Part 3 (a)

Back to what my blog was originally about! Have a finish to share. Totally finished 'cake ' from CCN . Only have one more to go and then I will frame them for my kitchen which was painted on the Canadian long weekend. So my bare wall needs filling.

Now for my 'Christmas in July 'piece. I saw this on the ABC needlework therapy retreat header finished as a decorated cube and couldn't wait to make one myself. I just love the soft fabric that is flecked with gold.Excuse the dark picture. Since I took the pic I have stitched some more so will update later in the week.

Can never seem to place my pics right like so many other bloggers can . Lastly I stitched these Christmas silverware holders years ago for my Mom and am going to change George to Grampa and Mom to Elisabeth to fill in the missing holders as I haven't seen these around in years.

So that is my stitching finally to show.I hope to stitch on 'Lo' this week too as Lee is finished her sampler ( for weeks now!)

Part 2

Well when I last left off I had been to Montreal with the grade 8 class. The following weekend we attended my brother Peter's wedding to Aimee in Windsor Ontario. It started off with a family dinner at the Tecumseh Roadhouse where we got to meet a lot of Aimee's family that we didn't know . I will never trust mapquest again as we got lost with their directions and had to phone for help . Anyhow all went well and the wedding was held in Aimee's parents beautiful backyard and then on to the reception at a local restaurant.

Here we all are. Aimee has two sons Josh 19

and Jonah 14 who also has special needs.I am the one in the black dress. I had hoped to find a more colourful dress for this lovely occasion but was unsuccessful .

So after that lovely day we headed back home the next day to prepare for June 28th , Elisabeth's grade 8 graduation. What can I say , I thought she looked just beautiful and the whole ceremony and evening was great. She received the special education advisory commitee award from our school board. The speech that the lady from the board read was the longest one of the night and Elisabeth was thrilled. She has

done a lot to mentor two younger girls in the school with special needs so this was the icing on the cake for all her accomplishments at the school for the last three yrs.Now she goes on to high school and she can hardly wait even though she will miss everyone at elementary school .We got her dress in Tuscon AZ when we were there at March break . So as of June 25th my little whippersnapper is at Easter Seals camp outside of London Ontario. She waited all year to go to this wonderful camp and was the driving force to get there . Lots of tears when I left though so I have spent the last two nights a bit sleepless. Just got a call from the camp that she is having a wonderful time and has signed up for sledge hockey to try it out . Go girl!! So I can rest easy tonight. Will post part 3 to tell you about our trip away from July 10-21 and then finally will have some Christmas in July stitching to show and a find! Thanks for visiting!

Bonjour( where I have been part 1)

Well as July heads on in full throttle heat mode in the greater Toronto area ( or GTA as us locals call it)I am finally getting back to let those who are interested know what I have been up to for the past two months since Iblogged last. This will involve a series of posts as there have been numerous events and at the end I will share some so called Christmas in July stitching.

On May 30th my daughter Elisabeth had a wonderful day celebrating the opening of our Maplegrove United Church elevator. This was a yr long project that involved a whole new entrance , elevator , air conditioning and new accessible bathrooms and floors and many more additions too numerous to mention. For the 11 yrs she has been attending the church

, 9 have been spent with her being carried up stairs by many strong men . On the celebration day she made a speech thanking all of these hearty souls . Well there was not a dry eye in the church that was filled to capacity for the celebration . She received a standing ovation and her proud mother , father and brother were again reminded that

yes one little ( big) soul can make a difference in this world as the church had been debating putting in an

elevator for 20plus years.

Now the church is accessible to all and she can now invite some of her friends that are in w/c's to watch her dance or just attend church with her.

The week of June 1st was Elisabeth's dance recital , she takes part in a musical theatre group and they performed a medley of 'Lion King' songs. Also she is in the Spirit Moves dance liturgical dance company . So she had two numbers in four shows with 2 rehersals so it was a long week with the special athletes track meet thrown in . Her last in elementary school .

Here is her beautiful costume from the musical theatre number, the other

girls wore red, yellow , peach, it was just a beautiful sight , and a pic from the track meet.

Can't forget my DS who rode 50 km in the Becel ride for heart and with his team ' Passing Fancy ' raised over $1000.

So I thought after all this excitement there would be a lull but no the fun continued with my trip to Montreal Quebec on June 16-18th with Elisabeth's grade 8 class. I couldn't figure out how they could make the trip in such a short time but after spending 3 full days with 41 grade 8 students I was more than ready to come home . Just to let you know what it is like to travel with a w/c . The coach bus arrived at 8:30 am for our departure but didn't depart until 10:30 as the driver didn't have a clue how to work the w/c lift that had been planned for since fall of 2009( 10 whole months ago!!!!!) Well with the principal who was going on the trip and some other great

folks they managed to work it and we got away in the day long pouring rain ! Making all our destinations on time ( what they were going to do with the two extra hours with 41 excited students is beyond me ) I must say no one complained which made DD and I more than happy . To make a long story short Montreal is a wonderful city and I hope to go back in the near future.Here is a pic of DD and I at the Olympic stadium where the games were held in 1976. When I was a teen I saw a baseball game there but hadn't been back since. Today it is used for concerts, swimming , championship diving , fitness center . It has a huge elevator that we rode up in and got a wonderful view of the city.The other activities included visiting a sugar shack, and on the last day going to circus school which was Elisabeth's fav.

So that concludes part 1 of what I have been up to . I will post in a few days of the rest of the story as I can't believe all the things that have gone on in two months.

Thanks so much for stopping by.