Happy Birthday To Me!

I thought I would get a new "do" for my Birthday.  

I was wearing my hair up more often than down, so I knew it had to come off (I was a "ponytail" mamma).

I love the new look!

I think I got a few more "fine lines" around the eyes this past year, but I feel great and younger than I did 8 years ago!

Two days ago, Dann came home with this "John Deere  Jeep" for the kiddies.  

A gal at the office asked if our kids would use it.  

Thus far it's been a huge hit!

Papa would be proud, John Deere and all!

Emma loved taking her brother out for a little spin with the new wheels.  I wonder how receptive she will be when he wants to go out driving with her when she's 16 (or maybe 18...lol)?

Dann & his buddy Brock decided they needed a little road trip... some "boy" time (in other words, drinking beer & no parenting).  They headed out to Kelowna for a few days last week.

The guys stayed at Phyl & Ian's, and as usual, they were treated like gold.

Phyl & Ian's house is so beautiful, I had to post it!  

Dann always enjoys the drive through the mountains.

I had the pleasure of staying at home to work & parent...

but my little man's smile made it all worth it!

As promised, only a few weeks late, here are the photos of Emma's FIRST official sleepover with her buddy Darby.  

The tent was a hit, and she is begging for one more sleepover before school starts.

Ethan is always trying to keep up to his big sister (that's nothing new when it comes to siblings).  As you can see, he has some big shoes to fill, but he is doing it with such style!!

I cannot get enough of my little man's curls!!

And his eyes & smile will melt anyone's heart!

summer begins...

I was down loading some photos and thought I would post a few of the high lights of the last few weeks.

I guess summer is in full swing, but the weather could be nicer.  We had a week of HOT weather, but now it is hovering around 16-22'C and I find it a bit chilly for my liking.

The big guy could bring back the 28-32'C temps any time now (after all, there will probably be snow on the ground in less than 10 weeks).

Ethan had an accident yesterday while playing outside. I turned my back for half a second and he walked into Emma's swinging path.  She tried to lift her feet, but smoked him in the face with her knee (or foot, who knows).  Needless to say, some big crocodile tears and loud sobs followed.

His little cheek looks pretty sore, but it does not seem to bother him much... strong little guy!

As you can see in this photo above, Ethan has his 'hands in his pants' (24/7).  Yesterday when I was changing his diaper I told him if he keeps touching his junk, it was going to fall off.  Emma over heard this and asked me "for real?"  Of course I explained to her that I was just teasing Ethan.  He laughed the whole time and kept reaching for the boyz.

If Ethan is not touching himself, his hands are trying to go down Rowena's or my shirt.  He is a true male!!  I thought men learned this behaviour, but it would appear that it is bred into them!

I loved this photo of Emma... I hope her permanent teeth come in as well as her baby teeth did!

We took a quick road trip to Edmonton and made our annual visit to the zoo.  

Emma wanted to ride the train, so Dann took the kiddies while I took photos.

Emma drinking from the hippo's mouth.

Our trip was during the one week of hot weather.  We were visiting some friends and Ethan got a taste of his first Popsicle. 

Kerry & Jim (friends) live on an acreage and Emma had fun playing with their daughter, Abbey, and also enjoyed feeding the donkeys 

Ethan loved the kitten and was petting & kissing him ever chance he could.

The end of June brought an end to school & soccer.

As you can see, Emma accented her uniform with pink runners & pink ponytail elastics...lol!

Ethan was a great fan and cheered Emma on!

My parents came up for a little visit in June and helped us with a garage sale.  Got rid of a lot of Ethan's baby things etc.  I love that feeling... toyz-r-us is slowly moving out!  

I had to leave on a course in Edmonton and my parents stayed one more night to enjoy the kids.  Unfortunately, Emma came down with a bad case of the stomach flu.  She threw up all over her bed, pillow, wall, sheets, comforter (twice).  

She ended up falling asleep on grandma's lap.  I am really sorry I missed it (hahaha).  I mean I wish I could have been there to rock Emma to sleep, but sure am glad I missed the puke clean-up.

Ethan never caught the nasty bug... thank goodness.  He loved reading books on grandma's lap (that lap is multi purpose).

Dann took this pic.  

I love how it is looking down on the kids.  

This pic is one of my fav's!

I love his crazy hair (which got cut again last week)!

Emma is having her first sleep over with her buddy Darby tonight.  I will post the photos of them in the tent tomorrow.  I have to run now and attempt to quiet the girls down... yet again!

Cheers!

Oh My Gosh...

Oh my gosh... what have I been doing for 6 weeks??  I certainly have not been bloggin'.  I will try to make up for lost time.  The photos start from most recent to last month.

First I will start with all our beautiful flowers we (Dann) planted in the front yard.  Although it has not been extremely hot, the long hours of daylight have really helped in the growing time.  As long as 'we' plant harty type plants that can with stand the cool temps, they flourish with new buds.

Above is some type of Geranium and below are a mixture of Petunias along with a few other things (Pansies & stuff)?

I love Pansies 

So we bit the bullet and ordered a new castle bouncer off of ebay.  It arrived the last week of May and it has been a neighbourhood hit ever since.

Dann has wanted to purchase this item for 2 years now.  It actually was a lot cheaper than we thought, and we got an industrial one, so the seams won't rip (like the ones from Wal-Mart etc).

Three of Dann's sisters came to visit us the last weekend of May.  We had a great visit, some good eats and just a little drink... lol!

The kids love spending time with their Aunties and they received an abundance of attention!

This is the group photo at the lake.

Emma & her bud Darby

Ethan is always trying to catch up to Emma.  He runs pretty darn quick, and usually manages to catch her at some point.  He loves going outside for walks, and can say 'walk' & 'out side' very clearly.

Ethan & Auntie Phyllis

Emma with her Aunties

(Cheryl, Phyllis, & Jeannette)

Soccer season is in full swing and Emma always manages to add a splash of pink into her soccer outfit.  This day it was a pink hoody, as it was a cooler evening. Other days, she trades in her black cleats for her pink running shoes.  She is such a girl!

This photo of Ethan is my favorite (at this time).  

He is so darn cute in it, I just want to squeeze him.

Emma has been progressing nicely with her reading, and she enjoys reading certain books to Ethan.  He loves sitting by his big sister to hear a story.

My little girl is getting so big.

She is now 122 cm (4 feet).

Now that's tall!

Ethan & Daddy...

My handsome boys!

Ethan's Page

Hard to believe Ethan is 18 months old.  I put a few new pics together of my sweet baby boy.

Ethan is much more of a ham at this age than Emma was.  

They are about the same size at 18 months and as you can see Ethan towers over the crib.  Luckily, he has not tried to climb out yet!

Ethan loves the outdoors and he was darn proud of himself when he discovered how to mow the lawn.  Dann will have him pushing the real thing by 2 years... lol!

I think Ethan loves Emma's hat more than she does.  Actually, any hat is a favorite to put on and run around the house in.

I thought this photo was cute of him eating watermelon.

Again, if it's not a hat, it is a popped rubber ball.

He ran around with this ball on his head for hours.  He cried when Dann took it away.

Happy again with Daddy...

A quick video of Ethan playing on the slide.

Meme

MEME

So a fellow blogger friend decided I should take part in her new thing she was introduced to in blogger world "MEME". I have to answer all these questions and then tag 5 other bloggers to do the same thing. It is a way to get to know one another and learn some thing new from someone you have known for a while.


The 8 questions are:

1) What were you doing 10 years ago?
2) What were you doing 1 year ago?
3) 5 snacks you enjoy?
4) 5 things you would do if you were a millionaire?
5) 5 bad habits?
6) 5 things you like doing?
7) 5 things you'd never wear again.
8) 5 favorite toys.


Okay Jennilyn, here is my "meme" you tagged me with...



8 Answers...
1) 10 years ago, Dann and I were living in our first house/condo together in Calgary (we moved in March 1997 and living in sin) While living in sin, Dann popped the question, thus I was busy planning our wedding day, which had been set for the fall (Sept 1998).



2) One year ago, I had just joined Weight Watchers (3 weeks into the program) and wondering if I would reach my goal (65 pounds). Some hard work and dedication let me surpass my goal and to date I am down 79 lbs!!


3) 5 snacks I like: ice cream (bad), chips (worse), french fries (again, really bad), chocolate (are you seeing a pattern?) and finally... popcorn, which is the only snack I seem to have on a regular bases now... low calorie and it fills me up. I still treat myself to the other 4 items, just not as often as before and in a lot smaller portions (after all, a girl has to live).


4) If I was a millionaire, I would give my family some $$, pay off all our bills, invest some $$, give some $$ to charity and then I would quit my gov't gigg and open a beautiful B&B in a tropical location (I know Dann would be on board as well).


5) My 5 Bad Habits are: being lazy at times, procrastinating, putting my fingers in my mouth (tapping my nails on my teeth... not biting them but they are still in my mouth), indulging too much at times, and buying shoes or anything else for that matter.


6) 5 things I like to do: go for a walk "alone", shop... for anything, travel to new places, meet new people, and watch t.v.


7) 5 things I would never wear again: volleyball shorts (aka: bum huggers... what was I thinking?), silk disco coat for roller skating, neon socks/nylons, big hair/bangs, and straight leg stretchy jeans. The 80's were not kind to a lot of people, but the music was awesome!!


8) My 5 favorite toys (I'll keep this clean): my kitchen aid mixer, my (Dann's) Starbucks coffee maker, all my scrapbook items I create with, my digital camera, my foot messager.


So there you have it.
Now I will tag five BLOGGER friends...


"SEA-R-VU"
"Ashley Bashley"
"What does an Octopus say?"
"Life on the Sunshine Coast"


Okay, I only have four people to send this to. Oh well, better than nothing.