Merry Christmas!!!!!

Wow....what a day. I can't believe we are already winding down and getting ready for bed. Christmas day always seems to go so fast.

The kids had a great day and as always were totally spoiled.
Here is a great picture of Avery in a puppy dog hat that Nana gave her. Cameron finally got his ipod. He is one happy camper.

And Isaac scored a pretty sweet slide from Santa.

Everyone had a great day.....but of course Mommy is left to clean up the mess.

Happy Christmas Eve.

We just got back from spending two days with Grandma, Nanny and Grandpa Gordie. It was a good time and of course the kids got totally spoiled. Avery got a pair of skis and boots and Cam scored and new skateboard and ramp. Isaac didn't do too shabby either.
We also went out for a Christmas dinner with our cousins. Cam and Avery love spending time with them so it was great to see them. The kids and I have been tracking Santa since we got home. He has already visited a ton of countries....that man is truly amazing. He is expected to be in Ontario between 11pm and 1am so hopefully everyone is good and asleep by then.
Check him out yourself.
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

Yesterday being our 1st anniversary with Isaac the kids decided we should celebrate the occasion.
Here is a picture of Isaac with a mouth full of celebration cake!
Its hard to believe this time last year I only had just met Isaac. I look at him everyday and I am amazed how much he has grown and become a part of our family. I can't imagine life without him.

Our 1st Anniversary with Isaac!

Early Christmas gift.

Yesterday Avery came home with a Christmas gift for us that she made it school. It was a cook book that her class put together. This was Avery recipe.

Some of the other recipes include:

How to make a bologna sandwich.

How to make beans (out of the can)

And many more wonderful recipes.

Just too cute.

Gotta love Christmas cookies.

Isaac patiently waiting for the Christmas cookies to come out of the oven.

Three weeks ago Cameron came home and told me that he had to do a speech for school. I had these horrible flashbacks of when I was in school and my stomach turned into knots and I though I was going to be sick. My nauseating memories of speech day were shoved to the very back of my brain and in one little sentence Cameron had them all coming back full force. My heart ached for him.
I decided to keep my memories to myself since I didn't want to instill a sense of fear in my nine year old and Cam and I took the bull by the horns and sat down to write his speech. He chose to speak about snowboarding.
This past Monday was speech day.
I dropped Cameron off at school and helped him carry all his snowboard gear in. Just as I was leaving Cam looked at me, he was pale white, and told me he thought he might get sick. I gave him a ton of encouragement and then left him to the wolves. I think I was more nervous then he was.
I picked up a very relaxed Cameron from school that afternoon. He was so glad it was OVER.
Tuesday Cameron comes home, a ball of nervous energy. His teacher pick him out of his whole class to present his speech to the entire school. I was so unbelievably proud of him.
Well today was the day. Cameron was up extra early this morning. He must have recited his speech twenty times before heading to school.
Mike and I were both able to go and watch him in the gym with the rest of the school. He was sooo nervous. As his turn got closer the more nervous I was feeling. I even grabbed Kleenex before going in case I cried (well not in case but for when I cried).
It was finally his turn.
My baby got up in front of a hundred people, head high and chest out, and did a flawless, loud and clear, perfect speech. My eyes are filling up just telling you about it.
We are so very, very, very proud of him.

Check out the new Avery!

Beautiful, isn't she.

Ok, so I know I'm going on and on about the snow but its just insane here. I would really be ok with all the white stuff if it was January...but its November.

Here is a pic of my wonderful hubby in his efforts to clear the driveway. He has been out there for over an hour and a half and the driveway isn't even half cleared. I hope Santa is seeing all this. Avery on the other hand could not be happier.

Can you say "HOLY SNOW"

This is what we woke up to this morning....about a foot and a half MORE of the stuff. This is a picture looking out our back patio door. You can really see how much we actually got, and this is just since last night (the deck was shoveled yesterday afternoon). CRAZY.

I sure hope that Santa brings me the snow blower I asked for.

Snow,

Yes we have a lot of it and the kids are lovin' it.

Remembrance Day

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

I had my moment of silence today....did you.

Avery is 7!!!!!

Where did that time go? Wow.

Avery had a great birthday this year. It all started last Wednesday when grandma took Avery, Cam and their cousins horseback riding and then back to her house for pizza and cake. The kids all had a great time riding the horses and talked about it all the way home.

Then we went to Great Wolf Lodge this past Thursday and Friday. Grandma took Isaac for the two days so we were free to hit the water slides as much as we wanted. We had a fantastic and exhausting time. We crawled into bed just before ten last night and everyone here is having a very lazy day today.

Av, Cam and cousin Tiernan. This was Tiernans first trip to GWL and he loved it.

So this is a picture of Averys birthday present from Nana. It's a remote control tarantula. It's a little smaller then a dinner plate, it's all hairy, it's ugly........and Avery LOVES it. Isaac had the honour of meeting the spider this morning and he is horrified of it. Avery was making the spider chase him around and he just couldn't get away from the thing fast enough.

Boo to you.

Bat girl Avery. What a perfect night for Trick-or-Treating.

Happy Halloween morning!

Cam, Av and Isaac gettin' in the spooky spirit of Halloween. Everyone is very excited about tonight.

Happy??? Devils Night.

This is how we spent our Devils Night.

And the end result.

Beautiful Day.

Nothing new to report. Just enjoying this beautiful weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving weekend we had a lot to be thankful for.

Friday was the one year anniversary of receiving our referral for Isaac. Its hard to believe that this time last year we were staring at a picture of our future son. It seemed to take forever to finally get our referral but when we look back now the year has gone by so quickly.

Our referral picture of Isaac.

Isaac today!!!!!!!!!

Cameron came home with a terrific grade on his math test! We are so happy with how hard he is working this year!

Mike's friend gave us his cottage in Tobermory for the weekend. The kids had a blast building a fort in the woods behind the cottage and throwing sticks in the bonfire. We barely saw them all weekend and they we pretty upset when this morning came and we had to head home.

What would a weekend away be without catching a couple of snakes! Notice Cam is wearing gloves while my girl who loves all things slimy is holding her snake with bare hands. It was a great weekend! Hope yours was too.

We headed to Port Elgin this morning to check out the whole Pumpkinfest thing. It was my first time going and it was a little disappointing. Believe it or not there was not a pumpkin to be found. Seriously. Now I'm sure they were there somewhere but we looked and could find no pumpkins. The kids had a good time anyway.
We had to park and take a shuttle to the festival. Here is Isaac on his very first school bus ride. He absolutely loved it.

Av and Isaac grabbin a five minuter on the way home.

All I want for Thanksgiving is my two front teef.

It definitely felt like fall today, and whats the best thing to do in the fall?? Visit the pumpkin patch of course.

More exciting news today.

The picture says it all. But she's still the most beautiful girl in the world.

The most beautiful word in the world.

Mama....And Isaac said it for the first time today.




On another note, we went to a wedding last weekend...all of us (yes we were feeling pretty brave at the time)and here are some pics that I wanted to share.

Isaac. And that sour look on his face remained with him ALL day.
Avery, Cam, Isaac and cousin Tiernan.

My very handsome oldest boy and my very cranky youngest boy. So ya I did take this pic and I know its blurry but I still like it.

That's all.

Rain, Rain and More Rain.

What a crappy weekend. We haven't seen the sun in a couple of days now and everyone here is going a little crazy being stuck indoors.

Here are the kids goofin' around just trying to make the best of it.

Isaac's first hair cut. He wasn't to happy about it to say the least. But the end result was pretty cute.

Daddy's girl.

So Friday came, the last day of the first week of school, and Avery brings home religion homework to complete over the weekend. The work came home in a folder that the kids in the class could decorate themselves, you know...personalize them.

This is the cover of Avery's religion folder. Apparently its a frog skeleton.

AC/DC makes a comeback.... in my world anyway.

Introducing the worlds newest Rock Stars........

CC/AC

What a fantastic end to the summer holidays.

Well I just can't believe that summer has come to an end (well in two more days that is). I am really not ready for it to be over just yet. We have had an amazing, and exhausting, time this past two months and the kids will never answer "Nothing" when asked what they did during the holidays.

To end the summer off we headed over to Inverhuron for a week of camping. The nights were a bit chilly (freezing actually) but the days were beautiful and we spent a ton of time beachin' it and going for bike rides. Avery's only disappointment about the trip was there was not one snake to found...and believe me she looked.

At the last minute we decided to head up to Tobermory for the day to visit some old friends and check out daddy's old 'stinky boat'.

You know how when you decide to do something last minute, with no planning, just grab a change of clothes and go, the day always turns out to be amazing. Well that is exactly what this day was. A perfectly AMAZING day.

We hooked up with some friends from our 'Tobermory days' and they gave us one of their small boats for the afternoon! Words cannot describe how excited Cam and Avery were. Daddy took us around some islands and showed us a bunch of cool stuff, then we anchored in a beautiful little cove to have lunch. Mike and the kids jumped off the boat and did some swimming. Swimming in the open water like that was a first for Cam and Avery and they loved it! We had such a great time. Thanks Larry and Lynn, you guys put the cherry on the cake for us that day!!!!

I promised the kids that for the next two days we would do nothing but play at the park and go to the beach. Staying true to my word we headed to the park this morning for a bit of fun. Now that Isaac is walking he follows his brother and sister around screaming at them to play with him. He is starting to notice other children and interact with them. I can't believe how much he has grown and changed in just the last few months.

I am sad to soon have to say good-bye to the summer months. But I have to admit that I am looking forward to the beautiful changing colours of the leaves and visits to the pumpkin patch.