Curt's Day

Friday (May 28th) was Curt's 31st birthday!

Unfortunately, he had to work all day, and I worked all afternoon. So, we weren't able to do anything special. But, we did play golf together on Thursday evening...and, yesterday he played in a golf tournament with some friends.

I did have time to make him a cake on Friday morning, and I had that and his present set out for him to see when he got home from work.



I realize the cake looks a little pathetic, but, I don't claim to be a professional cake decorator! And, Curt did say it brought a smile to his face, and that's all I was going for :)

Curt, if you're reading this, I hope you had a good birthday!

Rewind

I wasn't able to blog about it at the time, but I'm going to rewind to last weekend because we had a lot of fun. It was Victoria Day weekend, better known as May 2-4...the first long weekend, and unofficial start to, summer. Generally speaking, the weather on May 2-4 weekend is usually cold and rainy...but, this year it was perfect...warm and sunny from Saturday to Monday.

I had to work on Saturday, so once I finished there, I caught up with Curt, who was helping his brother build a tree house for his nephews. I didn't get any pictures, and words really can not describe this thing...all I can say is that it's huge!

Sunday, after church, we ran a whole bunch of errands in town...including, shopping for flowers for our front garden. We picked those up, and as soon as we got home, we got to work getting those planted. We also picked up some tomato plants and planned on putting those in our back garden, but, it looked like this...



So, we had to do A LOT of weeding before we could plant. We got about half of the garden done on Sunday, and had to finish on Monday morning.

Sunday evening we had a neighbourhood get-together at one of our neighbours - a yearly tradition on May 2-4 weekend. Dinner was great, and it was nice to meet some new neighbours, and to visit with others that we usually only see in passing.

Part of the tradition is to have fireworks at dusk, and it's always a great show. This year, the fireworks lasted close to half an hour! We had a lot of friends come over to watch the fireworks with us, nine adults and six kids, and it was fun to watch with kids around.



Monday, after finishing up some weeding and planting in the morning, it was off to work for me for the afternoon. And, I'm not going to lie, after such an enjoyable weekend, and with Curt being off all day Monday, I was very tempted to call in sick!

Meeting Miss Abby

Yesterday I had the chance to travel to Acton to visit Tom, Krystle, Nolan, and of course, Abigail Jane...or 'Baby Abby' as Nolan would say.



I was showing my pictures to people at work today, and they were all saying how big she looked. But, when I saw her, I remember thinking she was smaller then I expected?!? And, when I picked her up, I thought the same thing. I think that was because I had Nolan in my arms just a few minutes earlier, so of course she felt small! She's still right around 10 pounds though.



This is my favourite one from the day, I love her little smile. This is the picture I showed my co-workers, so I guess she looks big in this one?

You're probably seeing a theme here, SLEEP! Abby slept A.L.L. DAY! I feel like she was only awake for about one hour throughout the 9.5 hours I was there...and of course she was feeding during that time. I guess that's all you should expect from a six day old baby. So, I actually spent most of the day playing with Nolan, which I'm obviously OK with :)



It was a great day, and I was really glad to get to meet Abby within a few days of her birth. It was also great to get to see Tom, Krystle and Nolan, too. Thanks to all of them for hosting me for the day!

A BBQ on a Beautiful Day

This afternoon, Curt and I hosted a BBQ at our house. We invited people to come over after church - they brought their own meat for the BBQ, and we provided the rest. Despite being a little stressed about the preparations, I think everything turned out well. I started preparing what I could last night, and skipped church this morning to finish the rest. I made broccoli salad, macaroni salad and potato salad. I also had a veggie tray and made a new veggie dip. And, of course, I made a drumstick cheesecake for dessert...I always make this for dessert, and it is always a big hit. There were nine adults and eight kids in total; and thankfully, it was a warm and sunny day, so we spent most of our time outside. If I learned one thing today, it was that my house is NOT child proof! My little nephew Luke, was only inside briefly, but he taught me that lesson quickly.


Ava, convinced that she had rubbed in all the sunscreen :)


Kevin and Stella


Susannah and Maria, playing 'Ladder Ball'

Now that the day is behind me, and it seems to have gone OK, I feel like we should do this more often! That's a big statement considering yesterday morning I pretty much told Curt I was never doing it again.

She's Here!

I am very excited to announce the arrival of my niece, Abigail Jane Robertson! She was born today, Thursday, May 13th at 11:12am, weighed 10 lbs and was 22 inches long.

I got a message from my mom early this morning saying that Tom and Krystle were on their way to the hospital, and that today was the day. So, I was in the bank just after 12pm when my phone rang, caller ID showed that it was my brother, so I knew Abby had arrived. I decided not to answer my phone while in the bank because I knew there would be tears, and sure enough, as soon as I listened to the message, I got all teary eyed. Tom's message started out all strong, but as soon as he started crying, so did I! Happy tears, of course :) About 10 minutes later I got a call from my mom, she was calling to fill me in on the details, in case Tom hadn't been able to get them out between sobs. ha!

I'm hoping to get home next week to meet her, but in the meantime, I 'stole' these pictures from facebook. So, thanks to Krystle's mom for posting these :)



Pretty in Pink!


A moment with Mommy


The family of FOUR! Nolan seems to be distracted by something, and Tom still seems to be a little teary eyed.



An extra one, just because Nolan is a little more focused in this one.

I can't wait to meet the little lady!

Weekend Wrap-up

It's time to try to summarize a VERY busy weekend, without going on and on and boring anyone that may be reading this.

Thursday night was the Quinte Figure Skating Club Awards Dinner & Banquet and Annual General Meeting. It was a nice evening, but nothing too exciting.

Following the meeting, Curt and I left for Acton for a few days. We spent Thursday and Friday night at my parents, and got to spend time visiting Tom, Krystle and Nolan. Curt and I were going to play golf with my dad on Friday afternoon but the weather was HORRIBLE, it was cold and rainy all day, so we didn't end up playing.

Saturday it was off to Lucknow, Ontario for a wedding - Curt's youngest brother, Mark, got married. We don't really know his wife, Jeanette, very well...they met at school, and only dated for a few months before getting engaged, so they only made it home to visit a few times during the whole 'courtship'. But, on Saturday, it was so clear to see how in love they are. It was cute :)



It was a really nice wedding, despite the fact that the weather was horrible again, it was cold, rainy, windy and even snowy at times. The church, reception hall and the Bed & Breakfast we were staying at were all within walking distance of each other, which would have been convenient in nice weather. However, it ended up being a bit of a hindrance on Saturday - a tree was blown over in the crazy wind, and landed on power lines, so the power was out in the area. The power was out from about 1pm until probably about 8:30pm! Luckily, it didn't really make a big difference at the church - someone from the congregation brought a generator, so the pastor could still use a microphone, and there were plenty of windows, so light wasn't an issue. It did make a difference at the hall, there was no heat in the community hall, so it was FREEZING in there! But, the food was cooked (gas stoves) and it didn't stop the party. Pictures couldn't be done outside, so they used the community hall and the backdrop they had set up behind the head table.



I look really weird in this picture, but it's the only one of Curt and I.

The next two pictures are just too cute to leave out. Two of my nephews attended the wedding, and my mother-in-law put together a little gift bag of activities for each of them. So they were entertaining themselves during pictures and while we waited for dinner. This is what happened...



Mark, the groom, had a few minutes between pictures. Here he is colouring with our nephew, Joshua.



And, here is Curt helping our other nephew, Noah, build a Lego vehicle.

On Sunday, we left for home and were able to stop at my parents again. It was nice to spend Mother's Day with my mom, and it was a great way to break up what would have been a five hour drive home.

So, it was a great weekend! The only thing that would have made it better would have been the arrival of my niece. My sister-in-law, Krystle, was due on Saturday, so I was hoping to meet Abigail too. But today is Wednesday, and she still isn't here.

Weekend Happenings - Day 2

Sunday morning we woke up to another bright, beautiful day.

It was my turn to help in the toddler nursery at church - I always kind of dread this on the way to church, but it usually ends up being pretty enjoyable, even if it is a little hectic and tiring. I think there were only 12 kids there this week, which still sounds like a lot, but not when we can have up to 18!

I've been helping in the nursery for a few years now, and one thing I do like this year is that some of my friends kids are old enough to be in this nursery now, so at least I know some of the little ones, and they know me.

My nephew Luke was in there too, so it was nice to get to hang out with him!

After church, we went to my in-laws house to celebrate Mothers Day and my nephew Joshua's ninth birthday!

My MIL seemed to like the laptop bag we bought for her, and it was obvious that Joshua (and his brothers) were thrilled with the electric guitar that we bought for him! Yup, we are that aunt and uncle. Luckily, I don't think my brother and sister-in-law were too upset with us; Dave actually seemed pretty excited himself, and Sarah just commented that it wouldn't be too annoying because Joshua's room is in the basement, so he wouldn't have to disturb everyone while playing with it!

Our neighbors son was having his own little garage sale on Saturday, and, considering he didn't get things set up until 11am, he wasn't selling a lot. So, Curt noticed the guitar, and went over to see how much it was. It was pretty reasonable, and came with a little amp and everything, so he decided to pick it up. I'm pretty sure that with five boys in that house, it will be well used for a number of years.

And now for some pictures of the boys enjoying their dessert...

Joshua, the birthday boy, blowing out his NINE candles!


Noah, who clearly got distracted by something right as I clicked this picture.


Isaac, enjoying his dessert!


Luke, digging in to his dessert!

I forgot to get a picture of baby Owen - we was sleeping the whole time, so we kinda ignored him while the other boys ran around crazy.

A Special Gift

On Monday, two Bay of Quinte members returned from Florida, where they spent the winter. Mr. and Mrs. Austin are among my favorite members, so it was great to see them again. The Austin's actually spoil me quite a bit - from bringing me hot chocolate on cool mornings to giving me cookies at Christmas! But, this week they gave me a very special gift!



Mr. and Mrs. Austin were at one of the practice rounds at the Masters, and they brought this pin back for me! It's very flattering to know that they think enough of me to include me when purchasing gifts for friends and family.

The gift came at the perfect time too, I was having a really bad day when Mr. Austin arrived at the shop, and I've been thinking about looking for a new job. But, this reminded me about why I go back, year after year. Not because of the presents, but because of the connections I've made with so many members. I wouldn't be able to say that if I worked at a public golf course!