take a little break

well, i updated from February to May while i foolishly let my kids nap. but i have been wanting to get back to blogging so the best i can do is little by little. enjoy! more to come...

May 2009

Diedre was so excited to give me the Mother's Day craft she made for me at church

awwww

we went out for lunch after church

my & my first born :)

we went mini-golfing at Castle Fun Park

derek showing ezekiel how to use the putter. ezekiel lost interest pretty quick, but just wandered around looking at all the interesting things at the course.

mom & i went to the beach with joanna and her mom one springy day

ezekiel's cat Cloudy had a litter of kittens. 3 live births, one stillborn, it was very traumatic.

Audrey began crawling a little

i picked up this house 2nd hand and she loved to find the basket of kittens that "meow". soo cute!

April 2009

The highlight of April for me was our family trip to Whistler to celebrate our 9th anniversary. We dated and got married while living up in Whistler and lived there for another year and a half after we got married. its a special place to us and we were happy to bring the family to meet some good friends at Whistler Community Church on Sunday.

ready to hit the pool at the Marriott

note to us: next time, bring life jackets!

we happened to be up there during the Ski & Snowboard festival, Big Air competition which was perfect. it was free, lots of free samples in the village, Ezekiel LOVED it and said he wanted to do that too!

we went on the "new" Peak to Peak chair

soooo high up. it goes between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.

a touristy shot :P

life had been pretty stressful with a new baby in the house, derek working extra to provide while doing renovations. i was getting really burnt out so the night away with the family really was refreshing. ahhh

We celebrated Easter and my Birthday at my Mom's home

my sweet family :) (and yes, that includes my fave niece & nephew--loove them!)

ah, just what i wanted :) cake

some of the family

Here i am on the morning of my 31st birthday after sleeping in (:

my choice of activity for the day was to go to my birth place, White Rock with the family and some friends

my lovely sister-in-law Heather and my brother Andrew

cute people over here too eating at Moby Dick's Fish n' Chips

it was a beautifully sunny day, not warm, but lovely

Derek took the stress off me and was super dad, as always :)

and i was soooo excited to see a live sea star at White Rock beach!!! this was the first time i'd seen any in my adult life (here, as they were here when i was a kid, but pollution killed them, so glad to see some life back at the beach)!

march 2009

march began with a trip to the dentist for both kids:

ezekiel was wonderful and allowed the hygenist to do a full check up and cleaning which she said was very rare among the two-year-old set :D

diedre was a little more nervous, but did well. she had some issues that still require follow up but they suggested she see a Pediatric dentist. after several months, i decided to just try this dentist again and am glad i did as she was comfortable enough to get the care needed without having to pay a huge bill for the Pediatric dentist!

Derek had a birthday on March 13th. There weren't many pictures but he received a few presents and some home made cards from the kids.

Audrey also celebrated her 6 month "birthday" and was excited to chew on her present (and the "big" kids were excited to play with it!).

Grammy & Papa Salmon came for a nice visit too.

Grammy giving Audrey a bath

oh, Zeke wanted a bath in the sink too!

Papa with his granddaughters

Grammy & Papa surprised us all with a party to celebrate "EVERYONE's" birthdays since they would not be here for them.

its always nice to go to church as a family :D

Diedre's 4th Birthday Party: A Royal Tea Party

we celebrated on February 21st with a houseful of guests (11 children)

they began by choosing a crown colour and decorating it

then they had a dance party break in Diedre's room

then they all came back to the table for the tea party portion, with cupcake decorating to follow the snack time

my sweet 4 year old! Happy Birthday darling :)

Diedre was so excited about each gift and absolutely LOVED the Princess balloon my mom picked out!

Here is a video that the kids and i find hilarious from the party. we still watch it to this day and laugh when ezekiel jumps in time with the music!



many more pics from the party

Diedre Turns 4! February, 26, 2009

Derek was home from work because of a random snowfall on Diedre's 4th birthday so we celebrated with a lunch at Rocko's.

we all got suited up and enjoyed the fluffy white stuff

girls making snow angels

ezekiel, on a barbie snowboard, showed that he has a natural talent for boardsports. he even tried to jump!

we decorated and ate some cupcakes to celebrate

the rest of the pics from her 4th birthday

should i just pretend i havent forgot about my blog

and do an entry for each month since february!?!

february 2009 & Valentine's Day

we celebrated my brother's birthday at their house.

here's my niece poppy, so cute!

audrey is wearing my fave outfit from when diedre was a baby.

diedre can really swing high these days

i took the kids to the beach one day to go for a walk

thankfully, i had mitts and hats in the van for my spur of the moment trip (it was after audrey's 4 month shots.)



Valentine's Party at Strong Start

we've been going to this free community program fairly regularly lately as it is a great opportunity for reading, songs, and gym time.

this was a gorgeous day, so the kids played at the school playground for a bit.

funny zeke's hair after a nap

Happy Valentine's Day!

audrey is still a total sweetie. she keeps a fairly regular napping/nighttime schedule. once in awhile she still feeds multiple times during the night, but i think thats related to teething.
at 4.5 months old she weighed 14lbs 13oz, nearly 1lb in one month! she measured 26 inches long, 2 inches of growth in a month!

we went out to visit my mom on Valentine's Day while derek worked.

we went to watch dump trucks dredging the fraser river.

zeke liked it

the kids in red

the trucks drove so fast

audrey enjoyed the fresh air

Valentine's Day with Daddy

we made cookies with grandma for daddy and pepere

we like to make valentines day special; derek buys for the girls, i buy for the guys.

diedre loves her monster balloon

the next morning before church, i suggested diedre write her name on the back of some valentines cards. ever since she came home from preschool last monday, she's been really interested in her name.

i wrote one example and off she went

she probably did 11 before she asked me to finish

then she wanted to do some for ezekiel

she wrote all 8 for him!

i'm so impressed!

then on wednesday, she said "mom, you wrote my letter wrong. you did it like this "i" and its supposed to be like this "I"." so i thought, okay, i guess she's ready to learn lowercase now. so i taught her the letters in her name. and then she asked me to teach her numbers 1 to 5. so exciting to have a little learner in the house!

tail-end of january 2009

these are just some super adorable pics of audrey.

balancing

she loves sitting up. i would never actually leave her alone sitting up yet, but she is definitely developing some of those skills--and all that without a Bumbo.

look at that!!

cute pic of diedre and daddy

she has discovered designing cards online. it was really fun for her but then i could not for the life of me find the same game again. how annoying!!! well, at least it makes it special, derek and i got the originals.

second half of january

first time in a baby swing at the park. the sun was shining but it certainly wasnt warm on the day we decided to walk to the park.

all three on the swings

we went out to visit my aunt & uncle in white rock and the kids had fun on these big hills behind their apartment.

audrey's first time sitting up with us at the table

she's getting in on the conversation

first time in a bouncy seat at my friend holly's house

my saturday morning date. isnt he cute? diedre was at ballet just down the street.

chillin' with the animals



we are all really enjoying baby Audrey. she is so pleasant, smiling, cuddly, and strong. she loves her brother and sister and is a very easy baby, she will go to almost anyone.

diedre is almost 4 and is so great at so many things. her ballet teacher was impressed that she followed directions so well and listened very good in class.

ezekiel and derek are going to a toddler gym/sports class and he is doing well there and learning some basic tumbling and sports.

some of us have been sick. last month ezekiel was diagnosed with asthma that comes on when he has a cold. thankfully we have puffers for him as he had a scary attack in the middle of the night and the puffers totally calmed him down.

i feel absolutely terrible at the moment and just want to sleeeeeep. since baby audrey is sick too, she nurses extra at night so i have a pretty disturbed nighttime sleep and naps are only occasional.

derek is not sick, and is working on the upstairs reno. always lots to do!

more january pictures here

diedre's first day of preschool

ready to go to school for the first time! we had an interview last week and they had room available on monday mornings only. one day a week is just fine by me!

derek took the morning off to bring her to and pick her up from preschool.

hanging her jacket on her hook

sitting on the story mat for "book looking" time.

i was really not sure about putting her in preschool, but decided that it would be good to give her some time for learning and for me to have a bit of time with ezekiel and audrey. audrey slept the whole time (2.5 hours) and ezekiel played by himself a bunch (which he doesnt usually do) and i managed to get the floor washed. it was a good first day all around.


and we went out for lunch to celebrate her first day

happy new year

diedre got into the ballet class at the dance academy! i was sooo excited and nervous for her...strange response, but it is what it is. here she is all ready to head to her first class.

sitting waiting for class to begin

running under the cloth. she wasnt supposed to run yet but her and the other girl were new and the teacher forgot to tell them they needed to be patted on the head to start their turn ha ha

audrey is such a cute bundle. she is so calm and content. i'm still figuring out her schedule but she is pretty obvious when she's tired although she takes longer in the evening to fall asleep and is fussier (and teething :( poor girl).

she can actually sit up pretty well on your lap or on the couch, but obviously cant be left alone or she'll topple.

some goofy faces

silly baby

this is at the fun n' run gym that is local and free in our town. diedre is so funny/motherly. the rules are that you are not allowed to run so she holds ezekiel down. i was shouting at her saying "you are allowed to stand up and walk around" so she finally let him.

he's really smiling now and having fun, but she's basically herding him around. sheesh.

and helping him keep his arms up under the parachute (another rule). at least she's good at following rules, and apparently enforcing them too!

dec 29 08: 3 months old!

she is sitting up really well

getting chubbier all the time

holding her own hands

chews on her hands constantly

i'm so behind in my posts its hard to think back. i guess 3 kids IS busy ha ha
audrey is still a very easy, content, well-fed baby. she is such a joy to have around and her brother and sister are still quite excited by her and she by them!
she still feeds once or more per night and is also teething so its still very random.

another 3 month milestone is jolly jumping!





so jolly

thats who's been making her smile

zeke is just below the max. weight of 28lbs...

Christmas & Boxing Day

Merry Christmas!

audrey looks like she's being tickled by cloudy.

Christmas PJs shot

Christmas Morning Brunch

Pepere & Grandma came over to spend Christmas Day with us and a fabulous turkey dinner. i'm pretty disappointed that there are no pictures because the camera batteries died (i had to use the camera for videotaping since our handycam was out of tape argh and the weather was too bad to go get more, so then i had very few pictures and videotaping with the camera uses more battery power...and i guess i was too busy cooking/napping to recharge them :( . it still makes me feel a little sick to my stomach that i didnt get any christmas pictures of our kids opening gifts before my parents arrived. snif.

Merry Christmas again: aka Boxing Day!

Boxing Day family dinner at my brothers' in White Rock. They had soooo much snow and getting into their neighbourhood was tricky. The family all made it and we celebrated with Mellenger Grandparents, Gagne Grandparents, my brother & family and our family.

poppy & zeke hanging out

baby audrey all bundled to watch the kids sledding/snowboarding.

ezekiel is a real natural shredder (excuse the pink barbie snowboard ha ha)

diedre was good at riding her new board too

diedre, poppy and auntie heather sledding.

see more Christmas pictures here :)

December before Christmas 2008

december has been too busy for me. i've not had time to blog and am really missing it. i'll try to catch up a bit!

West Coast Express Santa Train on Dec 6 more pictures here

diedre was in our churches production and sang:
I saw three ships
Caroling, caroling
Deck the halls

audrey tried the bouncy seat and loved it! that really helped with all the holiday baking i did. which i hope, "NOTE TO SELF" not to do so much of next year because it cost too much and was stressful and took too much time away from holding Audrey!

we took the kids rockclimbing with some friends

audrey wore a super-cute hat and waved at me :)

derek really got into decorating this year

we all went to see the Nutcracker Ballet

December part 1 photo album

December part 2 photo album

December Christmas Parties album