They really got me today!!!!!

Today is Sunday. I thought that I was going to meet up with my friends, Shannon and Cindy at 10am to go shopping at Winners. So I didn't really get all dolled up. I didn't shave, I didn't put on any make up and I took about 10 seconds to get dressed this morning. Shannon showed up at my house all dressed up! I still didn't clue in. I just complimented her on her cool outfit and we headed out the door. We went to Cindy's to pick her up and she invited us in because she wasn't quite ready yet. Yeah right!!! She lured unsuspecting me to her kitchen which was full of delicious appetizers, lot's of wine/booze and my female co-workers from the office! It still took a few more seconds before I realized that we were NOT going shopping at all but they were having a surprise going away party for me! It was the first time in my life that I was totally and utterly had. I had NO clue that any of this was being planned.

Not only was there really good food and yummy drinks, they had organized that Cindy's niece, a registered massage therapist student, come to the party to give everyone a 30 minute massage! Does that not sound like the most perfect party?!!!! So I was already totally flustered when I got there, Cindy poured me a champagne/orange juice which I took big gulps of, which made me feel totally tipsy and then I was led into the other room, to be spoiled rotten with an amazing massage. Why am I so lucky to have friends like this? The whole afternoon was AWESOME. We laughed a lot and got to catch up. I got really fun(ny) gifts that I could only get from friends like these. Let's just say, it's a take on a french maid's costume (with a feather duster and all) to get me ready for my new role as mommy and homemaker!

And I have to mention that Shannon makes the BEST BEST BEST lasagne every. She made us this huge lasagna (ok ok because I hinted at her that I would love her to make me one - not that I thought that she would) and we ate it for dinner tonight. And it was super duper delicious. Silvano came over for dinner tonight too and he is Italian and said that he loved it and asked me if Shannon was Italian too, which has to be a good sign. Thank you Shannon, we all loved it.

Thanks Jeff (Shannon's hubby) for being part of this surprise and coming to our home to "talk taxes" with James. I know how busy you are this time of year.

So I was totally spoiled this weekend and realize how lucky I am to be surrounded by so many genuine, caring friends. Thank you everyone for a special day. I had a great time.

Saturday Afternoon

We had such a relaxing morning and afternoon today. We all woke up at 7am! I know this doesn't sound much like sleeping in but for our family it is. We are usually up at 5:30ish so it was such a treat to sleep until 7. Then we had a great breakfast all together and spent the morning having coffee, reading the paper and playing with the girls. Then I had a big nap with both my girls. I feel so rested and re-energized.

After lunch we all went out together to run some errands and made a stop at the park. Then we all got a yummy booster juice and came home. A no stress kind of day.

This is a funny picture. I was trying to get a photo of Rachel coming down the BIG purple slide....and so I wasn't ready at the bottom to catch her.....and she did a face plant onto the ground below. When she got up she even had dirt on her tongue. She was so shocked but I guess she loved the slide because she cleaned herself up and ran up for more.






And Alex just loved the fire pole.
She spent most of the time at the park running after the soccer ball only to be cut off by Tobi every few seconds. It was fun to watch her try to run and kick the ball at the same time.







When we were almost finished playing a couple of older kids came to play at the playground and Alex and Rachel just stood there watching them for about 5 minutes straight. They love watching other kids.

Well have a good rest of the weekend everyone. I better decide what we are going to have for dinner tonight.

Almost the Weekend!












This is a picture of my dad with Alex and Rachel when they were only a few weeks old. I found it when I was browsing through some old files. And I wanted to add it to my blog tonight because I'm really missing my dad. And I know that he misses the girls too.


After dinner tonight we headed back outside to enjoy the warm weather. I know I'm repeating myself from past blogs but it is so beautiful outside and it really is getting warm outside. It's the kind of weather that makes you look in your closet and wonder why you haven't put away those heavy winter dresspants and sweaters! And where are all those tank tops and shorts? Really, that's how it felt today.

There are some beautiful tulips that have bloomed in our yard, right in the middle of the grass. If you weren't careful, you would probably drive over it with the lawn mower. It's so weird to me that the tulips will continue to blossom every spring with out having to plant new bulbs. That's so cool. And tulips are one of my favorite flowers.

So what's new these days?....Alex, Rachel and I have been singing ....Ms Mary Mac Mac Mac... all dressed in black black black.... For those of you who don't know the song, it's a little rhyming song that you do while clapping your hands together. But it amazes me how quickly they learn a song once you start singing it. (Joyce...remember the time that you screwed up that song in front of Romy and Josi a few summers ago? haha that was sooooooooooo funny).

I can't really think of anything else that is new. Maybe it's the fog that my head's been in because of my allergies. Talk to you all soon.

Dinner Outside

We enjoyed another dinner outside enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful scenery. It was a warm day outside...feels like summer is around the corner. Cheers everyone.

Our Weekend


I had such a relaxing Saturday afternoon. I met my friend, Lina...and we went to get our pedicures done at Spa. It was such a treat. The chairs where we sat for an hour was a heated massage chair! And on top of that, our feet were soaked in a warm tub of water that also had jets. It was very lovely. So after we left there with our feet looking so great, we went shopping. We shopped for cool jewellery, made a quick stop at Lululemon and then bought some Starbucks before we called it a day. It was GREAT to see Lina and actually have time to talk to her. Even though the time seemed to pass too quickly once again. Then I drove like crazy back home (with the windows down, the breeze in my hair and listening to fun music like Prince ....I know my taste in music hasn't really progressed since the 80's) to get to my kids. I felt like I was 20 something again. At one moment during the car ride I was thinking to myself....why don't James and I go dancing at clubs anymore.....since I was in a groovin kind of mood. (Then I remembered it's because we're old and we have kids and we get tired by 11pm). Anyhow, the kids had a great day with James and I got to have some quality time with Lina.

On Sunday I realized we had the messiest house in the whole entire world. Since I was out of the house all weekend long the house looked absolutely horrible. Clothes lying everywhere, toys in every spot on the floor, and I won't even mention the kitchen. So I hurried home to make dinner for all of us (but realized that we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet this weekend so we had no food) but made dinner none the less and then we got a knock at the door. James hurriedly put on some clothes and went to answer the door and who had come and visited us..... but our dear friends Shannon and Jeff! After we apologized profusely for our dirty, messy house we invited them in and we had such a fun evening. I ditched the boring, tasteless dinner that I had made and ordered some Yaki's pizza...YUMMY. So we sat outside by the beautiful lake on such a sunny evening and ate pizza and drank 7Up. Does it get any better than that?

Just a side note (hopefully Shannon reads this blog) the house is clean once again. We were so motivated by our embarrasment that we cleaned up the place last night.

And today, we have tons of chores and laundry to do. The girls have gotten over the worse of their colds but their noses are STILL running and they are still coughing. What's up with that, eh? And they are playing so well together this morning. For the last hour they have been sitting in the laundry baskets..first rowing a boat, then pretending it was their beds, etc..... James is going to bring Alex to Dr's office today for a checkup with her hair - and also to get a referral to a pediatric dermatologist. Alex keeps promising Rachel that she will bring back tons of Dora stickers back from her appt with Dr. So they are both pretty pleased that Alex is going to see the Dr today. I hope he still has some stickers in his office or there will be some disappointed kids at our place.

Anyhow, hope everyone enjoys their beginning of the week.

April 19, 2006

Everytime we go and play somewhere ‘public’ – where tons of kids play, it seems like the girls get sick. We went to this really cool indoor playground last Friday afternoon. It was really rainy and dark outside so we went to this place. The girls had a GREAT time. They played like mad everywhere… especially in the Balls Room where they pretended that they were swimming amongst the balls. I on the other hand was soooo exhausted when we left. The whole place was extremely noisy and all the noise, lights, kids, and plus my allergies, made me feel sick. Anyhow, back to my paranoia about ‘public’ play areas. James and I even washed their hands as soon as we left. But they still ended up with colds. They are both feeling a little better today but their noses are so red from blowing them so much. Hopefully they are all better by the weekend.

These pictures are not in order but thankfully blogger is letting me upload photos.

This picture was just seconds before the whistle blew and we ran off in different directions to look for eggs. We could see colorful eggs in nearby bushes and trees and on the nearby hill. The girls spotted them too and we were so excited to start the hunt.

And this was everyone taking off in all these different directions to go scoop up some eggs and goodies.

And this picture is of us having our picnic lunch. It truly was a fun filled day.

Easter Weekend

Our weekend was busy. It seems like this Sunday afternoon is the 1st chance that the family is just sitting back and relaxing. We had the most awesome afternoon yesterday. I had gotten an email invitation to come to this park at around 11:30. And the email went on to say that it will be a potluck lunch and to bring 10 plastic Easter Eggs for each child that you were bringing. James and I didn't know what to expect at this gathering. We figured maybe 5 families or so would show up. But there were hundreds of us there. There must have been about 60 kids there!!!!!!!!! And with their parents, and grandparents, it was VERY busy. So once there, I placed our eggs into this huge garbage bag with all the other eggs that were brought. And while the kids were eating their picnic lunch, a couple of dads took the eggs and hid them around the whole park. So once lunch was over we all gathered in the middle of the park and waited for the signal that the official Easter Egg hunt had begun. The girls were sooooooooooo excited and happy to find the eggs in the grass, in the bushes and in the trees. We sat on the grassy hill and they opened up some of their plastic eggs to find treats such as chocolates, candy and jelly beans. They were just thrilled.

Then after this fun filled afternoon we headed over to Kaili and Robin's place. One of the girls most favorite places to visit. And once there they were spoiled with more goodies. Colorful gum/rain boots, chalk and glow sticks. They have wanted these rain boots for ages. They were having the best day EVER! Thanks guys for the wonderful gifts.

So after we left, we headed home to get changed and head over to Silvano and Angela's place for dinner. Their friends were over visiting for the weekend. There were 3 other kids to play with. The oldest, Asylin, who is 10 years old was such a good sitter. She read to all the kids, made them laugh and pretty much entertained them so James and I could enjoy some good food and wine. (At one point during the evening, James leaned over and whispered...too bad, Romy didn't live closer to us. James and I would always be asking Romy to come over and look after the girls.)

So needless to say that the girls were tired from a very busy day. We woke up this morning and headed out once again to visit our friends, Art and Monica. It's Monica's birthday today so we had a quick visit over coffee at their place. And I must say that I've never seen the girls act so badly ever. It was really embarassing. I think it was a combination of all the sugar they have eaten this weekend and the lack of sleep they got last night from going to bed so late. But they were acting a little coo coo at Monica's place so we quickly finished our coffees and headed home. Just to give you a glimpse into their mood, Rachel took an orange crayon and started making long lines in Monica's white pristine carpet! They don't have any kids so the place is spotless. They honestly have never colored on the floor in our house. Can you believe it? Anyhow, I'm looking forward to some quiet time with the family at home today.

And we have a HUGE ant problem now. What started out in our bathroom has now appeared in our kitchen. We noticed them a couple of days ago and have been trying to keep the kitchen really clean. But I left out some food for Tobi in his bowl and this morning I saw hundreds of tiny ants in his bowl. So nasty. I was totally freaked out and James had to clean it up. So I don't feel like cooking anything in our kitchen. I heard that vinegar helps keep them away. As well we put out some ant traps. Do you guys have any other suggestions on how to deal with this problem?

It's been a different type of Easter for me this weekend. Funny how traditions that you grew up with stay with you. We used to always go to church as a family when I was growing up and I really missed that this morning. I can't explain it but it feels like something was missing from my Easter morning. And I really miss my family back east. It's especially hard on holidays when I wish that we were all gathering for a large meal together. But then I keep reminding myself that when we do get together it will be even more special. I hope you guys all enjoyed your long Easter weekend. Blogger won't let me upload pictures right now but I will be sure to upload them as soon as I can.

Happy Birthday Rob!

Today is my brother in law, Rob's birthday. But instead of celebrating he is sick with a fever at home in Ottawa. I want to wish him a quick recovery so he can enjoy the weekend and take a break from studying and working so much. And thank you Rob for taking care of my sis all the time and putting up with her unique personality. Just joking... love you both. Happy Birthday Bro!

My Niece Romy

Here is a photo of my niece, Romy. This picture is being used for ads for this clothing line. This picture blows me away. My little niece seems so grown up now. She was my first niece ever. The first baby born into our family (from all of us sisters and cousins) and I'll always remember her as that toddler I used to LOVE visiting and babysitting for. And now she is so tall and so mature, not to mention super smart, thoughtful and a great sister to her brothers. I love you and I miss you soooooo much. I'm sending you and your brothers a big hug and kiss.

Mrs. Wishy Washy

Number 1 thing that you may not know about me.... I'm VERY wishy washy. And number 2 thing that you may not know about me....I feel guilty quite often. So these two things work to make me look and feel pretty unstable at times. I had lunch with my boss today to tell him officially that I am quitting. And I had tremendous feelings of guilt. I guess because he's been so good to me over the years. He bent the rules and let me work only 4 days of the week so I could spend more time with my family, yada yada yada. So while I was telling him that I was going to leave him soon I felt so bad that I wanted to take it back and make this uncomfortable situation better. Imagine how crazy he would think I am if a second after I quit, I told him, oh wait a second, I don't quit! Then a second later, I would say, actually no no no I DO quit...wait...no I don't quit. Haha! He would turn around and say, YOU ARE FIRED you crazy person. The feelings of guilt would kind of go away and then I would have feelings of relief, freedom and happiness at the thought of staying home with Alex and Rachel from this day forth. Yeah! So it's official. It's official that I'm crazy.

But soon when the girls ask me in the morning....mama, you go to work? I can say No! I'm staying home with you! With no guilt and no wishy washy feelings. Yahoo!

5 more days until Easter Sunday!

Hello Everybody,

Don't you just love the special Easter cookies that my friend. Shannon, made for Alex and Rachel. They are sooooo yummy. I can't believe how kind people can be. To take time out of their busy schedules to make these treats for us. Thank you!

These are some silly pictures that Kaili took of the girls today. Pretty hair girls! Not much to report today except that it is absolutely gorgeous weather outside right now. Sunny, warm with a light breeze. This weather just makes you want to drive with your windows down and some good catchy music on the radio. Hope you are enjoying the weather where you are too.

Some more pictures....

Hi, I'm posting some more pictures because I know that Grandma and Grandpa love seeing them. Especially the ones of Tobi. Haha.

Miss you guys lot's & lot's. Talk to you soon.

Our week


Spring is definitely in the air. Not only are there beautiful blossoms on the trees, the smell of grass and soil in the air but my allergies are driving me crazy! I'm feeling like I'm sick all the time. My eyes are so itchy....the girls always remind me to not itch them....or else might need eye drops! My throat is scratchy and I'm sneezing all the time. I finally cracked today and asked James to buy me some medicine while he is out grocery shopping. This happens every year and lasts for a couple of weeks and then I'm fine again. Complain, complain, complain....

It was a really low key kind of weekend at our house. Lot's of playing and pretend games. As I write this, the girls were playing soccer. Their version of soccer at this point is dropping the ball with their 2 hands and then kicking it in the air and yelling... I scored! Then they take turns doing this. And if someone takes two or three turns in a row, I hear the other one saying, ....not sharing.....not sharing soccer ball. But after they played this game for a while,they now have taken the soccer ball


and placed it on a plastic cup and are pretending that they are eating an ice cream cone. Such a natural progression from actually kicking the ball to pretend that they are eating it!

What else did we do this weekend? We brought out the sand box from storage and filled it with sand. I didn't know that there even was such a thing as play sand that you buy at the hardware store. You have to order it from the customer service desk and then pick it up with your car in the back of the store. So when they guy asked us how much sand we wanted...we were kind of stumped. He told us it came in 50 pound bags. So we naturally thought 1 bag would do. Then we drove out to the back to be surprised that a 50 pound bag is tiny. I guess sand is really heavy. So we had to go back for 2 more bags. Anyhow the girls LOVED the sandbox. They stayed for 1 1/2 hours straight in the sandbox while James surfed the net sitting right beside them. It was one peaceful moment to be making dinner in the kitchen watching the girls and James play outside. And then everyone ate so much dinner from having

been outside in the fresh air for so long. Which is always satisfying for a mama to have everyone actually eat the dinner that you made. The girls are eating so much these days. They are really growing up.

So these pictures are of the girls giving each other foot massages. I love how they tell you before they close their eyes.... I'm relaxing now.... And Rachel is so funny because she seems to always wait until Alex falls asleep and then I hear pitter patter of feet coming out of the room. So I will go see what is going on. She always says....bed is so uncomfortable...my back aches....can you give me a foot massage? Which is such an imitation of what James and I have been saying since we have been sleeping in this rental. Haha.

Anyhow, we are just cleaning up the house, picking up groceries and getting ready for the week ahead. We also have a play date with another set of twins today. Their names are Alex and Chad, and their older brother Liam. They were born about 4 months after the girls. Time sure does fly by since the last time we saw them was when my girls were about 6 months old! Should be interesting to watch them play with boys for a change. Have a good day everybody!

April 4th, 2006

Hello Everyone,

I thought that I would post a few pics of the new house to show you guys what stage it's at. As you can see it doesn't look like we will move in anytime soon but you can see the shape that it is taking.


This is the main living area on the main floor. I think they still have to insulate the ceilings on the main floor.


This is the entrance to our house. The roof is all ready to be put on. We were hoping that would be done sometime last week but it looks like it will happen this week. Oh and the wood board that leads to the front door is an excellent balance beam for the girls to practice their gymnastics moves.


This is the view to the Lake from our house. Can't wait!



And this is a rear view of the house.

Now, about my day. I just woke up from a 3 hour nap with the girls in bed. I was reading them a bedtime story and when it was over, they both grabbed me from both sides and was asking me to sleep with them. I told them that I had to go clean up the kitchen but they both were saying such cute things like.....PLEASE....you sleepy?....remember you have tummy ache (which I had earlier) ....better lie down and I rub your belly. So I said yes of course. I thought what better way to end the day than to snuggle my kids and hear them settle in for the night. Then I would sneak away once they were asleep and clean the dishes. Turns out that I fell asleep quickly too. It was a GREAT nap with them.

Work was work today. Not much to report there except that my girlfriends and I snuck away on our lunch and went to the Grand Opening of the Winners store. It was.... crazy! The parking lot was full full full. And the store was full full full. Shannon, grabbed a shopping cart and raced in while my friend, Cindy and I walked around in a daze. I headed to the shoe dept and tried on so many shoes in size 6. They had a lot of cute stuff but I kept on reminding myself, don't buy dressy shoes, buy practical shoes that you will wear to the park and stuff. Which only confused me more. I usually don't wear casual footwear. I have runners and stuff but I wanted casual but feminine. You know shoes that are comfortable, stylish that I can wear with capris and that won't make me look short (I need a heel!). So I ended up buying no shoes. Shannon on the other hand did very well. I think she was headed back there again tonight!

As for the girls it always amazes me when they eat a lot. Usually they will eat normal amounts of food. And sometimes, they don't want to eat what I made them at all. But tonight I was scared at the amounts they ate. Soy beans, rice, chicken, apples and pears. And I kept cutting the fruit and they kept asking for more. And this was AFTER they finished so much dinner. Then they asked for a yogourt. I was trying to convince them that we just ate a lot but then they said ....me so hungry! So I gave them each a yogourt which they ate in a few seconds flat. Then they walked away from the table and started to act really silly in their rooms. Laughing at each other and stuff. James looked at me and asked.....who do they take after....why are they so crazy? Don't look at me.

Well now that I've had my 3 hour nap I'm really not that tired. But I really should get to bed since I have to be at work by 6:30am.

Good night!

Our Weekend

We've been busy this weekend. We started Alex and Rachel's swimming lessons which was really fun. It's only for 1/2 an hour but we were all so pooped from it. They did so well putting their lips & chin in the water and blowing bubbles. And both of them wiped out in the kiddie pool at least once so they got totally dunked in and surprisingly didn't freak out.

And we've been to our new house at least 3 times this weekend. Not that much would change from day to day but we are sooooooo anxious to move in. So we go at dusk, in the morning, in the afternoon... to check it out. All the insulation is almost done. Which I guess would mean that the electrical and plumbing is also finished and the walls will be drywalled soon. And it was exciting to see that the bathtubs were placed into the girls' bathroom and the bathroom in the basement. The house is still very far from being completed but when we go visit on the weekends we love to see the slow progress it's making.

And today I feel so lucky to have spent the day with my girls, my friend Lina and her two kids, Kathleen and Steven. Our husbands went to play golf while we mamas spent some time together. We still didn't get to really have a complete uninterrupted conversation but it was still very wonderful. Besides, it's our turns next visit to go out and enjoy ourselves so we are hoping to do a spa treatment somewhere... followed of course by a stop to Lululemon.

It was really cute to hear my girls' call out for Kathleen. Because they say her name with three syllables. Kat a Leen, Kat a Leen, please chase me.....then Kat a Leen, Kat a Leen, I'm going to get you. Rachel and Kathleen took turns chasing each other on their tricycles. Alex on the other hand loved catching a ride on the back of Rachel's tricycle until she fell off and it wasn't fun anymore. And then all three of them saw a worm on the ground (it was raining this morning so the worms had been out). Rachel promptly got off her bike and ran over to me. As for Alex, she turned to me and said, Kaili likes worms. So we had a great time this afternoon.

As for tonight I'm hoping that the girls will go to sleep at a relatively early hour so James and I can watch a movie that we rented a couple of nights ago. I don't remember the title of it....Good night... and something or other but I do know that George Clooney is in it so it has to be good, no?

Well I miss all of you. I'm so jealous that I couldn't be in Montreal this weekend to spend some quality time with my family. Joyce, I'm glad you had a great time. And I miss Kaili, my other sister. I hope you had fun at your little get together last night (even though I wasn't invited)! Talk to you all soon.

Our Babies....

When did our babies grow up and become these comical little individuals? It honestly seems like yesterday that we brought them home from the hospital.

I remember the morning that they were born. It was really weird but James and I were humming the exact same song without knowing that the other one was singing this song. It goes..."This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice, let us rejoice, and be glad in it, and be glad in it." I was singing/humming this song from the moment I woke up. We had a scheduled c-section planned for Friday morning and I had slept over at the hospital. James woke up at home singing the same song and when we saw each other early that Friday morning we were so shocked that the other was singing the exact same song. You see we don't usually go to church and we had not sung that song in months. In fact, we never sing that song. But that was the feeling that we were feeling that morning. So excited to meet our babies at last. We were feeling truly blessed.

We didn't know what we were really in for until we brought them home. Then we realized all the responsibility that was placed on us to raise these two little darlings. In 2 months they will turn 3 years old. Can you believe it? I heard a saying a while back....it goes something like... the days are long but the years are short. It's so true. There were so many sleepless nights where I wondered if I would ever ever get more than 1 1/2 hours of sleep in a row. And I never thought that I would ever sleep 8 hours straight ever again. But those sleepless nights seem so long ago. There is no doubt that the day that they were born was the best day of our lives. How did we get so lucky to have these two girls? I know that every parent feels like this. Alex & Rachel are truly the greatest gift we've ever received.