Halloween

Lizzy's Kindergarten class had a Halloween party. They got to wear their costumes after lunch, play games, eat snacks, and enjoy the overall Halloween revelry.

Here she is in her Simba costume at school. The hood is down and sadly that is the only picture I have of her in this costume.

Here's Gabe on Halloween in his tiger costume.

Lizzy decided to be a princess for Halloween. Here I am curling her hair into "princess curls."

Our little tiger.

The princess curls are finished! And they lasted about15 minutes. I think it took longer to actually curl her hair.

Getting ready to go out the door. You may have noticed that Lizzy changed her princess dress. She decided that this one was prettier. Her curls are already starting to fall.

They had a lot of fun trick-or-treating. Adam and I took the kids out after supper. Gabe was done at the end of the block, so I took him home while Adam and Lizzy continued on for some more loot. Gabe helped me hand out candy at home and had a blast.

It was a fun Halloween.

Once there was a snowman

In October we had the first snowfall of the season. The snow stayed for a few days before disappearing and we capitalized on that and played outside in our snowsuits.

Lizzy absolutely loved it and built a snowman right away.

Look how happy she is.

Gabe wasn't as happy, but he had a lot of fun. I love his touque.

Every snowman needs a good carrot for a nose.

The finished product. Look, they're best friends already!

Biking

We got Lizzy a new bike this fall. She absolutely loves riding it. She uses the training wheels, but Adam spent a little time teaching her to ride without them. She hasn't quite mastered it yet, but still loves to ride.

She's working so hard.

Family bike ride. I was riding behind Lizzy, pulling Gabe in the trailer and taking pictures at the same time.

I am so talented.

Another day. This is near our house on the way to the park.

Gabe in the swing at the park. It was a really beautiful day.

The Real First Day of School

This is painfully overdue. Lizzy started kindergarten in September and is loving it. She is so friendly and outgoing and is making tonnes of friends already.

Lizzy was counting down the days for school to start. It was getting closer, and I thought, "I better call the school and double check if the kindergarten class starts the same day as the rest of the school." So I called the school and the secretary assured me that Lizzy would be starting school with the rest of the classes on the first day of school.

The morning of the first day arrived. Lizzy was so excited. She picked out our favourite (new at the time) red dress to wear. We had a good breakfast, did her hair and headed off to school.

We get to the school, find her name on the boot rack and head to the class room. We see the teacher and she says hello, asks Lizzy's name and then says, "Oh. Are you a kindie? You don't start today. You start on Monday." It was Wednesday.

Lizzy started bawling. "I want to go to school!" I had to explain to her that school didn't start until 5 more sleeps. (She has Monday and Wednesday classes). Needless to to say, she was pretty upset. I felt a little upset too. I had all these emotions of sending her off to school. I felt mentally and emotionally prepared for it, and then they tell me she's not going yet. I was surprised at my reaction. Also the secretary told me to bring Lizzy for that day. I specifically asked her if the kindergarten kids started a different day than the rest of the kids. I found out later that she was new... if that's any consolation.

Anyway, after 5 sleeps, we repeated the first day of school process. Even with the same outfit.

Here's Lizzy sitting at her table on the real first day of school. I am so glad that she is doing well and loving school.

Bellybutton Surprise

Today I was changing Gabe's diaper. He was wearing a onesie, so I unbuttoned and lifted it up over his belly, and there resting snugly inside his bellybutton was a cheerio.

Mockingjay Book Review

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Mockingjay is the third and final installment in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I loved this trilogy. I was very excited to read Mockingjay and wasn't disapointed. I love Collins's style and it makes me want to keep reading and reading. I brought this book to the dinner table with me, read parts between cooking, and read it pretty much whenever I could squeeze it in, ignoring my family in the process. I know it's a good book when I start dreaming about it (which I did).
For me the ending was very satisfying and everything concluded nicely. I like how the characters are not perfect and all have their flaws to deal with. I enjoyed the first of the trilogy the best, but all three were very good (and addictive).

If you haven't read Hunger Games yet, I highly recommend it for a fun, action filled read. Be prepared to be engrossed in this fantastic trilogy.




View all my reviews

Lizzy Singing

Lizzy loves to sing. I just figured out the webcam on my new computer and Lizzy wanted to try. Here she is singing Twinkle Little Star and ABC's. Notice how she likes to change the melody. It's so cute.

A Little Bit Of Randomness

Here are some sort of random pictures that I haven't fit in with anything else yet.

Gabe having a blast at the park.

Our new couch. It's soooo comfortable. Can you tell?

Gabe the Tiger.

Me and Gabe.

Going for a ride. (Well, not by herself. But she went with Daddy and had a blast.)

Kissing baby cousin James. Everytime Gabe sees him he wants to kiss and hug his little cousin. It is so cute, and I am surprised at how gentle he is with him. He doesn't look to gentle in this picture, but trust me... he is!

I really like this one.

And this one.

She is getting so big! I can't believe she is going to kindergarten soon. She is already registered and we bought a backpack, a lunch box, some school supplies, and a few new clothes. She is so excited to be going to school.

Exhausted,

Cool Dude.

Gabe is such a smiley guy. But it is hard to get a good picture of him because he is always moving. Even here while he is sitting in his high chair, he is still moving. He runs everywhere and loves to sing, dance, spin, babble (with a few understandable words) and run away from Lizzy. His favourite toy is his plush puppy, which he sleeps with.

Hiking

We hiked up a mountain (Baldy maybe? I can't remember) with Adam's brother and his family, and Adam's sister and her husband. It was a really nice hike and Lizzy made it all the way by herself. We took turns carrying Gabe in the pack. Up top we had a nice picnic.

Adam's brother's wife, Diane. Notice the baby in the front, and the gun on the back! We had to be super careful because Cole (Adam's brother) saw a mama bear and two cubs on the trail a couple days earlier. Luckily no bears while we were there.

Lizzy and her cousin Hailey proudly standing on the peak.

The trail.

After hiking up the mountain, we headed in a different direction on the way down. We headed towards some falls, which ended up being a trickle. It has been really dry this summer and the creek was almost bare. I guess in the spring the falls can be quite impressive. Sorry no pictures of the trickle.

Afterwards we headed back to Cole's and roasted marshmallows. They have the hugest firepit I have ever seen. It truly is a Gorner firepit.

That's Lizzy watching the fire in the background.

This picture is from much earlier, but so pretty I wanted to include it. It is in Cole's backyard. The day I took this one, the butterfly's were everywhere! This is the best picture I got.

Canada Day

July 1st is Canada Day (for all you Yankees out there) and we went to the parade. The kids had a lot of fun, even though it was super windy.

Watching the parade on Daddy's shoulders.

It isn't a Canada Day parade with the Mounties!

Later we went to a BBQ and brought a picnic lunch. We listened to some music and played at the park. And best of all (for Lizzy) there was free face painting. The line was atrocious, but worth the wait in the end.

Our wonderful little cheetah!

The Lake

We went out to Moberly Lake with Adam's brother and his family. It was a nice evening (even though the bugs were there in abundance) and we had a good time. I got some nice pictures of the sunset.

We went again a week or so later and had a picnic. A friend was there with his boat and took us all out for a ride. Lizzy had a blast! Look at the excitement on her face.

Then even more exciting, she got to drive!

I told her to turn quickly and wave. She was reluctant to do it, but finally I convinced her.

She was a pretty good driver too!

Front Page

The local newspaper heard that Adam was coming to town as the new optometrist. They came to his office, interviewed him and took some pictures. His picture and story ended up on the front page!

Now if I say that I'm married to the new optometrist people will say, "Oh I know him! I saw his picture in the paper!"