This one's for you Christy . . .

. . . even though you should be doing your work instead of checking out the blog.





Just some random photos that I find entertaining - and perhaps you will too. Gotta be better than working!

A favourite activity in the Carmody house - reading:

Nurse Samara:

Victoria's friends:

Two of the cutest super heroes you'll ever see:


Nice try Samara . . . it's bedtime . . . in your own bed!

A few pics from Christmas . . . better late than never

Our first Christmas as a family of five:


The whole gang at Grandma Zandstra's house. Yes you counted right, there are 12 grandkids - ten of which are under the age of 6!




Matching Christmas dresses:

Christmas in Keene:

O Canada!

It finally happened! Our girl is an official Canadian citizen. Hooray!

Here she is. The pink outfit is from Aunt Denise (the only Canada outfit that still sorta fits), the hat is from my Uncle John and the teddy bear "Henderson" was a welcome home gift to Samara from Uncle Harry, Aunt Kimmy and Tae. Thanks everyone!

We received her official Citizenship card and letter from the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration welcoming her to the Canadian family. It came in the mail when she was napping today so when she woke up, Victoria and Austin and I were cheering and saying, "hooray, you're an official Canadian!" She had no idea what was going on but thought all the excitement was rather fun. I don't even think Victoria and Austin truly understood the excitement but it was pretty cute when Mike came home from work. He was barely out of the car and Victoria had the front door open yelling out, "Daddy! Samara is a Canadian!" So cute. :)

I read the letter to Samara so she would understand that she is now "entitled to all the rights and privileges of Canadian citizenship and is subject to all the obligations and responsibilities of her citizenship".

She now knows that "as a Canadian, she must uphold the principles of democracy, freedom and compassion which are the foundation of a strong and united Canada".

I think she gets it.