Colette
I love makeup. I love to experiment with makeup, try new things, try new brands, new colours, new techniques. Fun fun fun!!! My brother Reece has been obsessing about his Halloween costumes for 364 days. He asked me to do his make up for his 2 costumes he had decided on for this year. One, an old wizard, and the other was Kiss. I deterred him from doing Kiss...so over done and not really "wow" worthy. The old wizard was the costume for the Abbotsford 2nd ward Halloween party and I convinced him to let me do a creepy face for the YSA Halloween dance. I used several different brands of regular make up to do all the Halloween masks in this entry. I did a couple on myself as well. Just masquerade type masks for fun. The first one for the Abby 2nd party, the 2nd for Halloween which I tied off with a florescent pink wig and fairy wings. lol I'm such a child, I know, but SO much fun.
Reece as an old wizard. He carved the staff himself!
I think I added about 40 years to my 22 year old brother and he looks exactly like my dad only older!
My first mask. I don't know what it's supposed to be, just a show case of colours and glitter.
Reece as a ghoul! Eyes open.
Eyes shut. This one took about 2 1/2 hours. There are some mistakes, but for my first time, I was pretty pleased with myself.
My 2
nd mask for Halloween night. I have 3 pictures of this one just to show all the colours and shading I did. This one turned out pretty neat. I could have done a bit of a better job on my nose though...it looks kinda funny.
lol Oh, and I am NOT pouting my lips. They are drawn to look like I am.
Showcasing the glitter. There must always be glitter!!
Eyes shut.
Colette
Ronan was SO excited to wear his costume to Kindergarten. He went again as Optimus Prime again this year...of course. Saves me money! haha The parents were invited in for the first 15 minutes while the class performed some of their little songs that they sing and rhymes. Ronan doesn't normally like to join in, but I asked him if he would show me all the things that he has learned. He did so well, and although I couldn't see his face (he was wearing his mask) I could see his little hands doing the actions. He is so precious! I love my kiddies so much!!!!! Turns out there were 2 Optimus Primes and 3 Bumblebees! All of them were Ronan's buddies. haha I guess they have a lot in common!
I think it took awhile for all the kids to start recognizing each other. They just stood around in a weird stupor for a few minutes.
Ronan's Kindergarten class!
Colette
I love fall, I love Halloween and I love Pumpkin carving! I didn't have as much time to dedicate this year and actually forgot to take pictures of our masterpieces, but we did get some great photos from the main event. :)
Mason's scary dragon face, and Ronan digging in.
Checking out the pile of pumpkin "guts" I just pulled out...
SO cute!
We got Summer her own little pumpkin to carve. She loved it!!
Colette
Ronan likes to take pictures! As often as he can, and with permission, he gets a hold of the camera and takes pictures of everything!! This time around he took well over 100 pictures...of literally EVERYthing. I thought it was kind of neat to see the world through his eyes. :D Enjoy!
The light switch...
Buzz Lightyear...
Yes, the inside of the garbage can. Nice. 
His pumpkin bat craft waiting to be finished... 
The door knob... 
I love that you can see his reflection in this picture. 
We got lots of pictures of Summer (Mason wouldn't allow any portraits of himself)
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...
*
*
*
*
*
*
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.***
*
*
*
*
*
*
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...
