All ready for school

Here are some cute pictures of Samara writing in her journal. She likes to jot down her thoughts every once in a while. :) Notice the concentration. But even more interesting . . . notice how she holds the pencil. Is she advanced or what?? (perhaps I'm a little biased) By the way, don't tell Victoria she was using her pencil and paper.

Here's what happens after a long morning of some serious playing (ok, and maybe a few too many late nights for mommy). Unfortunately we got caught! :)

Fun in the snow

We headed out in the winter wonderland this afternoon for a time of tobogganing. The weather was actually beautiful. Cold enough for there to be snow but warm enough not to freeze. We found a hill fairly close by our house which was perfect. It was just long enough to be fun but not too long that it was hard to walk back up. Victoria zipped right down no problem. Austin was a bit more hesitant and went with Daddy each time. Samara went down a few times with me but wasn't so sure about the whole tobogganing thing. I would basically have to get all settled in on the saucer and then scoop her up at the last minute so she didn't have time to get away. She always had a smile on her face at the bottom so I think she liked it. However, I think she really enjoyed standing at the top of the hill watching Victoria, Austin and Daddy zip down on the saucers. She would point at them and squeal in delight and then start clapping and shouting "yay!" when they got to the bottom. It was really cute.

Cute Pics

Look Mom - I dressed myself!

Lunar Eclipse

For those of you who missed it last night . . . what a show! The moon was so beautiful!

Here's how Wikipedia describes a lunar eclipse: "A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full the night of a lunar eclipse". (a much better description that I could have given).

Here are some of the pictures that Mike took last night during the eclipse:

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

A big sister in the making . . .

Samara's favourite thing to do is to imitate Victoria and Austin and most of the time it's really cute. Victoria often plays with her dolls, dressing them and changing their diapers (we have some small diapers left over from baby days), feeding them, etc. Today I witnessed Samara changing one of the teddy bear's diapers. Here are the pictures.





Notice the wet wipes and the diaper beside her? How cute is that??? She's going to be a great helper for mommy when she becomes a big sister!

Travel Group Gathering

We had our first annual Gotcha Day anniversary party yesterday. Hard to believe it's been a year since these little peanuts were placed in our arms. Most of them aren't peanuts anymore! They've changed so much and there's no sign of baby-ness in any of them.

We ended up renting a school gym for the occasion and it worked out so well. It was a great turn out and fun was had by all. The kids ran, jumped, kicked balls, threw balls, tumbled, turned, danced and had a great old time! I think the adults had just as much fun watching them. We're thinking about booking the gym already now for next year . . . each year as the kids get older, they'll need more room to run and play and it's a great place to get together.

Check out these cutie patooties!
A great cake to mark the occasion.
(Thanks Charlie and Juanita!)

Happy Gotcha Day!

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.