A tea party fit for a princess

I'm going to a tea party today for my neice Victoria who is turning 4. She has in the past six months become absolutely obsessed with princesses. She was before, but it was nothing until she went to Disney over March break and got made over to be Cinderella. Ever since then she goes around saying "bippity boppity boo" with hopes that she, or other people she knows, will turn into princesses.

For her birthday she decided she wanted to have a tea party - "just for girls - no boys allowed" she said. We all laughed and have been talking about it ever since. When do you get to dress fancy and wear big brimmed hats for a tea party? It's not the olden golden days where this is the norm. This party is going to be very special.

What we didn't know when she decided about the tea party, was that she didnt' want just any tea party - she wanted a princess tea party. She wants everyone to dress in costumes and come as a character of her choice. The girls with darker hair get to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Snow White, and the blonde girls are Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. My niece Brittanie is going to be Tinkerbell - as Victoria was running out of characters. My sister's best friend Lisa is going to come as Jasmine and I'm dying to see what she could come up with.

Yet when Victoria looked at me, she really didn't know which princess to pick. I said "Should I be a fairy godmother then?" Emphatically she said "Yes!" but then was scolded because she already had 3 of them. I took to shopping to see what or rather, who - I could be.

I found a great outfit to be Mulan or to be Lilo from Lilo and Stich - but both just didn't fit right. Finally I found two long skirts that would be great. One is brown and would be great to be an African princess. But as they havent' made a movie about that yet - or at least one that didn't involve Lions as the main characters - Victoria just wouldn't let it fly. The other skirt I found was this gorgeous silky aqua colour. the way it flows is reminiscent of water so of course I'd be a mermaid. As soon as Victoria saw the skirt she said "YOU CAN BE ARIEL!"

And so she decided - but I still may go African. Either way, it's amazing that a little princess like our Victoria is finally 4. Hard to believe that she's grown from the little cutie in this Hawaiian outfit, to a strong, confident little lady in a few short years. Man, I really do love that kid!

more random memory card pics from 2007

Old memory cards

I found a bunch of old pictures on a memory card that was in our coffee table. For fun, I think I'll share. These are in no particular order.

We'll start with some soccer shots...


This is a view of the awesome wood staircases and stuff from our old apartment on Main Street in Cambridge. I've also included our super awesome ba


Here's a super blurry picture from our "Luau" shower last summer at the in-law's house

James got a beautiful tuxedo tshirt from his groomsmen for our Bodacious Black and White Buck and Doe last summer. He also got a Paris Drinking Team t-shirt from some of the Paris drinking then there is James' wedding shoes. I tried to go for the Ronald McDonald feel with the picture.

For the wedding we had my little sister Bridgit and Wayne fly in from Edmonton. Best wedding gift ever!
For lack of more time, I'll leave it here, but from what you can see 2007 was a crazy year!

John Deere and other sights of my home

My dad is currently rolling the lawn with his tractor. You know how weird it is for me to look out and see this and not be surprised?

Anyone that knew me growing up knew that I was a city kid. We had a lot and a half in the city that backed onto train tracks. It wasn't the nicest neighbourhood but I loved that house. I loved all the big windows and the apple, pear and lilac trees. We had an awesome swing set and teeter totter that my dad built for us. We had a small garage that housed countless tools and my dad's truck, which was only brought out about once a year just to make sure it ran.

We were happy then it seemed, even though my dad worked nearly 20 hour days 7 days a week and me and my siblings had to do the yard maintenance and cleanup. We were a family and it always felt good to come home. We were in the city, saw buses, could ride our bikes to the library or walk to the store.

It's so odd that we live in the country now.

Okay maybe it's more ironic than odd that I'm back here again. Moving here wasn't an easy decision, but it was the right one. James and I wanted to get a house, and with him working in Guelph, we couldn't afford to live in Cambridge or Guelph without getting a dive - rent was just too high! Instead we made the tough decision of moving out to Clyde and taking back the basement apartment of my parents dream house. Now it's perfectly natural to see my dad out on his John Deere building or doing something. It's so easy to just go to the garage and get involved in some project or other. It's so easy to just relax and just be out here.

Although I love the hustle and bustle of the city, I am certainly appreciating the ability to just relax. I am so looking forward to this summer of parties, bonfires, barbecues and swimming. For my friends who read this blog, the house is always open and welcome to having guests. Feel free to come out and appreciate this little oasis, not too far from the city. Bring your suit and a towel, and be prepared for roasted marshmallows, barbecued meat, random horseshoe tournaments and peace and quiet.

My home, can be your home.

My Niece's Not So Sweet 16

I'm writing from my bright and sunny backyard. I'm sitting by the pool, all by myself soaking up this gorgeous day.

Okay, maybe it isn't as gorgeous as it was when I first came outside. The clouds just rolled in and the wind has picked up. But still, I'm wearing capri's and a pink and purple shirt that my 4-year-old niece Victoria helped me pick out this morning. Tori also decided that I needed to wear "ponies" in my hair just like her. As my hair is shorter, I decided to just pull it up into some sort of 40's twist at the sides. It works and that's all that matters.

Had the pleasure of going to the surprise party for my niece this afternoon. Sweet 16 isn't all it cracked up to be. She got very angry that we had a party for her, but was more mortified that only about 8 of her friends showed up. What she doesn't know is that her parents asked for her friends to come later so that she could have the dorky family time first. To be honest, I can sympathize with her.

Imagine - you are 16, you want to look cool. You think this birthday is going to be the best because your parents have finally agreed to let you get your belly button pierced. Friends were planning on coming over, and you were going to meet up with more later in the day. Only issue is, your friends go with you to get your belly button done, but instead of heading home, you get taken to this small little hall and find that your parents have thrown you a pop and chip party in the middle of the day complete with streamers and balloons. Total buzz kill.

Of course, birthday parties are what you make of them - I know - as I've had many birthdays where people have forgotten or made other plans. Generally, what I've come to know is that the only people that really will remember your birthday is your family. Lucky for her - she has a big family and they all love her. If they didn't, they would've walked out immediately on her when they saw the sour puss on her face.

She didn't say a word to anyone in the family other than to complain until I finally had a talk with her and told her that I think it would be really nice if she went and said thank you to everyone. All us old fogies and little kiddies were all leaving and her and her friends were getting the run of the hall. It's amazing, but I must've had the magic touch because she went out, gave hugs to everyone and I finally saw her smile.

It's hard in this age of shows like Sweet 16 where kids are given everything they ever want - with parties costing more than my wedding, and cars worth more than I make in five years. But even if you watch those shows, the kids generally still throw a temper tantrum because you got a four door model of car when you wanted two door, or the car was the wrong colour or even worse, your so-called friend booked the same band that was slated to play at your party only theirs was two weeks before.

No matter what you think you want for your birthday, especially your 16th birthday, you are most likely not going to get it. I've learned over the years that rather than dwell on who's not there or what you are not doing, that you need to have fun with those that did come, and are willing to do something with you - even if it means wearing crazy hats, eating pink cake and listening to country music because your dad's best friend really likes country and he's the dj.

Maybe it's my old-age wisdom, being that I'm turning 30 this year and all, but I know that I want to have the best time this year. I am NOT going to let anyone stop me.

I just wish I could get inside my nieces head and shake some sense into her!