Valentine's Day

we started our Valentine's Day celebration at our local rec center where there was a kid's event going on.

diedre loves the parachute

some bigger kids were being really nice and sharing balls with ezekiel. that kept him happy for most of the time we were there.

more parachute fun

diedre works hard on a Valentine's Day card

Derek came home a little early and surprised diedre with a rose and puppy and chocolate heart (derek also got me three roses but diedre was looking out the window and said "Daddy got you flowers Mommy! they're so so so beautiful." so i wasnt surprised ;P).

our little princess

i gave ezekiel a lion

the kids try to show off their new toys

after dinner, we all exchanged gifts. derek & i and we had one more each for the kids. a tradition that derek brought into our marriage is to buy a nice card for one another on special occasions. it can get pretty costly at times (ie. Christmas) but its a nice tradition and i keep all the cards for the kids in a box for them to look at when they're older.
diedre opens her special Valentine card from Daddy and a ballerina barbie.

ezekiel opens his next gift

i found such a sweet book about a mother and son and how she loves him no matter what.

forever sick

many things have been going on around here and through it all, the kids and i and derek have all been sick, on and off, but much more on than off! you can see the sick in the kids eyes :(

ezekiel is at a very clingy stage right now. he has days where he wants to be glued to me and then he'll have some days that i prefer where he comes over for a cuddle or hug, but spends a decent amount of time playing alone or chasing diedre around. she of course, can only handle so much little brother time, and will go into her room or his and close the door for some independent play time.

diedre was doing nearly perfect in potty training in the second half of 2007. after ezekiel's first birthday she took a significant hiatus from such grown-up events. now, just this week, she is finally returning to using the potty, toilet or public washrooms!!! wahoo! and even telling us when she has to go. we are so happy she has decided to return after a full 2 months off of it.


here she is using her squeezy paints she got from the Mellengers for Christmas.

ezekiel really loves to do what diedre does but he cant be trusted with paints (trust me), or crayons (for very long), or playdough (i let him play with all the shapes but he knows the good stuff is inside the containers and he bugs and bugs me to let him play with that).

he still loves anything round (balls) to play with and anything musical like his guitar or shakers or drum. he had a bun at the church luncheon and he kept calling out "ball" and throwing it around between bites. he has such a bubbly, friendly personality. he will give this super extreme smile every once in awhile when he's meeting new people.

both kids are still totally smitten with their daddy (which is great, because i can go out with much less tears or fuss these days). they love tickle time on diedre's bed and for a few months now, derek can just mention the word, and ezekiel will excitedly start walking (or crawling before he could walk) to diedre's room to meet him there.

here diedre is helping daddy run a "dead" wire (its not connected to anything live, dont worry) through the top of our new closet. derek is doing renovations on our closet to be able to fit the stacking washer/dryer and hopefully organize all our clothes.

dancing with the kids

both kids are big dancers. its so much fun to watch as ezekiel is learning actions for songs (itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus) and diedre is inventing some very graceful ballerina type moves. she will set up her little music player and just dance around and around and around. last week, she brought it to the bank and was about to do a routine for everyone in line, but she got a little too shy to go through with it.

recent cute sibling pics

i really needed diedre to get a head start on a nap when i couldnt join her one day. so i told her to go lie down with ezekiel. this is how they were sleeping when i came in. so cute!

diedre has been asking to cuddle with ezekiel almost every day lately

last night they were wearing their new housecoats (Christmas gifts from Grammy & Grandpa). they look so dapper.

Our Happy New Year

here are eli and ezekiel playing together on New Year's Day morning. we stayed over and our friend's house so we wouldnt have to be on the roads with crazies...it was a good party. we played alot of wii (my brother and i both got one for Christmas) and had a great discussion til the wee hours of the morning. just like old times.

diedre's circles are starting to look like the letters from her name...

a fun day at McD's with friends. all ezekiel could do is crawl in the bottom of this slide. thankfully they go up too steep for him to actually get away from me.


now that ezekiel can walk, we discovered he could play games like ring around the rosey

on a sad note, our kitty missy (only 8 months) got hit by a car just outside our house on tuesday night. it is reinforcing to diedre how dangerous cars are. R.I.P. Jan 15 08.

December Highlights

Time to Party. i brought out some costume jewelry that belonged to my Grandmas.

she's saying "Good job, Zeke!"

Mellenger Christmas Party

she fell asleep in the car and really needed more napping.
(ok, seems weird that that was my only highlight picture...i have 40 pics here, so i had to be selective somehow!)

Thomas Christmas Party

our salmon family

andrew freaking out b/c poppy grabbed some whole food from ezekiel

the puppet show the kids love!

santa arrived with a cool gift for every boy and girl

diedre and miles awestruck. waiting for their name to be called...

Back around home...

biking with her new dress and great shot of her hair

missy under the tree

Salmon Grandparents come to visit

happy to be doing the jobs that are mundane for parents :) and i'm so thankful for them and for their willingness to help out with the kids. They're awesome grandparents (and parents too).

Papa gives directions on the gingerbread construction...diedre drooled all over some of the candy, so we had to throw it out! ha ha

looking like a little princess lady wearing her new outfit and shoes from grammy and grandpa

Christmas Eve

we opened a few gifts Christmas Eve morning.
ezekiel loves this little dump truck.

playing with her new teaset

the kids got a wagon for two with a small cooler in it :)
we took it for a walk while our dinner cooked.

we decided to have our own Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve Day since we were heading to my parents the next day. For some reason, we always have rushed dinners together...last year it was because we planned it on a Saturday, and then i went into the hospital for an assessment...and stayed to give birth to ezekiel!
this time it was b/c i dont know how my oven works and i had broiled something before putting the turkey in. and you have to turn the dial off before turning the oven back on to cancel the broil...argh....so the turkey "cooked" for 3 hours, without barely cooking at all!
so it was a rush to eat before heading off to Christmas Eve service at 6pm where Derek and I were going to perform the Christmas song i wrote this year.

Christmas Day


diedre opening her stocking (it was my stocking as a little girl).

our morning went a little something like this:
we all opened stockings. ezekiel spotted a ball at the top of his stocking and didnt really progress past that as far as opening presents from the stocking. so his stocking took all day to open really.
we had a wonderful breakfast by grandpa.
daddy read the Christmas Story.
called auntie M and opened gifts online with her for an hour.
then we started opening gifts as a family around noon!
we didnt get all our gifts opened because of diedre getting a little burnt out, so we saved a couple to open either the next day or later.
then we headed over to my Mom & Dad's for Christmas Dinner.

ezekiel with the nativity set.

Christmas Dinner

heather and derek relaxing before dinner

the big feast

diedre being some sort of flowery monster

ezekiel sports a groovy cap

poppy wakes up for a present

Papere and ezekiel by the tree

"Happy Birthday Grandpa Salmon" (yes, on Christmas and we had a cake :)

The Windup

swimming with the grandparents

ezekiel is always happy if he's holding a ball :)

i was taking too long to give him dinner

he loves hats and he learned to walk around Christmas Day so he enjoys showing off his new skills.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (much belated) from the Salmon Family
xo

25 Years for Mom & Dad!

Their anniversary was actually November 13, but snowstorms and busy schedules kept changing our family gathering date. We finally celebrated together on Dec 9.

a special wedding cake for my parents 25th wedding anniversary

so young and cute, they are!

the cake cutting.

the topper is actually a Christmas Tree decoration that they can keep.

Congratulations on 25 years together!

xoxo

decorating the tree

diedre puts the star on top

i have been so happy with derek's Christmas "spirit" this year. usually, we have a bit of a battle (its mostly him teasing me, i think) where i have to "fight" for a tree. this year, he was totally willing, ready to go, etc. and even got decorating before me! look at him caught in the act!

ezekiel takes a look at the tree

diedre plays in the snow again on our back deck.

derek's snow sculpture. titled something like "i'm the man"
diedre said, its me pregnant with "zeeko"

merry christmas!