didn't smack the Mac

I am sloooowly figuring out this Mac stuff. I am a child of the 70s after all- the first computer I used was when we had one at school in the 3rd grade, and it took up the space of an entire room. I even learned to type on an actual TYPEWRITER. So, being as archaic as I am, it may take some time to get my head around this. Thanks to all of you who so kindly offered tips and advice, and generally just commiserated with me as my tantrum played itself out. I haven't gotten to editing photos yet, nor have I figured out how to organize my pictures within iPhoto, but I have achieved the Minimum Standard by learning how to post pictures here, so from now on it is my goal to take perfect photos not requiring alteration and all will be well, right?

So, just thought I would pop in and say hi and show you a bit of what I am up to lately. To get right down to business, life seems to revolve around these 3 little gremlins:

(Mother's Day 2012)

I was operating under the misconception that once we bypassed the diaper-changing, shoe-tying, meat-cutting stage of babies and toddlers, life was going to get EASIER. Well, let me clear that one up: it does not. Sure, in some ways it does. We can go to the park and I can sit on a bench rather than hovering over the kids at arms length. I can turn my back to make dinner or go fold a load of laundry without worrying they will aspirate a toy or color the walls with marker. But we still have many sleepless nights with kids in our beds, bedtime is later so there is little to no "me" time in the evening and certainly no nap times to regroup. Add homework and their 3 very active social/activity schedules, not much time! Maybe that explains the lack of crafty production over here!

That said, I love watching my kids doing the things they love. So, while we spend many-an-hour at the rink, dance studio or soccer field, it is great to see them working hard to achieve goals, and having fun. And spending that many hours with great kids and parents, it kinda is MY social life, as well!

Mid-May we had a long weekend as we celebrated Victoria Day in Canada. This is the official start of summer up here- affectionately referred to as "May long." Now, we Canucks may only get 3 months of decent weather up here, but we worship it, and do it up right. So, cottages were opened, tents and trailers pulled out, BBQs lit- good times.

Our family is still short one storm-busted cottage...looks like it is going to have to be torn down due to the damage from last May's storm. But, we can't waste another summer! So, we decided to invest in a travel trailer, one that can be used to tow around now but then is big enough that we can park it at the lake in a year or two when the rebuilding phase begins out there. So, this May long, off to the lake we went!

Now, Manitoba, our province, happens to be stuffed full of fantastic lakes- over 100,000, if you can believe it! So, for our maiden voyage, we only had to travel 15 minutes to our nearest Provincial Park, Bird's Hill. We set up camp....and spent our first 24 hours int the trailer due to a crazy rain storm. Which caused a mini flood in the trailer (perhaps all this flooding is due to the fact that I am an Aquarius and married a Pisces??). But, soon enough the sun came out, we dried ourselves off and headed outside.

Marshmallows were roasted. S'mores were inhaled.


Games were played.


Kids went swimming. Yes, they did. Yes, it was only 16 degrees outside, and God knows what in the water.

Dads worked hard at supervising.

Even did a bit of knitting!

Overall, a good weekend :)

Then a busy week followed....a great night with a bunch of local girlfriends with a Norwex/Partylite party (no photos taken, but much wine ingested). Then the usually smattering of hockey, soccer and dance, a field trip at school, the annual school folk dance festival, and so on. This weekend we had the summer carnival at out local community club. The family had a blast on the rides, we did some volunteering, saw plenty of friends and neighbours, and the kids danced the night away in the beer tent to the band.
This weekend is busy again- Big G is off to Fargo, ND with the hubs for a hockey tournament, the girls and I are home to enjoy their year end dance recital and Last But Not Least's preschool graduation and summer concert.

So, as you can see, life is trucking along, and if I am not here as often as I would like, know that I will pop in from time to time. I have a few quilts planned to finish in the next month or so, intended as gifts, and a sweater getting to the finish line, but really, most of the time I am just living life, trying to keep up with all it throws my way, and dreaming of sewing times to come!

I did have a few blissful hours on my new Juki! To sum it up: I love it. One of the best parts? It is So Simple. It does one thing, and it does it well- straight stitch. There are no computer program thingies or complicated set ups, just stitches in a straight line with amazing tension, working quietly and quickly. I did a bit of piecing and did some free motion quilting on a baby quilt (until I ran out of thread. Sigh). It was just wonderful. I can't wait to get a chance to pull it out again!

Hope you all are well! Happy June!
Kristie :)