HAPPY NEWYEAR 2011

Oh god, another year. It's going way too fast. Soon Andrew will be all grown up and out of the house. I'm not looking forward to that. I wish there were more months to a yr, more days in a month, more hrs in a day, more seconds in a min. The new year is supposed to be a time of new hope, challenges, love, money, health, yada yada. But to me it's just a sad reminder that Andrew is getting older and soon he'll not want to celebrate it with mom and dad but with his friends.

Ok, i'm jumping a bit, but because I have been lucky enough to have a second chance with having another child i KNOW how FASTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT childhood flies, so there.

This past month has been a really busy one. And painful. That's why I haven't been posting at all. For one, my breast have been too sore from the surgery to sit for too long in front of the computer. 2. Christmas. Enough said.

Happy Halloween.

BRRRRRRRR it was soooo cold out there tonight.... Like REALLY ccccold. We even had our first snow fall of the year in Toronto today, albeit not much, but still it did come, marking the first snow fall of 2010.

Again we went out with Sue, Gerry, Ethan, Christine and Anika. Ethan was a little vampire and Anika was Hannah Montana, Andrew a ghost. The kids had a blast, i think 6/7 yr old is the magic number for tot'ing. They didn't seem to mind the cold one bit.

Unfortunately our camera is really starting to deteriate at a really fast rate and most of the pictures that i took came out really blurry looking :(

This is the family, i'm trying to look really scary but I only made my self look like i don't have lips - whoops.










They LOVE each other so much.


The goods... And at the rate he's going, I estimate he will be done with them in about 30secs flat...

Happy Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for. Just way too many TO list. But i will give my top few.

I'm so thankful to have been in relatively great health for most of my 43. I am thankful that I live in a peaceful Country that is multicultural and recognizes the rights of gay people and allowing them to marry. I am thankful that we have free health care. I am thankful not live in fear of my life or be wondering if i can feed my kids. I am thankful to be blessed with a wonderful family, both biologic ones and non biologic. I am thankful that i was able to have 2 beautiful children. I am thankful that both of them are healthy. I am thankful to have met Don and i feel so much in love with him as much as the first day that i fell into love. (and putting up with my PMS, oh you poor dear). I am thankful that my family has been expanded with his equally wonderful children. I am thankful to have parents that loved me and sticking with me after having a child at 17, and for being there when I needed help ... I am thankful to have Dons parents that love me and except with open arms into their family. I am thankful to have the opportunity to stay at home with Andrew all day and be able to teach him at home. I am thankful to have my fur babies Reggy and Isis's unconditional love, they are always ready to greet me at the door or in the mornings after i come out of my slumber. I am thankful that i have friends that love me and are willing to listen to me when i need to vent about something (you guys deserve a metal ~ wink wink ~) .. I am blessed to have 2 sisters that have been there for me in my times of crisis, sharing hugs, laughter and a few drinks with every so often ;) , thank you Tammy and Lynn, i love you. Through thick and thin.

Ok that was a bit more then a few, but believe me there is a LOT more things that i am thankful for.

I am thankful to be alive.

Here is how my Thanksgiving weekend rolled.

Sat my dad picked Andrew, Anika and me up and brought me to the house for our family dinner. I got to meet my Great Niece Sophie for the first time :) She is perfect, she is gorgeous and she is sooooo tiny still.



The second time around mom with her new baby.



This is the new moms sister my niece Stacey with her boyfriend Steve holding Sophie, they will make great parents one day.



Christina (my baby) and baby Sophie.




The next day my sister Tammy, her daughter and son in law Tara and Geoff and their 2 kids Austin and Sophie, Andrew and Anika and i went to the pumpkin patch together. Unfortunately Austin got stung by a bee on his ear shorty after we arrived there so his parents took him home right away just in case he was allergic since he's never been bitten by one before. The poor little man was in so much pain. :(

Our Littlest Pumpkin.



The 3 muskateer's, Austin, Andrew and Anika. Actually with Andrew having 3 missing teeth he's looking a bit like a Jack-o-lantern himself :P


Absolutely beautiful. I give my sister Tammy credit for taking this picture!


Then Tammy insisted on paying for the kids to take a pony ride.

This was Andrew's first time on a pony.





Looking to see if he could find Austin going to the car :(


And then realization that he was really gone :( .. Andrew was pretty upset about that.


Anika looked like a natural on it.





Then it was photo shoot time! Muahaaaahaaaaaahaaaaa.







Andrew doing his "usual" pose these days.









Ummm you're going to have to push harder then that Andrew!


I don't think anyone could be more happier then that!


And then after the pumpkin patch my sister and dad drove us to Mississauga to celebrate Thanksgiving with Don's side of the family. Mmmmm, 2 turkey dinners in 2 days, heavenly. And being with those that i love, BLISS. We also got the privilege of celebrating Don's parents 60th wedding anniversary as well. Imagine being married for that long? Even tho they've been married for so long you can tell that their love for one another has never faded. They are truly 2 people to look up too and learn from. Another thing to be VERY thankful for.








Anika really likes hanging out with the girls!




Don's parent with his 2 aunt, Aunt Lydia who had hosted the dinner at her place and his Aunt Shirley that came all the way from California, they both made the very tasty dinner.


Aunt Shirley, Grandpa and Nanny.



Trying to get a group shot turned out to be barely possible. But I like it better this way anyways. It's more candid.Not to mention there were a LOT of peeps taking pictures at the time.



WHAT A GLORIOUS WAY TO END THE WEEKEND <3

Busy Busy Busy

Last Thursday Andrew's big brother came over for his dad's famous taco dinner. I made him a carrot cake, he just turned 25. It was a good night. Thanks James for coming over. You should do it more often :)

Last week Andrew lost another bottom tooth. His forth one so far. He's also got a top one loose.

Saturday his eldest brother Alexander came for a wee visit as well, we were supposed to have his Grandparents (Don's side) and Aunt over as too but Andrew came down with a cold and i didn't want to risk getting his Nannie sick because she is still recovering from a recent knee replacement operation. Perhaps this coming week they can come.

Talking of sickness Andrew's starting to sound like a seal when he coughs so i think he may be coming down with croup, although if it is that, it's not really bringing him down in anyway, he's still pretty active. I will take that as a good thing ;)

Tomorrow he has an appointment with his dentist for a regular checkup, i don't know if they will want him coming in with a cough, so i will give them a call before hand.. Oh and since it's 12:35am right now as i type so i guess i should be saying today.

But the BIGGEST news is, I am going to be a great Aunt (2nd time) at 8am today :) My niece Tara will be having her 2nd baby via a scheduled C section to a baby girl. More on that later today and HOPEFULLY with pics. I can't wait, i'm so excited.

To be continued......................

Canada Day

Well it's not actually today, but i have not had the time to post about it still now.

For all you American's reading this, Canada Day is on July 1st.

Hmmm let me jog my memory. After all that was 11 days ago now... Far away in Sandra's brain!

First things first, i had to find something to fasten the flags onto the kids shirts (Anika and Andrew) so that they could have capes and be Super Canadian's.






And then we went to some radio family picnic event that was being held downtown at the CNE grounds. They had live music and dancers from India. We watched that for a bit but it was too loud for the kids so we left after they stuffed their mouths with candy floss.




After that we hopped onto a street car and went to the Harbour Front. While there we saw a few of these.





And the kids enjoyed playing in the sand. But of course they wouldn't have nothing to do with the camera and the pictures that i did get of them are all way too blurry for me to post because they move way too fast for my old camera (or my dexterity - haha)... So this is the best i could do for the sand shot.



And being the patriotic girl that i am (although i wish they would unify the whole world into one Country) i had to take a picture of them standing and looking at a Canadian icon. For you American's out there can you guess what it is? By the way, to get this picture and several like this, i had to lie down on the pavement and look like a quack so that i could get the whole tower in. Yes, i looked like a crazy woman. No i did not care.



Then they wanted to join in on my madness. But they looked much cuter.





We walked on the board walk for awhile, but had to stop for many breaks. Every.thing.that.catches.their.attention must be looked at and talked about or played with, or jumped on, or touched, you name it, they are always on the go, even if they are sitting still.



I wonder what they were talking about.



In Canada we first learn to sail on cement ;)



We then found our way to the bandstand and watched this amazing band play for about 4 songs until the kids got antzi. The woman in the band sounded amazing, she sounds like a cross between Mazzy Starr and Enya. Wish i could have gotten her name. The picture didn't turn out that great.



We then decided that is was time to head home, we didn't want to be in the rush with all the people that were staying behind to watch the fireworks, done that before, and never again.

BUT
On our way out, not even 30 steps away they saw this. (an outdoor skating rink that isn't made from ice), and of course they had to just check it out. Until they got kicked off because there is the "NO SHOES" on rink policy that's not written anywhere.





So once again were headed home, i'm pretty tired, Don's pretty tired, but lo and behold, there right in front of them is a pile of ICE inviting any 6 yr old child that just so happens to pass by. And how could they not refuse? Sigh.



After about 10 mins of that, we really thought we were going to leave, well first i had to go to the washroom, and decided to take Andrew with me since he told me about 30 mins prior that he "REALLY" needed to go. But he insisted that he didn't have to go (because he wanted to keep playing on the ice-cubes). But he did and it was the longest pee that i think anyone one has ever had (perhaps he should go into the Guinness book of records for having the largest bladder in the Universe). But of course i didn't take a picture of that :P

No, it wasn't in our cards to leave quite yet, why? because of course they had to have a clown act you know, and they weren't going to want to leave while some girl was throwing numerous things into the air, one of which was a fire act! OF COURSE NOT. So we stayed.



And that was our Canada Day. It was fun. It was full of adventure. It was sunny and warm. It was free. It was purely Canadian. The only way it could have been better is if we were celebrating the "REAL" planet Earth Day where there is no borders, and only one nation.

We did make it home..... Eventually.