I have been so swamped over these last few weeks with the new puppy, it's almost like having a baby in the house and potty training her had been very difficult as both  hubby and i work full days but we are getting there. She has some behavioural problems that we are trying to work on so we went ahead and ordered a training session to break her habbits. It's kinda hard enforcing what i'm learning with the children, especially the younger one as they always just want to play and let her have her own way and when she nips at them they run and jump in the chair and Abby thinks it a game so she runs after them jumping in the chair and continue her nipping. I'm working on everyone though hoping that they will all get it and it's not just up to me.  In addtion to doing all that i was helpng Kayla get ready for her school pageant (which she won by the way i have posted some pics and videos!!!!!!!!). I had a professional photographer but i don't get those photos before tomrrow so i will post those later. She won 3 of the four segments best introduction speech, best evening wear and best question and answer.She was so excited that she couldn't contain herself she keeps smiling and says mom i want to stop smiling but i can't everytime i think about it i keep smiling. On the way home she kept talking about the pageant and about how she felt. I think that this has done alot for her confidence she now thinks she can take on the world.

 

On another note my dad got into a motorcycle accident last friday. He doesn't have any life threatning injuries but he's beat up pretty bad. He has a broken clavicle and got some 30+ stitches about his face and head(he want' wearing a helmet) the thing is he fell a few hundred feet from their home. He had been warned numerous time about that and just always says he'll be fine. He's doing good though in a bit of pain and feeling a bit uncomfortable but it's  better than being dead i would think.

 

 

Well that's about all that has happened over the last few weeks now that things  have settles some what i will try to blog more regularly

Take care for now

Today we went and got our new puupy.The girls have been so excited all day they woke before we did it was almost like christmas for them again. Abby our Lhassa Apsso mix is so cute she's just about seven weeks old. We are now teaching her about house rules and getting her settled in and comfortable.She seems to miss her mom and her brothers and sisters alot but  the girls are constatly picking her up and hugging and kissig her so she should feel right at home in no time.

                                   

This weekend was another great one.  Took the children to a Bday beach Party and they had such a great time. There was a Pinata and lots to eat and ballon animals, candy all that stuff children love. They had lots of fund in and out of the water.

 

Friday Saturday and Sunday night we went to watch the two semi finals match of the Stanford 20/20 critcket match and on Sunday we watch the finals. On Friday the 1st semi finals was between Trinidad and Barbados where Trinidad won; Saturday night was the second semi finals between defending champs Guyana and Jamaica and Jamaica defeated them.It was quite possibly the closest game of the tournament Jamaica won by one run. The Guyanese fans were devastaed some even broke down in tears while the Jamaicans had a huge celebration. In the Finals Sunday night Jamaica played a terrible game making a mere 91 runs. Trinidad after a rough start losing their first wicket for only 14 runs made a great turn around and played very well(the way thy usually do) making the 92 runs needed to win in only 9.2 overs(56 balls) the game was over but 9:30pm . After the game and the presentation ceremony  there were fireworks(probably the longest display i've ever seen) and  a concert which featured local and Caribbean Artists it was so much fun .

This past weekend was really fun we went and watched cricket for the first time during Stanford 20/20II cricket series. Not sure if anyone has heard of it or has been forllowing it this is it's second time around and it's always very exciting to watch. This is a shorter version of One Day Internationals and Test Match cricket and the teams were vying for a 1million dollar prize. There were other prizes though like the play of the match got 10,000.00 and the man of the match got 25,000.00. There was also a prizes of 10,000.00 which can be won by any spectator at any match who could catch a ball that was hit for six directly into the stands or grounds.

 

For those of you who don't know about cricket it's much like baseball.  This 20/20 version as i said is much shorter than a normal cricket match. EAch tem gets 20 overs (each over has six balls) to bat and make as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields. Instead of bases to run there are two batsmen placed on the pitch directly opposite each other (that would be the yellow area below) and infornt of the wickets (three stick sticking out of the ground with two little pieces on top which are called the stumps).

 

The bowler would bowl from where the white line stretches across the oval area. Sometime he does it from the opposite end. When a ball is bowled and the batsman hits it if it goes far enough the can try to make a run by each  running from their end to the get to the other end (within the yellow portion above) without being runout. A runout happens when the batsman is not at his wicket but the ball is thrown and directly hits the stumps or thorwn to a fielder or the keeper and they hit the stumps. If a ball is hit and it runs towrds the end of the circle (the boundary) that's four runs and if it is hit and goes over the boundary withour hopping on the pitch first that's six runs. There is an umpire on the field to assist in making decisions about someome being out ar not if it's to close to call there is a third umpire who watches the match closely on camer and is able to replay the action again and again until he can decide. batsmen can also get out if he is caught full or if the balle bowled passes him and hits his stumps, if the ball is coming towards his stumps and he puts his foot to block it (leg before wicket aka lbw).

 

This should at least give you some idea of how the game is played. So on Saturday night we watched hubbies home team (Jamaica) play and win Nevis and last night we watched my home team (Antigua) play and lose against the defending champs Guyana by only ten runs. I was very disappointed that we lost but enjoyed the game non the less and thougth that we gave Guyana a run for their money considering how well they had been playing and by all the hype there was about them. This was a real nail bitter  as when it came down to the last two balls of the last over we needed 12 runs and the only way that could happen was if the captain who played really well his both balls for sixes but unfortunately that didn't happen

 

The children really enjoyed it too they got lots of cotton candy and popcorn(i think they enjoyed that the most). There are now only three teams left to play Trinidad and Tobago who will face Jamaica and Guyana to face barbados. The winners of those two matches will meet in the finals to see who takes home the money and the bragging rights.

Yesterday was a pretty normal day. Went about my day doing what i usually do. The offices above ours are undergoing some renovations which has been driving me nuts for the last two weeks. The constatant hammering and screws being driven into the walls and the floor has been torcher. Even simple telephone conversations have become really difficult seing as how i have to keep asking the person on the other end to repeat their last word ever so often because of the noise.

 

Anyway, as i was sitting close to 3pm i started feeling a light tremor which i thought was the work going on upstairs only to find out that it was an earthquake. It started off very light and increased gradually until everything started shaking vigorously. The desks, the chairs, the filing cabinets, everything. This lasted at least a good 3-4 mins. and was very intense. A few people from the complex started running out of their offices and screaming. I had never experienced anything like that before a mild tremor once in a while but nothing that rocked me so heavily. Everyone in my office was quite calm don't know if it had anything to do with the fact they didn't want me the only female in the office to see them running and screaming like little girls.

 

All over the air waves that was the most talked about topic. People from different parts of the island started calling in on the stations saying what they experienced and what it was like for them. My children came home and they were like "mom....did you feel the quake today?............i was so scared." my younger daughter said she was standing near a water tank in the school yard and she said "mom, when i saw the tank shaking i ran away toward my teacher because i thought it was going to fall on me."

 

Listening to the news as well the quake measured i think 7.5 on the richter scale. That was the topic everywhere for the day all into this morning everyone was talking about it.

 

Have a great day all.......

I am finally getting time to sit down and talk about a hectic last couple of days. The party came off well except for one set back don't know if it was major or minor but it worked out for the better inthe end. All last week i was running around trying to get all the party things in order as mentioned before in my precious blog most of the things were already booked i needed to find a few party games and  i did. The kids suggested Simon says, guess how many, pin the tail on the donkey and a few others.

 

The day of the party we got up started making cookies and sandwiches as well as blowing up the balloons and setting out the decorations settingup the tables and chairs for partens who would be staying with their children. The guy that i rented the bounce castle from he got there bright and early around 10am and dropped it off so he would only need to comeback and set up when it was time. I then got on the phone with the guy that made the cakes so i gould go pick them up and this was around 1:30 and let me tell you he did an awesome job just see for yourself the party was at 3:00.

 

Then i tried calling the guy i made the reservation with the horses and to my disappointment he was not answering his phone i tried and tried then i think he switch it off because the 60th  time(not that i was counting or anything) i called it went straight to his voice mail. This time i was hopping mad and called the guy that referred him to me and explained my dilema only to have him tell me "oh....today is a horse racing day so i don't think tha the will be able to make it" i was like WHAT!!!! i spoke to this guy Friday and he could have told me that instead of telling me he would be there  I was so mad i just hung up before i lost it with this guy. I almost cried.....hubby had to calm me down a bit. Anyway we had to improvise a bit we got out the children's go cart and motorbike and thought that they they could get supervised rides.

 

I had to put that behind me if i wanted to get on with the decorating and catering so dispite that set back they could have a great party. Now it's party time and the children started arriving and everyone was so excited just to see the bounce castle they started jumping right away. Seeing them so excited that put  my mind somewhat at ease. I don't even think they started eating until just about time for singing happy birthday. They all started singing and it eas really great my children really enjoyed themselves and wanted to do it agin the following day.

 

After the singing and the cake eating it was time for presents. They got got really nice presents from bathing suits to board games and hand writing books dolls etc.....

Once most of the children left i started the cleaning up wow  i was so tired and sleepy as i had been on my feet from 5am .

 

At the end of the day it worked out well and everyone had a great time which i was happy for . My daughter said at school her friends kept asking her when she was going to have another party cause they loved it we all had a great day.

 

 

 

The party planning is going really good. I have already booked the cake and the bounce castle as well as the horses. I need to get together the party favors and the party bags.....i also need to get the party games in order. The children are so excited they keep asking me if they can invte all their friends and some of their teachers. My older daughter told me mom you have to buy lots  of food because their friends like to eat a lot.

 

I will have help though because my girls are really helpful ...they want to help with everything, the decorations, the food preperation, the juices the cookies everything....

Everyday we get home it's like mom can we bake a cake or mom can we bake some cookies......? they are such good little helpers even though when ever we get done i always have more work that i bargined for but, it's really good because we get some quality time together.

 

I will llet youknow how everything works out.

 

Well, need to get back to my work so...................

 

have a great day all!!!!!

Well i have my hands full over rthe next couple of weeks trying to put together a birthday party for my girls and my brothers four children all together. It is nice having just one party for all of them but putting a girl's party with a boy's can be a bit of work. My older daughter's bday is on the 22 and the younger one's bday is the 12, my brothers bday is the 11th (my brothers are twins) so i have decided to wait till all the bdays have passed and have the party on the 25th that way no one will think it's their party more than the others because it's on their bday.

 

Their party last year was great and they basically want the same thing again. They had the bounce castle and i got a guy who runs a stable to rent two of his horses so that they could have horse back rides, my neice and my brother inlaw's girlfriend did face painting and they did a really good job. They had so much fun.

 

I am really looking forward to makign this a really great party for them. I have already book the bounce castle and i'm looking into getting the horses and cakes. I'll be shopping around for party favours, then it's balloons and all other kinds of decorations and also getting tables and chairs the works. Then looking for party games suitable for all ages (ideas are welcomed). I'm just about done with the inves so that i can send them out by the end of Monday.