Cancer Sucks!

Please pray for my dear friend Marisa.

Family pics . . . final picks and bloopers

Ok, as promised here are some family pictures. As mentioned in a previous post, it's next to impossible to get a family picture with three hyper, squirmy kids that have ants in their pants. Here they are:

Here is the second attempt - outdoors this time.





See what I mean? You just get one settled and smiling somewhat normally and another one starts to giggle. It's crazy really.

Here are the two best ones that turned out okay:

Say cheese!

This picture was taken on Sunday by Aunt Christy and it makes me laugh every time I see it. So now I'll share the laugh with you.

And of course our other two cutie patooties:

We also had another attempt at a family picture. I'll try to post the results tomorrow. There are some good bloopers in there again.

Cute pics and a cool find

Here are two professional pictures of Samara taken about six months apart. The first one (in the blue) was taken in China for her passport. The second one (in the pink) was taken a week or two ago for her citizenship application (yes, I'm a little slow). Look how much she has changed! It's unbelievable how much of a baby she was six months ago and now she seems like such a little girl. So cute.



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On Saturday I was at Color Your World purchasing some paint for the trim and doors on our house. While I was waiting for the paint to be mixed, I walked around the store and found the coolest border. I am so not a wallpaper person . . . but this I couldn't resist. My livingroom is a beige colour and my dining room is red. This border has both of those colours in it and it's Asian! I took a sample of it home and Mike also liked it and the colours totally match. So I had to go back and get a roll. The best part is that it was even on sale - less than half price! I'm not completely sure where I'm going to put it yet but I have a few options. Here it is against the red wall and the beige wall. Did I mention I love it?

Daddy's last day of holidays

Monday was Mike's last day of holidays and so we had one more outing. We went to a place called Kids Sports in Mississauga. It was a lot of fun. Samara was a little young for most of it but they did have a room with ride on toys and things for her age. She had the most fun watching Victoria and Austin and just walking around exploring the place. Here is a picture of part of the huge structure - tunnels, rope ladders, slides, balls, etc.

Fun slides that landed in a pile of balls:






The funny thing that happened was Victoria and Austin climbed and climbed and at one point they had to go through a "river" of balls at the top. They both jumped in but as it turned out, they were too short to climb out so they were stuck. Victoria was able to boost Austin out but then she couldn't get out herself. So here's how they got out:



That's right, Mike had to climb up rope ladders and through tunnels built for kids to rescue his daughter. It was too funny!

Here's Samara in the little play area:



It was lots of fun but now reality has hit, Daddy is back to work and we're starting to get ready for back to school. Victoria will be full time in school as a grade one student and Austin (hopefully) will be in JK two mornings a week (still working out some of the details). Victoria has grown so much this summer that back to school shopping may turn out to be kind of expensive. She has outgrown everything including her regular running shoes and the extra pair of shoes she'll need for indoor use at school. Wal-Mart, here we come!

China Travel Group Reunion

We had another reunion with our travel group on Saturday. It was so good to see each other again as it had been a few months since we'd been together. The babies have all grown so much and every one is now walking. It's so neat to see them all together. Victoria and Austin spent the entire afternoon in the pool and had a blast. Samara enjoyed the water too but liked the hot tub better than the big pool. Thank you so much Todd and Stephanie for your hospitality. You have a beautiful home and we appreciate you opening it up to us.

Samara and Daddy:
Hailey and her daddy:
Renee and her mommy:
Hailey in her tugboat:
Samara in her tugboat:


Maya and her daddy:
Victoria and Jaiden:
Samara and Jaiden:

A few days with Grandma and Grandpa

We headed out to Keene, Ontario this week for a few days to visit with Grandma and Grandpa with the kids. It was our first time away from home overnight with Samara. She did amazing. She slept pretty good - she was in bed with us for half of the first two nights but I think she was disoriented and didn't know where she was. She went down for her naps and at night really well. I was kind of worried because as I said, it was her first time sleeping anywhere else besides home.

We had some fun filled days with beautiful weather. One of the outings we had was a boat cruise through two of Peterborough's lift locks. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it too.

The boat we went on:

The kids waiting to get on the boat. The ducks were very exciting for Samara.

Victoria and Austin got to go fishing with Daddy the next day. They both caught two fish and were very excited about that. Unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures of the fish so you'll just have to take our word for it. Much to Samara's disappointment, she didn't get to participate in the fishing fun. She needed a nap at that time and being the busy girl she is, it's too stressful for Mommy to watch her by the water for too long! Maybe next year.

We also got to take a ride or two in Grandpa's boat. The kids loved it. Well, Austin didn't care for the part when everyone was loading into the boat (while it was still tied to the dock) as it was too wiggly for his liking - hmmm, I wonder where he gets that from? He's definitely my son! He was fine as soon as everyone was seated and we were out on the water. Samara did get to participate in the boat rides and absolutely loved it.

"Look at this fun thing I get to wear . . . just like my big sister and brother!"



"Yay! Boat rides are so much fun!"


And that pretty much sums up most of our week. We had such a relaxing and fun time - thanks for everything Grandma and Grandpa!

Where there was once two . . .

. . . now there are three!

It doesn't matter what Victoria and Austin are doing, Samara wants to do it too. She's in there like a dirty shirt (and speaking of dirty shirts, that's just water on Samara's top in the pics below). She imitates them all the time and it's the cutest thing ever. She follows them around all day long and gets into their stuff. Most of the time the older two thinks its fun but not always. This morning I overhead Victoria asking Austin who his favourite baby is and his reply was "Samara". When she asked him why, he said "because she's cute and fun to play with". Phew - he still loves her!

Here are some pictures of Samara playing with two of her favourite people in the world.



Good old fashioned laundry basket fun - who needs Little Tikes and Fisher Price!






Just the girls.



And one more just for fun. Honestly, there's only water in that sippy cup!