Live it!

Something new to try

I signed our family up for Zip.ca last night. Basically it is a Canadian movie rental store that mails the movie's to you (similar to netflix, etc) and you mail it back (at no cost) as soon as you are finished watching it and then they mail another movie on your zip list.

It seems simple and we chose a cheap option ($10.95/mo for unlimited 1 movie at a time rental) - we don't watch a ton of movies but whenever we want to watch one it costs gas to get into the city plus $6.00 - plus I hate going in there and it is always late being returned.

This seems easy and I like easy. So hopefully we like it. Our first movie is set to arrive in a few days.

The park

Today we ventured out and enjoyed the beautiful weather at a local park. The kids were so excited that I took their bikes... they love to ride and seldom get the chance since we live in the country with no sidewalks to be found. I packed us a picnic lunch and Shaune met us for a bite and then a walk (for us) and ride (for them) up to the turtle pond. They were so excited to get to ride their bikes along the Bayshore trail that they didn't even play on the playground equipment, there was no time for anything but bike riding!

He looks so old to me in this one below. Not much baby face left anymore!

Keaton agreed to let me snap a few photos of him by the water (Chloe declined - surprise, surprise!)

The blood on K's knee below was fresh from a spill he took. He's such a trooper he jumped up and let me snap more photos!

The magic river

The kids are staying at my good friend Kerri's tonight. She wanted them so I said "Take em!"

Keaton called me about 2 hours ago to let me know they'd gone fishing on the Moira River and he caught a bunch of fish including two bass! Kerri told me that Keaton said it must be a magic river. Isn't that cute! I guess Chloe had a fun time fishing too & caught the first fish of the night.

Kerri carries her camera around even more than I do so she shot me over these photos she took of them fishing. Thanks Kerri... for a night off and for being so great with my kids! No wonder they love you so much.

Ok this one below of K is funny. The only shot with the bass so it'll do :) ;)

My cute nephew

Finally had a chance to get a couple photos of my little man, Thomas. Isn't he beautiful?! He arrived and was not a happy camper but after some 'food' and nap time he and I had some alone time and I managed to get a few. I will admit this is a hard age for me to do. He is 2 months old so not quite at the newborn stage anymore where he will sleep through a shoot or allow me to contort his little body. Mostly he wanted to sit up but he isn't quite there yet... so it was tricky.

Of course he is super cute so I couldn't help but get a few good ones of him. I love him and his little baby coo's and grunts. I can't wait to take more photos of him as he grows into a boy!

This one cracks me up. :)

 

 

I can't decide if I like this one better in colour or black/white?

Happy 40th Mom and Dad

My mom and dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this weekend back at our family reunion. Wow... 40 seems like such a big year and I can't believe my parents are 'old' enough to be married 40 years - they are still so young to me :) My dad is a great sport and has spent the majority of their anniversaries back north with my mom's side of the family. We celebrated their 40th in a big way but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to show the photos here. Have you heard of a mock wedding? My aunts and uncles planned a very 'creative' mock wedding for my parents. There were about 10 or 15 family members accosted into participating. Shaune was one of them and I think he might be mortified if I posted the photos here. The things he will do for my family! The men dressed up as bridesmaids, etc and the women dressed up as groomsmen. The 'wedding vows' basically summarized all the funny and not so funny 'at the time' moments of the past 40 years. My parents laughed and laughed throughout this whole skit. It was odd but funny as anything.

What can I say, my family is unique ;)

Some more photos of our reunion weekend

 

Bean Bake 2008

Every year my family gets together and we have a family reunion. My mom is one of 11 children. We are close-knit so our family reunion isn't a few hour affair.... no, it goes on for 3-4 days. We headed back on Thursday and had a great time, despite the rain and despite the fact that I slept in a tent for 4 nights in a row. It was wonderful seeing everyone together and the days flew by until we finally headed back home this morning. The kids would of liked to have stayed even longer.

Why the "Bean Bake" you ask? Quite simply, it is an old family recipe and tradition. They bake beans in iron pots in the ground overnight and there is a feast of beef, beans, corn, veggies... and a lot of dessert the next day. It all started over 30 years ago to celebrate my grandfather's birthday. He passed almost 8 years ago now and we still get together - I'm sure he'd be happy to know that.

I took so many photos and will share some of my favourites. My cousin Luke who was visiting from the west (Uclulet BC) proposed to his girlfriend yesterday infront of about 70 family members... luckily she said YES. Keaton had a blast with all his distant cousins that he doesn't get to see more than a couple times of year. Chloe was in her glory playing with toads and frogs and SNAKES. Yuck.

It was a great time! Special thanks to my Aunt Betty and Charlie for hosting the event and to my mom and dad and aunts and uncles that work so hard to host up to 80 or 90 people for meal times. Can you imagine?

Like to stamp?

Hey guys and gals. I am hosting the fabulous Hero Arts blog this week. If you haven't had a chance to visit this blog, you really should. They have amazing informative video's (that I love) and new layouts and cards each day. I am excited to be hosting a color (or COLOUR to us Canadians!) themed week and it should be fun. Hero has lots of great prizes and give aways too so come for a visit HERE.