Troy's 8 month pictures

I took Troy to the Superstore yesterday to get his picture taken. What an easy photo shoot that was. He was all smiles and such a little ham. I wanted to get a picture with myself in it as well since I did that with Ty & Vanessa. I'm not as happy with that picture but it could be worse. Last night Troy hit a milestone...he allowed Iain to put him to bed. I had pumped a bottle for him and Iain gave it to him with no problem then he actually went to bed. I feel so free right now!! I can go out (which I have plans too on Saturday night) without worrying about Troy starving and not getting to bed. We're going to try it again tonight just for practice but I'm feeling really good about this.
Iain and I have some big plans tonight- we are taking some "before" shots of ourselves because on Sunday we are starting an intense workout/ diet program for the next 90 days. The P90X! If you haven't seen the infomercials for this you have to look it up. They are so inspiring. Iain and I have both been feeling really blah lately and needed something to spice things up a bit and this is it. We are both so motivated and excited to start this program. I'm not sure if I'll post the "before" pictures because I'm at an all time gross right now but maybe when I start seeing some results I'll post the pictures.
I did post some shots of Ty & Vanessa at 8 months just to compare to Troy's 8 months shots. So far I don't really see any resemblance between any of my kids - Ty & Vanessa both have dark hair and green eyes and I can sort of see Vanessa & Troy have a similar smile...I know you're not supposed to compare your children but it's so much fun.

Birthday celebrations & gorgeous weather

What an amazing weekend we had - perfect to celebrate Iain's birthday. Saturday morning we ran around between Vanessa's dance class & Ty's lacrosse then Iain took the kids to see "The Backyardigans" at the GM center. Later that afternoon the kids helped Iain get his bike out and ready to ride... We spent the evening next door celebrating Iain and Corrado's birthday. We had a delicious BBQ meal and the kids played outside until they collapsed. Even Troy was crawling around on the grass having a great time.

On Sunday we were up bright and early for Ty's lacrosse practice -which was a dream come true for him- he got to practice in the Goalie equipment...He was so excited to be the goalie. The coach said that he did pretty well too and he is allowed to play goalie for their next game. You've never seen a kid this happy to play goalie. We're hoping he doesn't actually enjoy it very much and decides that he'd rather play out but we'll do whatever makes him happy.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for Iain's birthday presents- he ended up picking out a TV for the basement then we had cake and ice cream with our families that night. It was a fantastic weekend! Let's just hope this good weather is here to stay now.

Our neighbourhood gang...

About 6 months ago our neighbours and very close friends gave us the bad news...they were moving 1 1/2 hours away. The husband had accepted a new job and he was actually starting right away but the wife (who is a teacher) was sticking around with the girls to finish the school year. We were, and still are so disappointed and sad to see them go but we have such a great friendship with these people that there is no doubt that we will be seeing them as much as possible once they have moved. They are finally packing up their stuff and moving out on May 1st - which is fast approaching. In the meantime though we decided to get a group shot of all our kids together as a nice little souvenier of our last year as neighbours. It was pretty funny trying to get 6 kids facing forward, looking at the camera and finally smiling. This is the best we could do- a lot better then we expected.

A very relaxing weekend at the cottage

Well it was muddy but you will not hear us complain. We had such a great time this weekend up at the cottage. We are feeling so refreshed and ready to take on another week.

We arrived on Friday night and the kids went right to bed. Saturday we went into Bobcaygen and the kids were so excited to spot a fox and deer along the way. The fox was too quick but we got a picture of the deer.

We went for a walk that night and Troy had so much fun in the backpack while the kids splashed along in the huge puddles. But for most of the weekend Iain and I could be found like this...I even finished my book - which I REALLY enjoyed. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be getting up there again until the end of May because Ty's lacrosse starts next weekend (both Sat & Sun.) and Vanessa has dancing on Saturdays again. We may try to sneak another weekend in though.

I had to add this picture of Troy with his new smile- check out the chicklets! He is really changing right in front of our eyes.

Finally, I am once again posting a picture of my oldest son with a black eye. I was so embarassed to bring him to school today dreading what the teachers and other parents must be thinking. This time he did it to himself at least. (last time I opened the door and the doorknob caught him in the eye) This time he was fooling around with a blanket over his head and he ran into the fire place mantel. He thinks he looks pretty tough but in the meantime I'm sitting here waiting for a call from the school.