Ahoy Mateys!

Well pirate Raeya celebrated her 3rd birthday! The whole day was perfect! Tor did an amazing job with the pirate ship cake and all the wonderful decorations!! Check out those incredible party invitations!! And Raeya's Nana made her pirate costume and sent it.. all the way from Nova Scotia!! That must be where the real pirates are from! lol

Rob, Tor, Lindsey and Jesse were all in fine form as head pirates but the show stoppers were Raeya, Kelly, Jarrod, and Jen! They looked so AWESOME!! Kelly and Jarrod both wore the shirts that my mom made for them when they graduated.. they make great pirate shirts.. not sure the look they were going for in grad.. however, it was almost like Mom was part of Raeya's birthday... Oh how she would have LOVED Raeya.. and if Rob and Tor think I spoil her.. Mom would have spoiled her ten fold!!! Sigh...

What do Pirates eat?? Cucumbers, of course!!

Here comes the Pirates!



And even a Pirate needs a hand, once in a while! And then some fun sliding down the slide! Weeeee!

Is it time for presents.. NOW?!

A Pirate puppet!!

Even Pirates need to take time for a swing!

Kelly.. you are wearing make-up to go along with the costume... right?!?



Charlotte is getting so BIG!!

The cutest Pirate in town!

All in all.. everyone had a swash buckling good time at the Pirate party!

Happy 3rd Birthday Raeya! I love you to the moon!



Panda Time part 2!!

The reason I go to Victoria is to see my BFF, sisters, nephews and nieces!!! This trip included them all! How lucky was I?! Panda is getting sooo BIG and so FUNNY! I seriously could do without her glass piercing shrieks and tried incessantly to show her how to do a quiet low voice, which Jen said sounded evil and she would prefer the shrieks... me however.. not so much.. but, I have to admit.. she is HILARIOUS when she's doing it!

What I think is so cool is that she totally responds when I call her Panda.. she even started imitating me! I hope she will always let me call her Panda.. it's our special nick name and strangely enough.. I've never had one for the boys.. not one that I used all the time anyway.

So, besides having a BBQ, we went for a lovely walk/bike ride up the street.. and she was really showing her independence!!

So when we got home and were waiting for Mom and Dad to get dinner ready, we took in a little Elmo.. and then Panda decided it would be better to watch Elmo on the coffee table.. this is her reaction to me asking her not to climb on the table.. clearly she runs the show.. and I totally don't mind!!!

Seriously.. could this kid get any cuter or sweeter?? I think NOT! Oh Panda bear.. stay as innocent as you are today.. I hope the worse thing you ever have to deal with is that terrible face washing!! I love you to the moon!

Hodgpodge of things..

Do you ever feel bored from being bored? Oh there are a million things I could do but nothing strikes my fancy today. The weather is cloudy and muggy and I think that's a little how I'm feeling.. not too focused on anything in particular, but I feel like blogging so here I am.

I made some cookies.. they didn't turn out how I had hoped...



Okay, so they didn't turn out at all as I had hoped!! I only had them in the oven for 7 minutes! How can something get so dark so fast? They didn't taste too bad but I'm not crazy about burnt tasting cookies.. however, I really wanted the chocolate so they'll have to do!

It's been somewhat of a movie marathon this weekend.. I went and saw Horrible Bosses.. funny movie!! But what made it even funnier is that there was some single guy sitting behind me and his laugh was infectious!! I think I was laughing at his laugh more than the movie at times! But seriously.. it was a funny movie. Let's see what else did I watch.. oh.. there was Marley and Me.. I love that movie because it's all about the adventures of an adorable golden lab named.. well.. Marley.. it's about Marley's life and how his life impacted the lives of his owners. If you are avoiding seeing it because you've heard the ending is sad.. well.. you're missing out.. yes, you will need a couple boxes of Kleenex, but it's well worth it! And besides.. everyone needs to have a good cry now and then!

I also watched the Step Father.. oooo scary! I've seen it before which is why I could watch it.. those suspense thrillers are just terrible! In a good way!! Then I watched Julie and Julia.. one of my favorite movies.. about my favorite topic... FOOD!!! LOL I love Meryl Streep and I love Julia Child so what more could you ask for!! I also love some of the songs.. one in particular.. "A Bushel and a Peck".. it's one my mom use to sing to me when I was little.. it brings back good memories of my mom embarrassing me while singing it in the kitchen...

I spent a couple of hours in Chapters this weekend also.. isn't it great how you can just get lost in a store full of books!! No one is there to bother you, I'm sure they are there for the same reason I was.. to find a way to escape the hecticness of life. To find a book they can get absorbed into, or learn from, or connect to. I didn't even get into the romance section.. not that I've been into those lately, but I spent two hours just looking at cook books, magazines and new release books. It's not even like I need any more books.. I have so many that I still haven't read but I'm addicted to books. Lately though, I've been downloading them onto my iPad for less than buying them in hard copy!! But I also got some great advice from a chapters employee.. she told me that I can actually "borrow" an ebook from the library and you can do it online!! I first either need to find my library card or go and get one but I think its so cool!! Not sure the variety yet but something I will look into.. oh and you can also "borrow" audio books!!

I haven't been taking any pictures with my DSLR lately but have with my iPod.. they aren't great but it's still fun to do.. I've been looking for a good digital point and shoot.. it must have at least 10x optical zoom so trying to find one I can afford hasn't been easy. Then again.. I'd rather have a new lens that I can use in low light with no flash.. then I wouldn't need the point and shoot.. unfortunately the lens I want is over $600.. the biggest disadvantage of having a Pentax! The lack of lens availability!!

Hmmm.. well time is ticking and it's getting time for dinner.. tonight is pot roast, yorkies, carrots, corn and mashed potatoes!! Sadly I'm all out of Asparagus and don't feel like leaving the house so will have to make due with what the fridge is providing!! Bon Appetite!!

Here are a couple of random pictures...

Panda Time!

Jen, Mark and Panda were here this weekend.. we had a fun time going to the park and Granville Island. Panda gets cuter everytime I see her and she's so smart!! Please excuse the quality.. I didn't bring my Digital SLR and my point and shoot isn't working so my only option when out and about is my iPod...

And we can't forget Maddie!!!

Panda loved the geese.. unfortunately they didn't love her as much =)