Walking like Grammy

Just found this video of the girls walking like Grammy.  The one day Allie said, "Grammy let me show you how you walk," and then did this.  Another night she said, "Grammy why don't you try walking like a normal person."  Good thing my mom isn't easily offended by her grandkids.

Untitled from Heather Parsons on Vimeo.

One smart cookie Brailie

This is a video of Brailie saying her name, her address, her phone number, what country she lives in and then the Pledge of Allegiance (which she kinda gotta tired of speaking in the mic by the end).  At the end she said, "go army" which is what all the basketball girls do at the end of the pledge since the former assistant coach has gone to war and he always used to say that too.

The annual Easter Egg Dying

I'm not going to lie-I was not really in the mood for Easter festivities this year and I am also not going to lie-the things I did do I did with only part enthusiasm.  It was a holiday that just crept up on me and though I wanted to do a bunch of cute stuff I didn't feel I had the time, energy or money to do it.  My girls are amazing in the fact that they are thrilled with so little and happy with plain and simple and so I sometimes find myself saying, "why even go to all the work when they really will be happy with...." and that is what I did with Easter this year.  I did feel we should dye eggs though I think egg dying is really an activity for older kids.  I cooked a dozen eggs, bought the kit and put the set up outside.  They each dyed (or rather tossed their 6 eggs) into some and all of the cups of dye, they dried, we threw on a few stickers and done and happy.

When I was little and my mom would boil the eggs for Easter if one happened to explode in the process we were all the more happy because that became the "Alien" egg and it was fun to see how it would look after being dyed.  Allie chose the Alien egg from our batch too.  He looked good in blue

and purple

And green.

See what I mean-thrilled and we didn't even do a fancy thing.

Almost 4 Pictures

I wanted to try and get a few pictures to use for birthday invitations to Allie's 4th birthday party coming up so I decided to take a few shots at the park.  She wasn't really thrilled about the idea but I ended up getting some cute ones just the same.  I didn't end up using them but they are a treasure to have.

Dad's 80th Birthday Party

I had good intentions of taking lots of pictures are my dad's birthday party but then I got wrapped up in meat cutting, and veggie tray making and setting out food that I didn't get more than a couple.  We had intended to have a big party at the Rabbit Lake hall which is what we had for my uncle Henry when he turned 80 but soon we realized that my dad would just not be up for that so we just invited the closest neighbors and friends to our house.  We ended up with 30 or so people and it was the perfect amount.  The food was great and my dad stayed awake for the whole thing and was really touched by it all.  My whole family-every member was there for it and that was really nice too (that only happens about once every 2 years maybe).

This was the guest book-we included the mandolin used by my dad and aunt as part of their band as well as some old sheet music and a music composition book that belonged to my dad.  We had guests write a memory about dad on a card as well and that was kind of fun and I know he appreciated them.

On the tables we had old western producer magazines.  I bought them at an auction long ago and they are the perfect decoration for these types of things as my dad and my uncle have read the western producer for as long as I can remember and probably before that.  It was cool because one of the papers was from 1937 and it had the headline that a girl named Amelia Earhart had gone missing in a plane accident.  Cool huh.  We also had paper sacks of shelled peanuts which are another Konopelski staple.

This was Jakob waiting for supper and a little snitch of peanuts.

Greg models the birthday hats that a neighbor brought.

Here is Grandpa Sam with all his grandchildren.  Jakob and Andrew were not in any mood for pictures but I wanted to have at least one picture of my dad from the whole trip.

After the party we sat around as a family and discussed future events-funerals, taking care of my mom, division of belongings etc.  It wasn't really an uplifting conversation but one that needed to take place and might not ever have been done again so I am glad we did it.

Uncle Steven with energy

Uncle Steven

Allie and Brailie did not know that Greg was coming to pick us up but they did know that Uncle Steven was coming and they were so excited-especially Allie.  Even after Greg got there she was still super excited about Uncle Steven being there.  It is probably because he is the best uncle in the world.  The girls don't have any other uncles that treat them the same way he does.  He makes them feel like they walk on water and he plays with them non-stop.  He had energy left when everyone else was exhausted.  He read stories, played dolls, wrestled, danced, played tag, maybe goofy faces and voices.  It was the best for the girls.

Wrestling with Uncle Steven

Exploring the basement with Uncle Steven.  What other uncle would put on all that stuff?

The night before we had to leave Allie was pretty bummed out that we had to go.  In her prayer she said (with  a pouty face and sniffles inserted in just the right places), "Dear Heavenly Father, I'm sad because I don't want to go home and I don't want to leave Uncle Steven and I am sad and I want to stay."  Isn't that just the cutest thing.  Kids know when someone makes them feel like a million bucks.

Polka Dancing

While at home the girls were in the basement exploring with Grammy (and let me tell you there is plenty to explore down there) and they came across our childhood record player.  My mom brought it up and put new batteries in it and the thing played like a dream-I mean it had amazing quality of sound (that goes to tell you that toys of the past were built to last).  So we tested out many different old records.  Allie's favorite was "Maneater" but one night I convinced her to play a polka record for Grandpa Sam because that is his favorite music.  He didn't hardly move the whole time but I did see his foot tap slightly to the beat.  I wished with all my heart he would have just jumped off that couch and did his classic bob and bounce just like he used to every sat night while washing dishes and listening to the old time dance party.  I listened to a talk recently about the healing power of music and I wonder if a even 15 minutes a day of polka music wouldn't do him some good.  Probably wouldn't want it on his own-wish we would have found the record player sooner while home.

Canada Catch Up

Trying to catch up on Canada posts.  Here are a few random pictures.

Both girls in piggy tails with their purses-it is rare that I have two kids with their hair done.

Always a goofy face picture

Girls modeling their new rubber boots that Grammy bought them after they did a bunch of odd jobs.  I told her I didn't just want them to get the boots because they are cute but that they needed to work for them and they both did jobs for over a couple of weeks to earn the boots.

And this-my willow chair I made in High School when I was an apprentice for a master artist-it is now officially for sale.  I can't bring it across the border because it has bark on it so it has to stay in Canada and it has just been collecting dust in my parents house so I am selling it.  I have two more that I made myself for sale as well. 

Grammy's Famous Dress Up's

I say Grammy's favorite dress ups because everyone has tried on her dress ups at some point (at least if you are a member of the branch in North Battleford).  We got them out for the girls one evening and I was skeptical they would even want to put them on but they actaully wanted to try a little bit.

Allie trying on the wizzard costume.  She loved this one.

 

Allie as a court jester

Allie as I am not sure what but it involved a twirly skirt.

I am not sure what this is either-or why we even had this shirt in our costume box but Brailie looked really cute in the wig.

Brailie as a scarecrow/mickey mouse with shades.