Christmas 2005....

What a wonderful holdiay this turned out to be. We had two weeks off this year.

Andrea, Damien, Kate and Ty came for Christmas Eve along with Grandma and Papa Tokarski. The kids had a great time playing together, Scarlett and Kate dreamed about what Santa was going to bring them.

I tried to keep with tradition and read Twas the Night Before Christmas but the kids were to wound up to listen. Grandma did manage to read Santa's Key and Scarlett was relieved to see that Santa did have a way in despite us having no chimney.

Martin as tradition dictates left the building of the toys to the last minute so we were up until 1 a.m. putting stuff together.

Christmas morning thekids were up bright and early, but they waited patiently for me to start the coffe and grab the video camera. Scarlett eyes were sparkling as she saw the doll house Santa got her, that is until both kids noticed the Thomas the Train Table.

Santa definetly did good with the trains, the kids barely left it alone to look at anything else.

The Tottenham Train.....

We had a lot of fun on the Tottenham Train this past weekend.

The kids were thrilled to go on a train ride, and as an added bonus they got to see Santa.

Halloween 2005 ....

Two pumpkins and a princess ....

Scarlett learns that she isn't an olympic skater.

Scarletts first time on skates was an amazing thing to watch. The teacher took her out on the ice, let go of her hand she took one step and fell down, the look on her face was priceless. "What happened?" I think she thought she would just glide like the big kids.

Within a couple minutes she had learned to stand up, and was starting to take a couple steps. She tried to help some of the other kids stand up. The teachers brought out some toys for them to go between and she did the whole circuit.

By the end of the class, she could probably have done a quarter of the rink before falling.

I think we might have found a sport she will really enjoy and have fun doing, she was so excited afterward and can't wait to do it again

Our July 2005 vacation.

What an amazing week. We spent 10 wonderful days up north at the cottage, plus one night trying camping without he kids for the first time.

We arrived Thursday night at the cottage, we have a major heat wave here right now, so the cottage was about 90 degrees, we opened the windows and put in the air conditioner. Which didn't really make a difference.

The kids wanted to go in the river for a swim , and I thought oh no here we go. Kaleb won't swim , he stands on the bottom step, kicks and plays on step. He wants someone to take him in, I was thinking about what my week would be standing in the river holding him.

Well he surprised me, he started swimming, in the deeper water not too far out, but far enough that I didn't have to be with him.

Of course this made for an amazing week for me, I sat on the dock and read a bunch of books while the kids swam. I felt for the first time in four years that I was on vacation. I could read a book without kids climbing all over me.

We also spent a day at the beach in Bobcaygeon, which the kids absolutely loved. They had a lot of fun with all the other kids there. It wasn't until we were getting ready to leave that another mother noticed a sign that said the beach was closed due to high bacteria levels. It was in such a horrible spot, you didn't see when you walked in the gate at the beach. Quite a few of the parents were going to complain, none of them had noticed it either.

I was a bit worried that one of the kids would come down with something, but neither of them did.

Martin built a new dock for us, one that we can actually take chairs down to, and easier steps to get in and out of the water.

The kids had there first experience at the rapids, Scarlett was begging to go back. She had a lot of fun picking up all the clam shells. they also like watching the river flowing over the rocks, the boat ride there was a bit long for them, next time we will put the boat in at the beach and go from there.

Laurie, Brett and Korissa cam up for two nights, they girls had so much fun together. Painting, singing and mostly singing. We were sad to see them go, it was weird to have to play with the kids again, they hadn't needed me for two days.

Mart and Brett went fishing, Martin caught a 6 pound muskie, he was quite happy.

ah camping, my passion. We took the kids for the first time camping, they were very good while we set the stuff up, we went to the beach and they swam for a couple hours. We had bought them new camping beds, Scarlett a barbie bed and Kaleb a hot wheels bed. Neither one of them liked to sleep on them, Scarlett ended up on the floor and Kaleb just cried most of the night. I can't say it was an enjoyable experience, it was so damn hot you could hardly breathe and not a whisper of a breeze either. We got up the next morning went for ride to cool down got some icecream, took the kids to the beach, Kaleb needed to nap and there was no way he could sleep in the tent so we went for another ride. We then decided that we might as well just pack up and go back to the cottage. Oh well we may try again later in the year, maybe first week of September.

The first soccer game of the year was hilarious, Scarlett and another boy got a break away and went running off down the field, they were so intent on the ball they didn't notice it leaving the field. They continued after it, down the length of the regulation field around the goal posts and back.

Both coaches were chasing them yelling at them to stop but they weren't listening. Most of the parents were almost in tears from laughing so hard.

Scarlett's first year of Soccer went okay. She wasn't that interested in playing, normally she would do the warm up and practice but was too tired by the end of the game.

The final two games were much better, she played most of the game, she had grasped the concept of the ball being out of bounds.

Scarlett made a new friend at soccer, Kate and she is now signed up for Soccer and Ballet with her.