gracie playing with her new puppy

London, Gracie and Berlyn. Notice Gracie's dress is about to burst... it fit much nicer pre-cupcake...

So much fun in the jumpy room!

Baking Cookies

Gracie is such a big help around the house, now. She likes to sweep, help put away dishes from the dishwasher, and now...bake!







She even cracked the eggs for the cookies. And I mean CRACKED them! I showed her how to do it and then gave her an egg to try. She really watched me and was eager to give it a shot, so I thought, why not?? She grabbed the egg and SMASHED it into the counter. Remarkably, I just pulled up the shell and swept the egg into a bowl and she didn't even get any shell in it :)

This makes baking a whole new experience. Only one mushroom cloud of flour erupted from the mixer when she turned it on while I consulted the recipe. I consider it a success!






Yes, she also Roars while she bakes....




Pre-egg sample...mmmm, butter and sugar....

More Layouts

I've had this paper sitting in my craft room forever, and I finally used it. I thought I never would, but I like it! Huh....



Who is this little girl toddling around? Man, she's changed since last summer.



Hope you enjoy!!!

More pics from LL

A few more shots of us in Lake Louise:





Throwing Rocks







The Boulder Throw:

Pics From Lake Louise

We had a great weekend in Lake Louise this August.

We visited old friends, old haunts, and got a fix of our favourite fish and chips. Good little holiday.

These are some pictures from Takakkaw Falls, in Yoho National Park.






Just a few of the family.....