Feels like summer

It's beginning to feel a lot more like summer around here.

The garden has been planted (with a little help from Ben, the girls and GG Mary). We play outside a fair bit...and suffer the mosquito bites to prove it! Both girls react alot but Sam especially...a bite under her eye last week made her look like she was in a fight...her eye swelled up a lot. And a bite on her hand this week has her hand still a bit swollen and hot. Upon Dr's advice, we're applying Benedryl cream to the spot and giving her Benedryl liquid oral stuff for general healing (and proactively if we know we're going to be outdoors).

We're blowing bubbles...loving this Gymboree set we got for Christmas...the combination of bubble stuff and the neat wand make lots of bubbles. (PS...I have quickly decided to edit this to point out the girls new hats...have I mentioned/shown them before? Both girls have the same hat in different sizes, the pattern is a reversible bucket hat pattern from the Oliver and S kids sewing book. (Thank you Library!) The fabric is purple Minnie Mouse on one side and blue Little Mermaid on the other. The girls mostly love. Katie's is a wee bit too small...such a big brain in that head!)

Gram and Papa went on holidays for a few weeks and while they were gone we snuck in a visit with Uncle Jerry...and the girls didn't freak out! They've both been strangely scared of him since...forever I think. Katie's improved a lot in the past year, especially since we've demonstrated Uncle Jerry's art skills (they have something in common!) but Sam still freaks out. Anyway...Uncle Jerry was smart and offered them rice krispee squares immediately and things were awesome. (Until I tried to force Katie to say thank you for her second square and then she got all upset at the attention on her...my bad!) here's the photographic proof. (Katie is turning away from the camera, nothing to do with Uncle Jerry!)
One not great photo from Katie's "Sharing Day" at school...a low pressure concert type event. I tried to pick a photo where most other kids were blurry, for privacy etc...but I do think she looks cute with her hair and dress slightly puffed out in mid hop. This dress we've worn for almost a year and I think it may be time to pack it up (or somehow let Sam wear it..I'm not sure if that'll happen without a fight!). School's now over for the summer...they end a bit earlier than most schools. Another reason to feel like summer! It was so hard saying goodbye...those teachers of hers are amazing and lovely and we can't wait to see them again in September.
While Gram and Papa were away we watered their plants and played with (and kind of broke) the umbrella. (No worries, Papa has fixed it now!)
And we also had a picnic at their park nearby...can you tell I was trying to keep busy and make things fun for the girls?
Our major event this weekend (besides freezing our noses off at the Children's Festival in St. Albert in 4C weather!) was getting Sam a big girl bed. It's exactly the same one as Katie's. We've been meaning to get it for ages and when photos from her getting out of her crib a year ago popped up in iPhoto, we knew we had to do it. She's settled in perfectly and seems very happy with the change.

Hopefully blog mojo comes back soon...I've been reading some good books lately and doing some sewing. I think also the change in schedule has thrown me off a bit. I'm not doing strollercize anymore because my foot was bothering me again so that and school ending has given us more freedom and surprisingly made us a bit busier in a way.

Other good things to note...I bought and correctly programmed a new garage door clicker...the other one fell and broke on Thursday and I am SO lazy that to avoid pushing the button by hand and walking the long way every time, I made a big point of getting a new one the very next day ( which I suppose isn't very lazy is it?) (a big yay for feeling like a handy mom!). AND I found some ants in the back landing (well, Katie and Sam saw them first) and dealt with them quickly on Friday too...not something you wait on, eh?! (I think I've gotten rid of them...cross fingers that they weren't just staying away from the weekend rain...a little Raid and a sprinkling of Equal sweetener seems to have done the trick for now.)

Yawn...I should have been in bed ages ago...Still recovering from the Awesomeness that was the U2 concert on Wednesday...Definitely a "never forget it" kind of event. If I get pictures I'll share.