Live it!

My new ride

I picked up our new Pilot today. Thanks to everyone that recommended it... I think we will really enjoy it. It drives beautifully and is pretty roomy. I ended up getting the White one... this is a stock photo (it is pooring rain out right now), I really wanted a white vehicle this time around.

It will get a good test drive tomorrow when we head up east to Kingston for a family party and then almost 6 hours north to the Muskoka's for a mini vacation with friends.

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks. I feel truly blessed to live in such a beautiful country as Canada. We will miss the fireworks tomorrow night because we will be on the road, perhaps we will see some as we drive through various cities in the dark.

Ball hockey team photo

One of the mom's sent me a team photo of the boys. Its blurry (boys don't sit still, we all know that!) but cute just the same.

PS: Who knew little boys and girls could sweat so much! Eww!

Summer with the kids begins

My good friend Kerri has the summer off and we took all the kids to Oak Lake today to celebrate the end of school with a picnic lunch and swimming. The kids all had a great time. They chased minnows, jumped off the raft, buried eachother in sand, made mud 'bombs' and enjoyed a sun-shiney day. We came home and swimmed some more in the pool. I'm pooped from the sun and water and it is only 6:40pm. LOL. Good ole' summer time.

Ball hockey for Keaton

This was Keaton's first season of Ball Hockey. He played well and I think he improved his stick handling a lot and grew in confidence. He likes Ice Hockey better but he enjoyed this too. He runs so fast and helped his team out a lot. Last night was their final game and he got the final goal of the night. Their team didn't 'win' one single game all season - poor team... but they tied a few games and they really improved with every week.

I meant to take my video camera last night to catch Keaton in action but of course, I forgot it. At the end of the game as we were walking up to our car a parent from the winning team stopped Keaton to congratulate him on his goal and to tell him what a good player he was. Keaton was so proud of himself :)

Here is a photo I snapped of him this morning... with his medallion as he headed off to school.

Enjoying the pool

Summer holidays for the kids is just around the corner. They are finished school a week from yesterday and they CANNOT wait to have the summer off... to play, to swim, to have fun. I wonder how many days it will take them til they are bored out of their skulls.

They are loving the pool and spend time playing around it and it in most days, as long as the sun is shining. I took these photos of them playing 'Star Wars' around the pool. I think the pool is Rebel Base. They both have great imaginations.

 

 

 

 

Celebrating with Chloe

Chloe had a pool party and invited 8 girls and 2 boys (her brother included) to her party. The theme was Highschool Musical of course and she had a fabulous time. The weather was iffy and we lucked out - the sun came out just before the guests arrived. She requested pink cupcakes instead of cake and icecream cones for a mid-party treat. The girls all swam the solid 3 hours of the party and managed to fit in a game of Pin the Tail and some bubble blowing. I made them each a High School Musical t-shirts (complete with each name on the back) ... they loved them. It was a fun day for our special little girl!

 

 

 

 

 

Erin was Chloe's birthday guest for a sleepover. They made necklaces and giggled a lot. They played dress up and Barbie and got along fabulously. They had a great night.

A fun mosaic

I am procrastinating... I have a mountain of laundry waiting on me. Instead I am playing photo games with flickr website.

Basically you go to flickr.com

In the search engine type an answer for each of the questions below and choose an image from the 1st page of images. Create mosaic:

1. Your first name

2. Favourite food

3. Where you went to highschool.

4. Favourite colour

5. Celebrity crush

6. Favourite drink

7. Somewhere you hope to travel to someday

8. A dessert you are craving

9. Describe your work

10. What is most important to you

11. One word to describe yourself

12. Your username on flickr or your last name

Insert the image into your own blog.

 

1. Leslie Castle from the drive, 2. Chinese Food for the Holidays, 3. Canada Goose Four, Centennial Lake, Dec. 3, 4. Green apple, 5. fall2, 6. The Women of Caesars Palace (Inanimate) 01, 7. Kalalau Lookout - Kauai, Hawaii, 8. Strawberry Shortcake, 9. My New Job!!!, 10. Raccoon Family, 11. Loyal, 12. Sally Lightfoot Crab

Birthday Girl

Chloe turned 5 years old today. There are just so many things I love about my girl that I won't bother to list them all here. She makes me proud, she makes me laugh and sometimes she makes me crazy. She is special and today I truly cannot believe she is 5. Wow! She is really excited to be a 'big girl' today and she loved all the birthday gifts she was showered with the past few days. She is loved by many and today I reflect back on the day she was born and came into our world - she is magic and I cannot imagine the Lightfoots without little Miss Chloe Raine Lightfoot.

Happy birthday Chloe. We love you so much!

5 years of Chloe... set to music

Chloe's 5th birthday is this week... hard to believe - seems like just yesterday she was a little babe in my arms. Anyhow, I compiled some photos of her over the years and set them to music = as part of her birthday gift. She is thrilled with the video. I burnt some copies to dvd and she watches it over and over. She happily sits down and watches it with anyone willing to sit for 7 minutes to see it.

I loaded it on to youtube. The photo quality sucks on youtube but oh well, you get the idea... not everyone can come sit on our couch with Chloe and watch the high res photo DVD :)

A big day for Keaton

...he lost his first tooth this morning before school! I am so happy he lost it at home and I got to see the expression of happiness and shock on his face. He was brushing his teeth (his tooth has been loose for about 2 wks now) and he noticed it was really wiggling. He had me check it and it was ready to come out... it was bleeding a bit. So I gave him some kleenex for the blood and he reached in and ended up pulling it out by mistake. There was more blood and then he was so happy that it didn't hurt like he feared it would, and that he FINALLY lost a tooth like all his other friends had. He is in Grade 2. He is 7 and one of the youngest in his class. I think pretty much every one of his other friends in Grade 1 and 2 had already lost a tooth. He was so excited to get on the school bus and show his friends :)

I took some other photos of him that I'll have to share later... our wireless highspeed is on the fritz (again!)

So... what is the going rate on teeth nowadays? Keaton asked me if I knew how much the tooth fairy might bring him, with a questioning look in his eyes.

Car advice

I have had the same mini van for 7 years now. It has been a wonderful vehicle but we are thinking it is finally time to get something new before our new addition joins the family.

So... the hunt is on for something that has 3 rows of seating, is safe (as possible) in the 3rd row (major concern of mine for rear end collisions) and if possible is NOT a mini van. I have nothing against mini vans but I want something new and different. But... it has to fit a family of 5 (all in infant or booster seats for many years to come - in Ontario Canada our children are basically in boosters until they are 80lbs or 8yrs old... my kids have a long way to go before they will be 80lbs) comfortably plus a baby stoller and other things that inevitably end up in the back of a vehicle.

So, I think I've narrowed it down to these 3...

1) Saturn Outlook AWD

2) Honda Pilot AWD

3) Jeep Commander AWD (which i love best but it is the WORST by far in gas mileage)

Anyone that reads my blog that has one of these vehicles or has an opinion... I'd love to hear from you. Advice appreciated, you can leave it here or email me llightfoot@frontierwireless.ca

THANKS :)

Happy Flowers

So, I am hoping that summer is coming soon. I am busy trying to get flowers planted and our flower beds within the pool area are coming along, I have 2 of the 5 done. So much work! Ugh. I have been buying tons of perennials, some annuals and I've bought a Rose of Sharon tree and a few shrubs so far. The photo is of my happy flowers, my gerber daisies in the window boxes on our pool shed.

I am anxious for the weather to get warm enough that we can start heating the pool and jump in. The kids have been in (CRAZY)... it is only 68F --- too cold for more than a few minutes. The nights are still very cold and the sunny weather is just kicking into gear finally.

Bring on the sunshine and summertime. The kids still have about 1 mo left of school. Then the fun (ahem, mayhem) begins!!

Tomorrow I am heading up to Kingston to visit a friend, go out for some Vietnamese yummy food & hopefully go shopping at Lush.

Chloe and her 'boys'

Last night Chloe informed her father and I that she liked 3 boys and she planned on marrying them all. Thankfully she is only 4 and her taste in 'boys' will likely change many times before it really ever matters.

Here are her 3 suitors of choice, in no particular order...

1. Indiana Jones

2. ET Extra Terrestrial

3. Spiderman

I would say she has interesting and eclectic taste in the male species, wouldn't you? (I'll say heck ya on Harrison Ford - she's just like her mommy there - although I always like him better as Han Solo).

Meeting Thomas

We met Thomas at his home on Monday. He is heavenly... so small and beautiful. Our one and only nephew and we are delighted. Both Keaton and Chloe predicted a baby boy cousin at the end... and they were right. Keaton is excited that he might like hockey and took in this years hockey trophey to 'show his cousin'.

I love his name. It seems to suit him. Adah is handling the role of big sister in stride it seems and was happy to have a visit from Keaton and Chloe. She couldn't wait to run all over the house with them... she knows my kids well.

Here are a few photos of the handsome little man.

Thomas Aaron Lightfoot... Born: May 17, 2008

Adorable! Loved!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom Day

I woke up to a wonderful day. I am so totally blessed with the family I have. I know how lucky I am. I slept in and woke up to fresh flowers, Tim Horton's coffee, fruit and freshly made breakfast! The kids showered me with handmade gifts from school and they bought me the MOST beautiful bouquet of green and pink flowers. We spent the day just hanging around the house (we painted some of our pool fence & did some gardening) and then took the kids out for supper in Madoc where we enjoyed fried chicken and wedge fries and ice cream. Then we headed to the Madoc skateboard park so the kids could ride their bikes for a while. Tonight it is Survivor and just chilling with a tasty drink in hand.

Motherhood is the best thing that I've ever experienced. It is a gift and today as my kids celebrated ME I couldn't stop thanking my lucky stars for all I have.

Some photos:

My flowers and homemade gifties from the kids =

Chloe made me this gift at school. It is interesting, a surgical glove from the looks of it - with ribbon glued to it... perfect for gardening ;)

Keaton brought home this little flower, he forgot to water it though from Friday til' today. Hee...

Me and the kids.

Smooch:

The kids and their icecream:

Chloe and her bike at the park:

To my mother, thank you. You know how much I love you... how much I appreciate all you are and all that you do for me, Shaune and our children. You are my best friend and the person I always turn to when I need a shoulder or a laugh or just to talk. I am truly the luckiest daughter around. Thank you Mom. Thank you!