Live it!

Back home

...after a little trip to Chicago for the Summer CHA Show. It was fun. I really had a lot of fun this show. I have made some really great friends and the tradeshows are one of my few chances to get together with them and hang. Loved our nightly pj parties, girls and i miss you all already!

The Autumn Leaves booth is a fun place to be and I love all the girls so much. We featured a lot of cool new products and I can't wait to get my hands on a lot of them.

The Savannah Collection with Foofala was especially pretty to me and I did this page sample which I wanted to include here since it is my first page with my BIL and SIL's wedding (the photos I lost for almost a year and thought i'd deleted from my computer) photos. Their anniversary was while I was away (July 23rd) so here is my Happy 1st Anniversary shout-out to you Aaron and Sarah.  How fast time flies, huh?!

Reunited...

This Sunday the Emerson family (my dad's side of the family) gathered at Silver Lake near Perth for an Emerson Family Reunion. The weather was hot but beautiful. The lake "Silver Lake" was so picturesque and gorgeous. The kids loved that they could swim in the warm lake water all day and at one point I counted 20 Emerson's in the water at once. Chloe had fun laughing and bugging Harrison... she loves that boy and he is so good with kids. Keaton and Curtis swam for hours. We stayed from around 1pm til 5pm. Gram was there and stayed in the shade... she looked really happy and geniunely proud of the large family she has. Some couldn't make it and they were missed. I think we had around 50 in attendance Gram mentioned. I neglected to get a family group shot which I had set out to do when I left home with my camera. It was just too busy and fun to stop to arrange it. I did manage to get photos of most of the kids and some of us 'older folk'.  Cheers Emerson Clan!

Soccer boy...

Tonight was Keaton's last night of soccer for 2006 season. It is too bad because he really enjoyed it this year. He had a lot of kids from school on his team and he was always excited to go to soccer and socialize (oh...and play soccer too, ya). We got his soccer photos and isn't he cute?  We think so.

He scored zero goals (actually i think he scored one in the first or second game of the season but i was busy talking and missed it - bad momma) but was a great team player and knew how to get the ball to near the net and assist. He always had a smile on his face and loved his soccer coaches Amber and Rob. This was his first year in the full size field and man, I don't know how the little kids run that much for 40-50 minutes. It must be for the freezie pops they got at the end of each game?!

Proud of him. Glad he likes sports and social activities... feels good to watch him improve and get excited about his own 'stuff'.

Oh, i can NOT wait...

We are finally all booked. Beach house has been booked for a while. Flights booked... like 2 minutes ago! It is real and I'm so stoked for our summer holidays this year. The kids have never seen the ocean. We have nice beaches here but it is Lake Ontario they are familiar with. Chloe is talking sharks and dolphins. Keaton is talking about the "kids to play with".

We are going to this great beach house on St. George Island in Florida. I get to hang with 2 of my favourite girls... Jenn Bertsch (my blogless gal) and Renee Coffey - I'm looking forward to introducing my scrapbookin' friends to my family and hope they like my kids since they have to live with them for over a week. Ha... just kidding... they will (i think) - or at least they'll pretend to. 

The kids are so excited... Keaton is most excited about the kids (Jenn has 2 boys and Renee has a boy and a girl) he'll be shackin' up with for 9 days. He is my social butterfly. He is also totally excited about flying in a plane... he made me book him the window seat. Chloe is excited about the beach. She'll be my challenge. She is so busy right now. I already know that the airport wait will be a nightmare... but it will be worth it. The alternative was driving for 23 hours and I just am not ready to do something that insane with 2 kids under 5 years old... DVD player in van or not ;)

Ok. I had to write that down. I am excited. Excited to chill with my family. Hang out on the beach. Swim. Watch all the kids playing together. Watching the kids run to the ocean for the first time and collect seashells. I am also looking forward to blender drinks, seafood (sorry Renee, the house is gonna stink like seafood!) and steak and grilling and maybe a bonfire on the beach?, photo swaps with the girls (i'll take a flattering photo of you if you take a flattering photo of me sorta thing - ha), sitting on the screened  porch and watching sunsets. I am looking forward to a vacation with Shaune...even if the kids are with us. We need to get away together - from this house and this computer and all our responsibilities! I'm looking forward to showing the kids a new part of the world where you wake up to the sound of the ocean and a house full of kids to play with them. Jenn tells me to look forward to "Guitar Hero" (whatever that is) because she is bringing it for us to play. What in the heck?! I just can't wait - i know there will be so much laughter... nobody can get together and be goofy and laugh like the 3 of us.

Ugh... now the countdown begins. Until then, I'll see my gals in Chicago next week for CHA. Can't wait chicas!

Not a single photo...

Wow, a busy and totally fun weekend and I didn't pull my camera out once. I am trying to leave it behind once in a while... concentrate on the good times and less about capturing them on film. I managed just fine without the camera this weekend and it was such a busy time. Friday night we hung out at Cousin Kathy's by the pool til quite late... til the mosquitos' chased us back down the road to our place. Saturday we decided to have a last-minute BBQ and Rhonda came over with the kids, as well as Chris & Lori and Pam. Great time. Just hangin'... the kids running and swimming and swinging. We had a casual BBQ and then a Bonfire. Mosquitos spoiled the fun again and we made our way inside as the sun went down. The bugs are so bad this year. Living in the country... right by the woods - not so good for bugs. Today... we went to Mel & Murray's for a day at the pool. The kids are getting so tanned - they are total water bugs. Yet again I was reminded how much I want to get that in-ground pool ...like yesterday. It aint happenin' though :) The weather was glorious and not humid... so I was super happy all weekend. Hello Summer!

Hey Scrapbookers...

Have you seen the new Designing With "ME BLOG" yet? Have you participated? You should... it is so fun scrapbooking about yourself and your interests. I just did a layout for Lisa's MUSIC challenge and I had the best time. We do a different challenge every week and anyone of you that participate can link your layouts to the comment area of our blog challenge - and you might win something fun from Autumn Leaves and the Designing With crew. We put all the names in a draw and there is a new winner every week.

Interested? Want to check and see...?

LOOK HERE - Me Blog

i think you still have time to do this weeks challenge... do it. i dare ya!

Henry... chillin'?

Ya, our dog is wired. Super energetic and getting bigger by the minute. Henry is now 9 months old.... it is crazy how time has flown by = it is getting easier... but it is hard at times when it takes all my time and energy just managing and mommying the 2 kidlets in this house. Add on to that a puppy and at times I wonder what I got myself into. I love Henry. There are times during the day and often at night when he will be lying like this... chilling and he will look up at me and I melt. I can tell thru his eyes just how much our family means to him. I suffer from severe guilts whenever we have to leave the house and crate him. I know he is lucky since he is out of the crate most of the time since I am home all day. I should not feel bad. But I do. I am looking forward to the time when he will just be good enough to leave loose in the house and not eat and chew on every Star Wars hero left about. That time has not come yet... ;)

So, I look for ways to play with him and tire him out... get him the exercise that he needs and deserves. He is now officially a dog-chasing-ball fool. He loves balls and I can take him outside (we still haven't done the invisible fencing - we must get on that!) and throw the ball for 1/2 hour... he is soooooooooooo fast and loves to go in the back field and rip and tear. He comes back in the house tired and happy and just flops on the floor, sighs and lies there just following me with his eyes. This is him in the kitchen the other day after being outside with his ball... me trying to prepare a meal and stepping over him as he chills out on the floor.

He's pretty cute isn't he?  :)

Our Happy Canada Day...

...was spent amongst friends. It was casual. It was fun and it was hot... so we all spent the entire time in the pool. I think my kids spent at LEAST 4hours total basking in the sun (eek!) and getting totally wrinkled up from the water. Melissa and Murray had an awesome BBQ for us and the kids all love being together... I am so lucky to have that - our friends kids are all friends because they see eachother a lot. I hope it is always like that. Gwen and Eddie made it down from Toronto (they are the happy couple expecting twins in August (!!!)... doesn't she look frickin great!).

The highlight for the kids (other than the constant play and swimfest) was taking the 4 wheelers around for a drive. It was so hot but the kids put their helmets on and away they went. We finally came home LATE and the kids slept in gloriously til about 9am this morning :) It really was a HAPPY canada day!

Schools out for Summer....

I guess summer has 'officially' begun. Keaton finished school on Thursday and we have been going non-stop ever since. I really cannot believe that my boy will be going into grade 1 in September...that all just seems too crazy to me. He is really excited that he will be going every day to school now, instead of the Kindergarten schedule of every other day. I snapped this photo of him the morning of his last day & it is a good thing I did because I forgot my camera for his end of school class party that afternoon. Shaune & I both went and the kids just ate a lot of 'treats' and got their Kindergarten certificates at the front of the class... K was so proud. I think the only thing I'm truly sad about is that I really, really liked his teacher Mrs. Friar so much and I will miss her (as will Keaton). He is such a social guy that school everyday is undeniably what he needs and yearns for... social butterfly that he is.  It'll be weird though (and lonely for Chloe) when he won't be home anymore other than Saturday and Sunday... wahh. Ok. I'm not ready... but he is :)

To kick off the summer holidays, Ben, Anna and Adison came to spend the day at our place on Friday. It was busy... crazy actually but I think they had a lot of fun. I snapped some photos of them all goofing off and enjoying the hot weather. Hmm, lets see. Sprinkler, Pool, Swing set, Playing with the dog, PS2 Tony Hawke, Scrapbooking for Anna, Movies, Treats, Pizza Pops and Kool-aid. Yep,... typical fun summer day! I'm sure K & Chloe wish everyday was like that one...