Happy 2009!

Happy New Year to my family and friends. It has been a long while since my last post and a lot has happened. I will try to give you the shortest version I can.....
Our biggest news of the year, as I am sure you will all agree, was the arrival of our baby girl, Lexie Aliya. She was born on August 13th weighing in at 8 lbs and 9oz. She is now almost 5 months old and doing great! We did a lot of travelling throughout the summer, and fit in quite a few camping trips. Fall found us driving back and forth to swimming lessons (both Nick and Kayla) and Sparks (Kayla). Winter found us, still driving back and forth to swimming although only twice a week now. Nick is 1/3 the way through Grade 2, and still likes to go to school. He is doing great; only needs to work on listening more and talking less. (gee, I wonder where that comes from) Kayla will start Kindergarten this coming September, even though she wishes she was there now. It's hard to be February baby. Christmas and New Years came and went as fast as it always does. Luckily we found the time to share it with family and friends and to have a good time. I don't want to say that I have made any new year resolutions, because you can't break 'em if you don't got 'em, but I do have a few goals that I would like to work towards in the year to come. That pretty much brings us to today. I hope that you will check back periodically to read about what is going in our household and to see what's new. I will try to keep it as updated as possible and promise to post lots of pictures of the kids.

Finally

Not that flattering of a picture, but finally Nick's two front teeth have come out.

They have been loose for so long, like months and months. But would not come out. Brian and I tried wiggling them to death, pulling them with pliers and even tying dental floss around them (and all this after he fell asleep at night as that was the only time he would let us!!!) Then the left adult tooth started growing in and pushed the baby tooth in to his right baby tooth wedging it in between really tight. So he had 3 teeth there for a bit. Thankfully we had some nice weather this past weekend and Brian cut the grass in the back yard for the first time this year and we set the trampoline up. Well, it only took one collision of Nicks mouth on Kayla' s head and voila! we were able to pull out the left one - with a LOT of crying and screaming (and Nick would say) blood. With the one tooth gone and the right one free of being wedged, it didn't take long at all for it to come out as well. I think the next night while Nick was sleeping he bumped it with his hand and it came out. It was hand delivered to me in bed at about 3 am....

Baseball

On the first of April Nick started T-ball! His team is called the Marlin's and he was happy to find out that he knew almost everyone on his team from school (it is a mix of Kindergarten and grade 1's). It seems to be a busy schedule having about 2-3 games per week until the end of June. So far he likes it a lot. Here are a few pictures that we took of his first game.


Warming up before the game

Up to bat....

This is Nick "paying attention" and "looking ready" on 3rd. lol

I wonder who will notice...

Today I felt like writing in my blog. It has been almost 5 months since I last posted. I have thought about updating it on different occassions, but just ended up with writers block. Hopefully I can get back in to the habbit of blogging again. It's seems to be a phase that comes and goes with me.

Our Kitchen:
Our new kitchen is just about complete. The new floor and cupboards are in and really all it needs is the finishing touches. Our back-splash broke on route to us so I think we are awaiting a new one. Here are some pictures of the progress.

Today is Kayla's birthday and she is now a big 4!! She had a birthday dinner with family on Saturday night and then she and Sam had a party on the Sunday at the bowling alley. They had a really fun time.

From March 9th to 19th we are going to be going on a family vacation (I am so excited) to Arizona to spend some time with my mom and dad. The kids are really excited about going on the airplane to the dessert; or is it desert? I'm not sure, and it doesn't matter, I like them both. I will be sure to post pictures when we get home.

I am still working 3 nights a week although now with Christmas done and over with, it is very slow at the store.

Well I think that's it for now. My big project of the day is to tackle Nick's room. It really needs some organizing and I would rather do it while he is at school so I can do it all my way! Ha. I'm sure we wont hear any complaining from him.

Facebook!

I feel like I have been swept away in the tidal wave known as facebook. Those of you who are familiar with facebook know what I am talking about. You know, checking it in the morning when you get up, again with your first cup of coffee, in between switching loads of laundry, again before and after dinner, and one last time before bed just in hopes that someone knew has joined or someone has sent you message, sent you a comment, or even sent you an egg that will be hatching in a couple of days! Geeeez, it's like a small addiction that will take over your life. But like most things the novelty will (and in my case; has) wore off. I hope. And after only four attempts to remember my sign in to www.blogspot.com and one email reminding me of my password, I hope to re-kindle my hobby of blogging! Hopefully I haven't lost too many readers since my last post of APRIL!!

Bad Dog!

This weekend was beautiful. It makes me excited for summer, when the days are consistently nice. The plan was to put up the new fence this weekend. Finally. In doggy that means: Oh no! New fence. I must try and find one last way out of the yard before I am officially trapped in. And I better make it a good one! Translation for humans: $131 to bail her out of the Langley Animal Shelter! It's like she knew that we were distracted and decided to wander off. She found a way out the back of our neighbours (3 houses up) on to 200th Street. And for all you people who are not familiar with this road, it is VERY busy. It is the main road that travels through the town of Langley. I have to say that she is lucky actually. She could have been squished by one of the many semi trucks that frequent the street. She got to ride in a police car and play with other dogs at the shelter all day (hmm...doesn't really sound like a punishment to me, does it?) Now she is sporting a nice shiny new licence tag! Bad dog.

Happy Easter

Kayla with her basket full of eggs...

What'cha got Nick?

Hot Tub party! Cameron, Christine and Alexis, Nick, Kayla in front, Breanne and Nicole.

Naked Kayla!

Nick cooling off

Happy Easter! We had a great day yesterday. Not only was it Easter, but for our family it was also Ava's Baptism Day. We got up fairly early with the "Easter Bunny" and then were off to Church for 10am, followed by another egg hunt on the front lawn of the church and then over to the Bergen house for lunch. The kids really had a fun day and by the end of it they were exhausted! Kayla fell asleep at about 6:30 and stayed asleep until about 8:00am this morning. The Hot tub probably played a roll with that too!

Let's go Fly a Kite...

Hello Everyone. I think it was about this time, one month ago, when I was saying this very same thing: I can not ever remember having snow on April the 2nd! What is going on with the weather? This past weekend was pretty good. It was a bit cloudy, but when the sun peaked out it was quite warm. We managed to get my vegetable gardens "built" at the back of the yard and picked up a load of good dirt to fill them with. I even got my peas and strawberrys planted! Then totally oblivious to the forecast (I am not sure if even it was forecasted) I wake up to SNOW on Monday morning. I will say it again; very strange. Not much is new around here. I feel like I am always reporting the same thing. Brian has put his unit up for sale now in addition to the actual business part(packaging depot itself). Chances are pretty good that the unit will sell before the business in which case Brian will go and work with Mike at his store for a while until the Langley store also sells. I think this will be good for now, as it will give both Mike and Brian a chance to take some days off it they want or need. And who knows? We might actually be able to go on a real vacation- some where far away. And HOT! I am still working evenings- 3 nights at the moment. Our house is still kind of a disaster area. The top kitchen cabinets are off and the stuff that was inside is bulging out of my other cupboards, or lying around on the counter and table. The walls are patched and I think they are ready for new paint and then the new cupboards (yet to be purchased) As for the outside, the plan is to put up the new fence on the north side this long weekend. So we'll see. The new neighbour is getting all the supplies and then Brian will help him with it.

Nick and his Dragon kite he bought at Costco with his bottle money. I don't think flying a kite was as exciting as he was thinking. Good thing he brought his roller blades along too (pictured here-complete with helmet)

and Kayla- and yes, her shoes are on the wrong feet!

What A Waste!

Today is the last day of spring break and it is RAINING. Again. It has rained every single day since Monday with the exception of part of Tuesday, when we did manage to get to the park. But still, it was windy and cold out. It is hard for 3 kids to keep busy inside the house for 5 days in a row; all day. I guess my saving grace is that I got three [evening] shifts this week instead of two! Now I am off to sneak in to my room to try and watch Grey's Anatomy that I had to tape from last night while I was at work. Hey, It's worth a try! You never know, right?

Way to Go Nick!

Yesterday was beautiful out. It was an early dismissal from school; at 1:30 due to Monday's report cards and Nick took his bike to school. First let me tell you we tried to take his training wheels off last week (at school where there is a big flat piece of cement) which resulted in a lot of screaming, the shrilling kind, and "I cant's" So back on went the training wheels so he could ride home. This is a repeat of what has been happening since last summer when we first tried to take off the training wheels. Then yesterday he just got on a started riding like he has been doing it his whole life. He was so proud of himself. He was giggling and saying "I'm doing it" the whole time. One crash in to a door, a wall and once in to the basketball pole and I thought he would be done, but he just got back up and ask for help to get started again. He did great! There will be no stopping him now, except at every road and driveway where he knows he has to walk his bike across......

Just another update....

One day left and then it will be March 1st. Can you ever remember having snow 3 days in a row at the end of February? (at the west coast anyways??) So strange. Then the sun will come out and it will be quite warm. Huh. I spent this past Sunday down in the USA with a friend shopping for the day. We had such a good time. I think I have found my new favorite store....ROSS; dress for less! I would say that it is equivalent to our Winners up her in the sense that it is sorted by clothing type and size, except nothing I tried on was over $10. I got 2 new dressier shirts and one was $6.95 and the other $8.99 USD. Got to love that! We also hit the Costco too! Just for fun. I like seeing the different selections and stuff to choose from. It would be safe to say that I will be going down again soon. Brian has been working at the Langley Packaging depot the past couple of weeks for Mike while he is spending some time at home with Deb and their beautiful new daughter Ava. So that I think is a nice change for Brian to be able to have a little variety from what he calls "being trapped in his Surrey store all day".

Ava at5 days old

We have 3 new little baby kittens that were born on Valentines day. They are all long hair black and white. Very adorable. Bessie, the mom was a stray, most likely abandoned, before being taken in by the shelter. She is a very sweet cat.

Tanya and Sam left today for Arizona to have a visit with my Mom and Dad. I'll admit, I'm a bit jealous...maybe one day I will go see them too. One more month and a bit and they will be back for the summer. I have started swimming about 3 nights/days a week for 1 hour each- Shhhh, don't tell my kids I go to the pool with out them (and its a good thing they can't read!) I spend the time doing laps and 5-10 minutes at the end relaxing in the hot tub. This is my idea of having some "me" time and getting exercise too! I feel like it has been a long winter [although I love the snow 80-) ] that has been spent with too much time in front of the T.V. with nothing really better to do, due to wet days and the sun going down much to early. I am about ready for summer now!

Welcome Baby Ava!

Debra and Mike welcomed their new baby girl Ava Marie in to the world on Saturday February 17th at 5:29 am. She weighed 6lbs, 12 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. Mom and Baby are doing very well and baby Ava is beautiful. Congratulations!

Feb. 12th, 2007: Happy Birthday Kayla!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kayla!

Extra, Extra

Okay so I got stuck on the photo part again ! Is it me? or is it this site? Anyone have any advise on posting pictures??

Here are some extra photos from the Monster Trucks!!

Nick and his Blue cotton candy. I think his entire body was blue by the time he was done!

I love this picture of Kayla! We actually had close seats (only 18 rows up from the floor) but I guess she felt she was missing something??

Whhewww!

Okay, where to start? It has been a while since I have actually posted something new. I have to say that I DID try to post a couple of times but kept getting frozen when I wanted to add in pictures..so frustrating. I have now switched over to the "new" blogger version so hopefully all will go smoothly in the future.

So what was it now that I wanted to post before?? Hmm...oh yes; Topic #1: Monster Trucks. On Saturday February 3rd we took the kids downtown to the Monster Jam. We didn't tell Nick where we were going, he just knew that we were going on the Sky Train (Yes!! this was the best news for him so far!! He has been begging for a train or bus ride- I guess he doesn't understand the blessing of owning your own car) and that we were going to need the ear plugs that we took a trip to Home Depot for earlier that day.

They loved the sky train. Nick had been on once before, but Kayla had never. They spent almost the entire way up on their knees looking out the window behind them. I thought for sure that Nick would hear something about the Monster Trucks from others on the train talking, that were also going to the same thing, but he didn't. I guess he was too excited about the ride. We arrived downtown a little early and got something to eat before walking over to B.C. Place. Nick had seen a little digital monster truck running on the big light board as we were climbing the stairs up to the stadium and he was like, " Mom, I just saw a monster truck on that board!" and I said, " Really? Hmm. that's odd" he still had no clue. Then we got inside....

It was so loud already and the trucks hadn't even come out yet! To make a long story shorter, they loved the show. There was little go cart races, motor-cross and of course, Monster Trucks! It was a great Family Adventure Night!

I have been tagged by ladybugmichelle!

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Missy
2. Mimi
3. Mommy

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. miss-kitty-kat
2. missymelville
3. missy

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. my feet
2. my eyes
3. my nose

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DONT LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. my weight
2. my hair
3. my upper arms

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. English
2. Scottish
3. Irish

I'm not sure that any of those are actually true.

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. the idea of Aliens
2. locking my kids in the car (oh my. good one michelle. I didn't think I was until I read your answer)
3. spiders

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. coffee or tea in the morning
2. a shower
3. something sweet

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. socks
2. yoga pants
3. T-shirt

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:(at the moment)
1. Countdown kids
2. Crazy Frog
3. Mini Pop kids

Are there other bands out there??

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS:
1. So Happy Together
2. Cowboy Take me Away
3. Glory of Love

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. to be equal
2. to be really loved
3. to be spoiled just once in a while

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (in no particular order):
1. I am a bit obsessive
2. I have walked across a long train tressel
3. I was in a movie once

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE PREFERRED SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. someone who doesn't try too hard
2. a good conversation
3. smells good

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. the idea of scrapbooking
2. card making
3. baking

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. have a nap
2. go to the spa
3. go on a date night with Brian

THREE CAREERS YOUARE CONSIDERING/YOU HAVE CONSIDERED:
1. Vet
2. Nurse
3. Teacher

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Vegas
2. DisneyWorld-Florida
3. Australia

THREE KIDS NAMES YOU LIKE:
1. Layton
2. Olivia
3. Emma

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Travel
2. see my family happy
3. try temporarily living in a different country

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
1. hate shopping
2. prefer sweatpants and running shoes?
3. like fishing

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL:
1. Love to get dressed up on occasion
2. love the spa
3. can/will cry at almost anything

THREE CELEB CRUSHES:
1, 2, and 3 is that I always crush over whoever has the leading 'too good-looking', 'too-perfect', 'never going to get a man like that in real life' role of the latest movie I watch. Until I see the next movie and then it changes....

Bye-Bye "Soo-Soo"

Good-bye, adios, sianora, see you later! How ever you want to say it, the result is still the same; It's GONE! This weekend we lost Kayla's soother, or "soo-soo" is what she called it. And no, we didn't lose it on purpose, neither are we tricking her, it (or they) went missing for real. She asked for it the first day and we looked everywhere for it with no luck, couldn't find any of the spare ones, and she hasn't brought it up since. It's amazing. So many times we have tried to get her to give it up. We even tried the "you can only have it in bed" rule, which only lasted a couple of weeks. And now they all go missing at once and I think she actually understands and seems to be okay with it. It's only been 3 days, but that is the most we have ever went without it. I even kept a ziplock bag with extras in her drawer just in case-they have all disappeared one by one too. Maybe the fabulous soo-soo fairy came down when we were all sleeping and collected them all (either that, or the dog has taken them all outside to bury). Well, lets hope they really are gone for good because if she finds one around the house that will be it!! I will keep you all posted.

Just Some Pictures

Having fun in Yah-Yah's car

Ahhhh....

Jetta always has to be ON them; napping on the couch

Nick made this really awesome centerpiece at school

decorating the tree at G&G's house

Surprise!

Peek-a-boo!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the very best for 2007 and hope you all had a fabulous Holidays. I can't believe how fast Christmas came and went. Our Christmas was really nice. We Celebrated with Brian's family on the 24th as usual complete with turkey dinner and Santa. The kids got a ton of great stuff and Brian and I didn't do to bad either! Christmas morning was quiet; Just the 4 of us at home in the morning, a visit to my sisters in the early afternoon and then a really awesome dinner at my Uncles house...We really couldn't ask for anything more. The only thing missing was my Mom and Dad. We missed them and were thinking of them! New Years Eve was also very quiet for us. We spent the night at home with a small buffet of appetizers and snacks in front of the T.V. and struggled to make it to midnight (we don't seem to have a problem staying up until 11:30 or 12:oo on a week night!) New Years day was spent trying to clear a path through the house and putting all the new stuff away (easily the worst part of Christmas) then off to Brians Mom and Dad's house for dinner and Birthday Cake- Yes, Brian's Dad was a New Years Baby in 1949! Now everything is pretty much back to normal; well as normal as this house has ever seen. Nicholas is missing school and his friends and I am trying to find a balance of keeping the 3 kids entertained through the day and trying to get a few things accomplished (like laundry) with out being boring. Only 6 more sleeps and school will be back in session. Hmm...what else is new?? Brian and I purchased a new coffee table, TV stand and kitchen table and Chairs (8)- Merry Christmas to us!! hee hee. I am very excited about this as we have never had new, always hand-me-downs or borrowed pieces. I heard some great news today; My cousin Michelle got engaged to her now fiance Roger on Christmas Eve!! Congratulations to you guys..we send our hugs and kisses. Maybe my new years resolution can be to keep everyone updated on more often on this blog site. Well, until then....take care everyone.

SnowDay!

It snowed! I LOVE the snow! Here is Nick and Kayla out for a stroll.

But that wont stop Kayla from having fun at the park; I think it adds to it!