Family Pictures, Sort-of

Mama and her tiny princessWhat a lucky lady I am!

Poor daddy always gets his head cut off


Well, there are most of our faces

Good News

Matt booked the time off work for our trip to Vancouver. We will go on Saturday June 9th (evening) and then back on the 17th or 18th (oooh look at us, we're flexible!) Hopfully all you coastal folks can fit in a visit during that time! Angelina will be so grown up by then, walking and talking. Oh, I can't wait!

Also fabulous news: my mom and her boyfriend are going to Mexico for Christmas this year... so we're celebrating Christmas with her on the 17th and we only have to do two Christmases at Christmastime! Aaaah, it will be like a vacation. Just thinking about it makes me want to dance.

One more happy thing: Angelina built a tower out of blocks this morning. She is so fracking smart!

Kibbles n' Bits

Yay Robin, congrats! Is Kindale a home for mentally handicapped people? We would be up for a barbeque.

What a weekend we had; all three of us were wretchedly sick! We had to cancel Easter. Oh well, we're mostly better now (Angelina is still a bit sick). This weekend we'll go to Kelowna and buy Angelina a jungle gym and some other more age-appropriate toys since she can climb now and is just so darn smart.

We saw "The Persuit of Happyness" and they do explain why they spelled happiness wrong. Well, it's not really a good reason but at least there is one. Anyway it's quite depressing. The movie that is. And the spelling.

Also I read Freakonomics recently. What a cool book! Has anyone else read that? It's so interesting.

My life right now

OMG Keira, Gina is SOOOO cute and smart! It's so incredible how much little babies/kids learn so quickly!

I don't have many new pics of Hailey uploaded onto my computer from my camera yet, so you guys will have to wait for that.

I am just about to graduate with my Arts-Psychology degree!!! Yay!! Finally! So I was thinking about having a HUGE day where we all get together and celebrate ME ;). Are you guys interested in having a bbq with me or something?? Some of you haven't even seen my new townhouse yet!

I am so working at Kindale now. I haven't started yet because I have to go and do all these errands for them first. Like yesterday, I went to get a criminal record check, my class 4 learners book (cause I have to get this in order to drive wheelchair accessible vans), my drivers abstract, a new bank account at the credit union, I have to take a St. John's Ambulance course, and so on... it's incredible how much work it takes! But I will be starting out really soon there. The whole "personal care" part of Kindale I am not looking forward to. But I am trying to get out of it because I am doing behavioural and medicinal therapy instead. That is what I went to school for... if I wanted to do nursing stuff, I would've gone to school for that LOL! But in a couple of months I am probably going to be working one-on-one with a 22-year-old woman who just got into an accident and now has brain damage and will not longer develop. And they want me to test her using psychometric tests and analyze her data to see which parts of her brain are damaged and so on. THAT is what I'm looking forward to!! I can't wait, I really hope I get that part!!!

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. Happy Easter! For those of you (like me) who do not celebrate Easter for the sake of Christianity, happy chocolate eating!!! :)

Robyn

Smart as a Whip, Cute as a Button

My babygirl is sooo clever...
...she figured out how to change the song. Also, the other day she came over and gave me a big kiss for seemingly no reason... then I realized that the song we were listening to said the word kiss! It wasn't even a song about kissing, it just said "kiss" once. Wow.
This one blows me away. she wanted to play with the buttons on the TV but she couldn't reach, so she brought this pillow over to climb on. That's amazing!
Whatever she's not supposed to play with (like the remote), that's what she wants. Today she got hold of my Freakonomics book. She didn't rip or chew it, she actually turned the pages.
So that's today's rant on how smart my little girl is. Also she is stunningly beautiful and unbearably sweet.

What a wonderful world...

Hello Everyone! Glad to hear things are going well! Lee and I just got back from a wondeful weekend in Whistler - we rented this cabin up there for 3 days/2 nights and WOW! Besides 2 of the days being gross, cold, windy, rainy it was still nice. Today was gorgeous - here's a few pics below of our trip.

This is of us in front of Tantalus Mountain - It's hard to see but the top of the mountain was covered is bright white snow.
This is a picture of the cabin we rented. It was 2 levels/950 sq ft. Hardwood or slate floors, 10 ft ceilings and fully loaded with the newest kitchen gadgets and comfy furniture. On Saturday night we went out for dinner to Earls in Whistler Village (and seriously had the worst service ever!!! OMG!) then came home and had a relaxing bubble bath together with this stuff we bought from Lush....it was a great way to spend our 9 month anniversary. Other than this weekend things have been okay - had a good visit with the family in Vernon, saw one of my best friends are her kids in Kelowna, work is going okay at a slow point right now but I know that won't last too long. Very excited for upcoming weeks and month - My Grandparents get back from their 5 month trip to California this coming weekend, Leah,Dave & Kids are coming down from Kelowna to visit, I'm helping my friend Natalie do some wedding stuff for her upcoming nuptials, my Mom and Bill (Step-Dad) are coming to visit in 5 weeks!! Yay!! And...if I'm lucky spring is finally here...Vancouver weather has been teasing all of us lately we get rain, flooding, sunshine, snow and wind all in the same week lately. Enough is enough though - I want flip-flops!

This is a picture of Lee and I on the way home from Vernon/Kelowna a few weeks ago. We stopped at Bromley Rock for a stretch and pee! LOL!! The weather was super nice once we hit the Hope-Princeton and when we hit Penticton the temperature hit 17 degrees!!! Fabulous! We also saw tons of wildlife on the way home - deer, bald eagles, racoons, tons of birds etc. However, as soon as we hit Manning Park the weather turned to rain and wind....stayed like that all the way home in Vancouver where there was major flooding. Aww, got to love the sun when it's around.

Key - Did Lee leave a white Quicksilver hat at your house??? He seems to have misplaced it on our trip up there and I thought we may have left you two gifts instead of just one - LOL!

Hope everyone continues to do well, keep on blogging!

Busy with school

Hey Everyone,
Happy Belated Birthday Keira!!
I just updated myself with the blog and loved looking at the pictures. I'm glad to hear everything is going well. Keira, how did the baby picture contest go? I was sick one day from school, and 'Regis and Kelly' came on after the morning news. They had pictures everywhere at the studio. Did you see Gina's picture on T.V?
Kristen, I am so glad you didn't take the picture of your dog with the outfits. I was scanning down to the bottom of the blog when I saw the pictures, and I thought to myself...oh no, Kristen dresses her dog in outfits, but everyone feels the same way I do about the outfits.
Robyn, how old is hailey now?
I am busy with school (as the title says), the last month of school can be the worst with stress and lack of sleep. I have two big group projects this semester...not my favorite. I really enjoy the business program and am learning so much about me in the process.
I was down in Vancouver at the end of my reading break (Feb 24th ish), and I managed to hit some sunny weather. It was a bit cold (it did snow overnight) when I was there but the sun did come out during the day. I also had to drive a friends car while she was telling her family that her water had just broke. It was a pretty amazing weekend. My friend Sarah lives downstairs from Steve and Tanene (also friends of ours). Sarah, Tanene, and I had gone to watch "Half Nelson" at Tanene's friends house in deroche (30 mins away) when her water broke. When we got back to Tanene's house, Sarah and I started organizing her bag for the hospital. The baby was a week early, so Tanene had a couple of thing packed but not everything. I was using a little card she had gotten from the midwife. She was in labour for about 12 hours. Sarah and I hung up blue ballons in the tree which is in their front yard. It was some of my excitement for that weekend.
Keira, you were talking about how Angelina gives you kisses. My other friend's daughter gave kisses with her mouth open when she first learned to give kisses. Now she closes her mouth and makes a mmaahh noise. Morgan does some cute things. When I saw her last (during the same vancouver visit), she bounced her way to her grandma while clapping her hands.
I am going to go and do some homework. Great catching up. Keira, we should do lunch after my final exams. I can wait to see Angelina again.
Everyone, enjoy your easter holiday.

Chow,
Sammi

Princess Ponytails

Oh man, I am sooooo excited that Angelina can have little pigtails now. She is so fricking cute!
My little munchkin, munching away, no idea how adorable she is.
She still uses a newborn-size bottle with a newborn nipple. We keep trying to upsize, but she won't have it. This bottle is half a cup.
Aww
Gotta love those stubby little baby arms!

Angelina can stand on her own briefly now and walk with help. She also points to things and tells us about them in baby-language. Also I ask, "where's mama's nose?" and she touches it, and I ask "where are mama's buttons?" and she lifts my shirt and finds my belly button ring! Nothing compares to having a baby. She is so wonderful! Me and Matt are completely nuts about her!

This coming weekend is going to be busy and fun again. My aunt is visiting from Calgary, and Lisa and her new bf are staying at our house for the weekend.

BB and Smunches

Lindsay and I have been close friends since we were kids, and now we have same-age daughters! It was so much fun getting these two together on Sunday. What a pair of fair little beauties. Play me another song, DJ Gina!
See that, Angelina, that's a bird. We'll be study buddies like our mamas were.
Let me help you turn that page, Riley.
Are you done taking pictures yet? We've got some serious playing to do.

Cindy Loo Who

What a crazy few days! My mom's birthday, grandma F in from Calgary (two trips to the airport and lots of visits), a job interview, Sam and Lee over for the weekend, Matt working on the weekend, a trip to Kelowna, Matt's dad's birthday, visiting grandma K in the hospital, and Lindsay and baby Riley in town! It's been really fun though. It's nice to see everybody, even if it is all at once. And we finally got to meet Lee, who is hopefully my future cuz-in-law, and Riley, Angelina's long-distance best friend.

Cindy Loo Who?

Broccoli is my favourite!

Peekaboo!

I like to do grownup things. Me and daddy read the paper and...

I forget mama, is this a toothbrush or a hair brush?

moving...... again

hey everyone. well lots of new stuff is going on. I finally got my puppy. And omg she is the sweetest, cutest, cuddliest little thing ever. She weighs 2.5 pounds now. My camera isn't letting me download pics so I'm not able to show you how great she is, so I"ll do that next time.
We are moving June 1st to Strathcona (Vancouver). We are going to be renting a very cute 2 bedroom bottom floor of a house that is very close to downtown yet away from the hustle and bustle. Sadly we have to get a scooter for Drew. Both of us work in North Van plus he will be going to UBC so he needs a means of travel. But yeah... It has a great little yard and a gas stove and a fireplace. Its small (900sq) but it will be sooo nice to have a guest room. I'm not to sure how we are going to like living under people though... we haven't lived in a basement suite since we have met. It may be horrible it may be great. The women that own the house is a single mom and a teacher and she will be living above us. Hopefully she is responsible.
Hmmmm. Greg and Maureen came up for the weekend. They bought a little red smooth Doxie from the same breeder that Lola came from.

Peekaboo, Curly Sue

Let's play a game
Where's Angelina?

There she is!

Hee hee!
Me and mama love to play!

I did have a great birthday, thank you! Delicious food, lots of fun, and good company. Kirsten your dog is cute aside from those outfits. Do people actually buy those calendars? Woof.

When we go to Van will depend on Matt's work, but Matt's mom lives in Surrey now (part-time) so we won't need to impose on you Sam. It might be soon; I'll get back about that.

Happy Birthday Keira...

Hey ther Cuz...hope you have a great day! the big 25....qurter of a century...gawd we are getting old!!!

Take Care!!!

Erin

There's snow on my lawn AGAIN!!

Hello All!

I haven't blogged in awhile so I wanted to come on, check in and catch everyone up on some things in my world but first....HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY KEY!!!! I won't be able to log on tomorrow so you get early wishes from me....Love you & Miss you lots! Hope you have a great bday with that adorable little girl of yours and Matt. Can you believe we're a quarter of a century this year how times flies! I remember us just entering our teenage years.

Kirsten - Very cute puppy - minus the crazy outfits....I really like the name Lola, seems to suit her. My only other suggestion would be naming her after yours & Drews favourite something....fav band, singer, movie character, city etc.

Key - Do you have any idea when you, Matt and Gina are coming down to Vancouver?? I told you when I'm up there right?? Most likely May Long Weekend and then for sure August 3 - 12.

So this afternoon I kept on hearing that is was snowing in Vancouver..but at work all I saw was rain, until I got home...I seriously have an inch of snow on my front lawn and since it's so cold tonight it's not melting - what the darn!! I totally thought I heard that the groundhog predicted spring coming - didn't he??? What else - Lee and I went to the Giants Hockey game last night we beat Kamloops 6-1 it was great!! We sat 4th row right behind one of the nets so much fun and the best part we got the tickets for free!! Sweeet! Above is a dorky picture I took of Lee and I....we both look awful but in some creepy way I like it - LOL!! We hit the 8 month mark on Saturday....and realized that we will be in Whistler for our 9 months - we rented a 2 bedroom lodge for 3 days/2 nights - we needed a weekend away just by ourselves and the outdoors, hopefully the weather co-operates so we can get some hiking in.

Lola

LOL yes I know you know how I feel about poop. LOL. But I just don't think that poopsie is a name for a cute little pup.. I have been calling her Lola to myself. Drew has been calling her Maisie. Like maise (corn) then ie.. I still like Lola though. And we still have 2 weeks until we pick her up. So throw more ideas out there for me.
As I promised here are some pics of her.. Sorry about ther having to be dressed up. The women that has the pups also does calendars and so dresses all her pups up. So the only pic with out clothing on her is with me and Drew. Please don't mind the double chin on me.. I didnt realise that I gained so much weight... I swear I haven't gained weight in my stomach or legs it seems to have gone straight to my double chin. Oh well Shit happens.
Ok well thats all that has hap pend since yesterday
lates
Kirsten

Poopsie

I would name her Poopsie, since it seems like a fitting runt-weinerdog name and I think it's cute. And I know how you feel about poop.

I'm behind on my pictures. The last batch I took turned out fuzzy; I must hace accidentaly fucked up the settings. Anyway I will take some when Angelina's up from her nap. She has the most beautiful little curl on the top of her head now, like a little Hershey's kiss.

i'm going to hell

as the title says... I'm going to hell. Today Drew and I went looking at puppies in Langly and we decided to get one. TEEHEEE...we are getting a mini dachshund! We put the deposit on her today and will pick her up in 2 weeks when she is ready to come home. She is beautiful! She is black and tan and has long hair and is also the runt.We picked her because she had the best temperament as I will be taking her to work with me everyday. I can't have a squirmy puppy jumping out of clients arms and off wheel chairs and stuff. It would break her little legs.
OOooooh we got a new full sized dishwasher yesterday! its fancy with nice buttons and its on wheels to wheel it to the sink. but yeah I have to run off to work.
I'll post pics soon of little pup..
Ooooh any good names for her?
Kirsten

V-Town

That's funny, I didn't have any trouble switching to the new blogger. I just signed in and there was a button to click on. I just had to sign in with my gmail name and password and now that's what I use to sign in every time.

Angelina has had a massive growth spurt in the last month. She is now in the 25th percentile for weight, so I guess she would have been off-the-charts small a few weeks ago. The doctor said it's just fine, she's just destined to be small. And... she crawls! She just started so she only goes a few feet, but soon she'll be motoring around like a little pro.

That Chinese parade looks so interesting! Oh, I wish we lived in a big city so we could do cool stuff like that. I would take Angelina to museums and the science centre and the zoo. I take her to pet stores here, one per week. She really likes looking at the critters. This spring we'll be going to Van and doing some of that fun big-city stuff like the aquarium. We'll also be introducing Angelina to Dave and to Lisa, and hopefully catching up with Sam and Lee, Kirsten and Drew, and Jess and Jonas.

fire pig!

hello,
well this new blogger isn't' that easy. It took me a long time to log on. plus I had to make a new blog and stuff for myself before I could log on to Keira's.
Well this is the year of the fire pig! Drew, my mom and I went to the Chinese new years parade on Sunday and it was AWESOME! I honestly have never seen anything like it before. it was sooo cool. The parade was pretty long (about an hour and a half) and had a lot of different "tongs". Tongs are different families. Each family has a dragon and a bunch of people holding flags. after the parade each tong or dragon take a different street and takes a offering (head of lettuce) from each business(its hung in the doorway). it is supposed to bring good luck and fortune to each business. when the dragon jumps up and takes the offering, the store owner lights some fire crackers and drops them on the ground around the dragons feet.
I learned a lot at the parade.
I took some pictures
enjoy

Tid Bits

Look at me, I'm a kitty cat!

This is from when she still had a cold and got a cheerio stuck in her snot!

Do I have something in my teeth?

Me and Angelina have been preparing very hard for me to go back to work! Angelina is weaned, is sleeping like a dream both at night and for naps, and is a happy, healthy, more indepedent little girl now.

I have put some resumés out there and have a few possibilities lined up for childcare. Not daycare, but stay-at-home moms with little ones of their own.

Angelina can say mama, make a cork-popping sound with my mouth, and turn the light switch on and off. She can also feed herself with a spoon!

Matt's sister Leia is pregnant again!

Angelina Update

Look how sweet I am mama. Let's go buy me things.

Mama says I am her gift from heaven

Me and Daddy are best buddies!

Look at me, I'm a gymnast!

Look, I have hair now!

Angelina has learned so much new stuff so fast!

• She stands with no hands, just resting her belly against the couch
• She says "baba" and I'm quite sure she's referring to me (she can't say "m" yet)
• She slides backwards around the house.
• She loves to share, i.e. put things in my mouth: she has fed me her bottle and cheerios, and loves to suck on her finger and then give it to me to suck on.
• She can play peekaboo! She covers her face and I say, "where's Angelina?" then she uncovers and laughs!
• She loves to cuddle! When we're holding her she will pinch or stroke our necks and she'll dig under our shirts to snuggle our skin

She is so much fun. Me and Matt are so in love with her that it's hard to bear! We didn't know what happiness was until we had our little family.