Live it!

June Randoms

June 2/ 12: Hearing Meg say "OH OH BAGETTIO" is one of the cutest things ever!

June 4: Poor Henry has a massive cyst on his hip. He is at the vets and will have surgery to remove and repair tomorrow. :(

Work news for Leslie: I took a position as Editor of a local magazine and have been busy with photo shoots, editorial work and getting things in order for it’s release in September 2012. It is a very exciting opportunity that came to me when I least expected it and I’m very much enjoying it. The magazine is called "Backpack Quinte" and covers all things family-related in and around the Quinte/PEC area. Good stuff!

June is track and field month around here. Keaton loves it and we've been to various schools and tracks throughout Belleville and PEC watching and cheering him on in his endevours! Go Keaton!

June 19: My dear cousin Kevin passed away. He lived in B.C. but I saw him often enough that I knew him well and will miss him greatly. Our entire family will. He always gave the best hugs whenever he came home to visit family. My heart goes out to Denise (wife) and his sons Luke and Adam and their families.

June 30: Chloe is finally gone to camp. She will spend a week at Quin-mo-lac and I'm super jealous of her and her time there!

 

Fishermen/boys

I don't think there are many  things in life that Keaton and Shaune like to do better than go fishing. I wish we had our own boat but I fear that if we did I'd likely not ever see them in the evenings and on weekends. 

 

Chris and Curtis took them out on the Moira for a couple of fishing days and OH what fun they had. They found a "magical spot" and they just kept realing in the bass fish. On the second day of fishing, the smiles were ear to ear when we met them back at the Tapp's to check out all the fish they caught. We had my brother Cory there to fillet them and had an amazing feast of bass - one of my kids favourite foods in the summer time.

 

The sisters made it into one photo :)

And here are a few photos Shaune and Chris took on their cameras. They were as happy as the boys I think. 

 

Enjoying the pool

Best part of summer is all the time we spend together having fun. The TV and the video games don't get as much use and if you are in close vacinity to our home, you will hear giggles and screeching and crazy play all day long. The kids love to swim. Meg is still learning but the other two are little fish. They horse-play in the pool and they challenge eachother to underwater races and tricks. Loving this time of year!

 

Everything old is new again

Chloe has been learning about the days of the Pioneer at school and Mrs. Boundas (her amazing teacher) had them all dress up as pioneers for a fun day in the class room. They brought food for a class party that would be served 'way back when' and Chloe was so excited to get dressed up for the event. 

Chloe wore the dress that I wore when my teacher held a similar event when I was in Grade 4. Back then, my mother sewed this gorgeous "Laura Ingalls" dress for me and I remember loving the bonnet especially. My mom saved it all these years (thank God, because my sewing skills are null and void) and it was more than a bit nostalgic to see Chloe put in on a few decades later. 

 

Mrs. Boundas sent me this photo from the class room:

A common bond

My mom (aka as Nana E) has loved the "Anne of Green Gable" books since she was a little girl. She's read them all, and shared them recently with Chloe, who loves the movies and has read parts of the books too. They both are so enamoured by everything "Anne". Mom suprised Chloe with a night out to go watch the play that was playing at Pinnacle Playhouse in Belleville. The play was fantastic and we ran into friends there - Melissa with her girls, Savannah and C.C. 

The highlight of the night was when Chloe got to wait after the show and had a tour of the set and got to meet the girl that played "Anne Shirley". She felt so special and had a night she'll never forget - thanks to a wonderful and thoughtful NANA E :)

 

Almost ready to start school?

She may be ready but I am not! Well, some days I am definetly ready for a quiet day at home but I really do love Meg's company at home and cannot believe she is already so grown up. She is ready though, although only 3 still (she will turn 4 in December) she is very independent and has watched her brother and sis get on the bus - she is happy it is almost her turn. 

Meg went in to "Meet the teacher" and take a look around the school she will attend starting in September. She will be going into Jr Kindergarten and Chloe will be her "bus buddy". She was very excited to get all dressed up, put on her backpack and make the drive to the school. She liked meeting the teachers and most definetly loved meeting all the kids that also came with their moms and dads. 

Doesn't she look so cute?!

Chloe's bday party!!!

Chloe is lucky to have her bday in the summer time so she can have pool parties and invite all her friends. Its a fun "kick off" to summer fun and she always looks forward to it - planning for many months in advance!

This year we had a 'fish' theme... pretty predictible for a pool party, right?! It was fun going on Pinterest with Chloe and finding some fun ideas to make her party special. 

 

 

Relay + Track and Field

The start of the track and field season always makes Keaton happy. He still loves to run. His relay team was strong this year and did well. It consisted of Keaton, Bailey, Joe and Curtis J and they ran 2 different relay lengths. I took the girls to cheer them on but barely managed any photos. I was too busy Cheering!

Here are a few photos I took of Track and Field day at his school... he did awesome at long jump, 100, 200 and 400 and came home with ribbons in all events!

 

He then moved on to ASG, held June 14th and did great there also. I love to watch Keaton run... he always surprises people! He moves on to District in the 200m! To even make it to district is a big deal and I'm super proud of him.

Art

Chloe is always drawing photos. Her favourite thing right now is to draw people, fashion and families. She did an amazing job at this 'self portrait' and I just love it. Especially the inclusion of pigtails - something she never lets me put in her hair anymore.

TDH Annual Picnic at the Sandbanks

Another year, another reunion at Sandbanks for our adoption community. TDH puts it on and we got handed a beautiful and bright sun-shiney day for the get-together. This year it was held on June 10th. We've met so many wonderful families through our adoption agency and it is nice to gather in the summer and watch all the kids play together and see how much they have grown through the year. 

Most of our agency's families live in Ottawa or Toronto and so most the gatherings tend to be in one of those 2 big cities... we are not close to either and so getting together with other families can be tricky with our busy kids and their busy schedules. Sandbanks Provincial Park is in our backyard so its a nice treat to not have to travel too far to this function. 

Summer at its best!!!

 

 

 

Great Wolf Lodge with friends

Chloe kept insisting that she wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday. She begged and pleaded. She loves it there, what kid wouldn't? So, we packed up our crew and headed to Niagara Falls for a 2 night stay. What we didn't tell Chloe is that we had convinced a couple other families to join us and so once we got there, she was surprised with all our friends and their kids. Happy is an understatement... she was elated!

We had a great time and I didn't take my camera. I did take a bunch of photos on our ipad as we went from activity to activity. GWL is fun anytime, but going with a group of friends made it even more fun for sure! Thanks to the Durant family, Stevenson family, as well as Pam, Alessandro and Ari. Great memories were made.

Here are a few photos my talented friend Alessandro took of Chloe and Keaton (he calls them his models LOL):

And here are some instagram photos I took with our ipad:

 

 

Randoms:

Meg's favourite part of the weekend was the mini gumball machine the kids won her at the arcade. LOL.

The drive up to GWL was crazy. Horrible weather and slow traffic all the way up through Toronto. It rained the entire time we were at the resort. Good thing most the stuff we wanted to do was inside.

Chloe wanted to stuff her own 'animal' at the store. Last time she was there it was a girl wolf. This year she chose a brown squirrel (or is it a chipmunk?) and named it "Nutsy". There ya go.

The kids made a killing at the arcade playing "Let's make a deal."

Alessandro bought Chloe a cool tattoo application that they put on her the night of her birthday dinner celebration. 

Bryce was so good with little Meg, making sure he kept her happy and entertained. I think he left the weekend wanting a baby sister, maybe. Rhonda????

 

May Instagram

We've been enjoying our Ipad and snapping some photos on the go. Instagram is fun. Here is a little glimpse into May.... mostly enjoying the pool! Click on photo to see it larger. 

ps: where on earth was Chloe in May?

My Three

Happiness is: Keaton, Meg and Chloe!

Keaton - Age 11. What an amazing boy. Full of compassion and always thinking of others in our family. He has a soft heart. He is enjoying Grade 6 and all his friends at school. He finished up Hockey at the end of March and is gearing up for a lazy summer playing golf and lounging around the pool. I tried to talk him into signing up for soccer but he really doesn't like to do summer sports so I let it go. He has a 'girlfriend' (for a few years now) and can't wait for school to be over for this year. 

Chloe - Age 8. My pet-loving light hearted sweetie. She writes songs and poetry and still loves to play Barbies and make-believe with Meg. She is happy in her room for hours and as a result has to clean her room from top to bottom on almost a daily basis. She is back at horseback riding and loving it very much. This year she is moving up to a slightly bigger pony named Mickey and she likes him a lot. She is continually asking for us to take in more pets: cats, puppies, bunnies, turtles and of course... horses. I am sure she will live on a farm someday and then she will finally have her way.

Meg - Age 3. My little love. She is still so tiny and I imagine she always will be. She is still wearing size 18 months clothes with lots of room to spare. Her feet are size 5 and she is a little pint of fun. She has the vocabulary of a 6 year old but when out in public she barely says a word. She saves all her chitter chatter for home. We've discovered she is extremely flexible and she wants to do gymnastics so we will enroll her in the Fall. I can just see it now!  I am enjoying this time alone with her. Soon school will be over and then summer is so busy and then - my little gal goes off to Jr Kindergarten at the big school. GULP! Meg loves to sing and has the softest, prettiest voice. If she could get over being a bit shy, she could be quite the little performer I think.

 

 

Crystal's new 'baby'

My cousin Crystal is Chloe's hero. She is a dancer and she is a 'farmer' of sorts too. All the things Chloe is currently WILD about!

She has a slew of horses and lives only about 5 minutes from us so Chloe is always wanting to go see both Crystal and the barn. In April Crystal's horse had a new 'baby'. His daddy is a really big fella so we were shocked at how big this little colt was at only 1 week old. His name is Axle and he is precious. Chloe and her friend Natalie visited the barn to see this new little guy and to groom some of the other horses. Keaton and Meg came along to 'observe'. 

Fab Forty in Florida!

We started planning this trip months before and it was so much fun. Who would of ever thought that my entire group of besties would be able to coordinate themselves (we have 19 kids between the 9 of us) to get away together to celebrate turning 40! With the exception of Kerri, we all turn 40 this year of 2012. I have known these girls my whole life. Most are best friends from public school and then a few I met my first year of highschool. We have been through everything together and we have something special. I feel lucky to be so blessed.

For our fortieth, we booked a vacation in Orlando Florida at the resort: Holiday Inn Orange Lake. It was convenient for all our flights and it was just what we wanted - poolside relaxation, shopping and dining. It was a week of fun and a trip I'll never forget. 

I just took my little point and shoot camera b/c I didn't want ANY responsibilites while I was there - and lugging around an expensive and heavy camera all week did not appeal to me. So, my photos aren't great but my memories ARE.

A little too much fun at the Adirondak bar waiting out our 8 hour flight delay? We made the most of the wait and stopped complaining our 2nd drink in.

 

We got all dressed up - Dragonfly Sushi was amazing. Blurry shots.

 

Lucky to know these women!