Scrapbook pages - David's album

Here are some of the scrapbook pages I finished over the weekend. I'm very happy with my progress on David's album. Although I should note there's a couple pages I'm not thrilled with. Oh well, maybe they will grow on me over time! It was my first all day crop since I had David - very exciting. We had lots of fun, and the boys were very good for daddy. Too good. They took nice long afternoon naps for him . . . and for the record, that *never* happens to me. Peter hasn't napped in the afternoon in a few months (well, with the occasional exception, of course).

Ever had a bad day?

Well, I've recently been devastated by some disappointing news. On Saturday at my all-day scrapbooking crop, my friend Leslie (and I know she reads this blog!!!) informed me that the two new shows that have been cancelled this season are my two favourites. And Paul's too. SMITH and KIDNAPPED were, in my opinion, excellent, top quality shows that were well written and had superb casts. I can't imagine what sort of rating system would render these shows unpopular. Smith especially was a zillion times more interesting than half of what is on TV these days. It was from the point of view of a group of very serious theives and bank robbers, and the writers did a great job of making the characters completely likeable. Oh well, it doesn't matter now, I guess it's back to CSI Miami for me :-)

Ever had a bad day? A really, really bad day? Here's my advice . . . pop your children in a suitcase and send them away for a little while.

JUST KIDDING . . . of course ;-)!!!!




Here is another shot of Peter getting his skates on before skating. I'm getting closer to actually getting a shot on the ice, but he can't stand up that well (and definitely can't skate yet) so it may take a few more weeks. He didn't do as well this week, he was quite overtired on Thursday and just wasn't into it. He was one of "those kids" I used to coach who would lay there and lick the ice!!!
I'll be back later to post some of my scrapbook layouts!! For now, it's 6:50 a.m. and I've been up for two hours!!!

David's First Year!!!!

Reese's pieces

Here are some recent photos of my neice Reese . . . I think she went shopping with her mommy and got her first look at the sales rack ;-)

She looks like one happy camper . . . and I heard a rumour she sleeps better than David does (not like that's hard!)!!

Ahhhhhhh . . . the good ole' days when mommy is their whole entire world!!!

Love you Reese!!! Hugs and kisses from your cousins Pete and David!

Crafts and skating

Well, I realized the other day I have really not been fulfilling the "crafty" portion of a crafty mom's blog lately. I've gotten a bit lazy at taking pictures of some of my work so I thought I better get on board so as not to disappoint some of my fans ;-) . . .

Here is an organizer/planner that I stamped and decorated - can't take credit for the idea (it was Melissa's) although I did all the hard work . . . so darn cute I'm not sure I can bring myself to write in it! I mean, look at that detail - check out the hand made tabs and everything!

And I FINALLY - after 11 months, started David's scrapbook. I got the first two two page layouts finished!! I'm so excited because I'm going to an all day scrapbooking event on the 21st - so much fun! No kids (not that I don't love them of course), no distractions, just good company and tons of scrapbooking to get done. My goal is to finish 20 pages - meaning 10 two page layouts. I need to get my butt organized to get the photos and embellishments and paper I want ready to take with me that day!!! I will *really* deserve this day off because Paul is in Houston for the next seven days (yes, over a weekend!!! grrrrrr . . . ) and I am a single mother.



OK, I guess the bottom picture there showing half of my breast is a bit much for the internet but little newborn David's face was soooooooo cute in that picture :-)!!!!

I thought this birthday card was cute and I added some Crystal Effects to give some texture and a raised look to the candles . . .

I have a ton of other cards finished but have been a wee bit lazy to take photos of them. I took a bunch this morning and they were all blury. It's on my to-do list, ok?

If I get ambitious I'm going to try to knit a bag like the one my mom did for me. If you want to look at it check out her knitting blog - http://novaknitter.blogspot.com/2006/09/button-hole-felted-purse-finished.html
I think she mailed it to me before she left for England but I haven't received it yet :-( Hopefully the pattern is not too hard for me - I'm not a great knitter!


Paul was sad to be away to miss Peter's first day of skating lessons. Yes, skating lessons at age two! Gotta love the City of Ottawa skating program - hmmmm, I should know, I worked and coached with that program for years. Seeing as I was alone at the rink with Peter, it was hard to take pictures and I didn't want to take my camera on the ice since I was holding Peter up most of the time!! Although he doesn't look so enthused, he actually LOVED skating and did really well. He stood up by himself for a few seconds, and was one of the only kids in his group who could get up by himself pushing on his knee. He was thrilled with the zamboni and can't wait to watch it drive around next week and clean the ice - wanted to know where the zamboni "parks" and if he could go do some "work" on it!!!

Hopefully before the session is over I'll get some good pictures - maybe even action shots!

Here's my future NHL star :-)

Hike to Champlain Lookout

On Sunday we drove up to Gatineau park in the Gatineau Hills to go for a hike up to the top of one of the highest hills, to the Champlain Lookout. It took us about an hour to hike up and almost that to hike back down . . . of course we had a lot of little ones slowing us down. Paul and I went with the boys and my friend Katrien and her whole family. Here is Katrien walking with her new baby Lauren! They live in Toronto so we don't get to see them that often anymore. We used to play touch football together in our younger days . . .
And here is Paul at a moment he actually carried BOTH boys. Pete did walk a lot of the way by himself and David was more than happy to make the trip via backpack!! He had a great view!

We stopped an indoor shack for a snack on the way . . . here are Pete and Katrien's son Nikolas eating. Their birthdays are only two days apart!! Rob, Katrien's husband, is in the red sweater.

Yay! We finally reached the top and here we are - look at that beautiful scenery behind us!!! Of course we couldn't possibly have had all four of us looking at the camera . . .
And Rob, Katrien, Nikolas, Jaime and Lauren resting at the Champlain Lookout . . .
David and I enjoying the warm sunshine . . .

And here is the view from the top, looking down the Ottawa valley:

Our trip on the Wakefield steam train

We wanted to something fun over Thanksgiving weekend. We were totally blessed with the most amazing long weekend weather - beautiful, warm and sunny and around 20 degrees every day! It was perfect. On Saturday we took a ride on an old fashioned steam train. It drove us up to Wakefield, Quebec, through the beautifully changing leaves throughout Gatineau and Chelsea, Quebec. Here are Paul, his mother and the boys just before we got on the train (it was pretty darn early in the morning):

Peter was completely and utterly impressed with the train and loved the scenery on the ride up there. There was live music and a face painter to occupy the children . . . Pete opted out of having his face done however!
Granny gets a snack ready for Pete and David . . . thankfully an organized mommy always has everything on hand!

Pete takes a peek at some trees up close . . .

David and I - after I finally got some coffee into me. Ran out of coffee filters and didn't get my cup of joe before we left. Luckily for me I sent Paul to the snack bar on the train to fetch me a cup! My mom knit this beautiful sweater for Peter and now it fits David!! Looked great on him . . . oh, those marks on his nose are from a little nose dive he took down a couple stairs.

"I can't believe they took me out in public scarred like this . . . "

The scenery was just breaktaking, we really hit the perfect day to see all the leaves changing colours. We forget what a beautiful region we live in until we take little trips out like this. The Gatineau Hills in Quebec are amazing.


Here is the steam locomotive as it was *manually* turned around on the turntable. Four people pushed that thing all the way around so it could turn around and take the passengers back to Ottawa!!! Amazing to see . . .

Peter and his granny look out over the water in Wakefield. The train stopped for 90 minutes so everyone could get out and walk around the little village. It was just amazing. Or as Peter said, "it was really just awesome, mommy". We stopped into their world-famous bakery and tasted just about the best ever ham and cheese croissant I have ever eaten. And an apple danish. Yum.
It was a long day - 90 minutes to get there, 90 minutes to walk around the village, 90 minutes home, whew, we were all pooped!!! Peter didn't last ten minutes in the van . . .

Blog changes

I hope you will all be patient with me as I learn how to re-construct my blog with my own template. I'm trying to create something Halloween-ish, but not hideous. I thought these cute little witches were sort of subtle. Hopefully I will get better at this over time and will one day soon have something *spectacular* to show you!!!

CIBC Run for the Cure!

This morning I ran the five kilometre run for the CIBC Run for the Cure in support of breast cancer. I was so proud of myself - I raised almost $1200!!! I want to share my thanks to all those who were so generous to donate towards the run.

Although five km isn't very long, I still trained to make sure I would do well on the run. My goal was to finish in less than 30 minutes (I did!!!). The downside was it was very cold and rainy this morning - it was hard to get out of bed and get myself down to Parliament Hill. Paul took a picture of me before the run . . . you can see I'm not looking too impressed!

And here I am on my way out the front door - yes, that's pouring rain!!!! I dedicated my run to Marilyn Large, a close family friend I knew all my life. She passed away in July and b/c I live far away from home now, I was at a loss as to what I could do to *help*. Running is something I can do so I decided I would run in the race and raise as much money as I could. I thought of her the whole time I ran this morning. I was impressed and proud of myself - I stayed near the front of the pack and finished with most of the early finishers. Even in the cold and wet the scenery was breathtaking - we ran along Parliament Hill, across the bridge to Quebec, around the musuem of Civilization, back across the other bridge and then past the Art Gallery to the finish line. It was extremely moving - thousands of people running, everyone with a different name on their shirt representing who they were running for.

When I got home I was greeted by the boys and got lots of hugs! Here I am post-race with a cool breast cancer fleece jacket I got. Oh, and that cute little guy is my frequent running partner ;-)! Paul was planning to run with me with the boys in the jogging stroller, but we scrapped that idea with the bad weather.

Here's my post-run *glow* . . . or sweat?

Max and Ruby!

We all went to Carlingwood Mall yesterday morning to get Peter's haircut. The haircut wasn't so bad, he doesn't *love* it but he did sit still more this time than normal. We were thrilled to hear that that same morning Peter's favourite TV characters, Max and Ruby, would be visiting the same mall!!! What luck!!!

I braved the long line up for almost half an hour, figuring once we got to the big stuffed bunnies Peter would either a) cry and be shy, or, b) run away. I was shocked - he did neither. He took a running leap and gave them both a giant hug! He was so excited and bouncing everywhere Paul didn't even get a picture of his face! Here is he is getting a hug from Max . . .

. . . and trying to break loose from Max so he could make his way over to Ruby!

. . . and finally gets to spend a few minutes with Ruby :-)

Pete climbing the mall furniture while we waited in line . . .

And beaming after it was all over. We had told him for a couple days that we were going to see Max and Ruby . . . so after we left the mall yesterday he said it was great to see Max and Ruby but wondered why we never saw the movie????? ;-)