weekend

Howdy

This weekend was blah.. rainy... crappy.. cranky... at least the rain and cold stops everyone from complaining about how hot it is!! We went to a few open houses on Saturday. Super tiny places for suuuuper expensive! We had brunch at Little Nest. Just about the best restaurant I've taken my childrens too! I suggest you google Little Nest to see what the bruhaha is!

Today is Sunday and we are going out for brunch with some of our favorite people. Mr & Mrs Monkey Duncan and the always adorable Carter AND the entire team Kwan D'Eon! Should be fun to say the least!

This morning we cracked out the notebooks and started learnin' our wordses! My children are obviously super geniuses! We can confirm that they do not get it from Auntie Erin! hahahahahah

elephunky

Well, we knew it was going to happen.. yes .. there has been a return.. I'm not sure if you all remember a couple of years ago.. but there is a picture of Maeve entitled, "Sad Elephant".


Here is a new one, "Happy Elephant Jr."



It is dress up day here at Casa Mussellam




I leave you with the elephunk




Yes, my girls are cuckoo... the good news is Michael and I are cuckoo about them!

Friday!

Friday was pretty fun. We hit the Cambie St park with the always lovely Kwan D'Eon fam! The kids all seemed to have fun. The strike is still on here in Van so the park isn't the tidiest it has ever been! Ange got some awesome (NOT) shots of me riding the swings.. yehaw, they won't be viewed by the general public tho. Consider it my gift to you!

We made chalk outlines and the kids/Ange decorated them! Maeve and Madigan are wearing gorgeous dresses, Maeve's courtesy of Angela, Madigan's courtesy of Maeve! Ange drew Theo's chalk portrait and it was great! I supplied the sweet sweet cats! I am all that is awesome in illustration today!





After a lovely day with Milo, Theo and Angela.. we took to the seawall and walked to Starbux to meet my friend Mel. Madigan was snoozing away and we had a wonderful coffee break. Since we broke so late in the day, we decided to grab Michael and go out for dinner en masse! It was great.. hahaha ok, Mel got to witness Michael and I bickering constantly.. look people, thats what we do! Anyhoo.. she was amazed at how much the girls eat! She doesn't know the half of it. So, here is Mel's debut on our family blog that she dutifully reads every day! She is a good friend and I wub her!



Saturday I was given the apres noon off for good behaviour! I met with my friend Brea Papea Maria. I haven't had a real visit with her in years! She exactly the same, super sweet, super busy and always super generous! She came by after dinner and met the girls too! Good times!

Sunday we hit Trout Lake. LUcky us, we were right on time for the Latin Festival! Maeve got to bounce in the bouncey castle while Madigan was snoozing, both girls got their face painted and we all had some authentic Latin cuisine! Good times.. good music and good fun!







ps yes those are my awesome piggies!

Where have we been?

So we leave Sara alone with the kids twice in one day and this is the thanks we get!





Freshly scrubbed children, one of which has a sweet tossed salad for a lid!


Sara very kindly watched the girls Tuesday so we could meet up with our financial advisor. She then also watched the girls while we were out putting a bid on a condo. The good news is, we saved ourselves hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bad news is, we were out bid!

Wednesday was a mighty treat! We had some very adorable visitors.


Melanie brought over our very favorite little monkey baby himself. Introducing, Carter McFadden Andrew Duncan. He is adorable. He is very bright... genius even! Not to mention cute and pretty and sweet and wonderful! We love you!

Sunday

Hallo, I've been so terrible with keeping up here on the blog. Sorry. We have been busy! And I have been lazy!

Sunday's at our place means... PANCAKES! I have a secret recipe that I'm not too modest to admit is fanfriggintastic! This morning however, Maeve decided to put a new twist on an old favorite. Not sure if anyone here is familiar with

Mustard Pancakes

but it is a favorite tv show of Maeves. In the following clip, you will see just how literal our eldest darling daughter is!



Too funny. The good news is she ate the whole thing! The bad news is we had to put lots of syrup on it!

Here is our youngest darling daughter. Even princesses need potty breaks!




We are very proud of our Princess Maddie Bea. No diapers during the day since May and almost no more accidents!

Finnerty Family Fun in Vernon.






Bragging alert, Bragging alert.....

Maeve is such a genius. Seriously. She is so smart and talented. She drew this picture this morning and I wonder if anyone can guess who it is?




Thankfully she takes after her Daddy in the art department!

Loooong Weekend!

Howdy Doody faithful readers!


So sorry we have been MIA recently! We were up in Vernon (42 Degrees) for my family (Finnerty) reunion. It was hot! Got to see alot of people I haven't seen in almost 15 years! My Auntie Bev did most of the planning/prep and she did a great job. A lucky bonus, we got to see my cousin Eugene! Haven't seen him in more than 20 I'd wager! He lives and teaches in Thailand. It was good to reconnect with people and to meet new Finnertys too!

This long weekend had us travelling through Abbotsford and up Mt Sumas for the Mussellam Family reunion! It was really fun. I ate alot, then, ate some more! The first Mussellam reunion I attended was at Silver Lake, Kelowna back in '95! All the kids I chased, played hide and seek with, and taught poker too are all well into their 20's! They have gotten so much older! Miraculously, I haven't aged a day! hahaha I got to see some of my very favorite Mussellams and Maeve and Madigan got to meet some Mussellam cousins in the same age bracket as they are! So, we are going to try to see more family this year. That is my new year resolution. Yes yes, I realize it is August.. a little late for resolutions.. but thats my goal and I'm stickin' to it!


Big Shout out to Chay and Aaron, CONGRATULATIONS on you bouncing baby boy. And by bouncing, I mean GIGANTIC! Gage was born Sunday Aug 5, 2007 weighing in at a wopping 9lbs 2oz! Way to go.. she gave me a run for my "biggest baby in the family" race.. but fell short by 2.5oz!

Thursday!

Hallooo! Just wanted to let all you Happy Anniversary well wishers that a good time was had by all last night. *wink* *wink* So, just so you know, there were fireworks. *nudge* *nudge*!





Yes, Michael came home late from work.. booo.. not his fault but booo.. I had an awesome dinner prepared! Ha ha not really, it was black beans, tomatoes, ground beef from the slow cooker and corn on the cob from the farmer's market! Not really fine dining but hey, thats the way we roll!

After dinner we took the clan to good ole DQ to celebrate! Because of the ridiculous size of our stroller, I went in and tried to carry 4 cones back to the mothership! We managed and then headed up to Kensington Community Center to catch the fireworks! We had pretty good seats, grassy knoll.. .not to many peeps around us.. well, until they actually started and then people were everywhere! It was nice, the girls seemed to like the fireworks! We didn't get home until 10:50! Maeve crashed on the way home but not our little trooper! These pics are of us killing time before the fireworks!







Today we'll be heading out to Richmond. I am going to Michael's and I might pop into IKEA for a coffee and a childcare break! Geez I'm happy Maeve finally is tall enough for the ballroom! Here are some pics from our last visit to IKEA!






Cheerios!
v

Big Day!

Today is a very special day! Whose special day? MHARI'S special day!!!! If they were here I think Dora and Boots would say, "Felice Cupleanos!" Happy Happy Birthday Mhari!



On a side note it is also our wedding anniversary! I guess it is only fair that Mhari's bday is on our anniversary because when Maeve was due to join the world, it was the weekend of Ken and Robin's wedding! So yes, its been 9 long years, and I see his loving eyes... wait a second I think that is a line from a tom cochrane song! Anyhoo, big anniversary day but we aren't doing anything really special. Just having a nice dinner and enjoying our family!

Tidying

Howdy doody everyone! Well, I have to tell you. I have been having a crappy weekend! I've been angry every day and my fuse is about.. hmm... half a millimeter long. I am snappy, snarky and generally unpleasant to be around. I think I could solve it with a good nights sleep but that doesn't seem to be happenning. The weather isn't helping, but to be this cranky and hot too could probably be worse! So its probably better for me that it is rainy and cruddy out! Ha, sorry about ruining summer for everyone else!
Yesterday we had a big house tidy. The girls were driving me mental until I gave them a task. Here they are cleaning their best friend! They also cleaned all the window sills and "cleaned" the windows! Even in my blue funk the girls are just so gorgeous and wonderful!

Brodie Joseph Gee

Happy Birthgay to you

Happy Birthgay too youu


Happy Birthgay dear Brodie....


Happy Birthgay to youuuuuuuuuu.....





Love you Bro!

Thursday

hello faithful readers!

Slow week around the Mussellam front. Yesterday we hit Riley Park and the Farmers Market @ Nat Bailey Stadium. We picked up lots of yummy treats! Cherries, peaches, raspberries, blueberries and Salmon! Not salmon berries, but salmon!

We tried to play at Riley Park for a bit but it was just nasty out. Pouring rain and only 50% of us had boots! Poor Maeve lost her boots to our Canada Day Camping excursion!

No pictures to document how crappy this week was but today is a new day! Hopefully we'll get to Science world this afternoon. Thats the plan anyway!


Cheerios!
xo
v


ps, A very Happy Birthday wish to CVK's very own Robin Rhiverson. Hope you have a great Birthday!

Hi ho!

So this weekend was great! We had a fantastic and entertaining BBQ at Michael's Auntie Lisa's place. Poor Don got to meet the whole family! I'm sure everyone can pass the hat for his psychotherapy bills!

saturday we were invited to a salmon BBQ at Uncle Kenny's place. It was great. The girls swam in Uncle Kenny's pool while I had a nap. I know, awesome parenting!!! Michael did his thang and I had a little zizz! In this heat, I'd have one every day if I could!





As you can see above, Maeve's boyfriend Cole was at the BBQ too! Maeve and he seemed like they had a great time! At one point Maeve went in the house and came back with a baby in her tummy. Fortunately a short delivery brought us a healthy baby doll from Jamaica. I believe Cole's mother is threatening a paternity suit! I don't have time to load up the video but Michael got a good one of them dancing. They are so sweet and innocent and boy do they like each other! They are so innocent, as Uncle Kenny pointed out, that both of them came out pregnant with babies in their tummies!

Last night we picked Michael up from work and grabbed dinner from Safeway! Mmmm sweaty mac'n'cheese and the Plymouth Rock sandwich for us elderly ones! We had our little picanic at 2nd Beach. It was great times... we played on the swings, the slide and then had some icecream! Here is Michael swinging around with the girls!






I'm secretly glad that it is raining today. We are staying in. I've baked bread, whole wheat this time and its pretty good. the girls are clowning around on our bed and seem to be having a gay ole time!



Earlier, we were working on Maeve's name. I drew the dotted lines and she connected them. After showing little to no interest and also after I felt like I was forcing her, she decided her name isn't as exciting as her favorite word.. yes.. TNT dynomite!! God I love my weird kids!