Highlights of the week

• seeing the girls enjoy the monkey bars Neil and his dad installed in our yard on Monday. Now when they ask to go to the park and we suggest they go play in our "backyard park" instead, they can't reply, "but it doesn't have monkey bars!"
• receiving an enthusiastic and spontaneous "thank you" from all three of my girls when I gave them dessert.
• eating the most juicy and perfect nectarines with totally cling-free pits. Yummmm! They're at Sobey's, labeled www.RipeNReady.com
• creating pages and projects in Have More Fun -- and reading all the nice comments here and in the class gallery on BPS.
• remembering to order a package of SafetyTat for our trip. Fingers crossed that they arrive in time!
• getting a super bargain on Merrell sport sandals at The Shoe Company -- just in time for our vacation! I love how my feet feel in Merrell sandals.
• corresponding with relatives and making plans for our stay on Vancouver Island.
• showing and reading that orange and pink page to Sophia and seeing the big smile on her face. It seems she in particular needs extra reminders that she's loved, so I like to put it in writing for her.
• hearing about museum camp where the girls spent their days this past week. They learned a lot about bugs (the camp was called "Inspector Insect") and did lots of fun stuff, including field trips to the Wascana playground, museum annex, Willow Island, and Wascana pool.
• decorating Madeline's paint smock (an old t-shirt of mine) and her cereal box for kindergarten -- six weeks early! Yeah! Very happy to have that done.
• seeing Madeline's excitement over having her first loose tooth. It's very loose too; I expect it to come out within the next week or so.
• eating homemade corn chowder, a favourite dish of mine from childhood. I intended to make it myself on Saturday, but ran out of time, so Neil made it for me to have while he was at the Rider game.
• getting and giving birthday gifts to my two nephews visiting from Edmonton. It's rare for us to be able to give them birthday gifts in person.
• spending Sunday at Avonlea visiting Neil's side of the family. What a gorgeous day! We spent almost the whole day outside. We went swimming at Dunnet Park, and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the backyard. We celebrated Neil's grandma's birthday too. She turned 93 today!
• eating homemade saskatoon pie for dessert this evening. Heavenly! I think it's my most favourite dessert -- when it's done right, anyway. (Not all saskatoon pies are created equal; i.e., the filling must not be dry, which does not happen in our families!).