Our Family

If you don't know who we are you shouldn't be reading this! : )

Christmas!!

Christmas was a busy, fun, crazy time! Joel loved opening gifts - had a few meltdowns when there weren't any left! We had a wonderful time with all the family together! The family just keeps growing. As you can see Mom and Dad have 6 grandkids now.
Since we weren't staying for New Year's we celebrated a day early with a Raclette feast and games night. I don't think Brad is very welcome to play anymore - he tends to win a lot much to everyone's annoyance! We miss you guys. We miss your snow. Thank you for everything!

Ushers in training....

Winter Fun

What can I say? It was gorgeous. I would take that snow over our rain, sun, slush any day of the week! There's definitely something to be said for snow that lasts for more than a few days! It took a little while for Joel to get used to it. At first every time his boots touched the white stuff he would let out a little whimper. But eventually his northern blood started flowing (once he got on the GT) and he couldn't get enough!

Christmas already!

Last night we celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa B and Auntie Karen, Uncle Ty, Duncan, Ethan and Rachel. We had a great time with them - the kids sure loved opening presents! The best reaction was Rachel to her new Barbie - "She's beautiful!" We'll miss you guys this year but we're glad we could celebrate with you regardless!

My new orchid

I hope I don't kill this one. Brad brought this home the other day from one of his customers. It is a rich burgundy color and has a very strong gardenia-like smell. It's so pretty but the flower is fading - I'll have to be sure the other buds bloom by the time Mom and Dad come for their next visit.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Last week Joel participated in his first Christmas pageant. I guess you can say he sat through it. He was a good boy, dressed up as a child from back then, holding a camel - he didn't move through the whole thing. It was a cute pageant put on by the preschool department. I can't say I'll be ordering the DVD of it this year though! I'll wait until he has some lines or at least does the actions to the songs (he can do them, just chose not to that day).
By the way, has anybody else read that book "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"? Mom, do we still have it somewhere??

Joel and Katie - so cute together!

Setting up the tree

On Sunday night I caved and we set up the tree. Joel was a great "help" and seemed to enjoy it! I think he enjoyed the popcorn snack a little more. Cooper is just happy to have his "happy place" again. This cat lives for Christmas and artificial trees.

Sick of Becks

You're probably all a little sick of seeing Becks every time you check my blog. Sorry. I've been busy!! Last week I wrote an exam which ended up being HARD!! I'm anxious to see how I did and I am now contemplating signing up for another course. I don't know. My lazy 3/4 says NOOOO! We also had our house recarpeted and Brad painted all our kitchen cabinets. Once the kitchen floor is done, the place will look almost new!
We are doing well. We've all had a touch of a cold, Joel has had it the worst and just won't get over his cough. He finally slept through the night last night, giving Brad and me a good solid 8 hours of sleep! It felt good and I feel much better today. We are starting to get into the swing of Christmas. Brad is outside, as I write, stapling the lights to our home. I have pulled out a few decorations but the tree has to wait. I can't do it while it's still November. The lights won't go on until the 1st. Joel will be participating in the Preschool Pageant at the church this year. We'll see how that goes. He can't even talk but he can sort of do the actions to Away In A Manger. We've been practicing to his Little People nativity set (the song plays when you push on the angel).
As for Joel's talking, it is getting better. He now says "Nnnnno!" and "I wannit". When I tell him I love him, he looks at me and says "Bye bye!". Now that is the sad part of being a working mom. He associates I love you with me leaving.
Last night we had some slush fall outside. I can't say it snowed because it was quite literally slushing. Yuck. Here's to some real snow for Christmas. Looking forward to it!

A Little Bit of Becks

Okay, so sometimes it's okay to act like a teenager again. Last night we attended the LA Galaxy/Whitecaps game. It wasn't the greatest game but it did have it's exciting moments. It ended 0-0, so no goals but there were some good chances! Anyway, as you can see the star of the show was David Beckham and he showed himself to be a decent guy, although I still don't get why he makes so much money.
We had fun, along with the other 48 000 people and got to see a superstar not do overly much on the field. The game actually picked up once he was subbed off. Go figure.

A Little Bit of Everything!

We spent the weekend in PG. The purpose of our trip was to FINALLY meet our new little nephew Noah. He is such a sweetie! Remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.
We had a very busy weekend. When we arrived in PG, after driving through a nasty snowstorm, we popped in to see Grandpa at work. All Joel would say was "vroom, vroom". I think he liked the trucks : ) The three guys spent some time out in the snow while we had a baby shower for Julie and Noah. The last three pictures are before, during and after. A few weeks ago Brad and I decided we would get Joel's hair cut while up there, then I changed my mind but had no choice but to give in to the pressure around me - you know who you are.... He sure wasn't happy while it was going on but he sure was a good boy during it! And the end result is a much older looking Joel but still so cute! And still my little baby....

Halloween

Joel had a fun Halloween! Owen stopped by while out trick-or-treating and then we took Joel around to the neighbours around us. Katie came for a visit as a little skunk and we all went to watch the fireworks together. The kids were very cute but I'm glad it's over again for another year. I can't say it's my favourite day - I can't even say I enjoy it.

Silly Joely!

Forgotten photos

These are some pictures from when Grandma and Grandpa were visting back in September. We drove to Deep Cove and then up Seymour Mountain where we found lots of ripe blueberries and huckleberries and if you know my parents, no berry gets left behind! We also got the picture of Joel in the blueberry bushes. We each have our own pic like this in our family!

Pumpkin Patch Kids

On Friday Joel and I went to the pumpkin patch with our friends and neighbours, Barb and Owen. It was such a gorgeous day again - it was so great to get out to the farm! They had live music which Joel and Owen really enjoyed listening to and then we took the wagon ride (brooom, brooom) to the pumpkin fields where we spent some time picking out our pumpkin. Joel just loved it at the farm - especially the tractors - we may have a future farmer here!

Thanksgiving Day hike

Thanksgiving day was a beautiful day again this year so we decided to take a hike around Sasamat Lake. It was about 2.5 Km and Joel walked a large majority of it! He just really loves the outdoors! The sun was shining and there was so much moisture in the air - the lake was steaming and we found all sorts of fungus growing everywhere. Joel is definitely a big fan of throwing rocks in the water and he even threw his water bottle in (luckily we were able to retrieve it).

Going for a walk...

My Bike

For all you original PGers, this is what gets into my head:
"I ride my bike, don't rollerskate, don't drive no car. Don't go to fast, but I go pretty far...."
Anyway, this is Joel on his trike.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Eat lots and lots.

Just wanted to talk

I feel like nothing has happened and yet lots has happened! Things have started up again and that is good. Joel and I are really enjoying Moms & Tots at the church. I've become a bit more involved with it this year, setting it up and cleaning it up. I felt it was a way for me to be involved in a church ministry since I can't help out on Sundays at all due to work. I've really enjoyed meeting new moms and seeing some moms that I've met in our neighbourhood and told about it actually come!
Fall has definitely arrived here in the lower mainland and with fall comes rain. It really likes to rain here. I don't really know that I am fully ready for it yet and at the same time there's something about fall that I just LOVE. I'm happy to wear my jeans and sweaters again and to see the colours of the leaves and to watch the cranberry harvest in the field next to us. I don't like that it gets dark so early and I don't like that I have to deal with all my dying plants!
But with fall came a wonderful addition to our ever growing family and I am happy to have another little nephew - Noah Michael arrived to Julie and Mike on September 28 and we just can't wait to see him! We'll be driving up in November but that still seems a far way off!
Joel has a long list of words now. His biggest word is airplane which he gets to practice a lot since they are constantly flying over our house. He's figured out how to pick his nose (just to gross some of you out) and he also tries to blow his nose, often. Usually he just spits into a kleenex but oh well. Brad bought him a tricycle (thanks Grandma and Grandpa) and he just loves scooting around on it. He doesn't peddle yet but pushes himself quite effectively. He's had a couple good wipeouts - good thing he wears his helmet! But try getting him off it when it's time to go inside and oh my, is that a challenge!
Brad has been away all week but he comes home tonight. I think I just needed someone to talk to so, thanks for listening!