Happy 90th Birthday Poppy Cee

April 18th was a big day in our family.

A HUGE day.

Poppy Cee turned 90.

I was at a loss at what I could give to him 

to celebrate such a momentous occasion. 

In frustration, I reached out to an RCMP Spouses Support Group,

looking for suggestions 

on what I could possibly buy or do

that would help my grandfather understand 

how much we love him and how much this big day meant to us.

My friend Amy 

(who was posted in Fort McPherson the same time as me)

suggested that sending him 90 birthday cards would be fun,

and that she'd be happy to send one from her family.

Within seconds, 

another friend replied saying that it was a great idea

and that she'd like to send a card as well.

Within ten minutes,

my Facebook account had exploded with messages

and requests to be a part of the 90 card project.

Within a few hours,

we had well surpassed 90 cards senders

and Facebook had locked me from sending messages,

because it flagged me as possibly sending SPAM.

(That's a first!)

One the snowball started rolling and really started growing,

I started reaching out to many of my other friends 

who I met while living and traveling around the world.

Everyone was eager to jump on board and post a card to my lovely grandfather.

I had women ask if it was okay to have their family members send cards.

I had people talking about it in coffee shops, 

only to have the staff send cards.

I had people telling me about how excited they were to send a 'grandfather' birthday card,

since they no longer (or never did) have living grandparents.

Everywhere I turned, there were people asking to send a card!

One of my favorite messages came from a lady

who's grandfather would have also turned 90 this year,

but sadly passed away a while back.

Before he passed, she had purchased a birthday card

that was all about being born in 1926.

She said she doesn't know why she did, 

but she kept it in her card box over the years.

After reading my message about my grandfather's birthday,

she felt that she finally had her answer

and was so pleased to be able to dig out that card

and send it to our very own Poppy Cee.

There has been so much love involved in these cards!

More than my grandfather will ever know.

One fellow RCMP spouse even took the time

to hand-deliver her card to my grandfather on his birthday.

She enjoyed her short visit with him so much,

they we've both made plans to visit him together for a cup of tea

on my next visit to Newfoundland. 

SO much love!!

To anyone reading this that took the time 

to send a card and a little love my grandfather's way,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

xo

xo

Very happy to wish a special birthday to their great-grandfather!

Happy Birthday Poppy Cee!
We love you to the moon and back!

The Pope himself! 

A family group effort pulled through to make his house
the spectacle of the town for a day!
I love that he received so much attention on his special day!

And here's the man himself opening just a few of his mountain of cards!
xo

Elliotte Pee-A-I-G-E

So this happened!

On April 20th. 

Elliotte woke up (in my bed, ugh)

and decided that she needed to pee.

She ran to her bathroom and was calling out to me

telling me that she wanted to pee.

I went in there to take off her pjs and diaper,

but by the time I did, 

Piper had jumped on the toilet.

Elliotte was mad,

but settled for the little potty.

She didn't do anything.

But she did decide that she wanted to wear Piper's panties.

I got her a pair of her own and let her wear them 

while we waited for Piper to finish on the toilet.

(She was lingering for no good reason,

but I'm glad that she did!)

While we were waiting,

Piper yelled that Elliotte was peeing in her panties.

Yep.

She was!

I grabbed her and pulled off the panties and sat her on the little potty.

For a moment nothing happened,

but then it DID happen.

We heard rain drops!

Elliotte was SO proud of herself. 

We were all standing in the bathroom clapping and cheering

like she had just won a medal!

Hooray wee one!

Today was a BIG day for someone so SMALL!

(And she continued to rock the potty for a full week afterwards!)

We are a very proud family!

xo

xo

Rightfully applauding her big achievement!

And very VERY proud of her big girl panties.

Child Labour

This is what you do when you have two garage doors

that are in desperate need of a new coat of paint!

It was SO much fun.

All of the girls attacked this project with glee!

I've never loved my house more.

xo

xo

Doesn't Elliotte look incredibly grown up here?

I kind of felt like Tom Sawyer today. ;-)

We have the prettiest house on our street!

The big girls can write their names and are SO proud to do so!

Though it may look like I made the littles do all of the work,
here's proof that mom and dad have been hard at work too.
At least 70 yard waste bags have been filled with leaves from our backyard
and that 'hedge' on the opposite side of our driveway
is actually a pile of branches that we had to cut off of the trees
that fell and broke over the winter.

Happy Birthday Nana!

I know that Nana would love a blog post for her birthday,

so here it is!

Your girlies love you so much 

and cannot wait for your visit next month!

xo

xo

Chocolate milk face and all!

It's Nana's birthday!

Part 1.

Part 2.

Active Start-ing Early

We signed Piper up for Active Start again this year.

Because the ground is still wet and it's cold outside,

the Spring session is offered inside of a school.

Last night was our first night.

The program is designed for 3-5 year olds,

so we couldn't' sign Elliotte up this year,

but she came along to watch...

or so we thought.

As soon as they called the kids over to sit in a circle,

Piper ran over.

Elliotte went to follow her, 

but I called her back and told her that it was just for the big kids.

Well poor little Elliotte's heart broke in half.

She started to cry such a sad sad cry with big tears.

Piper immediately stood up and abandoned the kids in the circle

in order to stand with her little sister and comfort her.

When the 'teachers' called out to ask Piper if she wanted to join them,

I explained that her little sister was crying, so she didn't know what to do.

That's when they asked if Elliotte would like to join them.

I made sure that they didn't mind (which they didn't),

and then asked Elliotte if she would like to go with Piper

to sit with the other kids.

I wish I had a video of her reaction.

Joy.

Just pure joy as she grabbed her big sisters hand

and then ran as fast as they could to join the other kids!

There was a joint 'ahhhh' and laughter coming from all of the other

parents that were watching.

It was adorable. 

From that moment on Elliotte was in her glee!

She took part in every activity and tried her very best to keep up with the big kids.

If she started to lose interest in what they were doing,

she would look back at me and wave.

Then she would run over to where we were sitting, 

stand in front of each of us and wave until we waved back.

(There were four of us! Mark, myself and his parents.)

This running and waving took place about a dozen times

and it never got old. 

Just cuter.

Parents sitting next to me kept laughing at her

and told me that they think she was having more fun than anyone else!

It was so sweet to watch.

And Piper did great helping Elliotte at first, 

and then joining in on her own later.

She's pretty darn good at balancing a beanbag on her head!

Just saying'. ;-)

I'm so proud of my girls and how much fun they had last night!

Often times is really is just the little things...

xo

xo

All the kids in circle time. 

There are my TWO big girls. 

Here they are pretending that their legs are scissors.
Watching Elliotte try to keep up with the big kids was too funny!

Elliotte is probably on her way over to us for a hand wave right here.

And there's our big girl mastering that beanbag on her head!

Porcelain Princesses

Most people are content to read a magazine while sitting on the toilet.

How lucky is Piper to always have someone to read along with her? :-)

These two really are little buddies!

xo

xo

Dressed to Impress

New dresses from Nanny and Poppy!!

The girls love them.

xo

xo

Thank you Nanny and Poppy Lynch!