Dots of Life

christmas 2011

christmas eve was filled with us much excitement and anticipation as ever.  it feels magical to me.  first we celebrated sharons birthday with lunch at the macdonalds.  then it was off to nanny begbies for out traditional visit.  then back home to welcome family and friends for some christmas cheer.

mamma and hammy came to stay overnight, so this was an extra special christmas eve treat!

i love taking a picture of the tree and all of the presents after santa has arrived... it feels magical to me!

christmas morning the kids were up quite early, but they snuggled in bed together and waited til 7am... when nan arrived and they could come downstairs to see the tree.

as always, we start with the stockings.  santa and the elves are sure to wrap each and every gift, so this takes a long time.  their stockings were overflowing and we take turns watching one another open gifts.  this is the kids' favourite part of christmas morning... and mine too!

then it was on to the big gifts..

ben scored a hockey stick that he had been longing for.  anna pearl received her ski's and adi couldn't have been happier with her new hockey bag and bean bag chair.

daddy prepared our traditional christmas morning breakfast... egg, ham and cheese mcmuffins and mamma, nan and i visited over coffee, while the kids enjoyed their gifts.

then it was off to the macdonalds for festive family gathering.  harper and griffin stole the show... so excited to open all of their presents.  thanks to nanny and grandpa and all of the macdonald's for spoiling us.  so fun.

on boxing day we headed to nanny jen's and dede's for our 3rd christmas celebration.

Bieber Fever

On the spur of the moment, Adi and I scored 2 coveted tickets to justin biebers "home for the holidays" christmas concert at massey hall.  it took me 30 minutes of calling in to massey hall directly but when i finally got through... i assumed that they were sold out.  i asked for 4 and was informed that there were only 2 seats left.  'really... am i seriously getting the last 2 seats to the show', i asked... 'seriously, you are getting the last 2 seats to the show', the operator advised.

so 2 days later, we were headed to toronto for a most memorable night.  there were only just over a 1000 tickets sold from the box office and they were referred to as "golden tickets"... some selling for $2000 a piece... ouch!

we arrived in toronto early enough to enjoy some dinner and shopping at the eaton centre.  adi was excited to surprise her brother and sister with some thank you gifts, as they were so happy and supportive of adi going to the concert.  she chose a pair of lulu lemon pants for sissy and an abercrombie and fitch long sleeved t for ben.  i think she was more excited to get home and give them their gifts, than she was to go to the concert!

on our way into massey hall we were stopped by a vjay from much music, who talked to us on camera and was nice enough to pose for a picture.  she made a point of asking adi who her stylist was, to which she replied... "my mom".  i was then told that i could easily get a job here in the city...:)  thanks!

the concert started over an hour late... which gave us time to make friends with some people in the audience.  we sat beside a little girl who got to go on stage and receive a cheque from justin for the sunnybrook hospital.  we also befriended 2, 14 year old girls, who had been gifted the tickets from one of the girls' moms...at a price of $2000 for each ticket... can you imagine... now that is a bff gift!

justin performed for over 2 hours, taking audience requests, bringing family and fans up on stage.  he was having a good time. relaxed, comfortable.  we were having a blast.. so close, it was surreal.  then, adi and one of her friends were moved up to the 8th row about half way through the show... compliments of a security guard who took a liking to my beauty.

we loved the concert.  justin bieber is truly a talented artist and the small venue was perfect.  it was an "unbeliebable" night!

 

 

 

overwhelmed but merry

so here it is in the middle of january that i finally get a chance to share some of our christmas festivities.  to be honest, we are very overwhelmed... so much hockey in our house, that we are rarely home.  it is go go go.  Most weekends you will find us at the rink x2 on friday night, x2 or 3 on saturday and x2 on sunday... and if we have a tournament in there too, well... it is busy.

i wanted to be sure to document some of the fun times we had over the christmas season. 

first up was the foxboro santa claus parade... one of my favourite days of the year.  this is one of the reasons i love living in the village... such a sense of community and pride and old fashion cheer.

i love this first pic of adi... this is about an hour before the parade was set to begin... she was so excited that she decided to wait outside for everyone to show up...

but it didn't take long for people to show up and gather in anticipation of the jolly old elf!

our little part of the village was lined with friends and family!

the parade did not disappoint and i always look forward to seeing the tractors, horses and old cars.

the foxboro school marching band rocked it once again!

and i think foxboro has the best santa... the real one of course!

my most favourite part of the day was the surprise visit from the dunlops who came all the way from parry sound to surprise us... totally love this family!

next up in the christmas festivities was the kids choir performance and christmas play at the church.  i love our church and it warms my heart each time i watch the kids perform. 

anna played the part of an angel and a narrator in the play.  she did such a good job... and is so comfortable on the microphone.

adi was mary and she loved being in the spotlight!

she totally commanded the microphone and she sang so loud that I am sure you could hear her at the co-op!

daddy and ben even came to church to watch our girls!  we laughed so hard we almost cried... they were THAT cute!

we received a wonderful christmas surprise from our sweet friends from england.... who knew that a few play dates at oak lake would make for such a special friendship!

anna had erika over to do some christmas baking...

and the kids gathered with their cousins at nanny sharons to do their annual gingerbread house making.  they also strung some cranberries and popcorn... one of nanny sharons favourite christmas traditions!

we travelled to uncle scott and aunt liseannes for some snow punch...

actually, we travelled for theeir annual christmas mixer but the kids are always excited for aunt liseannes famous snow punch!

we attended the foxboro public school festive concert... bittersweet as it was bens 10th and final festive concert (as a student).

adi's class sang a few christmas carols, including i saw mommy kissing santa claus and the 12 days of christmas!

anna played in the samba band!

tyke select

congratulations to miss adi!  first off, she was moved up from the tyke house league division to the novice division.  it seems that the coaches/instructors noticed that her skating/hockey skills proved her good enough to play with kids that are 2 years older than her. 

she admits that during her first game in the novice division, she was quite intimidated by all of the "big kids", but since then she has done very well and is doing a great job on defence... so much so that her coach referred to her as his "top defenceman" errr... girl!

and after 7 tryouts and alot of hardwork and effort, adi was chosen as a member of the tyke select team!  the coaches decided to post the names of the roster on the stirling website, so this is a pic of adi and our crew, checking to see if she made the team.  this was at 11 pm on a friday night... no one could sleep as they were overflowing with anticipation!

can you say "happy girl"?!!!!!

she is also the only girl that was chosen for the team so she will be "representing the ladies" as well as the stirling blues!  this also means that she is on the ice 6-7 times a week.  she is in her skates an awful lot and last week she was diagnosed with athletes foot... i guess it's official... we have another little athlete on our hands!  we couldn't be prouder of you adi! roll blues roll!

back to october

october was a very busy month.  lots of birthdays, a return to hockey, thanksgiving... here are a few memories of one of my favourite months of the year!

thanksgiving weekend was so wonderful... the weather was amazing and we were able to spend lots of time outside. my mom hosted her side of the family... we spent the enitre afternoon outside... in the canoe, on the tractor, riding bikes and eating :)

we hosted the macdonalds at our house this year.  we started the day off with a family skate at the stirling arena, then headed back our house for a turkey feast!

we also celebrated a very special little ladies 4th birthday... georgia peach was 4 on october 19th and she celebrated with her besties and lots of family. 

the kids (and mam-ma) had lots of fun bobbing for apples...

but leave it to anna pearl to show them how to get r done...

the great october weather continued for halloween festivities... it was a great night!  we hosted a village haunt... the guys/dads hung out at our house to hand out candy and eat chili... while the moms and kids ventured out for some trick or treating.

my crew went out as little red riding hood, sandra dee (from grease) and some hockey dude from the movie slapshot?  nanny jen treated the kids to some supersized treat bags complete with homemade popcorn balls and candy apples!

the aubertins, lightfoots, broughs, bridges, trevertons, tapps and craigs helped to make the night a spooktacular one...

this year was the first year that ben was aloud to go around the village with his friends... no adult supervision.  but, he surprised us by coming home early to hang out with the rest of us :)

another couple of things to mention about october... anna pearl was invited to a soccer skills session with the belleville u13 girls team.  she is super excited to be spending friday nights with her good friend erika for the next 8 weeks!  she was also asked to play for a belleville/kingston team, but with all the travel that we already do for hockey throughout the winter, we thought that this would be a good compromise. 

and after a bumpy start to the school year, adi made a classroom switch and couldn't be happier.  this is a picture and a letter that adi created for her new teacher...

and as she says in her letter... she "loves the class so much". 

13!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it is true... ben is thirteen... as in a teenager!  yes, we have a teenager in the house.  it was discovered just today that he is also officially taller than his mama!  oy!  that big bouncing baby boy, that we waited so impatiently for 13 years ago.  the same boy that was "in position and ready to be born" 6 weeks before his due date, but ended up staying put 'til he was 10 days overdue.   This resulted in me being induced, suffering through over 20 hours of intense labour, which resulted in only 4 cm of dilation.  I remember when the doctor told me that he was going to have to perform a c-section... i started crying... the nurse said, "don't be scared"... and i said, "i am not, i am happy... i just can't wait to meet our baby"!  we did not know if ben was a boy or girl but i desperately wanted a boy for my dad. 

i remember crying like crazy when they told us "it" was a he!  matt and i both cried actually and we named him ben in the operating room.  the name wasn't even on our list... he was almost a casey (eek), but as soon as we laid our eyes on that bouncing baby boy... he was ben!  i also remember thinking omg... his head is huge!  lol... and apparently he filled my torso from top to bottom... a 10 pound baby will do that!

some other things i remember about ben's birth day are the many friends and family that we had in the hospital to visit us.  so many gifts and stuffed animals too.  we took lots of pics and it is fun to look through them now with him and the girls.  i don't think that my mom and dad left the hospital at all the whole 3 days we were in there!  in all of my pics, there is my dad... holding or staring at his boy...:)

ben was a very easy and happy baby.  and this has pretty much summed up his first 13 years.  yes, he can be moody and grumpy and spoiled but for the most part he is easy and loving and just fun to be around. 

some things i love most about him right now...

1. he still loves to sleep with me at night and sometimes sleeps on the floor next to my bed
2. he is learning to cook and can make a mean grilled cheese or kraft dinner
3. he has great friends who keep him busy outside
4. he is gentle and kind and sticks up for others
5. he has a wicked sense of humour and we often laugh alot when we hang out
6. he still holds my hand in public
7. we love to walk together at night

the girls were super excited about celebrating ben's 13th birthday and we wanted to do something that he would remember.  the girls made cupcakes for his class (as we always do) and i made sure to deliver them with his traditional birthday balloon delivery.  i led his class in a happy birthday singalong, to which he blushed, but i knew that he secretly loved the attention!

mackenzie stopped by after school to see her boy and bought him a very cool under armour hoodie with her own money... awww she loves her benny boy (and the feeling is quite mutual)!

 we also planned a surprise 13th birthday dinner at the chinese food buffet in belleville.  ben had absolutiely no idea and was VERY surprised!  we were thrilled that over 30 family and friends could join us!  ben felt very honoured!

 

 we finished off the celebration with a sleepover so that ben could enjoy his new xbox 360 kinect with his friends...

they stayed up most of the night playing nhl 2012 but they made it up in time for pancakes, compliments of daddy.

happy 13th birthday to our sweet, sweet boy... we love you very, very much!

 

 

 

pumpkin' pickin'

the kids couldn't wait to get their pumpkins this year as we were excited to set up our autumn porch display.  instead of heading to the pumpkin patch we took a drive out to one of daddy's friends in centre hastings.  it was a cool and drizzly afternoon but that didn't dampen our spirits.

the kerby's had a haywagon full of pumpkins.  all shapes and sizes. 

adi had a hard time choosing one, so she got 3 instead...

anna pearl picked a classic round pumpkin...

ben decided on a tall pumpkin... perfect for a jack-o-lantern...

this was my pick... the bigger the better!

tilly was quite happy to come along with us and kept a close eye on us from inside the warm, dry van...

i loved this sign... another reminder of why i love living in the country!  the honour system... but we made sure to leave them a tip!

september summary

looking back to september, i have to say that we were very busy.  i wanted to make sure that i documented some fun and important events so i thought i would recap with a quick september summary...

we hosted anna pearls year end soccer party at our house.  we had a fantastic potluck and ended the evening with a bonfire.  the girls are really starting to mesh as a team and they had such a fun night!

sunday school started back up and cc and adi couldn't wait to don their sunday best...

it was spirit day at school... adi is on the blue team and anna pearl made sure that she rocked as much blue as possible.  I think she could pass for a doodlebop!

hockey started again for little miss adi... and after only a few days of assessments, she was the only tyke girl moved up with the novice team.. whoot whoot!

we also celebrated 2 very special birthdays.  riley turned 11!  yes 11!

and harper turned 2!

2 is such a fun age.  she was really in to opening her presents...

i love that her favourite gift seemed to be her big girl underwear... she couldn't wait to get them on...

some other pics from the day...

love this one of aunt sam and anna pearl...

 

campbells orchard 2011

it was only early september, but the girls and i decided it was close enough to fall that it was time to head to campbells orchard for some yummy autumn apples.  there was hardly anybody else at the orchard... kinda weird as it is always packed when we go on a weekend.  we didn't mind one bit though...

the girls were eager to pick some apples... and oh, did we pick apples!

 
 

 
 
 
 

after our bags were filled to the brim with mac's we headed off to enjoy all of the other fun things that the orchard has to offer...

 like the tractor ride.  we were the only ones on the ride so the farmer gave us an extra long ride... this never gets old!

 

 

 

 

and the bunnies...

 

and the sign...

 

we finished off our trip with a caramel apple for each of us... no pictures though... my hands were too full!

our little gymnast

anna pearl decided to hang up her soccer shoes for the fall and head back to the quinte bay gymnastics club.  and low and behold when she did her testing for which level she should be placed in, anna placed at the top.  i admire how she is a natural athlete and excels in all she does.  she really does enjoy sports and it shows.  this is something she has definitely inherited from her daddy.

here's to a fun season at the gym!