So We Thought We Could Dance

Over the weekend, my inlaws hosted a giant Luau out at their ranch.

About 120 people attended, to help celebrate our big family reunion, and my awesome father-in-law's belated 60th birthday. Being awesome obviously runs in his family, because they all travelled to Calgary from far and wide to help make the weekend extra special.

We had a pig roast, and an amazing feast that pretty much made pigs out of us all, a giant fire pit area, band, tropical flowers and tiki torches all over the property, a huge bouncy house/games area for the little kids, and an even larger bar area for the big kids, and lots of entertainment. Even after it started pouring rain at about 10pm, most of us crammed our mai taied buns and becoconutted bras into the house and partied on.

Here are a few snapshots from the evening:


Ashley, Aria, me, Chelsey & Lindsay, doing a hula dance in honour of my FIL. I think our poorly rehearsed dance angered the hawaiian gods, as it started pouring rain immediately after we finished.



Shakin' what our mammas gave us



Our sweetie employee/friend/babysitter, Niki, and I. She has many leather bound books, and her apartment smells of rich mahogony.



My cute husband drank about a thousand drinks, and then was busted smoking.



This is Robb holding up one of our other employee/friend/babysitters, Amanda, who was, by far, the drunkest person at the luau. Come to think of it, many of our babysitters enjoy the sauce. Maybe our kids have driven them to it.



I'd say the night was definitely a success.

Yeah, I've barely written all summer, I know..... oh hey, here are more movies!

So, I know I haven't written much lately, I've mostly been caught up with playing outside, doing laundry, being emotional, drinking to excess, doing laundry, turning to mush from hearing "mamama" in triplicate, trying to keep three tasmanian devils from breaking any bones, and doing laundry. Seriously, I loathe all of this godforsaken laundry. It's a thankless, unsatisfying job that never ends. I think hell is probably some kind of large, cold, smelly laundromat. Not only have I been neglecting this site, but I have been working on the same book, (from lovely Sweetsalty Kate, thankyouverymuch,) for about 3 months now. At the rate I'm going, I should finish it about three lifetimes from now, when I am reincarnated as someone who knows how to manage her time.

So for now, if anyone is still here, please enjoy these home movies:

Life for Ruby & Lily at 15 months old revolves around high speed staggering, climbing anything that looks unstable, reading and throwing books, tandem cuddling, talking in sweet, creaky, angel baby voices, and squealing so loudly that people in Antigua are getting headaches. But, looky how cute and smooshy!




For Piper, life at 3 and a half is all about Ballamina School, and all things associated with it in any way, which is pretty much everything. Tuna sandwich? Why YES, that would be a perfect lunch to bring to ballamina school. Hollowed out cow skull, you say? Halleluja- I've been looking for something to keep my ballamina dresses in! I enrolled her in a kiddie ballet class next month, and it is bigger than Christmas for her.

So THAT'S my natural hair colour...

This is my 6th Grade class picture, from Nova Scotia. It's funny how clearly I can remember a lot of these kids. Can you find me?

(Hint: my shirt could be seen from space.)



Also- the first boy I ever kissed is in this photo- He was a spin the bottle champion. Care to venture a guess?

If you can also pick out my best friend, my 6th grade nemesis, and the class brain, I will send you a prize. A good one.

This week in good kids and bad photography

Her Majesty in Blue, Princess Piper Lola, and her BFF, Lady Zoe of Tiaraland


Ruby coming


Ruby going


The saddest ballerina in all the land


Tree monkeys in their natural habitat

Park or Bust


Elfin Lily


"... and that's what Dostoevsky was trying to convey in his Notes from Underground."


Peekaboo- stop taking my damn picture.


Summer grin



p.s.- To "shaun" who commented last week, who also has twins named Ruby & Lily, almost the same age: If you have a blog- pretty PUHLEEEEEZE share it with me! I am dying to see and hear about your girls too!

I can always lend myself a cup of sugar

I met our new next door neighbours today.

The husband came over to borrow a few things as they were moving in, and we started chatting. They are a young couple, like us, and it looked like they had at least one young child, judging by the carseat. The guy was very nice, and we were talking about our houses, as we have the exact same interior layouts, ( along with almost identical cars and appliances.) I gave him a tour, and we continued to chat.
He tells me that he and his wife have a three and a half year old daughter, just like us. "Hurrah, a friend for Piper!" I think. Then I tell him about Ruby & Lily, and he asks me how old the twins are, and I tell him 15 months old. HE ALSO HAS TWIN DAUGHTERS, who are also 15 months old. He continues to chat, telling me that they had planned the exact same basement development we have, and the whole time I was thinking, "WHO CARES, man. We have the EXACT SAME CHILDREN, living in the same houses. we are either going to be the best of friends, or be too alike to stand each other. We are basically living next door to ourselves.

This has all the makings of a really good Twilight Zone episode.