334/365 Friday Evening

It's Friday evening and he will be home soon, this hard working man of mine. And we are going to have a quiet evening together.....and pizza.

333/365 Christmas

It is starting to look like Christmas. I think this will be the first Christmas that I really enjoy preparing for now that I have the time. Never have I had the decorations up and the shopping done, this early.
I have time and it is wonderful.
I am looking forward to all the kids Christmas photo shoots I will be doing next week. My new back drop arrives tomorrow. I still have a few slots available if you have little ones you want captured in Christmas wonder.

This little bird is on our Christmas tree.
Merry Christmas!

332/265 Dentist

The three girls went to the dentist today. Eva and Norah loved it. With headphones and a tv on the ceiling, whats not to love? Norah said "I wish my appointment was longer. "
Isla on the other hand would have nothing to do with it and suspected something was up the minute the assistant entered the room. I did eventually calm her down while her mom talked to the dentist. She watched her sisters and took photos of them. But she was having nothing to do with sitting in that chair or letting anyone with gloves on within three feet of her.

The B&W photos are Isla's photos. Lil stinker!

331/365 Cookies

When I picked Norah up from school she asked if she could come to my house and bake. Why not?
We had a great time - Norah pretty much did all the ingredient adding, mixing and putting on the trays. They turned out way too good!!

"Geandma, I am waiting for them to turn into cookies"

330/365 Cousins

The big cousins were completely taken with the newest cousin on our family vacation. Such wonderful memories of love for all of them.

It seems like a few weeks ago I started my 365 again for 2018 and here we are at photo 330. That means only 35 days left in 2018. I wish time would slow down just a tad.

329/365 Night Life!

I am pulling from recent archives because I didn't pick up my camera today. Instead I spent the day stuffing my face with food!! Church potluck followed by a Grey Cup Party. Salads and water for the next three days!

But look at these four girls having a relaxing time in the hot tub at night. Fun memory. :)

328/365 Grandpa Pancakes

It is Saturday morning and that means Grandpa Pancakes and this girl sure ate a lot of them. They arrived very hungry after a 9 am basketball game.
Her sister is affectionately known as our sausage queen. :)

327/265 Happy Place

She could spend a whole lot of time on my lap with my camera. The sound of the "click" sends her into giggles. sigh...... sweet Isla.

326/365 Miss Isla

We went shopping today. She helped me pick out a bunch of props for my "rustic winter cabin" Kids Christmas photo shoot coming up.....well, her Mom helped too.

325/365 This Girl!

She is so amazing. We went to piano lessons today. She is loving them and practicing. I am so proud of her. :)

324/365 Miss Norah

She is a brown eyed, brown-haired version of her Mama. I love her freckles. :)

323/365 Big Cousin

What joy to see the big cousins so excited to meet the newest cousin. Lucy had plenty of attention and just gobbled it up. :)

322/365 My Sweetheart

I am awfully attached to this special little girl.
I think she is kind of sweet on me too.

321/365 I am Old!

We are entertaining this evening so I asked my husband for suggestions for a dessert. Dangerous thing to do, I know, because there is no way I can prepare 'Death by Chocolate' in a couple of hours. That needs to be planned a week in advance. But to my surprise he suggested "That cake where you heat  up that sauce and pour it over"
"Fruit Cocktail Cake?"
"Yeah"

I have not made this cake for probably 20 years. In those days we were entertaining adults and swarms of hungry kids. It was always a hit, so easy to make and the ingredients were always on hand. You just need a can of fruit cocktail or other fruit.

So this morning I dug out my trusty Best of Bridge cookbook and found the recipe.

Then I paused and stared at the recipe for a long time.  How did my cookbook get to looking like this? The cover was off, the binding half gone, the pages yellow and filled with spills of food from so many years ago.
It looked just like my Grandma's cookbook! Old, well used, and marked up with history.

Then it hit me!
I am Grandma!
Not a grandma. I am the Grandma. My mom is gone and I am now....Grandma.

Part of me wanted to cry but part of me felt a little proud, because Grandma's are pretty special people. But this transition is going to take a while.

I made the cake.... but this time instead of the vanilla,  I am actually going to going to add a "superb substitute".

320/365 These Girls

Pulling from last week because I didn't pick up my camera all day.
This photo, as technically poor as it is, brings me great joy! Had Lucy not been sleeping I would have plunked her down in the middle of them. :) There were a lot of smiles last week - and not just from Grandma and Grandpa.

319/365 Showing Off

I was able to join Isla and her Mom at their Kinsmen visit with OT/PT and Isla really showed off all her new skills. :)

318/365 Isla Photo

The gang were here for supper again tonight. Norah and I made the most fabulously moist corn bread to go with our shake n bake chicken. We were so busy I forgot to take photos but of course after supper Isla insisted on taking a few. So she did and Norah posed. When she is a famous portrait photographer one day these will be in her portfolio. :)

And BTW Isla crawled across the floor to get to my camera - real crawling - using hands and knees. The crowd was cheering her on.

317/365 I Miss These Girls

Three days was not enough time to get in all the hugs and kisses and snuggles and story reading and crafts and all the other things I miss doing with these two.

316/365 Rapscallions!

These three fun little girls came for supper with their Mom tonight.

315/365 Earrings

Eva was allowed to choose a set of earrings from O's jewelry drawer. I love the ones she chose. Mom wore these often and I am so glad Eva likes them. She thought that clip ones were the coolest thing! :)
I noticed she was wearing them as we waited for our connection in Calgary.

314/365 A Natural!

Eva caught on to 10 pin bowling right away. I don't know how she managed those big heavy balls but she picked up the technique quickly and did quite well. 

313/365 My Grandma Heart is Full

312/365 Cousins

It is so very wonderful when these six girls can be together. The four oldest were absolutely thrilled to finally meet Lucy!

311/365 Crawling!

Miss Isla crawled from Grandpa to Grandma. A new milestone!!

310/365 Lucy

We squeezed in as many snuggles and kisses as we could with this little one.

309/365 Cousins!

Oh my these girls sure enjoyed the hot tub! A lot!

308/365 Sweet Little Family

307/365 Precious Family

306/365 Happy Place

THIS is definitely our happy place. 

305/365 Family

A bittersweet trip to Victoria today The plan was to see "O" (great grandmother in Norwegian) and have her meet the two youngest - Isla and Lucy. But it was not to be. We went anyways and had family time together. There was a short window of opportunity to capture this family photo.