stripey day

i had to take pictures of zeke's crazy hair. he puts banana all through his hair and i use a cloth to try to wipe it since he was already dressed for the day.

i was scared my camera was broken because of the stripes.

but after i turned it off then on again, it was fine.

a noteworthy event happened yesterday: i discovered that diedre could reach the bathroom sink! when did this happen?? when did she grow?? i do not know!

this morning i woke up to ezekiel's cries. i nursed him. put him back down in his crib and went back to my room. i checked the time: 5.35am. i said "oh, that sucks, its really late." derek said, "isnt that a good thing?" i said, "no. i'd rather it was three or something so i could sleep longer. oh wait! that means ezekiel slept through the night!" derek said, "that's what i meant." and he slept for another 2 hours.

yes, he's almost a year old (nov 25). but this is the best he's ever done! we went out last night, so a babysitter put him to bed around 8.30pm, he slept until 10.30pm for a feed, then didnt wake up until 5.30ish am! wow! i hope he does that again and again and again! just to put this in perspective, he has been feeding as frequently as every two hours, as recently as three weeks ago because of a very bad cold. he started stretching it out to three hours or four in the last week.

goodbye uncle mike

after being very sick for over four years, my uncle mike passed away on sunday night at 9pm.

my aunt deb and uncle mike had be housesit for them when i was 19 and i ended up living there for 7 months before they kicked me out. basically, i stopped doing any housework and was only working part time and was spending all my time and money frivolously. they realized they werent really helping me. kicking me out was definitely the right thing to do. and they, being the good people they are, were able to get over it and we were able to grow close together again. i enjoyed visiting with them over the last ten years. and i hated seeing how badly my uncle was doing.

thankfully, i was able to see him the two days before his death. the second visit i had with him, i told him i really loved him and he said "dont worry, i know you love me." it was really special because he could barely communicate. his answers were short and breathy. by the next day he was completely verbally unresponsive.

i'll be reading the following at his funeral service on monday the 12th:

1 John 4.7-18

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^[a] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[b] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Halloween Day

first, i must say i really had a hard time with Halloween this year because the scary stuff was really scaring diedre in stores. i wasnt sure how i'd handle explaining that to her if we went trick or treating. it was a little scary at times, and derek said "i'm definitely going to have to sleep in her room tonight!" Special thanks to Auntie M for the great costumes! here are the pictures in three parts:

Halloween Hoot (put on by Community services)

cinderella ready for the ball

she even let me do her hair for the event :)

making a pumpkin

bouncing in the castle

monkey (ezekiel) stands up without touching anything

my two sweeties

i love how you can see his whole getup (tail included)

he really loved that activity square

diedre under a parachute

Trick or Treating with friends

her first house

diedre and her very special friend that she loves really so much david (her words, not mine)

Kidz Karnival Night (Halloween alternative night put on by our church)

getting instructions

looking very cautious

see the video once he got the hang of things


scooting

diedre scores a goal

her eyes light up when the music starts.

she danced!

i love the look of delight on her face. she loves music and loves to dance and we love watching her do it!

our princess

ok, its really really hard to resist buying the most beautiful little girls dress sometimes...it was just too pretty to pass up. so no, its not for halloween, its just because she's a princess...

princess conductor

Diedres New Bed

Here is Diedre in her new bed for the first time. Missy likes it too.

we got a king sized bed, so we gave diedre our queen. she was very excited!

ezekiel is 11 months old!!!

so my baby boy is 11 months old!
what can he do? what does he love?
he points to things he wants to eat or wants us to look at.
he does not like it when we take things away from him (especially if he happens to get his hands on the phone).
he can stand for 20 seconds.
he loves reading books, flipping pages, and feeling different textures.
he loves music. he'll clap and move/dance and throw his arms up in the air.
he loves to cuddle and hug.
he loves mommy's hair, he tries to eat it. ouch.
he can play with kitty.
still loves to bounce balls and can pass with great accuracy.
has said several words but none more consistently than dada.
he loves wrestling with daddy.
loves his grandpas!

here he is having a little fruit smoothie (i got really sick this day and could only really eat liquids.)

he makes a pretty cute pink clown!







diedre says "Cheers!"

visit with hetzlers & mellengers

ezekiel and poppy get reacquainted

auntie heather with david

auntie heather must have said something funny!

very cute poppy

very cute ezekiel

"this is my cousin?"

diedre takes a shot

diedre got all ready to go out then said "mommy take a picture"

then she said "my turn" i look the least frustrated in this one. i spent most of the photoshoot saying "no, not that button, that button. no you have to point the camera where you want the picture. no, do you really want a picture of the floor???" it was pretty frustrating...

overdue visit with my parents

my parents were really busy with friends in town and catching up with work. so we finally made it out there for a visit.

aww sleeping babe missed Grandma too

heartwarming cuddles

silly grin

ezekiel and Grandpa play a game of peek-a-boo



mom & i were planning on making applesauce and pies since i got alot of apples from some friends. it took all day to get around to using the apple-corer-peeler-slicer by Pampered Chef. here is diedre taking a turn.

fall leaves

the kids were both sick, so i brought them to play at the park instead of going to church.

static hair



i knew from a few days previous that they loved the leaves, so i thought i'd take some pictures this time.

ezekiel showing off his fistful of leaves

diedre watching after dumping some leaves on ezekiel

derek joined us after church and got the kids hyped up

a nice lady took our family picture

diedre concentrating very hard to ride her trike