I eat Smarties by colour

It's true. Any colour-differentiated snack food. I dump them all out. Line them up according to colour. Say there's 10 red and 5 green and 3 blue. I will eat the red and green ones until they match up equally with the blue, then I will alternate. Does this mean I need psychological help? Nah. It just means I'm not very fun at parties. Heyo.

One fun thing I did lately: Val gave me some iTunes money for my birthday and I spent a good long while simply listening to random songs and buying whichever one I loved. It was strangely liberating and I recommend everyone do it.

There are going to be a lot of pictures in this post. I should be more judicious with my photo selection but I can't help it. All the things I'm going to talk about have many good/fun pictures associated with them. So sit back and enjoy scrolling.

The weather's been lovely lately. Here's Madeline and her elaborate tea party. It's one of our favourite summer pastimes, but they always seem to devolve into water fights.



We had a fun trip to Calgary to welcome Zach home from his mission and say goodbye to Adam before he goes on his.

Claire and I having breakfast.


Adam, the man of the hour, the life of the party. We'll miss you! Of course I didn't get a picture of Zach, but we'll be seeing lots of him when he comes back up here for school.


Uncle Doug's new hobby! It was a big hit.


The minute she put on Emma's bracelets, out came the hip swagger.


YUM


Mel and Nat, and part of Dad's head as he attempts a photo bomb.


Oh Ryan.


What's with the men in this family being so facially creative in their photos?


And strangely enough, Brandon looks totally normal in this one. But I've heard he has been known to pull faces in the past so he'll fit in just fine.


Chilling on the floor.



We spent our last official GRIT day at Galaxyland on the rides. Luckily Lisa is helping us during the summer so we don't have to say goodbye...yet.

Claire and Lisa on the merry-go-round



Madeline made sure she picked a horse with jewels.


Claire *loved* the roller coaster. They almost didn't let her on, but thankfully Lisa is a good advocate!



CANADA DAY! My favourite holiday.

Ready for the parade!


Playing the piano at Auntie Steph and Uncle Greg's house before heading out. Their piano is so much better because the keys light up!


The girls and I at the parade.


Madeline wasn't excited at all.


Neither was Claire.


A fun shot from the silly summer parade.


After the parade, we had a picnic for Canada Day and for Steph's birthday!

Traditional Canada Day family picture


The park picnic turned into a backyard picnic, due to the copious amounts of food provided by mom!


Jumping with Auntie Mel


The "over the shoulder" pose.


Enjoying the beautiful day.


Rob's a natural.


Claire has such a lovely, genuine smile. I love it.


Mug shot


Happy Birthday Steffers!

Madeline was in there like a dirty shirt. She can always be counted on to "help" with candles.


Ryan trying out Steph's bday present. Look at Rob's face. Classic.



Then came fireworks at the park.

If you're going to pose like this, I'm going to post it.


Where's Waldo?


Ry and Rob being cool.


Claire was tickling Grandpa. On the face.


My cute little Claire and Grandma waiting for the fireworks to start.


Licorice tongue!


Patiently waiting for it to get dark enough.


KABOOM! The fireworks were awesome!



This is a picture from Father's Day, but I just wanted to illustrate her blue eyes. Where did those come from?