A Tribute to a great family pet.

Yesterday afternoon, a bit unexpectedly, my parents dog Diesel passed away. He was napping and just didn't wake up. He would have been 10 years old February 9, 2007. He was a beautiful Boxer who was a huge presence at my parents house- not only for his size either. I still remember the night my parents surprised my brothers with him. (I was away in my last year of university). My one brother spent the first night sleeping in the laundry room with him.
This is Diesel at 7 weeks old. He was already so big (he had his ears cropped- not my parents choice but the breeder wouldn't sell him any other way.)



Diesel always seemed to manage to get into our family pictures. He really was a part of the family.
He was Mickey (our dog's) best friend. Even with the size difference they had a lot of fun together. Just last month while we were away in Punta Cana Mickey & Diesel shared a bed for week.
You really don't understand the loss of a pet until you experience it for yourself. It really does break your heart. Diesel will be truly missed by all of us.

A Visit with the Big Guy

We finally had a visit with Santa this weekend. Iain's dad has a work Christmas party every year that we bring the kids too and they always have such a good time. Ty was so excited to see Santa and as soon as we walked into the party he wanted to go right over to talk to him. Vanessa was a little more hesitant and although wanted to be near him refused to sit on his lap so I had to be in the picture...
We realized after that Iain should have gotten in the picture too but he was too busy video taping. Ty asked Santa for "A real raptor" and told him Vanessa would like the Dora talking house. I'm a little worried about the "real raptor" thing since we bought him a bike but he is getting a T-Rex that moves so I'm hoping that will pass for a "Real Raptor" in his eyes. The rest of the party was great- the kids had fun looking at the Reptiles and Rodents that they had on display. We had a hard time getting Ty away from the Air Hockey table though.

I had to throw in a picture of Vanessa in her "Christmas coat" on our way to the party. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE little girls clothes!! LOL!
One week until Christmas day! I'm feeling very organized and prepared this year (for a change) but I'm sure some last minute things will come up.

A new cousin for the kids - sort of...

Yesterday afternoon was such an exciting one for my nephews, Ethan, Carter and Nolan. My brother and his wife gave them an early Christmas present - a new dog!! For most kids this would be so exciting but you have to know these kids to really appreciate just HOW exciting this was for them. These boys are dog fanatics - the 3 year old (Nolan) can pick out any dog breed on the street and tell you what it's called. They all know dog stats that most dog owners don't even know about their own dogs. They choose to read only dog books at night and have been dreaming about having a dog of their own for as long as they can remember. They did not expect to be getting one any time soon so when the little puppy was brought home Nolan kept saying "I don't want this dog to go home, I want him to stay with us". They could not get their heads around the fact that this puppy was theirs to keep.
I waited a whole 1/2 hour before bringing my kids over to meet the new little guy.
Vanessa went crazy chasing him yelling "Woof, woof" and Ty was pretty impressed too. He suggested we take the new puppy back to our place but Nolan quickly let us know that was not an option. LOL!!
Here is the new member of our extended family...TUCKER!!




He is a 10 week old Victorian Bulldog (I believe that is a Bulldog, Boxer, Bullmastiff mix) He is supposed to grow to approx. 70 lbs.
We'll have to give him a chance to settle in before we bring our little dog Mick over to meet him.

The teacher interview- and update of the week

First things first - Ty teacher interview went wonderfully this morning. I love how organized they are - they had his report card out- a handful of work he had done to show me and were so prepared to talk about my son. I barely said a thing and they started in right away going over his report card. His main teacher told me that she had no trouble with him whatsoever and he loved doing his work and got along great with the other kids...He was very enthusiastic. I finally asked about his lack of focus and they explained that although he does lack focus sometimes it is always in the afternoon right after playing outside (he has a tough time winding down) but they can tell he is trying very hard and he has improved in that area so much since September. They specifically said "he is a normally active little boy". I can't tell you what a relief that was to hear. They shared a few very cute stories with me of things he had said or done in the class and sent me on my way - a very proud mom. I think I have been beaming ever since. All that worrying for nothing.
Anyway- the rest of the week has been fun. We've done a lot of baking, the kids have had friends over to play, we've been watching the Christmas specials...a great week. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to;We brought Carter, Nolan & Ty to the Christmas party at my Nana's placeJulia & Ty pretending to be Santa's reindeer - they decided she was the mommy, he was the daddy and Vanessa was Rudolph - before he grew antlers. It was so sweet.Ty & Nolan love public skating on the weekends
Ty loved making the reindeer cookies this afternoon. Thanks for the recipe Nicole!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend. We have some friends plus kids coming over tomorrow to kick off our holiday get togethers. I have so much cleaning and baking left to do so I better get to it!!

Report Card Day!

Sigh... I'm not sure how to take Ty's report card. On the positive side it says he participates with enthusiam, works well in small groups, recognizes phonetic sounds and numbers... What I'm concerned about is the comments.
His computer teacher wrote - "Ty needs quite a bit of guidance during computer time. Ty has diffulty focusing and needs help following directions..." In the general comments section his teacher wrote- "...Ty still has difficulty focusing..."
I suppose I knew that already but was really hoping it wasn't an issue.
Now I'm really not looking forward to my teacher interview on Friday. I know the minute she brings up his "energetic behaviour" or his inability to focus I'm just going to break down. I don't know why this upsets me so much - he is only 3. I have to remind myself of that but I can't help but be concerned. I wish there was something I could do to help him. I know he's a bright little guy who loves to learn and be with other kids. Oh well, I guess I'll try not to worry about it and see what the teacher says on Friday.

The Raptors Game

This weekend Iain was given box seat tickets at the Air Canada Centre for the whole family to watch the Toronto Raptors play. It was so exciting. Ty got to sit with all the kids and cheer while Vanessa ran around the box dancing everytime the music came on. Some of Iain's co-workers were there with their kids so it was nice to catch up with them too. By the end of the game the kids were exhausted and both fell asleep for a peaceful drive home.
You can see how high up we were - the kids loved it though.
All the kids took over the front row seats while the adults had to sit on the stairs or stand- I don't think any of us minded though.

More Christmas Pictures

We had another eventful picture taking attempt yesterday afternoon. This time it was a picture of all of my parents grandkids. Every year my mom buys the kids all matching clothes to wear for this picture. Melanie (my SIL) puts her tree up early so we have a festive backdrop for the picture too. After dozens of photos we finally got one that my mom is happy with. Whew!!




What are the chances we got 5 kids all looking forward with their eyes open? It wasn't easy but the last picture is my mom's favourite so she'll be sending that one out with her Christmas cards this year.

Christmas pictures

Well here they are...I'm not thrilled but what can you expect when you get your family photos done at the grocery store. (and they give you 20 minutes of time with a 3 yr old and 1 yr old) If I'm going to get picky I'm going to have to go to a photography studio and invest a little money. Maybe in a couple years we'll do that. For now though this will have to do.

We're Back!!

What an amazing trip we had although I have to say that it has been nice to sleep in my own bed for the past couple of nights. I do miss waking up every morning - no beds to make- just lathering up with sunscreen, hitting the buffet and sitting by the pool all morning. It was so relaxing. The most stressful decision to make was whether to drink another "Dirty Monkey" or move on to the "Bahama Mamas". LOL!! At the end of the week on our way home Iain and I were talking about how good our kids are. We were so proud of them- they had a great time, minimal fussing, they slept so well and played and swam all day long with big smiles on their faces. That may not seem like a big deal but after seeing the behaviour of some of the kids down there I have to say Iain and I were very proud of ourselves and our kids. We gave ourselves a big pat on the back.
A typical day in Punta Cana was: wake up 8:30am - hit the breakfast buffet and be down by the pool by 10am. Lunch around 1pm then the kids and I would go back to the room around 2pm for naps (I read out on the balcony while Iain usually hung out with the guys on the beach looking for topless women LOL!!) The kids would wake around 5:30pm so we'd get ready for dinner and head down to the restaurant. We hit the mini kids disco at 8pm and the kids were in bed around 9:30pm. Most nights the ladies and guys took turns having a quiet "kidless" dinner at one of the "A la carte" restaurants. It was such a nice break.
I have hundreds of great pictures but here are a few...
The flight there was a bit of a challenge - by the time we landed most passengers knew Vanessa's name since she did laps for about 2 1/2 hours of the 3 1/2 hour flight.





We had a great time at the beach- Ty got into a soccer game with some kids his age, the kids built sandcastles, Vanessa and I swam in the waves...what I don't miss though is being covered in sand. I'm sure we brought home enough sand in our suitcase if I am missing it. LOL!
Vanessa was such a busy little girl on this trip but we could not complain because she was so happy to be busy.
Mary, Dawn and I had a great night on our own at a nice at a French restaurant at the resort. After a delicious meal and many glasses of the best wine we had ever had we headed over to the disco where we danced until 1am!! It was so much fun to not have a care in the world.
Our vacation was fantastic and we couldn't have asked for a nicer group of friends to spend our week with. I can't wait to do it again.

My cousins wedding

What a great night we had on Friday. My cousin Breanne got married October 18th this year in St. Lucia but they held the reception on November 3rd in Hamilton. Iain and I dropped the kids off with my Aunt Suzie and Uncle Joe and headed over to the reception. The place was beautiful and I couldn't believe the show they put on to serve us dessert. Around 9pm I called to check on the kids and was pleasantly surprised that they had both gone to bed with no problems. I was really able to relax and enjoy the rest of the night after that. Iain and I danced all night and it was great to catch up with some of my relatives that I only see at showers, wedding and funerals now. Here are a few photos of the night.

My brothers, Ryan & Jeremy, My SIL Melanie, Myself and Iain
Breanne was a beautiful (and very tanned) Bride
The "Flambe" show they put on to serve our dessert. The servers did a whole fire show to the Mission Impossible theme song.
Iain and I had so much fun dancing that night - I even had him up dancing to "SexyBack"!!
The next morning the kids were quite at home enjoying a "mickey mouse" pancake breakfast prepared by my Uncle Joe.

It was such a relief that the kids did so well overnight - I'm really hopeful about how they will sleep in Punta Cana now. We leave in 4 Days!!! I'm off to do some more packing...

Happy Halloween

The kids had a great night of tricks & treats!

Carter, Nolan, Ty, Vanessa and Ethan posing for our yearly Halloween picture.

Ty, Julia & Nolan take a picture break in the middle of the treat or treating fun.

Vanessa spent the whole night running away from us - it was a very busy night!!

Ty was overwhelmed by all of his loot. He chose 2 treats to eat before bed. (Smarties & a sucker)

Our week leading up to Halloween!

Here I go with another quick review of our week - Saturday we took a trip to the pumpkin farm...
Vanessa was very relaxed lying in the pile of pumpkins.
Ty was waiting his turn to ride the horse. (He has fangs painted on his face if you can't tell what those black marks are)

Sunday we bought new luggage to pack the kids in for our trip. LOL!!
Later that day Ethan came over to give Vanessa some drumming lessons...

Monday we made muffins for Ty's class on Tuesday...



Vanessa was so funny trying to copy what Ty was doing - she ended up just pressing her face against the stove door not realizing he was actually looking in the stove window.
The rest of the week is a bit of a blur by now - the usual, Ty at school, Vanessa being a little doll following me on all of my errands.
(continue reading bellow- I had to create a second post to fit all the pictures in)