hey brother, happy big three oh

between the fifteen of us there were 5 babies that needed watching...we tried (heather, joanna & i) to find a babysitter brave enough to "sit" while 4 of the babies slept (fifth one was with grandparents) so we could go out to the Washington Avenue Grill. finally on friday it all came together. a lady and her daughter from our old church in Langley agreed. they came for 2 hours and we were all able to go out for andrew's 30th birthday dinner. yay!


the whole dinner party.


danielle & rick


quentin & lisa


andrew & craig being silly


craig, brent & kristin & janet (close right, craigs gf)


ben, shawn & joanna


the very silly salmons


derek's photo stylings


heather & andrew


brother & sister & spouses


big smiles, tired, we don't usually get to go out this late at night ha ha (dinner reservations were at 8pm and we had to be home before 10pm to relieve the babysitters).


presenting the cake


andrew heading up the hill (not over the hill, although andrew said downhill is much more fun)


happy 30th birthday big brother!!!

cousins riding the train

we were all hanging around the mellenger's waiting to go out for dinner for andrew's 30th birthday party

11 months old!

diedre has said lots of words now (but she won't really say them on demand): dad, daddy, mom, fish, yellow, butter(fly), up, kitty, hi, hello. she can clap now. she pulls herself up to standing and walks around a little using furniture. she eats a wide array of foods too.

i can't believe how fast she's grown and that her one year birthday will be in a month :(

well, at least i have thoroughly enjoyed the last 11 months. its been a really great experience (even with some frustrating times too, of course).


what a fun car


it even comes with a cell phone!

snuggles with mommy

cutie pie


love you!

fun with westley

oh this is too exciting--i can't stand it!


kitty!


big hug

storytime

diedre has been doing really well at going to sleep. tonight she had her bath with daddy, then wanted him to read her story after story after story, then i nursed her, brushed her teeth (she loves that too), then put her into her crib, said goodnight, and i haven't heard a peep from her since. ahhhh, the days of rocking, bouncing, swaddling her are over :)

chompy

diedre waiting patiently for bath time


going for a high-speed basket ride

bath times are so much fun

fun bath time! derek has been having daily bath time with diedre lately. she's been saying "fish" and "yellow" for him!

its a bit of a break for me to hear them splashing away but it sounds like they're having so much fun that i end up going in to watch them play. diedre is very chatty in the bath. its gotten to the point where she will fuss at the door of the bathroom if she hears that derek is in there after work. she knows its bath time and she wants in!


bedtime snack

an oldie but a goodie

rick and danielle came over tonight...here they were back when diedre was 1 month old 

a sunny day!!! off to the park!

its been very exciting to watch the changes happening at my local park. during the past few weeks of heavy rain there has been some serious construction going on. they have added a younger children's play area onto the park. it was only recently completed and then we had a sunny day. lots of kids were out today. there are some rockclimbing ramps for kids too! i'll have to get derek out there to coach diedre next time!


joanna & gabe. joanna, grandma roy and the kids came to join me in checking out the "new" park. it was great for david to get to run around.


auntie joanna made diedre laugh


david


the kids and grandma roy


nice brand-new horsey


there must have been something of great interest off in the distance


what a sly smile you have there gabe!


grandma roy teaches david a new skill

yay, rick & danielle are back!

after returning from a month long holiday home to NS, our good friends have finally returned! diedre has grown so much and learned so much in their absence. it was great to get together.


sharing an inside joke across the couch


"i think i remember you..."


you definitely have "the glow" danielle! you look so cute :)

rainy day activities

not like we've had much choice for sunny day activities since it has been pouring here for 25 days straight or something...


reading library books


playing with zebra

kitty, fish, singing

when we got home tonight,

-diedre said "kitty" about westley
-she said "fish" about the foam fish that are in her bath,
-she was singing along with the gift from aunt susan (its a Leap Frog Hug & Learn Globe) "three little friends set out to see just how big the world can be, looking high and looking low round and round and round we go. the world is round like a giant ball with lots of animals big and small." (well she was singing the tune and making some sounds like the words of the song)

and she furniture walked today quite a bit (for her, which is a little bit).

fun filled day

hanging out with uncle brent before heading to "Go Banana's" with the Mellengers & Hetzlers


it took awhile to get up the four rounded stairs to the little kids play area


loving hanging out in an offroad jeep


i think she looks like michelle's ellia here in this train


my brother and my nephew


back home, mezmerized by daddy

little talker

she already loves the phone. i tried to get a picture of her a moment before this one where she held the phone to her cheek and had her head slightly tilted and said "Da?" it was very cute!

diaper time

very little pot belly


playing with her tiny n' tuff cabriolet


oh dear, this is quite the shot...looks like she needs a remote control and a bag of chips or something...

Another Milestone: Standing. Our girl was holding onto an exersaucer yesterday, let go, was standing with no hands, then slowly lowered herself to the floor. it was really cute. derek tried to get her to walk, but i am not ready for that yet. my baby is growing too fast :*(

not so saavy

argh...i just figured out today that i had "moderate comments" on my blog since ummm november 6th!!! i checked the link that says "moderate comments" and there were about 25 comments waiting for approval. so to michelle, heather, mom, jessi, kelly, denise, the cari's, and any other commentors sorry about that. all your comments are up now. grrr, i guess i'm not as blog saavy as i once thought.

oh ya, another unsaavy thing i've done of late is a mass update on my blog (for all the christmas shots). i don't like doing such a huge amount of pics at once, but its for the grandparents mostly. i've been too busy to update every day, so then that leaves a bunch needing to be updated all at once. so i did a big update recently and discovered that blogger has tagged me as a spam blogger and i'm awaiting approval to be taken off their bad list. well, i guess the good thing is they are trying to catch spam bloggers!

jan 1 antics

sharing her love of reading with ringo. a cat with an enormous tail...well its the camera angle again (like big headed westley, michelle & ellia!)


i think diedre looks absolutely adorable when she tries to look under or inside something. here she is looking for a lost toy or perhaps a favorite kitty.

Happy New Year's eve :)

New Year's Eve Party.

david & diedre playing before bedtime


david, miles & diedre play with the garage


diedre is pulling up to standing up on everything now! she turned 10 months on boxing day and has been spending her days pulling up to standing, playing with books, chattering "duba duba duba" and she does this cute whispering thing too. she has been pointing to things to ask what they are and says "this" sometimes too. she rarely says "mum" unless she's upset and usually says "da or dad" when she sees derek.

derek and i feel so blessed when we look back on the past year. we are so thankful for our beautiful, intelligent, healthy daughter and for all our family and friends who have been able to visit from far away and near too.

Have a very Happy New Year!