Makin' A Splash

Happy Canada Day!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather (i.e. - not cloudy or muggy and nary a thunderstorm in sight) to bring Liliane to the wading pool at the park across the street. Her first dip! As with all of her firsts, we felt obliged to commemorate the occasion by taking a gazillion photos...

It was totally fun chillin' with all the other Mamas and kids and the the water is very refreshing! The pool is open every day from 10:30 to 4:30 so I can see a trip to the pataugeoire becoming a daily activity... THIS is the fun part of being a stay-at-home Mom!

Today was also the day that we went to visit our friends Eric and Tina to finally show them their wedding video. If I haven't bored y'all to death with this already, let me remind you of a few salient facts:

-Eric and Tina got married in California in May of 2007 (LAST YEAR).

-Stéphane and I took a holiday to California, attended the wedding, had a blast.

-Eric made OUR wedding video (which is amazing) so we naturally promised to do the same for him - we just couldn't tell him WHEN they might see it since I was pregnant and all...

-TODAY, July 1, 2008, Eric and Tina screened their wedding video and this was their reaction:

Two thumbs up!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you make the people wait long enough for something, they HAVE to like it. Or their standards are certainly lower. Or something like that. Anyway, it was a hit and I had the immense joy of crossing that particular item off my big list. Phewf.

Besides watching the video, we were treated to a delicious feast that Tina cooked for us and we used Liliane's portable booster/high chair for the first time. I LOVE it! I'm already scheming to get rid of the cumbersome (albeit lovely) highchair currently taking up precious space in my kitchen...

Speaking of precious... how cute is my daughter in these photos?

Stéphane was the champion photog of the day which is why you don't see his handsome face in any of these pictures... Merci beaucoup mon amour! I did get him in this one:

But that was it.

Today I also managed to snag myself some new earrings! Tina makes jewelry (as if there weren't enough reasons to love her) and you can see all her designs for yourself on her blog. I had spotted these yummy little dragonflies a while ago and she surprised me with them as a gift! Happy early birthday to me...

I was also coveting these vintage lilies, so I bought them for myself. Sorry future Etsy customers! Go to her site and git yer own while you can!

Tina cooks, Eric cleans. A classic combination.

Liliane had a great time and was a superstar despite a spotty nap record today.

I am only posting this photo because it is flattering of me. I'm not kidding people, I take what I can get these days. Plus Liliane is cute.

And that was our day! It's sweltering hot here in front of the computer so I will be retiring shortly to the air conditioned coolness of the bedroom. Tomorrow is our first day of camp so here's hoping that we meet some fun people! I'll keep you posted.

How I Spent My Holiday Weekend

And that's only part of it! Why are we scrubbing the brick wall outside of our window and taking pictures of our airconditioner and it's oh-so-sightly water-draining contraption? The short answer is: we have CRAZY landlords. CRAZY. They stopped in on Friday and we had a big fight with them because they don't like how we installed our air conditioner. The special funnel/plastic hose combo was a result of last year's spat when they claimed that water was streaming out of our air conditioner and ruining the brick wall and practically drowning their daughter who lives on the main floor. This year, we didn't install the plexiglass in the right spot because rain might seep into the brick via the METAL windowframe if we don't move it. Can you say paranoid delusion? Stéphane and I were both overtired from tough weeks at work and I admit, my hormones were a little out of control, so it turned into a big fight. We have been living at our place for 9 years and have been exceptional tenants so it's discouraging to be continually treated like our main goal in life to destroy their property. Their general attitude is that we should just be happy that we get to live here and therefore comply with whatever random, crackpot notion they get into their fuzzy grey heads. Like that we should not leave the hallway light on all day in case the lighting fixture gets too hot. That's my personal favorite. Especially since WE pay the electric bill! I put an end to that idea pretty quick let me tell you.

Anyway, we know that it's just not worth it to fight them on this so we took apart the whole thing, cleaned off all the tape residue, bought some TSP and Stéphane scrubbed the brick to hopefully improve that situation. Then we reattached last year's funnel/hose contraption and Stéphane had to go buy more Plexiglass plus the special Plexiglass cutting knife because no one will actually cut Plexi for you. Now we know why! It's a totally maddening, frustrating, inexact procedure! I enjoyed the part where I got to squeeze clear caulking over everything to make sure none of that evil rain would get in and after spending at least 10 hours on the whole thing, we finally finished at around 5 today. What a way to spend a weekend! Not just doing the work but feeling resentful towards our landlords for being such jerks in general.

ANYWAY, besides all that we had a lovely BBQ dinner last night at Julie and Joyce's. I brought my camera and completely forgot to take pictures. My contribution was to bring rhubarb crisp and I have to say it was delish! I also found time to get a much-needed massage (thanks Julie!) and Stéphane helped our friend Eric move to his new condo. I have everything I need to make delicious Quebec strawberry freezer jam but I chose to update my blog instead :)

BABY NEWS: Last Wednesday night while lounging around watching TV I was really feeling the little kiddo moving around so I put Stéphane's hand on my tummy and he felt her! Then we saw my tummy move - twice! Very trippy. I took this picture:`

I'm 25 weeks along - only 15 more to go!

Well, time to get to bed. I'm turning 33 tomorrow and after this weekend, I really need to get a lot of sleep!