Colette
Girl's Night!! This was such a fun evening! It was really nice to get out and experience something different for a change. I love hanging out with my friends no matter what we do, but this was a blast! We met at Marcy's, and then met up with Tricia Price and Ginny Tambre in Burnaby. From there we headed in to Vancouver to the Commodore Ballroom. The place was pretty packed and we found a table, but decided to go wait up at front stage for the show to start. We ended up standing there for about 3 hours before Colbie came out. There were a couple shows before her, Andy Davis was one of them. He was pretty good, the other guy...not so good. There also was this drunk lady that was driving me insane, but it all made for a fun night. Colbie was really great live. I hadn't listened to her very much before this night, but her music is pretty catchy. After the show, our feet hurt and we were really hungry so we hit up a Wendy's and placed 7 different orders!!! They got them all right! hahaha By the time I got home, it was about 2am. Long, but awesome night! I would do it again!!
All the ladies, but Ginny and Tricia!
Me and Amberlee
Andy Davis
All the ladies again, but Kathy...I think she's taking the picture?
Colbie Caillat
Colette
We always love going to a Pumpkin Patch, usually The Apple Barn here in Abbotsford, to pick apples every year. The kids love it and it always give me a sense of gratification and gratitude for this beautiful earth we have and our surrounding area. It's also a really great way to welcome in the fall!! We usually go with Irene and her family, sometimes some friends come along as well! We only pick about as much as I would buy from the grocery store, and I also pick up some fresh apple cider, and maybe a few fresh made goodies or treats from the farm market.
I think the kids' favorite part is tasting the yummy apple fresh from the tree!!
Here is Mason with our spoils. A whopping 5 pound bag!!! Looks heavy!
Summer really enjoyed touching the apples and tromping around in the orchard. So cute!
Colette
Summer turned 1 in June, and unfortunately, our funds have been on the low end and we haven't been able to pay to have Summer's portraits done professionally. So I busted out my camera and was able to snag a few amazing pictures of her as a one year old!!
***Caution: The following photos have been known to induce tears, feelings of deep love, and an overwhelming dose of cuteness. Viewer discretion is advised.***
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Summer: Adventurous
Summer: Serious
Summer: Goofy
Summer: Beautiful
Colette
Okay, so it's been over a month since my last post!! Over the past 2 months or so, my lovely, sweet computer has been doing some pretty weird stuff. So I got really scared because we've had the computer for 3 years now and I have thousands upon thousands of pictures and LOTS of home videos as well that I have never backed up! All these precious memories just sitting on my computer, vulnerable and unsafe. So I was feeling
particularly scared one morning and raced out to Future Shop. I purchased an external hard drive with 1
terabyte of space on it. I lovingly brought it home and
immediately backed up my pics, videos and all other important documents on my computer. Well, I must have been inspired because only a few weeks after backing it all up my hard drive suffered a massive failure and packed it in. Dead. Totally useless. So we lost our operating system as well and Microsoft Office. After about a week we finally found a hard drive and all other parts and software we needed to get things up and running. Currently we are running, but at an EXTREMELY slow pace. I don't know much about the internal workings of a computer, but apparently (according to my knowledgeable brother who has helped us through this
trauma) we have a rather pathetic computer with basically no RAM. So I had bought Windows Vista with a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it comes out. But because we have no RAM, Vista is unbearably slow. So for now, this will be my update post. I couldn't possibly try and upload any pictures right now. Even opening up the
Internet takes a good 2 minutes!!! So until we get some new RAM, my major catch up will have to wait. :( Sad
cuz I got some good stuff!! But soon. Hopefully soon. Yes...I love technology...
Colette
Back to Preschool for Mason (2
nd year) and
Ronan's official 1st day of school!
Mason is a pro at preschool. Before he was old enough, he had spent a year going to drop
Ronan off and it was always a fight to get him out of there, then finally it was his turn!! The boys spent all of last year together in Preschool at Creative Edge School of Arts. They did so well together, I have to admit I was unsure as to how Mason would cope without his older brother there to keep him company! Well, I guess all the time he has spent there and with that routine, he had no worries. We dropped him off and he said goodbye and settled in at one of his favourite play centers, and that was it! I'm excited to see him learn to manage socially on his own!
Ronan's school, Mountain Elementary, has a very minimal staggered entry. Yesterday we had a one hour session together, today, it's cold turkey! He goes all by himself today, no mommy to keep him company. It's only for an hour and with half of his class mates. It will be like this for a week, then they will combine all the kids for an hour and a half for 2 days, then it's the full 2 1/2 hour block with everyone. He was pretty nervous, but I assured him that I would be waiting outside for him and not to worry. He did FABULOUS!! I did too for that matter! No tears from either party!
Colette
Enough said right?! I have anxiously been waiting for this day since Ronan was born. I LOVE to see my kids learn and grow and thrive in life. For me, and as for most people, education is super important, and so, to finally be entering this new era of life is very exciting!
All through the Summer prior to his first day I began to feel that feeling of wanting to stop time, to hold on to my little baby as tight as I could. I didn't think I would have these feelings, but they crept up on me. I was still excited for Kindergarten, but sometimes (usually when I was on my own) I was overwhelmed with the loss of my baby. It is so official, so definite, such a turning point in both of our lives. He is no longer my
Ronan-cakes (he hates it when I call him that now!!
hahaha) It's such an important and amazing step and as sad as I am to see him "go" I am so happy for him. He is so grown up and handsome!
His first day was only an hour long, we got to check out his school, the music room, the K-classrooms, the Library...here he is in the computer lab and settled right into a game. He was quite nervous when we first arrived, but warmed up to the environment quickly!! I'm so proud of him!!
The gym was the last stop on our tour. This was by far his favourite place to be! He shot hoops, walked a balance beam several times and played some football. He was right at home here!
It's a happy, bitter-sweet day. I will miss him terribly, but will also be so happy to see him go each day into a world I know he will thrive in.
Ronan is always full of questions and absorbs everything he sees and hears. He loves to learn and I know he will fit right. Good luck to my precious baby! <3
Colette
This year, Mason requested a bug theme. At first I found it a hard theme to find anything to go with it, but it eventally came together. Since it is getting closer to halloween, I found this........cute(???) paper to make the invitations out of:
On the inside it said: "Mason is turning 4! Please join with us in celebrating at his bug party! Creep by on: ... In Our Ant Hill: ... Infestation Time: ... Hope to see you there!! Buzzzzzzzzz us at: ..."
This was the place setting. Each kid got a huge bug with their names attached, binoculars (I had hoped for magnifying glasses, but couldn't find any...) and a bug collector for our bug hunt later on.
These are the little critters I made to dress up the table center. Just styrofoam balls painted and then I used toothpicks to hold them together and pipe cleaners for the legs and eyes. Super easy to do and didn't take very long to make!! And they turned out so cute!
The decor! I was really happy with this colour scheme. It made me feel super happy!! haha We have this giant "window" from our kitchen to dining room and I always get creative with streamers. I like doing this mostly because it blocks out the mess beyond from the party area, but also because it looks A-MA-ZA-ZING!
The craft! These little hats used to be aliens, but I peeled off their eyes and mouths and glued on googley eyes and made wings out of firm, adhesive felt. The kids got to stick on glitter bugs and flowers and I also had the letters of their name in baggies for them to put on their hats as well.
The goody bag! As well as the items on the table, they also go a "Bug's Life" book, skittles, a mini Chocolate bar, stickers and some Buggy Graham Crackers that I found in the states! Score!!
For ice cubes in their drinks I froze gummy Tarantulas in a mini muffin pan.
The kids doing their craft. The only good sport was Westin, he wore his hat for quite awhile...the others...well...their boys. We should just be please that they did the craft. haha
Mason's brief hat wearing moment. You can see he's already going to take it off in the pic!
Before the cake, we played a game. I hid bugs all around the party area and told the kids that while they were doing the craft downstairs we had a bug infestation upstairs!! So they got their little containers and found all the bugs. Cute!!
This was the cake. I didn't get a good picture of it! Waaaaa!! I painted a flower pot and lined it with paper, then built a "Dirt Cake" inside. Layers of Chocolate cake, pudding and crumbled oreo cooking (for the dirt) and I burried gummy worms and tarantulas in it as well. teehee!
Present time!! Always the biggest hit! It was really crazy cuz all the kids matched the colour scheme and each other in one way or another, AND their presents matched too!! All were blue or green or both! It was funny! We had a good time, Mason had lots of fun and was very thankful for his presents. I love party planning!!! Time to start the next!!
Me and Amberlee
Andy Davis
