Nap? What nap?

So Mommy decides to go shopping for the day and Daddy is home with the three kids. They're laughing, playing and having a grand 'ol time when all of a sudden Daddy realizes he forgot to put Samara in bed for her morning nap. Here's what happens when Samara misses her morning nap. She's trying so hard to eat her lunch . . .





When lunch/highchair nap was finished, she somehow found some energy to climb by herself into the exersaucer and . . .



A little more sleeping. Too funny!

Playdate at Zoe's

We finally got together with Samara's Foshan Nanhai crib neighbour and her fantastic parents on Sunday. We had such a fun time and it was so good to see them again. They only live about 15 minutes away from us but life gets so busy and we don't see them nearly enough. The kids had a great time playing with Zoe (and her toys) and it was neat to see Zoe and Samara together. They're both in the same stage where they love to kiss all the time. And they have so many similarities in the sounds they make and even some of their mannerisms. I guess that's what happens when you live together for the first 11 months of your life. Are they ever cute! Thank you Andre, Michelle and Zoe for your hospitality - hope to see you again soon.

Carmody family update . . . finally

Ok, so what has been happening in the Carmody household over the past month or two? Not much really. Just busy, busy, busy. Victoria and Austin are into the swing of things at school. Austin is enjoying JK (two mornings a week) and Victoria is starting to get used to going to school full-time in grade one. She loves school but is finding it very tiring to be there everyday all day. Here's a picture of Austin on his first day of school. All grown up going to JK!


Here's what I witness every Tuesday and Thursday morning when Victoria and Austin get on the bus together. How cute is that??




Samara wishes she could get right on that bus too . . . not for another couple of years - but I'm sure that will be here before we know it too. I'm finding Tuesday and Thursday mornings very quiet around the house. With Victoria and Austin at school and Samara still taking her morning nap I actually have some time to myself. Here is Samara near the end of one of her naps.


Thanksgiving weekend was spent in Keene with Grandma and Grandpa Carmody. The kids love going there and always have a lot of fun. It's become a tradition to paint pumpkins with Grandma and it's something they look forward to. Samara even got involved in the messy paint this year.






Thanksgiving also means it's Daddy's birthday - which just adds to the excitement for the kids. They couldn't wait to give him the gifts they had picked out (at the Dollar Store!). He got all sorts of goodies including rope, work masks, bungee cords, etc. You know . . . Daddy stuff. Don't worry, he also got his traditional Elvis gift - a DVD set of eight Elvis movies. Sigh . . . does that mean I have to sit through these movies too? :)

Somewhere in all this busyness, I've managed to keep up the running. I just love it and am so glad I decided to start running. I feel so much better in so many ways. I finally feel like I'm somewhat in shape again. I participated in another 5k run and this time it was officially timed with a chip. I ran this one with my brother. Ok, that's not exactly true. We both ran the same race. He finished it in 22:04 and my time was 29:11. We started the race together and that was about it. I was quite happy with my time though since it was my personal best and I never ever thought I'd be able to run a 5k in under 30 minutes. The run took place at McMaster University and halfway through, I passed the kids who were there cheering me on. There's nothing quite like running a race and hearing these little voices in the crowd "go Mommy go!" It totally pumped me up and kept me going.




Well, that's about it. I'll leave you with a scrapbook page that Deb created for us. She does such a good job.

Run for the Cure

Well, I did it. I ran my first 5k ever. I started running in August when I signed up for the Learn to Run clinic at The Running Room and today I was able to run in a race. It went pretty good and I was actually able to run the whole thing without stopping for a walking break. Two months ago I could hardly run to the stopsign at the corner and now I can run 5k without stopping - it's a good feeling to accomplish that.

I was excited that this was going to be our goal race and I of course didn't even have to think about who I was running for. Go Marisa Go!!!

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!