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This weekend we took the girls to On the Fringe
Both girls came out with beautiful haircuts! Not everyone is impressed that we cute their hair (My Mom) but everyone else really loves it! The girls brush their own hair before school it makes life SO much easier for me in the morning! The girls seem to LOVE their beautiful new hair!


We are all doing well at the Mussellam casa. The childminding torch has been passed on from Danica to my Mom and now to Erin. Auntie Erin is watching the girls for us while I work full time. I am EXhausted! Life as a full time working Mommy is definitely challenging. Don't worry, I wont bore you with all the details but trust me, I'm tired!

Almost howlereen!

Today was Maeve's school Halloween Parade! It was tough, Madigan was having her party, Maeve had the parade and I had to get Michael to work.. talk about being in 3 places at once!

Michael and I stayed at Maeve's school for a bit of the party, then had to get going. Jo Wood was kind enough to snap a few shots of our gorgeous Barbie 3 Muskateer! She has the gown, the mask and the good looks but no sword because weapons are not welcome at school! I NEVER thought we'd be the ones with weapons but hey, how many times have we all said, "I'm never going to.... " and then done it!

Here is Maeve sitting with her class at assembly:



Parading her costume for the parents and big kids:


Finishing up the parade with two clone troopers hot on her trail!:


So, dropped off Michael and headed back to Madigan's party. Her teachers are both really nice and the kids all wore great costumes! The had plenty of snacks, jello, candy cupcakes etc so many that they weren't allowed to eat their actual snack.. you know, healthy fruit, protein and what have you!

Here is Madigan with her teachers, Jenny and Patricia:

Big week around the ole Mussellam hizzouse. Maeve lost her first tooth!!! We'd been trying and trying to help her lose her tooth but I just don't have the ability to help/hurt my baby girl!




Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting... duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh





Those kids were fast as lightning!



Everything was a little bit frightening.....


My brother very kindly watched Maeve and Madigan so Michael and I could attend a very spooky halloween party! Fortunately Michael and I made it out alive err. still dead, together..

Hello faithful fans,

This rainy week Ms Madigan had her very first solo field trip.. actually first trip ever! Her preschool class hit the very muddy pumpkin patch on friday and Lisa very kindly took this picture for us! She really enjoyed her pumpkin patch partner "Bella". She and her Mum are from Scotland. Madigan picked a great pumpkin and we will carve it next week after Maeve goes to the pumpkin patch with her class!

Here is Madigan on the big school bus just as they arrived back safe and sound!



this one looks like I'm trying to kiss her to death and she is making a break for her life!



Thanks for grabbing the pics Lisa!

where have we been?

We have been EVERYWHERE! Life is full steam ahead for Clan Mussellam... our 'baby' Madigan turned 4.. yes 4 years old! My baby is 4!!




Madigan was treated to calls from all of her loved ones, sooooo many cards and a few presents too! Thank you all so much for all the birthday love!

Oh, and she chose ice cream cake!


Growing up we were "not so rich". On our birthdays our Mother made us feel the best because we got to choose our favorite meals for birthday dinner! I am continuing this tradition with my girls because I know that Madigan will always choose home made mac'n'cheese! So, with Auntie Sara, cousing jakers Maeve and Daddy we had a delicious fun birthday dinner!

I can't believe another week has flown past! Last week we survived Maeve's birthday.

I'm not the best Mommy in the world, there are some things that I don't really enjoy doing and that is keeping 2 girls safe while they ride their bikes.... sooo with Maeve busy at school, Madigan rode her bike to the beach!




It is much easier keeping one child on the bike route and off the pedestrian part than two let me tell you! Her reward? A kiss from her Mommy who adores her!


All the Mussellam ladies got to go to Liam's 4th birthday party and paint and work with clay making Yoda figurines!! The kids had a blast, working hard at the Art Studio, pumping out some serious Yoda action!

Friday Lexie and Gary welcomed their little Logan to the world! Logan came a bit early and he is very tiny! Sounds like he is eating like a champ and everyone is taking excellent care of the whole family. I busted out the ole knitting needles and tried about 7 or 8 time to come up with a hat that will fit Logan's adorable little head! After many attempts here is the finished product, modelled by Madigan's doll "Blueberry"

Big Week

Hello friends and family!

So we've had a pretty big week around here. Ms Maeve Adera turned 6! Yes 6! My baby, my first born baby girl is 6! I can't believe it!

Maeve just LOVED the card that Michael made for her. For my birthday Michael made me a very beautiful special card and Maeve asked him to make one for her on her birthday. Maeve also asked for a cake *just* like the one Gramma Suzy *made* for Daddy.. a chocolate cake from scratch with yes with money in it! Thanks for setting the bar so high on that one Susan!

Maeve woke up to a very special surprise! While she was sleeping Michael and I preformed our usual birthday magic! We used the table cloth (plastic crap) that we've been using since Maeve turned 3 in england!! haha talk about getting one's money worth!!


Maeve LOVES the new backpack Madigan picked out for her!


For breakfast Queen Maeve had swiss pancakes with fresh fruit and whipped cream!

Ahh what a day! She was sent off to school with cupcakes for all her friends and her two teachers Tony and John! I prayed they would let them have them at recess but no, they got them just before coming home for the day! I had to apologize to all the parents for sugared up riled up kids!!

After school we played with Carter and Mel at Carter's (Cooper's) park, picked up Daddy around 5 and came home for homemade pizza, cake and a couple of movies. Barbie and the 3 Muskateers! The girls LOVED the cake and the movie, but the pizza not as much! I have to work on my pizza dough recipe!

Tired little girls got to sleep late and were up early saturday for the AppleBarn Adventure!! We met up with Mel, Monkey, Carter, Uncle Kenny, Auntie Shannon and baby Kara




. We picked 19lbs of the tastiest apples EVER! This year we actually hit the "HoneyCrisp" apple season. There is a 2 week window to get these beauties and we nailed it this year!

Madigan got to ride a pony!!


We played on the airpillow (awesome) picked apples, went on a tractor ride, played in the playground and then came home for dinner, cake and ice cream with some Grandparents! George, Susan, Darryl, Great Granny Grace and her friend Alva came over for chinese food, and a few presents! My girls are so thankful for the gifts given to them they are really lucky little ladies!


sunday brought us to toysrus to spend some bday bucks! Maeve went with a Barbie Muskateer (obviously) and Madigan opted for one of those creepy fur real puppies! They love them!

Now, a HUGE pile of laundry has my name written all over it so i bid you adieu!

Today we went to spend some birthday bucks

Wedding!

Well this weekend we really lucked out. Not only did Erin and Don get married, the weather was gorgeous! I was scared about how cold/wet it would be by last weeks weather! Sara and I spent Erin's last night as a single lady together. They tried and tried to get me to sleep with them but I hope everyone knows how much I :

a)enjoy sleep
b) enjoy sleep by myself
c)enjoy having my own personal space to sleep!

The wedding was at Pipers' Lagoon. It was pretty beautiful. They got married almost right on the ocean. The girls did a GREAT job as flower girl! They almost painstakingly laid a trail of petals to "Help Auntie Erin find Don" ! I made it up and down the isle without barfing due to being nervous so that was nice! Sara looked gorgeous (I'm taking full props for her hair! we rawked it!) and Erin looked beautiful! I was very happy for the wedding part to be over, now I just had the nerves for the speech I had to do!! Fortunately Gary let me man up and have a shot before the big deal!


Dinner was really good. I didn't eat much (explains how fast I got drunk) I had so much time hanging out with friends and family. I think EVERYONE had a great time! Everyone looked so good! My Mom, you looked great in that pink suit! Danica, you looked so fantastic! Jason & Barb, Bro & Linds you clean up well! Mr Robin Smith cleaned up and looked pretty good in the beginning adn alth he was totally polluted at the end.. he did it with style!

All in all a great day, a great wedding and a great future for Mr and Mrs Boekenkruger!



Hopefully you look this good after being married this long!!!

So, we got the Xbox 360.....



yes, they are awesome!

Weekend Showers

Sunday Auntie Lisa threw a wonderful party for Erin and Don! Little Natalie sent a Bride and Groom baseball hat an Uncle David said a few words congratulating the couple and wishing them well on their biggest adventure yet! Gift were given, cake was eaten a great time was had by all.



The kids had a BLAST jumping on the trampoline. I'm glad their brand new dresses were soon BLACK! Madigan jumped so much and laughed so much we had to give her a conditional TO! The weather was crappy on the way there but the skies opened up and poured down some loving sunshine for Erin & Don's bridal shower.

I can't show all the pictures of the gifts received. Let me tell you, the oldest Lady at the party gave the gift with the biggest party reaction!

Tea Party!

On Friday, the girls and I were invited to a very special event. A very special tea party at the Doucette's! We arrived dressed as princesses and were treated like royalty! Lisa had a fantastic spread out for us.




First, Liam let everyone share a turn on his computer


Then, we feasted!


Then Liam, and the girls played with stuffed animals with Liam. I wasn't welcome so I only got this one shot!



I didn't grab a shot of the kids playing outside but Ronan had some projects going on out there. The kids played outside while Lisa and I (mostly I) ate all the goodies that the kids didn't. A big thank you Lisa, you throw a mean tea party!

At dinner later that night, Mrs Maeve Trump wowed us with her new look... FABOOSH BITCHES!

Happy BC Day! Today we headed out to Centennial Beach. The weather was GREAT! We ran into a few hiccups at the beginning of our journey (BC Day Parade forcing a MAYJOR detour)! We picked up a picnic lunch and brought all our beach gear to enjoy some sun, sand and surf!


Maeve looking all beachy keen. Added about a million new shells to her collection!



Beautiful Miss Madi Bee entertained the adults with her bee impression. Two badminton rackets make stunning antennae!


There were two kids that were bothering us all day. So we buried them! Muhahahahah.. just kidding the kids were all great and they had a blast! It was a great day!

Fabulous

Saw this and damned if it didn't make me smile!






Michael and I will be celebrating our own wedding anniversary tomorrow! Can you believe it was 11 years ago that you watched us get married? 11 years since someone clever wrote something on Michael's shoe thereby sealing fate? Or do you remember laughing at and crying with us on the hottest day of all time? It has been 11 Years since I married the man that I love, the man that would first give me his unconditional love and later give me the two greatest things I've ever had in my life?

Happy Anniversary Michael, I love you!

Long time no blog

Hiya.. we are all good here. HOT HOT or MOTO MOTO to all you Madagascar fans! Life, as usual, is a whirlwind. Michael is busy busy at work. I am uber busy at work. The girls are busy at daycamp. Life is cuh-ray-zee! Grandma Susie is back in BC after an Albertan hiatus. She has very kindly helped out with the girls while I work with my team to hire the rest of the staff for the new Child Development Center! It is EXCITING! The new center is going to be BANANAS! Yes, I realize I've used alot of caps today!

Tonight Michael and I had a competition. Who could draw Maeve the best. I, using my left hand and chalk as a medium, went up against Michael the artist using pencil as a medium. Maeve very patiently sat still while we drew her. I was finished way before Michael and again, I used my left hand.

After looking at both, Maeve declared a winner.... which one do you think won?







And the winner?? Me... moi.. muhahahahha I think I won because my chalk was pink!

Happy Birthday

Hi Uncle Kenny,

We sent this to you on your birthday but you couldn't see it.. soo.. here it is!

Wahh.. Maeve's last day of kindergarten! One of the Moms brought in cupcakes to celebrate her daughters summer birthday. They shared them with Madigan and Liam AND the whole class! Maeve and Ronan are SO big now!!


Maeve and Mrs Broderick! Maeve and all the kids in her class ADORE her! As sweet as she looks, I have, heard her raise her voice!


Madigan(kitty) Mrs Broderick and Maeve. I hope that Mrs Broderick will still be at this school and teaching kindergarten when it is Madigan's turn!!


Celebratory sister kiss at our congratulatory lunch out with Daddy! We all love Maeve so much and we are so proud of her!


But if the two of them ever come home this drunk again, they are going to be grounded forever!

OMG... last day of school? When the hell is this happening?

I can't believe my baby.. my baby ...is finishing up kindergarten tomorrow! How in the world has an entire school year slipped by me? How on earth have I not aged one day at all in the mean time?? At this point all I have are questions!

To thank Maeve's teacher we made this:




I just LOVE what Maeve wrote inside. She is so clever and wonderful and awesome and fantastic and smart and fun... oh god, here comes Michael to stop my rave about Maeve!!



I can't believe she'll be going into grade one next year!!! Go Maeve!

What a weekend!

Talk about whirlwind! We got to visit with the Reynolds and the Dawsons on saturday.

We hit the Red Onion for some burgers and the Play Palace because the weather was kind of blah.

The kids (young and old) seemed to like everything! We tried a new Mexican place for dinner. It was GREAT! Not the service mind you but the food was great and the kids were all GREAT! Imagine, 6 adults and 6 kids not one squabble, whine or time out! It was awesome! The boys were treated to a second round of margaritas while the ladies took the kids to Britannia park to play for a bit before heading home.



Saturday Barb, Morgan and their girls hosted a GREAT BBQ so everyone could meet up in one place with the Reynoldzes. I know I've said it so many times but it was GREAT! There were new kids there and everyone seemed to get on really really well. The big kids sort of paired off and did big kids stuff while the younger ones got to play on their enormous home play structure! it was a treat!

For Father's day, I had a babysitter (Thanks Auntie Mel) all lined up to come over and watch the girls while I took Michael out for a movie! Things changed drastically at the BBQ when we started reminiscing about the weekly LOTR Risk games in Alameda with Eric. Well, one thing led to another and it was game on.. Good (michael) vs Evil (Eric & I). There was some initial hope for me, working with my evil counterpart. Then as usual, too much evil is not a good thing and Eric began his war of attrition:




As you can probably barely see, there I was (RED) my lone General standing tall and proud. The last man standing as it were. That was until my next turn. Look carefully and see what a woman scorned can accomplish.


It was all for naught. The ring carried right on through the badlands and damned if that fat little hairy hobbit didn't hurl it into Mt Doom. Good won again.. but not next time... muhahahah... muhahahahahahahah... muhahahahahha