Colette
Summer has quite a bit of hair. I've been able to give her a pony-tail on the top of her head since she was about...7 or 8 months old. But now, finally, at 15 months she has enough to gather at the back, with a few clips on either side to secure it!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! So cute, I just had to blog about it!! And it will probably never happen again. I'm surprised she even let this stay in long enough for me to get a few pictures!!! haha
Colette
Wow! After 5 long years, I am SO happy that this day is finally here! In 2004 Slade decided that he wanted to pursue being a Firefighter, so he went through the process of becoming an Auxiliary Firefighter which was the starting point to be eligible to be a Career Firefighter. I say was, because after 4 years of Auxiliary training, and 3 years of applications, interviews, physicals, and tests upon tests, Slade made it in and just in the nick of time too! Slade's recruit class was the first hiring done within AND outside of the AFRS. Word hadn't got out much of that change, but as it were, only 2 men were selected from within the department, the rest came from several different cities. There were about a hundred applicants for 13 positions, so his odds were pretty good. The next recruit AFRS did a half a year later, was for 1 position and there were over 8 HUNDRED applicants!!!! We have been so blessed to have made it in when we did. I am so proud of Slade and his accomplishments and his dedication to and achievement of his career goals!! It feels so good to finally be here and secure!
This day marked the end of his year long probation. We felt like we were living on the knife-edge for that whole year. I had faith in him and his abilities though. He is an amazing man, smart and loyal. AFRS would be remiss if they were to let him go. They had a graduation held at Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, the Honour Guard marched in to the song of bag pipes, and then the recruit class marched in as well dressed in their dress uniforms, looking very shnazzy!! After the ceremony we headed home with all our family that came (there were LOTS, 26 in total. When Slade RSVP'd they asked if he was RSVP'ing for the whole recruit class!!! haha Gotta love big families!) to our house for some pizza and socializing! It was a really great night!!
The Honour Guard
Slade receiving his certificate from the Chief of AFRS, Chief Beer!
Slade's recruit class (Slade is third in from the left)
Sooooooooo happy!!
The Graduate! Love this man for eternity! *mmmmwah!*
PS. He'll probably have words for me if he ever reads this!! HAHA
Colette
As a tradition, every year we take the kids out to a pumpkin patch Thanksgiving Day morning! This year, as with most years, we had BEAUTIFUL weather, only draw back was that it was FREEZING!! We ended up not staying very long at all and didn't go out into the field to pick our pumpkins, instead we just selected from the pre-picked selections. We did try to go to the field, but the bite was too much and the kids weren't dressed properly for the chill. But we still had fun, and our pumpkins are pretty cute. Oh, and the ones we bought will be great for carving!!
Our youngest pumpkin! Summer really liked looking at all the pumpkins, but once she got too cold, that was it for her.
Ronan, our oldest pumpkin, was pretty happy to pose for me for a change!!
Mason, our middle pumpkin, is just too cute for words!!
Summer, the poser.
I actually GOT one!!!!! This is amazing!
Colette
For those of you who know me, you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE to decorate! Usually my mom doesn't really get in to decorating and stuff like that, so I volunteered to dress up our Thanksgiving Dinner table. I went all out with chargers and place settings!! It looked so great and I got a major fix!!!! haha My mom prepared a delicious meal to go along with it. Unfortunately, in all my craziness, I forgot to take pictures during the meal as well, but here is what I did get!
The center piece was a hallowed out pumpkin turned into a vase for a flower arrangement.
Each person got their own mini-pumpkin place setting!!
I love Thanksgiving and the fall time. The colours are amazing this time of year and I love all the family together time and the opportunity to partake of the fruits of the earth and really be
grateful for all the things we have. I am blessed with so much and I am, and always will be so thankful that.
Colette
My kids make me laugh. They bring so much entertainment (and many other things) into my life! After we put them into bed, the boys are usually pretty good about staying in their room at least. For the most part they go straight to sleep, but occasionally, they stay up and play. Every now and then, when we come to check on them before we go to bed, we find them dressed up and sleeping in one of their costumes. So this is what we found one night...
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This thing has a big huge tail and everything!! It can't be comfortable. Mason usually joins in and gets dressed up, but not this time.
What would life be like without these precious beings?! I am so thankful for them!!
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!!
Ronan, our oldest pumpkin, was pretty happy to pose for me for a change!!
The center piece was a hallowed out pumpkin turned into a vase for a flower arrangement.
Each person got their own mini-pumpkin place setting!!
I love Thanksgiving and the fall time. The colours are amazing this time of year and I love all the family together time and the opportunity to partake of the fruits of the earth and really be grateful for all the things we have. I am blessed with so much and I am, and always will be so thankful that.
This thing has a big huge tail and everything!! It can't be comfortable. Mason usually joins in and gets dressed up, but not this time.
Me and Amberlee
Andy Davis
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!!
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
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!
