Christmas

The Christmas holidays were great!  We spent Christmas at Cultus Lake this year and it was so much fun!  Adding to our Christmas spirit was the excitement of Santa coming this year!  Of course he came last year too (LOL) but now with the kids being 3 they were understanding a little more.  The kids had so much fun!!  

Playing in the deep snow!

Santa brought a Train Table!

Maisie and her Fairy Music Box

Mmmmmmmmm!!! TURKEY!!!

Rocky is waiting for the turkey to fly off the counter and land in his mouth!

After Cultus Lake we made a flying trip up to 100 Mile House.  We stayed just 24 hours, barely enough time to exchange gifts and have dinner!

A little playin' ~ A little singin'

Maisie trying to see what's inside I think?

Is she cute or what!?  Addie-lee

Cousins-Maisie, Ambrose, Carsen & Addie

Winter Wonderland Christmas at Cultus Lake

I LOVE Snow!

The kids are LOVING the snow this year!  I love it too!  It is so much fun seeing their excitement!  What a difference a year makes.  I hope the snow stays for a while.  Wouldn't that be nice to have a white Christmas!?

September Harvest

I wanted to post this a long long long time ago.  Ok.  Not that long ago, but in September and I never did get around to it!  These pictures were taken at my mom and dad's in 100 Mile House during the "garden harvest".  My mom and dad have ALWAYS had a vegetable garden and it has always been awesome.  This year I asked mom if they could plant a few extra rows  for us too.  So she and my sister planted extra carrots, potatoes and peas and a few other things.  Although we weren't there to help plant I was able to do a little weeding in the summer and then be there for helping with the harvest!  It was so cool to have the kids involved and learning about vegetables and where food comes from.  They helped pick strawberries, peas, carrots, dig potatoes, turnips and pick apples!  We are still enjoying those yummy potatoes and carrots!

Enjoying a Loli with their cousins after all of that hard work!

Christmas Tree Time

We did something a little different this year!  We went to a Christmas tree farm to get our tree.  In the past we have gone out into the woods (deep into the woods and on nobody's  property of course*wink*) to chop down our special tree.  And they usually were "special" trees or at least very "unique"!  This was fun!  I wanted the kids to experience the "cutting down" of the tree.  :-D

Seeing the kids running through the trees, picking one out, watching dad use the saw to cut one down, looking to see the little stump that was left after the cut was awesome!  After all of that hard work the warm friendly folk at the farm offered us Yummy hot chocolate, homemade cookies and hot dogs to roast on an open fire!

Friends Come in All Shapes and Sizes

This is what Maisie had in bed with her last night - her friends. (minus the beloved Emmit) Yes, that is an Egg Carton! Her egg carton "caterpillar"! She packs that thing around the house, we have taken in the car, taken it to WalMart, lost it in WalMart, found it in WalMart, and now it is in bed!


I am really loving this age! The kids are so funny!! The other day I was in the car with Maisie driving somewhere and I said "something" to a passing car and Maisie asked, "Who you say that too, Mommy?" I just said, "Oh, I was just taking to that car" and she replied, "Cars CAN'T talk! Mommy!" I laughed! Of course she's right!

Stick 'Em Up!

Kids are so smart! Aren't they?

This morning the kids found the pumpkin decals we had on the window for Halloween. You know, the ones that use static to stick and they are made from plastic I guess or like a vinyl stuff? Anyway, they asked if they could stick them on the walls and I said well those are for Halloween and now we are decorating for Christmas, but....... OH, OK, you can stick them on the windows, but put them on the living room window. (it's a nice big window that they can reach easily) So, while they are doing that I go and brush my teeth and come back out to round them up to get dressed and walk into the living room and what do I see??
The pumpkins on the window, Maisie rubbing a pumpkin on the window and Ambrose holding a glue stick wound all the way up!

They were "sticking" the pumpkins on the window!!!!!

What else do you stick things with, but GLUE!!!!

To The Forest

That is where we went this morning for a walk.  The Forest.  That is what the kids call it or they used to call it the jungle!  Really it is the Hayward Lake Resevoir Trail off of Dwedney Trunk Road.  We haven't been there in a long time and I thought it would be a nice outing on morning without rain AND the dog sure could use an off leash run around too!  It was very cool and damp there and I could even see my breath!  It is a pretty heavily forested area so it is kinda dark and felt at least 5 degrees cooler than at our house.  I would be curious to know the temperature difference is?  We didn't go as far as we usually walk, but 40-45 mins in total so I thought that was good!  The kids had fun for a while until their mittens (thin ones) got wet and their hands got cold and then they both wanted to be picked up and carried!  I took a couple pics but then the batteries died.  And I am so frustrated with blurry pictures!  Grrrrrrr.   Dang auto focus and an operator who doesn't know how to use her camera properly is the problem I think!!

Time Out!

I am not sure who did what or happened to cause this group time-out!? They must have been really naughty! I just heard the kids announce someone was having a time out and I looked around the corner only to see EVERYONE (minus the twins) in the time-out spot! And it wasn't even 8 AM!!  Oh Dear!

Oh Halloween!

The kids have been somewhat excited for Halloween and sort of talked like they knew what it was all about, but when it came down to costume time things went a little sideways!  LOL.  Nothing major and I think Andrew and I were expecting them to back-out at the last minute anyway, but we managed to pull this together:  A blue ghost and a princess?  It started out with Ambrose wanting to be a Robot, but we knew that for sure when it came down to actually "wearing" a robot costume -he wouldn't.  We went with that idea anyway until last week he changed his mind and held steady at wanting to be a ghost - a blue ghost.  Maisie was all over the place with her ideas, but then also decided and was firm on being a pink ghost!  I think Maisie decided the ghost was too scary or something and we had some technical difficulties with Ambrose's, but..... they made it out the door!!!  

They are 3 Years Old Now!

October 20, 2008 Ambrose Parker and Maisie Ann turned 3 years old!  

Wow! I can hardly believe that 3 years has gone by already!  

Ambrose has taken his role as "big" brother quite seriously :-D  by telling Maisie what to do or NOT to do, or just showing guenuine concern for her and checking on her periodically at preschool. (Their teacher told me that).  Maisie is quietly developing her creative side.  She loves to draw pictures and do puzzles and seems to have a pretty good visual memory.  Although she seems quiet I know there is a big personality in there!

We had a little 3rd Birthday Party for them celebrated by their Grandparents on both sides, their cousin Jordan and our good  friends Mike & Cynthia and their son Ben (who is only 16 days older than the twins) and their daughter Daisy (7.5mos?).  

Being their first party to celebrate a birthday I don't think they really understood the whole thing, but they sure knew what to do when it came to presents!  

I could not have pulled this small gathering off without Cynthia and both of my moms!

They all saved me in the lunch portion of the party!  

Cakes!  Oh My Gosh!  Look at these cakes!!  Cynthia made the most AMAZING cakes for the kids!!  I cannot believe how cool and awesome these cakes were!  I already knew she was a very talented and creative person, but I had no idea she was hiding her knack for cake decorating too!   

It was too bad that the kids don't like to hear the Happy Birthday song sung to them. I am not sure why this is or what caused them to cover their ears and start screaming and run away when the candles where lit and we started singing.  I hope it is better next year! These pics were taken after that episode.

You know the icing is the BEST part of the cake!!

Maisie

Ben

All the gifts were wonderful and so perfect for the kids, but I have to show you my personal favorite.  Capes!  Super Hero Capes made by Cynthia!!  How can it get more special than this to have a handmade gift?!  Thank you so much Cynthia!

Give me the Bear Facts

So it turned out to be an interesting day yesterday!  I took the kids over to the park / playground yesterday around 1pm.  (this park with a small playground is a 2 min  or 6 min with kids, walk from our front door).  We had only been there maybe 10 minutes and a woman came over to me and whispered to me that there was a momma bear with a cub up a tree at the end of the park.  She said it had been there over the lunch hour and the conservation officer had come out, but didn't do anything.  So like the one other family at the playground, we left and came home.  A few hours later I saw some of my neighbors out in their driveways and one of them told me the bear came walking up from the park into our cul-de-sac and proceeded to one of the backyards!  Well from there the momma bear and cub ran up a tree and perhaps in part because I had let our dog outside and he went crazy barking and growling.  I brought our dog back in the house.  We had clear view of the tree containing the bears from our kitchen nook window!!  My question this morning was, "How would I know if the bears were gone?"  and "where did they go?"  I was just curious about our safety.  As far as I know a momma bear with a cub can be a dangerous.  The conservation officer who was contacted again after the bear arrived at the neighbors just said it was part of nature and to just let her return.    Hmmmmm.  I don't claim to know a whole lot about bears, and have always respected them while out hiking, but to me a lost bear with a young one in a residential area is not a good thing.  I need to get the bear facts on this one.  Maybe she will just find her way home peacefully?

Random Facts About ME!

Random Facts About ME!

I was tagged by Cynthia!

Here are the rules:  Link to the person who tagged you.  Post the rules on your blog.  Write six random things about yourself.  Tag six people at the end of your post.  Let each person know he or she has been tagged.  Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

**Random Facts About Me**

1.  I have carpel tunnel.  Hence my increasingly messy handwriting. 

2.  I donate blood on a fairly regular basis.

3.  I was engaged to be married on top of a glacier.  

4.  I have an amazing talent for making friends with and surrounding myself with Incredible People!  ;-D

5.  I have a tattoo. 

6.  I have painted two houses, inside and out. (with my hubby - not alone!) 

I am tagging: Heather

I don't have many Blogger Friends!  Yikes!

Laughing Out Loud!

LOL!  Yes, I am laughing at myself because I LIKE blogging and yet I seem to have these 2+ month gaps in between posts and I ALWAYS say "I won't wait so long" or "I will keep up with this"........ well, you can see what happens!  Good Grief Greta!  

Well, if there is anyone out there is still checking in here (???) you can see some updated photos here until I get some posts up!

Lucy Lime Studios

This is a link to the most amazing photographer's website!!  We met with with  photographer Jillian,  on October 4th for a family session and here are some sneak peeks of our photos, but check out the rest too!  They are excellent!  She is such a wonderful person and I love her photography!

More to come..... summer is over, preschool, harvest time, home renos to name a few!

Getting there........

Getting where you ask? On the way to a healthy household again! Andrew is now fully recovered from his hernia operation I would say. 6+ weeks of no lifting, pulling, lawn mowing, picking up kids or much of anything! The chicken pox have come and gone. The puke monster paid a visit last weekend, but has since departed. My finger nail has nearly fallen off only a little bit left to go, so I would say we are on our way! The kids currently have runny noses, but that's ok because in a few days that too will be gone!

I have yet to take some picture of the new summer place Andrew's Mom and Dad have built at Cultus Lake! I have been waiting to write about it until I had taken some pictures, but I haven't taken any yet! So, sorry! I will take a bunch this weekend as we are heading out there for the long weekend!

I am happy for the rainy day today! It is a nice break from all the lovely sunshine we have been having. And it feels like a day to stay in and get caught up on laundry, housework and make a chicken pie! Which is what I am making for dinner! Yum Yum

I am getting my hair cut this week and cannot wait! Something new, something different.
(I hope!) I need a new look!

I found a preschool for the kids this fall and I am so excited at the thought of 6 hours / week to myself!! And a little sad of course, but I KNOW the kids will LOVE it!!! I just have to get Ambrose going on the potty training or he will have to stay with me while his sister goes to school. He WON'T like that!!!

Family Resemblance

The resemblance on my mom's side of the family is pretty strong. As you can see from the above picture. Even the "married ins" are starting to look like us! Ha Ha Ha