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!!
Colette
While we were in Idaho, we came across a "Bumblebee" bike that was the right size for Mason. We had seen this one advertised back home, but it was never in stock, it was also priced for about half the cost!! So, in the presence of our soon to be 4 year old, we purchased the bike. And with no where to stash it, it was no surprise to him that it was for his birthday. So, just to make it official and to satisfy my need to throw birthday parties, I planned an "un-birthday" for him so that we could actually give him his present. We also wanted to give it to him a bit early so that we could squeeze as much ride time as we could before the fall and winter came along. I prepared his favourite: homemade (aka "real macaroni") and we had fresh, homemade blueberry pie instead of cake.
I think he likes it...
It's funny...he had seen this bike before, even had a try riding it in the store, but we kept in "hidden" for about a week and I guess the time apart was enough to make it seem almost like he was actually surprised!
haha
They are all ready and decked out in their biking gear. After dinner and dessert we took them up to Mountain Park to have a go.
He did really well and is already a pro!
Colette
Slade's Uncle and Aunt, George and Lucy Bates, celebrated their 50th anniversary this year in Trail, BC! We made a last minute decision and decided to attend the festivities! Unfortunately I forgot my camera at the hotel and so I don't have any pictures from the event. It was nicely decorated and had a really great program with lots of singing from the family! What a talented family!!! I was amazed and had a good time hanging with Slade's extended family and getting to know them better. We only get to see them once every 3 years, so things change a lot from then until now. They had a dance afterwards and Summer was in her glory!! That girl has got some moves! I wish so badly I had my camera there to take some pics and video. She was hilarious and had the best time of her life up to that point I'm sure!! She particularly like the old school songs from the 50's! After the reunion we headed down to Couer d'Alene, ID. We had been to an amusement park there called Silverwood and Boulder Park years ago when Ronan was only 6 months old, so we wanted to go back and check it out again. It is an amusement park mixed in with water slides! Your entry gets you into both parks. We started out at Silverwood and got right into the rides. Ronan and I went on this ride first. It was fun and Ronan got a real kick out of it!
The boys REALLY liked this ride. They went on it a few times, especially once it got later and the crowds started to thin out.
I, being a mean mother, forced the boys onto this rapid raft ride.
teehee! It is by far one of the most calm raft rides I've ever been on. They plugged their ears the whole way down!
We got soaked, so we decided to hit up the water slides and let our clothes dry out in the sun for awhile. I had fun, but I don't think the boys were too impressed!
There weren't any rides there for our little princess to ride on, however, this was her throne for the day! We only had our umbrella stroller with us and we figured this was a better option so the boys could swap in and out when they got tired. It's a huge park and there was lots of walking involved. And no...I didn't let her drink all of that
slurpee!! She just looked so cute holding this cup that was almost as big as her!!
Boys will be boys...they absolutely loved taking turns driving this antique car! They actually got to push the gas and break pedals and steer! There was a track that ran down the middle of the road to keep the car from going off the road, but they could
maneuver it around slightly. The thrills!!
Poor Sum-bum, watching on. She was having a blast drinking blue
slurpee and watching her shadow as she walked.
This was
Ronan's second and Mason's first ride on the scrambler!! I
videoed them as the ride went. Too fun!!
I had to include this. Mason says: "Mommy watch this trick!" He then hooks his elbows in his shirt, like this and laughs his head off!! Alright....(???) My
Mase...so cute!
We got the kids a little gift from the gift shops to remember
Silverwood. They both picked these frogs that had
velcro on their hands and feet. The were thrilled to give their frogs a "
froggy-back ride." Best buds, they are so sweet together!
We had a good trip. The kids travelled perfectly as usual! I am so blessed to have kids that love going on long car rides. Summer had a bit of a hard time, she doesn't sleep well when she isn't in her crib, so nights were a bit difficult and she didn't sleep a whole lot in the car. I had to spend lots of time in the back keeping her busy. But we managed and had a nice time together.
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.
