my belated family dinner

cute cousins

my mom has a picture of andrew and either me or some other random girl running, just like this one

taking time to check out the lawn

andrew and poppy

the delicious first course of the greek dinner my mom made

the fam, all the grandkids present :D

heather and poppy

my mom presents the next course
she even made a menu and printed it out on Greek-themed paper, so sweet :D

ezekiel tried his first taste of solid food...he loved it!

here, he is feeding himself potatoes

cute cousins, diedre is so affectionate, miles gives hugs freely, but he hugs like my brother, two quick pats at arms length :D

my little neice poppy :D yay!

one of my favorite times of day

he sat up!

this is just a perfect "cherub" expression

here's our boy, just over 5 months, sat up alone (for a couple minutes)

5 months old!

this little boy is five months old now!

he has been really good at napping: 8/9am then noonish for a couple hours, then 3/4pm then bed around 7/8pm. not sleeping through the night yet. i'm not really expecting it until he's on solids. i'm just glad he can fall asleep from awake sometimes and also that we can nap cuddling. he's so sweet.

he really is a very happy boy, he was gurgling and blowing bubbles and making elephant sounds like crazy today!

ready for bed, getting munchy on his pajamas

diedre is such a good big sister & daughter. she loves her brother, loves cuddling and loves to help out mommy :D

diedre is doing such an "amanda" pose here, crazy!

diedre turns 2 years and 2 months tomorrow (april 26)

"cheese!" diedre has also started saying "cheers" alot, when she's having her milk, or sharing cauliflower with me, anytime really. its pretty cute, i think she learned it from her cousin miles.

7 years ago today...

Monday, April 24, 2000
married at 11am





one big party...




my bridesmaids
~~
here we are sitting across the aisle from each other on the plane....yep, no one would give up their seats so us newlyweds could fly to Puerto Vallarta together...

our happy seventh anniversary!

Derek surprised me with a trip up to Harrison Hotsprings Resort to celebrate our anniversary.
we brought diedre out to Chilliwack then derek said we should go for a ride with ezekiel, so i figured something was up...

here is ezekiel's crib with HHS monogrammed crib sheets!

they even included a fleecey blanket, so cute!

here's our room before it got all messed up :D

ready to head to the pool

our cuddly bundle

we had a fabulous dinner at the Copper Room. they offer a four course meal that has many wonderful selections: we started with carrot and ginger soup, then had the spring salad, then derek had a NY steak with really tasty garlic mashed potatoes, and i had orange glazed salmon with rice and veg, then for dessert we shared a slice of cheesecake and a slice of frozen white and chocolate mousse cake. very yummy indeed!
the best part was i decided we should make reservations for 8pm so ezekiel would be asleep. we tired him out by swimming in the hotsprings (which he loved, it was so floaty!). then went back up to our room to shower and get ready, then we went for a nice walk to make sure he was well asleep before our dinner. he is on my right in his stroller. there were a few times i thought he was waking up, but even with the live music and dancing, he slept right through until we were back in our room. how wonderful!

the view from our room yesterday morning.




breakfast buffet

getting ready for another nap.

it worked out perfectly. we were able to travel there and back with no crying (on ezekiel's part). we headed back to chilliwack by him noonish naptime. we missed diedre so much! it was a wonderful surprise and alot of fun and relaxation. thanks derek! you're awesome! i love being married to you, wow, seven years :D

nice sister

diedre brushing ezekiel's hair

diedre kept hugging him and saying "nice sister, nice sister" over and over, meaning that she is a nice sister.


tired out (they're both a little sick)

i turned 29 that day--april 13

here i am being a mom, getting hair done, teeth brushed...actually, i dont think this was the same day because her outfit is different in the next picture.

my happy birthday family.
it was a great day. i was tired (as usual), i did the usual mom stuff, but my mom came over to visit which was great. then my friend sue dropped off those daffodills as a gift (so unexpected, so sweet!), and then another friend came over for a playdate and a walk, which i invited my neighbour across the street to come too, so we all walked to the park. then i offered to make everyone dinner (because derek was SUPPOSED to be home late, and their husbands were too), it was really yummy but derek surprised me by coming home at 5pm. we all hung out, ate dinner, had cake, then the girls left and derek and i and the kids hung out for the rest of the evening. and i got lots of well-wishes on facebook (its so addictive!).

me and my sweet kids