thesummerlandrutters

Abby and Sophie turn 8

I can't believe it the girls are 8 years old already, where did the time go? We had a fun time on their birthday. They went on a scavenger hunt that was over all too fast (note to self make more than 5 things on a scavenger list). When they were done the hunt they were given clues to solve a sentence with missing letters Lo   k    i     t   e     v   n. Unfortunately the first letter I gave them was the (a) so they solved the puzzle right away creating the word (van) and off they went running to find the ill fated pinata.

They went crazy on that thing, beating it soundly. I even heard one young lady say "I am going to take you DOWN sucker!" or some other MR. T like statement.

Instead of bringing presents the guests were asked to bring 10 items from a list that would be used to create shoeboxes of goodies to send to children in developing countries. This idea worked quite well and we were able to make 10 shoeboxes to send. The kids felt quite proud of themselves and the girls didn't miss out on presents because they got one BIG present to share and one smaller one each. They didn't fuss once about the lack of gifts. They really understood what we were trying to achieve.

As you can see Abby has a sling on in the picture, she managed to fall out of a tree the day before the birthday and we spent several hours in emerg getting her checked out. Luckily no break :)

Enjoy the pictures.

Becky

Our new Baby

Well,I thought I was done with carting stuff around for a toddler. Now my pockets are stuffed with "baggies" and treats.

Last Saturday we welcomed the new member of our family in to our home (lovely rental home). His name is Ho Ha and he is a chocolate lab, a real beauty. Now for the readers digest version of the origin of his name. He came from a man who is from South Africa and in Afrikaans Ho Ha or Gogga as it is spelled in Afrikaans means:

Gogga (pronounced gho-gha or gho-gho) - Said out loud this word closely resembles the noise made when clearing ones throat or gargling. It refers to an insect or bug, particularly one that might look fearsome but is really harmless.

Mark and I were leaning towards changing his name to something similar sounding that wouldn't require half and hour explanation but the girls would not hear of it, so with Ho Ha we stay...stay good boy.

He is settling in well. He has almost managed to pee on every possible object in the neighborhood that may contain the scent of another dog. He is like a 2yr old child, that is I cannot leave his sight for more than a second then he comes looking for me.

I will leave you with a picture and will update soon. 

Cheers, Becky

Click on the picture to see a bigger, clearer version

Not so silent nights

I can't believe that the holiday season is over, but on the other hand I can't wait to pack up the Christmas cheer and toss the tree out the door. I seem to get allergic to everything festive after Jan 1st.

We had a lovely time visiting with family and friends. We had a delicious Christmas dinner with Grandma and Grandpa R and opened gifts the next morning. We missed having Christmas with Grandma Sue because she feels the need to be warm in the winter, some people... :) just pulling your leg Mom. We'll have to cook up a turkey in June, maybe on the BBQ. We crossed paths with Grandpa Keith but spent some nice time with him before Christmas. We had a lovely long visit with the "aunties". Probably the longest time we have spent together since 1990, holy &%$*. We were very busy going out for sushi and endless greasy breakfasts, moving our 100 bags every night and sleeping on various torture devices disguised as beds. All worth it for the wonderful company of Meredith, Marin, Amanda and Ashley. Mark and I even went for a DATE while the girls stayed over at auntie Amanda's house. We ate at The Locus where Meredith works, wonderful food and even more wonderful service. We shopped till we dropped at Old Navy and poked around downtown till the kids were ready to drop. We had an awesome visit with Dave and Jess and got to see their adorable new house. Love it love it love it. We missed Auntie Amy, Ezra and Freya but we hope to see them in the near future, hugs to Nelson folks.

More pictures will be added to the Christmas 2005 album soon.

Good enough for Hansel and Gretel

Here is our beautiful gingerbread house the girls and I made the other day. We are quite proud of it. Quite a collective effort this year, not just  Mommy dictating where things go.

Red sky at night...

The girls looked out the window and saw this beautiful sky. Just gorgeous.

Becky

Photo play

Procrastinating about school work has it's advantages such as playing around with pictures. I like how these turned out.

Becky

What's going on...

I have decided that it is imperative that I start the Christmas cards this morning. There is not a time when I am more productive than when there is studying to be done. The cards are really cute and i am going to include pictures of the girls in them so they will be extra cute. I hope we will get a tree this week, although I am feeling a bit scroogy regarding decorating. I am totally in to the gifting thing I have been on the ball making and purchasing gifts throughout the last couple of months. It's less painful that way. I think I am scroogy about the decorations because I know they will have to come down and be put away back in the attic. Oh well! here is a picture of the girls from last year. We didn't make it to the mall to see Santa so a flat wooden little guys stood in for the round jolly fella.

first post ever

Hello wonderful world wide web. I have decided to join the ranks of webloggers. Here is my feeble inital post. I am posting a picture of the girls birthday cake just for fun and to see how the pictures look on the post.

Cheers

Rebecca