Highlight of the week for Erin

I think the bottom picture sums up the highlight of Erin's week.... Yup, she had her ribbon on when she fell asleep last night! I couldn't resist taking the picture!

Boo Hoo.....

Well another week has flown by and I am saddened by the fact that it was a vacation week, meaning I'm back to work tomorrow. Erin is very happy to be going back to daycare however - she misses her pals quite a bit!!

Our week was just fantastic! Monday started out with some wonderful weather and a visit from Aidan and Cole, Emma and Erika, and of course their mums, Jo and Richinda! The day was spent splashing in the pool and having some good old fashion summertime fun!

Tuesday brought another wonderful day of summer weather and a day where Erin and I just chilled around the pool. We cranked up the music and soaked in the sun all day!

Wednesday brought some fun once again. The weather was scheduled not to cooperate, but much to our pleasure it did!!! Wednesday also marked a milestone birthday for me as I hit the big 40! Many thanks to all of the wonderful wishes from friends and family. It was a great day. North Bay Grampa came for a visit while Erin and were (of course) in the pool!!! We went out for lunch at Erin's favourite place - The Goose! Gord brought home dinner and a cake and I was serenaded beautifully to "Happy Birthday". A great day indeed!

North Bay Grampa headed back the next day, and Erin and I decided to head into Ottawa for a bit of shopping, topped off by a Starbucks frappucino for the drive home! We had a blast! Erin picked out some cute clothes for herself and some new booties for Lamby (Build-A-Bear). We had lunch and some great conversation. I just love going out with her. She just soaks life up no matter where she is and no matter what she is doing. Kids are just really amazing and I love just sitting back and watching her take life in! Our shopping day was topped off by a trip to the library and a riding lesson with Catherine. A great day for Miss Erin!!

Friday was the big horse show. It was a longgggggggggg day, but both Erin and Charlie were really good. Erin didn't place, but did get a ribbon for participation. More to this story to come. Erin had a lot of fun and looked really good up on Charlie during her lead line class. She sat up nice and tall and her fan club (consisting of Aunt Patricia, Aunt Allison, Aunt Eleanor, Uncle Alex, and little Alex) cheered her on as she smiled away. Aunt Eleanor even got Erin some cotton candy in celebration of how well she did, and little Alex got her a candy apple. Not bad for a day's work!!! We discovered that Erin lost her ribbon when we got home. No where to be found.....

Saturday brought Michelle's birthday party. Erin was very happy to have a play with some of her friends. Being away for the past couple of weeks has really made her miss her friends! The girls had a great time and the weather was amazing! Erin and I came home and went for a big swim with Daddy to top off the day. The evening, as has been the case since Friday morning, was spent watching the Olympics. They will pretty much be the only thing we watch for the next couple of weeks. Erin is really into the swimming, stating how she can swim like the people on tv, only they are faster!! Later that evening, Erin was still a little sad about losing her horse show ribbon, so I decided to send a note to the woman who organized the show to see if I would be able to purchase a new one for Erin. Sunday morning, the woman responded to me and said she would happily replace Erin's ribbon if we dropped by the fair that day. So, Erin and I headed into the fair on Sunday morning. I made it a surprise for Erin and only told her once we arrived at the horse show area. Well, it turned out to be a surprise for me too. The woman I emailed had a special pink ribbon set aside for Erin and the ladies made a big fuss saying that they gave her the wrong ribbon during the event and that she should have received this one. They even gave her some prize money! My eyes are bluring up just writing this out! Erin was so happy and the smile spread across her face when they gave the ribbon to her. So, she 'officially' has a big pretty pink 6th place ribbon!!! We had a fun morning at the fair, and everywhere we went, people asked Erin about her ribbon, because of course, she put it on and would only take it off when she was on the rides or eating lunch! It was priceless! We even had a visit with Richinda, Emma and Erika for a little while! When we came home, Erin waited and waited for Daddy to come home from the gun club so she could share her big news about her ribbon and prize money!! So when he came home and heard the big news, he saddled up Charlie for new photos!!! What a great end to a fabulous week!

Check out Gord riding Charlie!!!! This was his 'punishment' for giving him a hard time today!!!!!!!

OMG - It's August!!!

I see I haven't posted since July 12th. The month of July feels like a complete blur to me. Work's been busy, home has been busy, it's just been plain busy!!! I'll try my best to re-cap the month.

July 19th we went to the Ice Cream Festival in Merrickville. This is a cute fundraiser for Erin's Daycare / Nursery School. There was facepainting, some games, some shows and of course ICE CREAM!!!!

We have been trying to get as much swimming in as we can despite the mountains of rain (well, that's what it's felt like!) we have been getting this summer. We have also made some trips to the library when we can to keep up with reading. Erin is still doing well with the reading and writing this summer. We have tried to make learning fun so Erin never feels like it is a chore.

On the 25th, I was tied up with work so Erin spent some time with Aunt Elaine. In fact, Erin went for a sleep over! They had lots of fun - I don't think Gord and I could have left Elaine's fast enough for Erin's liking when we dropped her off!! They went out for breakfast, saw a movie - 'Kung Fu Panda' - and went for a swim. I'll bet Aunt Elaine was tired after a couple of days with Whirlwind Erin!!!!!

We also went shopping with Anestasia for clothes for Erin's upcoming horse show on August 8th. Erin got some fancy new boots for riding, a shirt to wear in the show and a new saddle pad for Charlie. That should be a fun day for her!!! Erin also had another riding lesson on Sunday and did really well, even being sick!!!

On Saturday night, Erin got quite sick. She spiked a fever and it was all we could do to break it. Gord stayed home with her on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday he took her into the hospital. Strep has been going around the daycare, so we wanted to rule that out. Whew... no strep - just a viral infection that was on the way out come Wednesday. I was home with her that day. She was feeling much better late that day, so I thought I'd see if Emily would come out and spend a few hours with her so I could clear my desk at work before going on holidays. Erin was much better Thursday and even wanted to swim again - we knew she was sick because she didn't want to swim!!!! Emily and Erin looked like they had lots of fun - the camera shows this evidence!!!

Friday August 1st marked a birthday for Erika!! Happy 7th Birthday Erika!! Erin had a riding lesson in the morning, then we took her riding instructor Catherine over to meet Erika. Catherine got some extra business as a result of Erin raving over her!! We enjoyed a coffee while the girls played for a bit. We all headed back over in the late afternoon for the big party! Erika looked like she had a ball. We left sometime around 10:00pm and Erin fell asleep about 13 seconds after we got out of the car!! The next day, Erika invited Erin over for a play, which was great for me - got to clean and do groceries!! Ahh... the domestic diva life is great!!! Erin was pretty upset when I picked her up - they wanted to keep playing, but it once again, started to rain. Erin looked exhausted though, and proceeded to take a big nap shortly after we got home!!!

Today she is puttering around doing some beautiful artwork! We are going to try to have a quiet day today, as we have a pretty busy week - HOLIDAYS!!!! - ahead of us. Tomorrow Jo and her boys, and Richinda and her girls are coming over for the day. It's supposed to be a rain-free day, so we plan on swimming and relaxing all day - formula for tired children!!

Tuesday Erin and I are heading to the library to restock our books. North Bay grampa is coming down either Tuesday or Wednesday. Wednesday is the big 40 for me! Thursday Erin and I are going to venture into Ottawa for a bit - a little shopping and a movie, before coming home for her riding lesson. Friday is the horse show, then Saturday Erin will be going to a birthday party for her buddy Michelle. Whew! The old cliche of needing to go back to work for a rest might just hold true for this holiday week!

I can hardly believe that there is only 4 more weeks until school starts again! Erin really misses her pals from school, so I know she'll be glad to go back. What's even more scary is there is just over one month and Erin is 5! Time does go by far too quickly.....

Enjoy the pics!!!

New couch!

Basement renovations!

Erin decided it was Lamby's birthday last week - cake and party games were had by all!!

Blowing out the candles! (Lamby is 3 according to Erin!!)

Erin, Emily, and Sammy having fun on Thursday!!