Valentines Party

The girls were busy writing Valentines over the past few days to get ready for classroom parties. Piper decided to make a special Valentines Box for her classmates to drop their Valentines in. So last night was a busy time at the kitchen table - and this morning - final touches needed to be done ya know!

Yes, as you can see Piper does her best work while sitting on the kitchen table.

And voila the final product - totally cute!
Even Lane walked by and said it's cute - huh Ma?

Piper's big sister Sloan decided to make the bag version - quick easy and fits in the backpak!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone - flowers would be nice *hint......


JoAnna.

before and afters

We have decided to create a new bedroom in the attic for one of the girls. In creating one new room of course now both old and new rooms have to be decorated. It is a slow process and in the next few blogs I will post before and after pics of pieces that I have re-done. When the rooms are finally complete..... you'll have to patient** I'll post finished pics. To start I found this mirror in a thrift shop for $9.00 it was green and I simply painted it white, nothing more needed to be done.

I will be placing it above a dresser in one of the girls rooms, it's huge and heavy, I was thinking of leaning it against the wall but I'm afraid it may fall so on the wall it will go. It has a wee bit of detail, not too much, just the way I like it.

There is not a big difference in tone, the green was fairly nice, but I knew I wanted an overall white theme. In my mind white = clean do you think the girls will see it that way and keep the rooms clean + tidy?

Here is the finished product (my photos not the greatest) like I said not a huge difference but I am so pleased with my $9.00 purchase.

ski vacation~ year 4

Just home from a wonderful ski vacation in Ellicottville NY - Holiday Valley. This was our 4th year running, we travel with 4 other families and together rent a beautiful chalet walking distance from the hill. The chalet windows face part of the hill and this is the view at night.

There were 6 kids traveling with us this year the youngest being 8 - or do I mean 5. *wink *wink and the oldest just turned 14 yesterday, 4 girls and 2 boys. They are great bunch a kids that help each other out and stick together on the slopes. Pipes, Matthew and Sloan were new to boarding this year and all 3 loved it!

I love this photo of Sloan riding the chair lift on her own ~ her wee mousy ears.

We would ski 2 - 3 times a day. when we weren't on the hill you could find us playing clue, crib, putting a puzzle together or in the hot tub. It's a great vacation, outside all day, and coming in hungry - everything taste better after being outside all day. Here's Piper and her zebra helmet.

Oh and we can't forget the kids main staple throughout the trip......pop tarts - 11 boxes between the 6 of them! Most flavors we cannot buy here, and if you look close you'll even see the easy cheese - Yes ~ we love it!

Looking forward to next year!

joanna

I had a dream

I had a wonderful invitation this morning from my very clever friend Miss Christina.....
I hope it makes you laugh too.



Miss Christina writes ~

Dearest JoAnna,
I had a dream last night that you and I were shopping in Las Vegas and you wanted to spend $2000 on a giant oil painting of a beer keg. I convinced you that it was obviously a print reproduction and you would be better served to buy the original for $10,000.

I believe this shows that I always have your best interests at heart. I also believe that this is a sign that you will be having a party soon. We would be delighted to attend!

I have nothing planned this afternoon if you would like to join me for tea.

Kind Regards,
Miss. Christina



I write back ~

Dear Friend,

Your dream from the past night not only reveals a party on the horizon but that you do in fact look out for my best interest. I am overwhelmed with gratitude that I am in your foremost thoughts. With that being said you will indeed be formally invited to a future social affair, and as you previously declared I can count on your attendance.

As for tea this afternoon - I would be delighted to attend, please advise of a time that is fitting.

Wholeheartedly yours,
Miss. JoAnna



Miss Christina writes ~

Great Joy! Such a fortuitous day is this that I may partake of your delightful company and insightful conversation. I will be awaiting your arrival at your leisure twixt the hours of 1 and 3 this very afternoon.

Might I be so bold as to offer a selection of confections for your enjoyment along with the libations or will you be fasting in your endeavors to reduce the size of your considerable hiney?

Your Busom Friend,
Miss. Christina

Miss Christina and I did meet for a splendid cup of tea and glorious tète-à-tète.

Thank You Miss Christina ~ till next time.

Your friend,
Miss JoAnna



Rebuttal

As you know I posted a lively chat between my chum Miss Christina and myself about an invitation to tea the other day, well as it turns out Miss Christina was not the slightest bit joyful with the likeness I posted of her. I have since then received a rebuttal from Miss Christina as follows....

Dear Friend,

Am tickled to learn of the recent posting to your electronic publication, and was pleased to know that your friends and family found it humorous. What I do not find humorous is the ghastly tintype attached to said posting of my likeness in a somewhat unflattering manner.

Most upsetting is the depiction of my startling "bean-like" head perched atop a "too-large" body with bare untoned limbs exposed for all of cyberspace to giggle at. In efforts to rectify the situation, and in lieu of retaining counsel, I have attached a more flattering image of myself to serve as a replacement. I hope this will please all involved.
Otherwise you may find a hefty dose of ex-lax in your next cup of tea be-atch.

Lovingly, Miss. Christina


Attached to this email is "the more flattering" photo of Miss. Christina......









Save some chocolate for the rest us would ya! *wink *wink

Love you,

Miss JoAnna.

P.S On for tea next week?

Ice time

For our family it's all about Hockey and Baseball. Since we are heading into the dead of winter I will blog often about the hockey. We are fortunate that all 3 girls love the game and enjoy outdoor rinks.

Many of our friends have taken on the major task of building backyard rinks complete with boards and lights. This lovely family, Mr. & Mrs. Sexy along with teenage son. have created an excellent outdoor haven, not only does it have the boards, nets, lights, music it also has the red line and doubles as a curling surface.

oh forgot to mention they also have an outdoor fire pit! Hockey and beers by the fire - does it get any better than this?

Kids waiting their turn to play.

Every year a few days after Christmas we rent the local arena ice for a few hours to play shinny, its become a wonderful tradition, here is Dad with his very own hockey stars.

Next up ... a few photos I took while everyone was skating. I know there a bit Artsy, but I can't resist!

Enjoy the snow and ice,

JoAnna.

shoes

Introducing one of my sweet nephews - Keegan. I was lucky enough to look after him last week and I had him all to my self for the whole day. Keegan is one and quickly learning how to walk.

Keegan's Mom dropped him off with a pair of the cutest shoes and a pair of boots. I couldn't resist putting on his new converse shoes size 4, but...sadly they did not fit.

So I ran up stairs to the girls baby bin (a bin chucked full of things I can't let go of...you know the one) and to my surprised pulled out three pair of shoes and a pair of slippers in Keegans size - now 5.5 !

These beauties are great walking shoes lots of ankle support. Yes, those are pink flowers you see embroidered on the sides.....He wore them home but I know that was the last time he wore them - your a good sport Keegan - glad I have the photo.

Love Auntie JoAnna.

2010

So I think I will try to blog more often - thinking 3 times a week .... because what fun is it when you check out a friends blog to find out they haven't been there in a month.

This means I will be up later at night which in turns could mean for a grumpy girl, but then again I will adjust and it will be so worth it. My family, the girls especially love to check out the blog and re visit the past, so with that being said let's get to it.

Over the holidays we did not have a lot of snow but just the same we managed to find some winter fun - we went for long walks through parks and along rivers.

Ah - here is the only mound of snow in the city and the kids found it!

At the river we spotted many ducks, they all came quite close to us we assume looking for bread. Believe it or not they were not interested in Charlie at all, but Charlie was interested in them! The girls refer to the ducks as Mr. and Mrs. Malards.

There is one particular apartment building in the area that has a fantastic sign painted on the front of the building - I have always been meaning to take a picture and here it is.

So there you have it my new years resolution, blogging at 3 times a week. I already have pictures and thoughts for Thursday, wish me luck.

JoAnna.