Toboganing in the Rouge Valley....

We took the kids to a huge hill down in the Rouge Valley over the holidays, and we had an amazing time.

Of course no one remembered their cameras.

Most of the snow was gone, but the hill was covered in ice. Actually just getting to the hill was a challenge in itself, the parking lot is not serviced during the winter, so it was totally covered in ice. I myself ended up on my rear end more than once.

I think even if we didn't get to the hill, the kids just had fun being pulled in the parking lot.

Kerri was the first casualty of the day, she was trying to cross the hill to send Alexis down, lost her footing and slid fifty feet down the hill. I think almost everyone of us ended up sliding down on our bums without sleds.

The kids were thrilled, to be be going down such a big hill, and it was such a great day. I'm sure we will go back again.

Letters to Santa 2007....

As usual the kids wrote their annual Christmas letters to Santa, to give to Canada Post at the Aurora parade....

I am amazed that the kids letters were so short, neither one of the kids seems to have a lot on their list year. I have to laugh at the webkinz thou, the kids already have 2 so I don't really know why they need more of them, but both kids are really loving the site right now.

The parade as usual was a lot of fun, we had more friends show up this year (Janet, Jack, Megan and Rachael) for the second year in a row we had Victoria come and this year so did her mom Beth and Jessica.

So nice to see Janet and the kids, we are horrible at getting together so it was nice to see them. Rachel is so big, and doing so well.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow ...........

Today is the first snow day of the year, buses were cancelled and the school is closed.

I didn't know that since our school is 95% bused students that they don't really open during a snow day. I got the kids up and dressed to go, we got to the school and there were only 3 teachers. There aren't enough students to run classes, so they keep the whole school in one classroom for the day. Kaleb was the only Kindergarten and Scarlett was one of 2 grade ones.

The teacher suggested that they would rather we keep the kids at home, and I think if you took away the teachers kids that were there I would say maybe 3 other kids were at school.

So I decided to take the kids home for a snow day. We shovelled part of the driveway but too much snow was still falling, so the kids played outside for a while.

Now were having a movie day, Kaleb is watching Thomas the Train Christmas specials, and Scarlett is watching Bratz babies.

So what do you do on a snow day, do you rest and relax, noooo, you clean. I have decided to tackle the kids rooms, throw out the broken toys, get some boxes ready for good will or to pass down to the cousins. I should have taken pictures for a before and after but I totally forgot.

Scarlett is losing her mind....

every day I send her to school with gloves, a hat, boots and a coat. Everyday she comes home missing at least one thing.

I have to make a point of going into the classroom every couple weeks to collect her stuff.

At its worst, I found 4 Kile hats, 3 sweaters and an assortment of miss matched gloves.

Yesterday thou hit an all time low, she didn't bring home her coat, hmmmm a major piece of clothing, a coat. On a day where the temperature was in the 40's, and it was raining, she somehow managed to come home just in a t-shirt.

Did the teacher not notice, the bus supervisor, the bus driver anyone.

No, luckily for her the weather hadn't changed for the worse, but today it is pouring rain and we are expecting a huge storm tonight with 15-20 mm of rain and 2-15 cm of snow.

I have tried writing it in her agenda, leaving a note in her back pack but nothing works.

When she got to daycare yesterday, her teachers decided that as a natural consequence of not remembering your coat, she couldn't go to the park with her class, instead she had to stay behind and play in the Kindergarten yard. But that backfired and she asked this morning if she could do it again, she said it was fun playing with her brother.

I am at a loss as to what to do, I would love to let her go without a coat and freeze (the logic being maybe she would learn a lesson) but as winter is fast approaching I can't bring myself to do that

So I guess as the dutiful mother I will continue to go to school and collect her belongings.

Daycare Pics 2007...

These pictures turned out really lousy, the quality is really bad.

But I'm just glad we got them, the daycare called the other day to say that the photographer was a scam, the pictures should have been delivered the week before, and when they called the number was unlisted.

Police were called, and an investigation was started. the photographer showed up a few days later with a song and a dance about what happened.

But at least we got the pictures, even if they are lousy. I will post Kaleb's class pic next week, its horrible, I have never seen such a bad picture.

Santa through the years....

2001
2003

2004

2005

2006

Happy first snow fall of the year.....

We had our first snow fall of the year today, I was woken up by Scarlett screaming about snow. both kids were jumping up and down so excited that they could build a snowman tonight. I'm sure that won't happen since the snow will most likely melt during the day but we can always hope.

Thanks to a friend we started a new tradition this year, and had snowflake pancakes for breakfast, I just sprinkled some icing sugar on the pancakes. We also cut out some snowflakes to decorate the house with

Kaleb decided to get the syrup out for me, and dropped the bottle on the counter, oops. The bottom cracked and the bottle spilled all over the counter. Here's a picture of him trying to convince me I don't need to clean it up, he can eat it instead.

The kids were so happy to get the special snowflake pancakes, and I have to say these turned out better than the ones I tried to die blue and pink for their birthdays.

Next it was time to get out the snowsuits , not a fun job let me tell you. We were not prepared in the least for this type of weather. I had no idea where the kids winter boots were, I managed to find some for Scarlett but Kaleb ended up with rubber boots as I could only find one of his boots.

Surprisingly the kids didn't mind getting all bundled up, into snowsuits, hats, mitts , gloves etc. I wonder how long this novelty will last before they are fighting with me every morning.

We also had a snowball fight, Kaleb won ! He somehow managed to connect with both my face and Scarlett's. Scarlie and I are hoping for a rematch tonight if the snow lasts

Happy Snow Day Everyone !

Martin got a buck.....

Thank goodness, now we don't have to listen to him whine this year. LOL

He was quite excited to tell Scarlett last night, he called around 8:00 but she was already asleep. With the time change, a cold and a bad day at school she was ready for bed at 6:45. Martin was adamant that I wake her up, as she has been crying on and off since he left and waiting patiently for him to call.

So upstairs I went, I turned the light on and pulled the blankets off of her. She was out cold. Scarlie, Scarlie, daddy's on the phone. Scarlie , Dada wants to talk to you. Took about 5 minutes and she finally woke up.

"Wow, that's good Daddy, I'm so happy" "Do I get to put it in my room"

Of course this morning, she starts to cry because daddy never called last night. Despite having a five minute conversation with Martin, she has no memory of the call.

Uncle Brad also got a deer, so this years hunt seems to be going great.

Dad's deer 2007....

Got an e-mail from my dad, he got a buck yesterday. Woo Hoo

Congratulations Dad ! Can't wait to see the pics.



I called Martin and his response was *&^%, must be geriatric deer up in Emo, Ontario.

The pressure is now on Martin to produce a deer this year, Dad is 2/2 now, Martin is, well we won't talk about it.

Tricking or Treating 2007....

Scarlett ended up dumping us for her friends this year, she went out with Katherine instead. Martin took Kaleb and they had a great time.

Although I was surprised at our fast they came back, I guess they are older and can make it around the block faster now.

The pictures below arn't the greatest, we have a lighting problem in the house. but you can see how happy the kids were with their stash of candy

What happens when you try to get a picture of your child....

why is it that as soons as Scarlett see's the camera come out, she goes crazy.

Heres some pictures I got the other day .....

Pumpkins extravaganza 2007...

Last night we finally got around to carving the pumpkins. The kids have been bugging every night to do it

I put Martin in charge this year, for once he could scrap out the slimy pumpkin seeds with the kids

So he starts cutting off the top of the pumpkins, and next thing I know he's scraped out the insides. I reminded him that this is what the kids want to do, they are still kind of young to do any cutting, so he picks up a few hand fulls of goo and puts it back in the pumpkin

I was sure the kids would be annoyed that he had done everything already, but Kaleb took the lid off his pumpkin and said "Look Scarliee, its already done, COOL"

They both got a black marker and drew faces on their pumpkins, and then with some help used the pumpkin carving knife to cut out the pieces.

All told the carving took about 5 min, and with Martin doing most of the work, there was nothing to clean up. So now I'm rethinking my strategy of past years, where pumpkin guts ended up all over the counters , floors and in the kids hair

Here's the kids pumpkins....

Kaleb patiently waiting for Scarlett to finish with the carving knife..

This year Halloween seems to be never ending, both kids have gone to Halloween parties, our neice's birthday party had a halloween theme, then theres the daycare parties, school parades. I don't know why but this year I will be glad to see Halloween gone

We are so happy to announce the arrival of our neice.....

Clara Jane was born on September , 2007.

I spent the past Thanksgiving weekend in Ottawa with Derek, Michaela, Blake and Clara. I spent a lot of time just holding her, and rocking her to sleep. She is so cute, and is so alert. I felt like she was actually looking at me, and following my voice.

Blake is doing well being a big brother, he wants to hold her and play with her when she is lying on the floor.

I was so interested in the baby and playing with Blake, that I forget to even get a picture of the two of them together.

We went for a small walk in Gatineau on the Sunday, and then to brunch with Mic's parents. Thanksgiving dinner was with their friends Owen, Vanessa, Avril, Grant and their kids. Vanessa as always made a wonderful dinner, complete with Creme Brule for dessert

Our trip over Niagara Falls....

We spent two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge, what an amazing place. I had booked and cancelled a few times in the past as I just couldn't see spending 399.00 a night on a room, but it was worth every penny.

The lodge from the minute you walk in the door is designed for kids, here's a picture of story time which happens every night at 8:00 in the main lobby. The trees and animals in the display move and talk , tell stories and sing. The story reader also reads two stories, this time it was Robert Munsch which the kids absolutely loved. Such a great idea to help the kids slowly wind down from a day of swimming and water slides

My children are not hard to please at all, they were so excited to see that their room was separate from ours, and the fact that they had bunk beds was a huge hit with them.

As we were leaving the hotel my Mom decided to treat us to a trip over Niagara Falls by helicopter.

As you can see from the pictures, the kids thought it was amazing. I on the other hand was green the whole trip, and counting down the seconds until we landed back on solid earth. Despite being nauceous the whole time, I managed to get some really good pictures.

A couple pics of the kids looking at the falls the old fashioned way.